Kester's WWE Raw Rundown: CM Punk kick Jerry Lawler in the head, Dolph Ziggler retires Chris Jericho, and Triple H and Brock Lesnar take their leave of TV time

By Ryan Kester

CM Punk

Well, make no mistake folks, Punk is full bore heel at this point. I've been openly critical about the approach Punk and WWE have taken to this turn, so hopefully they will be fully committed from here out without any more of the tweener wishy-washy nonsense.

That's not to belittle the work that Punk has done thus far in the slow burn turn. He has been hitting the right notes for a slow burn; I simply think that the slow burn approach is a mistake when you have a guy that was so over with the fans. There's only a few chances to create a big turn moment, and WWE let this one pass them by.

Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho

This was well done. Ziggler needed a big moment to get over and he had that moment before a bigger audience. Jericho put him over in a big way and now it's up to Ziggler to take this momentum and run with it. It will be fun watching Ziggler over the next few months.

Cole's line about Jericho not being able to win the big one lays a clear roadmap to WrestleMania if Jericho is still interested in wrestling at that point. I, for one, hope he is as there are few men in WWE that are so proficient at giving rub to climbing stars.

Triple H and Brock Lesnar

Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar did their parts in trying to establish that Triple H is done and that Brock Lesnar is retiring, but to me both sort of fell flat. One can only suspend their disbelief so much and it is painfully obvious that we will be seeing both men wrestle again within the year.

I still have to shake my head at the notion that WWE didn't see fit to build up the potential Triple H retirement as a hook for SummerSlam. That would have had the benefit of selling a few more buys and would have made the build and the follow up to SummerSlam's main event actually make sense.

Overall Show

More of the same from WWE. Three hour Raws still feel like a marathon and WWE has done nothing to address that. The show drags even though it provides some entertaining segments. I'm looking forward to the day that some of the NXT guys get brought up before the WWE roster feels paper thin and stale and it could really use an injection of freshness before the NFL season kicks off completely.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.