There was devastating news at the start of this week’s Monday night Raw when Michael Cole revealed co-guest host James Roday was not in the building. That meant instead of two people I’d never heard of presenting the show, we had one person I’d never heard of presenting the show.
To be fair, sole anchor Dule Hill – star of American comedy-drama Psych, which premieres in the US on Wednesday as if we weren’t endlessly told – had a solid evening. The backstage segments the actor was involved in were not sublime but they did not stink either. For a less-than-tantalising host, Hill did alright.
The whole show was pretty decent in fact. We kicked things off with HHH revealing to Shawn Michaels that while toilet humour and silly shenanigans was DX’s modus operandi for a lot of the year, Royal Rumble time meant a return to serious issues, what with a Wrestlemania main-event place up for grabs.
Raw’s veteran duo were on the same page – just about – when defeating their mid-summer enemies Legacy in an entertaining tag team bout, but they could combust during Sunday’s 30-man extravaganza, a contest I have a growing feeling the Cerebral Assassin will win.
The Miz and MVP are also likely to come to blows at the Rumble, following the continuation of their feud in the Awesome One’s home state of Ohio. The rivals were handed suitable promo time once again, which, like in preceding weeks, they used exceptionally. The wordy exchange ended with the Ballin’ Superstar losing to the gargantuan Big Show in pretty quick time, but I was OK with that.
It built up Chris Jericho’s former partner for the Rumble and gave a reason for Montel to punish Miz later in the night, which he did by costing the US Champion his bout against Kofi Kingston. A Raw mid-card belt having a storyline, wonders will never cease.
The Divas Title race has its final two combatants, after Maryse overcame the resplendent Eve and Gail Kim toppled Alicia Fox. The right two will square off for the strap and it just depends whether Vince McMahon wants the heelish blonde Canadian or the ring-savvy Korean Canadian to hold the gold.
WWE champion Sheamus beat John Cena in the evening’s main event but only through disqualification after he was lacerated by a vicious RKO from his weekend opponent Randy Orton. Cena, however, ended the evening standing tall, countering the Viper’s rope-based DDT, watching his two most fervent enemies lying wounded in the ring and proclaiming he would be “The One” to win the Rumble.
The orange-T-Shirted grappler was around all night, in amusing offstage pieces with Hill promoting his one-time appearance on Psych, but more importantly convincing the conniving Chairman of the Board, McMahon to let Bret Hart back into the WWE. Cena’s staunch defence of the Hitman may have been a little cheesy, but it was heartfelt and there was no better man to fight Bret’s cause than the Chain Gang Soldier. Hart will return next week where he is scheduled to go face-to-face with McMahon – a meeting I hope signals the rebirth of the sadistic, vile Vince, surely the finest heel in the business.
A star-studded Royal Rumble, the Hitman, wonderful nutcase William Shatner, WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin and even murmurs of the Rock, this year’s Road to Wrestlemania could be the best in a very long time
Categories