Lawler Angle On Raw Was Classless

This past Monday, Jerry Lawler returned to RAW, 9 weeks after suffering a near fatal heart attack while live on the air.

After such a traumatic event, you'd think WWE would have enough class to just drop the Punk/Lawler feud entirely, and allow Jerry to come back without incident.

But when Vince McMahon is running the company, that just can't happen, can it?

I've waited a couple of days to post this, as I'm trying to put my thoughts in appropriately.

First off, WWE SHOULD NOT have played footage of Jerry while doctors were trying to save his life. It was extremely uncomfortable to watch and it just wasn't necessary. It brought me back to that god awful night of September 10th, and even though that was a historic occasion with Bret Hart's return to Montreal, I try not to think about it too often because of what happened to Lawler.

After Jerry returned to a standing ovation and was in the midst giving his return speech, things got worse.

WWE Champion CM Punk came out with Paul Heyman, and publicly exploited the health issues of the living legend.

If WWE were trying to upset me, they sure as heck did that. By the end of that promo, I felt physically ill after watching it; it was the most tasteless promo I've ever seen on any wrestling broadcast. It's one thing to exploit a real-life heart attack, but it's another to do it 9 WEEKS after it took place.

Thankfully, Mick Foley came out to duel with Punk on the mic, but even Mick's promo was a bit too uncomfortable. "HE WAS DEAD! HE WAS DEAD!" just made me feel even more uncomfortable than I already was.

Since the angle was pee-approved by all parties involved, including Lawler, I can't imagine what any of them were thinking.

In other news, there were many other matches. Brad Maddox got physically destroyed by Ryback in an entertaining squash, but didn't win as I predicted. Also, Lawler's first match-call back was the match of the night; a 8-Man Tag between Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel & The Primetime Players, Primo and Epico, which wasn't a cluster as I expected. 

John Cena battled Punk in the main event, and for the first time I can remember since the August 22, 2011, picked up the win against him, but in a non-title match. I fully expect Punk to retain at Survivor Series this Sunday and continue his long title reign.

SMACKDOWN is Solid, But Not Super(or Live) from the UK

This weeks Smackdown was a good show, but as the title "SuperSmackdown LIVE!" it was promoted under, is was not exactly super. Maybe it was because the show was just a taped one instead of a live one(as it was promoted under), and the show did not feature both WWE brands, but this just felt like a normal episode of Smackdown, just airing on a Tuesday.

The main event Falls Count Anywhere match started out shaky, as Del Rio looked very much off-pace. The action, however, improved as the match went on. My favorite spot in the match was when Orton backdropped Del Rio onto the stage from the floor. That was very cool to watch, and Randy beating Ricardo into the Phone Booth & closing the door was pretty innovative too.

Since these two are currently still in a feud, I expected a dusty finish, but Orton surprised me with a clean victory, and the show went off the air less than a minute later. Counting commericals, the match went on for around 25 minutes, which is a rarity for a TV main event.

Another match of note was the IC Title match, which was another hot contest.

And we got a William Regal match, which is another rarity. He lost, but it remains to be seen if he will continue to be involved in the Sheamus/Big Show feud, which by the way I still don't care too much for. Hopefully that train wreck ends at Survivor Series...

Raw Review: McMahon Shakes Things Up In The UK

If you think last night's Raw was anything but a newsworthy episode of WWE's flagship broadcast, you need to have your head examined.

Even thought the show was a taped one & I knew the results hours before it went on the air, it was still a spectacular, important, & game-changing episode as it relates to the Survivor Series in just under 3 weeks time.

First off, we now have a Triple Threat WWE Championship match scheduled for the PPV. Punk & Ryback have now been taken out of the Traditional Survivor Series match.

I do have a few problems with this...

• It basically renders last weeks episode as unimportant.
• I was actually looking forward to the match, so it was a shocker, and not a good one.

So now the traditional Survivor Series match is being put on the back burner for yet another year. Not a fan of that.

Anyhow, elsewhere on the show, the Brad Maddox saga continued.

Since I haven't been on here for two weeks or so, let me just say this was a smart move. Not only was it a great solution for the finish of Hell In A Cell's main event, but it also introduces us to a new character.

The angle itself has generated surprising interest, since Maddox has stated he is acting alone(which not many people, including me, believe.), and even thought his voice sounds like a 13-year-old John Morrison, he actually doesn't have bad promo skills. I expect him to get absolutely massacred next week when he faces Ryback, only to get help from Punk, Heyman, and Team Ziggler(despite Punk and Ziggler's problems), and when he gets his $1,000,000 contract, can become a pretty good heel. The situation is being pushed heavily on all of WWE's TV programs, so don't expect it to be swept under the carpet so quickly.

As far as this scandal storyline goes, I'll address that in another post later this week. But in another story, JERRY LAWLER IS BACK NEXT MONDAY.

I'm not ashamed to say I missed the King alot. JR did an typically AWESOME job filling in(and he should stay with Cole & Lawler for a three-man team, which is being discussed!), but the show just wasn't the same without having Jerry on commentary. Glad to see he's coming back.

On another note, the crowd was AWESOME. They were vocal in every segment, even with 3MB, which is saying alot. I LOVE UK CROWDS! :)

Tonight's SuperSmackdown (Not)LIVE! also has the potential to be a great show. Apparently there was a pub fight between Big Show, Sheamus, and William Regal.

Wait, did I just type William Regal?

I did?

He's on the show?

In the main event?

Holy Crap! They're actually using him! This is remarkable! Now let's see if this last for more than one week...