WWE Raw: How Intrigue, Compelling Storylines All Ended Last Night

With the unpredictable ending of last week's Raw episode, last night's results were anyone's guess.

If you predicted that every hot storyline in WWE would be destroyed in the span of two hours, you just won the pool. It was almost as if someone looked at the company's landscape, wondered how easy it would be to halt momentum of all of it, and follow through on doing just that. Now, not only is there little momentum going into Vengeance's long-awaited return to the pay-per-view rotation, but it might even kill the hype of the expected epic Survivor Series, which is less than six weeks from now.

The night began as harmless as can be. There were few stagehands backstage, no commentators at ringside and only Triple H was in sight. The COO entered and talked about the walkout and the superstars standing outside the arena in Oklahoma City. John Cena, Sheamus and CM Punk all entered the ring to talk about why they were staying with RAW, forcing big cheers and destroying the edginess of CM Punk and Sheamus. In short, Sheamus and Punk were officially faces.

We were suddenly presented with Sheamus vs John Cena, HHH as the guest ref and CM Punk doing commentary and ringing the bell. The match never really seemed to get going and Punk, who is often electric with a microphone in his hand, seemed more at a loss for words than anything else.

We suddenly had Vince McMahon come to the ring and have the match get thrown out. This was good because it was unexpected. However, it took the storyline of The Game as the authority of RAW and ended it abruptly. Triple H didn't lose his job as COO, but just lost his position as the GM of RAW. Basically, Triple H didn't get fired, but John Laurinitis gets a promotion. Laurinitis, at his new position, is able to book matches over the head of his superior, but that will be discussed later.

After commercial, the interim general manager is welcoming talent back into the building. This gives the chance to any up-and-comer to gain back some cheers from the crowd by telling off the new boss. Stepping up to the plate is... John Morrison. Was this the Shaman of Sexy coming out of the Divine Doghouse? It wasn't as Christian came out as his opponent and had some backup. Morrison had more time to work this week than his time with Alberto Del Rio, but it was still a short match. Morrison then was ambushed by Christian and three other superstars after the match.

The next match took a few commercial breaks to come to us, but we saw the unstoppable Mark Henry face Randy Orton in a non-title match. This match was booked mainly to set up Orton's next feud with Henry turning his sights to Big Show. Orton is now set to feud with Cody Rhodes, who interfered in the match and ended up putting a paper bag on Orton's head. There's nothing wrong with this, but Rhodes literally had to break up a near fall just to get the interference. Henry, who had beaten Orton clean in the last two pay-per-views, nearly lost on a random RAW to The Viper. It could have been done better.

At this point, not only is Laurinitis now in charge, but he has seen ambushes occur in each of the first two matches he is in charge for, yet doesn't bat an eyelash. Isn't this why Triple H was relieved of his duties to begin with? We don't see an ambush in the Divas tag team match, but nobody could really say anything outstanding about the match. Following it, Laurinitis brought Jim Ross into the ring and fired him. Ross has to be so used to this at this point in his career. In his hometown, you had to imagine something like this happening.

After a six-man tag match with Air Boom and Mason Ryan winning, the main event of the night was here. It was sad that the end of the episode could sneak up on an audience without giving them anything to hang their hat on as a great aspect of the night. It was Del Rio vs Punk in a feud that looked like it would lead to a WWE Championship match at Vengeance, but won't. This would be the chance for us to see if this is a feud worth having in the coming months. Just as the match is getting to a decent pace, Laurinitis comes out to take the two of them and pair them against a returning Miz and R-Truth.

We then see Del Rio have most of the offense, showing a prime example of confusing moments of heels fighting heels. Punk finally gets into the bout and Del Rio is leaving. With the advantage, Miz and R-Truth can take their time and pick up the win, but purposely get disqualified. We then see Triple H, out of dress clothes, come to the ring and beat up Miz and R-Truth. I want to remind everyone that Triple H didn't get fired entirely, but just doesn't run RAW anymore. He is still the COO of the company.

The final moments of this episode announce that The Miz and R-Truth will face Triple H and CM Punk at Vengeance. Immediately, it is the "return to the ring" for The Game, who had a match on pay-per-view three and a half weeks ago.

Let's recap now, shall we? The walkout ended as Vince McMahon and Triple H are no longer running Raw, but run the company still anyway. John Laurinitis is placed in charge for the time being to create a safer work environment, which had ambushes occur in three of the six matches under his watch. Laurinitis booked two matches for Vengeance, which could lead to a very disappointing pay-per-view. Mark Henry nearly lost clean to a guy he beat in the last two pay-per-views and CM Punk was at a loss for words. This all comes on the same day that WWE announces the fan poll of confidence in Triple H resulted in 85% of fans standing behind The Game and his decisions.

RAW is even more of a mess now than it was in past weeks. This is mainly because of the fact that at least there were compelling storylines to watch for with fans. Those who had momentum had it halted last night. The speculation of returns and results of certain debates were all abruptly ended with random reveals. RAW literally had fans captivated by what could happen last night. Some of those same fans are wondering if they even want to watch at all next week. It has certainly leaked doubt into many of our minds to what WWE can do to repair this massive damage.