By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Thoughts From Raw:

- Well, there go your live mic privileges, Abraham Washington: ”Titus O’Neil is like Kobe Bryant in a Colorado hotel room. He’s unstoppable!” You can’t make Kobe jokes on a PG show! It wasn’t even clever! It was just awkward…

- So based on what we’ve saw last night on the first “regular” three-hour Raw, it’s obvious that one of the big advantages of the show’s extension is going to be more time for storytelling and character development. How much screen time did Daniel Bryan get? Definitely more than a half hour. It might have been closer to 45 minutes. And he was hilarious! He played the frustrated heel about as well as anybody I’ve ever seen! Between “kicking” R-Truth’s imaginary friend (still a stupid gimmick), to his AJ-mandated psychiatric evaluation, Bryan had one of the best nights of his entire career. He stole the show in the ring, and then stole the show on the mic.

- That being said, I could definitely feel the show’s length. It was great to see Tyson Kidd, the Prime Time Players, and other guys who might not have made Raw otherwise. The show now has a lot more room to breathe, and the luxury of being able to move along at slightly slower pace. But three hours is a long time to invest in anything, particularly in an age where people have such short attention spans. I’ll definitely be interested to see how the ratings look.

- Apparently now that AJ is the GM of Raw, she gets her last name back. For whatever reason, until last night WWE had been dropping her on-screen last name, Lee, from broadcasts. Her Twitter handle was still @WWEAJLEE, but for some reason they weren’t mentioning it. For some reason there’s always been something about WWE divas and last names. Natalya, Eve, Layla, Kaitlyn, Aksana…why can’t these girls have last names?

- Between the black and white suit, and her more sinister delivery, it also looks like AJ is channeling her inner Stephanie McMahon. It’s an interesting choice. So is her character not crazy anymore? Since she was announced as the new GM, she seems to suddenly be in complete control of her mental faculties. So…was she just pretending to be crazy this whole time? Was she manipulating everyone? I guess I’d buy that. The character was going with the crazy act to manipulate her way into a position of power not only over Punk and Bryan, but as luck would have it, Raw itself. And yet, despite being such am underhandedly conniving woman, we’re apparently supposed to cheer for her because she’s making life miserable for Daniel Bryan. I’m confused about what her status is on the babyface/heel spectrum.

- Speaking of which, what’s the deal with CM Punk? Is he a bad guy or isn’t he? As a lot of people predicted, the fans are still cheering him. He even acknowledged on camera that he’s getting the same kind of ovations John Cena is. He seems to be cutting heel promos, but at this point our only reasons to dislike him are that he decked The Rock, and that he seems to be acting a little more like a jerk than usual. He’s arguing that he, the champion, should always have the spotlight. But how many degrees away is that from calling yourself the best in the world every week? Not that many, in my opinion. If WWE really wants to push Punk in the heel direction, they’re going to have to push harder than this.

- Not at all surprised to see Randy Orton this week, as his 60-day suspension has ended. With Raw moving to three hours, WWE needs all the star power they can get, and I don’t think anybody can deny that even after a big absence, Orton is one of the top tier guys. I’m looking forward to seeing who they put him with heading toward Summerslam. I’d expect to see him working with a midcard heel, but you never know.

I think I would have been more impressed with Alberto Del Rio’s win over United States Champion Santino Marella had the champ not lost to Antonio Cesaro just a few days ago on Smackdown. So much for Santino being taken a little more seriously as an in-ring competitor, much less a champion. Hey Cody Rhodes! Now that you’re done restoring meaning to the Intercontinental Title, can we get you to work on the US Title?

All images from WWE.com.