Monday Night Raw Warm Up for October 17th, 2011

We’re counting down the hours to another edition of WWE’s Monday Night Raw and a great way to prepare is taking a look back at what we saw last week. The show from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was touted to be “historic” as we got a glimpse of what WWE would look like with most of its talent and staff walking out on Chief Operations Officers, Triple H. I don’t know that any history was made, but a show that had potential to take things in an interesting direction really just exposed many of WWE’s weaknesses.

PTB: The video package of the “walk out” does an excellent job (as these things often do) of taking the best moments and tightening things up. It’s almost enough to make you forget how painfully executed it was in real time.

Brian: The video packages always make stuff look ten times better than it did live. WWE has one of the best media teams around.

PTB: We then get the coldest of openings with no pyrotechnics, no announce team, no one in the ring and a slow walk to the back to see Triple H emerge from his office. His show was set to consist of John Cena, Sheamus and C.M. Punk as the rest of theRaw roster was in the parking lot protesting. Honestly, it’s a show I would have watched but it’s quickly shut down by the recently fired Vince McMahon of all people.

Brian: I was baffled by CM Punk’s reasoning for backing Triple H. I was having a tough time buying that CM Punk was down with the way HHH was running things because he “handled things like a man.” I still think he should have been on the other side of things. I feel like since he’s come back, he’s become everything that he despised about Cena, specifically doing the same five moves to end a match. I still love him, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of what he said about Cena pertains to him now.

PTB: That’s an interesting observation. I too am still a fan and I’m willing to buy his argument, but his performances and the way he’s being used on the show is undeniably moving him into Cena territory. Going along with Punk’s paradoxical decision, the WWE board of directors has sent Vince (who they had just sent Triple H to fire a few weeks ago) to remove “the Game” as day to day overseer of Raw, though he’ll remain as COO. It’s not a bad turn, but the man taking over, John Laurinaitis, should have been the one to deliver the news.

Brian: I was surprised that Vince wasn’t the mastermind behind this because that’s what I’ve been expecting. I’m still holding out hope that Stephanie is ultimately the person that Laurinaitis is always texting.

PTB: Vince makes that comment that “no one really knows where it’s going” in reference to the “walk out.” I can’t believe this isn’t a reference to the whole storyline. Laurinaitis “hiring” the Miz and Truth back immediately upon taking over speaks directly to that.

Brian: Definitely more of reference to this angle and WWE’s booking style :).

PTB: The show slides down a steep hill from there. I liked seeing Christian, Rhodes, Swagger and Ziggler together in the ring together again as their faction is put back in the spotlight, but more Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton is not what I wanted to see.

Brian: Did Zack Ryder end up getting the win? It was weird, he pinned Ziggler two weeks in a row and then was off TV for two weeks. I just don’t understand why the writers are so focused on the top tier storylines and keep forgetting about the mid card guys. They always seem to miss out on some cool stuff.

It’s gotten so bad that Zack Ryder and Ziggler are working an angle for themselves on Ryder’s Internet show, Z! True Long Island Stories. Ziggler breaks into Zack’s house and hits his buddy over the head with a lead pipe.

PTB: I have to start watching that show. The Divas tag team match and the firing of Jim Ross were also pointless. In fact with the exception of the six-man tag match, the entire second hour was filler: WWE Network, Be a Star Initiaitive, Brodus Clay, The Reunion?!?!

Brian: The Divas match was awful. Kelly Kelly is really trying to be the next Trish Stratus, but her in-ring performance is seriously lacking. Every one of her offensive moves missed badly.

JR’s firing made zero sense and from what I read, he knew nothing about it. I’m not sure why there’s so much emphasis on announcers being in storylines. It really bugs me because it takes so much TV time away from actual wrestling and the wrestlers themselves.

PTB: Alberto Del Rio vs. C.M. Punk turning into a tag match with them teaming up to face Miz and Truth salvaged the final segments of the show, but a lot of momentum was lost with all of those video packages between matches.

Brian: As much as I didn’t see the point of changing the original match into a tag, I ended up liking it. Del Rio really turned his game up a notch when they came back from commercial break.

PTB: Triple H hitting the ring and the announcement of his team-up with Punk at theVengeance pay-per-view next week is a move I kind of like this, but the timing is terrible. The last two months have just been all over the place and seeing this team-up a year from now might have been a better move.

Brian: Totally agree. The sudden shift from Punk getting screwed over to HHH getting screwed over really hurts Punk’s character and put an end to what could have been a great long term storyline. Punk and HHH could have feuded for months while HHH stayed in power. Eventually all of the turmoil would happen and HHH would be ousted with Punk then coming to his aid.

PTB: Hopefully, things will tighten up tonight, but it’s hard to have confidence that will happen. At the very least Punk, Cena, and Triple H are giving fun performances despite the shifting landscape.

Read more about World Wrestling Entertainment on MyLatestDistraction.

Keep up with all of our weekly Monday Night Raw Warm Ups:
October 10th, 2011 edition / WWE Vengeance 2011 edition