WWE Royal Rumble and Monday Night Raw Fallout Brighten Road to Wrestlemania

The Road to WrestleMania officially kicked off in Boston Sunday night and continued through Raw Monday night.

Brewing Thoughts started its drive to WrestleMania XXVII from the great white north of Wisconsin during Sunday night's Royal Rumble and continues right here. If the last 28 hours are any indication, it is going to be one wild trip.

Two former world champions returned, albeit temporarily, at the TD Garden in Boston Sunday night. A WWE Hall of Famer became the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship in Providence Monday night. The Miz didn't know how he retained his WWE title until after his arm was raised in victory.

This edition of Brewing Thoughts starts in New England, where WWE came oh-so-close to hitting the proverbial home run.

Creative Nearly Knocked Royal Rumble Weekend Out of the Park

Throughout the course of the Brewing Thoughts series, I've criticized WWE creative for dropping the ball. More often than not, it was regarding the original Nexus storyline or the overuse of John Cena.

This time, I'm going to praise creative for their efforts Sunday and Monday night. The Royal Rumble show, as well as Monday night's edition of Raw, were very good shows.

The Royal Rumble match was great to watch, for the most part. The John Morrison spot was excellent. It was great to see Kevin Nash (in his Diesel character) and Booker T return to WWE programming, and it was even better to hear the crowd reaction each man received.

But the match itself went stale toward the middle. Booking a riveting, 70-minute, 40-man battle royal is tough, but having Nexus hold control of the ring was a creative cop out. Seeing Hornswoggle pull a Eugene and copy famous superstars' signature moves as SuperCena did the dirty work was fun, but it was another time-consuming cop out.

The biggest commendation for Sunday night's main attraction was handing the win to an up-and-comer instead of an established main eventer. Alberto Del Rio became the first man since Rey Mysterio in 2006 to win the Royal Rumble without a prior WWE world championship reign to his credit. Del Rio may be this year's Sheamus, headed for a world title reign much sooner than later.

Raw was similarly successful. There was plenty of in-ring action. Michael Cole is beginning to give CM Punk a run as the most hated heel on Monday nights. We saw a mysterious promo (which I will touch on later in this article) and the first-ever Raw Rumble.

Just when creative was about to hit a home run with Monday's broadcast, they came up short. The crowd was hot for the winner, and new No. 1 contender for The Miz's WWE Championship...

Jerry Lawler is the New No. 1 Contender?

To quote The Miz, "Really? Really?"

It's a fun story, and a guy like Jerry Lawler deserves a chance to step onto the Grandest Stage of Them All.

But is there really anyone out there over the age of 12 who believes Jerry "The King" Lawler will headline WrestleMania XXVII?

Maybe it's just a bridge for the inevitable Miz/Cena WWE Championship match in Atlanta. Maybe it's just a sign of WWE creative's general lack of organization during the most important time of the WWE calendar year. Whatever it is, it isn't believable.

Lawler will not walk out of the Elimination Chamber event as the new WWE Champion. I sincerely doubt anyone reading this will disagree with that.

This could all be a build to a bigger story for WrestleMania. Recent Internet reports have WWE creative setting the plans for a major payoff between Lawler and Michael Cole, possibly in a gimmick match or tag match.

Time will tell where exactly this road leads, but it may finally lead to Jerry Lawler's first WrestleMania match.

What does "2.21.11" Mean?

During Raw Monday night, we saw a mysterious promo which featured a man in a leather trench coat walking through a rainstorm into an isolated house of some sort. As the promo faded to black, the image of "2 21 11" burned through the all-black screen.

Feb. 21 is a Monday night, which means the culmination of the promo will come to us live from Fresno, Calif. on the first Raw after Elimination Chamber.

Speculation is already running wild as to who the man in the video may be. Most speculators believe this promo is the build for the return of The Undertaker.

While my initial reaction was that it was the beginning of the hype for The Deadman's return, I'm no longer so sure.

The Undertaker is a SmackDown superstar. It wouldn't be out of the question for Taker to return on Raw Feb. 21, but with all signs pointing to a match with Wade Barrett at WrestleMania, a return at Elimination Chamber seems more likely.

Another hot name has been that of the most famous professional wrestler never to grace a WWE ring, Sting.

The black trench coat (a staple of both The Undertaker and Sting), the rumored WCW-themed Hall of Fame class, and WrestleMania being held in the city where WCW was headquartered, have many members of the IWC believing Sting will make his WWE debut in three weeks.

But there are holes in that argument as well. Steve Borden has gone on record saying he did not want to go to WWE, because he feared Vince McMahon would take the Sting character in a direction Borden would not approve of.

Minds surely change, and the dollar signs McMahon can throw around sure don't hurt. The speculation will only be fueled by Sting's absence from TNA programming.

One name I still haven't seen mentioned is Triple H. In what may be the first of many different promos, nothing in the one-minute spot would lead one to believe it was a promo for The Game's return.

Triple H is a master of theatrics. And first appearances are hardly indicative of anything in WWE. Vince McMahon may want to go in a different direction after the last series of cryptic promos was deciphered to be the return of Chris Jericho after only a couple of weeks.

Unless promos air on SmackDown as well, we will only have two more episodes of Raw to figure out who exactly will take the WWE Universe by storm Feb. 21.

The WrestleMania XXVII Card is Starting to Take Shape.

The World Heavyweight Championship match was officially set Monday night, as Alberto Del Rio used his Royal Rumble match victory to earn the spot opposite Edge at WrestleMania XXVII.

That isn't the only match that appears to be penciled in for the big event, though. For weeks, Internet reports pointed to a John Cena/Miz WWE Championship match, as well as the aforementioned Undertaker/Wade Barrett bout.

With news recently breaking that The Deadman is almost certain to return for his 19th WrestleMania match, all indications have Barrett slated as the latest challenger to The Streak.

Those same Internet reports stated The Undertaker will have unprecedented control over his WrestleMania storyline, up to the point where Taker will have the ability to hand pick his opponent.

The question I pose in this edition of Brewing Thoughts is the same I posed in last week's edition: Can a main event of Miz/Cena, Edge/Del Rio and Taker/Barrett draw the numbers Vince McMahon will expect for the year's biggest event? Further, will the rumored Randy Orton/CM Punk match be the biggest draw of the night?

WWE creative has plenty of questions to answer on this year's Road to WrestleMania. Time will tell if those answers live up to the lofty standards of the Granddaddy of Them All.