Raw Thoughts January 6th

· I liked the cold open to Raw with Jericho and Orton in the ring. It had a lot of intrigue to it because you were unsure why these two were together in the ring, and they followed it up with a strongly delivered argument for why they were briefly aligned and why they were unhappy.
· Really strong opening. Sensible, well-pitched promos from each of the four men involved, and then a match created as a main event which I want to see. I want to see what happens, whether Michaels turns on Cena or not. Should keep people watching.
· Having Santino in a wrestling match only seems like such a waste. The point of the match was for Melina and Goldust to build interest in their match at The Rumble, I understand, but Santino could be given a couple of minutes pre-match to run down Melina, Goldust, Rosa Mendez or whomever.
· Terrific little promo from CM Punk. I liked the way promos are being pitched so far tonight. This one was very humble and actually spoken like a real person. I liked the back reference to King of the Ring, and to me this built to the match nicely.
· Disappointing IC title match, but I suppose they are just trying to build the intrigue up a bit. Perhaps a match where Regal can’t get DQ-ed unless he wants to relinquish the title might be fun. I assume it will be next week.
· I have a worry, which I hadn’t thought about until now. Do you think Shawn Michaels is going to face JBL at Wrestlemania? I sense the slow burn with HBK eventually getting fed up and Superkicking Layfield’s head off sparking a match between the two. Likely it would be billed as Texas’ own HBK v New York’s JBL, a former Texas resident who disappeared.
· As Mr Wrestlemania I had in mind HBK v Rey Mysterio or HBK v Undertaker. HBK v JBL doesn’t quite measure up.
· Interesting that Rey Mysterio pinning Mike Knox in a ten-man tag match constitutes Knox getting beaten on Raw, but Koslov losing triple threats or the like on Smackdown means nothing to his unbeaten record.
· I think the story of Orton and his Legacy stable is just too flimsy. They don’t pay it enough attention, and if we are supposed to be following who is in and out and so forth then it’s hard. And where is DiBiase?
· PANIC! Vince is back in two weeks. Should we expect a study into the ‘accident’?
· Really, really strong main event, but I thought marred slightly by the aftermath backstage with JBL. I would have liked it to have been focussed on the reactions of Cena and Shawn post match rather than watching Todd Grisham do an interview. Still, the tag match was great. A strong Raw overall.