Tonight's So-Called Burials

[Stu]

Okay, here's the deal. Being on the west coast, Raw was only beginning about an hour after it had ended on the east coast and in the midwest. The moment the show began, I clicked onto the first page of the Raw thread and literally read every single page while I watched tonight's episode. As I went through the 77 pages, I was amazed at how everyone went from being very enthusiastic and positive during the first half to angry and jaded by the end of the show. And it seemed like on every other page, I came across this:



People were quite vocal about the "burials," and it got to the point I really wanted to tell everyone to calm down. I just really wanted people to lighten up a bit and not take things so seriously. Now I've been accused of not being a dedicated fan just because I don't focus too much on things and choose not to take offense to my intelligence being insulted. That's fine; you don't need to agree with me on any of what I'm about to say. I'm just going to hopefully give all the naysayers a reason or two not to be so upset.

From what I gathered, these people were wronged: Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison, Miz and CM Punk (chair included). Here's what I think.

Dolph Ziggler: People are saying he was buried in his match with John Cena. I beg to differ. He wrestled the company's top guy in a match that lasted more than one segment that included a decent amount of offense. We later learned this mini feud is going to continue onto this week's Smackdown, giving the IC Champ more time to work with Cena. Granted, the focus of that match may be on Vickie Guerrero. But Ziggler is still getting a bigger rub than he's ever had. Besides, it's not like he's getting stuffed into a crate and being sent to OVW again.

John Morrison: He's the No. 1 contender but seemed less relevant than Randy Orton and Jerry Lawler. People suspect he'll get his championship match at the Royal Rumble, which is six weeks away. Orton was set to wrestle Miz 24 hours after tonight's Raw on Smackdown. It made sense to give Orton one last push for his match right around the corner, while Morrison would have more than a month to get ready for his match. It's okay; we can wait one more week for Morrison's road to the Rumble to officially begin. And hey, does anyone really care any less about him after tonight? Will anyone even remember what he did this evening a month from now?

Miz: Okay, so the WWE Champion was pinned by Lawler. Keep in mind that he was pinned after Orton used an RKO. So in theory, it was Orton who caused Miz to be pinned. Stuff like that happens all the time, and it's believable for Orton to pin Miz. And that was all necessary in setting up the Smackdown match. If anything, let's watch that match and see where it goes before jumping to conclusions.

CM Punk: Yeah, it looked odd for Cena to look fine after getting hit with a chair. But were we supposed to think that Punk destroyed Cena like no other man has before? No; all that we're supposed to know is that Punk attacked Cena, which is reason enough for a feud to begin. Again, a month from now, I'll remember that Punk attacked Cena; not that Cena was standing after getting hit with a chair. And even if he did sell the chair like he was shot with a gun, people would complain that it contradicts him surviving after getting hit by several chairshots during a match. And one more thing: This feud has barely begun. Let's not be so quick to judge.

Okay, I wish I could be more specific about all this, but that's all I've got. I'm confident plenty of people will disagree with me and blast me. That's fine. Go for it. After all, I'm the one who's basically speaking out against your opinions to begin with. I await your rebuttle.

But hey, if you really want to blast WWE for something on Raw, then how about the jokes about Vickie's weight. That was totally unnecessary, but let's save that topic for another discussion.

[Alex Shelley]

Ziggler was FAR from buried. He got to have a one on one match with John Cena and got in a very fair amount of offense. This is immediately after being given the honor of having a match that is equally as good as Shawn Freaking Michaels vs Undertaker. That doesn't scream "burial" to me. That screams "trying to give the guy more exposure so that he can start a slow climb to being a big part of the company's future".

Sure, when they first announced the match my thought was that it was going to be a two minute squash. But once I gave it a chance, I was impressed.

[MyndSkape: A Poor Man's Virgil]

I don't think a single person was buried tonight. No one's credibility was compromised. Hell, not even Ted DiBiase's. Tonight was all about setting up the future, and for once I'm excited to see what happens with these new feuds and matches next.

Good job, WWE!

[percymania]

Dolph Ziggler was ELEVATED tonight by getting to feud with the top star in WWE. He put on a fantastic match as well. The crowd was HOT for it. I loved the spot they put Ziggler in.

I don't agree that any of the men mentioned in this topic were buried on Raw.

[Vampiro138]

yeah, in the raw thread after reading everything and also reading reactions to the ppv...and got the tally of people who have been "buried" in a 24 hour time span...i honestly dont see anybody being buried i see alot of potential set ups...but heres the list and reasons given through the various threads

Nexus is dead...for the 50th time since it formed

Wade Barrett wont ever be able to work in wrestling again due to cena winning at tlc thus being buried completely and losing all credibility to ever stop foot in a wrestling ring again

Daniel Bryan is being made to look "gay" and wont ever be taken seriously by anybody caus hes being buried with the bella twins angle

CM Punk has lost all credibility and will never look like a threat to anybody ever again due to cena no selling the chair shot and thus being buried

Miz is being buried via "looking really really weak" getting beat by Jerry Lawler

John Morrison is being buried by not even being a thought after the main event

Ziggler is being buried due to Vickie being the cause of all his heat and Cena not even giving him a thought during his promo

according to alot of people...alot of guys have been buried in the span of pretty much a day...its just funny to me looking at that list...the net can be a funny place sometimes...kinda like all the "danielson is fired" threads brought alot of laughs.

[Deleted]

I think the only person who came off badly is Morrison. Miz was beaten by Orton with a sneak attack and already had Lawler finished, Ziggler beat the hell out of Cena and will likely beat him on SmackDown with help from Punk (and held out in the STF a long time for a midcarder), and Punk isn't hurt because that's typical Cena.

[Alex Shelley]

Yeah, JoMo is the only one I really think they messed up with. I wouldn't scream "buried" but I wish they had done things differently.

[Ligerbusa]

So apparently people in the RAW thread don't have any patience for anything or understand what being buried means? I can't even imagine someone watching Ziggler vs Cena and coming to the conclusion that Ziggler was buried.

[BlackoutCreature]

Ok, well I'll start off calling all of these "burials" is total bullpoop. I don't think a single one of the people mentioned in the OP looked any worse after the show then they did before the show. If anything Ziggler got a great push by being able to go toe-to-toe with Cena for as long as he did.

The one thing I will say though is that I think Morrison should've gotten more focus in the main event then he did. As the OP said, "will anybody remember what he did this evening a month from now?". No, probably not. But when you're positioning a guy to be the next top challenger for the World Title and possibly giving him the main event push of his career, is that really what you want to say about him? While his role in the main event didn't hurt him in the slightest, it didn't help him at all.

[Alex Shelley]

You know who WAS buried?

Yoshi Tatsu.

Didn't even get an appearance.

I blame that damn John Cena

[percymania]

The only person who was buried was Wade Barrett...

...who was buried underneath a bunch of chairs.

Ba-dum-ch!

[Perpetual Nirvana]

Yeah, Cena could have sold the chair shot a bit more and Morrison shouldn't have been treated as the least important guy in that match but otherwise it was fine.

[brettappedout (BLM)]

I admitted I was wrong in the RAW thread, but can you blame us for thinking Dolph was going to lose in a short match? I mean the segment before the match Cena & Lawler made about 5 fat jokes, so we figured Dolph would stick up for Vickie, put a fight then lose real quick.

Also it the whole Vickie & Dolph coming out was random as hell, another reason why atleast too me Dolph was going to get squashed.

As for Punk , I didn't think he was buried. Bryan, nope. Morrison, kind of as he was put on the back burner fairly qucikly in the opening. I mean why even bring him to the forefront this week, if you're going to do nothing with him against the Miz in the main? Just wait a week. Have Lawler & Orton vs. Miz & Riley instead.

[JoDaNa1281]

Dec 21, 2010 4:19:02 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

I admitted I was wrong in the RAW thread, but can you blame us for thinking Dolph was going to lose in a short match? I mean the segment before the match Cena & Lawler made about 5 fat jokes, so we figured Dolph would stick up for Vickie, put a fight then lose real quick.

Also it the whole Vickie & Dolph coming out was random as hell, another reason why atleast too me Dolph was going to get squashed.

As for Punk , I didn't think he was buried. Bryan, nope. Morrison, kind of as he was put on the back burner fairly qucikly in the opening. I mean why even bring him to the forefront this week, if you're going to do nothing with him against the Miz in the main? Just wait a week. Have Lawler & Orton vs. Miz & Riley instead.

Yeah, it seemed like most people thought Ziggler would lose a short match to Cena & be 'buried', but after the match, I don't think anyone said he was buried.
And as far as the burial gif, I think people just like putting it up & kept asking for someone to put a purple shirt on it.

[the5thhorseman]

How was Morrison forgotten? He was the classic face in peril. His job tonight was to get beat down a bit by the heels, sell their offense, keep Lawler out of the match, get sympathy, and give the hot tag to Orton who is more over at this point. Orton's offense is better in that situation anyway.

[Deleted]

Dec 21, 2010 4:25:27 GMT -5 the5thhorseman said:

How was Morrison forgotten? He was the classic face in peril. His job tonight was to get beat down a bit by the heels, sell their offense, keep Lawler out of the match, get sympathy, and give the hot tag to Orton who is more over at this point. Orton's offense is better in that situation anyway.

True, but it wouldn't have hurt to have him deliver a Flying Chuck to break up the Skullcrushing Finale and knock Miz into the RKO or something. Instead he was a total nonfactor.

[Alex Shelley]

Dec 21, 2010 4:19:02 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

I admitted I was wrong in the RAW thread, but can you blame us for thinking Dolph was going to lose in a short match? I mean the segment before the match Cena & Lawler made about 5 fat jokes, so we figured Dolph would stick up for Vickie, put a fight then lose real quick.

Also it the whole Vickie & Dolph coming out was random as hell, another reason why atleast too me Dolph was going to get squashed.

I agree that we had every reason to expect it to be a 2 minute squash match, which is kind of sad. WWE has trained us so well.

[BlackoutCreature]

Dec 21, 2010 4:25:27 GMT -5 the5thhorseman said:

How was Morrison forgotten? He was the classic face in peril. His job tonight was to get beat down a bit by the heels, sell their offense, keep Lawler out of the match, get sympathy, and give the hot tag to Orton who is more over at this point. Orton's offense is better in that situation anyway.

The problem is he really shouldn't be a classic face in peril at this point. If the WWE is serious about giving him a main event push and going with this Morrison-Miz WWE Title program, then Morrison needs to be presented as an equal to Orton, capable of holding his own, not someone who needs to be saved by Orton.

[DZ: WF Legacy]

Yeah, I didn't think Ziggler was buried at all. Nor do most folks, I imagine. He looked great out there, maybe sans for the ending, which wasn't a big deal. This guy only keeps proving that he's main event caliber out there. Really dig the Zig.

Cena should've sold the chair more, but that's being a bit fickle. I recalled the Terminator reference used at TLC last night, for Sheamus I believe it was. But, that wasn't a burial...so long as they don't make Punk job in like 3-4 minutes like on that one episode of Raw, that is. That was pure B.S.

[The Ichi]

Dec 21, 2010 3:32:39 GMT -5 Alex Shelley said:

Yeah, JoMo is the only one I really think they messed up with. I wouldn't scream "buried" but I wish they had done things differently.

I disagree, Morrison looked better than most people are realizing. He had just been in a brutal match with Sheamus where he got his leg completely mangled, and was in the ring for most of the match. To me he looked like the ballsiest guy in the match and I'm glad he actually sold his leg injuries, hurray for continuity!

That said, Cole and Matthews could have emphasized him being the no.1 contender a little more than they did.