I don’t know about you guys, but my respect for CM Punk has increased.

It’s not just the fact that he once again communicated with the IWC, or that he made a match with Jerry ‘former King of Memphis, Tennessee’ Lawler look half decent (my favourite match of the night was John Cena vs. The Miz for those interested). It was also that he perked me up after what was an hour of boredom, and I watched it on Sky+ this afternoon (Tuesday afternoon, should it take more than a few hours for this blog to be available on www.ewrestlingnews.com). It was a decent cage match for Raw, and Punk’s actions afterwards were the first interesting thing Punk has done since his epic clothesline to The Rock on Raw 1000.

As I already mentioned, Cena vs. Miz was my match of the night. I looked at this week’s Raw with the failure of SummerSlam truly behind me and a fresh slate in place. I enjoyed the majority of it (I’m not overly sure why WWE are trying to make me interested in Santino’s hand wanting a piece of Aksana’s ‘pie’ though?), and the matches, for the most part, were actually good. I’m also intrigued by the Dolph Ziggler/Randy Orton idea being flirted with right now.

With that being said, let’s get the first blog I’ve written in a fully awake state off to a start.

#Respect

I was sceptical about CM Punk ignoring Cena for the night in favour of Jerry Lawler.

It’s not my dislike of Lawler (the man cannot commentate a match anymore and needs to be replaced by William Regal in my opinion), but the history King has in ruining otherwise great moments. The most recent example of this would be The Miz’s early run as WWE Champion. Miz had all the potential to be a great champion, but then he was thrown into a pointless rivalry with Lawler which did nothing but help Cole and King build to WrestleMania. From that point on, Miz’s run as champion was hard to take seriously (who could take a champion seriously when they ‘need’ Michael Cole’s help to retain against King in a TLC match?), and we all know how that ended…

But once again, CM Punk delivered on his claims as the Best in the World. Not in the sense that he wants respect for, but because he turned the otherwise pointless exercise of acknowledging Lawler into something progressive. Until now, Punk has been closer to a tweener than a heel. After his post-match assault of Lawler, it is clear he is the heel in this rivalry (at least to the WWE). To me Punk is still the face with rightful claims of due respect.

I just wish AJ hadn’t stepped in and made the Night of Champions title match before Cena could force it out of Punk. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t all know the match would happen.

WWE presents… Anger Management

Last week this idea seemed ridiculous to me, but thanks to some good acting on Bryan’s part and a random guy (he might be a former TNA star, but I haven’t done the research to confirm or deny that) labelled Harold, we got a few funny promos. From Bryan telling Harold that his work life is nothing compared to his own, to the random kid wearing a goat mask, it was all pretty funny. And then Kane stole the Oscar (if Oscars were given for average acting from athletes in two masks) when he listed everything he has done in his WWE career which qualifies him as a viable candidate for anger management (my personal favourite was when he told us that there is no real reason for his attacks on Pete Rose).

Outside of the skits, it seemed to affect both superstars in their matches. Bryan now has an obvious exploitable flaw (which I see as a positive in terms of long-term storyline development) and Kane has shown weakness by letting Zack Ryder (why does WWE insist on putting him on TV anymore? Even the kids have stopped caring...) free of a Chokeslam.

Does WWE not remember last time they had Kane show compassion? He became a face and once again irrelevant.

Game over?

Am I the only one left unsure on Triple H’s future even after that long-winded thank you to the WWE Universe?

I don’t know if it was that he never said he was done or not, but it didn’t seem as sincere as a WWE goodbye usually is. With Edge I was brought to tears, and that was because he was actually done with pro wrestling. With Triple H it isn’t like we aren’t going to occasionally see him even if he is done with in-ring competition.

It just left me with the uneasy feeling that we’re going to see another chapter of Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, a story I care less about than Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey.

In other news…

Ryback def. Jack Swagger – It was news to me that Swagger’s last win on Raw was his US title win, and it almost had me caring that he had slipped so far as being yet another jobber for Ryback. Almost.

Layla def. Natalya – If you needed any more reason to expect WWE didn’t care about its divas division, Vickie Guerrero interrupting the match before it started to make an announcement nobody cares about was just as good. Maybe Vickie didn’t get the message that Raw is now three hours?

John Cena def. The Miz – This was a vast improvement on their WrestleMania match, and Miz’s aggression provided a great Snap DDT. It’s just an expected shame that Cena had to win in the same manner he beats everyone else. Stupid Five Moves of Doom…

Santino Marella def. Heath Slater – I like Santino and Slater, but this match was never going to be great. Also, why do WWE think we’ll believe that Santino’s hand wants to explore Aksana’s ‘pie’? Hang on, my mistake…

Brodus Clay & Sin Cara def. Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow – This match had so much potential if only Brodus hadn’t been involved. Also, it’s a shame that Rey Mysterio is concussed because a rivalry or partnership between himself and Sin Cara could be gold.

Sheamus & Randy Orton def. Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio – Another good match, just do NOT drop the ball with what looks like an Orton vs. Ziggler feud, WWE.

I said I was approaching this week’s Raw with a fresh slate, and that’s exactly what I did. The fact that most matches this week were no more than two minutes long should hinder the product given it is a three hour show now (2 hours 20 minutes excluding breaks, thank you Sky+), but I think WWE did well to remove SummerSlam from my memory this week.

Other than being a little peeved that AJ threw a potentially great Cena/Punk promo out the window by announcing Punk vs., wait for it… (it’s unnecessary I know, but AJ seems to think it adds suspense when you pause before pointing out the obvious) Cena, I was reasonably pleased with Lawler taking a kicking and Miz getting a chance to show his worth against Cena.

For more of my views tweet me (@SpringerAJ) with #YYYTRR.

P.s. If I decided to do a similar, less involved, blog on SmackDown would people read it? Tweet me if you would.