Injuries/Outcomes, HHH's Influence, Punk As Champ, Kofi

Written by Richard Gray on Jul 1, 2008 - 10:52:59 AM

When a wrestler gets injured in a match the referee puts up the "X" sign, so my question is what if it is the Champion that gets hurt in a Championship match, how does WWE work around him not dropping the title, or will they have him drop the title to the challenger, then evaluate the champion?

Usually they have an emergency finish planned. If the title is not supposed to change hands then they will go to a quick finish where the Champion retains. If the Champion is unable to move, they will go to something where the challenger gets disqualified or the match ends in count out. If the title is supposed to change hands, they will go to a quick finish with the challenger going over. They are not going to change the planned title outcome on the fly because no one can determine the severity of the injury. If the champion retains and their injury is severe, they will vacate the belt if they cannot work.

With Edge losing the World Heavyweight Championship do you think this just adds fuel to the fire to the feelings backstage, that Triple H gets special treatment, and got to keep his WWE Championship?

I am sure that there are people that feel like that but I do not necessarily agree. If you could not tell by watching Raw last night, WWE has definitely build SmackDown into more of their "A brand" for the forthcoming move to MyNetworkTV. If Undertaker returns on SmackDown I do not think that there will be any question that SmackDown is the company's top brand. With that being said, I feel that it was the correct move to leave the WWE Championship on Triple H while letting CM Punk "cash in" his Money in the Bank title shot on Edge on Raw last night. Following the storyline, Edge "cheated" to keep the title on numerous occasions whereas Triple H "earned" his victories so I think that logic was followed in last night's swerve angle. Like I said, some people will scream backstage politics but I do not feel that is the case.

Love the site, easily the best place on the web to get up to date wrestling news & it's always good to hear your opinions on Richard Reacts, keep up the excellent work! I just wondered your thoughts on CM Punk cashing the title in on Raw, surely it would have made a lot more sense for him to do it at Night Of Champions, now to me his run as champ is worthless as no importance was made of it, making it obvious he will drop it within a month or so. When the company is in dire need of new stars I think they have messed up big time here. Your thoughts?

Thank you for the kind words regarding the website! I agree that CM Punk cashing in the Money in the Bank title shot at the end of Night of Champions on Edge (obviously moving Batista vs. Edge as the show's main event) would have been more meaningful for Punk. As I noted on WNW Premium on Friday, that was talked about, although the decision was made to push it to Raw. I do not know why that decision was made other than internal fear that they could not top John Cena vs. Triple H. Nonetheless Punk is still the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Furthermore Kofi Kingston is the new Intercontinental Champion and Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes are the new WWE World Tag Team Champions; I think WWE is doing a fine job of producing younger superstars. Like I have reported numerous times, one of the things that WWE wanted to do with this draft was not only build SmackDown up but they wanted Raw to be the place to put younger workers over. They did that and have executed those plans immediately.

I've been a WNW Premium Member for awhile and I love the insight that you give. Do you feel that Kofi Kingston winning the IC Belt is a bigger deal... better for him, then if he would have won the ECW Championship Belt?

I am glad that you enjoy the site - thank you for your support! I think that Kofi Kingston going over Chris Jericho on pay-per-view is a bigger deal than Kofi Kingston going over Kane, Mark Henry, or Chavo Guerrero on pay-per-view. As for the title, I think that the ECW Championship means more than the Intercontinental Championship as I view the ECW title as third in command; however, more of a statement was made for Kofi by having him go over Jericho. I hope that you understand my point but I think that WWE can build Kofi up with the strap as long as they give him credible opponents and actually let him defend the title.

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