WWE Raw 2/1/2012: talking points

The first Raw of 2012 was expected to be awesome. I had also mentioned in the preview to the show that it was one of the most anticipated shows in history. And to an extent, the show delivered. Here are the talking points of the show.

• Vignettes showing ‘End begins tonight’, ‘He is here’, etc. built up the hype towards the return of Y2J. But the question remains on the motive behind his return and the female character. Hopefully we will get answers next week.

The mystery still remains: Who is the female?

• I really expected the return of the ‘It begins’ star to be at the end of the show. But it is absurd why they did that before the 6-man tag match. It takes the fizz out of the return. But even though it was done a lot before the show ended, it managed to raise important questions on the minds of the audience.
• The biggest question right now on everyone’s mind is why didn’t Chris Jericho deliver a promo on his return. If you take a look at his past returns, there were superb promos in both his returns. Moreover, both his past returns were interruptions which had a surprise factor associated with them. On the other hand, I feel that this one was kept different because WWE wanted it to be different, considering the fact that most of the viewers knew that it was going to be Chris Jericho. Him leaving without saying a word means that he is going to have a run as a heel. Only Y2J can turn from a face to heel within a span of 20 minutes.
• The Kane – John Cena feud is really gaining momentum. With John Cena getting booed predominantly and Kane getting cheered, it seems that WWE’s plan of putting John Cena over as a face has backfired. When Kane’s involvement in the 6-man tag match was announced initially, I really thought that they had dropped the ball on him. Considering the fact that he had returned only in the recent past, he shouldn’t be involved in matches atleast until Royal Rumble. He should continue what he is doing right now, i.e. taunting Cena. Thank God, they removed him from the match before it started. I had no idea why Zack Ryder was involved in the last segment. Was this a one-off involving him or is he going to be inducted into the Kane-Cena feud? We will know next week.
• CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler put on a good match but the ending was a dampener. Let us hope we get a decisive result at their match in Royal Rumble.
• R-Truth humor throughout the show was praiseworthy. It seems that he will be a face in the feud with The Miz. His attack on the Miz was comical; Sheamus‘ Brogue kick would’ve been more painful than Truth’s water bottle slap.
• The end to the show gave me goosebumps. The hole inside the ring burned with John Cena and Zack Ryder watching petrified from a corner. It was done well.

The ending of Raw

• The crowd was disappointing throughout the show. It was really absurd. It sucked away some interest from the show. I agree that it came to life during Chris Jericho’s return but at most other times it was dull.

Raw Rating: 8/10