Top 10 talking points of WWE Raw 09/01/2012

This week’s Raw, held in Corpus Cristi, Texas, has given us a lot of things to talk about. While most of the incidents were prior to our expectations as suggested in our preview to the show, some parts of the show caught us unaware. Here are the top 10 talking points of this week’s Raw.

• It seems that Kane’s character is not only against John Cena‘s ‘Rise Above Hate’, but also despises the ‘Ryder Revolution’. But it is still unsure in what direction will this storyline move forward and what intend to do with Ryder in this mix. This has slowly risen over the past few weeks to become the top feud of Raw and hence viewers are glued to the action regarding this feud. Zack Ryder’s stature as a mid-carder might rise to a top star of Raw by the end of this feud or else he might fade into obscurity if WWE tends to put over Kane and Cena by squashing the long island Iced Z.
• The little intermittent segments involving Kane and Zack Ryder were well thought of. Those segment built-up to the show’s climax. But it is wrong to minimize or diminish the characters of Zack Ryder and John Cena, to enhance Kane’s daunting stature. If you take a look back, you’ll realise that in all those segments, Kane ended up being the superior character to the other two guys. Eve’s involvement in the Kane-Cena-Ryder angle is intriguing. She did a good job expressing fear and anguish as and when required. By the way, is she still locked in the car?

Kane is seen choking John Cena as Zack Ryder is dazed and confused after receiving a chokeslam from Kane

• Royal Rumble frenzy started this week as we came to know about the first four Royal Rumble 2012 participants – Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Jinder Mahal and Santino Marella. The tag-match involving these four men was very short. The ending too wasn’t very convincing as the Jinder Mahal continued to job like he had been doing in the recent past. Just when you thought that WWE was tending to push Jinder, they give a rude shock by letting him get squashed. If Jinder continues to go on like this, he might join the future endeavors list post-Wrestlemania and might have to look-out for an opportunity in Ring Ka King!
• John Laurinaitis referring to himself as Big Johnny was hilarious. It’s good since we don’t have to google his name anymore to mention his name in the future. We might just refer to his as J0hnny. I wonder if they may pair up little jimmy and big johnny in the future. Who knows, It may happen!
• I’m so confused whether Daniel Bryan is a heel or a face right now. He showed a lot of heel traits last friday night and when I heard that he was going to have a match with Kofi, I thought he had been booked as a heel. But, the ending of the match and his interaction with Big Show, seem to portray him as a face. Lack of clarity and continuance are hindering Bryan’s chances of getting over as a champion.
• The Funkasaurus made his long-delayed return, much to the chigrin of the attitude era fans who had witnessed this kinda stuff in the past. But to the current generation of fans, it was a total letdown of sorts. The reason why Brodus was advertised to return as a heel was dropped is unknown. I personally feel that the writers didn’t want to introduce another monster heel at the same point of time when Kane is running riot. If this was the real reason it makes some sense. Though Funkasaurus was something unexpected, it brought some fresh air into the product which has been plagued by lack of creativity in the recent past. It would be interesting to see where Brodus goes from now on. I hope that he goes uphill with the amount of attention that he has got with his debut.

The funky intro of 'The Funkasaurus' Brodus Clay

• Edge being revealed as the primary Hall of Fame inductee was a bit of a surprise for me. Considering the fact that he would be the youngest when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame, it is a tad sooner than expected. He has himself endorsed this opinion in a recent interview. But Edge thoroughly deserves it, in my opinion. The four horsemen were also revealed as inductees in the Hall of fame class of 2012, as the tickets for the Hall of fame induction ceremony on March 31, 2012 went on sale this week.
• CM Punk‘s match with Jack Swagger was very slow to begin with and ended in a bizzare manner. I’m not sure if the match ended in the way it was planned to be. Punk was going for his Anaconda Vice even while the referee was about the hit the third count. But it ended up as a good finish without the interruption of Big Johnny. I think it will be built in this manner till Royal Rumble wherein, Johnny as the referee, would cost Punk his match against Ziggler.
• Chris Jericho’s speechless promos are gaining critical acclaim all over the Internet Wrestling Community. While most of the fans are impressed by his ability to keep the audience guessing by his antics, others are pissed off at his no-show on the mic. If he doesn’t speak up soon, the interest built in his return might get deflated quickly.
• Ziggler got ample time to ‘show off’ in his match with John Cena before Kane ruined the end of the match. He has grown so much in the last 2 years from being an annoying Mr. Perfection to the ‘show off’ that he is now. He is ‘here to show the world’ that he belongs to the top in the years to come.