By Ryan Kester

CM Punk

Last night's show was almost exclusively about the evolution of Punk's character. There were some matches and some video packages for the other storylines, but this was the only story that really got any further development.

I'm a bit disappointed that WWE is going with the slow approach to Punk's turn. He's obviously heeling it up, but he is still doing enough babyface things to muddy the waters. I'll make this clear, there is less money in Punk as a tweener for the internet crowd to hang on to then there is in him playing top heel to Cena's dominance at the top off the babyface ranks. WWE's roster is paper thin right now and they do not have a proper villain anywhere near the top. Punk is a man that can fill that role extremely well, and I hope WWE solidifies his turn at some point soon.

AJ as GM

As far as first impressions go, AJ looks like she will be entertaining as a GM. They didn't jump the gun and instantly make her a heel, and she has such a control over her character that she is simply fun to watch. She also never got in the way, which WWE tends to do with their GMs and they take away from getting people over and having fans focus on the wrestlers. We're only a week in so I reserve the right to judge this harshly later, but for now I am satisfied with our latest GM.

Daniel Bryan

First of all, I am thrilled that they had Bryan finally harp on the fans for using his catch phrase when he's a heel. That's been a long time coming and I am glad that Bryan finally addressed that. Bryan is still getting a chunk of creative focus, which I am happy to see. Bryan is one of the few breakout starts of the past few years, and I am glad that WWE is doing their part to keep him feeling important even when he's not hovering around a belt.

Bryan had a rather entertaining match with Sheamus that gave me hope for the three hour format simply because now we can get longer matches on the show and WWE showed that they're not skittish about giving them to us. A few solid matches like this can help even the bleakest of shows, and this match went a long way towards getting me through the otherwise uninspiring edition of Raw.

Overall Show

I'm not sold on the three hour concept yet. Last night's show dragged on and on for me and I often had to actively prevent myself from getting distracted and doing something around the house. WWE is only a week into this new format and there will be kinks to work out, but they need to provide some more compelling content to prevent viewing their show from feeling like a chore.

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.

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