Note from Dez, Webmaster : 
This week boasts a special edition of The 10 Count because our writer Cory Templehof witnessed Raw Live from Boston. And what a Raw it was! CM Punk made history by cutting a long-winded promo unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. He ripped Vince McMahon apart and verbally silenced the WWE Champion, John Cena. Cory even carried a sign along with him on behalf of the Unchained Wrestling Network (thanks dude!), which was pretty cool. Go ahead and check out the 10 Count, featuring 5 counts from Raw from a Live perspective!

Welcome to this week’s edition of The 10 count! This is a weekly column that will feature 5 things from Raw and another 5 from Smackdown! that could use improvement. As I mentioned in last week’s count, Raw was live from my hometown of Boston and I was there to experience the very best this business has to offer in CM Punk! Once again, Punk tore down the house with great opening and closing segments. We then saw The Viper unleash a rage upon The Big Red Machine on Smackdown!. Let’s start the count!

Live from the flagship Raw Brand, where CM Punk will sorely be missed!

1!

Its no mystery that The Diva’s Division was going to become irrelevant again once Kharma took her hiatus. It’s fine that the Divas appear on Raw every week, but the fact that we have to sit through the build for a Diva’s Championship Match at MITB, rather than another feud is ridiculous. Nowadays, Diva feuds grow stale and boring before they even get off the ground. With potential Diva heels like Melina and Maryse on the roster, why are The Bella Twins our top heels on Raw?

Live Side note: Bring back Santina Marella. I’d rather sit through that than anything the Divas are coming up with these days.

2!

Creative made a mistake by continuing to make Mark Henry look like a monster this Monday. For months now he has made examples out of The Big Show, Kane, and even Randy Orton. Now, this is great for Henry’s career which was going nowhere before The Draft, but it’s not good for his showdown with Show at MITB. Show looks beyond weak going into Sunday. In order for fans to care a little more about this Big Man Match, the build needs to be a bit more back and forth. They should’ve allowed Show to destroy McIntyre. This would’ve given him back some credibility without taking any away from Henry.

3!

Friends, if you think Sting trying to portray The Joker is bad, you should have got a load of John Cena trying to be Micky Ward this past Monday. John Cena, when did you get a freakin’ Boston accent?! You have been with the WWE for close to 10 years now and not once have you pulled that out of your bag o’ tricks. You mock The Rock for wanting to be an actor, yet here you are stealing all of Mark Walhberg’s characters. For those of you who don’t remember, Cena tried (and failed) to do his best Marky Mark impressions back in his earlier days.

Live Side note: I want to set the record straight here. I am not a Cena hater and I’m proud that a guy from Boston is holding the title. John, its hard to put you in The 10 Count! every week but you’re going to be there ‘til you get back to being The Champ who had ruthless aggression week in and week out. Let’s hope that time is right around the corner!

4!

The final build for Raw’s MITB Ladder Match was disappointing. The only ones who shined on the mic were Miz and Del Rio. Creative clearly has Del Rio looking like the favorite to win the match. But even if he’s going to grab the briefcase, all the other competitors should look good going into the bout. If they all look strong, that leads the fans to believe in the element of surprise. Creative did a good job of this last year because no one believed The Miz was going to win. They should’ve done the same thing this time around.

5!

The Live Contract Negations between Punk and Mr. McMahon was monumental. Punk continues to hit home run after home run with his promos. I do think there is a problem here though. In a short span of three weeks, Punk has made this storyline the best one we‘ve seen since HBK and Jericho back in ‘08. But if he does truly leave after Sunday, where does this leave us? We get a few weeks of being sucked back into the awesome Attitude Era and now we have to go back to the plain old boring PG Era next Monday? I, like everyone else, don’t want to see Punk go. I’ve felt that way even before his worked shoot. Also, think about this. Without the likes of Punk, Jericho, Batista, Edge, Taker, and Triple H on the television, who do we turn to? Don’t get me wrong, Alberto Del Rio is a great heel. At this point and time, Del Rio can’t excel in a feud like these guys have done in the past.

Live Side note: Yes, CM Punk. Boston has become a dynasty. But we will never be The New York Yankees! We continue to thrive as a Blue Collar Sports town. Something Chicago hasn’t been able to do in a very long time

Now on to Smackdown! Where Sin Cara buries the entire Roster

6!

Cody Rhodes should have his sights set on the World Title. Instead he has his sights set on putting a paper bag over Ted DiBiase’s head. It seems Creative is leaning towards a feud between these two. In a few years, that could be a huge battle of the 2nd generation stars. But as of now, it does nothing for either man. DiBiase needs more credibility before he can get to Rhodes’s level in and out of the ring.

7!

Kane has basically lost all of the fire he had just a year ago. It’s good that Kane is noticing that he is losing his edge but babbling to Teddy Long about it only makes him look weak. I also think his match with Orton was booked wrong. Instead of Orton losing via count out, he should have won cleanly over Kane. Then while Orton is being distracted by Christian, Kane attacks The Viper. This way instead of only Orton looking good, you make both men look good. Also, an attack on Orton, gives him a pass if he is to lose to Christian at MITB.

8!

Let’s forget about The Great Khali taking Booker’s place on commentary, how about Wade Barrett instead? On a serious note, if Barrett nor Sheamus wins Smackdown!’s MITB Ladder Match, I sure hope we get these two in a feud sometime soon. These two European imports could be a money storyline with the World Title on the line. The only question would be, who turns face? I’d give the nod to Sheamus because I believe he’s hated less than Barrett.

9!

I don’t think the implosion of The former Corre teammates, Slater and Gabriel, was detailed enough. They lose a match against the Usos and they are already calling it quits? That’s another problem with The Tag Division today. Teams don’t stay together long enough for fans to care when they actually break up. The build for this break up should have been given more time. Having Slater attack Gabriel would help get his heel character develope and give viewers a reason to root for Gabriel.

Side note: Heath Slater, stay off the mic until you’re ready, my friend.

10!

Ah, another week in the books and another burial of a Sin Cara opponent. This week’s victim: Sheamus. Although Sin Cara is incredibly over with the fans, he’s not ready for the push he is being given right now. In order to be great in this business you need to be able to hang in the ring and talk on the mic. So far, Sin Cara can do only do one of those and not very well. I understand there is a language barrier here but eventually he is going to have to cut a promo. Yes, he has his flashy moves and will pull off a lot of them this Sunday at MITB. But as of right now, he is a glorified Cruiserweight. He has the potential to be great but he has very far to go before he gets to the level of Rey Mysterio, who he is heavily compared to.

Ring the bell! That’s the count for this week. Thank you for taking the time out to read my column and hopefully you’ve enjoyed this week’s Live Raw Edition. Join me later in the week for The 10 Count! Plus – Money In The Bank Edition. I’ll have 5 extra counts on how I thought WWE’s MITB PPV could have been better. Please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to get back to you.