CM Punk On Raw

CM Punk made his return to the Raw roster tonight. They are treating it as part of the trade for Edge to Smackdown. Punk had been working Raw house shows recently, so that kind of gave away any surprise a bit. Then again, why would the WWE really be interested in making it too much of a surprise?

There are two points I want to make here. First, it is becoming obvious to me, although I can be as wrong as the average wrestling news site writer, that the WWE does not appreciate Punk that much. They appreciate him about as much as a certain other person Punk had worked with before in other promotions. Should I be more specific? Yes, I should. Sadly, I won't. Edge got the hype as he left Raw. Upon his return to Smackdown, he just seemed more in place than he did for most of the time since his return this year. What's even more impressive, he's doing it as a face. CM Punk, on the other hand, was pretty much not involved in anything except losing to either Big Show or Undertaker, and also helping WWE kill off his stable. WWE had been building it for months, which makes me doubt rumors that Serena was released for drinking problem even more. Party girl? And this is so different from many other wrestlers because...I go off topic. Point is, Punk goes from poor use on Smackdown to being the trade for Edge and ends up on Raw, where he gets tossed on the same team as midcarders, main-eventers, and a jobber. He also helps out the WWE by "injuring" Evan Bourne, who needed the time for surgery anyway. I do not think Punk will be doing too much in terms of pushes are concerned for a while. Of course, his fans will be easily intoxicated by how good he is in the ring and on the mic, especially with his gimmick and being a heel. Punk is great, don't get me wrong, but the WWE can afford not doing much with him and still keep him around. He never has to touch the WWE title in the near future. He's not in a closed division. He does not even have to touch Daniel Bryan's U.S. title. As WWE proved on Smackdown and how they treated his move to Raw, they can push him however and wherever they want. He's in no one's way.

Second point, I think WWE may have made a mediocre move by switching Punk and Edge. Everyone can agree that Smackdown needs star power and all that. Sending Edge to Smackdown was good for that. But taking CM Punk off? That is trading one top worker for another. Many can say that Edge was getting stale on Raw, but his character was finally starting to get great again as he feuded with that computer. What does the WWE do? Kill that feud off and have the machine send the wrestler to Smackdown. Edge can still do good there, but he had more potential on Raw. Who stands up to the GM now? On the other side, people can say Punk was getting stale on Smackdown. Considering the WWE was killing his stable, having him lose to top stars so often recently, and not investing in him properly, is it really hard to figure out why Punk was losing momentum? They weren't giving him momentum! A move to Raw will not fix that unless the WWE hands him direction and focus. They need to give him the momentum. Time will tell if they do, but I think they should have left both Edge and CM Punk on Smackdown. Send The Dudebusters to Raw. If the WWE is really so upset about losing two top heels in Edge and Jericho for Raw, send over McIntyre and Rhodes as official Raw members. Aside from the gold they hold, being treated like top heels on Raw may have helped develop them a lot. If they did not want to do that, just stall a little more until Triple H returns and turn him heel, after he squashes Sheamus of course. Nexus is a stable full of heels getting main-event rubs. Developing them better singularly could have also solved the problem. If nothing else, Cena is supposedly the top guy on Raw anyway. No matter how stale the show is because of the lack of heels, which is only one reason the show is not as great anyway, Cena will keep some fans tuning in. Raw also has that luxury of having hype on its side more than Smackdown. Smackdown is missing these things. Undertaker and Rey Mysterio are top guys on Smackdown, but Smackdown is still getting mediocre ratings. If the WWE really cared about the show, they might have tried keeping Punk on and treating him better. They didn't. I do not have a good feeling for Punk's chances in this respect on Raw either.