MagicianCamille

Nope. DH Smith is a good wrestler. Just because WWE doesn't use somebody doesn't mean they're bad. Masters put on good matches and had charisma. They were booking him to win a vast majority of his matches too. Them not putting him on any of the A shows is a mystery to me.

Great Khali is actually Indian though and is very popular in India. Jinder Mahal is Canadian and AFAIK is not popular in India yet, though I imagine this angle is designed to get him over not only in America, but India as well. Maybe then they will release Khali, because yeah, he is pretty awful in the ring. But I look at Vladmir Kozlov and Chris Masters and can't help but think there are guys more deserving of being future endeavored. How about Hornswoggle? JTG? Tyler Reks? Primo? I'm also thinking with the tag division in the state its in, why wouldn't they reunite the Hart Dynasty and actually use a guy like DH Smith? Not like Tyson Kidd has gotten any kind of singles push. Oh well, there's always behind the scenes things we don't know about that probably played a factor. I know DH Smith for instance has been training for a career in MMA.

WWE released Vladmir Koslov, Chris Masters, DH Smith, and Melina today. Gail Kim also quit the company. Source:WWE I disagree with these releases. Koslov and Masters were horribly misused, Hart Dynasty should not have been broken up, and Melina is one of the better Divas on the roster. Several other people who were more deserving of being released.

Punk-Jericho would be the better match from a wrestling standpoint, but Punk-Austin would be much bigger. I'd rather have Punk-Austin. Punk Vs Jericho is a feud you can have on TV and on the other PPVs. Punk Vs Austin is the kind of thing you could really ONLY do at Wrestlemania IMO.

Yeah I think Jericho is laying the groundwork for a return and feud with Punk.

So wait, ADR Vs Evan Bourne was the main event? Evan Bourne is main eventing?! I'm marking out bro! That Raw was okay. Pretty predictable, accomplished what it needed to I guess. I like the idea of Miz and R-Truth teaming up. There just isn't enough air time for four main event heels, or enough main event faces for that matter. I thought Morrison looked excellent out there and was booked pretty strongly despite eventually taking the pin. I guess you could say I am nervous about Summerslam, but not nearly as nervous as I was going into Money in the Bank. At least CM Punk has won the WWE title now. I'm going to go with him winning the unification match, because he hasn't even defended his title yet, and losing to Cena would rob him of his momentum. And the fact is, if CM Punk loses momentum, this storyline loses momentum, and that would not be good for the WWE. Also LOL at Nexus suddenly no longer existing. To think this year started out with a rebirth of Nexus led by CM Punk. Ahh what a testament to WWE's ability to screw up storylines. Also doubt we'll ever see or hear from the Anonymous Raw General Manager again.

CM Punk's all-time favorite. He was wanting to come back to manage Drew McIntyre, but I guess WWE doesn't like entertaining television.

Yeah, I know, I'm saying even playing a gimmick which at its core isn't something I would find entertaining, there was more to his character than just Hustle Loyalty Respect, smile and throw your hands up.

I'm not a fan of rap at all and even I think Cena's character was more original and entertaining then than now.

I think that's exactly how it'll go down. Mark Henry shows up to make a statement and WSS's Orton, Christian pins him. Orton feuds with Henry, Christian taunts about how he has no challengers, Sheamus comes out and they feud for a few months I think. Though Jinder Mahal remains a wild card in all of this. I thought an Orton-Khali feud was imminent, but now I don't know what their plans are for Jinder. Maybe have him feud with Zeke? But then what about Rhodes/Dibiase? I think it may be too soon for them to break up. Hmm, Smackdown needs another face.

Poor TNA has nothing going on of their own to speak of.

So The Rock is a pre-order exclusive (for the first few months anyway) for WWE '12. I find that a little surprising as he has reliably been a legend available to all players. I guess I will have to pre-order to job Dwayne out to CM Punk mwahahaha. The roster reveal will come after Summerslam I believe. Excited for that, though I am yearly disappointed by seemingly obvious exclusions. Last year I was upset Great Khali and the NXT guys didn't originally make it into the game. Some of the NXT guys were later added, but still, I would have loved to have had Daniel Bryan and Kaval in SVR11.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/player?id=6808291 Great CM Punk interview on ESPNs BS report. Discusses his current push, when he decided to stay, how wrestling has changed, and puts over Rey Mysterio as his favorite wrestler in WWE today.

Sounds like he won't be getting an in-ring push then, which is disappointing.

Rey Mysterio deserved to win the WWE title. People don't see him as a world champ because he's small? Guess what, this isn't legitimate fighting - weightlclasses don't matter. It is a show, where the performers put their bodies on the line every night to entertain us. Mysterio with his high-flying style has done it as much if not more than anyone else, and he deserved this nod. He always put on good matches and has put over multiple people within the last year. Miz's time will come again, he's the future, but Mysterio deserved that win tonight, and I was glad to see him get it. But then they ruined it. Really? Booking him in a match against Cena just an hour and a half after a grueling title match against The Miz? How does that make sense? How is that fair by WWE logic? How can Cena, as a face, take this match in good conscience? This was a tainted victory for Cena, and the fact nobody seemed to mention it is ridiculous. Bah. Stupid. So Cena is what, an 11-time world champion now? Does the new title even count? Isn't CM Punk still champion? Did anyone ever vacate him of the title? Why is HHH even honoring Vince McMahon's decisions (new title, Mysterio Vs Miz, CM Punk's name being banned) when he said there was a vote of no confidence? When there's a vote of no confidence you don't UPHOLD THE CRAZY GUY'S POLICIES. Just nonsensical writing. They are trying to spoon-feed BS and I'm not buying it. They really messed up this storyline. A damn shame. JR coming back was awesome. Ziggler was awesome. Ryder was awesome. I marked for Morrison, glad he was able to rehab quickly and look forward to his deserved push to the top. But why did HHH say he "re-signed" him? Morrison was never let go, he was injured. Dumb. I don't want Cole on Smackdown, let Matthews and Booker work a two-man booth. There is no place for Cole, stop shoving him down our throats. Raw had some great moments tonight, but it also had a lot of crap, and overall the CM Punk storyline appears to have been fumbled, and the WWE title situation is confusing, and I have little reason to care with the way its changing hands and being re-created without the previous guy ever losing it and *head explodes*

Really weird ending to Smackdown. I think the purpose of building Henry up so much is to eventually elevate someone else. Mark Henry just doesn't have staying power. His mic skills are poor, and all he can really do is the same thing over and over again, punish people, all the while putting on sub-par matches. Question is, who's going to be the guy that finally stops the World's Strongest Man? If it's Orton I will be very disappointed.

I think Franny is mad that he didn't know but had no one to call.

I would say Punk has at the very least signed an extension, and that the comic-con interruption was definitely planned.

Yeah...they can't really announce major business changes like this on-air. The segment was undoubtedly symbolic as Vince IS grooming Triple H to take over someday, but I think Vince is still going to be in full control for years to come. However, Triple H will be the on-screen Chairman from now on, which I think sounds awesome. I actually liked Raw last night, seemed like there was a ton of wrestling and little filler. CM Punk's absence extends the angle and leaves more questions than answers in the air. For what it's worth, I could see R-Truth costing Rey the match next week, and Miz winning, but then before he can be crowned CM Punk shows up and everyone knows where it goes from there. Maybe Cena pulls out the Rematch Clause and we get a triple threat for Summerslam. Punk Vs Cena Vs Miz? I'm in. Del Rio might also be in the match making it a 4-way though, as he is technically the #1 contender, unless that doesn't matter anymore. Hmm, parts of this storyline might be a little convoluted...oh well. So it seems they're going to need to push a few new faces over on Smackdown for the midcard. Sin Cara is out (possibly forever), and DB has the MITB briefcase so he's probably getting a push. Who fills in? Trent Barretta? A Gabriel face turn? Are there any other faces on Smackdown...? I guess they'll debut Johnny Curtis, but I could see him getting heat for the TERRRRRRRIBLE segments he's been doing lately. I like how all of the current men's singles champions are my favorite WWE Superstars. CM Punk and Christian, my top 2 favorites in WWE while Morrison is injured. Ziggler and Jackson, both of whom I have marked for on this very board. It's like WWE is catering to ME!

Chicago puts other crowds to shame. That PPV was incredible.

I'm speaking from a logical booking perspective...the purpose of booking is to build interesting story lines in order to get fans to tune in every week and buy the PPVs. This is definitely an interesting storyline, but from it's beginning with the CM Punk promo they have only detracted from it by 1) building sympathy for punk 2) turning it into another Cena being fired angle. This is why I get nervous when WWE has a good idea, because they can only make it worse, and oh boy do they know how to make things worse. Remember back in January when CM Punk took over Nexus? That was an awesome moment that had people thinking "Oh man, something big has just begun", but then NOTHING came out of that storyline. Nexus got weaker than when it was a bunch of rookies. Punk was not made to look strong, continued losing PPV matches. Then Orton started dismantling Nexus and went over everyone.

Yeah, didn't like the Cena/Vince promo myself, or the Cena promo to start the show. First of all the First Amendment doesn't apply in terms of your work firing you. If you go to your job and talk crap on your boss you're going to get fired. Was idiotic to bring up first amendment as it just didn't apply. Secondly Cena sticking up for CM Punk just builds sympathy for both of them, so we have two sympathetic faces going at it for the WWE title...why would I want to pay for that? I want to see two guys that really want to fight each other, not two guys that really respect each other blah blah blah TNA TNA TNA. Thirdly I agree with JO...why would Vince suddenly think Cena would be unable to win? I could see him showing up to help Cena win to protect his investment, but announcing before the match he doesn't think Cena can win makes zero storyline sense. Lastly, Cena emoquits...and then Vince gives him the match, and then threatens to fire him, and Cena looks horrified. He just threatened to quit... Just don't get the people saying the Cena/Vince stuff from last Monday was good. Aside from the fact Cena is dressed like the Kool-Aid Man combined with an 8 year old boy, the content just didn't make sense. Not even whacky wrestling sense.

For that storyline to work, yes. I don't know if he will or not.

What has more potential is for Cena to turn heel like The Rock at Survivor Series 98 and validate everything CM Punk said, turning Punk face. Roles reversed, Punk feuds with Cena and McMahon. Add guys like McIntyre and Swagger to the McMahon faction, maybe toss a bone to someone like Chris Masters and see if he can't get over as a McMahon hired gun, have Miz turn face during the angle as well. Now THAT would shake things up. Of course Nexus would have to be forgotten about entirely, but I'm okay with that. Or for Nexus, Punk, Otunga, and McGillicutty come down to the ring to call out Cena and McMahon, McMahon says before you worry about me you'd better make sure you know who your friends are, Otunga and McGillicutty turn on Punk and join the McMahon faction. No stupid t-shirts with logos, just everyone dressing up in corporate attire.

Cena-McMahon would suck. You need a badass character to go against the corporation, not a grown man who dresses like an 8-year old boy and even when he's trying to be serious (speaking his MIIIIND?) comes off as incredibly hokey. Cena needs a complete change in character before he could pull off a feud with McMahon. That said, Cena/Rock is already locked down for the next Mania anyway, so the logical choice would be CM Punk.