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Archive for the ‘RAW’ Category

Has Chris Jericho wrestled his last pro wrestling match? Perhaps, if his recent interview with G4 TV is to be believed. The sometime-wrestler, sometime-metal-band-frontman, two-time author and one-time Undisputed WWE Champion admitted that he “may have” already left wrestling for good.

While not shutting the door to a possible future return, Jericho cited the tough WWE schedule and how it lead to his struggle with how to get rid of dark circles under his eyes after long stints on the WWE road schedule. Jericho is committed to his band, Fozzy, and felt it was time to spend more time with them, as well as looking into more acting and hosting gigs.

Jericho hosted the game show Downfall on ABC last summer, and had a very brief role in the SNL-inspired movie, MacGruber.

If anyone thought 02/21/11 was a disappointment, they should now zero in their viewing habits on 03/07/11. That’s the night Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to RAW… for one night, at least.

Stone Cold is one of the top stars of the Attitude era, and with Triple H, Undertaker, Diesel, Booker T and The Rock all making dramatic returns of the WWE ring of late, it’s beginning to look like Old Home Week on Raw. While the anticipation is high, Austin returning prior to a WrestleMania is no biig shock; he even did so last year, and with the re-launch of WWE Tough Enough coming up, in which Austin will star as the main mentor, his appearance was almost predictable, especially with that show taping in Dallas, Austin’s home stomping grounds.

Will he stick around through WrestleMania and play a role there, or is it just a one-off? Time will tell, but listen for the sound of the breaking glass tiles. Soon.

With three straight wins over John Cena since taking over the new Nexus, CM Punk has established himself as a credible threat to John Cena. Punk has attached a curt trailer hitch to the Nexus gimmick and taken it in a fresh direction.

Whereas Nexus under the leadership of Wade Barrett employed the traditional dictatorial head of a faction approach, which had run its course, Punk has re-established Nexus as a threat by using his leadership position to build up the credibility of the other members of the faction.

It’s a refreshing shift that makes the Nexus storyline intriguing again.

As little as a year ago, Dwayne Johnson was sounding off that he’d never return to WWE. This past Monday, The Rock has come back to WWE. While not exactly claiming that his movie career is on hiatus, Rock made it clear in his cameo at the end of Monday Night Raw that he has returned home to WWE and plans to guest-host WrestleMania 27.

Rock pulled out ever gag and catchphrase fans had been waiting for seven years to hear one more time, and the old hits blew the roof off the place. What that says about The Rock, or what it may say about the current WWE talent level, is debatable, but Dwayne did his due diligence to kick off WrestleMania 27 hype in earnest, doing everything but chinning himself on a pull up bar to get the crowd heated up.

Younger WWE talents should be taking notes; The Rock became one of WWE’s most electrifying performers during the Attitude Era for a reason. If they can learn how to play up a crowd and their own games go up a notch, the veteran cameo by Rock will be worth whatever McMahon had to pony up to pull it off.

In storyline developments spinning out of this week’s RAW, C.M. Punk has become the new leader of Nexus. You can be sure that Punk is so overjoyed about the storyline development that he’ll be searching for jewelry gifts for mom for the next month, just to spread the good cheer. And with good reason, since that’s a great way to share one’s happiness … especially with Mom.

Still, the leadership role went to Punk at the expense of Wade Barrett who, according to the storyline, is now kicked out of the fledgling group of NXT Season 1 graduates. In a lot of ways, it’s a great move for both men. By taking over the leadership role of the top heel group on Raw, Punk now plays a key role on the show and has storyline direction for the first time in a while.

Meanwhile, Barrett has proven charismatic enough that he no longer needs Nexus as a gimmick to make folks care about him; he’s proven he can main event with the likes of The Miz and John Cena, so freeing him from the Nexus gimmick freshens up the gimmick and freshens up Barrett’s character as well.

A couple weeks ago, a young girl was featured on Raw in a crowd shot that showed her “angry demon face” in reaction to The Miz cashing in his Money In the Bank contract to defeat Randy Orton and become WWE Champ for the first time in his career. This week, the so-called Angry Demon Girl won a Slammy Award for the Best Crowd Reaction shot of the year.

I have to agree with the selection; no other crowd reaction show left such an indelible impression in my mind, and screenshots of that moment have set many HP printers to work the past couple weeks, printing out that stunned, angry reaction.

Interesting that one ticked off little girl can do more to sell an angle than all the announcing at ringside.

I never would have predicted it, but so far the reign of The Miz as WWE champion has been quite entertaining. I love the pot-shot he took at Rowdy Roddy Piper recently, pointing out that despite his Hall of Fame status, Piper never wore the best as Miz has. That makes Miz a great heel.

Not since that Texas truck accident lawyer known as JBL has a heel reign been this fun. I mean, sure, Randy Orton has done the heel thing, as has Triple H, but their of them are funny while also being genuine heels.

The only downside is that his reign shows just how much WWE booking has changed since Piper was in his prime. Back then, the average Hulk Hogan title reign lasted years without interruption. These days, the titles change hands several times a year.

This Monday’s RAW has a great storyline hook for those following along: Nexus has told their leader, Wade Barrett, that he must either re-hire John Cena back into the WWE, or they will kick Barrett out of Nexus.

The point of purchase displays for this storyline are amazingly entertaining in that it could wrap up the current version of this storyline, and morph into an all-new storyline where Cena and Barrett are feuding much more directly.

Let’s hope that’s the case.

The King of the Ring concept will be brought back this Monday night on RAW. Formerly a PPV concept, it has most often and most successfully been used to launch young heel acts in WWE. Some of the most successful included Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle, though some have fizzled after receiving the crown. (Booker T, anyone?)

This year’s field is laden with young talent with great potential to live up to the King of the Ring title. From the Smackdown brand, we have Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Albert Del Rio. From Raw, we have John Morrison, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and Ezekiel Jackson.

If WWE decides to go based on pure talent, the finals ought to come down to Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan. But since both are currently faces in the promotion, look McIntyre to be the favorite. After all, Rhodes has more experience under his belt and doesn’t need the push as badly; the same is true of Morrison, who is also currently a face and the most veteran guy in the group. Both are probably there to put over the younger talent.

At least none of them are folks who use the best weight gain supplement around; they’re all well-cut, in-shape talents who have main event potential.

Former Real World: Back To New York star turned WWE superstar (thanks perhaps to some hgh supplement along the way?) The Miz cashed in his Money In the Bank option on Raw last weekend, attacking Randy Orton after an intense victory over Wade Barrett to take advantage of Orton’s injured knee and came away with a three-minute win over Orton.

The victory puts a nice cap on Miz’s WWE rise to fame, and if he manages to retain the title for a while, it’ll be even better. Initially starting out as a comedy act in WWE’s version of ECW, Miz has slowly shed the silliness to create an intense in-ring heel persona that has seen him improve both his mic-work and his ring work.

Will WWE give him a real push with his title reign and following it, or will they Jack Swagger him, sending him back to the mid-card after a token title run? Let’s hope The Miz’s reign truly is… AWESOME!

Lance Cade is an example of a wrestler who didn’t take advantage of the help available to him. On the roster of WWE as recently as a year ago, Cade was released for Wellness Policy violations, and later resigned to a development contract to give him a chance to come back, but then released a final time last spring after failing another WWE-mandated test.

Cade allegedly had used steroids, which led to both of his releases. His August 12 death has been determined to be caused by “ingesting multiple drugs combined with the effects of an enlarged heart,” according to the San Antonio, TX autopsy report recently released.

Cade had access, through a WWE program open to all former and current WWE employees, to seek drug counseling; it is a program he never enrolled in. This is just another unfortunate reminder that drug use is dangerous when the use of illegal substances is involved. And even when it involves legal, over-the-counter stuff, like diets for quick weight loss, that is typically considered safe, one should always seek the advice of medical professionals.

Jim Ross is reporting that he expects Bret Hart to be at Monday’s RAW in Calgary. While this may not include an on-screen appearance, the former superstar seems finally to have buried the hatchet against the McMahon family enough to drop by and say hello to friends, both in-ring performers and behind the scenes.

Hart, who won’t be asked to promote diet pills or anything like that, has been an unexpected blessing for the company in the wake of Shawn Michaels’ recent retirement in that he is a wrestler with a strong, positive link to WWE’s past, who doesn’t look for too prominent a role in the current business, unlike many of the personalities who are currently running TNA into the ground.