SamoaRowe

How can someone get "punked out" in a promo, when they are scripted in the first place? It's not like they are going out there without lines.... Blame the writers and not the other person's apparent lack of mic skills (which clearly isn't true, Kennedy can talk) for that. let me rephrase...he was out-promoed btw, you do know those things aren't always 100% scripted, right? Mick Foley's The Hardcore Diaries leads me to believe that all the promos are scripted.

The thing is that in today's WWE there are so few catchphrases that when a rather tepid one like "Kennedy... Kennedy" comes along it stands out and some people are actually impressed with it and get behind it.

That would be great if it was anyone other than JBL playing the role of the rub giver. I don't think there are too many casual fans thinking "man if Punk beats JBL, then he'll finally have earned his spot!". I'd assume most of them are thinking, "I hope he knees JBL in the face and then goes on to face someone better/more important". Even if JBL loses cleanly, I don't think that really makes Punk look like he's on a higher level if and when he goes on to face a Cena or Batista or anyone of real significance to the fans. They'll still be playing the same basic storyline out until Punk cleanly beats a "name" as champ or turns heel because no matter how many people he beat he still didn't get the respect he feels he deserves. It would be a big deal at this point, since JBL just beat John Cena at the Great American Bash and is coasting on a wave of huge heel heat from his recent attempted power trip after the McMahon accident. The crowd reactions to JBL last night indicate that JBL is perceived to be a big deal by the fans.

How is beating JBL going to be a huge boost to anyone's credibility? He already beat JBL with Cena's non physical interference. JBL's whole thing is that Punk is a paper champion and then he earned his second title shot by falling backward onto a guy. Unless Punk hits JBL with a GTS inside of a minute that match is going to be booked to make JBL look like he blew his shot and that Punk still had no legit claim to being champion. At this point I wouldn't be shocked to see Kane run interference to protect JBL and keep Punk's streak of "he wouldn't have won if Wrestler X hadn't saved him from taking his opponent's finisher" matches intact. When somebody accuses you of being a paper champion and then you prove him wrong by beating him (in this case one by a distraction and the second time theoretically cleanly) it does establish credibility and pays off to a storyline that developed over a couple of months. That would be a huge boost to CM Punk and he will be that much stronger for his next challenger feud.

That Khali/HHH match is going to draw better than people think too. I don't like Khali either, in fact, I think I hate him, but he has a history of being a baffling draw (I'm guessing amongst the casual fans who are actually impressed by his height) so his spot in a main event on a card filled with other matches being touted as main events won't hurt anything. Punk/JBL should be very interesting, I'm with JPopStarKarmi on this one. Batista/Cena is very appealing and will really boost this show. The Hell in a Cell is another big draw.

That, and it feels like he's asked for it at least on three occasions and they want to keep him because they're afraid of the perception of too many stars heading willingly to TNA.

After spending two weeks in Maine, I am a lot more terrorfied of the upcoming elections. Basically everyone I heard talking about politics up there seems to know absolutely nothing about either candidate's positions, but they are leaning towards McCain because he's the more conventional candidate.

I wouldn't mind if Carlito never showed up on television again and he just sat out his contract or gets released.

I'm not sure. The only Smackdown I've seen lately was this week, and all I really got a chance to see what that The Brian Kendrick is my new favorite thing going on.

Chuck Palumbo is one of the annual casualties of the draft each year, where a bunch of the guys on the supplemental draft never show up on the program and end up released. Maybe that'll change. I agree that Palumbo is a solid hand. I even liked him in WCW when he was in the Natural Born Thrillers.

With Triple H, Umaga, Mr. Kennedy, and Carlito all on Smackdown now, I've been enjoying Raw about a thousand times more. Basically, I was tired of all four guys, especially the ruts some of them were in on Raw (aside from Kennedy, who was finally catching on in a manner that didn't bore me).

Yep, and they weren't too good either (we were waiting for Relient K to take the opposite stage).

I think Rey's declining health is going to lead to his downfall on Raw more than any poor booking decisions. He really should have been left on Smackdown where he has more of the built in fanbase that would be more accepting of his sporadic appearances and toned down ring style.

I really hope that's the case. At this point I get all worked up anytime Punk defends the belt because the way he has been booked is that he could lose the title at any time (which is awesome booking in some ways).

Excellent, excellent points. The way they developed Cena after half the crowd turned on him was perfect. Cena has progressed into a character whose actions please his fans and create positive babyface heat while at the same time pissing off the grumpy men in the audience and creating the type of heat that is percieved on television as positive heel heat. And since Cena embraces it all, it means that he can be the top face in the company and build business the way he does without having the perception on television that he's a bitch who no one likes.

Gowen has been fun in Ring of Honor. My favorite was when he came out to a heel reaction and he yells out "Hey, I beat the Big Show!" Some fan in the front row responds with "You never beat the Big Show!" in such an incredulous manner, it was priceless.

This was long overdue. Hell yeah. WWE.com is full of stuff that really should be included on the shows, because talent actually get to showcase some personality that helps get them over.

So yeah, how about those guys who need turns. I'll nominate Finlay, just to get things back on track.

I'll be holding on to the old Facebook for as long as I can. I hate it when websites make changes for apparently the hell of it. Same thing with magazines and their formats too.

I went to Warped Tour while I was gone on vacation. While I was there, I checked out: Anberlin Reel Big Fish Ludo Madina Lake Bouncing Souls Dr. Manhattan The Devil Wears Prada Four Years Strong Cobra Starship Say Anything Relient K Katy Perry Angels and Airwaves

Mikey Whipwreck. Is it wrong that I'd actually love to see that?

Also, anyone remember the harm that Austin's heel turn in 2001 did to business? If they turn Cena now, I see a similar thing happening, only it will be worse because WWE isn't anywhere near as popular as they were in the Attitude era (not saying they aren't making a profit now or that they don't have a solid fanbase, just saying).

I seem to remember the Raw ratings took a hit after Cena's injury (though a lot of the smark blame for that seemed to go to new WWE Champion, Randy Orton). And I recall when Cena was off filming that movie in the spring, crowds were actually upset about Cena not being there, a lot of live notes from news sites made mention of it. You know, it seems to me that a certain portion of the IWC made up their minds in 2005 that Cena was terrible and would always be terrible and then have spent the three years since covering their ears and eyes, trying to ignore all the in-ring accomplishments he has had since then.

I'm currently watching The Fink's favorite Summerslam matches. It's a good waste of time. I hope the expansion of content includes more full Raw's, Smackdown's, Nitro's, etc. I've been watching the 1993 Raw's in order and it's a good time.

Thank you to Soulpower for uploading the Bash. I got yet another review out of it.