#Rawful and #Rawesome Moments of the Week

This past week's Raw was full of memorable moments--some good, some bad.

#Rawful Moment of the Week

I was torn about what to award this to.  The finalist not selected was the continuing of the Passion of the Daniel Bryan storyline.  While I didn't particularly care for the continuing of showing Bryan in a position of weakness, it couldn't match with the one eventually chosen.  To me, I'm hoping the HHH issue will be resolved prior to Wrestlemania instead of taking a slot there.  Preferably Bryan gets under his skin, a match is made on Raw where if Bryan wins he is added to the main event in Wrestlemania.  If Bryan loses, he can no longer chase the WWE title and must accept his mid card status in perpetuity.  It would even goose ratings for a Raw leading to the biggest PPV of the year as long as they promoted it for a week or two.

Regardless, that didn't hold a candle to the biggest disappointment of Raw--the lack of CM Punk.  I do believe WWE could get more mileage from Punk not being there, as seen in the last two Raw ReWrites.  Also, they did handle his lack of presence pretty well, all things considering.  But you never want your crowd to go home deflated, which is what the lack of Punk coupled with Bryan's continuing losing streak did.

The only way to satiate the crowd was the appearance of Punk.  And that was why this was the Rawful moment of the week.

#Rawesome Moment of the Week

On the flip side, the lack of Punk contributed to one of the hottest crowds of the year.  The hometown audience made the WWE aware (if they weren't already) on where they stood on the behind the scenes situation.  Of course, there are those who argue that WWE isn't at fault, that Punk left of his own volition.  From listening to the man's interviews previous interviews, he understands the business, far more than most of those in creative.  Like others have stated, none of us know the true story of what transpired, but if it were over creative direction, I'd take his side ten times out of ten.

Either way, Punk, without even being there, inspired a boisterous crowd.  When the crowd is into the action, that improves the product because the energy carries through the project.  That was the best part of ECW and the Attitude Era.  WWE should do as they used to do--incorporate the conflict into the storyline; don't ignore the situation, capitalize on it.

So he's hoping that WWE uses this as a jumping point for further storylines.  It could catapult several superstars if they handle it properly.