CM Punk Vs. Ryback At Hell In A Cell

Things just got a little interesting. The WWE is running with CM Punk vs. Ryback for the WWE Championship inside Hell in a Cell. Obviously, Cena will not be 100% ready for such a match in time. If he was, they would definitely have wanted him in there. If he was, this push Ryback was getting really would have ended up being just a mini-feud. With Cena not in it, Ryback will get the biggest match of his career in just a few weeks. He is headlining a PPV, going after the WWE Champion, and inside Hell in a Cell.

Something will have to give in this match. Ryback is undefeated. But will they hand him the WWE Championship this fast, ending Punk's lengthy run in a way they obviously did not expect to before Cena's injury. Because this is a Hell in a Cell match, you are not going to get a DQ ending to save Ryback's streak. He will either beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship or take his first defeat. This is good hype. Will it sell the PPV? Ryback has been getting very over lately. People have been waiting for him to get a real match and feud. Well, here it is.

Who should win? That is not an easy question for this match. The product has been weak lately. Having Ryback win might shake things up. But is he really ready for it? The reign may not even last long. Just a little shot of the unexpected might do wonders for Raw's ratings. CM Punk can always win it back and face The Rock at the Royal Rumble. I believe Ryback should actually win. Will this turn into the kind of big push that Lesnar had? It doesn't have to. Once again, just a big change to shake things up is what they need to do. And no, I still do not consider myself a fan of Ryback. But I am a fan of something fresh and exciting, and this situation can deliver.

What about Cena? He stepped aside so Ryback can get this match. That is not the first time this has happened. Just go back to TLC last year. Cena once again has his character shine. No need to cry for him. He doesn't need the title to be the centerpiece, anyway.

Sheamus Vs. Big Show

You have an interesting feud developing between Sheamus and Big Show for the World's Heavyweight Championship. Aside from the basic story of one guy having a title and another guy wanting the title, the WWE has hyped it as the first encounter between these two. If Big Show had some better momentum prior to returning, it would mean more right now, but no need to complain about that. Beyond that, they have been bringing in the finishers of the two guys. Big Show's KO punch has often gotten major attention. The Brogue Kick has gotten into storylines recently, as well. Good move in bringing it together. Brings more to the feud.

Not much more time left until these two go at it. Should it have been inside Hell in a Cell? Given that the feud has just started, I can understand not making it a Hell in a Cell match. Now, if Alberto Del Rio was still feuding with Sheamus, ending it in Hell in a Cell would be perfect. Back to reality, who should win between Big Show and Sheamus? Given the fact that Dolph Ziggler is likely to cash in, I don't think it matters too much. I think you can easily picture how it might go down. You have the finishers getting attention in this feud. One guy could win the match, then the loser hits his finisher out of anger. The commentators talk about the Champion being out cold, then Dolph Ziggler comes out. Perfect. Too obvious? Let's see how the WWE plays it out.

R-Truth And Kofi Kingston Split

They were the Tag Team Champions back when it looked like the WWE would revive the tag division through putting better focus on those teams that were being poorly featured. And now, after losing the tag titles and knocked out of the tournament to find new #1 contenders, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston are splitting up. Just as easily as they came together, they separate. And it doesn't look like either will turn heel.

Kofi Kingston looks like he is entering a feud with Miz over the Intercontinental Championship. Kofi Kingston has held many midcard titles, aside from the tag titles. For as long as I can remember, he just seems to be passing from one title feud to another. While a lot of people might say that it is great that the WWE is loading him up with all these titles, what's the point? I would rather see him getting more feuds like the one he got with Randy Orton a few years ago. Kofi looked very credible there and it showed a different side of him. He still proved he can get aggressive on Raw when he attacked Miz, but the Kofi you had in that feud with Orton had more attitude. Instead of loading him up with titles, more character development would be nice.

As for R-Truth, he seems to be the odd guy out. Whenever a tag team splits, a lot of fans try to figure out who the "Marty Jannetty" will be. That is to say, who will be the less successful guy? It is probably too soon to judge, but on that same Raw that had Kofi Kingston enter a title feud, R-Truth only had a comedy segment with Brodus, which then got cut short by Vince McMahon. And what about Brodus Clay? He doesn't seem to have focus on him, either. Why not pair up Brodus and R-Truth? Since the tag division is turning into this playground where you team up midcarders and upper-midcarders, why not give it a go? They can enter a feud with Heath Slater's band. If they don't want to team up R-Truth with someone else, how about have him feud with Antonio Cesaro, who is also without a good opponent? There are good options for R-Truth. He should not be lost in the shuffle.

Inserting Vince McMahon Against CM Punk

Moving away from drama that did not have to do with the storyline, Vince McMahon came back to Raw to address the state of the WWE. He didn't actually get to say anything interesting before CM Punk interrupted. That led to a match between the two being booked in the main event, which then eventually led to Vince forcing Punk to choose between Cena and Ryback for Hell in a Cell.

If you want something big to try to draw in ratings, how about having the boss come back and fight in the main event? Cena was even a part of Raw this week. Ratings did do better, but still fell short of that 3.0. The streak of being under a 3.0 continues. That's 6 weeks. Moreover, that trend of viewers tuning out over the course of the show still continues. If the WWE does not like seeing that, will they go back to 2 hours?

Vince vs. Punk. Obviously, it was a brawl, not a match. Nevertheless, the boss does not come back to get physical with just anyone. People want to compare Punk to Austin? A possible match between the two coming up? I'm not going to get into that. Point is, that was a big rub for Punk. He is being pushed much better over the last few months. That is, of course, because Cena has now been involved in the WWE title feud.

Ryback or Cena? That is the decision Vince left for Punk. Should AJ have been the one to do that? She seemed to get demoted for a night. The WWE was obviously hoping Vince can draw. And he left Punk to make the decision next week, which would hopefully get fans tuning in to find out what happens. Who should Punk pick? A feud with Ryback would be fresh. Who will Punk pick? Is Punk really afraid of a crippled Cena? That is in terms of the storyline. In reality, Cena still has some time to heal and seems to be doing fine. If he is not good to go, giving Punk the opportunity to choose will be a convenient way to leave Cena off this PPV card. If he is ready to go, a triple threat would be nice. I'm also hoping for a triple threat for the tag titles, but that is an issue for another day. It would be sad to tease this thing between Ryback and Punk and not follow through. Punk chooses Cena, then Ryback gets demoted to randomly squashing jobbers. I cannot imagine the WWE being that wasteful of an opportunity. Ryback will definitely stay in the picture in some form.

Punk Hits Fan

I'm not going to analyze the storylines and booking, ratings, or any of the usual stuff this time. The big thing coming out of last night's Raw was CM Punk attacking a fan. The whole world saw it. Vince McMahon was in the ring when it happened. This is just horrible.

The image above obviously does not show the whole incident, but you can obviously see some guy behind the guy in black push Punk's head, which caused him to finally have enough and attack the guy in black. Nevertheless, CM Punk should not have done something like that. If a fan is attacking you, I can understand defending yourself. If a fan is just heckling you, I can understand yelling at him back to put him in his place. Punk smacked that guy twice. You can bring up things like PG and Linda McMahon, but you just can't get that violent with fans in the crowd. There was a little boy just behind all that commotion. Had things gone a little differently, that little boy could have gotten hurt.

Should CM Punk be punished? Seeing as this guy has a history with altercations with the fans, even though it is usually just an exchange of words or Twitter nonsense, I would say he should be punished. He needs to learn. You can do something wrong and apologize, but if you keep on doing the same kind of thing, or worse things, what is the use of apologizing?

Strip him of the title? Have him lose it earlier than they originally planned? Suspend him? Fine him? Whatever they do, they should do something. I'm sure Punk is sorry he did it, but he needs to stop doing this kind of thing.

0.84 And Vince To Return

A while ago, I talked about the possibility of TNA's annual ratings average falling below a 1.0. Last week, TNA took a good step in making that possibility a reality.

0.84. That is the worst number of the year for Impact. Sounds like the same kind of story you had for Raw last week, doesn't it? Once again, you can blame football. Problem is, it was once again not a big game. Worse may come. Thanksgiving will not be friendly to TNA. Will the yearly average really drop below that 1.0 marker? They had some good things going for them recently, which I am sure I mentioned at times, but the overall product is still not as great as some fans might think. I see some fans say that TNA is better than WWE right now. Problem is, they are still failing to draw a wide audience. Viewership was at 1.058 million last week. Can you imagine it dropping below a million? I can. They scored a 0.3 in the 18-49 demographic, down from a 0.4 last week. You can check the numbers here. Yes, Impact is all the way down on the list for shows that day. Just about every sign points to them doing poorly. If they do not make changes, when the tougher competition does eventually pop up, they are screwed. TNA would probably love to be getting a 2.54 right now.

Mr. McMahon is going to do it Gangnam Style! No, not really. He is going to address the state of the WWE. After that 2.54 last week, you had to wonder how the WWE would react. Anything around a 2.5 is a nightmare. Can Vince bring a boost? Will it be enough to shrug off football and get back up to a 3.0 for one night? Vince is no Dwayne Johnson, but you also have some hype that Vince may make a big announcement. He may do something to shake things up. They need to shake things up.

If this fails? Whether this is the start of an attempt to get fans tuning in more regularly or just a shot to get some boost for a night, if the WWE still ends up with a 2.5 or worse tonight, that would be crushing. They cannot count on The Rock to boost the ratings and Lesnar to get more PPV buys on a regular basis. If tonight fails, they definitely have to realize that their product cannot get the job done.

Paul Heyman Being Underutilized?

I know a lot of fans are in love with Paul Heyman. I am not one of them. Nevertheless, I don't like how they are using Paul Heyman recently. He is being underutilized.

When he made the surprise return to align with CM Punk, that opened the door for a very interesting partnership. CM Punk had lost a lot of his edge. I would be the first to point out that there was no great ratings bump for Raw during his big summer angle in 2011. He was still edgy, however, and that got a lot of fans talking. It sold merchandise. By bringing Paul Heyman, who was mentioned in that memorable promo last year, into the story, that should have opened up possibilities to make things edgy again and get fans eager to tune in again. I still wouldn't expect a great rise in number of viewers, but I don't believe Raw would fall under 4 million viewers so easily. What does the WWE have Heyman do? Hold up that title and say that CM Punk is the best in the world. Okay. That's nice.

What should the WWE be having Paul Heyman and CM Punk do? I am not saying they need to dump the entire bag of tricks out every week or be way too edgy, thus pushing the boundaries of PG. They should be doing more to capture the tone that they had last year. I am not talking about CM Punk being bitter and complaining about everything. He is still doing that now. They need to create that feeling that some kind of change might happen. It obviously won't, given the WWE's record of not easily changing the status quo, but just like a lot of fans fell all over it last year, the WWE might get them again this year. And inserting Paul Heyman can definitely make that fresh again. But they are not doing anything good with that. They are just using Paul Heyman to give CM Punk a rub and make him more of a heel, but they are passing up on an opportunity to try to make this situation draw more.

2.5

2.5. Is that the rating for the best Smackdown of the year? How about the rating for what TNA would score if...well, never? 2.5 is the number for this week's Raw, which was a non-holiday Raw.

When I saw the viewership numbers, I expected a disastrous number for the ratings. Not a single hour of Raw averaged even 4 million viewers. A 2.54 is not good. When you round it down, it looks even worse. These are the kind of numbers that Smackdown was getting not too long ago. Bad ratings and bad viewership.

Blame football? Well, of course. Cowboys vs. Bears. Those two teams have a ton of fans. However, I could picture some games that could have drawn even more viewers than that. Neither of those two teams were undefeated this season. Neither of them really featured a top 5 quarterback. This game, even though every game in the regular season is important, was not that crucial. Point is, Raw didn't even go up against the biggest possible threat that football could have presented, but they still end up with the worst number for a non-holiday Raw in 15 years, according to reports.

Blame the lack of Cena? I don't think so. Cena has suffered two major injuries since becoming centerpiece. Coincidentally, both happened around this same time of year. I am referring to 2007 and 2008. He was out for months for both those injuries. This time, he is only out for a few weeks. He was even on Raw last week. They still mention him a ton on Raw. The current major storyline for CM Punk is his possible match with John Cena at Hell in a Cell. Even though Cena got injured during football season in 2007 and 2008, Raw's ratings did not really seem to flop, not in the manner you are having now.

Blame the lack of creativity? Yes. I pointed out yesterday that there are really no good storylines going on for singles wrestlers in the midcard. You have this tag tournament going on, which is good, but would anyone really expect it to draw? Even without Cena, the WWE is still banking on the main-event scene to draw for them. Aside from teasing Punk vs. Cena, they have Punk having these encounters with Ryback, interacting with legends to try to get him to face Cena, and had him face Kane and Daniel Bryan this week. That is a lot of Punk. How about spreading some of that focus to more midcarders? Not to sound like a CM Punk hater, but I don't think he can get the job done in drawing in a wide audience, especially around this time of year.

I think the numbers may have sank as far as they will go for now. They will rebound next week. The WWE product is still weak and hasn't really created proper hype to get fans to tune in. It is getting so boring, they may start losing more regular viewers. With so little confidence in the WWE product, how can I think ratings will be better next week? I don't think every football game will draw as well as this week's. A 2.5 is so low, I cannot imagine it dropping further so soon. Maybe in December it will, but not now. If it does drop to a 2.4, you have a real crisis on your hands and the WWE needs to reevaluate itself.

A Playground Or A Revival?

A tag-team tournament. Very nice idea. It is putting even more emphasis in the tag division. However, who is really going to benefit in the end?

You have a lot of random teams consisting of guys who became established through singles careers. By pairing them together and putting them in the tag division, that may needlessly take attention away from the more legitimate teams that have not been established properly at all. That has been my main problem with recent developments in the tag division. I have said it numerous times, but I still have to repeat myself in hopes of making it clear or clearer. The Prime Time Players still have some attention on them. They even beat down Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara a while ago. However, are they developing that heel team to be stars or put over stars? There are a ton of instances of what I am referring to. Just look at the history of the diva division. Let me pick out one example. Jazz would sometimes look dominant against Trish Stratus in some segments. Some might have thought the WWE was going in a whole new direction. But who ended up still being developed to be the greatest centerpiece the diva division has ever had? And who rejoined the ranks of credible jobbers? I would love to see the WWE follow through and give the Prime Time Players the title shot, and eventually the titles. Are the non-established tag teams going to be given proper opportunities in a division that now includes a lot of top stars? That is what will separate this division from being either a true revival or a playground for midcarders and upper-midcarders.

If you actually look at what else was going on last night on Raw, paying attention to the midcarders, there is really nothing else going on for the singles wrestlers. You had a lot of filler matches. There are no interesting storylines going on for the solo guys. I see Heath Slater getting his own stable, but that isn't a solo thing now. No interesting midcard title feuds are developing. The bulk of the midcard attention is on the tag division. Because of all that focus on it, I find it harder to believe a lower-midcard team will win the tournament. Looking at how much main-event attention Kane and Daniel Bryan are still getting, I cannot picture a lower-midcard team winning it. As of now, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara or Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow look likely to win.

State Of The WWE Diva Division: October 2012

Before recent developments, I figured my next post about the diva division would only be about the current storyline they are running. Now, it seems some fans think the sky is falling.

Let me still start with the current storyline involving the divas. It is the most elaborate storyline you have had in quite some time. Who took out Kaitlyn? Was it a blond diva? Eve in a wig? Rikishi? Not only is Eve involved, but Kaitlyn, Layla, a number of other suspects, and this might be Beth Phoenix's last act. She will likely put Eve over in the storyline. And even after that, they might still run the storyline longer to include Eve vs. Kaitlyn. The characters are rather weak in this elaborate storyline, but it is still better than anything you have seen with Layla and Beth's previous reigns this year. I need not mention the reign in between those two. The fact that they are investing this much into Eve makes me believe further that she is the centerpiece.

One person who it will not be, Kelly Kelly. She is officially released from the company. When I look at some of the reactions by some fans, it seems so ridiculous. They act like this is a big development. She hasn't been around in weeks. And when she was there, it was only for a single televised appearance. Prior to that, she was gone for a long time. And if you go back even before that, the WWE had already given up with her as centerpiece. Did her desire not to be committed to the WWE lead to them giving up on her? I am not going to act like I work backstage and know exactly when she first gave notice to the WWE. As far as I was concerned, Kelly Kelly was already finished with the company the first time she left. When she did return, had she expressed interest to be more committed, they might have ran with her again. Fact is, you can't have a centerpiece who is not going to be around prior to even solidifying her position. Kelly Kelly was no longer being pushed as something vital to the diva division. Because of that, they did not really lose anything that will force them to take a bigger blow than they have already taken in recent years.

Sara Del Rey might just be a trainer for the WWE. I believe I already said what I thought about Sara Del Rey wanting to be in the WWE. I am not going to repeat it.

I hope you can see how the current diva division is different from what you had a few months ago, when the focus was mainly just on developing AJ in the periphery. The diva division itself was not being featured properly. Now, you have a storyline that actually involves the title and numerous women. That is interest in the diva division. That is what it is like to have a centerpiece. That is the most important position in the division. You can't really blame the WWE for wanting a new centerpiece so badly after Trish and Lita left. A centerpiece is worth more than a periphery diva. Let me put it this way, in football, a field goal is only worth 3 points, while a touchdown is worth 6 (plus a chance for an extra 1 or 2 points). When a football team works their way down the field, they would love to get a touchdown, if they are able. That has the most value. Developing a centerpiece is like scoring a touchdown. Having to settle for a periphery diva is like settling for a field goal. It still has worth, but it doesn't have the same worth as the centerpiece. With a centerpiece, you have real interest in the actual division. That is the woman they want to be the top star of their division.

Is the sky falling? That is the say, is this the end of the diva division? As I have said before, if the WWE has 9 out of their 10 divas in the division being real female wrestlers, but that odd woman out is an eye-candy diva being pushed as a centerpiece, the division still stands. That is not exactly the division you have now. You have the typical centerpiece, but not a lot of good female wrestlers to really revolve around the centerpiece. That makes for a messy division. The division had already collapsed. They are now trying to rebuild. If it collapses again, I would love to see how the WWE reacts. How much can they take before they realize that this style of a women's wrestling division no longer works?