I'm a smark. Well, at least I consider myself to be a smark. I am rarely surprised anymore, save for a move that truly comes from left field.
Last night's Unforgiven Raw Scramble match came out of left field.
The injured Randy Orton, along with Ted Dibiase, Jr., Cody Rhodes, and Manu (Afa Jr.), beat down champion CM Punk, rendering him unable to defend his title in the main event.
GM Mike Admale vowed a good replacement and he came through. Coming off the heels of a brutal match with Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho made his way down and shocked the world by winning the World Heavyweight Title.
Now, I was one of the people saying that Punk losing the title would be terrible. But—and this is a big one—this is the exception. Losing to Kane, Batista, JBL, or Rey would have done irreparable damage.
But here are the positives coming out of the events from last night's show: Punk may have lost the title, but he doesn't lose face. He never was defeated for his title. He can always claim this, and no doubt will, whenever he gets into another WHC program.
He enters a very high profile feud with Randy Orton. This is good because Orton is one of the top heels in the company. This is also good because finally, Punk is in an isolated feud. No more battling monsters who are going to make him look weak. He finally has a chance to go over one-on-one.
The last positive has nothing to do with Punk, and that is that Chris Jericho is champion. He's the best heel on Raw and has deserved a run ever since he lost the Undisputed Title back at Wrestlemania X8.
He's tremendous on the mic, solid in the ring, and the most well-rounded and interesting character on the show. I just hope they give the man the extended title run he deserves and don't make him look like a weak champion like they did in 2002. Then again, there is no Rock or Austin this time.
I love this move so much, I'm actually going to watch Raw tonight.
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