PWInsiderXTRA - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS – LOOKING AT RAW 1/16/12

RAW – 1/16/12
What needs to be accomplished on this week’s Raw?
•Royal Rumble hype. That’s the bottom line at this point for WWE. I’m repeating myself week in and week out, but this is it
•Strive not to make your babyfaces idiots. R-Truth, CM Punk, Zack Ryder and even Superman himself have been made to look like a complete fools
•Kane-John Cena program. Are these guys going to have a match? Or is this a chance for Kevin Dunn to show-off how creative his production team can be or a better chance for Stephanie to show-off here awesome scriptwriters and their whacky Kane monologues. I’m sure the writers love writing for Kane, but to me his storylines are always more about them and the whacky special effects than it is about who is involved in the storyline
•The continual intertwining of the divas in storylines. The one thing I liked in last week’s storyline telling was the use of AJ and Eve in major storylines. The women are so completely useless sometimes and they’ve found a way recently to make use of them
•Chris Jericho. Is it time for Chris to break the walls down and talk? I’m not sure and that’s the beautiful thing about Chris Jericho storylines, they are well thought out. I don’t need to edit and modify what he’s doing, because I don’t know what he’s doing and I like it that way, because I trust him
Show Breakdown

1. I like the details WWE uses to promote Royal Rumble including the signage on the stage and Michael Cole saying it right away that the Rumble is two weeks away, however that’s the stuff they always do and while it’s an effort, it’s not enough.

2. Pleasant surprise to see Mick Foley. I’m waiting for Michael McCole to throw down with the fat jokes any second now.

3. WWE announcing two pretty key matches at the top of the show. That’s stuff that we should have been made aware of last week, but nope, The Bubble probably came up with this ten minutes before show time.

4. I like Mick Foley’s serious tone to his promo and the announcement that he will be in the Royal Rumble. That’s another solid addition to the Rumble, but here comes Ziggler to bury Mick, call him over the hill and probably take down any specialness there is to Foley being in the Rumble.

5. Ziggler does bring up a good point to start about why Foley is allowed to take one of the ‘precious’ 30 spots in the Royal Rumble match.

6. Mick and Dolph are doing great promo work and are doing fine work making the Royal Rumble feel special. The crowd is really into Foley. Also got to give Dolph some credit as well for keeping the Rumble match as the center of attention and the importance of it.

7. I was right Dolph did bury Mick as over the hill and out of shape, but it worked. Dolph coming off as a total superstar, Foley coming off very sympathetic and Punk coming out right now as the likely heroin for Foley. I am really enjoying this segment so far.

8. Who would have thought CM Punk would have come out and the segment would have died, but it did. Punk was strong as usual, but I’m not sure what the point was when Laurinaitis came out and denied Foley’s request to be in the Rumble. Was this just another segment to get heat on a non wrestler?

9. I like what WWE did changing the Tag Titles at a house show. Of course I question whether it was done to promote people going to house shows or because the company doesn’t care about the tag titles. I assume a bit of both, but either way it does gives the impression that live event matches do matters.

10. Nice match with Epico, Primo, Kofi and Evan. These four seem to work well together. I wonder what’s next for Kofi and Evan.

11. Chris Jericho has his first match back and it’s on Raw without any advertising. If I’ve said it before, I’ve said it a thousand times, this company is so lost. I wonder if Vince wrote that into the show as Raw started, that be the last straw before we could officially call Raw, Nitro 2000. Again I have to question why WWE will go out of their way to just try and make Jericho another guy on the roster, its mind blowing and I have to assume it happens because of the variety of different political agendas in this company. Then again my rant could all be for not if this is another step in the Jericho heel turn and he doesn’t actually wrestle.

12. Wait that wasn’t the last straw before they officially become Nitro, because here comes the second last straw. Zack Ryder gets choke slammed outside on to a skid last week on Raw and he is going to compete this week. I guess WWE wanted all the kids to know he was alright or they are just idiots, I’m going with the latter.

13. Well at least in that promo from Zack Ryder, he came off as a babyface you should want to cheer for as oppose to last week’s where he just came off as a fool.

14. I have no need to see a video package on Kane and John Cena, but I do like the old school production music they are using. I’m a big proponent of WWE going back to and using some of the production music they’ve used in the past, because they really worked for video packages in years gone by as oppose to the generic rock songs they use now days.

15. I actually like the logic they are using as to why Swagger is getting a USA title shot. I do think it would be a big mistake to take the title off Ryder, but I have a feeling WWE is in panic mode about the Raw ratings and they might assume switching some titles is the best strategy instead of actually trying to address the problem.

16. Well done by Cole to mention the awesome Smackdown main event angle from last week with Bryan, AJ and Big Show.

17. I really believe this title change happened, because WWE is blaming Zack Ryder for drawing bad ratings instead of building up his character and giving things a chance to breath. Perhaps Ryder will get it back at some point, but an unnecessary title change from where I sit. I do give WWE a little bit of credit for letting Ryder have a big out for the loss.

18. I’ve got some real issues with the way WWE handles the Laurinaitis character. He isn’t the Vince McMahon authority figure where Vince would sometimes get his. Laurinaitis is always getting the upper hand and while at some point maybe CM Punk will deck him as a payoff, in the end nothing will change. It’s the same situation with the Michael Cole character. It’s like The Bubble loves seeing certain people act in specific ways and so they continually do the same thing with these characters, because they are entertained by it backstage even though the babyface rarely to never gets revenge and we the audience have to sit through it.

19. I don’t need to see Perez Hilton and I don’t think the live audience cares for him either.

20. Ah the old cog in the machine diva segment. Why are the Bella Twins wearing the same outfit they wore a couple weeks back?

21. This diva segment is the type of thing that holds the product back from being taken seriously by the majority of the audience. Of course I can just see Stephanie watching this show back in Connecticut and smiling about how WWE has made it and figuring out her next corporate buzz words. BTW where is Beth Phoenix, the Divas Champ?

22. Really liking the focus put on the Smackdown main event angle from this past Friday.

23. The 1992 Royal Rumble flashback was another nice trip down memory lane, but outside of that opening segment I really haven’t gotten the Royal Rumble promotion I’ve wanted to see, and I’m not surprised. WWE is keeping up with focusing on their action adventure storytelling which while is nice to some people; it’s not what is best for the company and maximizing profits.

24. Here comes R-Truth, I’m really dreading this segment. Thank God for Wade Barrett and I’m glad to see he is focusing on promoting the Royal Rumble match, ask and you shall receive.

25. Wade asking the right questions, but it’s all about “entertainment” for the WWE brass when it comes to R-Truth.

26. That segment wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn’t good.

27. Ah the typical mini battle royal before the Royal Rumble. It’s not creative, but it’s a good promotional tool to help hype the Royal Rumble, which is all I ask for.

28. Was that R-Truth’s first match back on television since his suspension? I think so. No reason for Sheamus to take out Miz after the match. Its funny WWE loves protecting their heel characters non wrestlers like John Laurinaitis and Michael Cole, but a wrestler like The Miz who needs all the help he can get, gets beaten up by all the babyfaces week in and week out.

29. So Swagger the new US Champion and the heel is going to wrestle twice on this show and of course he’ll likely get squashed by Super Man.

30. At least Cena has the intense look going today, which is his best attribute. Finally they announce Kane and Cena for the Rumble.

31. Nice beat down segment here. Very different side of John Cena, which I guess Kane, can use to tell us that Cena is showing off his hate and seconds later that is exactly what happened.

32. Out of all the nonsense between Kane and Cena, this was their best effort. Cena was violent; Kane was short and to the point.

33. Nice promo package to hype The Royal Rumble. That was the type of package to build anticipation. Of course right after that I see the Santino, Royal Rumble commercial, which is the complete opposite.

34. Brodus Clay, the 2012, Akeem the African Dream.

35. Love the promotion WWE is giving to what happened on Smackdown on the Raw show.

36. Fine promo from Daniel Bryan. I find it kind of weird that he’ll now be on the babyface team against the heels, but hey WWE doesn’t use that type of logic anymore.

37. I thoroughly enjoyed Chris Jericho brushing off Mr. Belding’s attempted handshake. I’ve had enough of that guy talking about how he should be the Raw GM. I don’t blame him, but I assume WWE Creative would actually consider it and that could cause me to stop watching Raw.

38. I just love what Chris Jericho is doing. I thought he’d either not tag in or tag in and do what he did and I loved it. I’m glad as we don’t need to see Chris Jericho in the ring just yet.

39. Interesting angle to have Daniel Bryan sell an injury. I wonder if they’ll use this as a reason he loses the title to Mark Henry on Smackdown. Ryder has lost, Bryan would be next and Punk at the Rumble? That would certainly show them for delivering a bad quarter hour Raw main event. Although my prediction for Smackdown is that Show helps Bryan retain.

40. I now realize why David Otunga was put into this match.

41. Fine closing segment of Raw. Punk, Foley and Laurinaitis were all great in their roles. Punk cut a phenomenal, dare I say old school promo from the summer of Punk. They finally had Laurinaitis lay his cards out on the table, which reminded me of the segment where Vince McMahon finally admitted he hated seeing Steve Austin as champion. I guess we now know why John was getting so much heel heat on Foley, Punk, Eve, and Ryder earlier in the night.

What this show accomplished?
The Good
•Royal Rumble hype. Finally we got some solid hype for the Royal Rumble match. The promo packages were good, the flashbacks of course are a great touch, but finally we had lots of guys talking about winning the Rumble. We still need to know alot more participants and even on wwe.com, they don’t have a list up (at least last I checked).
•John Cena-Kane. The Cena-Kane stuff finally did what I wanted them to do a couple weeks back and I guess better late than never applies here. Cena showcasing some violence, Kane with a one sentence promo and Laurinaitis announcing the match. Two Thumbs Up
•Chris Jericho. Chris is doing an amazing job with this story. I ranted earlier when they announced he’d be in a match and that’s because I don’t trust WWE. Of course the second Jericho came out for the match, I hoped he would do what he did and that’s what happened
•John Laurinaitis puts his cards on the table. Again, better late than never applies to the show closing angle. Laurinaitis had been that type of heel who is a heel, but doesn’t admit he’s a heel and gets over on everyone. Punk cut a fantastic promo on John. John cut as good as it probably gets for him promo snapping and admitting that yes indeed he is the bad guy
•Opening segment. I really enjoyed the opening segment especially with Foley and Dolph. Hopefully Foley ends up getting a spot in the Rumble out of this. I question whether were building to a Foley-Laurinaitis battle for power storyline down the road
•Eve character development. WWE has done a nice job of adding some value to Eve the last few weeks, which is more than we can say for the rest of the divas
•Title change at a live event. I like this and I liked that WWE dedicated some time to telling us about it and showing the footage
•Raw hypes Smackdown angle. Raw did a marvellous job of promoting this Smackdown storyline and then Daniel Bryan did a great promo describing his thoughts on the entire situation
•Not very much comedy. I was scared in that R-Truth segment that it was going to be a ton of comedy, but it wasn’t too bad. WWE treaded lightly on comedy this week and that was good for us
The Bad
•Perez Hilton and the Divas. As Rock would say this was “hot garbage”.  I look at a segment like this and then I think of that ridiculous Stephanie McMahon interview in E and I can just see her smiling at something like that. What an asinine segment. The type of stuff that makes WWE and everything they do look fake. WWE using a guy like Perez Hilton is what makes me scared that they’d eventually use someone like Mr. Belding.
•Miz gets beaten down again. Have they just given up on Miz and now he’ll just be the heel that gets his ass kicked every week? As I’ve said in the past, Miz can be a credible heel; he just needs to be surrounded by a group and a hot chick
•Zack Ryder loses the US Title. I don’t like this, it was way too soon. They gave him a storyline out, but Swagger has been treated like such a joke that him holding this title just brings the title down and Ryder down. I hope WWE gives him the title back quickly and this wasn’t the end of Ryder. I know Vince and his staff probably have no love for the Ryder character since he’s not their creation, but I really hope they can and I think they will look past that in the long run


What needs to happen on next week’s Raw?
•I think WWE is trying their best to balance out how they build the story between, Punk and Ziggler and Punk and Laurinaitis. They gave Punk and Ziggler the opening of Raw and Punk and Laurinaitis the close. Hopefully they put a little more heat on Ziggler next week’s go home show.
•I want to see an intense promo from John Cena. Yes I want to see preacher John Cena. No smiling with a message for the camera when he comes out. Cut the go home promo to build the Kane match
•Royal Rumble participants. I understand when your roster is lacking so much depth that you don’t want to announce participants, but WWE needs to do this on the go home show. I won’t hold my breath, because they haven’t done this in years, but I hope they dedicate a segment to letting us know who will be in the Royal Rumble match
•I’ve been wondering how WWE will announce Chris Jericho will be in the Royal Rumble without having him talk and I assume he will be. I guess they can do exactly what they did this week, which was having Laurinaitis tell him in a backstage segment. Either way, it’s very crucial that at least Chris Jericho be announced next week as a participant if he indeed is going to be part of that match
•Zack Ryder. Hopefully they have a good follow up to the Ryder title loss situation for him, because I’m not sure why they did it
F: revinsamuel@rogers.com