Monday, January 9, 2012

1/9/12 RAW

Ratings:
Sheamus & Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett & Jinder Mahal: *1/4

Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston: 1/2*

Brodus Clay vs. Curt Hawkins: N/A (squash)

CM Punk vs. Jack Swagger: **1/2

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena: 1/2*
___________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
I love Kane's promos. He embraces his demonic character and makes you feel the hate. Kane will be in the WWE Hall of Fame one day, guaranteed. Cena came out during Kane's promo and the two brawled to the back -- and even outside on the loading dock.

If this is indeed the start of Cena's very slow heel turn, then I'm all for it. Heck, Daniel Bryan is already displaying heel traits. If both of those guys go heel, prepare for some real good stuff -- especially with Bryan.

Tag match with Sheamus and Santino against Barrett and Jinder. Seriously, Lawler, if you really thought Santino was gonna win the Rumble, then you should be in the loony bin. Pretty sure it's just King's on-air character getting behind Santino, though. Brogue Kick and Cobra! Looks like Cole's act has toned down, finally. Maybe?

Vintage "Big Johnny" reference from Laurinaitis! *facepalm*

Who's the first WWE HOF inductee for the Class of 2012? WOOHOO, EDGE! Great video package. Wish he was still wrestling. It makes me want to watch some great Edge matches. Like...now.

Zack Ryder and Eve! Zack's got the title, but I'm not sure what happens to him now. Instead of going into another major storyline right away, he may get an on-screen relationship with Eve?

Kofi and Daniel Bryan square off. King and Cole go back to the title match on Smackdown with DB and Big Show. Cole's trying to (calmly) show DB intentionally got himself DQ'd because he knew he couldn't beat Show. I'd honestly like to see how Cole reacts when DB makes a heel turn. Cole's never been on the DB bandwagon, yet Cole has more sympathy for the heels.

Oh, we have a ROH-like handshake before the match! DB basically beat Kofi in about two minutes. Man, there should be a rule where all DB matches go at least 15 minutes.

Ruh roh. Big Show. Well, we have a rematch (no DQ and no countout) on Smackdown for the title! Watch Daniel Bryan win again -- and Mark Henry is likely getting involved again.

My first thoughts on Brodus Clay's new gimmick: "Oh my frickin' God. What the HAYELLL! Flash Funk got huge!" I seriously didn't know whether to laugh or shake my head at this. In the end, I did a bit of both. Everyone seemed all taken by surprise...and honestly, this was not what I hoped for Brodus. Oh, and he beat Curt Hawkins in a minute. Lovely. The Funkasaurus lives!

Punk and Swagger about to start, but good ol' Big Johnny comes out! Laurinaitis says if Punk wins this match, Swagger and Vickie are banned from ringside at the PPV. Johnny also makes Ziggler vs. Cena for later in the night. And holy cow, Brodus Clay is trending worldwide on Twitter. WTF. Anyway, finally, we have a meaningful match on the card. Great back-and-forth action. Finish was very weird. Swagger clearly looked like he got the shoulder up before the three-count. Not sure what to make of that.

HOLY YES! The Four Horsemen are in the HOF! Way, way overdue. I love this. Note how the later Horsemen like Mongo and Benoit (hey, it's my blog and I'll name him if I want to) are not in here.

Poor Ricardo. He must go call R-Truth out. That was one amusing scared promo from Ricardo. R-Truth is funny as heck. Ricardo was pretty damn funny himself. Bravo here! Kept my attention and then some.

It's Jericho time! Vintage lighted jacket! He comes out and plays to the crowd again. Great fake crying job to get the crowd all riled up more. Again, no words are spoken. It's brilliant. I keep thinking there's no way he can be better the next time he makes some type of comeback/return. But it's real good stuff. Just wait for the heel turn, folks.

Eve comes out for a match with Beth, but Kane's music hits. Eve's scared, Ryder gets Eve and they get to their rental car -- which conveniently has a flat. Now, is Beth only off-camera so she can heal from that nasty black eye Alicia gave her?

Ziggler and Cena end the show. Not much time for this match, but to their credit, they got a lot of nice moves in. Ziggler shows off, Cena does his five moves of doom. Or so we think. Kane attacks Ryder. Cena goes to help and also gets taken out. End of show.

I just realized WWE comes back to Portland on Feb. 27. Won't be able to make it. Sad panda.

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