Main Event:
Very nice to establish Sandow as wanting to be WWE World Champion. That should be a goal for a lot of people on the roster.
Kofi vs. Sandow was phenomenal. I expected this to be a fairly quick encounter without much depth, but they went above and beyond here. Both men continue to show potential as main event acts. WWE needs to have them work with more established performers so they continue to improve. More mic time (especially for Kofi) would also be helpful.
Good stuff in selling Brock working with HHH. They did a good job making both men look important. If only they gave some of that love to people who aren't already top stars?
Not a bad Divas tag match, though I'd like to see more from them.
That was better than I expected from the MizTV segment. I have some interest in Brodus as a heel. If he can do big things after the feud with Tensai, we could see some good things from him.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
This week's Raw was notably up to 4.13 million viewers. Last week's show was two nights before Christmas, so this week's show rebounded.
Veteran actor James Avery (best known as Uncle Phil on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") recently passed away. He voiced Junkyard Dog on the Hulk Hogan cartoon in the '80s. I miss Fresh Prince... R.I.P. James.
Here's a video of the people whose WWE careers came to an end in 2013. The TNA video would be longer... I wouldn't mind seeing a few of those names in TNA (Trent, Striker, maybe Watson). I'd forgotten Dawson was gone.
Jim Ross is not currently set for next week's Old School edition of Raw. I can't say I'm really surprised. It doesn't look like he's got any big allies in power right now.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Presumably WWE just doesn't have any idea what to do with him right now (like a number of other names they have under contract).
Nothing to really add to 2, though I'm glad he sticks up for guys like Dolph and Bryan.
3. I can definitely see Bryan becoming the top champion at Mania if they don't do Orton vs. Batista (a.k.a. "the easy way out"). I don't see any reason they shouldn't have Bryan win the Rumble if they want to have Bryan go for the title at Mania. Since WWE has mostly kept Bryan strong (depending on how the Wyatt Family thing goes), it wouldn't be a stretch for him to get the win there.
4. That's the ultimate question. I think some people are taking a bit of a "wait and see" approach on how TNA will survive without Hogan, Styles and (at least temporarily) Jeff Hardy. I think it's entirely possible they DO lose Sting, Angle and Bully Ray in the next few years, if not Hardy as well. It's not going to be easy to replace those guys, but they have a chance to build on the likes of Roode, Storm and Aries as the next headliners in their place. It won't be easy to make a new era in TNA, but it's possible. As for ROH, I think it will stay a niche product. How many critically-acclaimed indie films become successful franchises?
5. They did play kind of loose with things in the quest to unify the top two titles. I'm pretty sure most of the audience doesn't care about that kind of thing nearly as much as the "smark" crowd. Twelve years ago is a pretty good while as far as the run of a TV show goes.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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