WWE Raw 1/30/2012

Tonight on Raw: fallout from the Royal Rumble, and the best final 15 minutes of the year.

After a really good Royal Rumble, we start off Raw with John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) talking about how he's going to keep his job and announcing the Raw Elimination Chamber match. CM Punk interrupts him to do some insulting, including a great rendition of the “na-na-na-na hey hey hey goodbye” song. Then Daniel Bryan comes out to cement his heel turn by insulting CM Punk, and now Bryan is saying that he's a role model – shades of the Straight Edge Society?

Next to the ring is Sheamus, the winner of the Royal Rumble. He starts out by stating a few facts (Both Daniel Bryan and Punk have to defend their belts at Elimination Chamber, Johnny could get fired, Sheamus gets to main event Wrestlemania) and follows it up with a fantastic Irish saying.

As the Orton vs. Ziggler match gets set up, we start with Josh Matthews interviewing Wade Barrett in a sky box. Barrett claims that he's going to end Orton's career Friday on Smackdown. As the match goes on, they go back to Josh and Barrett several times. Dolph is going to be a main eventer before the end of the year. He will probably get an undercard match at Wrestlemania, and will be main eventing pay-per-views soon after. This is a mostly standard match, though Dolph gets a good amount of offense in before Randy Orton hits the RKO for the win.

When we come back we see Johnny Ace trying to make friends, leading to William Regal being amazing. Seriously, why isn't he on all the time?

Somebody call my momma! Brodus has a little bit of trouble taking his pants off, and Tyler Reks actually puts on a good fight, but the outcome is never in doubt. After the match we get a brief segment between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, where Bryan is clearly being inspired by Punk's Straight Edge Society.

Their next match is CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan. They start out respectfully, shaking hands to start the match, with Bryan taking the offensive early on. The action goes out of the ring, with Punk barely making it back in before the ten count. Daniel Bryan is back in control when we return from the break, but Punk starts to turn it around with a Huracanrana from the turnbuckle. Bryan escapes a GTS by going to the outside, then intercepts a suicide dive with an upper cut, then going to the top rope for a drop kick followed by a two count. We get some fantastic counters, showcasing why these two are the champions. However, the match ends when Jericho interferes, attacking Bryan before performing a Codebreaker on Punk, giving Daniel Bryan a win by DQ. It looks like they're going to have the Jericho/Punk feud after all.

Mike Tyson is the next celebrity inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame. He deserves it more than some who have been. Drew Carrey comes to mind... What a travesty.

R-Truth joins the commentary team for the Kofi Kingston vs. the Miz. I love Kofi's new Riddler inspired trunks. Miz makes fun of Kofi's awesome handstand at the Rumble. This isn't a bad match, and R-Truth does a good job on commentary. They seem to have been struggling with what to do with Kofi for a while now. Hopefully the fact that he's going to be in the Elimination Chamber means they're going to push him. Kofi gets the win after hitting the Miz with a Trouble In Paradise. Kofi could be one of the top faces in the company. After the match, it looks like John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) is starting to get a little nervous.

Yay, a Divas match. Eve vs. Beth Phoenix for the championship. Eve is actually showing some of the emotional fallout fro Kane's attack on Zack Ryder last night. Beth squashes Eve pretty quickly, then Kane comes on the Titantron to taunt Eve and blame Cena for Ryder's injuries. Kane then essentially appears out of nowhere, leading to Cena coming out to come to Eve's defence. We get a nice brawl, but I hope they'll get a hardcore match at Elimination Chamber. Cena is clearly starting to embrace the hate as he uses the steel steps on Kane and is clearly enjoying it. Kane retreats, giving Cena his first victory in this feud.

Finally we get Triple H coming out to do performance review on Johnny Ace. HHH really knows how to work a crowd, and he shows it off here. Laurinitis gets some amazing heat when he's apologizing. I could barely hear what he was saying. And... Triple H almost starts his own Kiss My Ass club.

And then, while Triple H is about to fire Laurinitis... The bell tolls for him. And Undertaker comes out. He walks out to the ring, getting the biggest cheers I've heard in a long time, and circles Triple H. They have a five minute staredown, then Triple H pats Undertaker on the shoulder and walks out. I think I can see the story now – Undertaker is going to have to goad Triple H into having a match at Wrestlemania.

Before the last 15 minutes I would have said this was a good episode, but the fact that Undertaker returned makes this excellent.

WWE Raw 1/23/2012

Tonight: I have no clever statements tonight.

We start out with CM Punk, which is always a good thing in my opinion. Cole tries to defend John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) saying that he's going to screw Punk at Royal Rumble. Punk starts talking about how Johnny Ace is a complete failure, going through the same insults that he's been using. He goes on to talk big talk, calling out John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) to the ring and telling him to be a man and tell Punk he's going to screw him face to face. Any minute now, I expect Triple H to come out, but instead out comes John Cena! I'll admit that I was surprised when his music started, though he seems a lot more grim than usual, walking slowly to the ring and not smiling at all. He demands that Zack Ryder get a rematch for the US title and that Cena gets a match with Kane, then demands that John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) resign as Interim General Manager of Raw. Finally Johnny Ace comes out, saying his full title. He stands by what he said last week, and seems to have grown some balls since last week. He announces a Zack Ryder vs. Kane Falls Count Anywhere match, where Cena can't get involved or Ryder will never get a rematch. He also puts Cena and Punk in a tag team match with.... Swagger and Ziggler. Dolph calls out Punk, claiming he'll beat Punk, while Swagger calls Cena out for attacking him brutally last week.

I love the mid-match taunting by Ziggler, he's doing a great job of bringing out his showoff personality. Now if only Jack Swagger had some personality. He's just a sort of generic arrogant American stereotype. Essentially the classic Jerk Jock, but they don't play it up enough. Ziggler gets the pin after John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) gets involved, while Cena had Swagger locked into the STFU outside the ring. Punk then challenges Johnny Ace to a match, which I am very interested in. Surprisingly, he accepts. Jerry Lawler then claims that Jericho is going to speak tonight, but I'm not holding my breath.

I love that the 5-Hour Energy slam of the week is Jericho entering the ring, doing nothing, and then leaving. Now we have Jericho coming out for the Highlight Reel. He starts out by trying to shush the crowd, and it becomes obvious pretty quickly that he's just going to troll the crowd again... as he gets really excited and goes to the back, coming back out with a t-shirt gun. And then, after taunting the crowd a little, he grabs a camera. I love Michael Cole's reaction there “Look! We're on tv!” They show a highlight reel of his WWF/E career, and he looks vaguely sinister when it ends. And then he keeps shushing the crowd, looking serious for the first time since he came back. And Jericho finally speaks! He says a single sentence, and the crowd goes insane. I love it.

I also like the promo about the Royal Rumble numbers. We have a brief segment with Zack Ryder and Eve (who still have no chemistry), and briefly Mick Foley and John Cena. Though Ryder shoots down Cena, rejecting his help (understandably). We get to see Kane in a match for the first time since he returned. Ryder starts off on the offensive, but Kane takes control pretty quickly. During the commercial break, Eve apparently came out to the ring, which seems like a terrible idea. Ryder is great at selling his injuries and the brutality that Kane is unleashing on him. While Ryder gets a few good hits in, Kane is clearly in control for the entire match. This storyline could get him over with the mainstream, showing that he won't give up. People love an underdog. Kane chokeslams Ryder, then starts menacing Ryder. Cena comes out and Kane leaves through the crowd, allowing Eve to get back to Zack's side as they take him away on a stretcher.

We get a good promo showing Daniel Bryan's heel turn. When they come back to Raw, they're still following Ryder as they take him away on the stretcher and put him in an ambulance, and Eve blames Cena for Zack's injuries. We go back to commercial with Cena showing off the silliest angry face I've ever seen.

Now Jinder Mahal is set to have a match with Sheamus, and I'm not excited for this match. I like Sheamus, but he hasn't been doing anything interesting, and Mahal is just sort of boring. The fact that Wade Barrett comes out to do commentary helps, as I enjoy listening to him talk. Sheamus pins Mahal, then taunts Barrett. Backstage, Josh Matthews talks to the Miz, who looks kind of twitchy. R-Truth continues to be fantastic, and John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) adds an interesting stipulation to their match – whoever loses will be the #1 entrant for the Royal Rumble.

When we come back from the break, William Regal has joined Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole on commentary. He's great, I love how he refers to Brodus Clay as “400 pounds of septic tripe.” And now, the Funkasaurus comes out! Somebody call my momma! I think the crowd might be getting alittle tired of it, but I'm not. Even if he failed at taking off his pants. The tights he's wearing tonight are so shiny, they're almost blinding. Heath Slater actually gets an attack in, which is more than anyone else has done, but still gets crushed by the Aww, Funk It! I still love it, but he's going to need a feud soon, and William Regal would be perfect.

Now we get Miz vs. R-Truth, with the loser entering the Royal Rumble at the number one spot. They work well together, and put on a good match. They have a good back and forth and both sell the moves well, along with some very good counters. R-Truth picks up the win, meaning the Miz will be the first in the ring for the Royal Rumble. After the match they say that Ryder broke his back, so we might not be seeing him for a while. However, we then get to see John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) in what looks like a bathrobe.

CM Punk comes out to the ring first, then John Laurinitis (Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) takes his time to come out. Otunga reads the fax, which comes from the Board of Directors. It's a lot of legalese, and is pretty amusing. Johnny, who is not in good enough shape to wear that shirt with the sleeves torn off, claims that now he will call the match fairly. He then calls off the match, siccing Otunga on Punk. I like Otunga's new gimmick as Johnny Ace's attack dog, whether legally or actually attacking people. Punk hits Laurinitis with the GTS, but then Ziggler jumps Punk to close out the show.

Another good show, with no parts being particularly bad. After all, they didn't have a Divas match. Ryder might have a good storylien coming up, Cena and Kane is interesting, and it's always nice to see someone beat up their boss.

WWE Smackdown 1/21/2012

Tonight: Daniel Bryan's a heel, Brodus Clay continues to be awesome, and a whole lot of mediocre!

We start out with a short video recapping last week's main event, where Big Show ran over AJ. They are clearly implying that Daniel Bryan did it on purpose. I don't know if I like that – Bryan could be a good heel, but I hope it stays as a slow build. However, the crowd has clearly turned on him as he gets massive heat when he enters. And Michael Cole is sympathetic to him. Clearly he is a heel. He emphasizes the fact that AJ is his girlfriend repeatedly, and then starts claiming that Big Show did it on purpose which is... kind of funny. Bryan is trying to get the crowd to turn on Big Show, but it isn't happening. Okay, seriously, he says “my girlfriend AJ” every time he mentions her. It's getting kind of ridiculous. Is it just me, or is Bryan channeling Randy Savage and his relationship with Miss Elizabeth? I really like this promo overall.

When we go to the back, Alicia Fox blows on her own dice, and Aksana remains awkward. I really don't like her – she's incredibly boring. Cody Rhodes spins, and chooses to face Hornswoggle. I will admit that I laughed at Michael Cole's comment right before they went to commercial.

Cody Rhodes is one of my favorite wrestlers right now – he has great mic and ring skills, and he's being used really well. Rhodes attacks Hornswoggle before he even gets into the ring, and Justin Gabriel comes to rescue him. Gabriel's new haircut is crazy – how does it stay up while still moving? However, he seems like he needs to work on his mic skills. He's solid in the ring, though – a lot of good high flying moves, and there are a lot of dropkicks flying around. This match he doesn't do as many high flying moves, but demonstrates that he's solid even when he isn't flying. Gabriel could become a solid midcarder this year, and could be a main eventer in a year or two. However, he is facing Rhodes, who will be a main eventer before the end of the year. He hits Gabriel with the Cross Rhodes for the win.

After the match we get a brief segment with Mark Henry and Teddy Long, where Henry almost seems to be becoming a face briefly. Then he turns right back to a heel. I think? He's not a great talker, so he doesn't convey his intentions very well. It does reveal that his match with Daniel Bryan will be a Lumberjack match.

I love that they have to show a clip from a house show where Air Boom dropped the belts. I realize that Evan Bourne is suspended, but they had a match on Raw – they could have waited to exchange the titles until then. And the rematch clause can be ignored – it seems Dolph Ziggler has forgotten about his rematch with Zack Ryder. In case you couldn't tell, this really bothers me, mostly because I was watching during the golden age of Tag that included The Hardy Brothers, the Dudleys and Christian and Edge. I suppose Epico and Primo are good enough, and the Usos have a lot of potential. In fact, they have one of my favorite entrances in the WWE today. And Booker T is a child. The fact that this is a Tornado Tag match doesn't seem to matter that much. It should have been a regular tag match with a different condition. I don't know what, but it could have been better.

Ugh, another segment between Teddy Long and Aksana. It does lead to some fun innuendo, though. Up next is Brodus Clay! This is so exciting! I love everything about his new gimmick. Somebody call my momma! He seems like he's having so much fun, which is always what makes a gimmick like this work. He is then joined by Vickie Guerrero, who is going to face Brodus Clay in a dance off. She looks like she's having some sort of awkward seizure. Even Michael Cole is laughing at her! Even the ring announcer is cracking up once Brodus is done dancing. And then William Regal comes out? This is off the wall! This segment makes no sense, and I love it! William Regal is fantastic, coming out to defend Vickie's honor or something. Wow, I think Brodus missed the n in funky. Regal is better than I expected, but Clay hits him with the Awww, Funk It! Which is the best name for a finisher ever.

We come back for Wade Barrett and Sheamus's tables match. I enjoy Barrett, though a large part of that is the fact that it's fun to say “Barrett Barrage” in his accent. There are some good moves avoiding the tables, and this is overall a good match. Jinder Mahal interferes, allowing Barrett to grab the victory, though Sheamus gets revenge as he puts Mahal through a table.

Next we have Hunico vs. Ted Dibiase in a flag match. So, two wrestlers that I don't care about in a gimmick match that I've never heard of. It looked great when Hunico threw Dibiase over the ropes, but then Kamacho (or however you spell it) apparently doesn't know how to sell at all. Overall a very boring match. Can we please never see this type of match again?

I love the short segment between Santino and Drew Macintosh. Santino is great for the same reason Brodus is – he's hilarious! Unfortunately, their match has to be a blindfold match, though they are clearly using the one way fabric. Regardless, this is not an impressive match. It's not terrible, considering the gimmick, but I would have rather had the match be a standard match. I wonder what the plan for Drew is – maybe he'll get fired and start attacking the other wrestlers? That could be interesting.

Why are they announcing that Randy Orton will return next week? And why is he returning two days before the Royal Rumble? It makes no sense to me. In the Bryan vs. Henry Lumberjack match, I love Bryan saying “Don't you touch me” and Barrett saying “Or what?” Not a bad match – Henry gets to show of his strength, while Bryan gets to do some impressive moves. I especially liked the flip he did when Henry clotheslined him. Barrett is the first to jump into the ring to attack Bryan, but he is quickly joined by a number of other wrestlers. It ends with a huge brawl in the ring, allowing Bryan to crawl away, ending the match with another No Contest. That leaves us with the announcement that there will be a triple threat cage match between Bryan, Henry and Big Show at the Royal Rumble.

I don't know how to rate this. It had some good parts, and a whole lot of mediocre.

WWE Raw 1/16/2012

This week on Raw: Foley is God, Darth Kane and JeriTROLLED!

Well, Raw starts out strong as Mick Foley comes out to cut a fantastic promo. I'm unbelievably excited that he may be wrestling again, as he is one of the best wrestlers in the history of the business. Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero come out, and Ziggler does a pretty promo. He has really good charisma and is a fantastic heel. I love the image of the two of them facing off in the ring, they look like complete opposites. As Ziggler keeps talking, he brings up the possibility of him and Foley facing off at Wrestlemania, and that would be an amazing match. As Ziggler ranted, I kept wanting Foley to get him in the mandible claw, but it isn't meant to be as CM Punk comes out. This isn't the best promo he's ever cut, though the reference to John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) is alright, though the reference to cross dressing was odd. John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) comes out with the essentially the same thing he says every week, though this time he denies Foley's request to take part in the Royal Rumble, after which Vickie busts out with an amazing evil laugh.

REALLY? Air Boom lost their title in a non-televised match? WTF? I guess the WWE isn't really trying to make their tag division interesting again, because that's just stupid. And then neither team gets a full intro. That is incredibly disappointing. The match is alright, but it doesn't help the tag division look more legitimate. I am incredibly disappointed, as tag matches are often fantastic. After the match we get a brief segment featuring John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) and Jericho. It's pretty fantastic too – Jericho proves that you don't need to speak to have an awesome promo.

We come back for a brief segment with Zack Ryder and Eve, where he played up the injury and insisted on still defending his title against Jack Swagger. I hope he keeps it, as he's far more interesting than Swagger. Unfortunately, Swagger essentially squashes Ryder, though Ryder sells the pre-existing injuries very well. It's still kind of depressing. I've heard he hasn't gotten good ratings, which is baffling. After the break there's another brief segment where John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) apologizes to Ryder for making him compete.

Then Perez Hilton comes out as a guest ring announcer for a Diva tag match: Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox vs. the Bellas. Unsurprisingly, it's a weak fight because only Kelly Kelly gets into the ring against the Bellas, though Perez interfering was pretty funny, as was his awful selling the hit from the Bellas. We then get a clip from Smackdown (which I didn't get to see, which is why I didn't review it) showing Big Show running over AJ. It's like a truck running over a chipmunk.

I like the little clip of the '92 Royal Rumble, but then it's always a pleasure to see Ric Flair wrestle. Then R-Truth comes out, but before he can say anything Wade Barrett comes out. Barrett earns some easy heat by insulting Foley. R-Truth is quickly becoming one of my favorite faces. He's extremely funny, and is clearly having a lot of fun. Miz comes out of the crowd to attack Truth, then Sheamus comes out to support Truth, leading to Teddy Long coming out and declaring an over the top rope challenge with all four of them. Wade gets eliminated first, and it takes a lot longer for the next elimination. Not a bad match overall, with some good swings in momentum, though I think R-Truth took a nap for a while. R-Truth ends up winning by eliminating both Sheamus and the Miz at the same time. After the match we get a segment where Cena yells at John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) and gets a match against Kane at Royal Rumble and a match against Jack Swagger next.

I really enjoy the curbstomp that Cena delivers to Swagger. Unlike the Cena haters, I think he's great, and the ruthlessness of his assault on Swagger is a great way of showing the effect that Kane has been having on him. I'm almost sad that Kane interrupts it just as Cena's about to drop the steel steps on Swagger. Kane really reminds me of Palpatine in his brief promo: embrace the dark side, young Cena.

Brodus Clay! I love everything about this gimmick. He was a generic monster heel before, while now he has a fantastic personality. JTG, on the other hand, is boring in the extreme and deserves to be a jobber. Everything about this is fantastic, as he jiggles and disturbs JTG, then feels him up. Suplex! My bad! The Bomb Funky (I guess is what he's calling it) gets JTG for the three count. I'm so excited to see what he does from here on.

We get a recap from Smackdown after the break, once again showing the truck run over the chipmunk. Daniel Bryan comes out, insulting Big Show and overall acting like a heel. He comes off kind of creepy, and it works. I don't know if the weird vaguely abusive boyfriend will pay out in the long run.

The match starts strongly between Ziggler and Punk, then Bryan and Ziggler have an embarrassing botch on a simply and frequently used move. I get frustrated that Jericho doesn't get tagged in (I think Mark Henry is injured, which would explain why he isn't getting tagged) Punk gets a Macho Elbow on Otunga, then tags in Jericho, then... starts working the crowd and tags in Bryan and walks out of the arena. Jericho is totally trolling the crowd! We get some escalation of the possible feud between Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan, and then Mick Foley comes in! Foley has joined Punk's team, which now consists of only Punk and Foley. The crowd is deafening as Ziggler starts dominating Punk. It's exciting to watch him wrestle again. I start cheering along with the crowd when he pulls out Mr. Socko and applies the Mandible Claw to Otunga for the win. Except John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) comes out to deny that Mick Foley was ever part of the match, resulting in a nice verbal smackdown from CM Punk. This is one of the best rants that Punk has gone on since the one before Money in the Bank. Once John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw) gets the mic back, Mick Foley starts laying into him. This actually a pretty good confrontation – Laurinitis is clearly channeling Vince McMahon for this, and he does a damn good job. However, he then clobbers Mick Foley with the mic and stalks out, gaining even more heat in the process. Very well done.

WWE Raw 1/9/2012

I'm alive! I'm going to go back to reviewing/recapping each WWE episode, and I'm going to try to do at least one more article each week. This week, I plan on talking about my favorite games of 2011. I also might be doing something else, so keep an eye on my twitter to see if anything comes of it!

Tonight on Raw: Kane and Jericho! This should be everything I've ever wanted in wrestling, but is it?

Continuing on from last week's excellent confusing, Raw starts with Kane coming out to talk to the crowd. His focus on hatred is really interesting, and fits him really well. In addition, it seems like he's getting the crowd back on Cena's side, which is an impressive accomplishment. That is the sign of a good heel. Admittedly, there are those in the crowd who will hate him no matter who he's feuding with, but there's no pleasing them. I do like the simple dichotomy going on here – Cena representing hope, while Kane represents hate. Cena comes out to attack Kane, in a decent slugfest that takes them backstage and outside to the loading dock. Maybe Cena did some hardcore matches when I wasn't watching, but I hadn't seen him do it, and I think he did a decent job. I'd like to see how he'd fair in a full hardcore match – if he's had any good ones in the past, let me know!

Sheamus doesn't seem like he's had a whole lot to do lately, but maybe this feud that seems to be brewing between him, Jinder Mahal and Wade Barrett might be interesting. Wade Barrett is a great heel, though Jinder Mahal bores me. He sees like a less charismatic Indian Alberto Del Rio. In any case, Sheamus is joined by Santino in a tag team match against Mahal and Barrett. I really enjoy Santino – It's nice to have some comedy, and he's pretty funny. The match isn't bad, but it's not great. While Sheamus doesn't quite squash Mahal and Barrett, it's close enough. I do like Santino managed to pull of the Cobra, which hasn't been at all effective lately.

I think the best part of the promo involving the Miz, Otunga and John Laurinitis (the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) was Otunga's ridiculously loud slurping of his coffee. The Miz is great, don't get me wrong, and I like his feud with R-Truth. Also, I agree with him: who cares about Brodus Clay?

They announce that Edge is this year's first inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame, and they have a pretty good video to go with it. I think he deserves it, he was always one of the most fun superstars to watch, whether he was a heel or a face. I've been an Edgehead since he debuted. It's a shame that he had to retire last year. This is followed by a quick shot of the Miz trying to get Mason Ryan (who cares about him?) to guard, and then we get to see Zack Ryder being as amazing as he always is. He's in my fav five.

We come back from the break for a match between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan. I like that they're keeping Kofi in the spotlight, and they're sort of trying to make the tag team championship meaningful again, but they're not doing a very good job of it so far. They have some good tag teams (AirBoom, the Usos, Primo and Epico) but they keep breaking up their main event teams – the Awesome Truth were great. In addition, there haven't been any tag team promos, which means there isn't any emotion behind the matches. They need to establish the various team's personalities so they can start feuding properly.

The match between Kofi and Daniel Bryan was alright, though not as good as it could have been – Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston are great wrestlers, and they could have a fantastic match. That clearly wasn't the point of the match, though, as Big Show comes out afterward (and puts his hat on a tiny soldier, who can practically wear it as a mask). Daniel Bryan is clearly becoming a heel, and might be getting a cowardly personality. The no-DQ match might be good, though.

HOLY CRAP SUDDENLY I CARE ABOUT BRODUS CLAY! Though the crowd doesn't seem to agree with me. He squashes Curt Hawkins (literally) and I find it very amusing. I like the promo of Zack Ryder brushing his teeth, especially when Kane shows up in the mirror.

As Swagger, Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero come to the ring, I remember that Swagger and Ziggler make a good tag team, they just need a good name. Swagger is facing CM Punk for this match... Except John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) comes out and... makes the match more interesting by adding the stipulation that, if CM Punk wins Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero are banned from ringside at Royal Rumble, and puts CM Punk into a match with Cena later tonight. Not bad. The decisions he's made would make him a face if he wasn't targeting CM Punk and had taken over from Triple H. The match itself is good, though unsurprising. Punk mostly dominates, with Swagger putting up a good fight but only gaining control very briefly. It really picks up after the commercials, though. Swagger has some great counters, with Punk showing off his never say die attitude. It's a good enough match that it feels like it should be a championship match. Punk wins, though it's kind of iffy – Swagger clearly kicked out before three.

After the match we get a brief promo between Ryder and Cena – Ryder is clearly nervous, which suits him well. Following the break there is a good promo featuring the Miz and Ricardo Rodriguez. I'm glad they're still using Rodriquez despite Del Rio's injury – he's remarkably good. Following this, we find out that the Four Horsemen are being inducted. While I think they deserve it, are they now inducting stables? Does that mean DX is going to be inducted?

Rodriguez insulting R-Truth further proves to me that he is fantastic. I like that R-Truth is working with the “Whats” now. R-Truth is getting good at working the crowd. Miz comes out and attacks, and I find myself completely bored and barely watch the rest of this segment.

Here comes Jericho! I like that they mentioned the time he defeated Steve Austin and The Rock in the same night. I guess the lighted jacket is his new thing? I kind of miss the countdown. As he comes out to the ring, I get the sinking feeling that this might end up the same as last week, which is strengthened when he just keeps pointing at the crowd for a few minutes. Yes, I get that you're excited to be back – say something already! And then he looks like he's about to start crying. Seriously? I don't know, maybe there will be a big payoff for it? I really hope so. Don't get me wrong, I've been a Jerichoholic since the days of WCW, but so far I'm disappointed.

Hey look, a Divas match! I didn't care at all until Kane's music started playing. Zack Ryder runs out to save her, and they run all the way out to his car, where Ryder shows that he has no idea how to change a tire.

Apparently I misheard John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) earlier, as it's Ziggler who is facing Cena in the final match while Ryder and Eve still try to escape. I like Ziggler – he's a fantastic heel, and I particularly liked it when he was doing a headstand. The amount of showing off he's doing is hilarious, and he really does it well. When the Titantron shows Ryder getting attacked by Kane, Cena gets distracted and barely gets out to try and help Ryder. Kane takes advantage of Cena's kindness to choke him out, after chokeslamming Ryder off a loading dock.

Final verdict on the night: Kane is great, Jericho is still disappointing, John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) and Ricardo Rodriguez are better than they have any right to be. This was a mostly good episode.