We may not have known it at the time but last night's (Dec. 5) episode of Monday Night Raw just might have been a glimpse into the future of the WWE. Why?
Because Vince McMahon was overseas while Triple H was in Tampa, Florida, running the show. The word from the Wrestling Observer:
Vince McMahon was not at Raw last night. They said he was in Afghanistan getting footage for Tribute to the Troops, which airs next Tuesday. HHH was in charge of the show with him gone. I guess that's why he was unable to come out and save poor Santino from Kevin Nash.
This adds further credence to my theory that Trips is distancing himself as much as possible from his entire program with Nash because it's an abomination that no respectable wrestler would ever want to be involved in.
But what's really troubling here is how the rest of the show was handled. After consecutive weeks of a pretty good show that made sense in all areas, the booking last night took about 10 steps backwards. It may have actually been the worst booked show this year.
There were no less than three run-ins to cost three different guys matches and not a single talent was elevated nor a single pay-per-view buy for TLC sold. That event is being treated like the plague for its utter and complete lack of hype and while Triple H can't be blamed for all of that, he's got no choice but to take this one on the chin.
I'm still baffled at how exactly "The Game," who actually does have a great mind for wrestling (usually only seen in situations that benefit himself), could put together a product the likes of what we saw last night.
For example: John Cena beat Zack Ryder to earn a WWE championship match, which, in turn, cost Ryder a United States championship match. But Ryder was devastated here and Cena, realizing he's won a million titles in his career, gives his shot up just so Ryder can have another chance to earn a chance at the U.S. title.
This is goofy enough already but this is happening while everyone is conveniently forgetting that Ryder did already get a chance at that belt at Vengeance and he lost. Clean. 1-2-3, right in the center of the ring. But whatever, fine.
Ryder gets another chance and he does so in a match against Mark Henry, the world heavyweight champion who has been dominating fools for months now, including the second biggest babyface in the company, Randy Orton. So what happens? Ryder gets killed but Cena interferes and delivers an Attitude Adjustment to give Ryder the win.
This means John Cena gave up a WWE championship match in order to help Zack Ryder beat the world heavyweight champion just to earn a match against the United States champion. I shit you not, that's how that happened. Worse still, Dolph Ziggler, the guy toting said U.S. title around, lost his WWE championship shot later in the night to Sheamus, who needed help to win and ultimately, like Cena, isn't moving on to anything.
This is what WWE will look like when Triple H is running things and Vince McMahon is gone. Sophie's choice, Cagesiders. Sophie's freaking choice.