Currently, The Rock is scheduled to appear on Raw on 1/7, 1/21 and
1/28, as well as the Royal Rumble and the 2/17 Elimination Chamber PPV
in New Orleans. Don’t expect him to pop any kind of a big rating on his
first appearance because they are going head-to-head with the BCS
Championship game, which draws more viewers than even a major Monday
Night Football game. At best The Rock being on the 1/7 show may prevent
that show from doing another 2.5-level number. Adding to his first
quarter schedule is the reality show “Hero” that he will be hosting on
TNT begins filming in February.
They also may be doing Punk vs. Ryback on 1/7. It was announced
this week that the Punk vs. Ryback title match scheduled for TLC will
take place when Punk returns. Right now, Punk is expected back for the
post-Christmas big house show run, so the earliest he could face Ryback
on TV would be the 12/31 Raw (which will be taped 12/19 in Washington,
DC). Nothing was even touched on TV about the match on Raw, and when
Punk did his promo, he was already talking about facing Rock. I’d hate
to put a world title match on New Year’s Eve (granted, the Curt Hennig
vs. Nick Bockwinkel 60 minute draw on ESPN in 1986 on New Year’s Eve was
classic and remembered for years, but this is a different era). They
could put it on Smackdown, but if on Raw, the likely dates would be
12/31, 1/7 or 1/14. With 1/14, they could use it as the main event for
the 20th anniversary Raw, but that would also mean they can’t promote
Rock vs. Punk directly on TV until that show at the earliest. With Rock
scheduled on 1/7, there is an argument that the Punk-Ryback thing needs
to be settled so they can focus on the build for the Rumble main event,
which would be in theory, the biggest non-Mania title match of the
year.
Orton was injured on 12/9 doing the Tribute to the Troops show in
Norfolk during a Sheamus & Orton vs. Ziggler & Show match. Not
sure what happened. He wasn’t on Raw the next night and they did the
injury angle on Smackdown where The Shield put him through a table.
They announced he had a separated shoulder and a possible concussion.
Not sure if that’s the actual injury or he had a different injury. He’s
had a history of shoulder problems and also had several concussions,
enough to where there’s been concern about it going back some time.
For TLC on 12/16 in Brooklyn, they announced that Ambrose &
Rollins & Reigns vs. Bryan & Kane & Ryback in a TLC match
that will end via pinfall or submission is the main event on the show.
The other matches are Cena vs. Ziggler in a ladder match with the MITB
contract at stake, Show vs. Sheamus for the world title in a chairs
match, Mysterio (back from his short hiatus for the show) & Sin Cara
vs. Sandow & Rhodes with the winners becoming top contenders for
the tag titles in a tables match, Kingston vs. Barrett for the IC title,
Cesaro vs. R-Truth for the U.S. title and a Divas Battle Royal with
them all wearing Santa’s Helpers outfits for the pre-show match. Orton
vs. Del Rio may have been added to the show in the tables match spot
before Orton’s injury took it off.
There is at least some talk of turning Del Rio face. I wonder
what that would mean with Rodriguez. They in spots put him in a
position to be sympathetic but the babyface second over the long haul is
usually a death spot. They badly want a Hispanic babyface. Quite
frankly, anyone with any clue as to marketing now and even more going
forward would think such a person is necessary. The feeling is Mysterio
isn’t going to be around forever and he takes time off and his far from
an office favorite. Sin Cara was the guy, but the bloom is way off his
rose.
Cena is pretty banged up these days. There is talk that his time as the
full-time top star isn’t going to last forever. The feeling is he’ll
do main events for as long as his body holds up, and then probably work
like the older Japanese guys in the sense not always on top, but saving
him for a few big matches and then eventually the part-time role. The
time frame of all this depends on his body more than anything else. But
it has been noted for some time that there is probably at least one
more face of the company that will be chosen by Vince McMahon.
Nothing new on the Bruno Sammartino in the Hall of Fame front. Only
we’re told HHH really wants this and Vince McMahon comes and goes on it.
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