WWE TV - 11/27 - 12/3/2023 - Now With More CM Punk Than Ever!

[Nineteen]

1 minute ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Vanilla ass Disney PG Punk. No thanks.

Am I the only one who read that as deliberately disingenuous? How much thicker could he have laid it on? That certainly was one of the more interesting routes they could have taken there, especially with the whole "everyone is glad I'm back line."

Won't be tuning into Raw regularly again but that certainly was unexpected from the Muffin Man.

Um... rest of the show......

R-Truth knowing the "goths" weakness of powdered snacks

I've never hated anything in wrestling more than Tozawa's stupid dance and New Day's reaction to it.

Tag scramble was fun, nice showing for the Creeds.

Really loved Sami and Drew's segment backstage, loving Sami as this conscience of the locker room these days, some of the best babyface work out of WWE in a really long time. On the flip side, Orton and Jey felt a little.... quick, like Orton is one who is known to forgive easily.

[Niners Fan in CT]

That promo sucked ass.  Let's hurry up and get to the Punk and Rollins pissing contest. Maybe one of them will go too far.  

[Hector]

I hope he just keeps getting fired from places until he's in the middle of a Coliseo Coacalco ring talking about how he's "en casa". 

[Cobra Commander]

Gonna be fun when CM Punk busts out the "why are you trying to start drama?" line on Seth Rollins whenever that segment happens.

I think some people are remarkably friendly, as long as they're not challenged on anything.

[BobbyWhioux]

13 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Alright, obviously this week is going to be dominated by last night's big return:

 

if it ain't Jessie McKay I ain't carin'

[Dog]

Not gonna lie -- the tepid crowd response made my heart swell.

[TheVileOne]

I'm going to come right out and say that CM Punk's promo was horse manure. It was a whole lot of nothing and just patronizing garbage.

What people wanted tonight was another pipebomb. What they got was a wet fart. 

The only truthful thing he said tonight was what he said to the camera. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make money," which directly contradicts what he said earlier. 

[John from Cincinnati]

5 minutes ago, Nineteen said:

Am I the only one who read that as deliberately disingenuous? How much thicker could he have laid it on? That certainly was one of the more interesting routes they could have taken there, especially with the whole "everyone is glad I'm back line."

Big time. Nothing but hugs and mouth kisses, he’s still got his fastball!

Found the most interesting part to be the words of the Wiseman.

[Cobra Commander]

To be fair, what doesn't get a tepid crowd response at Raw? especially during the 3rd hour of the show.

Anyways...

so, do we get something next week where CM Punk comes out before Jey Uso vs Seth Rollins to do the "former champ gets an intro before the title match, only Seth Rollins doesn't want to shake Punk's head" thing? I'd compare it to Joe Frazier in Rocky, but, has Punk seen that movie? I know he hasn't seen Rocky 3. (edit: or Apollo Creed/Clubber Lang in Rocky 3, a movie I know Punk has not seen)

Followed by some amazing promo where CM Punk just doesn't know why Seth is starting drama by refusing to shake his hand.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[Casey]

4 minutes ago, Dog said:

Not gonna lie -- the tepid crowd response made my heart swell.

Don’t get too excited, that’s just Nashville. On our best day we can challenge Corpus Christi for the “Worst Crowd” title. But it’s also probably because Nashville realized they aren’t getting the Pipebomb 2.0

Or maybe it’s because they blew out their lungs cheering for goddamn Jelly Roll.

[TheVileOne]

R-Truth was more entertaining than CM Punk tonight. 

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1729330155879837862

[Peck]

Triple H gets Jelly Roll...  a huge step up from Vince who wanted Conway Twitty.

[John from Cincinnati]

Over the top company man Punk and people’s reaction to it may be my new “won’t turn heel” Cody, where I love it and people start collectively losing their minds. Huge potential. 

[John E. Dynamite]

I let my morbid curiosity get the better of me and I peeked in on the show a few times. Liked most of what I saw - great Creeds showcase - but that promo was a stinker.

Punk got over as a mega-babyface in WWE by being anti-authority in the Vince-dominated deep monopoly years (setting the stage for what Danielson & Becky did later). It worked, because a majority of WWE fans at the time resented the creative + corporate structure. But in 2023, they don't. The diehards think HHH is writing the great American novel.

After a big return, Punk's gonna get cheered. Maybe to a point where he'll take shine away from babyfaces if he's turned heel. But if you present him as a face... does he really have a machine to rage against? I guess there's a built-in story with Heyman but he shouldn't be anywhere near Roman. Or any major singles titles, based on recent behavior and health.

[TheVileOne]

Was the wise man he was referring to Vince McMahon?

[John from Cincinnati]

1 minute ago, TheVileOne said:

Was the wise man he was referring to Vince McMahon?

Heyman.

[Casey]

Just now, TheVileOne said:

Was the wise man he was referring to Vince McMahon?

Ah yes, Roman Reigns’ on-screen Wise Man, Vince McMahon.

[Cobra Commander]

as someone born at the end of 1984 in the Nashville area, one can guess which rapping wrestler Jelly Roll saw on TV first:

The Rapmaster PN News, PG-13 in the USWA, or Men on a Mission in 1993 WWF.

The dude performs under an Indy wrestler name

[Greggulator]

Please give me Bronson Reed vs. Ivar every Raw from here until the end of time, thx. That ruled.

[Greggulator]

Please give me Bronson Reed vs. Ivar every Raw from here until the end of time, thx. That ruled.

[Phantom Lord]

Punk's promo was honestly pretty underwhelming. I guess between probably an NDA and the WWE not wanting to acknowledge AEW, he was limited in what he could say. But I was expecting more. But he's back which is the important thing. Lets just see what happens. I'm willing to give them time with this.

[Cobra Commander]

For some reason, the Firefly Funhouse segments come to mind in regards to a "Happy CM Punk" promo tonight.

Looking at the schedule, the next 3 Raws before Christmas are in Albany, Cleveland, and Des Moines.

I didn't pay enough attention to know if they set a show for a Gunther/Miz rematch, but hey Cleveland show in 2 weeks.

That Des Moines show might be of interest if they're rolling directly towards Punk/Rollins (even if Des Moines is a little away from Seth's hometown in the Quad Cities).

Then for Christmas Raw, they're gonna do.. something.. idk.... maybe CM Punk will read Christmas stories by a fireplace in 4 weeks.

[Eivion]

Tag Team Turmoil was fun and a good showcase for the Creeds and DIY.

Was nice to see the backstage segment with Gunther and Miz. I don't want Miz to win, but I am more than ok with them running the match back as a Raw main event before the end of the year.

Bronson/Ivar was a good battle of big men. Dug the post match brawl. We need to see big guys chuck security at each other like lawn darts more often.

Cody's segment with the Rumble announcement was fine and then became good when Nakamura came in with his promo and subsequent mist attack. There is no way Nakamura wins this feud, but I can't help but love the idea of it.

Nia/Zoey was solid and a nice showcase for Stark.

Chelsea/Piper vs. Nattie/Tegan was fun.

Dug Seth's segment with Drew and Jey. That headbutt and subsequent bleeding from Drew when Seth named Jey the next challenger was perfect. The backstage segment with Sami confronting Drew over it was nice as well. Really digging the bits of nuance people are being allowed. Even Orton and Jey reconciliation while arguably quick was nice to see. 

Orton/Dom was an extended squash to show off Orton. It was fun with nice energy from all involved.

The Punk promo was nothing special, just ok. It felt like something done because a lack of real planning beyond bringing him back. It didn't really warrant a main event spot though I guess they wanted to keep people watching as long as possible knowing he was there.

The matches and segments were generally fun. Bronson/Ivar and the Seth/Drew/Jey/Sami segments were probably the standouts for tonight. Was nice to see Truth back to his general hijinks and craziness. The Punk promo was probably the most disappointing thing on Raw, but I never had much interest or expectations from it in the first place. I get they were in Chicago, but they probably should have waited until a plan was in place before having him return.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Eivion

[blitzkrieg]

Enjoyed the opening interview segment which allowed Randy to get his reaction from the crowd and let Rhea get a little shine in also.

I'm never a huge fan of gauntlet matches but it was a good use of the first hour going commercial free. The booking also didn't do the match any favors as the crowd definitely didn't seem to love the Creeds going over the two face teams that they actually seemed to care about. Think they figured the Creeds' athleticism would win the crowd over but it didn't really seem to happen till pretty late in the portion of the match with Imperium.  That said the Creeds basically never don't show out in a match.

The booking also seemed weird that after Imperium lost to the Creeds that Gunther is talking about them dealing with #DIY who they didn't even interact with tonight. Did like that Miz seemingly isn't done with Gunther.

Liked Shinsuke revealing that his target has been Cody, especially with the red mist that made it look like blood was dripping from his mouth. With almost two months before the Rumble, it'll be interesting to see how they go with this.

Ivar and Bronson was great and happy that they'll be running it back sooner than later. Also I loved that they did the LED board display messing up when Ivar did the crossbody to Bronson on the outside. I've missed them doing that when people hit them.

Think they're doing a good job building Nia to be Rhea's next opponent as people look competitive against her but just at the end of the day can't put her away. Will say that people like Zoey kinda make me wish that they had a secondary women's single title, without bringing the NXT Women's title to the main brands. Looks like we get Shayna/Nia next week.

I would say that McIntyre is doing his best character work right now but I'm not really sure how much competition there is for that title. 

The women's tag match wasn't anything special but was still entertaining. Chelsea/Piper have really started to click and I loved the spot during the commercial break where Chelsea tried to slam Piper on Nattie. Would like to see them either get to work a program with Carter/Chance or the Unholy Union.

Dom was a great first opponent back for Randy as it let him get maximum reaction from all his spots and even let Dom get a few spots in too. JD is also seemingly out there literately willing to die for the Judgment Day. 

Punk's interview wasn't anything earth shattering and I don't know if it was great placement with a not super hot crowd at the end of a three hour show. That said I felt like Punk got the crowd into it by the end. It didn't really give that much direction to Punk, as honestly I felt like Rollins/Drew segment seemed to give more direction toward Punk. But I suppose a perk of the WWE situation is that they can slow roll the Punk situation as they pretty much have an abundance of riches at this point.

Will be interesting to see if Punk and/or Orton show up on Smackdown as they should both be free agents.

[Octopus]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Vanilla ass Disney PG Punk. No thanks.

Honestly though, Disney had some great villains. Captain Hook, Cruella De Vil, Ursula, Scar, Hades, Jafar, etc. I like Punk but he’s no Lady Tremaine. 
As a face he’s going against a murder’s row of top notch promos of Disney Princesses like Belle, Ariel, Tiana, Jasmine, Moana, etc. He’d get blown up if he had too long of a match with Mulan.