Some thoughts on RAW

Post-draft RAW has been terribly entertaining.

Not perfect by any means, but it's a step up from having the same three or four people trade off the RAW Championship again and again. CM Punk, one of my personal favorites, winning the World Heavyweight Championship and bringing a world title back to RAW, has to be one of my most giddy, excited, completely stunned moments in a long time. I knew he would do well in WWE given time- but by my figuring WWE brass wouldn't see him as ready for another two or three years.

A lot of Punk fans might be a little bummed after last Monday. In one respect I am among them. It seems like he's finally getting in tune with the WWE style and learning to work an exciting match (see: vs JBL on RAW blowoff match, vs JBL vs Jericho, etc) and building himself as someone who can stand on his own. It felt like there was to be a bigger purpose for his reign- to slowly build him and legitimize him until he's running through the likes of Batista.

Hearing Michael Cole babble on one would assume Punk was always one step away from losing the belt. I found this particularly irritating because he always failed to put Punk over even a tiny bit. During Punk's matches with Batista, he constantly dominated, usually only having the tides turned just before a dirty finish ended the match. Despite this Cole typically put Punk over as getting the absolute crap kicked out of him- then again, Cole seems to have an unnatural love of Batista.

But I'm not too worried. WWE seems to have a thing for giving proto-reigns to their future stars these days (see: Randy Orton). Punk performed very well, and is probably about to enter what will be his highest profile, non-title feud since entering WWE. I have no doubt that if Orton/Punk goes as well as it should, we'll see them adding the title in the mix a few months down the line.

Jericho/HBK: Wow. Two of my all time favorites feuding. I have to say I have been enthralled with this from the get-go. Jericho's character has really evolved a long way at just the right pace. The new look completely sells it as well. While I miss the joking, goofy Y2J, he's such a well spoken individual it's great to get to see him use that side. I would go so far as to say he's right up there with Edge as best heel in the business. It's always amazing to see a heel who can work a crowd into a frenzy by standing and delivering a cool, calm promo, never once acknowledging the boos and rarely engaging in classical heel tactics (insulting local favorites, etc).

Seeing the Jericho/HBK feud gain world title status is the only way I wouldn't have been completely bummed about Punk losing the title. It's a perfect transition, and it didn't make CM look particularly bad.

Another area of surprise was seeing Kofi win the IC belt. It really pushed home that WWE was ready to shake things up a bit. I have no problem with him dropping the belt to Santino, who is consistently the most entertaining guy on the show.

Priceless/Afa Jr. definitely intrigues me. I hope they don't drop the belts anytime soon, but I'm not entirely sure what they have planned for them. The rumor mills have been reporting for a while that a 2nd generation stable is in the works involving Orton, who has had some weird interaction with the group since his return. Leads to interesting ideas in the Orton/Punk feud...

The women's division is frustrating as usual. Why keep trying to make Candance out to be the next Trish Stratus? Why not focus on the fact that Mickie James gets pops rivaling main event level male stars? I also really do not understand the obsession of putting women in the ring who have not been properly trained and/or have absolutely no background...

Adamle was a pretty fun swerve for GM. I'm still not real sure where this is going in the long run and I wish they would do more with it now. Still, WWE has built him into an interesting character, considering the majority of us were scratching our heads when news came out that he had been hired and was getting a ridiculous salary.

I really hope they keep the fresh coming and stay away from 'safe' options like Batista, who bores me to tears with or without a championship.