Maybe I was a little harsh.....

Some things to clear up, I think.

Firstly I was a bit grouchy in my Raw review yesterday. I’d just got home after a four-and-a-half drive from Manchester and wasn’t in the best frame of mind for watching and appraising a show.

I think that I should give a bit more praise to Punk and Regal. I think my comments suggested that I didn’t enjoy the match. I did, but felt that it could have been even better. I thought the advertisement break and the commentary team vastly detracted from the match. Overall, though, this was a good effort and I’m pleased for Punk getting a moment in front of his home fans.

I’d love to see Regal get the chance to work with other younger or up-and-coming talent. I get the feeling he could get a lot of out of MVP, Ken Kennedy, Carlito and so forth.

As much as I like Punk, if he is not going to get back into the main-event picture (and I don’t see it, to be fair) I think he’s due a heel turn. He is a terrific heel, and I’d really like to see him get a chance to shine in a different light.

Next I’d like to say that the ending was probably a lot better than I first indicated. The more I think about it, the more shocking it was, and there are plenty of possibilities for development. Will Orton and Priceless be fired? If Steph and Vince supposed to be babyfaces they weren’t very sympathetic characters, and this may help Randy get over more.

I still like my idea of Shane McMahon being the brains behind the Legacy group. There are a few holes in the theory, such as why Shane would have waited for so long, what influence he has on the company and on Orton.

Another possibility with Orton is that he could win the Royal Rumble and jump to Smackdown. This would get him out of Steph’s hair and would logical in that manner, but then what happens to Rhodes and DiBiase?

My biggest problem from Raw really was that ending wasn’t a pre-PPV ending. It was a good one for making sure you tune in to next week’s show. Is Jericho still in trouble? Is Jericho working with Orton? Is Orton going to be fired? Will Vince be back? And so on and so forth. However, we should have been focussed on Cena, JBL and Shawn and the Rumble competitors, in my mind.

Perhaps the theory is that people love the Rumble so much that they’ll buy it come what may. Therefore after a good contract signing segment and the natural attraction of the Rumble match itself it may be assumed that people will be on board and need a little added incentive for Raw next week.

By the way, if the Rumble is amazing – brilliant rumble match, Christian return etc –then adding this to the exciting finish of last week may mean a monster Raw rating. They got a 3.9 apparently this week, so anything above 4 next week would be a great sign for WWE.

I’ll try to get a Rumble preview up tomorrow. It’ll come before I’ve had a chance to see Smackdown, but I’m off to London on Saturday for TNA and don’t know when I’ll be back on Sunday.

I will, of course, have the live blog going during the Rumble itself. Stay tuned.