Raw 1-10

After one week of 2011, I'm ready to crown this year better than 2010. Smackdown was an excellent show. What made last week so great? Both shows contained an emphasis on wrestling. A novel concept, wrestling shows with lots of wrestling. I'll talk more about our new IC champion and number one contender for the WHC later. I had no clue what to expect from Raw before it aired. I got a rude awakening from the new Nexus and I wasn't sure how the WWE would show Cena. The way they handled it was fine since Cena wasn't the focal point all show. The build to the Rumble sort of continued in what was a very confusing effort.

The WWE tag champs coming out first was a surprise. I would have rather saw a tag match to build the tag teams up a little. Don't get me wrong, I like the new Nexus (until this episode). Punk makes them better. I'd just preferred to see a tag team championship match 1st and have Punk and Nexus later. I didn't want to see Raw become the Cena show. Last week, Raw was a better show as they worked around all the wrestling. The whole initiation process confused everyone even the crowd. Do you boo or cheer? Most looked on with astonishment. I had no idea. As Lawler put it, "bizarre". It didn't really grab my attention. The Nexus needs some opponents. I think we might see that with Gabriel and Slater walking away from Punk towards the end of Raw. Maybe they team with Cena to fight Punk and the other boys.

Del Rio cross feuding against R-Truth is great. I know I said that last week but this week was even better. I'll talk more about the surprise guest later. I'm starting to fall for Del Rio and his character. The best thing is he won't be fighting Rey any longer. He's the only competitor that has come out and talked about the Rumble. The shows from now on should be focusing on the Rumble match. Anyway, Del Rio and Truth put on a nice contest. Obviously Truth is jobbing and helping Alberto get over with the Raw crowd. The count out was weak as was the 3rd fall on Smackdown. Still, it helps Del Rio. He's a weasel and gets a win. The one thing WWE needs to do is add another Lucha Libra wrestler. Masked wrestlers are fading fast. I'd like to see an influx of cruiserweights and Luchas. WCW did very well with those wrestlers. I'm not saying add 15 or 20. I'd say 4 or 5 would be enough. Rey's not going to last forever. Del Rio doesn't fit the bill. Rey could pass it a long to someone young. No more mask vs mask or anything stupid. It would bring something fresh and Smackdown would write them in. I'm beating a dead horse but Superstars could be devoted to cruiserweights. They already have enough on the roster for their own division. Instead of calling it cruiserweights, bring back the Euro title. You have weight limits on cruiserweights. The European wouldn't have a weight limit so any wrestler can compete for the belt. Superstars could use it along with the tag titles.

They need to stop putting King in matches. I was all for it when he got a title shot. It helped Miz. Now, it's dragged on too long. The Nexus thing is to stupid to talk about. I figured Raw wouldn't have much wrestling. Last week was enough for the month.

I watched Superstars last week for the fact to see Dibiase and Bryan. No reason for them to be left off Raw. Tag match was too short and heels lose again. Kidd and Dibiase are being buried and Kidd's bodyguard isn't even on TV. I won't ever understand why heels don't win cleanly anymore. Wins and losses aren't as important in the eyes of fans. Heels can win and not hurt faces. Case in point was Friday night. Ziggler lost cleanly to Kofi (twice) and ended up winning the number one contender for Edge's title. The problem was Ziggler beat a heel, Rhodes. I'm happy Ziggler won and is getting pushed. You can compare Ziggler to Morrison in terms of their pushes respectively. Some hate the fact Morrison isn't being headlined and Ziggler is. If done correctly, Morrison will get a bigger push being in the Rumble. You couldn't have both being elevated in the same match. I do believe for Smackdown Ziggler getting the rub helps the overall product. Smackdown has been Kane, Edge, Rey and Del Rio in some sort of fashion since June. It's time for a change (who said that?). Vikki and Edge have a history and practically writes itself. I'm more of a fan of how Morrison is getting there but it will help both men in the grand scheme of things.

Speaking of Morrison, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We've seen Morrison and Sheamus. I don't mind though since they are doing nothing else. I thought Raw would start some new stories. I realize the Rumble kinda holds the bigger picture in January. You don't have many payoffs to one on one matches. That's fine as there's ways around to make things interesting. The Raw GM should start booking qualifying matches. Sheamus and Morrison get automatic bids but face each other for a number. Say the winner gets a spot between 25 to 30 and the loser gets a one of the first five numbers. You see it adds a new wrinkle to something we've witnessed time and time again. You see that wasn't hard to come up with an idea. I will say I enjoyed the match. Morrison played the underdog and got the fans to sympathize with him. I've read a lot of opinions to move him to a heel. I don't think that's a good idea. The face character is working. Morrison is gaining steam and becoming a lot like the WWE's Jeff Hardy (You know without the cigarettes). Morrison will make big money once he wins a World belt. I'd actually rather see Morrison lose at Mania in the Money in the Bank match. That is if he's a part of it. Miz and Morrison need to take separate paths and having them both win their 1st title using the briefcase is lame.

The build for the 1st inductee led everyone to believe it was Shawn Michaels. It's not surprising Shawn's getting in the 1st year. I named him the greatest wrestler of all time. I think we all believed he would wrestle one more match. The bigger surprise was Shawn showed up in Tennessee. You can tell how much he's missed. You hear that pop Triple H. Get your ass back in front of the damn camera. HBK should be the General Manager. That's what I was hoping he would announce. Instead, he didn't say a work and didn't need to. I loved Del Rio coming out. The mood changed once Shawn came out. This is why he shouldn't have walked away. He had years left in that body. He couldn't accomplish more except help get younger talent over. One thing's certain he can still captivate an audience and deliver a sweet sweet chin music.

I didn't know WWE fans wanted to see someone die. Yeah Punk leap to your death, very PG. Wow, Cena said ass and my ears didn't bleed. I guess the WWE might start to become a little edgier with their language. About time! I took that and there match next week from all the crap. At least, there will be a match. I suspect Nexus won't help Punk much after the beat downs they received.

Cole like a moron inducted Miz in the HOF already. Lawler is in and if one guy in that main event will make the Hall it's the Viper. Have you noticed Randy Orton isn't spreading his arms any longer. He changed to the Austin two arm raise and added the Lou Thez press. I don't mind using it but Orton should keep his character as his own. Keep your own mannerisms. Miz keeps playing his role well. He's the beatable mouthy champion. Main even was predictable. Lawler wins and once again the heels look terrible. This needs to be the final week Lawler gets in the ring. It's stale. The good part was Miz didn't receive the pin fall, although walking away like a coward doesn't help. The great thing was the WWE title being part of the finish. This needs to continue every week. It won't as Cena and Punk will likely be the main event next week.

Raw kept on rolling towards the Rumble. I know you couldn't tell. I think it was mentioned once during the broadcast. Hopefully some WWE writer reads this blog and steals my idea. I won't be mad. Next week, Punk and Cena should be fun. Orton and Miz will keep going and Daniel Bryan will do nothing. If you want to hear more hot wrestling opinions, check out John on Showstoppers, oh and Larry too heard only on BBSD. I'll have another round of wrestling questions in the next mailbag and I want to hear from YOU! E-mail any questions to jcall@bigbadsportsdaddy.com and it might make it on the Royal Rumble picks and mailbag blog out later in the month.

J Call