RAW After Punk

[Andrew]

With CM Punk leaving WWE this very Sunday, how will Monday Night RAW look? Punk won't be there, I believe the ratings will drop heavily because CM Punk is the best thing about RAW right now.

Write down what you expect to happen on RAW this very Monday coming up.
​

 

[Andrew]

I'd have Colt Cabana and Kings of Wrestling help CM Punk, jump into the ring and beat Cena up. It'd be a sweet move...

On the following RAW, Vince demands to find out who they were. The titantron plays but we cannot see them, they say their actions were what the people wanted.

Daniel Bryan comes out and everyone is shocked. Bryan cuts a face promo and speaks on how he started out in ROH and last night he asked three people to give what CM Punk really wanted, to leave with the WWE Champion. Bryan then speaks about how everyone is getting sick and tired of John Cena, these people need a change. Out comes Colt Cabana to a monstrous pop, Colt speaks on how CM Punk was his best friend and plug 'Independent Diaries' at the same time. Colt speaks on how WWE have forgotten about him, he is thankful that Daniel Bryan stepped up and made him recognizable, he says he's not the only one signed... out comes Kings of Wrestling.

The four then go on to say that a man like John Cena doesn't care about talents from other places, Vince doesn't care. (With ROH getting a TV deal, good way to expose them).

Vince McMahon comes out and tells Daniel Bryan what on earth does he think he's doing. Bryan says he's giving the people what they want, real wrestling and real talent. Vince cuts off and calls them sports-entertainers... Bryan says this is why CM Punk left... Bryan says more people will leave if he has things his own ways and Bryan says... we're going to do things... OUR WAY. The crowd pops.

John Cena comes out and says he's fired... but he has something to say to Vince...

Cena says he will be back one day, he tells Vince to do the right thing because if he doesn't Cena will be around and he is keeping a close eye on Vince.

Vince turns around and tells Cena to shut up you son of a bitch. Vince goes insane and tells Cena that he made him a puppet to these people... He changed everything just for Cena, the kids... the chants... They are of no more. Vince says YOUR FIRED to Cena...

As soon as that happens, the GM Email goes off...

It says, tonight the RAW GM is finally revealed and John Cena must be in the ring. John Cena cuts off and says he's sick of this GM crap, he's been fired and brought back... the same thing will happen again. He always gets brought back because without him the people won't watch. Bryan says he respects John and apologizes for last night and says it was a message to Vince McMahon because he oversees people like Bryan and Colt and KOW. Bryan says there's one thing he wants... He wants John Cena to lead the ROH Stable, he wants Cena to ignore Vince and Bryan tells him, regardless of him being fired... Vince knows that he needs you.

Vince cuts off and tells Bryan to shut up. Vince says Cena is fired but if he wants to come back... he must go through the General Manager...

Out comes Stephanie McMahon, she says... We're going back to the old days... Where John Cena was hated... She says if John Cena wants back in the WWE, he must remove all merchandise and hate the people. Cena flips his shit for a few minutes then gets on the mic and turns heel. Cena then looks at Daniel Bryan who smiles at him, Cena goes to attack, they escape. HHH out of nowhere with a Spinebuster, Vince hits a low-blow on Cena and tells him from now on... there's NO CHANCE IN HELL!

 

[Keith]

I like every part of that idea except two bits, one DB asking Cena to lead the ROH faction because the idea of this whole despute is that guys like Punk, DB and Cabana hate everything Cena and the modern WWE stand for, and think that wrestling should be the oppisite, therefore for the feud to work, they would need to stand firmly by their beliefs, and not ask WWE's poster boy to come on board as the leader. The other part is Stephanie coming out, there is no need for that, Vince being out there makes sense, Step doesn't.

But yeah very interesting idea which would nicely keep Punk's work going after he leaves, IF HE DOES LEAVE! A lot of people seem to be taking that for red, he might still sign another contract, so lets just hold fire.

 

[Andrew]

It'd be cool for the ROH guys to come out and do what you said there Keith, stand for their beliefs. This could literally make the PG Era so memorable.

Vince should do this.

 

[John McHenry]

Well I dont believe the ratings have really jumped up since the Punk angle so I don't think they'll drop all that much. Fans will be disappointed but I don't expect them to give up all together if that were the case it would have happened already. Edgier angles would deffinetly help peak interest though.

 

[Lady Redfield]

Wrestling survived without Punk. They can do it again. Yes, it is a hit, but not one big enough that the WWE will go down in flames. I personally wont find Raw as interesting because this angle is amazing but I am sure they know this and will do what they can to compensate. Maybe move on to the Rock and Cena again. Or Triple H will return. Something like that is going to happen (a big name will return).

 

[Keith]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that WWE will go up in flames if Punk leaves, but at the same time the company has been struggling in the ratings for the best part of a decade, and with this Punk thing it seemed like they had a way forward, if he goes it maybe back to square one. With all due respect I don't think bring Triple H back is the answer, the Cena-Rock feud and match is likely to draw big numbers, but then the great one will be back off to hollywood. WWE need to think long term.

 

[John McHenry]

Andrew said in the original post drop heavily. If they are as bad off as you imply in your post then they'd be under rock bottom. Truth is the WWE aren't struggling The Ratings of the majority of TV has declined because it's growing harder and harder to determine what people are watching and when. Everyone is acting as if this Punk storyline has made their numbers jump back up the the 4.0+ range this storyline hasn't done that. Nothing will do that bring back Rock Austin HHH Jericho etc. permenantly and it will not go back to those numbers not steadily they'll increase no doubt.

People are acting as if this whole Punk thing is some last ditch effort from a dying industry and thats just not the case. For fucks sake it's the highest rated show on the night more often than not.

 

[Lady Redfield]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that WWE will go up in flames if Punk leaves, but at the same time the company has been struggling in the ratings for the best part of a decade, and with this Punk thing it seemed like they had a way forward, if he goes it maybe back to square one. With all due respect I don't think bring Triple H back is the answer, the Cena-Rock feud and match is likely to draw big numbers, but then the great one will be back off to hollywood. WWE need to think long term.

Not necessarily 'up in flames' but a lot of wrestling fans are thinking this will be a gigantic loss when it wont be as huge of a loss as they think.

 

[Troy]

Ratings have been pretty poor recently anyway, the last RAW was a 2.9 which is horrible even against tough competition. I can't see the ratings drop much lower than that. Punk leaving will be a big loss but I don't think it will change many things. Before this current run Punk was mainly used as the Nexus leader in the upper midcard and wasn't the focal point of RAW. It has only been recent that Punk has become the IT thing on RAW again and WWE will just move on and push someone like Del Rio into the top heel spot and move on. Will be a shame to see him go but RAW won't change that much. Expect a few "We want Punk" chants on future RAWs.

 

[Keith]

1. Okay Punkette, I can't speak for everyone, but I myself do not think that is likely to happen anytime soon.

2. Thing is John nothing really is going to make that sort of impact over night, but if Punk was going to stay longer, and they carried on with his current direction, then I would say there is a great chance than the ratings would improve, and I am quite certain than this weekend's PPV will get an improved buyrate as a result of it. As for struggling, well it depends what you mean by that, sure they may not be in trouble like they were a couple of times in the 90's, but part of that is because they have no real computition, and they are lucky they don't, because other wise things could be much worse.

3. If they can turn ADR into the next big star, and build people like Riley, Rhodes and DB up, and maybe add a slightly more cutting edge to The Miz, then I think they can possible improve once Punk goes, but I think what people are trying to get across is that Punk is the hottest thing in wrestling right now, and surely still has his best years ahead of him, so yes it will be much harder without him, and the reality is that WWE needs CM Punk more than he needs them right now.

 

[John McHenry]

When I say struggling I mean they aren't struggling compared to their TV competition (because that is there competition not TNA and not other sporting events you ask any of the execs and the competiton are shows like House Chuck etc TV shows) every other show on Monday nights tends to do slightly worse than RAW if they are the top show on their night and time then they aren't struggling are they? Will the buyrates go up I'm sure there will be a little spike but it's not the kind of jump that when he goes away the WWE is going to notice which is what Andrew implied that when Punk leaves the WWE will feel it and they won't

 

[Keith]

But what your forgetting is that MITB is a B-Level card, it does not have the history of things like Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania or even Summerslam, and there fore events like it tend to struggle to attract decent numbers, and recent PPV figures for WWE, if you take Mania out of the picture have been pretty poor, so I do expect this Punk/Cena/Vince saga to be the difference between this show drawing better than the likes of OTL and CP.

 

[John McHenry]

Your talking about one PPV One PPV isn't going to change the landscape of the WWE.

 

[Keith]

No, I agree, but when I did I say it could. At the end of the day you can't run before you have walked.