Monday Night Raw Warm Up for January 16th, 2012

Last week’s Monday Night Raw from Corpus Christi, Texas had more Kane and John Cena than you could ask for and tonight is likely to be more of the same. Last week also featured a lot of Smackdown promotion to the point where it was arguably half of the show. It’s nice to see some unfamiliar faces on Monday nights, but it seemed to come at the expense of some of the Superstars that have been carrying the show from week to week. Promotion also seemed to begin in earnest for the 25th annual Royal Rumble last week, and I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of bodies going over the top rope tonight in Anaheim, California.

PTB: We haven’t talked for a few weeks, so I have to ask if you’ve grown as sick of what we’re seeing from John Cena and Kane week after week as I have?

Brian: I’m not as tired of Cena-Kane as I am about this whole “embrace the hate” crap.  If you’re going to try to turn Cena heel, or even try to bolster support for him, I couldn’t think of a worse way.  If you cut out the premise behind the feud and the lousy promos, I’d actually enjoy it.

PTB: I think I’ve pinpointed what I’m not liking about this feud. It’s not just that they’re getting far too much air time, it’s that they took the real reaction from real fans to Cena and moved into a fantasy angle with Kane.

Zach Ryder has also gotten dragged into this feud and changing the flat tire in order to escape from Kane may have been worse than being dragged under the ring to hell and the jets of flame two weeks ago. It could have been meant for a laugh, but it was horribly executed.

Brian: I think Cena’s angle my have been the victim of WWE’s tendency to write and rewrite up until an hour or two before the show starts.  The writing for WWE is starting to remind me of the final days of WCW.  There is zero forethought.  It seems like they are just writing to finish one show and they’ll worry about next week’s show at 7pm on Monday.

PTB: At least we got to a fight a bit quicker than normal last week, even if it wasn’t a match. After the painful segment with Cena and Kane, the first match involved Sheamus and Jinder Mahal. I love Santino and have gotten behind the Barrett Barrage, but this shouldn’t be starting things off.

I appreciate the international flavor of the match though.

Speaking of Santino, could his twitter feed @MilanMiracle be as great as I’m imagining?

Brian: It’s actually not that good.  He tweets about as much as I do.

PTB: The opening match should be something the fans go crazy for especially when it’s going to lead into a backstage segment with “Big Johnny” Laurinaitis.

Brian: Ugh!!!  How many times is he going to say, ” Executive Vice President of blah blah blah…”

PTB: I like that Daniel Bryan is getting some quality air time on Raw, but a champion versus champion match with half of the tag team champs doesn’t do it for me when they haven’t had a meaningful tag match on Raw in a long time.

Brian: I have no interest in Air Boom whatsoever.

PTB: We may not be seeing much more of them as Epico and Primo took the tag team titles from them at a house show in Oakland yesterday. Bryan’s match with Kofi Kingston last week was another quick one, but Bryan looked good in his finish on Kofi. The heel turn they’re going for with Bryan could be interesting but I feel like they’re wasting some of the good favor he had from the fans. Although I still think the prospects of a big time match with him and Big Show are fantastic.

Brian: I’m really disliking the heel turn.  I think they’re just looking for a believable way for a guy of his size to go over much bigger guys.  What makes things worse is that Michael Cole still trashing him isn’t helping him.

Turning Big Show heel would have been so much better and really could have done a lot to build up Bryan’s character.

PTB: Another Twitter observation now that we’re not getting videos every week, @JerryLawler is capitalized and @michaelcole is all lower case. Looks about right.

Brian: Michael Cole’s twitter account should be in 2 pt font.

PTB: Last we saw the anticipated debut Brodus Clay… from Planet Funk… the Funkasaurus… he’s “Big Johnny Ace” Laurinaitis’ masterpiece. It’s kind of fantastic.

Brian: He has almost zero rhythm. Haven’t we seen this gimmick before (i.e. Flash Funk)?

PTB: Basically, and it’s Ernest “The Cat” Miller’s entrance music.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLBvbvzHuMo]

PTB: Punk versus Jack Swagger was easily the match of the night. It pushed the storylines for Punk, Dolph Ziggler and Laurinaitis and was a great match to boot. I wish they could be as effective with more of the night.

Brian: I feel like Swagger has improved as a wrestler by leaps and bounds over the last few weeks.  His in-ring psychology has been fantastic as he’s taken a page out of Del Rio’s book and really worked over a specific body part.

PTB: I really haven’t been enjoying the backstage antics with The Miz and R-Truth but this week the in ring attack was trying to be a comedy bit as well. If it had been limited to that I might have enjoyed it, but it seemed like this seeped into every segment of the night.

Brian: Everything is a comedy bit anymore.  75% of the problem with WWE.

PTB: Chris Jericho… the man who defeated the Rock and Steve Austin in the same night to become the first Undisputed Champion in history… And he plays the crowd without saying a word once again! I love it. It’s going to make the moment he calls the cheering fans in whatever town he’s in a bunch of bottom feeders that much better.

Brian: Jericho is the last true wrestling genius around (besides Paul Heyman). Totally knows how to work a crowd and get the reaction he truly should be getting.

PTB: I couldn’t agree more.

Wrapping up, I was wondering when we’d start seeing Hall of Fame inductee announcements and two came last week starting with the recently retired Edge. He had a phenomenal career and while I was surprised to hear his name, it makes sense.

Brian: While I agree he’s Hall of Fame worthy, I feel it is way too soon. I understand that his career was cut short and his contributions to the business were many, but bringing him in before guys like Owen Hart and dare I say it, the Ultimate Warrior feels a little weird.  Maybe they’re rushing it so that next year they can have Undertaker as the main induction.

PTB: The second announcement of the Four Horsemen was the real surprise. Last I saw Ric Flair, he was working in TNA. Will he be there for this induction?

Brian: Even though Flair is with TNA, I can’t see him not being there.  They would not have announced it if there was even a doubt that he would.

How did you feel about this incarnation of the Horseman being inducted and not the original four with Ole Anderson?  I’m so glad that I don’t have to see Mongo McMichael.

PTB: Ole wasn’t in the picture for long when I first saw them and Barry Windham’s heel turn when he joined the group might be my favorite of all time. The group they’re inducting is the Horsemen to me.

Who’s your top pick for who else we’ll see this year? I can’t imagine we won’t see Randy Savage in this year’s class.

Brian: My big complaint about the Hall of Fame is that there is one headline inductee each year and many other lesser inductees.  While I get that they want to focus on one guy and not take the spotlight away from him, it bugs me that Koko B.Ware is in the Hall and Savage isn’t.

I was hoping that having two huge names announced would buck the trend and we’d see a class of great names.  There are so many people that deserve to be there: Savage, Warrior, Hart.

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Keep up with all of our weekly Monday Night Raw Warm Ups:
January 9th, 2011 edition / January 23rd, 2011 edition