Last night on Raw, the following noteworthy items happened that all added up to a better showing than the previous night’s Royal Rumble PPV event:
–The Undertaker returned to the WWE right after Triple H revealed that he could take back control of Raw from Johnny Ace whenever he wanted because his personal problems were all behind him. With one grand entrance, a nod to the WrestleMania XXVIII sign and a cut-throat gesture, Taker erased that premise and even though Hunter merely patted the Deadman on the shoulder, we all know where this is headed. The Undertaker will go for 20-0, and whether he likes it or not, Triple H is his target once again.
–Before Taker’s music hit, COOHHH was about to wish Johnny Ace the best of luck in his future endeavors. This was to happen after a bunch of cathartic comments leveled at Johnny by Hunter, and even included a hilarious bit where Trips teased the return of the “Kiss My Ass” Club, Johnny applied Chapstick and dropped to one knee, and then Hunter simply laughed at Ace for actually thinking of doing that to save his job.
–In the TV match of the year and a match that was light years better than the Royal Rumble offerings, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan wrestled each other in a Champion vs. Champion singles match that was as tightly fought as they come. It enabled Punk and Bryan to really go at it and show off their in-ring chemistry when working together, and then Chris Jericho came in to break up the Indy fan’s WWE dream match and nail a Code Breaker on Punk that gave Bryan a DQ win he’ll brag about forever while kick-starting the Punk-Jericho feud that will surely be a huge part of the Raw Elimination Chamber match.
–Speaking of which, the Raw Elimination Chamber match is set as follows: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Miz vs. R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler
–In another decent match on Raw, Kofi Kingston pinned The Miz CLEAN after landing The Trouble in Paradise kick. With R-Truth on commentary, I was pleasantly shocked that we didn’t get a screwy finish.
–Meanwhile, Beth Phoenix dominated a terrorized Eve to keep her strong for Kharma, while John Cena rescued Eve from further destruction by Kane after the Divas match. I like the idea of Cena not talking very much and simply using his physical strength to try and get Kane off his friends’ backs.
–And if the above wasn’t enough, WWE brought back the “heel up in the skybox” interview segment (I love those) where Josh Matthews interviewed Wade Barrett while Randy Orton wrestled Dolph Ziggler and won with an RKO after 11 solid minutes.
–There was a Funkasaurus squash of Tyler Reks somewhere in there too, just like there was one of Drew McIntyre at the Rumble (though Reks landed at least a modicum of offense here). Either way, this episode of Raw had better matches than the Rumble PPV itself and bigger / more relevant WWE returns throughout the night.
In fact, the one thing that really didn’t work for me was Royal Rumble winner Sheamus being relegated to the opening segment only when he teased being able to fight Punk or Bryan and then told an awfully scripted Irish Folk Tale to Johnny Ace before leaving and pounding his chest.
If you’re going to make Sheamus the surprise winner, wouldn’t you have him do a little bit more than that the next night?
That’s just my take — CB
