The Steel Cage

Yeah, but if he can come through the night keeping the belt, I will totally mark out

VINCE HAS ME WANTING TO WATCH HIS PRODUCT ON A REGULAR BASIS NOW

I think that the product has actually been pretty good over the past three months, especially ECW (even given Mark Henry as champ, the Morrison and Punk, Benjamin and Kingston stuff has been top notch rasslin'). .

Yeah, I think I may watch next week again and see if this keeps up. I haven't been watching the program but once or twice every few months for the past few years. But the past week has been great.

I am pleased with the many developments. It almost felt like watching WCW relaunch tonight with the fresh faces all having belts. CM Punk as champ seems to undermine things for me, though. I'm not a fan and never understood why he was being pushed to the extent he has been. He is simply not a main event wrestler and will not bring numbers on ppv. When CM Punk has the World Belt and some like Jericho has yet to sniff it in ages there's something wrong with the approach.

I am fire and foremost a fan of the World Heavyweight Championship belt over the WWE belt, so its painful to watch it be demeaned with the worst champ since The Great Khali and David Arquette. Yes, I mentioned Arquette.

I'm not a big Punk mark... might be the only person who regularly reads wrestling blogs who isn't. That said...

The last two weeks have been AMAZING on Raw, and have me really wishing I had a local CW affiliate so I could watch SD as well. Punk looked like a million bucks tonight, Ted and Cody were awesome, Kofi is amazing and I can't wait to see the ineveitable Kofi/Orton feud...

I missed Night of Champions (only rent PPVs when I'm almost certain they're going to be awesome) but definitely plan on picking up the DVD.

Now if Vince can avoid hotshotting Cena/Batista, Raw will be in really, really good shape.

As fantastic as it is that there are some new faces, Raw felt a lot like Smackdown tonight. It seemed like more than half the segments of the show were recaps of what we just saw earlier.

Did anyone else feel this? Or was it the same as always and JR is just more skillful at making this seem less boring.

But love seeing Cody, Kofi, and CM Punk play a major role - it's great to see.

i have to say before wasnt that much of a cody fan. He was kind of bland and had no personality. only thing I enjoyed was him calling Roddy Piper the special TIME KEENER a few weeks back. But after the last two shows i am eating my words. Cody is doing great and finaly is showing some personality. Good things i belive are in store for the two young guns.

People asked for a fresh product and they are getting it.

CM Punk World Champ....check

New talent getting major air time like Kofi Kingston and Rhodes/DiBiase...check

Less McMahons and more wrestling...check

So hopefully they can jeep this momentum going through the Summer. I congrat and thank WWE for listening to fans and shaking things up...is Punk as Champ the answer? Who knows...but at least its different and I hope that they do not fuck up his title run like past small guy champs like Rey. For the first time in a long time I am actually excited about what WWE is going to do the next week. I hope they can continue this streak of good raws going.

this is a great time to be a WWE fan. Let's hope ECW and SD can be half as good as this edition of Raw

I've been watching Raw since it started. This was one of those episodes that signaled the start of something refreshing. Let's just hope they don't give up on it. Keep in mind that Michaels, Orton, and Batista were absent from lost of minutes on the show and that will change. I just hope the right guys go over in these new feuds. I am sad to see the end of the Kennedy v. Burchill program, I thought they could both help one another get over...

A certain blogger who is famous for his books and rants even watched the show and seemed to enjoy it.

Good show two nights in a row...

They put the belt on Punk and then still have him job the entire match and get the fluke win. Pathetic!!!!

See how great RAW can be when you put some thought and excitement into it.

The stunning win by CM Punk was fantastic. It was a total shock and I'm glad it came on Raw.

Santino's promo with Rey was hysterical. Santino has consistently been one of the best performers on Raw this year (even though most of it has been on the stick)...but his line about Rey being Batman made me on the floor laughing. I think a Santino-Rey program would be a good re-entry into full time in ring work again for Rey.

A JBL versus CENA feud actually works for me since (especially for a coming Great American Bash PPV). They've had some solid chemistry in the past because they are both brawlers and its more believable to have CENA battle a guy like JBL, or even a Batista than it is a HHH or HBK.

Jericho was once again great. I look foward to what he and Cade can do together against HBK.

Love the Cody heel turn with DiBiase and I'm really hoping when Orton comes back he takes over and builds a larger stable.

Great show.

I screamed like a little girl when Punk won the belt from Edge. For those saying that he isn't main even caliber, remember that he main evented ECW (I know, it's not that big of a deal) for a time, and ROH before that. He's got the stuff to do it, he just needs the chance to show it. To think that the kid that walked into ROH with dyed blonde hair and gym shorts is now the World Heavyweight Champion, it's kind of neat. Not to mention that he and Joe are both World Champions of the two biggest wrestling companies.

I like the new direction of raw, but the first hour had 1 real match with the women's match and a peusdo-match with C.M. Punk shocking Edge. Lots of Promo, This maybe needed to establish new programs and talent.

It is a great time to be a wrestling fan. My only complaint about Raw was that I believe there was 4 total matches all night. However, they get a pass because I believe they were establishing Raw's new direction last night.

I jumped out of my bed when Punk won the title. I can see a Punk/Orton feud soon. I hated the way the Kofi/Jericho match ended, I hope it doesn't kill Kofi's momentum. Much props to WWE for the last two weeks.

We'll see what Smackdown can do later this week. Matt Hardy will be ECW Champ sooner than later. We'll be able to see if he can be a main eventer then.

Regardless of how long the Punk title reign lasts, it's definitely one that will be remembered for it's absolute out-of-nowhere shock value. Look, we all knew Punk had that guaranteed title shot, but if you told me last night that CM Punk would be the World Champion of the WWE's #1 show by 9:30PM EST, I'd have laughed in your face. Cena, JBL and Batista are all gunning for the belt it seems, and I'd imagine that your RAW main event at the GAB will be Cena vs JBL vs Batista vs CM Punk. That way, if anyone takes the pinfall, it could be someone like JBL or Batista, so even if Punk loses the belt, it's not a clean loss.

This was the worst Raw EVER!

Blimey...another convoluded Fatal-4-Way? Ugh. I hope that is not the case. If WWE is going to put the belt on CM, let him carry the historically-awful PPV as being the main event without the "help" of another gimmick match.

Was I the only one who shuddered at the idea of Punk losing to JBL last night? I wouldn't have put it past Vince to give him the belt only to take it away 60 minutes later.

Lastly, I enjoyed how Cryme Tyme was pushed at the end as Cena's buddies. They are popular with the crowd (although maybe not with certain critics) & they are fresh faces who I do think should be given a push instea dof being used soley for comedy.

When I saw Edge on RAW I just had a feeling about CMP. Seriously, why would Edge be on RAW at all? Then, when Batista started kicking the hell out of him, I turned to my fiance and said "Punk's gonna cash in the ba$nk."

Great move. Punk does look like he's a bit green with the title, but you know, so did HBK, Hart, Austin, Savage.. all these guys when they got the title the first time. The fact Cena and the announcers were constantly talking him up.. that was cool.

RAW was excellent top to bottom last night. And I agree that there needs to be a 4horsemen-esque type stable. I would definately like to see Randy Orton hook up with Paul Burchill and the tag champs, Rhodes and DiBiase. With Katie in the mix, this "stable" could very well be ba$nk. Orton feuds with Punk, Burchill feuds with Kingston, and the tag champs should on TV every week!

Rhodes was hilarious last night. I'd love to see skits with the champs "stylin' and profilin'". I want to see them at bars, nightclubs, restaurants... bring back the gimmick where they give $100 bill to someone who does something like dribble a basketball or bark like a dog.

Who would have thought that a RAW show without the usual suspects could have been so good?

Bravo.

R2J - JR isn't even on Raw anymore!

That is all.

The question was whether JR is just better at holding interest during a flashback or were there noticeably more? (ie - how bad does Michael Cole suck)

JR & HHH are clearly off to try to bump up the ratings for Smackdown. Personally, most people I know are headed out on a Friday night and if they watch, it's DVR'd

hahah!! !YES! I saw this on the same forum topic on the forum page of ukgothicmatch---c0m. The World's Largest UK Gothic & Alternative Lifestyle Personals. very hot topic there.

very crazy, I saw this on the same forum topic on the forum page of ukgothicmatch---c0m. The World's Largest UK Gothic & Alternative Lifestyle Personals. very hot topic there.