WWE: Is the Undertaker's Return Being Teased on Twitter?

By now, we have all seen the two cryptic "It Begins" promos.

Keen-eyed viewers spotted the blurry YouTube URLs (which showed the vignettes) in the annoying little blue box WWE often show on screen to let viewers know if something from Raw is trending. Inevitably, word got around and even the fans who missed it first time around have now been clued in.

The arty, somewhat pretentious videos themselves are interesting, in a "just out of film school" type of way. Both feature a creepy little boy (seemingly doing his best impression of Aidan from The Ring) sitting by himself at a school desk, with an accompanying voiceover of him saying wordy, doom-mongering things like, "A familiar force will come to claim what is his and it shall be the end of the world as we know it."

The young boy (who, in a rarity for a child appearing on WWE television, isn't decked out head to toe in ghastly Cena merchandise) also stresses the importance of the date January 2nd, which, yes, is also the date of 2012's first Monday Night Raw, and tells us this is when this "powerful force" will return to WWE.

Thanks. Now stop musing about the end of the world and get back doing your schoolwork, kid.

It is a intriguing viral campaign, and something the company has not tried before; WWE should be praised for their originality, for sure. These vignettes have succeeded in getting people excited, with everyone asking: Who, or what, is WWE advertising for the January 2nd Raw here?  

Well, the Undertaker would be the most obvious suspect. Certainly the spooky, unsettling tone of the vignettes fits in perfectly with his dark, demented character, and he is due back soon anyway.

As most know, Undertaker hasn't been seen since he emerged triumphant from WrestleMania 27 after pinning Triple H in a gripping main event that stole the show. While the aging star has been plagued with serious knee and hip injuries for the past few years, reports were that he would indeed be ready to come back for this year's WrestleMania in an attempt to add one more win to his famous WrestleMania victory streak (currently 19-0).

No one is quite sure who his opponent will be, but various names, like Wade Barrett, Mark Henry and CM Punk, have been thrown out.  Certainly, there are a few directions WWE creative can go in with this angle.

Of course, some have claimed that the videos are actually for Chris Jericho, who has been on sabbatical from WWE for well over a year now.

Interestingly though, Dave Meltzer has insisted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Jericho is highly unlikely to return to the promotion any time soon. Meltzer claimed that there are major issues between Jericho and the company over things like his schedule and his wish to pursue options outside of the company:

"

 The two key problems in the negotiations were that Jericho was looking for a part-time deal that would allow him to do outside entertainment projects without the company having veto power over them, and if he was to get the projects himself, he didn’t want to cut the company in a percentage of those outside deals. Vince McMahon claimed that it was the company that made him a star and should be entitled to a cut, like they get from all wrestlers, and they also insist on being able to control what outside projects talent does.

"

Meltzer went on to say that Jericho was also greatly irked by his exclusion from the WWE '12 video game; something he took as a personal insult.

Is it possible that this friction between the Canadian wrestler and WWE could all be smoke-and-mirrors to hide the fact that it is indeed Jericho who will be returning in January? Absolutely. This is pro wrestling—nothing is for sure.

For the moment, however, it seems the Undertaker is the most likely to be the subject of these videos. But we'll have to wait and see.