ProWrestlingViews.com

The Rock is starting to talk more openly about the nature of his role in a possible return to WWE, on a limited basis, in 2010. While Duane Johnson is in the middle of shooting his latest movie, once production wraps, he is in talks with Vince McMahon to come in and do a guest-host job that could evolve into a limited-run storyline.

The Rock seemingly ruled out John Cena as his potential opponent, but did say he’d want to do something special. By special, he outlined these criteria:

1. It would have to benefit everyone, long-term, including WWE, his opponent and Johnson himself.

2. He would want to rip up the family-friendly script of current WWE product and push the edge back to Attitude-era edginess.

3. His return would not last long; either a one-off or a limited run engagement that would include a couple weeks of build-up, and then a PPV capper.

If handled well, such a storyline could help elevate one of WWE’s up-and-comers; the best potential opponents, in my mind, are Ted DiBiase Jr., Cody Rhodes, Sheamus or MVP. If the program is run against Cena or Randy Orton, I doubt that would benefit WWE quite as much for the future. If Rock returns, perhaps he’ll have a run-in with Stephanie McMahon, calling to mind his role as a face in the McMahon-Helmsley Era storylines. I’m sure Rock would have some great mic-time gifts for her.

Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms were arrested last Wednesday on charges of public intoxication, which carry with it minor civil fines if they decide not to contest the charges. Ironically, Jericho has been recently mentioned by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff as a wish-list wrestler of current WWE superstars.

That would fit with their recent acquisition of Jeff Hardy, who signed with TNA on the same day he was arraigned on drug charges.

I’m a bit behind on minor updates like these, due to the stability of my desktop computer; but I’m taking it to Best Buy tomorrow for servicing so I wanted to get this up before all I have to work on is a slow, out-of-date laptop.

Well, everyone can relax with an e cigarette; the Royal Rumble is over and while old-timer HBK got the biggest rub, eliminating the most opponents of anyone in the match (six), Shawn Michaels made it to the Final Four, but didn’t last beyond that.

Instead, Edge returned to the WWE after a long injury-related absence, as the 29th entrant in the 30-man battle. He rode that momentum to the final three and let John Cena eliminate the freshest man, Batista, who was the final entrant, then eliminated Cena in the aftermath of Batista’s elimination.

So, unexpectedly, Edge will get his choice of belts and opponents to go after, depending on who comes out of the Elimination Chamber PPV in February with the belts still on their waists. Current champs are Smackdown’s Undertaker, who fended off a challenge from Rey Mysterio tonight; Raw’s Sheamus, who won by DQ against Randy Orton in a heel-vs.-heel match; and ECW’s Christian, who wrestled a good program against Ezekiel Jackson.

The most likely scenario currently is for Smackdown-branded Edge to take on Undertaker and his “undefeated at WrestleMania” streak, with ‘Taker as the face. However, stranger things have happened, so don’t rule out a Raw title change at Elimination Chamber, setting up Edge moving over to Raw to take on John Cena, while HBK would then head over to Smackdown to take on ‘Taker.

Even a couple weeks removed from Bret Hart’s history-making return to a WWE ring and I’m still in amazement at how well the moment was handled, right from Bret’s opening words.

“Well, I guess hell froze over.”

From that moment to the confrontation with Shawn Michaels, to the moment Michaels teased a possible SuperKick, to the smart decision not to go that route but deliver a hug of genuine friendship, everything was handled just right.

By eschewing the predictable sports entertainment moment, that opening segment of Raw became the best of what sports entertainment can be. It was enough to cure a teen of acnezine!

OK, so it took me a month to finally spit this out, but here goes: What was WWE thinking when they chose Dennis Miller as the host of the Slammy Awards?

Now, I enjoy the humor of Miller as much as anyone, and have since his early days as the Weekend Update host of Saturday Night Live, but really, Miller’s thinking-man’s humor is just a few notches too high to be a good fit for wrestling audiences; hell, it’s a few notches too high for a Yale Law crowd.

Most of the jokes went over flat with an audience that wanted action, not verbal wit. The boos were heard even through WWE’s muting. His humor was political rather than wrestling-focused, which made the whole affair even more painful. It went over like a natural colon cleansing.

There are a lot of good venues for Miller, but Raw was now one of them. Paging Frank Caliendo, anyone?

The list of wrestlers who will be participating in the Royal Rumble PPV battle royale is taking shape; from ECW, none of the participating wrestlers, believe it or not, use under eye creams! That list includes William Regal, Zack Ryder, Yoshi Tatsu, Shelton Benjamin, and The Hurricane.

The list of Raw-brand wrestlers included so far are Triple H, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, MVP, Santino, Evan Bourne and Carlito.

Smackdown wrestlers are expected to be added following Friday’s telecast. And each year, there are a few nostalgia and surprise guests. The best part of the Royal Rumble is that it is an important step to the year’s most prominent PPV; whoever wins is guaranteed a title shot at WrestleMania.

Former WWE star Brock Lesnar is apparently fully recovered from a severe case of diverticulitis that, had things gone less favorably, could have ended his UFC career. Appearing with UFC president Dana White on SportsCenter, Lesnar said he is now fully recovered and hopes to return to the ring “sometime this summer.”

That would make it a nearly one-year absence from the ring for the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champ, who last battled Frank Mir in July at UFC 100. Upon his return, Lesnar is expected to face the winner of the March bout between Mir and Shane Carwin.

You can bet Lesnar’s recovery required a lot more than merely the best anti wrinkle cream money could buy; he received help from local doctors in North Dakota, as well as from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

The WWE has released a list of upcoming guest hosts of RAW. The list includes a nice mix of celebrities from other areas of sports entertainment, as well as old familiar faces. Here’s the list:

• Jan. 25: Psych stars James Roday and Dule Hill
• Feb. 1: William Shatner
• Feb. 8: NASCAR’s Carl Edwards
• Feb. 15: Jerry Springer
• Mar. 15: Steve Austin

The Psych stars ought to be entertaining, and Jerry Springer could be loads of fun; but the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin is really the broadcast to write home about. It makes all the short term health insurance NC has to offer seem insufficient; he may be retired for close to a decade now, but Stone Cold still dominates!

Dwayne Johnson, known throughout the 1990s as “The Rock,” appeared on David Letterman recently to promote his new family comedy, The Tooth Fairy. Maybe it was the side effects of clinislim, but Johnson actually talked favorably about his previous career in WWE for the first time in years.

In fact, Johnson said that he no longer shuns the nickname he was trying hard to shed as recently as last summer, and he even suggested to Letterman that he could envision a possible return to WWE as a guest host of Raw, though he did not speak favorably of returning to wrestle a match.

Nice to see Johnson coming around and re-embracing his wrestling roots.

Steve Williams, known in the ring as Dr. Death, died late in December 2009, after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 49.

Williams was once considered a gold bullion-prospect in pro wrestling, working for nearly a decade without being defeated; however, once he joined WWE in 1998, we became more of a jobber to younger talent.

He spent much of his recent career in the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory for WWE, working to train young wrestlers.

I do have to admit that in spite of vast anticipation, Raw felt more like a special event on Monday, with the first appearance of Bret Hart on WWE programming in well over a decade, and his first-ever showdown with Shawn Michaels following the Montreal Screw-Job, than any amount of Hulk Hogan debuting on Impact could ever produce.

While both shows felt like 1997 throwbacks, Raw won this first face-off hands down in its degree of creating an event atmosphere. While it’s not like Hart and Michaels wrestled amidst outdoor fireplaces, it was certainly special to see that face-off finally happen.

With the exit from WWE of Shane McMahon, it will be interesting to see how WWE and Tyson’s entourage interact with each other; Shane has historically been the point-person to deal with boxing celebrities and all that comes with them.

Tyson is the scheduled guest host of Raw next Monday, which airs from Minneapolis’ Target Center.

So, if Tyson’s ego is not soothed properly and stuff goes wrong, such as his people not being pleased with the sort of water softener provided them, keep in mind Shane’s departure from WWE and how it might affect the guest host program going forward on Raw, if the Tyson appearance goes south.