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.