WWE Raw 1/2/12: Results and Thoughts as Chris Jericho Returns to WWE

Starting off a running recap of the first Monday Night Raw of 2012, the show opened with John Cena.

He had three New Year’s resolutions: to wear less underwear, to inform the fans that his father was banned from the WWE and to prove to the Rock that he lost his “lady parts” after beating him at WrestleMania.

The one thing that won’t change is the person that he is. 

The fans earned the right to express themselves however they please, and Cena will enjoy all of the crowd responses.

That brought out Kane—well, his voice. He vowed that Cena would “embrace the hate” and that he would experience the true power of hate later on in the night.

Fire shot out of the ring posts as Kane laughed.

This was a decent way to open the show, and I’m very interested about how Kane is going to go about making Cena “embrace the hate.”

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes

The world heavyweight champion picked up the victory with small a package.

I thought this was a good match, though way too short. If given more time these two could have had a great match.

Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes are two of the best WWE has to offer and they should be showcased in the ring much more.

It sickens me that that Michael Cole is still burying Daniel Bryan.

It’s not because I’m a Daniel Bryan mark, though I am a fan, it’s because he’s world champion.

What’s the point of burying one of your top guys?

And WWE wonders why ratings go down when he’s on television.

Bryan has really come into his own but Cole is hurting him.

Rhodes has also come into his own over the past year and if he doesn’t get a world title sometime this year WWE has serious problems.

Backstage, the Miz is talking with John Laurinaitis.

He wanted Laurinaitis to deal with R-Truth but all he said was that he didn’t agree with what Truth did last week.

Miz wasn’t too happy and Laurinaitis proclaimed that Miz was scared.

He then booked Miz vs. Sheamus for later and Miz walked out screaming “I won’t be a sitting duck!”

That brought in R-Truth who quacked like a duck.

The Miz is becoming the stereotypical heel and that’s going to hurt him if his character isn’t freshened up.

R-Truth as a crazy good guy, on the other hand, intrigues the hell out of me.

He made a great heel but he could be skyrocketed to the top with the fans behind him.

Wade Barrett vs. Santino Marella

Wade Barrett decided to speak first and the gist of what he said was this: He took out Randy Orton and the Barrett Barrage will be winning the Royal Rumble.

That brought out his opponent Santino Marella and I immediately thought “Well, this is going to be a squash.”

Before the match started Santino got on the mic and said that at the Rumble the “Barrett Barrage will get run over by the Santino Marella choo-choo train.”

Santino, as usual, was quite humorous but what happened next wasn’t.

After a few bits of offense, Barrett hit his Winds of Change for the win. As I thought, it was a squash match.

With Orton injured I’m worried that Barrett will turn into Sheamus after his rival went down with an injury: a superstar going around and taking people out for no real reason.

Why not put Barrett and Sheamus together in a feud?

I think Barrett has a pretty good chance at winning the Royal Rumble but there are many things that could factor against him such as a surprise return by Randy Orton and the return of a certain superstar.

Backstage, the Bella Twins are arguing about something with the Miz standing there.

He told them to shut up and asked if they’ve seen R-Truth.

They said no, but they did see Little Jimmy. Miz walks away mad and Truth walked up and said “shhh.”

So R-Truth is stalking the Miz. This may be getting weird, but it’s getting more interesting at the same time.

Sheamus vs. Miz

The match never actually ended as Miz ran away after Sheamus clubbed away at his chest.

While in the crowd, R-Truth appeared and declared that not only did he run into Little Jimmy, but that Little Jimmy didn’t like the Miz.

It’s time for Miz to get got.

As Miz ran back to ringside, Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick and that resulted in the water bottle of doom to Miz’s head.

As Truth left he said that “This weekly Miz beat down was brought to you by Little Jimmy where you get got.”

A shocked kid then got some mic time as he wished Miz a happy new year.

R-Truth may be the best character in WWE right now.

Little Jimmy is going to be the slogan of the year and it will skyrocket R-Truth to the top.

Could it bring him to the WWE Championship? I think it could, but not until late in the summer.

Backstage, Dolph Ziggler is doing a handstand then said he’d be winning the title from CM Punk.

This will be Dolph Ziggler’s year. Hopefully when he does become champion it’ll be for more than a few days.

Elsewhere, Zack Ryder is with Eve and he’s bragging about last week.

That brought in Jack Swagger who thought Ryder was a joke and that he deserved the United States Championship.

John Laurinaitis then came out of nowhere and booked a six-man tag-team main event that will feature both Ryder and Swagger.

Poor Zack Ryder. He goes from being on top of the world to being stuck with one of the most boring Divas on the roster.

It’s funny that he’s being punished because Michael Cole buried him enough for the television audience to tune out when he’s on.

Michael Cole just needs to go away.

CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler: WWE Title

Dolph Ziggler picked up the win after CM Punk was counted out due to John Laurinaitis pulling down the top rope.

Ziggler then proceeded to grab the title thinking that he was the champion.

This was a great match but was ruined by the ending. If they wanted to book Punk/Ziggler at the Royal Rumble they could have gone about it better.

Ziggler is the future of WWE and this isn’t a good sign.

This is similar to his world title hunt on SmackDown and I fear it’ll have the same result.

The Bella Twins vs. Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres

The Bella Twins won after Twin magic and nobody cared.

Literally, nobody cared.

The crowd was completely dead during the whole match. That’s not a good sign for the Diva’s.

In their first match of 2012 they were given the typical amount of time and the fans used it for a bathroom break.

Where was the champion Beth Phoenix or her current rival Alicia Fox?

What I got from that is that WWE tried using who they thought were their most popular Divas and, well, the fans didn’t respond too well.

Something needs to change for the Divas in 2012 and it needs to change fast.

Backstage, CM Punk approached John Laurinaitis and was obviously quite angered.

Laurinaitis made Punk vs. Ziggler for the Rumble and he will be the special referee.

Punk vowed that if Laurinaitis screwed him again that he’d beat the hell out of him.

This Punk/Laurinaitis feud is getting more interesting and I wonder how long Punk will be WWE champion.

It Begins...

As the little boy and girl appeared on the screen and declared that “he was here…now” the fans waited to see what all this hype was leading to.

The lights went out and there was a pause.

Then a man appeared in a jacket with blinking lights posing with his arms stretched out.

The pyro went off and the music hit!

It was Chris Jericho and the fans went nuts! He entered the ring and soaked in the excitement from the fans.

The entire 10-minute segment was silent in terms of words through the mic, as Jericho just pumped up the crowd the whole time.

He walked out and made his WWE return without saying a single word.

This was either pure genius by WWE creative or complete stupidity.

I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it was genius.

It didn’t tell us whether he was a face or a heel and he acted like both.

He played to the crowd like a face yet left without saying anything, which disappointed the crowd.

I think this is all leading to a heel Chris Jericho, a character where he is at his absolute best.

John Cena, Big Show and Zack Ryder vs. Kane, Jack Swagger and Mark Henry

Kane didn’t show so the match turned into a handicap match.

Big Show and Mark Henry were quickly eliminated when Big Show whacked Henry with a chair.

The end result was an Attitude Adjustment by John Cena to Jack Swagger for the win.

The match wasn’t that good, in fact, it kind of sucked I thought.

Its sole purpose was to set up what happened next.

Kane’s music hit and John Cena ran out to the ramp to cut him off.

Kane had other plans as he ripped through the mat and attacked Zack Ryder. That brought Cena back but Kane was able to smother him with his hand again.

Kane then reentered the ring and attempted to drag Ryder into the hole. Super Cena emerged and rescued him in time as the hole exploded in a ball of fire.

Looks like Kane’s mask has also brought back his magic powers.

While it was very cool to see an explosion in this PG-era, I want to know where it’s going to lead.

Will trying to kill Zack Ryder really make John Cena embrace the hate? I think it would make him embrace his hate for Kane but that’s about it.

It’ll be interesting to see where this is all leading.

The first Raw of 2012 was a bit lackluster but there were moments that turned the show around.

Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan, R-Truth, the return of Chris Jericho and Kane’s actions made this an overall enjoyable night.

While 2012 didn’t start out with a huge bang, the bang was given plenty of room to expand over the next few weeks.

Tonight was a way to set the tone for 2012 and a good setup it was.

Next week’s Raw should be a good one as everything that happened tonight is followed up on.