ProWrestlingViews.com

As ProWrestlingViews.com reported Sunday night, John Cena returned to the WWE about seven months earlier than expected, winning the Royal Rumble match. The WWE has been kind enough to share a press release and a photo of Cena’s return with us, so we’re passing it on to you, our readers. Here it is:

STAMFORD, Conn., January 28, 2008 — He was supposed to be injured and out of action for as long as a year, but WWE® Superstar John Cena shocked the wrestling world Sunday night by entering the Royal Rumble Match at No. 30 in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Cena won the 2008 Royal Rumble Match by tossing Triple H® over the top rope.

With the victory in the 2008 Royal Rumble Match, Cena earns a World Championship opportunity against the title holder of his choice at WrestleMania XXIV on Sunday, March 30, in Orlando, FL.

Stay tuned to Monday Night RAW at 9 PM ET/PT on USA Network to see which champion John Cena will choose to face at WrestleMania XXIV. To see a replay of John Cena’s triumphant return to the ring, call your local cable provider and order the 2008 Royal Rumble in HD only on pay-per-view.

Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE), can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.

Former WWE champion John Cena, sidelined last fall with a shoulder injury that promised to keep him out beyond WrestleMania, returned to the active roster on Sunday as the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble and went on to win the match and earn an automatic title shot against the champion of his choice at WrestleMania. It is almost a guarantee that Cena, who was injured by Orton, will focus on regaining his WWE title from the Legend Killer, rather than jump brands to take on Edge on SmackDown or C.M. Punk on ECW.

The Rumble event featured classic wrestlers Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Mick Foley, all sporting their retirement luxury watches; Cena’s spot had been teased to be the return of The Big Show, Paul Wight, who did not appear at the Rumble. Instead, Cena returned at least four months ahead of his announced recovery schedule, a turn of events that, while likely planned, has to have Vince McMahon and WWE stockholders sighing in relief.

Unlike previous Rumbles, no one Superstar was given a dominating run; Undertaker, Triple H and Kane all eliminate three or four guys, but only the eventual winner, Cena, had a real dominant stretch leading to the win. Even then, Cena eliminated only four, including Triple H for the win. In previous years, some WWE superstars have been allowed “ring-clearing runs,” eliminating up for six or more superstars to establish their dominance despite not being given a Rumble victory. That didn’t happen this year.

The when and where of Paul “The Big Show” Wight’s return remains a mystery but is still expected to take place, despite being used as a red herring to cover the return of Cena.

Despite an effective storyline that had WWE fans believing in the possibility of a title change so close to WrestleMania, Jeff Hardy failed in his bid to unseat Randy Orton as the WWE champion at the 2008 Royal Rumble on Sunday. They threw everything but Kohler sinks into the title match, but while Hardy and Orton took turns dominating the match, Hardy seemed on the verge of victory, about to deliver a Twist of Fate for the win.

That’s when Orton hit the reversal and an RKO helped him retain the title off a clean victory. The real question now is where the WWE will take the storyline from here. Will they continue to develop the Hardy-Orton storyline that worked so well, or will they switch storylines as the company focuses in on WrestleMania hype?

Given the winner of the Royal Rumble… well, let’s just say it’s looking like back-burner time for Jeff Hardy, through no fault of his own, and unless his character takes a hard heel turn soon, he’ll soon be out of the WWE title picture once again.

Ric Flair earned a victory over MVP as part of the opening match to the 2008 edition of the WWE Royal Rumble PPV. In the ongoing storyline for Flair, the Nature Boy will continue to have a job with WWE until the next time he loses a match. The storyline has led to Flair winning five consecutive matches, including the win Sunday night over MVP.

While Flair wasn’t vamping it up by wearing a bustiers or another other such showman nonsense, his matches since this storyline began did have the feeling of being a retirement / final tour storyline. The PPV event was held at Madison Square Garden. Flair wrestled at the facility for the first time in 1976, do to still be in the ring, winning matches, 32 years later and in his 50s is an achievement worthy of the Verne Gagne era of pro wrestling.

This week’s WWE Raw broadcast drew a 3.6 rating, down from 4.1 for the same week last year. However, that’s about what the broadcast has been averaging in recent weeks, so at least it’s staying level.

While many in the industry expected WWE’s ratings to skyrocket as a result of the writer’s strike, due to WWE featuring new episodes every week while other shows go into reruns or are replaced by reality shows, just the opposite seems to be true.

Instead of Raw, SmackDown and ECW benefiting from the wasteland of reruns, it seems are viewers turn out other programs, fewer are also tuning out in general from WWE broadcasts as well. The Republican Party is fond of the saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” meaning that good economic times benefit everyone. In this case, it would seem the opposite is true as well; a sinking tide lowers all boats.

It’s the loss of those who don’t tune in, though; if ratings were based on well-executed storylines, the feud between WWE champ Randy Orton and challenger Jeff Hardy would be drawing in record ratings the way buyers swarm real estate offices when they hear that there is South Carolina land for sale.

Professional wrestler Paul Wight, better known to WWE fans as The Big Show, has signed an all-new WWE contract and is set to return to television any time now; in fact, he could conceivably end up as a Royal Rumble surprise guest, either in the Rumble or inserted into one of the other championship matches scheduled for that PPV event.

Wight may be hard to recognize when he returns to the WWE ring. During his year-long hiatus, Wight spent 2007 training as a professional boxer. In that time, he dropped 60 pounds to 440, and at a solid seven feet high, may be a bit shorter but is now cutting a figure a bit closer to the physique The Great Khali has achieved. In some online interviews, he has also confessed to giving up a smoking habit, which may help him breathe better and therefore perform better in the ring.

While out of the WWE, Wight wrestled an indy match against Hulk Hogan and adopted the new moniker of Paul “The Great” Wight; however, it is expected that, at least initially, WWE will reintroduce him to their audience as The Big Show. Whether the company will eventually incorporate Wight’s new in-ring persona into his wrestling career remains to be seen; it’s just too early to know.

There are several ways for Wight to make an impact in his return. The most obvious would be to have him be a surprise entrant into the Royal Rumble. With his new, trimmer physique, he could be sold more credibly as an unstoppable threat.

When Wight last appeared in a WWE-owned ring, he was part of the ECW on SciFi franchise and his return could help that broadcast, which is struggling in the ratings as more and more people are tuning out of TV as the writer’s strike has a bigger and bigger impact on audiences with new episodes drying up. Even though WWE broadcasts are unaffected by the strike, and feature new episodes every week of the year, it seems a receding tide lowers all boats and as viewers abandon TV in general, WWE’s broadcast numbers are sinking at a time one might expect them to be gaining.

If handled well, Wight’s return could help reverse this trend. Inserting Wight into the ECW title match at the Royal Rumble would be another way to go; he could be used to cost CM Punk the title and become an immediate title shot threat. Or Wight could be shipped to SmackDown to help that show’s ratings.

About the only place ProWrestlingViews.com doesn’t want to see Wight is the already overstocked with main event talent Raw broadcast. If Wight is placed on the Raw roster, he’ll almost certainly sink to second-tier status, as happened to Chris Jericho, who also recently returned after an extended hiatus from the Fed.

One thing’s for sure: if Wight is as fit as billed, an eventual clash with the Great Khali, if built up correctly, could be a match that would be WrestleMania-worthy. Just be sure to keep the medical supplies on hand at that one!

This week’s SmackDown featured what could become Montel Vontavious Porter’s big chance to grab a portion of the WrestleMania spotlight in the first weekend of April. In a match that featured relatively little setup, Batista battled MVP over the “honor” of Ric Flair’s legacy.

Now, it is ProWrestlingViews.com’s position that, far from being the 2007 wrestler of the year that WWE claims him to be, Batista is the most overexposed and overhyped performer of 2007. However, it’s also clear that main event status runs through Batista over on SmackDown, so even though he doesn’t hold the belt, clashing with Batista can only help MVP in his rise to main event status.

Clad in tights and sheepskin boots, MVP and Batista had a great TV match that showed the potential of the feud without giving away so much that it would diminish PPV buy rates. Batista does the “unstoppable force” thing well, and MVP is a versatile enough performer to pull a watchable match out of him.

Most think Batista is headed for a title match against Edge at WrestleMania, but if the company (hopefully) changes course from overexposing the Beast in the WWE title picture, a feud with MVP that reaches its zenith at WrestleMania might be a good use of Batista outside the title picture, and help push MVP into main event status. That could be good for both mens’ careers.

The worst storyline going on on Friday Night SmackDown lately has to be the “Edge is dating Vickie Guerrero” storyline. Granted, in real life, Vickie Guerrero does not have to eternally remain Eddie’s widow. She has the right to move on with her life.

Yet does that real-life fact have to be played out in such a disgusting, in-ring manner? Exploiting real-life tragedies for ratings has long been a staple of WWE programming, but it rarely pays off well; it costs the company fans in the long run and any temporary ratings bump is short-lived.

We all know that in real life, Edge is not involved with Vickie Guerrero, so using that as an in-ring storyline makes the tale seem all that more sleazy and exploitive. More than any other WWE broadcast, SmackDown is in need of some serious home improvements prior to WrestleMania. Quickly resolving and flushing this storyline should be at the top of WWE’s to-do list.

You don’t need Delta machinery to determine that the main attraction for the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV will be the Royal Rumble match itself. Here’s what we know about the event so far.

We do know, thanks to a Ric Flair “win or retire” match, that Triple H will not be in the Rumble. Thank the L-rd!

We also know that the match will feature both Mick Foley and Hornswoggle, which means there will be at least some retro superstar appeal as well as some comic relief in the match, which is good. Umaga will be there, but will likely be the target of an early “gang up on the big guy” ejection, which is a Royal Rumble tradition.

The next few weeks leading up to the PPV will have a lot of Royal Rumble qualifying matches. Let’s hope WWE makes it a great one!

With all the top-name wrestlers on the Raw roster these days, it’s no wonder ECW and SmackDown seem like second-rate broadcasts for WWE. While having big names on one roster can make some fans so joyful they’ll toss wedding flowers even at Stephanie McMahon, the power-shift could be hurting the evenness of WWE’s brands.

Consider for a moment all the main-event caliber talent on the Raw roster, including wrestlers who are scheduled to return from injury eventually. We have:

• Randy Orton
• Triple H
• John Cena (injured)
• Bobby Lashley (injured)
• Jeff Hardy
• Umaga
• Shawn Michaels
• Mr. Kennedy
• Chris Jericho

That’s nine headliners on one show. Compare that to ECW:

• CM Punk
• John Morrison

ECW is so talent-dry right now (even Rob Van Dam isn’t listed on WWE.com) that The Miz is probably in the ECW main event mix. That’s sad. And SmackDown isn’t much better off.

• Edge
• MVP
• Batista
• Undertaker
• The Great Khali
• Rey Mysterio

Now, SmackDown has former main eventer Kane, who wore out his welcome long ago, and Matt Hardy, who’s never really taken off like his brother Jeff, primarily because WWE got skittish about truly capitalizing on the real-life heat between Edge and Matt over real-life girlfriend issues. And they’ve tried and failed to transform Chavo Guerrero and Mark Henry into main eventers. And of those names listed above, Batista, Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, for various and different reasons, should all be one rung down below main event status.

Obviously, some roster shuffling needs to happen to rebalance the three brands; and it needs to happen well before next summer, when the annual draft usually mixed things up. Sending Ric Flair to SmackDown, as seems to have happened recently, isn’t enough of a fix.

Chris Jericho’s return to the WWE was supposed to be huge, but after a very brief run against champ Randy Orton, he has now been inserted into a feud with JBL. Now, I enjoy JBL; both in his normal life outside of wrestling as a Fox Business/Fox News contributor, and his in-ring character over on SmackDown.

However, while it’s a huge move to use a feud with Jericho to bring JBL back as an active wrestler and onto the Raw roster, it’s definitely a step way down for Jericho, whose mission was supposed to be as the Raw savior, delivering us from the Randy Orton era. While the move is a necessary sidestep, perhaps, to avoid overplaying the Jericho-Orton feud too soon, what may be brewing here is the unexpected, and that’s the dramatic popularity of the Jeff Hardy-Randy Orton feud. Hardy, a former TNA champ as well as a multiple-time tag champ in WWE, had been a terrific performer in his feud with Orton and is earning a lot of respect and momentum in his drive toward his Royal Rumble title match.

Whether it’s in the ring or doing charitable work for victims of cerebral palsy, Hardy’s a sentimental favorite to get a surprise win and ride that wave into the WrestleMania main event for a rematch against Orton. That could leave Jericho hanging in mid-card limbo again, as has often been the case in his pro wrestling career.

No matter how you look at it - from a La-Z-Boy, a couch or laying atop platform beds - the first Raw broadcast of 2008, which featured the Raw Roulette random stipulation gimmick, was not a hit with viewers. The broadcast hit an 11-year low for the same week, coming up with only a 3.2 Nielsen score.

The last time Raw ratings dipped lower in week one of a new year, it was on Jan. 6, 1997, when Raw drew only a 2.1 Nielsen. The historic high for the first Monday of the year was a 6.4, back during the height of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and The Rock’s run, during the WWF Attitude era and at the height of the Monday Night wars between the then-titled WWF and Ted Turner’s now-defunct WCW promotion.

Of course, one important factor to consider is the impact of the WGA writer’s strike on these numbers. Although Raw has of late received a ratings bump thanks to the writer’s strike, NBC unveiled a fresh Monday night lineup featuring the Hulk Hogan-hosted American Gladiators remake, a fresh episode of Deal Or No Deal, and, most significantly, the season debut of Medium, a series that has eight or nine episodes in the can, all unaired prior to Monday.

The scripted drama, already a Monday Night staple last season, drew a decent audience in the original scripted programming-starved lineup.