By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

The following are two responses to James Caldwell's post-Cyber Sunday take on the Batista title victory in the main event of the PPV. We strive for original feedback and opinions to debate key issues in wrestling (and entertainment), so we encourage readers to contribute their thoughts to pwtorch@gmail.com

Chris Molina of Salem, Mass. writes: The title situation on Raw has been a mess for a while, and at least on the surface, Batista's title victory could help to give Raw more of a direction. Granted, Batista has built-in money matches with John Cena and Randy Orton. But what's next for Chris Jericho? Jericho has been the best on the mic and in the ring in recent memory. Let's not forget that has been working with Shawn Michaels, but both have carried their respective roles very well. Jericho was given the ball and ran with it, but it appears that WWE has no confidence in Jericho. If he was given a longer reign, stability would come to Raw and there could have been some very interesting feuds to heat up the undercard of the main event scene as well.

Portrayal of a wrestler is crucial in making the fans get behind someone, face or heel. C.M. Punk wasn't portrayed as a strong champion. His character is strong. He stands up for what he believes in, will back up what he says, and has good support from the crowd. But from day one, all that was pushed on fans was that he lucked out and cashed Money in the Bank at just the right time and won on a fluke. Then, in what to date was his biggest title defense, he was punted out by Priceless and Randy Orton. He not only lost his title, but he didn't even get a chance to lose it. How is stability supposed to be there when that happens? So, Jericho takes his place, wins the title. For a little while there, Raw finally seemed to be getting interesting. Jericho could play off of everyone well, yet he was made to look pretty stupid most of the time. Admittedly, he didn't look as bad as his first reign with the Undisputed Championship, but he wasn't booked that well here either.

If Chris Jericho was booked a little better, and given some more time with the championship, the Raw brand would have had the stability it needed and added some fresh faces at the top of the card. This would have also added some interesting dynamics to current feuds, as well as creating new ones. Batista is a safe bet as champion, but are we really going to see anything new? Will it be more of the same? It seems only time will tell. Hopefully for the sake of the fans, some fresh faces will be added to the mix sooner than later.

Caldwell Responds: There certainly is a self-fulfilling prophecy in play with the booking of Chris Jericho. "Well, Chris, looks like ratings went down and we need some stability, so we're going to switch the belt onto Batista," WWE would say. Chris would respond: "Yeah, but I was never given a chance to become anything more than a weak, undeserving champion. Of course no one wants to watch when the champion is portrayed as a weakling."

There's also something about Jericho, or at least WWE's perception of him as a potential main event star, that just hasn't allowed him to be taken seriously when he's been put in position of WWE champion. The first Undisputed Title victory in December 2001 was by serious hook-or-crook, and it was played up as such the entire length of Jericho's first reign. Whether he's not big enough, not tall enough, not serious enough, or just doesn't have "it," Jericho has been slighted as champion.

Batista brings instant credibility to Raw's top position. Is he the best choice? No. Is he the right choice? Right now he is, for the reason of setting up John Cena's return. We know the end result of every WWE formula is to get things back to Cena on Raw. He is their ace pitcher, all-star center, and star quarterback all in one person. Batista as champion stabilizes the Raw brand to hand the ball off to Cena when he returns.

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Rick Walters writes: I could not disagree more with your editorial. Batista on top as champion will continue a downward ratings trend. The problem with Raw isn't necessarily the talent being used - although many are sick and tired of the status quo - it is plain and simply creative. Regardless of who the champ is, bad writing and booking will prevail to ruin any semblance of entertainment on Monday night. See the Jericho-HBK feud. It was great for so long and then completely ruined by a creative/booking decision.

Raw should have a ratings spike tonight following the PPV, as I would expect that many didn't order it and will tune in to see where the product goes. After that, ratings will go back into the toilet. Batista on top does nothing to stabilize Raw. Rather, it only stabilizes Batista's unrest within the company. Good to see politics didn't leave Raw when Triple H did. By the way did you see the sign a fan had: "wHHHo booked this?" Freaking hilarious.

Caldwell responds: I did not see the sign, but the person failed the first PWTorch.com grammatical commandment by writing HHH instead of writing out Triple H. In any event, it's been evident the past few weeks that the creative direction on Raw needs a shake-up. It hasn't only been with Jericho as a weak champion horsing around with Mike Adamle. Priceless has been kicked to the curb the past two weeks. WWE still doesn't know what to do with C.M. Punk without the World Title on Raw. Not even Santino was immune to the bad booking bug.

Whether Batista's title victory was merely a placebo and not an actual remedy to the solution remains to be seen. WWE saw a problem - slipping ratings. They decided Batista on top as a credible star based on his size, look, coolness, persona, and protected booking status (political or not political) would be the near-term decision to carry the brand until Cena returns to his top spot.

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