If the fans love him can he really be considered a true antagonist?

I enjoyed pretty much all of raw, marked out like crazy for almost everything.

Judging by all the boos, I wouldnt say the fans love him. Kind of the intention of the "heel turn".

And are we not truly discussing PRO WRESTLERS as TRUE ANTAGONISTS?

Perhaps my time on the internet is coming to an end. I have no connection to this anymore.

Without wanting to get in the whole tweener/heel debate

It might be a weird move to do this with his DVD coming out. Surely face DVDs sell more?

I believe as soon as his music hits next week he will get cheers.

I just watched finally, it was pretty awesome this whole episode!

CM Punks reaction will depend on where the next Raw is, if it's in some mid america place he'll get booed out of the building.

BTW, this should be great for Punk.

Heel Punk with a chip on his shoulder is good stuff.

You mean Not Full Heel Punk.

Unless they show what he just did in a clip before hand, or they, you know, watched the show this week.

I'm not saying he's not full heel here buddy

I'm just saying if it's in Chigaco or New York or Philly, he'll still get a few cheers

The only bad part of Raw was when they let Bret Hart have the mic so he could bore everybody to tears like only Bret Hart can.

Bret: "...themiz"

http://i.imgur.com/VspVf.gif

Sold it like a champ.

http://boards.420chan.org/wooo/src/1343110008251.gif

DRAMATIC REVEAL

http://www.abload.de/img/untitled-9acx32.gif

Sold it like a champ.

So was there any confirmation that Lita's titty DID pop out? Or did we all mark at a side boob.

Heath Slater should get a Slammy for that sell.

JBL is so cool to watch when he fast walks to the ring with that APA music... best clothesline ever!

I think it's wishful thinking. I don't see anything that indicates her boob popped out.

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1342011862
http://www.impeccabledwaynejohnson.o...krockdiary.jpg
http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2...12rf__1581.jpg

With the amount of respect that Punk has for Rock, and knowing that Rock wants another classic match while he's back. I can't help but mark out over the thought of Punk vs Rock.

Punk vs Rock will be epic, especially if Punk can legit hold the title til January.

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/photo_la..._Photo_187.jpg
http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/photo_la..._Photo_188.jpg

Rock was fucking awesome on Raw... Big Show is pulling a Kane and just getting better... WWE is good right now... Dolph and Jericho has me excited as well...

What's with Show putting his hand up every time someone punches him?

If somebody is punching you, would you not try to get your hands up?

Its unfortunate that "you're not buying it," but its actually common knowledge. Since the roster has gotten larger in the past 15 years and there are more guys up on the card, there have been at least 3 main events at Mania every year. They literally say this every year. Why do you think ring announcers have stopped saying "and now for our main event?"

He. Went into Mania. The WWE champion. And retained. Clean. But whatever, right? Since it didn't go on last, it just wasn't the main event.

All of this.

Apparently not in wrestling.

Basically it comes down to whatever WWE wants to call a "main event" and people like you can just say "OMG HE MAIN EVENTED CUZ WWE SAID SO".

Bottom line is, as far as card placement, there's no difference between that and the random divas match. Switch the place of those matches and it doesn't matter one bit. Switch the place of the divas match and Rock and Cena... ya know... the actual main event and it's the weirdest fucking thing ever.

That's because THERE'S A REASON it closed the show. Rock and Cena are worthy of a REAL main event, closing out the WrestleMania spot. Punk can't do that. He's not over like that. I don't know how many ways I can put this. Punk is over in comparison to the rest of the regular, full time roster. The rest of the regular full time roster is not remotely over. You can call whatever match on the card a main event you want if it makes you feel better. When it comes to giving that peak though and closing out the show, suddenly one of those "main events" is not even an option... that says something about where it stands with the ACTUAL main event.

I agree John Laryngitis is more Over than CM Punk.

Rofl yeah, that might be the best sell EVER.

I LOVE Charles Robinson's reactions.

HBK must have taught him how to do that

http://i52.tinypic.com/300fkw5.jpg

Lita looked fucking great last night.

Some random thoughts about the second half of Raw that I just got to watch:

1) Hey Mark, velvet/felt cowls don't slide smoothly over buzzcuts.

2) WWE is about to poop on the "never before and never again" from the Survivor Series 2011 of a tag team of Rock and Cena when they take on the team of Punk and Big Show at Summer Slam/Survivor Series (whichever Rock's filming schedule allows).

3) With Rock facing Punk at Rumble, that means barring a loss/regain of the belt, Punk's title reign will surpass Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan (he ties them today at 248 days). He will also pass Yokozuna, JBL, and Cena (280 days), Ultimate Warrior (293), "Superstar" Billy Graham (296), Diesel (358), Hogan again (364 after WM 5), Savage (371), and Cena again (380 in '06-'07). He'll have 435 days at Royal Rumble. The next person on the list will proabably not be caught - Bob Backlund at 648 days.

4) I don't have any idea how Heath Slater can even regain "jobber to the stars" status based on his streak not paying off with a win last night. The only story I can come up with for him is that someone gets him to reflect and he realizes that the only win he had was against Doink, and that might be a catalyst for a gimmick change where he adds facepaint (and now that I'm thinking about it it's been a while since WWE has had a facepainter - Road Warrior Heidenreich was the last I think).

Slater was magnificent during this run. I kind of hope it carries on a bit now with lower tier guys (Mcintyre, Reks, Hawkins etc beating him and him eventually getting a match against a Big Show or a Kane and winning.

Show was pretty mediocre except for the Punk heel turn.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Many thanks to @<a href="https://twitter.com/HeathSlaterOMRB">HeathSlaterOMRB</a> a good talented young man who took a heck of a bump for me last night on @<a href="https://twitter.com/wwe">wwe</a> Raw 1000. Much appreciated!</p>&mdash; John Layfield (@JCLayfield) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCLayfield/status/227953484245368832" data-datetime="2012-07-25T02:28:40+00:00">July 25, 2012</a></blockquote>
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