Lay it on me.

Hello again, it's time for another weekly Raw roundup and opinionisations. I am the Aussie Mouthpiece, and I'm going to give my thoughts.

So the final Raw before night of champions. Night.. of Champions. And the main event spot on this final Raw before the pay per view goes to a promo. A promo of a match, that doesn't involve a champion.
Why is this pay per view still called night of champions, if clearly what's most important, is not either championship? Change it to unforgiven, or backlash or any of the better names that they've since canned for brilliant strokes like Bragging Rights, or Over the Limit....

The CM Punk/HHH segment was great. Don't get me wrong. My problem is that this pay per view, since it's inception, was about every title being defended. Now i'm assuming that's still going to happen, but (and especially because we're talking about RAW) the WWE title has, it appears, less significance than the intercontinental title, and the World's title.

Why was the tag match featuring Del Rio, Cena and Bret Hart put on in the middle of the show? Why has Randy Orton had the 2nd to last match on Raw's card for 2 weeks in a row now?.. Change it up! Cena and Bret should have been on then. After all, the WWE title is the "RAW" title. At least he was wrestling an actual big name, and not Heath "worst hair i've ever seen" Slater.

Ah the divas. To be honest, as soon as I saw that it would be Kelly Kelly vs Vickie, well.. needless to say I was ready to fast forward. I saw one move. A bulldog. Botched of course. The timing was off more than anything. I don't know who's fault that was, it's not my place to judge that. But it looked terrible.

Vickie I think is best suited to a manager-type role. Managers do get in the ring from time to time, but it's usually in a tag match, or as a post match beatdown situation. Thing is, the managers I remember doing that, could work in the ring. Bobby Heenan springs to mind of course. Jim Cornette took a good bump too. Keep Vickie as a manager, forget about her as an in-ring competitor. She's great outside the ring.

It's the old ECW mentality. Accentuate the positive, hide the negative.

I'm trying to work out what the point of the Otunga/Hennig (the other name is too long and annoying) vs Lawler feud is about. Is there any point to it? I can't see one. If it's a Raw Supershow, then why are we only seeing (correct me if i'm wrong) 2 smackdown guys on the card this week? Why not, instead of Sheamus teaming with Lawler to fight those two, have Daniel Bryan around, or Wade Barrett?

Am I the only one who thinks Wade Barrett and William Regal would work well together?

Ricardo Rodriguez was really funny this week. I guess it was because he wasn't announcing Alberto to the ring. His antics as Cena was insulting Del Rio, or even as Del Rio himself talked, saying Ricardo wanted to fight Cena were great. Really entertaining. I liked how he played the match too. Like, he didn't really want to be in there, but at the same time, he tried his best to fight Cena. At least during the part when Cena treated him like a bull?... Huh?

Speaking of Cena.. way to cut back on the edginess of his character. There were hints for a few weeks, especially when he was working with Punk.. but now it's "this is a special crowd"... "jalapenos" in reference to the mexican guy's balls.. instead of balls... Oh well. Oh wait, my mistake, he did make fun of John Laurinitis. I really hope Laurinitis isn't "mr future endeavour"... he's so boring.. talk about charisma vacuums. Nash has more charisma in his goatee than laurinitis has in his whole body.

I think it was smart (unless he's really fired.. that little seed of doubt though right? suspending disbelief, that's how you know wrestling is good), yes i think it was a smart decision not to have Nash on Raw at all. If it's a worked firing, have him do another run-in at night of champions. But.. people might be expecting that. So maybe they'll wait until the fallout on next week's Raw.

Triple H and CM Punk. Wow. Those two guys were given about 15 minutes to talk. Does anyone remember who, before Punk's "shoot".. was given this much time to talk? It's great.
Triple H was good, but then, he's Triple H. He's a big, agressive guy who has a mean looking face. It's not a big stretch to believe that he'd try to intimidate Punk. He was right about a few things in what he said though.

Punk has been given a lot of opportunities. He worked a title program with Undertaker. And beat him for the title if i remember correctly. Sure, it was a "screwjob", but he still beat 'Taker.  He's a 2 time money in the bank winner, cashing in both times to become world champion. He's led factions, feuded with big names.. and won.
What i didn't like, was Triple H referencing a year ago, and how the people weren't chanting for Punk. Um, wasn't Punk a heel a year ago? The crowd aren't supposed to be cheering him.. right?

So what's different now? Well for one thing, Punk isn't being a warped version of himself. No more "I'm straight edge, which means I'm better than you". He's got no faction behind him, he's not acting like he's the messiah, or the saviour. Well, maybe the last one, but this is something he can actually help save. Professional Wrestling.
He's being himself. Saying what he thinks. We've probably all seen the articles saying that Punk has been given a lot of leeway on what he can say in a promo, and ad-libs a lot.
I know this is obvious and it's been said before. But, think of most of the top names from the last 15 or so years. They've all been blown up versions of themselves. Austin, Rock, Michaels, Cena, McMahon (one of the top heels ever.) And now, add CM Punk in that same category.

The only exception is Undertaker. But even he's 'himself', it's just that he focuses on certain aspects of himself, to fit his character.

I'm not sure how i feel about the muted mic spot again. To me it feels like a "Vince McMahon" move. Maybe it's supposed to feel like that. Maybe Johnny Ace is pulling the strings. It's gotta be. Unless it's Stephanie. and she orchestrated all of this, to get control of the company from her Daddy. But, it seems like that storyline maybe has been done already? McMahon-Helmsley era anyone?

But, I do know this. I want to know what Phil Brooks wants to say to Paul Levesque. It's interesting.. today, I watched Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline of the WWE: 1997, with Jim Cornette. There was one part where he talked about how he'd put the idea forth about reality based programming. I wonder if this is the kind of thing he was talking about. It doesn't really pull the curtain back and expose the business (already been done), but it feels real.

Really good ending segment though. It's a shame we couldn't have a longer build to Survivior Series, but as i've been saying.. this is all part of a much bigger story.
Maybe we're going to see Triple H vs Vince McMahon at wrestlemania 28... for control and ownership of the WWE. Just putting it out there...

It's funny, there was a lot of rumor about this proposed incident of Triple H leaving CM Punk lying in a bloody heap the week before their match (originally at Survivor Series) would take place. I get the feeling the Mic shot by Punk was a way of saying "yeah.. we know what you read. That's why we're going this way".

The only criticism I would have is that Triple H repeated himself a lot. Talking about how "it's not about my opinion, it's about the fan's opinion". As Punk said though, was he even listening? He talked about Cena, they booed. He said Cena was one of the greatest ever, they booed. He talked about how Punk needed to impress them. Punk didn't even have to start anything, and they were chanting his name really loud. CM Punk HAS got over with the fans.

Then, towards the end, HHH started saying that HE was the only one that mattered. That Punk should be thinking about. Kinda contradicted himself and it got a little confusing, but the last few lines he delivered about being a man were pretty awesome. Topped only by Punk's reaction.

So what happens now?
Well here's how i see it.

Cena probably won't win the title. Del Rio should keep it a while longer. And should be given a more prominent role on RAW. After all, he is the WWE CHAMPION!

The Four Way for the US Title should be interesting. 2 ways you can go. Further the storyline between Swagger, Ziggler and Vickie and have Swagger win, or keep building Dolph and have him retain. I don't think Morrison will win, and Riley isn't ready.
Dolph should retain. Until possibly Survivor series. Then, Dolph wins the Rumble, and faces Orton at Mania. Bold prediction I know, but still.

Please, have Beth beat Kelly Kelly. That's all I need to say.

I'd like to see Mark Henry have the belt. Even for a short time. I think he's doing great work, especially as of late, and it might mean a different opponent for him too.. maybe Sheamus gets a title shot this way. Maybe Kane/Big Show return and we see either of them with the belt. Big Show should get one more title run.

And the big one.. Punk.. or Triple H. Well.. I don't know how to call it. So i'm not going to. I, like most everyone else, will wait and see what happens. Whatever happens, it will be a great match, it will not disappoint. Punk is the best he's ever been right now, and Triple H is still The Game. Will we see Nash? My instincts say yes. But let's hope for something outside the box.

Ok i'm done, don't forget, leave me a comment and tell me what you think, and follow me on twitter if you don't already @TheOZMouthpiece.

That's it, and that's all.