We Got Plan B Monday Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoEqx9XT4Qs For anyone claiming that the WWE doesnt pay attention to its fanbase, Monday night was a prime example of just how wrong they are. They knew going in that the crowd would be boisterous, they knew of online movements to hijack RAW, and they knew that without CM Punk, they had to mitigate crowd reaction in every way possible. So what did they do? They gave us Plan B. Before I get to that, let me explain what Plan A was in the most simplistic terms. Plan A was CM Punk returning to RAW. Thats it. The kind of storyline he would have been involved in is irrelevant. That was their best case scenario, and it didnt happen. But RAW had the look and feel of a show that was set up for his return, and to me, that indicates it was a very fluidic writing process. Sure, staples for the show were set, such as the Wyatts and the Shield, the Usos, etc. But that was already built in. My guess is they tried to get Punk to come back, possibly up until the day before RAW. When it didnt happen, we got Plan B. We got Heyman, and we got Bryan getting attacked at the end without anyone coming to his aid. Im aware of the internet rumor stating that
Punk was never part of any plans for RAW, and Im certainly not discounting it. All Im saying is that what happened on Monday was not the ideal scenario, and the show had to be structured around him being absent. Part of me is in awe of just how well Plan B worked out from an execution standpoint. The first hour had such a frenetic and determined pace, the crowd was more or less worn out by the second hour. And make no mistake, this was the plan. Pack the first hour with a Punk tease, a Heyman promo, a tag-team title change, and a colossal Wyatt/Shield match, and you get an emotionally drawn crowd. The hope was that following such a wild first hour, the WWE could then shift the focus to building up Wrestlemania storylines without the crowd having the energy to hijack them. To an extent, this worked. Certain matches were still overrun with crowd chants, but for the most part, it probably wasnt as bad as some thought it might be. Granted, during the bigger segments such as Daniel Bryans confrontation with the Authority, the crowd was reinvigorated, and showered thunderous boos down upon Stephanie and Triple H, while simultaneously supporting Bryan. But thats okay. Thats the reaction they wanted anyway. All in all, those who create the shows will probably tell you that last night was as much of a success as it could have been sans Punk. But I maintain that the table was set for him to return, and possibly up until hours before the show. So now that weve examined what happened during the RAW in Chicago and WWEs handling of Punks absence, its time to see if we can make sense of why he left in the first place.