1-30-12 Raw results and thoughts

 Coverage and thoughts on the January 30, 2012 episode of Raw

Before I start with my blog this week I wanted to talk a little bit about the Royal Rumble. In 1992 WWF booked the greatest Rumble of all time and it was the first major PPV I saw. 20 years later they had the worst Rumble ever last night! If you saw the show you know how awful it was. If you missed it, don’t bother with the replay or getting the DVD or even finding it on youtube. Man WWF/E is so not what it used to be.

Now onto Raw.

The show starts with Johnny Ace coming out and slapping the fans’ hands. Then he gets a mic and gets in the ring and says that he is looking forward to his performance with everyone tonight and says that it is ok to make mistakes as long as he doesn’t make the same mistake twice and feels confident that he will be the permanent GM of Raw and mentions that Triple H will evaluate him. Then he talks about what a great referee he was in the WWE Title match last night. Then he says that CM Punk will defend the WWE Title at the Elimination Chamber against, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, R-Truth & Chris Jericho. Then he says that Beth Phoenix will defend the Divas Title against Eve, Kofi Kingston will face The Miz, Randy Orton will return to Raw and face Dolph Ziggler and “a first” will happen and says that WWE Champion CM Punk will face World Champion Daniel Bryan. Before he can say more CM Punk comes out on the stage and sings the hey hey good bye song. He has Jerry Lawler and Justin Roberts sing too. Then he gets in the ring and says, “Goodbye clown shoes.” Then Ace says that Punk owes him an apology and that he is a man of his word. Punk says that Ace is a lair and a corporate patsy and that he came out to see him one more time before Triple H cans him. Then Punk rips on Ace again and says that he has been entertaining for all the wrong reasons and will be glad to see Triple H kick him out the front door. Ace says that he is honest, fair & creative and that he has taken Punk and the WWE Title to new heights. Then he says that he wants to put their differences aside. He offers his hand and Punk says that the only way he would accept if he wants Johnny to offer his hand to the best in the world is if he wants to go to sleep. Then Daniel Bryan comes to the ring and brags about still being World Champion. Then he says that no one cares about Punk’s and Ace’s problems and that he was busy winning a steel cage match against Show & Henry. Then he says that the fans don’t appreciate his accomplishments and then he tells Punk that he isn’t much of a challenge. Punk then says that all he is is the best wrestler in the world. Daniel says that he is more than just a wrestler; he is a role model and doesn’t eat meat. Then Punk asks what he eats and Daniel says that he will he take Punk’s pipe bomb where the sun doesn’t shine. Punk then says that how they give the fans in Kansas City the best wrestling match in the world. Then Sheamus comes to the ring and mentions that he won the Royal Rumble and says that both Champions will defend their Titles at the Elimination Chamber and Johnny Ace could be canned tonight. Then he mentions that he will be in the main event of WrestleMania and will be either the next WWE or World Champion. He wishes both guys good luck and then tells Ace some idiotic Irish tale saying that he hopes Triple H cans him tonight. This was a mixed bag segment. Punk cut a good promo as usual and Daniel Bryan’s was ok too. Johnny Ace was his usual boring self and Sheamus tells us another Irish tale. I hope they start booking Sheamus and the 2 Champions better but I’m not counting on it.

Josh Mathews is in the sky box with Wade Barrett as Barrett will be watching Orton’s match and Josh interviews him and he talks about throwing Orton down the stairs. (Note: Josh will be interviewing Barrett during the match). Mathews brings up Orton eliminating Barrett in the Rumble last night and Barrett says that he caught him off guard. Barrett says that he should have thrown Orton down more stairs and doesn’t regret his actions. Barrett talks about how he showed he was the better man when he threw Orton down the stairs and was going to move on but now Orton’s back and he has to deal with him.

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler. Orton gets the pin. The match was good but I don’t get why the had Barrett talking during it. I thought it detracted from the match a bit.

Johnny Ace is backstage and asks everyone how they’re doing and then runs into William Regal and he asks how he his son is doing. Regal reminds him that he has twin daughters. Then Ace bumps into Curt Hawkins and does the same. This was weird. I’m not a Johnny Ace fan and this week they’re making him the center piece of the show. This is going to be a long night.

Time for Brodus Clay and the funkettes to do their bit. This gimmick is awful! Tyler Reks will be the guy who gets squashed this week.

Brodus Clay vs. Tyler Reks. Brodus gets the pin. This was a squash.

CM Punk is backstage and Daniel Bryan comes in and Punk says that they’ve been friends for a long time and he tells Daniel that he’s not a role model. Then he says that they’re both underdogs who made it to the top. Then they talk about Daniel being a vegan and Punk being straight edge. Then Punks says that doesn’t claim to be a role model. Then he picks up his Title and says that he is just the best wrestler in the world. These are 2 of the best guys in WWE right now. I’m not sure why they had them talking about their lifestyles. They were good in their delivery though and I liked that Punk mentioned their history together.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. World Champion Daniel Bryan. Bryan wins by DQ when Chris Jericho comes in. Then Jericho lays out Punk. This was a really fun back and forth match and Chris Jericho coming in was good too. Jericho giving Punk the Code Breaker was good also. It made sense to have Jericho come out if they’re going to have him feud with Punk and a way to not have either guy job clean.

They announce that Mike Tyson will be inducted into the celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame this year.

R-Truth comes out and they go to commercial. Back from commercial and R-Truth is on commentary.

Kofi Kingston comes out for his match with The Miz. Then Miz comes out but before the match Miz comes out with as mic and mentions Kofi’s hand stand. Then he mentions how he was number 1 in the Rumble and lasted 45 minutes. He then says that he will beat Kofi and the other guys in the Elimination Chamber match and will headline WrestleMania again.

Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz. Kofi gets the pin. This was a decent match.

Johnny Ace and David Otunga are backstage and they talk about later. Ace asks if Otunga is after his job. Otunga says he’s happy being Ace’s lawyer and that everything will work out. This was typical Ace & Otunga. Thankfully it was short.

They show The Rock video that they showed last night. This was well done but I’m not sure why they had this or the Cena video on PPV. They should have just shown them on the weekly shows.

Eve Torres vs. Divas Champion Beth Phoenix for the Title. Beth gets the pin to retain the Title. This was a really short match. After wards Kane’s music and lighting come on and Kane comes on the Tron and says that Cena is looking past him and focusing on The Rock and that he can’t beat either one of them if Cena doesn’t embrace the hate. Then he says he will continue pounding on Ryder till Cena does and he will use Eve as a conduit. Then Kane’s pyro goes off and he is behind Eve. He gets in the ring but then Cena’s music plays and he comes out and he & Kane go at it. Cena picks up the steel steps and hits Kane in the head 3 times. Then Cena takes apart the announce table and then gets a mic and hits Kane with it. Then Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment on the table but Kane escapes going through the crowd. This was ok, but this storyline is so cartoonish I can’t get into it.

Johnny Ace is on his way to the ring for his evaluation next.

Time for Triple H to give Johnny Ace his evaluation. Johnny Ace comes to the ring and says that he has been looking forward to this moment and that he doesn’t dread this situation. As Ace talks the channel goes out for a bit! Then he talks about how he was all fives when it came to everything he’s done. Then Triple H’s music plays and he comes out and shakes Ace’s hand. He says that he’s been watching him since he took this role after backstabbing him and he calls Ace Spineless and gutless and that he isn’t any different than any other GM. Then he says that he used the GM role to try to make himself a star. Ace says that wasn’t what he was doing and Triple H brings up the WWE Title match at the Rumble. Then he mentions that he’s been on the show every week to make himself a star. Then he says that when he & Vince let personal decisions cloud their judgment they had to be replaced and the same is happening to him. Ace says that he will do anything to keep his job. Triple H says he can apologize to the fans. Then Ace says that Triple has shown him the error of his ways and he apologizes to the fans. Then Triple H asks the fans what they think and of course they boo him. Triple H says that’s not going to work. Then after throwing out some ideas Triple H says that he’s got something. Then he mentions what Vince used to do when he wanted to find out how loyal his employees are to him by having them become part of a certain club (why are we getting this?) Ace says that he doesn’t have to prove his loyalty. Triple H says he does. Then Ace gets on his knees and Triple H asks what’s wrong with him. Then he says that he came out to do what needs to be done. He mentions the personal decisions clouding judgment and that the board of directors told Triple H that he can come back and run Raw whenever he feels like it. Then as he’s about to wish Ace the best in his future endeavors The Undertaker’s gong hits, the lights go out, his music plays and he comes out on the stage and walks to the ring. Then he gets in the ring and he & Triple H have a stare down. Then Taker looks at the WrestleMania sign and does the throat slash to Triple H. It looks like they’ll be doing Taker vs. Triple H at WrestleMania this year too. Then he stares down Triple H again and Triple H pats him on the shoulder and walks out. Then Taker looks at the sign again and then his music plays as he stands in the ring and that ends the show. The Triple H-Johnny Ace promo made no sense in a lot of ways that I’m not even going to bother getting into here but The Undertaker coming out and facing off with Triple H was cool.

I thought that this week’s show wasn’t too memorable overall. Punk & Bryan had a good match and it made sense for Jericho to get involved since it looks like they will having him face Punk at WrestleMania. The Johnny Ace segments throughout the night were dull and the promo with him & Triple H was typical WWE nonsense but Taker coming out was a nice surprise. The Cena-Kane stuff is so beyond stupid it’s painful. As for the rest of the show I thought that Kofi & Miz had a good match and the Orton-Dolph match was decent too but I’m not sure why they had Josh Mathews interviewing Wade Barrett during the match from the sky box. On the whole I thought there were some good parts to the show but most of it was forgettable.