Raw review, thoughts and opinions!

It’s Tuesday!

While nothing is inherently exciting about Tuesday, it does mean that Raw was on last night. The show, in my opinion, was a mixed bag of disappointment in hour one and satisfaction in hour two. Let's have a look at the positives and negatives.

Firstly, the tape around Zack Ryder was holding both himself and his push together. With WWE finally taking a chance on Ryder, the segment by segment viewership ratings breakdown haven’t shown Zack to be much of draw. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon seems to have discounted the fact that many of these segments also included John Cena, Kane and CM Punk among other big names. Ryder is being scapegoated for shoddy ratings that of course can't have anything to do with the staleness of the product and quality of the creative staff, oh no no no. Much like Sheamus was scapegoated for low PPV buyrates in 2010, Cena is completely untouchable when it comes to the placement of blame when ratings are weak. This led to Ryder losing the title last night, in essentially a squash match to Jack Swagger. Although the injury angle is being played out, there was absolutely no need to take the title from an over superstar in Zack Ryder and put it onto a guy who hasn't drawn heat since his world title run. So, I guess I'll make a bold statement and say that we are witnessing the burial of Zack Ryder. The reports of him being scapegoated for weak ratings, a 'demotion' from the main event into a relationship angle with Eve and now losing the title in a squash match, wow.  What the WWE don't seem to understand is that while Ryder was over with the smarter audience, the casual fans were beginning to warm to him as well. Things take time, WWE. Woo woo woo, you blew it. Just as I knew you would.

Elsewhere in the first hour, the newly crowned (at a HOUSE SHOW) tag champs - Epico and Primo, defended the gold (bronze?) against former champs Air Boom. Was it a good solid 15 minute title match? No. Infact, it barely lasted 3 minutes and most of the focus was on the 'hot manager' Rosa Mendes. Jesus christ, the tag division is still in tatters after what was a promising step in the formation of Airboom. As for the aforementioned, I fear for them come 'spring cleaning.' A suspension for Evan Bourne and a title loss at a house show? That spells 'future endeavoured' for me. As for Kofi, he was doing a whole lot of nothing before the tag run, expect him to go back to limbo or be released too.

The 'Deeeeeevas' *Justin Roberts voice* had a 'match.' Awful, as usual. However, for once the divas weren't the only ones stinking out the place. Perez Hilton joined the action as a special guest ring announcer and preceded to get shoved over by the Bella Twins. For those of you who are unaware, Perez Hilton runs a blog site which pretty much participates in cyber bullying and homophobic slurs such as 'faggot.' A company who advocates the 'Be A Star' campaign against bullying of all kinds pays this guy for an appearance? Show tolerance and respect, indeed. Hypocrisy thy name is WWE.

The opening segment was nicely executed. Ziggler proved himself once again on the mic and usage of the veteran Mick Foley was a nice touch. Foley's tease of entering the Royal Rumble warmed my cockles (pause) as I'd like to see him have one final WWE run before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in the next couple of years.

R-Truth and Wade Barrett took part in an entertaining segment before an over the top rope challenge ensued. R-Truth was the victor. I guess that was WWE's way of saying 'happy Martin Luther King day.' Truth was way over with the Anaheim crowd and it seems that the face R-Truth has finally connected with the fans. In spite of that, I'm a little disappointed by the use of Wade Barrett. WWE seemed to be building Wade up for something special with the 'Barrett Barrage,' but thus far it has led to nothing and he seems to be moving down the roster once again. All them matches with Orton for nothing? Come on, man.

The funkasaurus has become a highlight for me. After initially being shocked and appalled when he came out gyrating and jiving around, the big guy is great in my eyes. He channels Dusty Rhodes, Rikishi and The Godfather into a massive mohawked package (err, what?) that's just hard not to like. It would have been all too easy on the part of creative to make him a monster heel and with Mark Henry reportedly using the gimmick that was created for Brodus, this is a fun way to put Brodus over that seems to be on its way to working. His in ring 'self commentary' and shouts to the crowd are so unique in the modern scene that it has me marking out every time he exclaims 'should I get him' or 'my bad.' Not to mention, I hear 'Somebody call my mamma' in my sleep. Damn song is catchier than herpes in a brothel.

Meanwhile, Cena embraced the hate and Jack Swagger received the brunt of it. Yeah that's right, have Swagger squash Ryder and then Cena destroy Swagger. Way to bury Ryder further and discredit your new US champ immediately. Tremendous fucking booking, dildos.

Daniel Bryan is destroying his new heel gimmicks sweet sweet vagina. He's on a tremendous roll and is one of the reason's Smackdown is just plain better on every level than Raw at the minute. He also took part in the 6-man tag main event along with David Otunga, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry, CM Punk and the long awaited in-ring return of Chris Jericho. Well, we got Jeritrolled once again. After parading around and shaking the fans hands and getting them to cheer for him, he again left after being tagged in. I'll again use the word from my blog on Jericho's return, genius. Jericho is a master at playing a character and it was once again demonstrated on Raw. Will the fans be less forgiving next week on Raw? Or Boo Jericho out of the building? One can only find out. I found this picture last night, I don’t know if its new or what but, wow. Genius or coincidence?

When CM Punk brings the emotion and passion on the microphone, everyone listens. Punk dropped a 'pipebomb' on John Lauranitis and damn was it enthralling to listen to and watch. Punk spouting off at the mouth is something the WWE has been taking advantage of less and less as of late and it hurt his momentum (as well as the god awful HHH/COO bullshit) since he became red hot last summer. I tell you what though, the reports going round are that they want Punk/Lauranitis to become a modern day Austin/McMahon and they damn sure built a sturdy foundation for that tonight. The crowd were white hot for Punk and Lauranitis got some nice heat for his rant and cheap shot on Foley who again, added that veteran presence. It just wouldn’t be an Austin/McMahon type feud without humiliating Mick Foley, right? Really enjoyable way to conclude Raw.

Just while we're on the subject of Punk, my prediction of a Punk/Jericho match was furthered on Raw tonight. Punk subtly called himself 'the best in the world,' something he hasn't done for a while. In addition, Jericho was on Punks team and simply walked away, leaving Punk with the deck stacked against him and planting further seeds for the potential feud. It’s coming!

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Thoughts on the return of Chris Jericho

The first Raw of 2012 had been hyped for weeks. Since the ‘It Begins’ videos began airing, rumours were rife as to who would be returning or debuting. Everyone from The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon as well as Skip Sheffield and Brodus Clay were mentioned as possible candidates behind the hype videos. One name stuck however, that name was none other than my second all time favourite wrestler (behind HBK) Chris Jericho.

Jericho had been playing the Internet for a while, denying rumours, laughing off accusations and claiming that he’d never wrestle for WWE again. Perhaps in retrospect, Jericho overplayed it a little too far as there were a fair few fans absolutely certain that Y2J would return. Well, he did and despite what some detractors would say, he did so in genius fashion.

Firstly, I’ve seen people complain that the videos were ‘too epic’ or ‘too dark’ to be placed as a platform for the return of a Chris Jericho type character. Really? I mean, his initial debut featured a mysterious countdown clock that counted down for weeks until his famous ‘Raw is Jericho’ appearance. His second re-debut featured another puzzling series of videos that featured a code to be cracked. So when you think about it, why wouldn’t they use another series of mystifying videos for Jericho? On Y2J’s DVD (highly recommended) he says that if he was to make another debut, he would have to do something completely different and come back with a new character… this is an opportunity to do so. Think about it, before Jericho started wearing suits, talking slowly and using long, brash words, who else did it? No one, really. Now all the heels in the WWE use that formula. A character change is a necessity for Jericho.

As for the televised return, it was nothing short of genius. The crowd were pumped and popped for everything Jericho did… initially. Y2J had the Memphis crowd and the audience at home in the palm of his hand. The more and more adulation Jericho sought from the crowd, the more he got. Until, some of the cheering turned to boos and Jericho’s wry smile appeared. One of the best talkers in the business returns without saying a word and plays everyone like a fiddle. Everyone would have expected Jericho to cut some sort of amazing welcome back promo but he didn’t. He simply asked the crowd to cheer for him, chant for him and then simply walked away. Genius.

Why genius? Well, if you follow Chris Jericho on Twitter you’ll notice that he takes exception to the fact that WWE took his heel formula and copy and pasted it on to anyone and everyone on the current roster. He takes exception to people stealing his moves. However, he especially takes exception to CM Punk calling himself ‘the best in the world’ and claims Punk stole that moniker from him. Of course, this is Jericho we’re talking about and he is a master at storytelling and playing his character thus he is most likely playing the Internet with these claims. However, I think it goes deeper than that. What if his comments have been designed to set up his return all along? Think back to the videos. Phrases like ‘take back what is rightfully his’ and ‘end of the world as we know it’ stand out to me. What if these two phrases are referring to CM Punk and the moniker of ‘best in the world?’ It WILL be the end of the world as we know it, because Jericho will once again become best in the world. His return segment showed a change in the Jericho character that left the WWE in 2010 to one more reminiscent of his old ‘Y2J’ arrogant bastard character. Without saying a word, Chris Jericho managed to piss off the IWC and confuse the hell out of everyone. He effectively managed to turn heel immediately. Genius.

On top of everything else, it extends the intrigue for the videos into another week. Who is the woman that is mentioned in the videos? What is Jericho taking back? Just what the hell is going on? Additionally, viewers will tune in next week for an explanation from Jericho as well as the next chapter in the storyline. Honestly, people need to think the whole thing through before criticising it. When WWE creative get it wrong, they damn sure get it wrong. However, creative as well as Jericho got this right on the money. If it leads to Punk vs Jericho at Wrestlemania, then bring it the hell on.

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