We open Raw with WWE Champion CM Punk. Punk talks about John Laurinaitis and how horrible he is. He talks about JL being a failure at life. Punk decides Laurinaitis is taking too long and says he is going to find him himself. Cena’s music hits and Punk goes to leave the ring. Cena says he is tired of listening to Punk ramble on. Cena says Laurinaitis is going to give him a match with Kane tonight and give Zack Ryder a rematch for the US Title. Punk and Cena begin to argue back and forth and out comes JL. JL books Ryder in a falls count anywhere match with Kane, and books Punk and Cena in a match with Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger right then.
^Solid way to open the show again this week with your champion and other top guy on the show. Reminding us of the history between Cena and Punk will only keep us interested in the potential rivalry for the title when Cena’s heel turn is complete.
We have a decent match from these guys ended when Johnny Ace yells at Punk for shoving the ref. Punk grabs JL and is rolled up for a pinfall by Ziggler while Cena and Swagger are going at it on the outside.
^Fourth victory for Dolph Ziggler over CM Punk? There is absolutely no way Ziggler wins the title this Sunday at the Rumble based off what we’ve seen. Decent open to the show having Ziggler and Swagger team up once again. Too bad WWE doesn’t focus more on making tag teams out of talented guys like these two.
Punk gets on the mic after the match and challenges John Laurinaitis to be a WWE Superstar for one night and face him in the ring. Laurinaitis accepts the challenge.
^Comparing Punk/JL to Austin/McMahon is absolutely a slap in the face to one of the best storylines in history. I’ll admit that JL’s character has been growing on me, but he will never be the strong heel boss character that Vince McMahon has portrayed so well over the years.
Chris Jericho is out next for the return of the highlight reel! Jerry Lawler announces that Jericho is going to be in the Royal Rumble match. After hyping the crowd a lot, Jericho says this Sunday at the Rumble it will be the end of the world as we know it. He raises his arms when the lights go out and the jacket lights up.
^Redefining the heel role once again, Y2J continues to keep us talking. It’s hard to argue against him winning the Royal Rumble this Sunday. It seems to be the next sensible step in the storylines to have him setup a rivalry with WWE Champion, CM Punk.
Backstage segment #1: Mick Foley tells Zack Ryder and Eve about Kane and how he is a human deep down. Foley tells him he can do this. Cena walks up and offers his help. Zack seems angry and tells him he’s got this on his own.
^You can just feel the tension building between Cena and Ryder. Two things are happening here. First, Cena is becoming more angry as situations get worse, and second, Cena and Ryder are building towards an explosive rivalry as Cena’s heel turn slowly takes shape. Cena and Ryder have bigtime potential to work some great matches together when the time comes.
Kane vs Zack Ryder is up next in a falls count anywhere match. Kane destroys Ryder from pillar to post and all over the arena. The beatdown continues for what feels like forever while Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler play up the severity of the situation. Kane eventually slams Ryder through the stage and the match is over. Kane goes to chase Eve until Cena comes out and distracts him.
^First, you see that Michael Cole’s heel persona has been toned down many volumes. This is good because the announcers should never be the primary focus of the show. Cole showed genuine concern for the (kayfabe) injury to Ryder as he got slammed through the stage. Demonic Kane continues on a role. Good for him. I’m not sure if he will go over on Cena at the Rumble or not. It really all depends on where they want to take the storyline for Cena. Does he rise above the hate, or does he give in and embrace to complete a heel turn?
Backstage segment #2: Ryder is loaded into an ambulance. Eve scolds Cena when he says this isn’t his fault. Eve leaves with Ryder. Hooray, no divas match! Cena looks serious when the ambulance pulls away.
^Later in the show, it is revealed that Zack Ryder has a broken back from the slam through the stage. I suppose this means Ryder will miss the Royal Rumble. I have mixed feelings about this. First, Ryder has become a stooge face rather than the cool Zack Ryder that started on his youtube show. Second, his popularity has sort of flatlined because of his basic moveset and personality. WWE, please let this guy be himself and win over the fans more! Lastly, despite the generic face labelling that he has received, Ryder is still one of the more popular athletes in WWE. Why on earth would you not want him in the Royal Rumble match or at least in a match on one of your biggest four shows of the year? C’mon man!
Next up is Sheamus taking on Jinder Mahal, again. Sheamus and Mahal go back and forth for a few minutes with Wade Barrett on commentary. Sheamus hits the brogue kick for the victory. He challenges Barrett to come into the ring. Barrett teases that he will but doesnt. Sheamus grabs a microphone and says he will be the last one standing at the Rumble.
^I know we’ve seen Sheamus and Jinder Mahal go at it enough times over the last month, but this match just adds to the Barrett/Sheamus rivalry of who can be more dominant on the Smackdown brand. I love how Wade Barrett has become a strong enough heel to carry this rivalry with Sheamus, as well as his rivalry with Randy Orton. It says a lot about the confidence that WWE has in this guy to have him feuding with the two top faces on the Smackdown brand.
Backstage segment #3: Miz is being interviewd by Josh Matthews. Miz says he is going to win the Rumble and headline WM for a second year in a row. Truth walks up with a clipboard and insults him. Funny stuff as usual from Truth as he calls Miz the company’s number one jackass. The pair gets into a heated argument and JL walks up to them and yells at them for making too much noise. JL says in their match tonight, the loser will be the first entrant in the 2012 Royal Rumble.
^Truth and Miz together are magic on promos. Truth has the ability to become the top face of Raw with just a little bit more mic time each week. Miz just always seems pissed off. You seem him as the guy who just wants to bitch about things. The feud with Truth is perfect for the time being, but I can see these two doing bigger and better things down the road.
Brodus Clay squashes Heath Slater in a very short match with William Regal on commentary. This was a very short match that once again made Heath Slater look like the new era Brooklyn Brawler.
^Brodus Clay setting up for a potential rivalry with William Regal? I’ll take it. Regal is still one of the best technicians in the WWE and has the potential to really elevate Brodus by making him look like a star. The actual wrestling moves that could come from Brodus Clay in this rivalry might help some of us take him a bit more seriously. If WWE wants to legitimately push Clay as a contender for anything more than dance entertainment, then some matches with William Regal are certainly a decent way to go.
Backstage segment #4: JL is warming up and David Otunga comes up to him with an urgent fax. JL looks very angry as we go to commercial break with CM Punk heading to the ring for the main event.
^While watching this the first time around, I was waiting for the catch on how JL was going to get out of this match. As soon as Otunga said the letter couldn’t wait, you had to know something was going to screw up the main event of the night.
CM Punk comes to the ring for his match with JL. JL comes to the ring with Otunga and insists on reading the letter before anything else. JL says the board of directors are skeptical of his job as interim GM of Raw and he is now under review. He says next week he will have an evaluation conducted by the COO, Triple H. Punks rambles on asking JL what he expected and talking about Foley not being allowed to enter the Rumble. JL confirms that Foley will indeed enter the Royal Rumble. He also says he was just kidding about screwing Punk over this Sunday. He says he can’t wrestle Punk now and he has a suitable opponent for him in Otunga. Otunga attacks Punk. Punk locks on the anaconda vice before any match can start. He stares JL down and kicks Otunga out of the ring. JL offers a handshake and Punk grabs his hand and pulls JL in for a GTS. Punk stands tall until Ziggler comes in and hits the Zig Zag on Punk and is the last man standing as Raw goes off the air.
^It may not have been a match, but it was a very solid way to close the go home show for the Rumble. We now know that JL will probably not be able to screw Punk over on Sunday, and we know that Mick Foley will be apart of the Royal Rumble. Ziggler is left standing tall at the end to make us believe that there is some chance he will win the WWE Title on Sunday.
The beginning and the end of Raw were very strong. Everything in between felt like a repeat of things that we’ve seen week in and week out. Ryder won’t be at the Rumble. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Sheamus and Barrett continue to show their will at wanting to win the Rumble, and Brodus Clay’s stock continues to rise. Most importantly of all, Punk looked like the “say what I want” champ and the heel authority figure in JL is now on the hot seat. Overall, I’ll give the show more of a thumbs up than a thumbs down. I’ll have the Rumble predictions column and the Smackdown review out together on Saturday, and I’m trying to get a historical Rumble flashback/analysis of the winners column together before the show as well. Lots to do and so little time! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
www.facebook.com/thunderstruck11 – add me!
