Posted in: Mr. Tito
RAW is TITO - Forget the Royal Rumble! Let's Overhype Next Week's RAW!
By Mr. Tito
Jan 23, 2012 - 11:28:25 PM

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

--------------------

So here we are with the HARD SELL edition of Monday Night RAW to hype Royal Rumble 2012. Actually, I should call it the "burial edition" of RAW instead. For one, we have a second injury angle for Zack Ryder as Kane chokeslammed him through a gimmicked place on the stage. Reportedly, Ryder was blamed for weaker 2nd hour ratings and now they are making the young kid pay with a stupid "broken back" injury angle that Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler had to painfully sell as a tragedy. Meanwhile, the real tragedy is the fact that the WWE pushed Ryder to the United States Title WAY too fast and blaming Ryder for a WWE product that has been in decline for 2 years now, ratings and business wise.

Secondly, another Dolph Ziggler pin on CM Punk? I'm sure the drive-by Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) will argue that "it's building up Dolph Ziggler, Mr. Tito!!!!!", but I see it the other way. For one, Dolph Ziggler needs more work building himself up to be even considered for a WWE Title, let alone getting a title shot. But two, I see this as CM Punk losing repeatedly before he was supposed to head into the 2nd Biggest WWE Event of the year as WWE Champion. The result is that the WWE thinks they are making Dolph Ziggler look strong, but he's not getting over. The real effect is that CM Punk's Championship reign is looking weaker.

And of course to cram more overbooking into the show, we have CM Punk vs. John Laurinaitis as the Main Event of the show. One would think that for such big storyline based match, the WWE wouldn't just give it away for the RAW before Royal Rumble 2012... Why not have it after the Royal Rumble 2012 after Laurinaitis's plans are ruined at the Rumble? Gives us something to do between Rumble and Wrestlemania...

Before the match even started, John Laurinaitis received a letter from the WWE "Board of Directors" that said his tenure as interim General Manager was "under review" because of Laurinaitis's open admission that he was going to screw CM Punk at the Rumble. Next week on RAW, Laurinaitis will have a job evaluation that will be conducted by the "Chief Operating Officer", Triple H. That's right, the same person that was "demoted" for Laurinaitis to take over, will conduct the evaluation. Good God these storylines are TERRIBLE and it's going to usher yet another pile of crap tenure for Triple H as an on-screen executive.

CM Punk vs. Laurinaitis didn't happen, as Jennifer Hudson's fiance attacked instead, and after he was disposed, Punk went after Laurinaitis and delivered his GTS finisher. Punk could celebrate slaying Laurinaitis for too long, as Dolph Ziggler hit the ring for an attack. Hard sell for Punk vs. Ziggler with Laurinaitis as the referee, but dark clouds exist on the horizon for next week's second attempt at "Triple H is COO".

In other RAW news...

Chris Jericho is going to make his move at the Royal Rumble, plain and simple... It's becoming very apparent to me that with Laurinaitis probably getting fired by Triple H, chances are that Jericho will cost CM Punk his WWE Title. Are you ready for yet another non-over WWE Champion, folks?

Good match between Miz vs. R-Truth, and I applaud the WWE for the clean win for R-Truth. Miz gets to be the 1st entrant into the Rumble, as I laugh at the WWE's stat that 2 #1 entrants have won the Rumble out of the last 20 years or so or Rumbles. In reality, do you even realize how hard surviving 29 other wrestlers for an hour long marathon should be? But this is wrestling...

Meh to Brodus Clay, and with due respect to Jinder Mahal, he needs some seasoning to wrestle at the high level that the WWE has been trying with him lately. He has good size and look, but he needs a little more time working his way up before taking a spotlight.

CONCLUSION: WWE may have made a fatal mistake tonight... They have put major emphasis on the RAW following the Royal Rumble rather than fully hyping the Rumble itself. With the way that the Rumble has been poorly booked, and I'm shocked with how half-assed this show has been prepared, WWE just subjected their 2nd biggest RAW number to harm. But hey, let's boost Triple H's return with a nice ratings pop at the expense of hurting the Rumble!

B- for the grade and I expect a 3.0 as the rating.

Just chill... Till the next episode.

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

BLOG is TITO Archive on LoPForums.com

© Mr. Tito 1998 - 2012