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Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a safe holiday and wish everyone the best in 2012.
Tonight is the first Raw of the new year. Last year, we got the memorable match between The Miz and John Morrison, probably the best match of The Miz's career. Unfortunately, that didn't lead to promising things for either man in 2011. The Miz held the title for a number of months, including headlining WrestleMania, but he was never made to look like a strong champ. He eventually lost the title and by the end of the year, was little more than a glorified jobber for other top stars in WWE. Morrison of course never did much throughout the year, and eventually asked for and was granted his release. He's currently sitting out with his no compete clause, and I would imagine will see him in the Impact Zone sometime soon.
I recall all of that because tonight we get CM Punk (c) vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Title, another match that should be excellent, but we can only hope for bigger and better things for both of these men in 2012. Probably the most popular prediction among NTWT is that Ziggler will win the WWE/World Title in 2012. I don't expect it to happen tonight, but I think he's definitely on the right path to be the breakout star of 2012. WWE has been in a terrible pattern of giving distraction finishes in just about every potentially important televised match, but I'm praying they can start a new trend in the new year with Punk going over clean here after an excellent 15 minute back and forth match.
Brodus Clay was once again said to be debuting this week by John Laurinaitis. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.
Raw is in Memphis, so it is a good chance that Jerry Lawler will be beaten/humiliated in some form or another. There was actually talk of putting him in a match with Cody Rhodes tonight. He is also advertised to face Michael Cole in a street fight, but that will almost certainly be a dark match.
We'll have the latest in the "Fans Don't Necessarily Like Cena but Other Fans Still Like Cena" saga. The evil Kane returned with his mask and wig to I guess help the fans chant Cena Sucks and hock the new Cena Sucks t-shirts. Of all people, they chose Kane for this role? It's such a bad fit. Fans were completely indifferent during last week's closing segment with Kane and Cena. Fans didn't know how to react with Kane trying to lead them in Cena Sucks chants. They kept flashing to crowd shots, and basically everyone was just sitting on their hands. They were able to get a few closeups of fans chanting, notably the geek in the HHH hockey jersey, but those fans were definitely the exception. I guess this is the storyline we get through Rumble, but I think it is incredibly cheesy. I know there are a lot of Kane marks on NT, but I think he sucks. He's old and broken down in the ring, and I hate his over dramatic, overly scripted promos.
And then you had Cena on the stage looking like he was going to cry. Awwww, Kane hurt his feelings. For the people that like this program, I think it is because you think it will eventually lead to a Cena heel turn, where he says he's fed up with the fans' negative reaction and snaps on them. However, I don't think it's going to lead to a Cena heel turn. I think in the end, Cena will be the guy who always does the right thing and turns the other cheek to the fans that don't like him. This means that we are going to have to deal with this storyline of if fans like or dislike Cena all the way through WrestleMania (if not longer) with no payoff in the end. I am very confident in my prediction that Cena is not turning heel.
And then of course we have the Jan 2, 2012 "The End Begins" videos. The videos have been very well done. Creepy and cryptic, leaving fans in the dark. Of course, most of us expect it to be
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F83CSS6
The 2012 Predictions Sheet!
https://docs.google.com/s...3LXg4WS1oMTFMM3JhejFpVGc
Predictions can still be submitted until Sunday at 8PM ET.
The official rules are very simple:
- If you are making predictions, PLEASE MARK YOUR POST IN LARGE FONT THAT IT IS A PREDICTION POST so that it is easy for me to keep track of.
- Each person may make up to 10 predictions. If you make more than 10 predictions, predictions 11+ will be ignored.
- The predictions may cover anything related to pro wrestling. WWE, TNA, Ring of Honor, Mexico, Japan, or whatever else you would like.
- The prediction MUST be able to have a definitive result. For example, please do not make a prediction such as "Dolph Ziggler will be the #2 heel in the company by year end." The #2 heel in the company is a subjective ranking that cannot be proven.
- Predictions will be accepted in THIS WEEK'S and NEXT WEEK'S threads. Predictions will close at 8:00 PM ET on January 8th (the start time of the TNA PPV).
- At the end of 2012, I will post the results of everyone's predictions.
