WWE Monday Night Raw: Triple H, the Walkout and the Show That Could Have Been...

The walkout on last Monday's Raw was an event never seen before in the history of wrestling.

It was the wave that was set to change the industry forever. In this so called "reality era," a walkout due to unsafe working environments (however stupid, considering these are wrestlers) is the epitome of reality.

Fans were curious, and social network sites were bombarded with questions to the wrestlers who walked out, and to the few who didn't appear.

Suddenly, the following Monday Night Raw became a must watch show, and the WWE Universe were curious to see how Triple H could run the SuperShow with only five wrestlers.

Fast forward to last night...

Raw starts off perfectly with a camera shot of the backstage of the Oklahoma arena, only a handful of backstage personnel that I could probably count on one hand.

Out comes Triple H, not dejected by the loss of staff, but more determined to deliver a great programme than ever before.

His opening promo rallied up the arena as well as myself at home in manner befitting the King of Kings. After standard promos from Cena and Sheamus, and an entertaining promo from CM Punk, only one question was left...

"What do we do now?"

What we saw was a teaser of what could have been. Cena vs Sheamus as the opening match with Triple H officiating, in a hands on approach as COO. And who doesn't want to hear CM Punk on commentary?

The whole segment was almost half an hour long, giving me the impression that they really could pull this off!

A great promo could be followed by a potentially long match with Cena and Sheamus. Another promo could be followed with Punk vs Orton, and finish the show with a development on the walkout.

Revolutionary viewing that would have made last nights Raw potentially the best of the year...

But like a dream I had to wake up, and so did the WWE Universe. Vince made his return to Raw, informing HHH that his time as COO was over, and instead John Laurinitis would be the interim GM of Raw. A game changer? Yes. Too soon? Hell yes! 

Instead of developing the walkout storyline (which WWE have hyped perfectly for a week!) creative decide to kill the storyline before it could have matured into something special.

WWE missed a perfect opportunity to make Raw into a true Reality Era show, and thus allowing some star power and story to make its way to SmackDown. 

What we have now is a potentially bleak battle against the conspiracy and John Laurinitis' rise to power. It is almost NWO-esque as the superstars who stood beside Triple H are beaten down by the larger gang of superstars who agree with the GM.

This will start with John Morrison (poor guy can't catch a break) and end with a beat down on CM Punk. Jim Ross is gone, and the heels are in control. Things could quickly, and ironically, spin out of control.

What this shows is that, once again, WWE are not committed to fully fleshing out a storyline and letting it progress naturally.

The IWC's praise of Mark Henry has been so phenomenal because we have seen Mark rise slowly and naturally, until being world champion was the logical conclusion. But on Raw, we have seen many a storyline rushed to the detriment of the overall arc.

CM Punk returning so soon and Kevin Nash being fired after just a month are two recent examples of WWE rushing a storyline and sacrificing what could have been a greater story.

There are some bright spots to look forward too. For one, the Awesome Truth are back and I couldn't be happier! Them facing Triple H and Punk at Vengeance sounds awesome, pun intended, and could lead to a Team HHH vs Team GM match at Survivor Series.

The fact that Vince isn't happy with Laurinitis being in charge suggests that he is not behind the conspiracy, and that the danger is still present.

But, in my opinion, Raw took a massive step backwards yesterday, missing a perfect opportunity to gain attention and instead returned to mediocrity.