By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S WWE RAW TAKE
MAY 7, 2012
GREENSBORO, N.C.
LIVE ON USA NETWORK

-Quotebook – John Laurinaitis: “As the general manager of both brands, I am the undisputed leader and authority figure for the WWE.”

-Quotebook – John Laurinaitis: “Last week I lost my temper and when I lose my temper I got into a fit of destruction that no one – and I mean no one – can withstand.”

-At this point I thought Laurinaitis surely was going to rescind booking himself against John Cena at Over the Limit. Instead, he went on to affirm that will be the match and vowed that he will show how skillful and dangerous he can be. This still feels more like a TV match than a PPV match.

-Whenever they even hint at John Cena not being on the show, as Laurinaitis did in his opening monologue, it always comes with the risk of viewers tuning out. Some people tune in just to see Cena. It also deflates the crowd, many of whom came to see the top star in person who was advertised as being there. Even if Cena shows up later, damage can be done.

-It was good to bring up Laurinaitis's history as a wrestler in Japan, and to have him explain how he got his raspy voice. It was sad that two of the first three wrestlers he was pictured with are dead – Steve Williams and Terry Gordy.

-Quotebook – John Laurinaitis: “Those are eyes of a champion, not a loser. You could say I was the Hulk Hogan, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, and The Rock all rolled into one.”

-I loved, actually, him saying he was such a big star in Japan that he turned down WWE's attempt to sign him. I'm a little surprised he didn't mention his wrestling name, “Johnny Ace,” and insist on being called that at Over the Limit.

-Quotebook – C.M. Punk to Laurinaitis: “You're face turned as red as your Republican tie and you got embarrassed.”

-Quotebook – C.M. Punk: “The reason you had to go compete in Japan is because there wasn't a territory or person or a single one who would pay a dime to see your rotten ass wrestle. You were a joke then and you left, and you came back and you're still a joke.”

-Quotebook – C.M. Punk: “You're stupid, you're ugly, and you have no friends. You're also a gigantic toolbox.”

-There were definite high points in the Punk-Laurinaitis segment, but there were also some less than sure-footed exchanges and stumbling over words that isn't typical of a Punk promo. It might have been because of the script being rewritten a few times earlier in the day.

-Eve looks like she transformed into Miss Tessmacher from Impact Wrestling.

-One of the concerns about Cody Rhodes is that he is too small and his style is too soft to be a true main eventer, but the more he can trade offense with Big Show and have it look somewhat effective, the more that becomes less of an issue. On the downside, his walking out of the match to retain his title makes him out to be coward who feels he can't compete.

-Quotebook – Eve: “Maybe I should remind you that outside of this business, there really isn't a big need for a seven foot tall, 441 pound, 40 year old freak.” Sounds like a speech old promoters would give to wrestlers to get them to give in on their complaints about their pay or schedule.

-Good to see Epico & Primo signing with A.W. as their manager. They are worth a better push than they're getting, and having a new manager gives Creative an excuse to give them a better push. It's also good in general to see managers back in the mix in WWE. Remember when WWE had enough managers to do a storyline where they all had a bidding war for a debuting wrestlers' services?

-Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler showed off two of WWE's best current athletes. They didn't have a long time to show off, but what they did was really good.

-I think John Cena stole Triple H's arm sling. I love Triple H getting caught breaking storyline in a high profile environment (the boxing event over the weekend where he was seen without any sign of a case or brace) and then coming up with an excuse worthy of a third grader who is caught in a lie.

-I'm glad Michael Cole brought up that the Board of Directors didn't act against Laurinaitis. That is a question that viewers should have been asking, because it's an obvious issue that deserves an explanation. Cena's explanation was solid – that the Board contacted him and he insisted they not suspend Laurinaitis or send him to anger management courses, but instead let him have the match against him.

-Cena gave a good, spirited closing case to viewers to care about his match against Laurinaitis, vowing with passion to kick his ass in retaliation for his actions and arrogance. It's the best they can do with this situation – put Cena in jeopardy with the injured arm, while pushing the idea that he can't wait to deliver a beating to the annoying heel authority figure.

-Beth Phoenix, even with just a facial reaction at ringside in response to Layla's win over Maxine, was the worst acting of the week.

-Is Sheamus mistakenly giving Randy Orton a Brogue Kick the beginning of Orton turning heel due to a misunderstanding, or was this just a way to give Jericho a fluke win over the reigning World Champion? This is a chance for Orton to be “unreasonable” with Sheamus's honest mistake. Lawler defended Sheamus after Orton's RKO, saying it was just an honest mistake. Orton, though, still played to the crowd, so this wasn't a heel turn or even the beginning of one, it seems. Rather, it was just a way to establish Orton is his own man and he retaliates even in response to honest mistakes with an “eye for an eye” approach. And to set up tension between the two babyfaces in Over the Limit's four-way match for the World Title.

-Quotebook – Randy Orton to Sheamus: “Your clumsy ass kicked me in the face.”

-The announcement of a four-way for the World Title coming on Raw is a bit of a slap to the face of Smackdown as a brand. Now even big news regarding its home-base World Title happens on Raw. The four-way makes sense to strengthen the PPV line-up, but when they resort to three-way or four-way matches, it's usually a sign they don't have a one-on-one match they believe is strong enough to carry a PPV main event. In general, even behind the scenes, three-way and four-way matches are seen as a fallback plan or a crutch for being low on marquee one-on-one matches.

-Quotebook – Miz on Brodus Clay: “Really? Really? Really? Instead of competing for the WWE Championship, I have a match with this?... Honestly, if I wanted to see King Hippo dance, I'd have played Mike Tyson's Punchout.”

-The camera caught Miz calling a spot to Clay during a mid-match chinlock. It wasn't like you could read his lips, but you could tell he was communicating to him verbally at that point. They quickly cut to a new camera angle. WWE is good about avoiding angles that reveal or spotlight that happening in matches.

-Multiple chinlocks in a short TV match isn't typical, and it took the crowd out of the match. Clay still seems unsure of himself in the ring. I'm not sure if they're encouraging him to gain weight, but he'd be better off dropping some weight to help his agility in the ring. He is a mid-card gimmick performer, but if he looks like doesn't take his conditioning and health the least bit seriously, it doesn't work against his ability to move up.

-Miz losing to Clay is just the latest in a line of burials of Miz. I still think he's going to be fine long-term, but he's definitely – and this is hardly breaking news – moved way down the hierarchy in terms of the roster depth chart.

-With all the heat that Triple H took (deservedly so) for showing up in a public non-WWE environment without selling his arm injury, is it that much worse that WWE put Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry in a “Be A Star” anti-bullying video package comforting kids and telling kids to respect each other? What does it say about how seriously WWE takes its ability to tell a convincing story on TV that they put Del Rio and Henry out there like this, and they expect kids will just cheer for Del Rio and Henry because they're Superstars and just ignore that they're despicable heels who act as bullies all the time on TV? What does it say about WWE's ability to tell a money-drawing story of babyfaces trying to overcome heels when kids immediately cheer these heels in their presence? One of the things holding back WWE right now is revealed in this situation and Triple H's. They just don't even have a mindset of creating a universe of believable, consistently cast characters who stay in character in the context of the TV show. In fact, those in WWE reading this are probably just shaking their heads thinking I'm too old school, or the idea that Del Rio and Show should be protected as heels and kept out of situations like this never crossed their minds.

-Robo Triple H makes his debut wearing his arm brace. It was pretty funny hearing Cole and Lawler address his injury and talk about how it's “complicated” and requires rehab.

-Cole andLawler also said Lesnar turned down an invite to be on Raw and instead he sent out his legal reps. This poor crowd didn't get to see Cena or Lesnar in person. But they did get to see Paul Heyman's surprise return to Raw as his manager. Very interesting. Speaking of managers making a comeback in WWE! If I were Heyman, I'd take personally the lack of crowd response for him, but then again they didn't even pop for Lesnar's music playing. Maybe they're still mourning the fact that WWE said Cena won't be there.

-Hiring Heyman, given his long history representing Lesnar in WWE and UFC, including co-authoring his book, is a smart move. Lesnar works limited dates, so Heyman showing up can keep him in the mix. I wonder if they'll have Heyman manage anyone else to give him a greater purpose, such as a tag team.

-Quotebook – Michael Cole: “Well, Brock Lesnar's return to WWE lasted all of about a month.”

-How many people are really going to believe Lesnar quit when Heyman was brought back to read the message. If WWE was going for believability (and who says they are, really?), they would have had Cole or Lawler dryly read a shorter message from Lesnar that he quit and leave it at that, selling the idea they were “moving on.”

-The biggest question now is does Heyman's role in the company extend beyond occasional on-air appearances? Is he going to be asked to work behind the scenes on the Creative team? I was starting to believe, despite his still following the industry, that he was never going to return short of his flirtation with Dixie Carter and TNA. He was working on a book titled “The Heyman Hustle: Wrestling's Most Extreme Promoter Tells All” a couple years ago, which was delayed and is now listed on Amazon without a release date. Is he back to promote the book or is he back as a way to keep him from releasing a tell-all book (or neither)?

-Was Laurinaitis announcing Punk would take on both Tensai and Daniel Bryan supposed to be a surprise, because Cole announced that Punk would be in a two-on-one match a few minutes before. WWE actually covered for that slip-up a few minutes later as Lawler said he became suspicious after Laurinaitis sent a note to them at ringside earlier saying Punk would be in a handicapped match. I'm not so much impressed with the cover story as I am that WWE paid enough attention to notice and then cared enough to offer an explanation.

-The same things that held Matt Bloom back from being a star when he was A-Train seems to be holding back from gaining traction as Lord Tensai. There's just an intangible both in terms of his charisma and in-ring styles that falls short on a big WWE stage. The added weight slowing him down and making him a little more clumsy doesn't help, either. He's one of those guys where a cool mask partially covering his face, but still allowing for his mouth to show to convey emotion, might have been a good move. Like Bobby Lashley, he seems to have one facial expression. It probably didn't help, either, how overshadowed he was by Lesnar.

We suggest these recent related articles...

KELLER: Austin says no to Lesnar match, and he's right; Sting & Taker are wrong

KELLER: What was the Vince McMahon tweet about “E is for Entertainment” above New Day dancing with The Authority all about?

LATEST WADE KELLER VIDEO BLOG: Three Hot Topics - Hogan, Angle, ROH