Alberto Del Rio

This year's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event left us with some unanswered questions but also some new beginnings. In the main event (a rare moment in WWE history where all wrestlers in a final match on PPV weren't on a full-time WWE schedule), Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a cage match. Lesnar went up 2-1 on "The Game" and is likely poised for another future match in WWE (not against Triple H), perhaps at Summerslam or Wrestlemania 30. Questions coming out of this match are: will Triple H wrestle again?

WWE posted an article last Tuesday night announcing that Alberto Del Rio had won the World Heavyweight Championship from the Big Show at that week's Smackdown tapings. Revealing a title change isn't uncommon as of late. With so many fans reading spoilers anyway, why wouldn't WWE bring that traffic to their own platforms? That's not the most interesting part of the scenario. What's interesting to me is the timing. With Friday being the first Smackdown after the holiday season, and The Rock in the building, this was already projected to be a highly watched episode.

The weeks following WrestleMania have traditionally been a time when WWE calls up talent from developmental, giving them a chance on the main roster. This year has proven to be no different, though not all of this week's debuts were superstars new to the main brands. Lord Tensai , a returning A-Train with a new gimmick, returned on Raw, while former Nexus member Skip Sheffield made his comeback on Smackdown, repackaged as Ryback . Damien Sandow , who has been talked about as a standout in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, also made his debut, albeit in the form of a pre-recorded promo.

WWE pretty much saved the best for last, in terms of pay-per-view offerings.   Even with WWE champion CM Punk off the card because of injury, WWE TLC was a terrific pay-per-view event with several great things to write home about. First and foremost, many fans were pleasantly surprised with the final image of the broadcast -- a victorious Dolph Ziggler holding his Money in the Bank briefcase, having defeated John Cena. Yes, you read that correctly. John Cena didn't win. Dolph Ziggler did, and the match was great.

Let me start by saying this -- I want more WWE televised events to happen outside the U.S. Maybe that's not entirely true. Let me rephrase -- I want more WWE televised events where we hear reactions like the ones we heard this week. Both Raw (Monday) and Smackdown (Tuesday) were in Birmingham, England this week. The crowd was so good, that even on the second consecutive night of WWE action, the crowd reaction and party atmosphere rivalled many WWE crowds stateside. Many segments and matches felt even more special just because the Birmingham crowd was so vocal.

WWE posted an article last Tuesday night announcing that Alberto Del Rio had won the World Heavyweight Championship from the Big Show at that week's Smackdown tapings. Revealing a title change isn't uncommon as of late. With so many fans reading spoilers anyway, why wouldn't WWE bring that traffic to their own platforms? That's not the most interesting part of the scenario. What's interesting to me is the timing. With Friday being the first Smackdown after the holiday season, and The Rock in the building, this was already projected to be a highly watched episode.

"Tonight is all about Big Show and Sheamus. " General Manager Booker T dropped that line early in the broadcast of tonight's Smackdown. So the show focuses on the World Heavyweight Champion and his challenger for the upcoming pay-per-view? What a novel concept. Maybe CM Punk should move to the blue brand. I've praised WWE's treatment of Sheamus and Big Show in recent weeks, and their program continues to be well booked. The two are remaining, for the most part, physically separated.

This year I've had the opporrtunity to enjoy all the action from Los Angeles in the days leading up to Summerslam 2012. Here are the tidbits I have collected from several WWE Superstars: Stephanie McMahon gives an interesting answer on whether or not she will return to WWE TV. Wade Barrett  says he is 99 percent healed from injury and details the character changes we can expect when he returns to WWE TV. Antonio Cesaro...

Post-WrestleMania is usually the beginning of a new fiscal calendar in WWE, where many things start fresh. While that may not necessarily be the case as it pertains to rivalries (this year there were four WrestleMania rematches at Extreme Rules, tying the record set in 2010), it seems to be the case when it comes to fresh faces and new ideas being implemented on WWE programming. Extreme Rules was a perfect example: subtle nuances such as a slight increase by the commentary team of calling moves and holds (and Michael Cole shedding most of his heel persona)

CM Punk has been on a campaign for respect. The on-screen character has lambasted WWE at every turn for giving priority treatment to other superstars instead of the reigning WWE champion. This week, though, it's hard to argue that Punk had the spotlight that a champion deserves. He was featured in the main event of Raw in a tag team match, was part of the centerpiece attraction of the debut episode of Main Event on Wednesday and main evented tonight's Smackdown in a match against Dolph Ziggler.

Let me start by saying this -- I want more WWE televised events to happen outside the U.S. Maybe that's not entirely true. Let me rephrase -- I want more WWE televised events where we hear reactions like the ones we heard this week. Both Raw (Monday) and Smackdown (Tuesday) were in Birmingham, England this week. The crowd was so good, that even on the second consecutive night of WWE action, the crowd reaction and party atmosphere rivalled many WWE crowds stateside. Many segments and matches felt even more special just because the Birmingham crowd was so vocal.

Friday night's Smackdown left me with one major question: Why did I just watch Wade Barrett face Randy Orton? That's not necessarily a complaint, as I enjoy watching these two share the squared circle, but it's a match we've seen twice on television in the past two weeks. And it was nothing new. The ending of the match may have been the most disturbing part. In their first encounter, Barrett won because of interference from Alberto Del Rio. In the rematch, Orton got his win back.

Sunday night's WWE Hell in a Cell had been one of the most talked about pay-per-views in recent memory. Not all the talk was good, as many expected this show to completely bomb. I fell somewhere in the middle. I didn't expect an atrocity, but I didn't expect a show of the year contender. What WWE treated fans to was a pleasant surprise. A new World Heavyweight Champion was crowned, and a number of other stories were further developed through the night. Overall, this was more of a transition show than anything else, but it still delivered in the ring and came out of nowhere as a show that will certainly be talked about even more in the future.

"Tonight is all about Big Show and Sheamus. " General Manager Booker T dropped that line early in the broadcast of tonight's Smackdown. So the show focuses on the World Heavyweight Champion and his challenger for the upcoming pay-per-view? What a novel concept. Maybe CM Punk should move to the blue brand. I've praised WWE's treatment of Sheamus and Big Show in recent weeks, and their program continues to be well booked. The two are remaining, for the most part, physically separated.

CM Punk has been on a campaign for respect. The on-screen character has lambasted WWE at every turn for giving priority treatment to other superstars instead of the reigning WWE champion. This week, though, it's hard to argue that Punk had the spotlight that a champion deserves. He was featured in the main event of Raw in a tag team match, was part of the centerpiece attraction of the debut episode of Main Event on Wednesday and main evented tonight's Smackdown in a match against Dolph Ziggler.

A recent development in WWE's storytelling seems more like lyrics from a early 1990s hip hop song than anything we've seen in recent years: tag teams, back again. WWE fans have been clamoring for the revitalization of a tag team division for months, if not years, and their wish finally seems to be coming true. While Kofi Kingston and R-Truth did a good job alongside Primo and Epico and the Prime Time Players to rebuild a solid foundation, it has been since Kane and Daniel Bryan won the titles that the focus has become clear.

The Money in the Bank pay-per-view has quickly become an event on WWE's events calendar that fans greatly look forward to. What started as a match at WrestleManiabecame a match that could be counted on to consistently provide excitement, if not steal the show on the grandest stage of them all, so much so that it became its own event in 2010. Much like the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank is a speciality match with something important at stake and happens only once a year. Unlike the Royal Rumble, the winners of the Money in the Bank ladder match aren't typically elevated in status by the win in the long term.

WWE Champion CM Punk made the late decision Monday to take a personal day. And the result was almost unfathomable: his loyalist fans in his hometown of Chicago actually booed him. Earlier in the night, Punk -- who had been spotted assaulting Jerry "The King" Lawler backstage -- was given a hero's welcome and exploited the support of the his followers to get his point across that he never turned his back on the WWE Universe. But when Punk walked out on the scheduled champion-versus-champion match against World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, no one seemed too happy.

WWE Champion CM Punk made the late decision Monday to take a personal day. And the result was almost unfathomable: his loyalist fans in his hometown of Chicago actually booed him. Earlier in the night, Punk -- who had been spotted assaulting Jerry "The King" Lawler backstage -- was given a hero's welcome and exploited the support of the his followers to get his point across that he never turned his back on the WWE Universe. But when Punk walked out on the scheduled champion-versus-champion match against World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, no one seemed too happy.

Well, color me shocked. After an extended period of ranting and questioning the preferential treatment that appeared to be bestowed on Randy Orton since his return from suspension, I never expected to see the Viper tap out - in a clean loss - to Alberto Del Rio. Orton had been built up and put over number-one contenders like it was going out of style, but tonight, he actually did a job and helped make Del Rio look like a legitimate main event...