WWE's New King & Political Smackdown

As of last night's Raw we have a brand new King of the WWE as well as a solution for the recent political confrontations between Senators Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. The special 3 hour Raw presented an interesting King of the Ring tournament along with pre-recorded comments from each of the presidential candidates. Senators John McCain, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama each did their best to convey to WWE fans why they should vote in their favor. It's unclear if any of the candidates are WWE fans or just had help from the WWE or other writers. Clinton and McCain were both heavy on WWE metaphors, with Obama & McCain getting a bit more serious in their statements. Obama finished up with the "If you smell what Ba-rack is cooking line" in an ode to The Rock, but its delivery was a far cry from that of the People's Champ. Later in the ring, fake Obama and Hilary were there along with a fake Bill Clinton. It was the Political Smackdown on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary. However, WWE & Umaga showed the best way to resolve the differences between the two politicians. Simply send the most vicious wrestler in the building down to decimate both candidates. That may have been Umaga's way of throwing his name into the presidential race.

As far as King of the Ring, when the tournament started with guys like Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Matt Hardy & MVP competing, it looked to be a classic. However, once the second half of the tournament started it was quite the letdown. Having Khali in the match and Hornswoggle made little sense, until Regal won. It almost seemed as if Regal set up the entire tournament to favor himself, so now we have "King William" who is also the GM of Raw. Punk appeared to be on a roll, getting a serious push to be the King, but Regal steamrolled his weakened competition. It may have been more fun to see Matt Hardy or Hornswoggle win the tournament last night. How great would it be to have King Hardy or the "Leprechaun King"? But Regal has always been like royalty around the WWE, and now it makes you wonder if he is in line to win one of the titles. Several previous winners such as Bret Hart, Stone Cold, Macho Man, Edge, Triple H and Booker were also major title holders, so Regal could be closing in on a title. This also may set up a feud between Regal and Finlay w/Hornswoggle for a short while after last night's proceedings.

The WWE's Intercontinental title situation is also starting to become quite puzzling. The previous title holders before Chris Jericho were Umaga and Jeff Hardy. Both men had to serve at least 30 day suspensions, so both lost the IC title quickly afterwards. Now it seems that Chris Jericho may merely be a placeholder until Jeff Hardy returns. In the past month Jericho has seen a great match against Umaga with a hard fought victory to save the IC title. But he's also been on the receiving end of a Shawn Michaels Superkick, a Batista Bomb and after last night CM Punk's Go To Sleep. Hopefully Jericho gets a bit more respect in the coming weeks. He looks to figure big into that Michaels vs. Batista match somehow, and it may even end with Jericho knocking out both men. This would set up the recently popular match type, the Triple Threat at the next Pay-Per-View.