Kevin Nash Takes Out Triple H

If pro wrestling really was about trying to hurt your opponent, Kevin Nash would have one of the greatest finisher moves ever. That huge attack he gave Triple H on Raw was to write Triple H off due to the injury he had suffered the night before. Triple H will be out for at least a month, meaning he will miss Survivor Series. The WWE's own website is reporting it, and I doubt it is all kayfabe.

Obviously, this will put a dent in the WWE's plans. Triple H was one of the top guys on Raw since his return. He was involved in a power struggle with John Laurinaitis, feuding against Miz & R-Truth, and looked to be going back into his singles feud with Kevin Nash. If anything, his feud with Kevin Nash just got raised to an even higher level.

The dent is not too huge. CM Punk will get his feud with Alberto Del Rio. John Cena and The Rock move on to Miz & R-Truth. You have a lot of midcarders on both brands who can make for a classic Survivor Series match. The divas look like they may be heading into a large match too. If not, Alicia Fox is heading into a title feud against Beth Phoenix? Large tag match makes more sense, since it is Survivor Series coming up. Big Show and Mark Henry are not finished yet, although I wouldn't mind them being involved in one of the elimination tag matches as captains for their respective teams. Leave Big Show's rematch for Smackdown or the PPV after Survivor Series. Point is, not much harm was done to the potential of the Survivor Series card because of Triple H's injury. The main draw was going to be The Rock anyway.

One last point on Triple H. I am not usually the guy who says that the WWE is doing something that makes no sense at all. When I see other people doing that, I can usually either see the WWE's side of what they are doing or just feel the whole thing is so trivial, it can be overlooked. On Raw, Triple H revealed he was still COO. That means he was still technically overseeing everything. All he lost was control of Raw to Laurinaitis. But if he still outranks him, doesn't that make all the protesting the WWE had going on seem meaningless? So what gave Triple H the right to run Raw in the first place? What happened to the Anonymous Raw GM? And if Triple H only lost control of Raw, why can't he still push his weight over on Smackdown? If control of Raw was all he lost, why were Smackdown workers against him too? I can understand the WWE's dilemma a little. If they take away Triple H's COO position and name Laurinaitis new interim Raw GM, who is the new COO? Why could they not just name Laurinaitis interim COO until the Board of Directors chooses a new one? The way things are working out, Triple H still should have had the authority to overrule whatever unfair decisions he felt Laurinaitis made. Also, Triple H would still have power, which would make a lot of the wrestlers who protested against him unhappy, especially the heels. Moreover, Triple H still had the title, but he was not doing anything too major with it. So what's the point? They should have just given it to Laurinaitis. Hopefully, when Triple H returns, they can pretend he is no longer COO, just like they are pretending a computer no longer runs Raw.

The King And The Best

Raw closed with a long promo between Triple H and CM Punk. I will be very surprised if this match does not close the show at Night of Champions. Even though the WWE title is not involved, and no Cena either, it is still elaborate and effects the entire company in terms of the storyline. Besides all that, Triple H is involved. Why not make it the main event?

Looking at just the promo itself, I liked it about as much as the segment John Cena and Punk had before Summerslam. I'm not a big football fan, but I doubt the back and forth Triple H and Punk had will seem more exciting than NFL action. Yes, it is back. Watching that promo, it was like seeing an argument on wrestling message boards get dramatized. Would that make it better? In terms of a good argument, it is easier to have it on a message board. You get to take your time to plan, while looking back at what was said before, and might even rely on others to join your side and argue for you. But that is not what this was about on Raw. They were obviously not out to deepen the understanding of what is going on or come to a compromise. They were there to hype their match.

Honestly, I forgot why they were even feuding while listening to that promo. It does not help that they have been developing this thing a little sloppily over the past few weeks. This all started when Kevin Nash attacked CM Punk and cost him the WWE title. There was a controversy as to who told Nash to do it. Punk pointed fingers all over the place, including Triple H. Triple H denied it, and Kevin Nash even later confirmed that he did it on his own. Triple H even fires Nash. While this is going on, Punk keeps pushing Triple H's buttons, which leads to this feud. There are a few more details here and there, but the overall message I am seeing is that this is CM Punk's fault. In terms of the storyline, Triple H tried to call things fairly and do his job right. Then they have CM Punk act arrogant and bitter about what is going on. He makes it seem like he is still being held down, like this was 2006 to him all over again. So they put the COO position at stake. There I see a mistake. Again, Triple H has not really done anything wrong. Miz and R-Truth are also taking jabs at how things are being run under Triple H, but there issues always happens to jobbers after they are built up and fed to a centerpiece, which would be Cena in both of these guys' situations. I don't see anything special for Triple H to be criticized for. That is another reason why I would have drawn this thing out a little more. Have CM Punk face Nash at Night of Champions. Have CM Punk face Triple H at Survivor Series. In the two months until then, really build up that some people dislike what Triple H is doing as COO with some good evidence for the storyline. Build the heat. From what I am seeing, they are only building it now by having CM Punk be annoying and pandering to the fans. The promo they had on Raw put over John Cena for no good reason whatsoever, revisited Punk's history of why he believes he has been mistreated, and talked about the idea that the WWE likes pushing big guys as their major stars. Oh, and ice cream. From what I can see, nothing was really resolved whatsoever.

The saving grace of the whole segment, for me, was when Punk's mic got cut off. This led to Punk eventually attacking Triple H with the pipe bomb. That brought back in some real hatred into what is going on. Aside from that, all I see is bitterness from Punk and Triple H defending himself and the WWE product. I see holes in both of their sides, some of which the other brought up. But of course, this was not about being a real debate anyway. For what it was, I found it pretty stupid.

What happens at Night of Champions? You have Kevin Nash released, but John Laurinaitis seemingly taking his side. If Triple H loses his position, who takes over? Notice Laurinaitis casually making a few decisions over the past few weeks in booking matches? In other words, I think you can see the obvious route this may go. I just hope they tease it out a little. Add some suspense to it.

The Chicago Botch: The End

If a tree falls in the forest, but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? I don't really care. I have a better question. Does CM Punk officially getting beat by John Cena and sent back down to upper-midcard matters mark the end of what I call "The Chicago Botch", or is this the crucial moment that actually makes the "botch" what it is?

So much hype just two months ago. All these internet rumors about CM Punk leaving the WWE culminated in a storyline that teased the possibility of him winning the title in Chicago, or an arena close enough to Chicago, and leaving the company with the WWE Championship. The WWE pulled the trigger and gave Punk the belt. He was gone for about a week. He pops back up, causing another controversy after John Cena had just won the WWE Championship. Punk vs. Cena at Summerslam. Punk still in the main event. Throughout all of this, fans did not want this angle to end like the Nexus angle did last year. They called that a "botch". Go back to Summerslam. Kevin Nash attacks Punk, which allows Alberto Del Rio to win the WWE (Undisputed) Championship. Nash was the one who distracted Punk and cost him his recent match with Cena. Kevin Nash is feuding with CM Punk, and the storyline also involves Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. But after the main event, Alberto Del Rio attacks Cena brutally. That is the last image on Raw. Cena, the centerpiece, is still in the main focus. Punk's changing directions and heading back south. This does not surprise me at all.

Did the WWE mess up the angle they started with Punk leading up to his match in Chicago? It definitely did not last as long as the elaborate Nexus feud against Cena. Punk still has something to do, and it is obviously an elaborate storyline, but it is definitely not in the same direction as things were going for Punk before. I remember 2008. Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels had a very elaborate storyline that lasted months and months. Aside from Jericho winning the World Championship near the end of it, it did not really involve the main-event titles. John Cena was still around on Raw. Even after he was briefly injured, Batista was still there too. Point is, it is possible to have a great storyline without it being in the main event. Question is, for CM Punk fans, is he the "Chris Jericho" in this situation or the "Shawn Michaels"? Both men looked great in the feud, but Jericho went on to be pushed all over the card, which is usual for him. Shawn Michaels never lost the hype. Forget Kevin Nash, he is just a pawn in the storyline. The main player for Punk, aside from whoever sent the text, is Triple H. This is a storyline for COO Triple H do be a part of too. He is definitely not the "Chris Jericho" in this. You look at how CM Punk was being pushed in the months and year prior to this big hype he is getting now. All over the place, just without winning as many midcard or tag titles as Jericho and probably losing more big matches overall. And that is where I think Punk will go when this is all said and done. John Cena will still exist as centerpiece. Triple H will most likely be around to hold some kind of legendary status, much like Shawn Michaels did. And CM Punk? He would be lucky if he gets sent over to Smackdown to cover the lack of stars over there. I don't see much hope for him on Raw.

I did not answer my own question. Did the WWE mess up CM Punk's angle? Well, it definitely gave him major hype and a new gimmick, which he still has going on for him. Thing is, the Nexus angle gave no less than 7 men hype and a gimmick that was intriguing. That fizzled out. People can also say that the WWE messed up the angle by having Punk come back too soon or unifying the titles too soon. Inserting Del Rio might not have made a lot of people happy either. In other words, you can say that the WWE was doing things that were hurting the angle for a while now, not necessarily intentionally, but the angle is definitely over. CM Punk is no longer WWE Champion, he was never really true top dog of the company for more than a few moments here and there, especially right after both times he beat Cena recently, and he now moves on to other matters while Cena closes in on another eventual title reign. There were definitely a series of "botches" along the way, but is what happened on Raw this week what finally ends the overall feeling of displeasure some fans may have had, or is this the ultimate "botch" that really ruined it? Depends on how you look at it. Are more fans upset that CM Punk's main-event push is over or that it was not being as developed and executed as well as it could have been? In one case, the depush is the "botch". In another, the depush simply ends the WWE from "botching" it further. CM Punk may be better off with his upper-midcard storyline. In any case, it doesn't even matter.

What does matter? Ratings. 3.0 this week. Yes, football is starting back up, but it can only get worse when the season really heats up. Also, for the sake of comparison, Raw ratings never did this low last year until September. Ratings have already dropped below 3.0 this year even before this week. The WWE has no good excuses. They invested all this in CM Punk. They are still having him speak his mind. They are still having him involved in controversy and mystery. They are trying to bring reality into the show and be edgier. They are starting to show a small amount of more interest in the midcard. Most importantly, John Cena, their centerpiece, is still there. Problem is, they are failing to create that major hype to really hook. Of course, Raw ratings were high last week, right after Summerslam. People tuned in for the fallout of the PPV. While the fans are there, they are baited, and the WWE has to follow through and hook them for the next show. Ratings dropping from last week to this week is not shocking, but dropping as much as they did is not a good sign. One last question. If Kevin Nash receives a text message, but many fans don't really give a damn about that or anything else the WWE is offering to tune in every week, do the ratings go up? No, not really.