- 30,184
- 1,991
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2000
With just six days until the Elimination Chamber PPV, things are definitely heating up in WWE on the Road to WrestleMania. Two weeks ago, we got a great episode of Raw. Last week was a step back, mainly because the show was largely filled with talking and video packages. The show opened with HHH coming out to address the crowd. I had my doubts about HHH initially rejecting The Undertaker's offer for a WrestleMania rematch, but they made it work really well last week. HHH said he may have lost the match, but The Undertaker lost the war because Taker couldn't stand after the match, had to be carted out, and hasn't been seen in 10 months. HHH didn't want to leave Taker laying like this again. The Undertaker then appeared on the Titantron with a video package where it showed him obsessing over last year's match. He said he wouldn't be remembered as an injured man, and he would get his revenge on HHH this year at WrestleMania. HHH still rejected his offer, but they definitely set the seeds for a good story. I think it would have been better if just HHH did his piece last week, and then this week we could have got The Undertaker video to slow things down a bit, but it was still good. HHH was backstage with John Laurinaitis when Big Johnny told him that HBK would be returning this week on Raw. So the question is, why is HBK coming back and what will he have to say to HHH? We know that the plan is for HBK to be the special guest referee between HHH and Taker, but how will we get to that point? I would lay the story out like this:
HBK comes back and tells HHH that HHH has to face The Undertaker at Mania to get revenge, not just for HHH, but for HBK since Taker retired him.
HHH still refuses, saying he has nothing left to prove. (I would leave it here for this week).
The Undertaker demands a match from HHH, and agrees that he will let HBK be the special guest ref of the match but only if HHH put his career on the line.
You now have the perfect storyline with HBK. Will he screw The Undertaker out of the streak? Or will he count the 3 count to retire his best friend, HHH.
The key is, we're still 7 weeks away from WrestleMania, so whatever they do, they need to pace it out and keep things slow.
The other big event from last week's Raw was at long last, Chris Jericho finally addressed the crowd and spoke for the first time since his return. He said it was the end of the world as we know it. The end of thievery, plagiarism, and liars claiming to be what they aren't. He said everyone stole his character. The Miz wore suits and talked like he did (very true). From here, things became a stretch. He talked about Punk saying he's the best in the world (that's stealing from Daniel Bryan), how Kofi does high flying moves (uh, ok), how Ziggler comes to the ring with a woman (yeah, because Jericho was the 1st to have a valet), and I forget what he said about Truth. At this point, Punk came out. Jericho yelled that he was the best in the world. In response, Punk held up the WWE Title and just so happened to be wearing a brand new shirt that says Best in the World. Punk turned his back and walked away from Jericho without saying a word. Jericho screamed at him to say something, cleverly turning Jericho's gimmick on him. I still would have liked a much bigger payoff to Jericho's claim of it being the end of the world as we know it (like who SHE is and what that red rubber ball meant), but at least it sets up his program with Punk. Plus, it puts the focus on the title actually meaning you are the best in the world, and that's something WWE hasn't focused on in a long, long time.
The main event of the show was Punk vs Jericho vs Miz vs Truth vs Ziggler vs Kofi in a Six Pack Challenge. The winner of the match would get to enter the Elimination Chamber last this Sunday. During the match, Truth did a running tope over the top rope to the outside onto Miz. However, Miz completely, for lack of a better term, wussed out of the spot and moved out of the way of catching Truth. Truth hit the ground hard, slamming the back of his head in the process. Truth was helped to the back and taken out of the match. Jericho went on to win the match, stealing the win from Punk after Punk hit the GTS on Ziggler. So Jericho will enter the Chamber last. The real story of the match though was The Miz's carelessness allowing Truth to get injured. He was chewed out by HHH backstage and is now deeper in the dog house than he already was. Things are not looking bright for Miz right now. I'm very interested to see how he's booked tonight, at the Chamber, and going forward.
John Cena was shockingly not on last week's show. However, Kane and Eve were. Eve had a bad night. She got her nose broke by Beth Phoenix taking a stiff clothesline during a divas match. Then, in an absolutely terrible backstage segment to close the show, Kane held Eve hostage backstage, saying that Cena was starting to embrace the hate, and Kane was now afraid of himself. Eve screamed in terror. This is so freaking stupid. If WWE comes up with anything worse than this program this year, I'm really going to slam my head against the wall.
I was just thinking about The Elimination Chamber PPV. The problem with the PPV is that every top star in WWE is essentially tied up in the two Chamber matches (and Cena and Kane are having their own match). It doesn't leave much for the undercard. I guess you can throw in a Divas match (seems they're going towards Beth vs Tamina), and maybe some type of throwaway tag team match? Five matches is probably enough, but they're really only promoting a 3 match show which isn't a good thing.
Lastly, I've been working on some things for the NTWT Universe. They'll hopefully be posted up tonight, but definitely no later than Wednesday. We'll also have the Elimination Chamber PPV Prediction Contest, probably opening up on Friday.
