RAW Concern, People Pushed for Cena to Win Title, More

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

- There was almost an immediate reaction within WWE when the 2.8 RAW rating came out this week. There is concern that next week's taped show against the Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers game may be the same or even worse.

WWE cut commercial spots this week to heavily push Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho for next week. There was a lot of unhappiness at the SmackDown tapings last night, but some of that was overreacting. There's a feeling that things will change starting with the live SmackDown show coming up and the post-Hell in a Cell RAW.

While it hasn't been a week yet since Randy Orton won the WWE Title, there is already some people in the company who are second-guessing the decision to put the belt back on him. Some feel that they pushed Orton hard for weeks and then gave him the belt and nobody seemed to care about it once he won. Some people were pushing to put the belt back on John Cena while others feel that this is a sign that Cena needs to turn heel because his face run is over.

I have been wanting to see Cena turn for a long time now. Now would probably be a very good time for him to do so. I would have prefered to see Sheamus retain the title at NOC and then dropped it at HIAC.

Cena should've turned heel ages ago and even if or when he does, I think it's gonna take away from a huge effect of surprise. We'll all be happy to see an edgier Cena circa 2002-2003 but yet, it almost gives away the ending for the match at Hell in a Cell.

AS for Sheamus, personally, I see it like this: entering their head-to-head with the NFL and Monday Night Football, WWE wanted a strong champion to limit the damages sustained by the ratings dropped. Sheamus isn't necessarily truly established yet as a strong main eventer so they had to resort to Randy Orton, who's been in the main event scene for the past 6 years plus he's very over with the crowd at the moment. Logical and smart choice in my book.

Over the long run, it was probably a good move, but the short term, one night rating did not show that yet. Since Mania, Orton has been slowly moving into a title win and I was cool with him winning it, though I would have rather seen Sheamus cheat and then get put inside the Cell, with Orton. At least then that would have made this feud slightly more worthy of a Cell match.

Possibly. But with only 2 weeks between Night of Champions and Hell in a Cell, I don't think we'll ever know for sure which way to go was the best to keep the feud alive. And anyway, I believe the attention of the fans will mostly be centered around the Taker vs Kane match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Now that Paul Bearer has returned as Taker's manager, this has sparked lots of interest for many of us into a feud that several people thought would flop because of both wrestlers aging.

^^There should only be one Cell match and it should obviously be Taker vs. Kane. Orton vs. Sheamus is no where near the HIAC point yet, there is no reason to have 2 Cell matches. I don't really like it, but it won't keep me from watching it. I have been capitvated by the Taker/Kane feud and I can't wait to see whats next. If I have had to set through an unwarranted Cell match, I'll do that. I only hope that Orton vs. Sheamus turns out to be a good match.