Royal Rumble 2012 this Sunday!

Get ya bags packed and start your engine as we set off on the road to Wrestlemania this Sunday starting at the 25^th Anniversary of the Royal Rumble.

Now before I get into the matches for this Sunday let’s have a look at some of the recent happenings in WWE.

Chris Jericho

Now just a few weeks ago after a month of cryptic messages Chris Jericho returned in what was a weird and confusing return that kind of left us with more questions than answers.

After his initial confusing return of Jericho going over the top with the crowd things didn’t stop. The next week Jericho came back for what we thought would be an explanation and finally some answers to the messages but instead he began to “cry” and just left.

Another week on and Jericho is put into a 6 man tag match, before the match he continues with his over the top act with the crowd, during the match fans wanted Jericho in action as they cheer his name, as soon as he is tagged in though he goes over the top with the crowd again to just tag back out and walk away from the match leaving us even more confused.

That brings me to last night with the return of The Highlight Reel.

Jericho came to the ring, went over the top with the crowd again and then showed a short montage showing his Carrera from entering the WWE at the millennium, all the way to his return here in 2012. Then for the first time since his return he spoke to us via the mic.

He simply said, “This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it’s going to be the end of the world as you know it.”

We already know he will be one of the 30 members of WWE competing in the Royal Rumble but what does all this mean? What exactly is he going to do to change the world as we know it? Because if it’s to just win the Rumble it seems anti climatic and so to speak unrealistic.

On a realistic side there should be a 1 in 30 chance of Jericho winning so for him to win and end the world as we know it would suggest that somehow he will screw the other competitors over and take the win. But really that isn’t big enough to suggest the end of the world so I am hoping we get something bigger and hopefully get some answers.

Kane, John Cena & Zack Ryder

Another big return is Kane, and not just Kane but Masked Kane. His target, the current biggest name in WWE, John Cena.

The story for this is very up down, at times its fine but at other moments its way to over the top. For example Zack Ryder and his “girlfriend” Eve have been caught up in the middle of this and for part of one of the shows we had Kane “haunting” Ryder in very silly back stage promos, it lead to Eve about to have a match against Beth Phoenix when Kane’s music played making her think that she is about to be attacked by the Big Red Machine. Zack came to the rescue and the two ran out to the parking lot when what do you know, the car has a flat tire. Zack then spends the next 15 minutes to half an hour of the show changing it to finally get attacked by Kane. Zack was choke slammed off an edge onto an obvious crash mat, (the guy bounced you couldn’t get more stupid.) when the camera panned round the mat had been removed and Zack was now laying upon some wooden pallets below, lower than we saw him bounce earlier.

The next week followed on to have Zack lose his US Title to Jack Swagger even though John Laurinaitis was told that Zack was not clear to compete.

Last night even with his ribs rapped Zack was cleared for action and was put in a falls count anywhere match against Kane, it was more of a beating though but what else would you expect? This ended with Zack being choke slammed through the staging to the concrete below, or should I say crash mat again?

This lead to more over the top acting from Eve with crying and blaming John Cena.

Later in the show we are told that Zack has suffered a “broken back”. Very over the top don’t you think?

All this is in Kane’s attempt to get John to embrace the hate that the WWE Universe gives him. It is looking like it might be a sort of Star Wars story, think of Kane as the Emperor and John as Ankin or Kane as Darth Vader and John as Luke (and there for Zack is Han Solo, Eve is Princess Lei and Hornswoggle is an Ewok.) However you look at it there may be a John Cena Heel turn on the way.

I think that in the end John will accept the Hate and possibly take Kane as his “Master”, if that turns out to be the case then the Wrestlemania match could be even bigger and better. A new character style could make John Cena a lot more interesting and more diverse, as long as he doesn’t change his in ring style in the process.

An intriguing storyline but needs toning down.

CM Punk, John Laurinaitis & Dolph Ziggler

Over the past weeks CM Punk continues to feud with the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, and Interim General Manager of Raw, John Laurinaitis. (I thought I would use his full title in case you didn’t know who he is.)

Thanks to John Dolph Ziggler has had a fair few wins against CM Punk and therefore has earned himself a WWE Championship shot for this Sunday with John as Special Guest Referee.

It looked like CM Punk is going to lose and Dolph was going to finally win his first WWE Title but last night the story took a nice twist.

It was revealed that John is now under review for his recent actions by the bored or directors and the person to decide whether John keeps his job is COO Triple H. Unless John calls the match down the middle his time as GM may come to an abrupt end.

Daniel Bryan, Big Show & Mark Henry

Jumping over to Smackdown the main storyline is current World Champion Daniel Bryan and having to deal with the two biggest men in WWE.

It seems that Daniel is doing all he can to avoid a normal match with either men and in the process it is turning Daniel into a Heel.

This story has also gone over the top; a couple weeks ago Daniel was in a match with Big Show and Daniel’s “girlfriend” AJ was at ringside. During the match Daniel is running from Show around the ring, in the process Big Show ploughs through AJ knocking her down. The two men stopped to check on AJ and it lead to loads of paramedics and EMT’s coming down, Big Show crying, and Daniel shouting in anger about the size difference between Show and AJ leaving the match as a no contest.

AJ was wheeled away on a stretcher even though it was obvious she was fine, even the front rows started chanting, “She not hurt” or at least something to that effect.

The next week Bryan told us more about AJ’s injuries pushing it even more over the top as it is highly unlikely that AJ was hurt at all.

That week as well Daniel had to defend the World Title against Mark Henry in a lumber jack match, as you may have guessed the match broke down to give us a preview of the Rumble and Daniel was able to slip out with his Title still in hand, unfortunately this Sunday there will be no running as Daniel will be locked in a Steel cage with both Mark Henry and Big Show. You could say that Daniel is quite literally trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Brodus Clay

In my opinion this is a fail, all this hype for what was originally going to be a monster to get a Funkasasaurus dancing man.

Shockingly though the WWE Universe likes it, and I am now seeing it as quite humorous. Brodus’s in ring skill hasn’t changed and he has now got character, but this won’t get him any higher than being a mid-carder. I think this will be acceptable for his starting run but after a few months maybe even a year he will fade out again to return more like he was before.

Sunday’s Matches

Well I have already covered the 3 main matches for this Sunday not including the Rumble so I will just list them

John Cena vs. Kane

World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage match

Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show

WWE Championship match

CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler, Special Guest Referee John Laurinaitis

The Royal Rumble

This year’s Rumble is back down to 30 men but this time they are pushing more on the fact that any WWE superstar is eligible to enter, already we have found out that Mick Foley will be one of those men.

As they are pushing highly on that fact we may see some unexpected entries such as legends, Divas, or people out on injury, maybe even announcers such as Booker T and Jerry Lawler might jump in.

At the moment the WWE are focusing on Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Jericho and now entry number 1 The Miz.

I think it will be Jericho to win even though I want more from him than that.

Questions for you.

What are your thoughts on Jericho at the moment?

Do you like the Kane story or is it to OTT?

How would you feel about a Heel Cena?

Brodus clay, Fail or Win?

Who do you think is going to win the Royal Rumble?

That’s all for now Matty.D singing off!

Masked Kane Returns!

 

You read that title right, Masked Kane is back! Last night on the special 3 hour addition of Raw for the Slammy’s came to a close with Kane’s return, or should I say resurrection. Kane returned during the final match of the night of Mark Henry vs. John Cena. During the match Fire boomed on the stage and the lights went out, Kane’s video played and his music blared as Kane appeared at the top of the ramp wearing new wrestling gear and strange black mask. He came to the ring and Mark was quick to leave. Cena still groggy receives a Choke Slam. Kane then blasts his Fire from the ring posts, the lights turn red and the music plays again as Kane lifts the black mask to reveal another mask underneath similar to his last before he was unmasked way back when. Not only was Kane re-masked but he has also grown his hair out to old style and length.

The night also saw the reappearance of Road Dogg, Lita, Mick Foley and Tony Atlas to present different awards throughout the night.

The night started with Booker T and the now speaking Hornswoggle presenting the award for the “Tell Me I Did NOT Just See That” Moment of the year.

The winner was Good Ol’ J.R for his dancing skills against Michael Cole. This lead into a shockingly bad “Rap Battle” Between J.R and Cole, even worst so because J.R forgot his rap which he tweeted later.

Next Mick Foley and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase Sr. presented the award for Holy S#@! Moment of the year.

The winner was Mark Henry and Big Show for the ring collapse at Vengeance. Big Show accepted the award before he went to head to head with Wade Barrett.

The match ended on a DQ as Wade brings a chair to the ring to have it punched back into his face.

Pipe Bomb of the year was next presented by former DX member Road Dogg, not someone I expected to see on WWE TV again yet there he was but I don’t think we will see much of him again.

The winner of the award was the creator of the phrase “Pipe Bomb” CM Punk.

He accepted the award accompanied by a manikin dressed like John Laurinaitis back in his wrestling days. CM Punk proceeded to embarrass the Interim GM by showing a very cheesy tribute video featuring clips from John’s wrestling days as well as time as head of talent relations.

Next up was the great looking Lita, a Diva from the past that was actually able to perform. If you don’t know who Lita is or what she can do look her up. This woman has fought in Steel Cages, gone through tables, flipped from the top rope on numerous occasions as well as almost breaking her neck jumping out of the ring and hitting the barricade. Lita is what current Divas should aim to be like.

Lita presented the award for Most Divalicous Moment of the year. Kelly Kelly won for a roll up pin to win her first Title but in my opinion it is an honor that should have gone to one of the Divas of Doom. Natalya was in the nominations for performing a Sharp Shooter on Eve and Alicia Fox at the same time and Beth was nominated for her top rope Glam Slam from Survivor Series.

The Divas champ and former Diva of the year Beth accompanied by Natalya came out to mock Kelly but Beth got a Slap for her troubles.

Santino Marella and the Bella twins presented the award for OMG moment of the year. The winner being Undertaker for kicking out of the Tombstone at Wrestlemania which was delivered by Triple H.

The Undertaker obviously wasn’t there but Triple H was. After being absent for the last 7 weeks on injury the King of Kings made his return and cut a great promo for his match against Kevin Nash this Sunday.

Next was the award for Trending star of the year presented by Tony Atlas and David Otunga. This was more unique award. The winner of the award would be the superstar that Trends first on Twitter during their Fatal 4 Way match.

The participants were, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan. The match was brilliant and was the best match of the night by far.

The winner of the match was Dolph Ziggler but winner of the Slammy was Zack Ryder.

Zack’s celebration was short lived though as Dolph attacked Zack taking the Slammy for himself.

The injured Christian was next to present the award for Game Changer of the Year. The winner was The Rock for accepting John Cena’s challenge for Wrestlemania next year. The Rock was obviously not present so John Cena accepted the award on his behalf and took the chance to put more heat on their match to happen next year.

The Miz and Alberto Del Rio tagged up to take on their TLC opponent and WWE Champion CM Punk who was teamed with the Viper Randy Orton.

Miz and Alberto picked up the win after Wade Barrett pulled Randy off the apron.

After the match Randy went after Barrett leaving Punk in the hands of Alberto and Miz. Punk soon found himself with his arm locked in a ladder as Alberto applies an Arm Bar.

Goldust and Vicki Guerrero presented the award for WWE A-Lister of the Year. The winner was Snookie from Jersey Shore for her appearance and match at Wrestlemania.

Snookie accepted the award via a Satellite message.

Sheamus was meant to have a match next against Jinder Mahal, but Jinder was running his mouth as he came to the ring and as he stepped through the ropes Sheamus booted him in the face and  left.

Rey Mysterio presented the biggest award of the night, Superstar of the Year. The reason it’s the biggest isn’t because it’s Superstar of the Year but because us the fans actually got to vote for this one.

CM Punk won as he is the Best in the World, better than all other superstars of this generation.

After Punk’s recent beating he was unable to accept the award so John Laurinaitis came and accepted on Punk’s behalf.

TLC

Well this weekend will see WWE’s last PPV of the Year TLC. Here is a quick list of the matches.

Intercontinental Championship

Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T

That’s right Booker T is making his way from the announcers table and to the Ring. Booker has annoyed us all for months with his drivel as a commentator but it will be great to see him back where he should be, in the ring.

Let’s hope he keeps wrestling and stops commentating altogether.

US Championship

Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder

After a lot of fighting Zack Ryder finally gets his shot at the US Title, but to get it John Cena had to give up his place in the WWE Championship match.

John Cena doesn’t have a match at all at this PPV, something that doesn’t happen very often while he is an active superstar. Expect a promo from him and some backstage appearances throughout Sundays show.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

This feud has been getting hotter over the past few weeks and I think we are in for a great match. Randy is meant to pick the stipulation for the match but still has not announced anything. Signs point to a Table match. If Wade wins expect him to set his sights on the World Title.

Triple H vs. Kevin Nash

Sledgehammer Ladder Match

This is a more unique match, instead of a championship or briefcase hanging above the ring a Sledgehammer will be in its place.

You don’t win though by retrieving the Hammer like you would in your standard Ladder match; the person who retrieves it is legally allowed to use it. The winner will come when one man pins or submits the other.

It’s an interesting concept but I feel it may ruin the aspect of a Ladder match. The enjoyment of a Ladder match comes from the fight and struggle to retrieve the item above the ring, as retrieving the Sledge doesn’t win the match I feel we may lose some of that suspense.

Either way it will be great to see these two classic stars step back into the ring.

World Heavyweight Championship

Mark Henry vs. Big Show

Chairs Match

I am hoping that the chairs will make this match better than there last encounter but I don’t have high hopes for this match. That being said with the return of Kane we may see him get involved and possibly cost Mark the World Title.

WWE Championship

CM Punk vs. The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio

Triple Threat TLC

What should be a great match is the first ever Triple Threat TLC, even though we are in a PG era this should still shine.

Like I said before John Cena was meant to be in this match but he gave up his place to give Zack another chance to get a match for the US Title. It is good to actually have him out of the spot light for once and shine the light on other members of the WWE, it won’t be long though and he will be back in top position.

2/1/2012

For my American readers that is a British date, for you it is 1/2/2012. The reason I bring this date up is because it marks the return of another superstar. The teasers that have been on YouTube as well as during shows suggest Undertaker but to be sure we will have to wait till the 2^nd of Jan 2012.

Questions For you.

How do you feel about Kane’s return and his new look?

Do you agree with the Slammy results?

Who you think will be returning in 2012?

That’s all for now Matty.D signing off.

The Rock, John Cena, Survivor Series!!

Well the last few weeks on this road to Survivor Series has been a good one but interestingly our predictions didn’t come forth.

Most of us all had a Survivor Series elimination tag match in mind for this Sunday to include The Rock and John Cena, instead though John Cena and The Rock will be having their own standard tag match against The Miz and R-Truth. It may not be what we all expected but it doesn’t take away the excitement of these two big time stars teaming up for the first and possibly only time.

So with Survivor Series just a few days away its time for me to give you a rundown of the matches that are set to take place.

Divas Championship

Beth Phoenix vs. Eve

As I’ve been saying before the Divas Division has had an improvement but recently I feel it hasn’t gone anywhere, they have got to a certain level and stopped pushing the divas when there is more they could do to continue this improvement.

This Sunday I hope that we have another solid match from these two Divas but I would like to see some more improvement.

Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match

Team Orton vs. Team Barrett

Team Orton – Randy Orton, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan and Sheamus.

Team Barrett – Wade Barrett, Hunico, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes.

So our original prediction was that we would see Team Triple H vs. Team Laurinaitis which we thought would include Rock and Cena. That prediction was foiled after Kevin Nash turned up at Vengeance and Power Bombed Triple H causing an injury that has taken Trips out for at least a month witch of course includes Survivor Series.

So instead this match has jumped in to give us our annual Survivor Series match bringing together current rivalries in a tag team mash up.

Randy Orton and Wade Barrett take team Captains as their rivalry has grown over recent weeks and has really bought Wade forward as a big name to take notice of.

Sin Cara unmasked the other Sin Cara during the Mexican tour, the guy under the mask has now renamed himself Hunico and has formed a faction with Primo and Primo’s cousin Epico taking the form of a Mexican Gangsters persona and the rivalry between Sin and Hunico continued.

Kofi Kingston, current Tag Team champion is running solo as his partner Evan Bourn has been suspended for 30 days for violating the WWE Wellness policy, this could affect both Evan and Kofi so this tag team may not last long once Evan returns next month.

Mason Ryan the Welsh Gladiator jumps in to take Evan’s place on the team, the big man has grown in popularity over the weeks and his in ring skill has really improved to, he will be a big factor in this match.

Sheamus has been feuding with Christian over the recent weeks but due to “injury” Christian was pulled from the team and replaced by Dolph Ziggler to team alongside his partner Jack Swagger.

Cody Rhodes has also had a rivalry with Randy and will join the end of the team to fill the card.

Cody has now taken on a new look as he has removed his mask and changed his music. Not sure how this new style will translate to the fans as we have become so accustom to the masked mental case persona we have had over the past months.

The match should be a good one and I’m looking forward to seeing these teams work together to put on an amazing match.

WWE Championship

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

CM Punk has been fighting for another Championship shot and after being screwed out of his shot for the title he finally got the yes he deserved, albeit it was by putting Alberto in an Anaconda Vice and forcing him to allow Punk to have the shot but it doesn’t matter how you got the match just the fact that you have it.

When Alberto took the title off of Punk it was by cashing in the Money in the Bank contract on a downed Punk and winning unfairly, so this is Punks chance for revenge and Alberto’s chance to prove he can beat Punk in a proper one on one contest.

World Heavyweight Championship

Mark Henry vs. The Big Show

As Vengeance ended on a no contest due to the ring imploding under the weight of these two men they will have to go at it again, this time let’s hope the ring doesn’t fall apart.

The lead up hasn’t been overly special but the match should make up for that, although it is usually hard for two men of their size to put on an epic contest.

Never Before, Never Again

The Rock & John Cena vs. The Miz & R-Truth

As I said I’m guessing Triple H’s injury changed the story and therefore foiled our predictions, but that didn’t stop these two still teaming up for what should be an epic contest.

We were all wondering how they would write the match into the storyline and they went with the idea of John Cena being able to pick anyone as a partner to take on Miz and Truth who attacked Cena at Vengeance. Cena picked the partner of The Rock which we all saw coming and the next week The Rock accepted via a recorded video.

Last night’s 3 hour special of Raw, aptly named “Raw gets Rocked”, saw The Rock return to the show.  He wasn’t the only superstar to make their return though as Mick Foley also made his return to WWE.

Mick did a segment with John Cena reliving an old segment from the past as Mick did “This is your Life” for Cena.

Older fans will remember when Mick did the same thing for The Rock during “The Rock and Sock connection”, and Rock did it for Foley during “The Rock and Sock connection 2”.

Just like the original segment it was a planned failure, all the guests on the segment weren’t exactly nice to the fans or Cena.

The end of the segment came when the Rock came out and to the shock of the crowd Rock Bottomed Mick, without saying a word he walked out and didn’t return until his segment at the end of the show.

Rock came down again later to cut his promo for Survivor Series; he was soon joined by his opponents Miz and Truth and then his partner John Cena. It showed that Miz and Truth are on the same page and that Rock and Cena were not, the heat between them may cause a struggle to work together on Sunday.

I predict that Cena and Rock will win but they won’t be a cohesive team and after the bell has rung someone will turn on the other and I think it will be the Rock to Rock Bottom Cena once all is said and done.

So that’s a good looking Survivor Series, one that sold out quick just because the Rock is there and already the same is happening for Wrestlemania as the events tickets flew the moment they went on sale, I have to say I’m gutted that I won’t be going.

Questions for you.

So what do you guys think? Are you looking forward to it?

Any predictions?

What do you think will follow on from this?

Until Monday this is Matty.D signing off.