WWE Monday Night RAW: 13th January, 2013 - Five talking points

The Hot Angle

As another Raw dawned this Monday, many wouldn’t have imagined that the WWE would pull off swerves and twists that they usually save for the pay-per-views.

The creative may be dropping hint on how the shows will be put out in the WWE network era as they are starting to do what Eric Bischoff did at WCW by giving more headlines to weekly shows rather than pay-per-views.

Whatever the motto behind the move might be, the WWE again produced a magnificent show this time filled with so many twists, turns and exciting matches. With the Royal Rumble at the Horizon there was a lot of development for the storylines which took the anticipation to a whole new level.

The start of the year has been filled with a lot of talking points and this week was no different. No one thought that the creative could match up to last week’s Old School Raw but there were a plethora of things that made the headlines this time around. So here is a look at the top five talking points from this week’s Raw.

Divas in limbo

Eye Candy or Wrestling?

It’s no secret that the WWE never gave importance to women wrestling; instead they emphasized more on the ways to provide eye candy for the fans. And they were actually successful in doing that in the attitude era as we witness many bikini contests and sex celebrations which were clearly over the line.

The problem is you are not going to see those things in the PG era. So the best thing that the WWE could do is to actually give some importance to wrestling to cover up for the eye candy. But the thing is they aren’t doing it.

The WWE doesn’t seem to be bothered about giving any sort of storyline or backup for the Divas division. AJ Lee is becoming the John Cena of the division as she seems to be miles away from her nearest competitor.

The NXT’s division looks better than the WWE division as they put in some efforts to build some story around the bouts. This week on Raw we saw the Funkadactyls fight off AJ and Tamina only to end with Naomi enter the ring and almost establish herself as AJ’s next opponent.

Why? Because AJ defeated everyone else. Simple as that, the Divas division is stuck in a limbo between wrestling and eye candy. And the WWE needs to decide fast where they want to put the division.

The much needed personal twist

The Old Father Trick

Just when we thought that the WWE wouldn’t spend time putting in some work for the Cena-Orton feud, they came up with a personal twist by involving Cena’s father into the mix.

We’ve seen it before also but some dimension is better than nothing. The way which Randy Orton lost to Kofi Kingston also added a doubt over whether Randy would defend his title at the Rumble successfully.

The loss to Kofi destroyed the momentum Orton created with a win over Big E Langston which means that Cena holds the upper hand as the week concludes. With just one more week to go to the Royal Rumble and that week going to make headlines for the return of Batista, there is going to be a lot of work that needs to be done by the creative if they want to make Orton look better heading into the clash.

The actual matchup is going to be just a buildup for Brock Lesnar’s big match so there isn’t much heat on the feud but the personal direction was a good touch.

CM Punk and the turn

Whose Next?

Seeing the New Age Outlaws was a nostalgic moment indeed. The only thing that the fans expected was to see them wrestle a couple of matches and disappear in the crowd. But this is WrestleMania season people. Here, even part timer and aged wrestlers come in to make a heel turn.

The turn of Outlaws didn’t make any sense what so ever but it would if the WWE decide to stick with them for some more time.

As far as CM Punk is concerned, he has given everything he has for the push of Roman Reigns. Literally there is nothing left that Punk could do to make things better which calls for a new feud for the Straight Edge star.

If the WWE is planning to put Punk in a feud with the Outlaws it might be one of the stupidest decisions that they could do. On the bright side however, they also teased a feud with Kane which could actually turn out to be a masterpiece.

Punk taunting Kane to make a return into the ring would be a classic angle and it could also set up his rivalry with Triple H. the WWE would also gain from this as they would have one of the established names back in the ring before WrestleMania. It’s a possibility worth looking for and could serve as a refreshment for everyone.

Another one for Roman Reigns

The Future looks Samoan

The only thing that’s holding back Reigns from being a singles main eventer is his ability to pull off promos. And I surely hope that they work on it as his face turn is the most anticipated moment of 2014.

Roman Reigns proved that he is the best in the Shield with a win over CM Punk and followed it up with pins in the two tag team matches. The latest came at Raw when he pinned Punk again after the New age Outlaws abandoned him.

In a company that has the lights of Randy Orton and John Cena fighting it out for the world title, this storyline has taken centre stage along with the Wyatt angle.

This shows that the current fans aren’t interested in anything less than innovative. There won’t be a better time for the push of Reigns and he seems set to rip through the Rumble entrants. Getting win over a top star in the company and having a fan base behind him in a heel gimmick are things that are going to be the launching pad for Reigns.

The future looks bright for Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose as well which makes the Shield the hounds of the future.

A Bit too soon?

Fun While it Lasted

Just a couple of weeks back, Daniel Bryan shocked the world when he joined the Wyatt family. All the fans were going nuts realizing that the company might be in a mission to bury their favorite star. And due to that fact, the storyline managed to attract more heat and eyeballs than any of the other ones in the company.

And there was a certain curiosity developed among the fans on where this would take Bryan. Many expected the storyline to have solid buildup and culminate in a PPV, but instead the creative gave Bryan only one week to be with the Wyatts and turned him face again.

Now I’m not saying that the move didn’t make any impact, in fact it just made Bryan the hottest fan favorite in the locker room. But the company could’ve done the same in a major event which would’ve made a much bigger impact.

The triumph of Bryan was fun while it lasted but it’s time to realize that Bryan is going to feud with the Wyatts again like he did for the past few months. a potential bad move by WWE, it would be interesting how they follow up as Batista is also ready to steal the limelight. All this and more makes next week’s show a must watch one and hopefully WWE is going to continue their great run the whole year.