USC Wuz Robbed!

Ultimately, wins and losses aren't as significant as some of us make them out to be here if the guy is over enough to handle such losses, so let's not act like a guy like Orton, who is very over and has gotten the rub enough to where he's defiantely credible, can't put over a guy who they gave the world title to, actually gave a little decent "off the gate" run to in the process, and protected on the way out of the title. I understand this. However what you don't understand is they are not jobbing the guy COMING BACK FROM INJURY so quickly out of the gate. If Punk beats Orton in a feud, it'd be in their second feud after Punk has gotten more established/or Orton has gotten back into the swing of things by then. Since people are projecting Punk to be Orton's first feud, Orton is not losing it in any walk of life. Just look at what bps said. That's exactly what it is. An Orton showcase feud. It will be designed to put over Orton as a monster heel (again) and a strong leader for a new stable. I mean really, you have a new stable ringleader lose in his first feud? REALLY? And Bob, didn't Punk essentially win MITB because of politics involving Jeff Hardy, drugs, wanting to counteract that with pushing a clean wrestler? Yes there was less politics involved with Punk's actual title win, but like you said, it was just "Oh this guy shouldn't be this over... maybe we'll see what he got". The fact they thought he shouldn't have been that over, tells me what they think Punk's value is. And it's not equal to what his value SHOULD be.

Ok... a former world champion that is one of their few real heels in the entire company, returning after about 6 months away, is possibly tabbed to become the leader of the first significant stable since Evolution (I don't count La Familia as it was basically Edge and a few jobber types), and you have him losing in his first feud back, to a guy they couldn't even win matches that wasn't for the title... you definitely read the WWE's minds.

Honestly, I don't care. Jericho is the champion again. That's all that matters to me.

If they weren't high on him, they would have just jobbed him out in the scramble match, and they didn't. My point is, this was a spot that most assumed was set for Jeff Hardy before his suspension. Sure, Punk has performed well to the point that maybe someone said the creative team thinks highly of him. But remember that supposedly Vince (or that award winning creative team) thought so high of Shelton he/they was telling MVP to be more like him. They sure show it by having HHH pedigree him week in and week out. The only thing the booking proved was that they thought high enough of him to set up his next program, with a RETURNING superstar. Yeah he's definitely gonna win that one.

They need to establish that Punk's reign wasn't a fluke and he can still hang with the established main eventers to show the fans they're serious about pushing new faces So why weren't they? If they were in fact serious about pushing Punk, explain the booking for his entire reign? You'd think if they were serious, they wouldn't constantly be harping on what an underdog he is, or how lucky he is, or how other people beat themselves in matches with him. You'd think that if they were serious with Punk, they wouldn't have had him losing so much in ECW, so much on SD/ECW/Raw when he was building up MITB and after he won MITB, and losing so much as champion on Raw. They were just slightly more serious about Punk and his reign than Rey's. And that's not saying much. It's nice to think of all the possibilities when the WWE does things right, but if that was the case, it wouldn't be the WWE, would it?

What people forget is this could have very easily been Jeff Hardy getting punted in the head tonight instead. I don't think Punk really matters to the WWE as much as some believe.

Truthfully, after how he was booked for months as champion, that is really where Punk belongs. And it will take Batista until Survivor Series to win the belt (hopefully never though). And I agree with Fentz on his comment. WWE is never putting Punk over Orton in any significant way.

It was obvious when Triple H retained that a new champion would be crowned in the Raw match. Under those circumstances, did you really want to see Punk be physically present when he loses the title? Yes, the "booking" of Punk overcoming those odds would have been great, but this is taking too many factors that didn't exist into this equation. Like I've said to Hawk 34 about this wire to wire scenario, the WWE doesn't want to book Punk as the guy who does overcome odds. They seem to want to book him as the purely mortal guy who happens to be a good enough wrestler on some nights to win. Those kind of characters are ideal for 1-3 month reigns, which is exactly what Punk got. And besides he's still very young, if the WWE is really that high on him, they'll find a way to put one of their top titles on him again eventually.

I may be a rare exception but I never buy a PPV to watch one guy wrestle. Helps cut down that "screwed over" feeling. Though I do see where you're coming from. I'm just happy Jericho is getting some sort of reward for carrying Raw the last few months. Like I said in a different thread a while back, Raw spent more time making me care about Jericho than they have Punk.

Yes. thanks for screwing over the paying customer! How did they screw over the paying customer? They were promised possible title changes. They were promised a brutal fight (Jericho/HBK). What did they not deliver on? That their world champion failed to participate? Just because they didn't do the "wire to wire retaining Punk" angle that everyone here seemed to think they would do, doesn't mean the paying customers were screwed over.

And let's be honest here. Jeff Hardy is not Matt Hardy. They weren't going to waste any potential Jeff Hardy championship win in a match like this, like his brother. The fact they had Jeff win the title as often as Triple H, and personally getting pinned only once in a multiple pinning situation, tells me they are still serious about Jeff anyways. So he'll be the inexperienced dumbshit that eventually lucks his way into a big time title win.

Jeff Hardy has never been booked as someone that thinks about what he is doing. I don't see how this is a surprise. If that constitutes a burial, Jeff was six feet under a long time ago.

The Bears smelled blood and Peyton knew it. That's why he looked nervous. Even as bad as the overall team is/(was, hopefully), the Bears' defense is never one that a quarterback scoffs at.

Hey Carolina looked decent today, but I wasn't sure if it was the team themselves or the fact they were playing a team that for three and half quarters acted like they didn't want to tackle anybody. The Bears obviously loves to hit, so we'll see.

That's life for you when your boss's son in law is eternally threatened by you.

I don't know what happened tonight but come the fuck on. Jericho totally deserved a title run.

Well I guess I got my prediction wrong. The Bears did not in fact play the Colts close. edit: I'll join in on that dance. After being the ONLY optimistic Bears fan on this board in a long time...

Definitely. It would be a huge confidence booster. Both for the team and for one Kyle Orton.

But he WAS tripped. And he gave the Bears the ball inside their 5, on a drive they probably should have made the most damage in if they want to have a decisive win. They must think the Colts are gonna be as bad as they were in first half, all game long.

Credit should be given to Matt Young too. He jinxed Brady with his Patriots preseason assessment.

What the fuck, Hester?

Why? They looked way too fluid. If they keep it up, that's a legitimate offense.

Like now, the normal Peyton would have hit up Clark or Gonzalez for 11 yards and out of that spot. I like this Peyton though. Go Bears.

As much as I like what the Bears are doing, I'm just still waiting for the other shoe to drop and Peyton Manning to remember just exactly who he is.

Too early to tell but Bears might have found that running back in Matt Forte.