1.) There’s virtually no hype on tonight’s episode of Raw. Last week was the big debut of the Muppets on WWE television and the Rock’s response to John Cena, while next week is the big three hour event featuring the Rock and (most likely) Mick Foley appearing live, in the go-home episode to Survivor Series. This week…there’s not a whole lot going on. I realize that doesn’t exactly instill a deep excitement within your soul, but I find less hype generally produces the very best results from the WWE. There’s no huge expectations to live up to, and no dreams they can crush with inadequacies. Just a filler Raw that has the potential to be surprisingly good!
2.) Usually the WWE pulls out their very best when they hit the UK – let me emphasize “usually”. I personally enjoyed Smackdown, and I’m hoping tonight’s show has equally good in-ring action and puts over the PPV in just two weeks. I can hope, right?
3.) The re-debut of Brodus Clay has been brewing for months, with killer video packages that gained my interesting and made me anticipate his arrival. Tonight is the night, and while he may not be a huge feature on the show, I’m excited to see what kind of impact he makes. Maybe they’ll add him into the Survivor Series mix-up, or maybe he’ll just squash John Morrison and be done with it. Either way Brodus is a good talent with impressive mobility given his size who could be a great player for the WWE if they use him correctly.
Other than that I’m just hoping for a solid show without too many shinanagans. I expect the Jim Ross and Michael Cole segment that was taken off of last week’s show to be present tonight, and I’ve properly braced myself for the landslide of fecal matter likely to come out of it. Let’s hope they keep it short and this really is the end to all the announcer drama and Jim Ross embarassment. I’m justifiably skeptical about that though…
It’ll be interesting to see if they build towards a Kevin Nash/Triple H match at Survivor Series, considering Triple H is “out six weeks” with a “fractured vertebrae”. Because, as we all know, injuries to the spinal column are no big deal… Nash is scheduled to appear live and has been granted a shiny new contract, so at the very least expect an awkward and unnecessarily long promo spot. Again, here’s hoping they keep John Laurinaitis’ involvement to a minimum tonight. Enter aforementioned skepticism…
On top of all that we’ve got diva conflict. Yeah… A WWE title picture is brewing with Alberto del Rio and his new, official challenger CM Punk. It would be really nice to see Punk drop another “pipebomb”, as his promos have been painstakingly absent from Raw in the past few months. I don’t trust del Rio to build this match on his own… And in the main event John Cena will likely get beaten down by Miz and R-Truth to compensate for his super hero antics last Monday – no word yet on whether that solution Beaker gave to Santino was used in the main event, as Cena’s bloodstream no-sold the test results.
All this plus the Superstars of Friday Night Smackdown as we go live tonight at 9/8c from the heart of England and the birthplace of the Beatles. I will be live-tweeting @MikeKillam as always throughout the night, as well as in the Voice of Wrestling chatroom starting at 7/6c preparing for Raw! See ya tonight everyone!
Side note: the much anticipated Wrestlezone Top 10 list will be making its debut the night after Survivor Series. Over 600 of your votes have been tallied so far, and you are more than welcome to continue sending them in, or even re-submitting your votes if they have changed! Right now we are putting the final touches on everything and making it look all shiny.
As I’ve said before my emphasis on this feature will be to get YOU involved as much as possible. I want an interactive experience, hearing your voices on who is the best in pro wrestling, among other things. To prove it, I’m going to take a page out of the WWE Network’s book and let you guys name the new product…sort of. Send me all your crazy ideas or post them here in the comments section. We will choose the name out of your suggestions, and entries that include the Wrestlezone name are more likely to be considered. So, hit me with your best shot! Fire away! If you have any other suggestions for the feature, my proverbial door is always open @MikeKillam on Twitter, or at MikeKillam@gmail.com.
Thanks guys!
