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GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS – LOOKING AT RAW 1/23/12

RAW – 23/1/12
What needs to happen on this week’s Raw
•It’s the go home show for the second biggest pay per view of the year and it’s time to make the show feel special. I think we should know at least 20 participants in the actual Royal Rumble match and so far I believe we know seven or eight and that is unacceptable. WWE has spent so much time telling stories lately that they’ve forgotten how to be promoters. Last week they did an above average job of hyping the pay per view and this week they need to accelerate that even further.
•There is a good amount of heat for the Punk-Laurinaitis storyline heading into the Royal Rumble and I think this week we need to get CM Punk’s response to John saying he would screw him. More importantly I think we need to see some heat on Ziggler to build him up as a credible opponent for Punk
•Intense John Cena. I remember the week before the Hell in the Cell pay per view they had Cena come out and cut a go home promo about entering the depths of hell and it was one of the most see through, run of the mill promos I’ve seen in a long time and that is not what I want to see this week. Cena has been doing things he doesn’t normally do lately and I’d like to see that continue with a different, yet still intense promo. No comedy this week John
• Let us know what it means to the Superstars to win the Royal Rumble match and go on to Wrestlemania. I guess this goes hand in hand with pay per view hype, but I think WWE could do an awesome video package showcasing what it means to win the Royal Rumble match. I know they’ll do the annually by the numbers video package, but I’m talking about a video where you have past winners like Edge, Austin and Hart talking about what it meant to them to win the Rumble and then have this year’s participants like Miz, Sheamus and Cody discussing what it will mean to them to win this year’s event. Those types of five minute videos probably do wonders to sell pay per views!
•Chris Jericho. Now that he hasn’t spoken for three weeks, I have to say I hope the trend continues this week, but whatever happens, I trust Jericho!
•Zack Ryder and Eve. The follow up to Zack’s story is one of the most crucial elements to Raw right now. He’s on the cusp of either being Eugene or being a valuable performer to the company and how they handle his title loss and his relationship with Eve are important to that. If I’m WWE I think I probably announce Ryder getting his rematch at Swagger at The Royal Rumble. You need to find an opener for that pay per view anyways
•The Divas. Speaking of Eve, I like that WWE has women doing other things than wrestling lately. Rosa is with the tag champs, Brodus has dancers, AJ is linked to Daniel Bryan and Eve is with Ryder. I hope this keeps up, but I also think it’s about time to see Beth Phoenix return
Show Breakdown

1. Punk’s promo to start the show seemed like a repeat of last week and I wasn’t engaged in it at all. When he asked Laurinaitis to come out and say all those things to his face that he said last week, I was thinking to myself, “Why did you leave the ring last week?”, but I guess I have to give WWE a creative license on that one.

2. Good to see John Cena come out and not say some cute line to the camera man beside him. Intense Cena is so much better than comedy Cena.

3. Why is Cena referring to John Laurinaitis as Mr. Laurinaitis? He sounds like such a goof.

4. Setting up Zack Ryder vs Kane in a falls count anywhere match for later in the night doesn’t seem like it’s going to help the Zack Ryder character at all.

5. Swagger looks like such a bad ass; he could be so much more if The Bubble didn’t drop the ball on him time after time.

6. WWE wonders why they are chasing away teenagers; having a heel use the phrase “dead meat” in a promo probably doesn’t help their cause.

7. I don’t know why WWE has Laurinaitis not pay attention to the matches when he’s out at the ring. I get that he’s a heel, but what he’s doing is just sending the wrong message to the audience.

8. I’d like to say by the way Lawler is doing commentary and blaming Laurinaitis for Zack not being the US Champion and Foley not getting in the Rumble that they are really trying to build heat on John. I’d say that’s because they have a plan in place for Laurinaitis to lose his spot as Raw GM, but the way The Bubble operates these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t go anywhere at all.

9. I understand WWE likes to build the drama and anticipation by not having Punk leave the ring to go after Laurinaitis after Dolph pins him, but Laurinaitis was in range for him to catch, and Punk looked kind of goofy. I wish they could find a better way to get to where they are going like perhaps Laurinaitis jumps on the apron on the side closer to the ramp so he can run up the ramp after he distracted Punk so Ziggler could get the win.  

10. Interesting move to promote a Laurinaitis-Punk match likely in the Raw main event spot. This like last week’s promo from Laurinaitis where he said he was going to screw Punk seems to be a chapter right out of the Austin-McMahon storyline and I don’t have an issue with that.

11. They’ve done so much damage to the Michael Cole character that by panning to him and Lawler and having Cole get so excited to see Laurinaitis-Punk makes me not want to see that match, because I as a viewer don’t want to like what Michael Cole likes. I’ve said it before; Michael McCole is way too deconstructive to be your lead announcer.

12. Good to see Jericho is finally getting some boos as the storyline seems to be working. I also like that Lawler told us right away that Jericho will be a participant in The Royal Rumble, hopefully they emphasis that later and it wasn’t a statement mentioned in passing.

13. Intriguing one sentence promo from Jericho. I don’t know where this is going and I like it that way!

14. An unadvertised Miz vs Truth match when they’ve been doing this program for a month or so. When I say advertise matches in advance, this is what I’m talking about especially if this isn’t an angle.

15. Ah yes the standards “by the numbers” video package to promote the Royal Rumble with this weird narrator from the female voice. This package is fine, but as I mentioned in my goals for this show, WWE could really do a nice video package with past winners talking about what it means to win and current performers who will be in the Rumble talking about what it will mean to win and go on to Wrestlemania.

16. WWE promoting this Royal Rumble as the “Every WWE Superstar is eligible” to me is translation for Vince McMahon can’t plan anything long term and we’ve yet to figure it out.

17. I like the backstage segment with Ryder, as he was presented as the center of attention for many important people including Foley and Cena and he tells Cena not to help him. That’s a good sign.

18. Another chapter in the story of Zack Ryder and I assume this is to build more heat on Laurinaitis and will eventually help Zack in the end so for now I’ll say I’m curious about, which is a good thing. Of course this also builds up people wanting to see Cena get his hands on Kane at the Rumble, where Cena will of course be the booed out of the building.

19. Great backstage bit with Zack getting taken out. I liked Eve blaming Cena, although I’m not sure why she did. I liked Cena slapping the microphone out of Josh’s hand as intense Cena is the best Cena, but then they overproduced and took it one step too far with Cena staring far too long into the camera.

20. Do we really need to see Sheamus and Jinder Mahal yet again? Change it up WWE!

21. I’ll be interested to see the quarter hour rating on Sheamus and Mahal here.

22. R-Truth needs to stop doing WWE Creative scripted material, it does nothing for him. Also Truth saying people change the channel when Miz is on television is unnecessary and hurts not only Miz, but the entire product. I do like the aspect of the loser of their match being the #1 entrant into The Royal Rumble and of course it should have been advertised a week in advance.

23. Ah William Regal, what a character! Always good when we can get him on television!

24. Does anyone else see Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn on the private jet back to Connecticut dancing to that Somebody Call My Mama song?

25. I’m starting to like The Brodus act more and more. I still don’t see how you give a job to the girl who said her favorite match was Melina vs Alicia Fox that still irritates me a little bit, but I guess I need to let that one go.

26. The only question I have as we head into this Miz vs R-Truth match is how will Miz be embarrassed this week on Raw?

27. The fact that they are showing video of how Miz took out Truth after Survivor Series tells me they are blowing this program off here. I think they could have kept this going on climaxing at Wrestlemania, but WWE might think otherwise.

28. Of Course Miz made to look like a fool yet again. I could say perhaps Miz will stay in the Rumble a long time before getting eliminated, but the way they are treating him lately, the #2 guy will come out and eliminate Miz right away.

29. Zack Ryder has a broken back? I see and so does that mean he’s taking a Shawn Michaels four year hiatus? Ridiculous injury stretch by WWE. Poor Zack is going to miss out on a Royal Rumble payday for this angle.

30. Interesting that John Cena and Kane don’t get a graphic in the brief Royal Rumble card rundown.

31. Well it looks like all the heat on Laurinaitis is of course building to the hero Triple H doing the firing. Funny how that works that being said the Laurinaitis character probably has run its course and the change is needed. I’m not sure I want to see Triple H in that role so hopefully someone else will take over.

32. I question the need to have Punk take Laurinaitis out pre Royal Rumble as for a few weeks now they seemed to have been getting all this heel heat on Laurinaitis so the payoff would be at The Royal Rumble when Punk hit the GTS on Laurinaitis. I’m not sure why it happened on the go home show before the Royal Rumble other than the explanation that we have writers writing a television show and not bookers trying to put together a show that builds to a pay per view.

33. I like that WWE put the heat on Dolph Ziggler to end the show, but Punk hitting the GTS on Laurinaitis was something we’ve been building to for a few weeks and while the show had to end with Ziggler looking strong, they should never have done the GTS spot with Laurinaitis to begin with.

What this show accomplished?
The Good
•Eve-Ryder-Cena-Kane-Laurinaitis. I like where this storyline went and all the different pieces involved. I especially like the line Eve delivered to Cena as Zack went to the hospital. Saying Zack has a broken back to me puts him out of action for several months so hopefully they adjust that asinine injury soon.
•The match to determine who will be #1 in The Royal Rumble. There wasn’t too much to like on this show so I’m going to find certain aspects of things I liked. I like the idea here, I wish they advertised it in advance and hopefully it leads to something for The Miz, because losing streak storylines don’t work!
•Brodus Clay and William Regal. This could be the best comedy program WWE has ever done if it’s played for laughs!
•Sheamus post match promo stating he will win the Royal Rumble match. This was basically the only hype the Royal Rumble match was given from an in ring standpoint so I guess it has to be in The Good column
•Dolph Ziggler stands tall. Ziggler pins Punk and then lays him out at the end so he looks damn strong going into the Rumble
•Chris Jericho. Fantastic and I’ll leave it there
The Bad
•Punk gives the GTS to Laurinaitis. What the hell was that? WWE gives the bump away before the pay per view. I guess if this is the McMahon-Austin feud all over again, the first stunner to Vince was also given away on a free Raw, but to me this was a bonehead move. They had been building to this more than anything else in the last few months and it was given away on the go home show before a pay per view and they didn’t even let it marinate because Punk was immediately attacked. I guess the real spot will be when the chosen son returns next week and hits the pedigree for the big pop
•Royal Rumble match promotion. Below average job promoting the actual Rumble match. Yes we got the by the numbers video package, but that’s not enough and the slogan “Every WWE Superstar is eligible” is ridiculous and means nothing because it hasn’t been promoted that strongly at all. All it says to me is Vince hasn’t made up his mind yet and will be figuring it out the day of the show
•When was the last time Miz looked strong?
•Sheamus-Jinder Mahal. You’d think Stephanie’s staff of sixteen writers wouldn’t be so lazy as to give us that one again
•R-Truth needs to stop doing scripted creative, comedy promos. This type of stuff doesn’t work. They got Sheamus doing it too and it’s just so tiresome. WWE really needs to modernize and I don’t see any signs of that
What we need to see on Raw next week?
•Right into Elimination Chamber hype. This is Wrestlemania season now and let’s begin building to pay per views and stop with just writing television with cliffhangers
•Triple H’s return. I just hope he doesn’t bury the entire locker room.
•Push the Royal Rumble as a must see pay per view to those who missed it!
Feedback: revinsamuel@rogers.com