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.
8 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
John Rutter 9 months ago
I didn't get a chacne to see Unforgiven last night, but after reading the results it sounded like another bad PPV. I didn't think Punk losing the title that way or the fact Jericho winning the title after the beating he took from HBK was a good move at all. But now after reading this it actually makes sense & I would have to change my opinion completely. Great article!
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Dozer 9 months ago
that's the whole mindset I had from the start. When I 1st heard that Jericho won the title, I was upset. Not because I don't like Jericho, I was actually rooting for him in his match against Shawn Michaels (ok I was rooting for both of them), but because I like CM Punk so much. I mean come on, we're both from Chicago - how could I not like him? But then I thought about it from a business POV and it made really good sense. I like how they did it.
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warcroft 9 months ago
CM Punk will enter into a feud with Orton and will forever be drop to mid card status. . . never holding the WHC again.
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Ryan 9 months ago
Don't believe that for a second. If he had lost the faith of management, he wouldn't be entering a feud with the top heel on Raw
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cat lee 9 months ago
I don't really see this as a good thing like you do. But at least I hope that the wwe which seems supid sometimes in their creative decisions will use Punk in a good way and not make him out to be a jobber to Orton or the others in that group. Sorry I am a Chicago girl who been watching Punk since long before his move to the WWE and he too good to be used as they have used others in the WWE. I do think though you are right and he will have another run one day. Hopefully it won't take too long and hopefully Jericho won't have the belt but a short time too.
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Lester Andrade 9 months ago
I beleive that if they were going to do this then they should have given the belt to HBK not Y2J
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Mike Edwards 9 months ago
I do not believe that it was a good move by creative to strip him of the belt. If they wanted to do a program with Orton and Punk then build it up so that Orton would comeback for the title. The only way I could see it work with Y2J as the champ is to have Shawn Michaels in the picture to continue their feud; but since Michaels is out with an injury the move doesn't make sense. I will say that I do like how they are putting the sons of former wrestlers together. If worked right, the young stable could be one of the best in the business.
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Ryan 9 months ago
I, too, like the stable of "3rd generation stars". Has tons of potential.
As for the whole Punk/Orton/Jericho thing: The way he was being booked, Punk wasn't working out as champ. He was being made to look poor against bigger men. If he had held the title and entered a program with Orton, he was either going to lose the title or it was going to diminish Orton's value. Think about it: a guy who could barely get by as champ beats the top heel on Raw? This is better for Punk in the long-run. Re-establish him against a main event heel, get him into another main event feud before putting him back into the title chase.
As for Jericho: This is perfect for both him and HBK. He put it best when he made his comparision about accomplishments--he accomplished more at Unforgiven than Michaels. This gives Shawn the time to rest, Jericho the time to be built up as a credible champion and, if it's in the cards for Michaels to get another run, he can come back in time to re-kindle their feud for Wrestlemania.
This really works out in the long run, provided the WWE does the right and logical thing here.
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