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Last week's Raw had a good opening segment, a great closing segment, and an hour and a half of crap mixed in the middle. The show opened with Mick Foley saying he wanted one more shot in the Rumble so his children could see him wrestle. Dolph Ziggler and Vickie came out (Vickie is becoming more and more of a background character to Dolph which is a good thing). Dolph said Foley was a joke, would be eliminated immediately, and would be a waste of a spot in the Rumble. Punk came out and said he was a lot like Foley, and that Punk would still be champion after the Rumble. Laurinaitis finally came out and said he would be a fair ref in the Punk/Ziggler match and Foley would not be in the Rumble. It was a long segment, but was very good. It certainly seems they are building to a Foley/Ziggler match, perhaps at Mania. It also feels that they have to put Foley in the Rumble.
The closing segment was first a great heel promo from D Bry talking about how Show purposely injured AJ. We then had the main event of Punk/Jericho/Bryan vs Henry/Ziggler/Otunga. It was a good match. Jericho continued his gimmick by tagging into the match, celebrating, tagging out, and leaving while still celebrating. Bryan and Henry fought to the back. Foley came down to join Punk's team. Foley came in, and it was unfortunately painfully clear he is not in good shape. Aside from being overweight, his hips looks to be really hurting as he can't move around that well. Hopefully if he is going to have a match with Ziggler, he can get in shape in the next two months. The finish saw Foley hit his big spots including Socko and the Double Arm DDT on Otunga to get the win. Laurinaitis came out and said he never allowed Foley in the match, so the ruling was overturned.
At this point, Punk cut a great promo on Laurinaitis, saying he was the loser of the family while his brother was Road Warrior Animal. Punk said Laurinaitis went from being someone who sucked to someone who sucks up. He said he knew John would try to screw him at the Rumble, but it wouldn't matter, because Punk was the better man and still walk out as the champion. He faked a punch at Laurinaitis who flinched. Punk called him pathetic and left.
Laurinaitis took the mic and said he wouldn't be intimidated. Foley told him to admit he was going to screw Punk. At this point, Laurinaitis snapped. He said damn right he was going to screw Punk. He was tired of being bullied around and wasn't going to take it anymore. Laurinaitis hit Foley with the mic and stormed off. It was a very strong close the show. It certainly seems we will be seeing a Punk/Laurinaitis match soon, maybe at Elimination Chamber, as well as it seem to put the wheels in motion of Laurinaitis losing his power, maybe to have Vince return. Laurinaitis is very hit or miss at times, but last week was without a doubt his best performance.
While these segments were great, there was also a ton of crap on the show. We had the farewell to Evan Bourne for 60 days. Poor Kofi. Swagger beat Ryder to win the US Title. Despite Ryder having injured ribs, it took Swagger three Doctor Bombs to beat him. No idea why they did this since they have given up on Ryder making him a complete geek. Backstage, we found out that Ryder hadn't been cleared to wrestle. Eve was pissed about that with Laurinaitis, which led to him telling her to shut her mouth which was funny. There was a terrible divas segment with Perez Hilton. R-Truth then did some stupid comedy with Wade Barrett. It looks like they have big plans for Barrett in 2012, but Truth and Miz are both going straight down the drain. Cena was pissed at Laurinaitis over Ryder as well, which lead to the most infuriating segment of the night. Cena had a match with Swagger (why?) and absolutely destroyed Swagger. Swagger literally got no offense in. Cena smashed him all around outside the ring. Swagger looked like a complete jobber. Great way to put over your new US Champ. Kane then yelled at Cena on the Titantron. Well, it was better than the car segment the week before.
Tonight is the go home Raw for the Royal Rumble this Sunday. I really don't feel much juice for this year's Rumble. I think the only guys announced in the match are Barrett, Truth, and Miz. I know we can probably name 25 of the 30 guys in the match, but it still makes it feel more important if you announce guys in the weeks leading up to the match. I remember as a kid how much fun it was finding out maybe 5 guys a week who would be in the Rumble. The guys could then cut promos on how they were going to win the Rumble. Even if they start to announce some guys tonight, it's too late to make it feel important.
Also, they haven't announced that Jericho is in the Rumble. Considering he isn't going to speak this week, they could have at least built up for two weeks that he would be in the Rumble, and maybe that would be the first time we hear him talk. I'm very interested to see if the fans are more anti-Jericho tonight or if he'll still get the big pop when he comes out and has to turn the crowd.
Besides that, we'll have the final build of Punk/Ziggler with Laurinaitis as ref, and Cena vs Kane (hopefully with the goofiness kept to a minimum). I don't think there will be any other Raw matches announced for The Rumble. Nothing official has been announced for tonight's Raw.
Randy Orton is scheduled to return at this week's Smackdown, and it is expected to be advertised on tonight's Raw.
