WWE's CM Punk and the Shockwaves Heading to the Royal Rumble

There I was sitting there at home with the TV tuned to the USA Network, awaiting the song and the pyro blast to kickoff another Monday Night Raw. The show began with a quick nod to the humanitarian Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his nationally recognized day, some babble by the flip flopping Michael Cole and then, as if a pebble was cast into a pond, the shock wave hits.

The sound of screeching tires and a car crash heralds the entrance of the Hardcore Legend Mick Foley and my ice cold glass of Coke suddenly ripples as if it were on the dash board of Dr. Grant's car. Boom. (a)

I'm not implying that Foley is as big as a T-Rex. I've seen the man up close just last month and while he was larger than me, his arms were that of normal length so we can rule him out of coming from the Cretaceous period. No, Foley coming out and staking claim to participating in the Royal Rumble began what I am calling the shock wave that will run through this entire episode of Raw and carry on all the way through to WrestleMania.

It starts with Foley and carries over Ziggler. Dolph comes out to shut Mick up and explain to him that his time in the WWE as a glorified stuntman is over and its time for him to go home.
Before Foley can respond, the shock wave progresses and brings the champion CM Punk into the mix. Punk tears into Ziggler, defending Foley by taking shots at him and of course, the easy target of Vickie Guerrero, thus building up the rivalry for their match at the Rumble.

The animosity Punk and Ziggler have towards one another is good but it seems distracted by the other major feud that the Champion is a part of. Enter the man who could suck the life out of a Lazarus Pit: John Laurinaitis. (b)

All these players and the factors that started in this beginning part of the show continue to have that shock wave effect touching upon almost every match for the rest of the night. The conspiracy theory strings shoot across the landscape from 9pm to 11pm giving Internet geeks' false hopes, and bring on the fan fiction theories of what might happen next to each of them. You can see some of the most apparent effects in the following matches that took place:

Ryder loses the title to Swagger and puts gold around the waist of one of the men in Vickie's stable. Does this forebode that Dolph too will be wearing gold and winning at the coming rumble? Boom...
Cena takes on Swagger, putting Cena into the mix while keeping him involved with Swagger and Ryder. Kane makes a quick appearance, encouraging Cena to give into the Dark Side. Perhaps if Cena doesn't, there will be another...yes, I'm sensing a sister. Boom... (d)

The main event of a six-man tag match with Punk, Jericho and Bryan vs. Henry, Ziggler and Otunga. Otunga?!  Jericho walks out on Punk during the match, but only after he spends a good amount of time acting all excited to be there. I'm betting Jericho left because he feels that the only match he'll compete in is one for the title. This action gets a lot of the IWC geeks out there oozing that this apparently means Jericho will win the Rumble. Jericho is above all this silliness and playing to the crowd of a six man tag match and hero team ups.

His first match will be what all of this has been leading up to his return as the champion. I question whether he even participates in the rumble, or if he'll just wait until The Elimination Chamber. BOOM.

My Coke is gone at this point. I need another drink.

The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view takes place just before WrestleMania and while the Rumble starts the road, the Chamber often sets up the final card for the biggest pay-per-view of the year only weeks after his event. The chamber match will hold six men and the shock wave is carrying what looks like Punk, Ziggler, Jericho, Cena, Kane and one final member.

Will it be Ryder? Will he make the jump to the true main event rather than just being Cena's sidekick in a tag match? Of will it be Foley? Will he somehow come back into play and be put in a match that doesn't require a whole lot of ring skill but rather a lot more ability to take a beating?

Last night's Raw was a great one, and it was just the beginning chapter of a great story that is setting up the characters, the scene and giving hints as to what's to come. It's like the playoff season of the WWE. January's Rumble and February's Elimination Chamber are all building up to the WWE's Super Bowl, and it's a great time to be a fan of the WWE. BOOM.

Follow me on twitter @boompage. Get other stories on wrestling pop culture and fun stuff at, yep you guessed it,www.theboompage.com and to clarify some of my points.

(a) Dr. Grant was played by Sam Neil, the famous scene where the water ripples. This led into my dinosaur comment. If you didn't get that I hope you too get eaten while sitting on a toilet in an outhouse.

(b) The Lazarus Pit gives life to the villain Rha's Al Ghul in the Batman comics and the video game Arkham City.

(c) This is of course a Star Wars reference and if you think Star Wars stars Hayden Christensen then I hope your arms get ripped off by a wookie and you're frozen in carbonite.

BOOM!