Quick Post-Raw Thoughts

I'll have the fuller continuation to my first column below up in the next few days, but meanwhile, here are some things that occurred to me watching Raw tonight:

- The current title feuds are being completely wasted in this part of the WWE schedule. That promo for the Hardy/Edge ladder match that ran before Cole and King ran down the PPV card did one of the best jobs I've seen in a while in selling a match and actually (gasp!) using two wrestlers' past history in the build to a climactic match. Think how much more could have been done with this storyline with more time and more focus -- there are enough highlights of Hardy and Edge in ladder/TLC/hardcore/MITB matches to run a "Hardy/Edge Moment of the Week" type of thing on every show for a month or two leading up to the match. Hard to believe, but "you'd better see the show these guys are gonna put on, since they might not live through it" might actually sell some tickets and generate some PPV buys. Seeing as they came up together, most fans know the whole background, you could easily work Matt Hardy into the storyline... I don't want to go into any fantasy booking or anything, but how this couldn't get on one of the Big Four PPVs with some real time and build put into it is completely beyond me.

Meanwhile, I've been pleasantly surprised with the Batista/Orton storyline. I'm not the biggest Batista fan, but the guy is ridiculously over with kids and a decent chunk of the rest of the audience, certainly enough so to stop most encroaching cheers for Orton. The addition of Flair has worked out pretty well and adds some intrigue, although it's painful to see Flair involved in any kind of physicality. I want to believe in Ric Flair (hey, maybe that promo was directed at me), but the guy can barely move at this point, and just lays there rather than selling. More than the lacking performance, I'm concerned for the man and his physical well-being. It's hard to see someone like Ric Flair look like he's genuinely getting hurt out there and struggling through every movement. Still, the punt was very effective at giving Batista extra motivation -- which brings me back to the point, why is this being wasted on Extreme Rules? Batista/Orton is one of the few top feuds that hasn't been done to death, and there's plenty of backstory between the characters to work with.

Thinking ahead to Summerslam, are there really matches/angles that look to be in the offing with more to offer than these as drawing cards? I'm drawing a blank.

- Miz totally held his own in the tag match. I liked his intensity, and judging from the heat for Cena's comeback, the crowd's dying to see him get his. Of course, instead of delaying it and building it, they'll have him lose to Cena with no build on a random Raw... Hard to believe it, but I'm pretty impressed with Miz, and it's nice to see a fresh face in the main event mix.

- It's too bad Big Show's camel clutch exists solely for the purpose of the Submission Match with Cena. The lack of long-term planning again boggles the mind -- even though it's hard for fans to take Show seriously as a threat, book him to destroy everyone in sight with it for a few months and THEN put Cena in the Submission Match with him and actually draw some money. Or just waste a killer-looking finisher on a three week build for a mid-summer PPV.

- The inconsistency of the product is maddening. One week everything seems headed in the right direction, the next you wonder how WWE has ever drawn a dime. Most abstractly blame a lack of "long-term planning," but I wonder if that isn't necessitated by running so many PPVs? Hard to have a four month build to a match when you need fresh PPV matchups every three or so weeks... they need to try some kind of rotation or something to let storylines grow and let characters get over before elevating them out of nowhere. As much success as MVP has had, turning him babyface rather suddenly and without much motivation and then immediately moving him to Raw and trying to elevate him to a top babyface level is just not going to work. The fans aren't invested in the guy yet. I think the tepid reactions he's gotten on Raw the past few weeks show that. Sure, "Ballin'" is over, but that's about it. Then again, with all the company's struggles getting a top babyface over, that might be enough encouragement for them to go all the way with it.

- And does anyone have ANY earthly idea why Kofi won the title? Think he's got some talent, but that came out of nowhere...