Well, Money in the Bank has come and gone, and CM Punk left the WWE with the WWE Title. Then, Monday Night Raw rolls around. Now, I haven't watched Raw since February, I believe. That's close to six months. I tuned in because I wanted to see what the aftermath of this story would be. I was disappointed. Or, I should say, I was disappointed that night.
You see, as soon as Raw went off the air, I wrote a rather scathing comment on someone's Facebook page, saying that the show truly was all about Vince (seeing as how nearly the last half hour of the show had him on screen) and that the episode was awful because there was no appearance by one CM Punk. Now, after having had several days to digest this (as well as seeing another video which I will discuss momentarily), I realized that I had expected near-immediate results on the story instead of watching and waiting for it to build.
Now, I am going to bash WWE, but not quite in the way I did four days ago. I believe the reason I expected the story to move forward on Raw was because of the way WWE has done their storytelling over the past few years: a story that felt like it should grow over months ended up getting crammed into the space between PPV shows, and the whole story arc felt rushed. Now it appears that the CM Punk storyline is going to take a while, which at first threw me off. I was expecting an immediate continuation of the story on Monday night. What we got was the typical "He isn't employed by WWE, so Vince pretends he doesn't exist" deal that has been going on for decades, and a nearly 30 minute in-ring promo with Vince, John Cena, and HHH. I initially felt as though Vince made his own title even more pointless by pushing it to next week's show and taking up the time where they could be crowning a new champion to announce that John Cena was going to be fired. And when HHH walked down the entrance ramp, I knew he was going to be "taking control of the company." HHH hasn't dressed in a suit and tie for, what, five or six years now? It had to be a big occasion for him to dress like that, especially as a babyface.
Anyway, since I have had time to look back on that night, I realized that Vince is finally doing what I'd been complaining about for years: he's letting the story develop over time. He isn't rushing to finish the story arc before the next PPV. He's letting it build, and that is about the smartest thing he can do right now. Meanwhile, we're getting bombarded with images of CM Punk traveling around with the WWE Title. And then, yesterday, this happened:
There are other videos of this event out there with over 250,000 views, but this one has the best overall quality.
Now this is about as far into uncharted territory as Vince has ever gone. He's using this very scene between CM Punk and HHH to ignite even more interest in this storyline. And you know what? I'm actually enjoying it. I'm happy to see Vince branching out and poking his head out of that bubble that's been surrounding him for nearly thirty years. I'm glad that he's seemingly starting to let a storyline evolve outside the arena. I like it that this feels more organic, more spontaneous, more REAL than his storylines of the past. When you've got the guy who walked out of the company on top crashing a panel headed by the new boss of the empire, you've got some serious interest building.
Simply put, this storyline is growing stronger by the week, and it's keeping me interested. Like I said a few days ago, I haven't been this intrigued by a WWE story in years. I think because Vince is seemingly heading outside his comfort zone, it's making me appreciate what he's doing. So maybe that situation I described a few days ago will happen, but it won't be soon.
I do have to complain about one thing, though. Otherwise, it wouldn't be an episode about WWE. I am disappointed with the WWE Title match set for next Monday night. Miz vs. Rey Mysterio? I was really hoping to see someone who hadn't been world champ in this match. I would have loved to see Kofi Kingston in this match, even though I gave up on him ever being a WWE world champ months ago. Still, it would have been nice to see a new face in the main event scene. But I'm pretty sure this title match will be irrelevant. Why, you ask? Because this is all just a storyline.
I believe now that this whole thing about Punk leaving was just the build-up to this story arc. The stories about Punk leaving because WWE wanted to trademark his name, all the talk of backstage politics...all just the setup. And now that I realized that, I have to give WWE credit for stepping into new territory (for them, anyway). Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and everyone who considers themselves a smart mark or a member of the internet wrestling community should have been smarter than they were. When MVP left late last year, he informed several sources that he was allowed to continue using the MVP gimmick because he was the one who came up with it. It was his intellectual property, and WWE let him keep it. I have to believe that the whole story about Punk wanting to leave because WWE wanted his gimmick is just a setup because his gimmick was created long before he entered WWE. But I don't mind now that I realize it was part of the story.
What I'm really enjoying most about this story, though, is that it's being doled out in pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle, and once you figure out how the pieces lock together, there's this sense of accomplishment. I'm really hoping that the story continues to unfold piece by piece, and not dumped on us at once. I'll be watching Raw again next Monday night, just to see where the story goes.
So I suppose that's all for the moment. Except for this SPOILER ALERT FOR SMACKDOWN: Apparently, Daniel Bryan Danielson announced that he was cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase at Wrestlemania 28. He'd be the first person to announce when he was cashing in his contract since Rob Van Dam. This, again, allows for months of build-up, which is just what Danielson needs. I'd love to see him get more time in the ring to show off his skills instead of getting the crap kicked out of him every week. I'm just happy he's got a world title match at Wrestlemania. He deserves it more than anyone else on the WWE roster, and I'm looking forward to the match, whomever his opponent may be.
Okay, NOW I'm done. Catch you all later, and remember to stay cool. It's about a thousand degrees outside.
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