WWE Raw, January 24, 2011: The (Royal) Rumbling of Foul Play

Opening Segments / World Heavyweight Champion Edge Wins Over-The-Top-Rope Challenge

These first few segments were a little chaotic and meshed into one big one. That's not a huge problem, but personally I don't think having Edge win a four-man battle royal will do anything to hype the Royal Rumble Match for Sunday.

Edge's mic work isn't as good as a face, but he still got in some words with former rival, the RAW Anonymous General Manager. However, the confrontation between Nexus and Corre was very well done. It set up a preview of what we might see this Sunday or even possibly WrestleMania, and I have been anticipating it these last few weeks.


Alberto Del Rio and King Sheamus defeated Mark Henry and John Morrison

The match itself was solid, and featured a mix of different styles in backlash from last week. I'm really liking this time Del Rio is getting on RAW as it really introduces him to live television and adapts him to the RAW audience. Don't be surprised to see him move over in the Draft.

The finish was well done and I'm very surprised with how well Del Rio made tap out to such a smooth finisher as Henry took it perfectly without a botch. I'm glad King Sheamus finally has a win under his belt and getting some momentum going into the Royal Rumble.


Michael Tarver

I know he was shown only briefly, but this really excites me. Tarver was a favorite of mine in the original Nexus with his excellent mic skills, and now since has been kicked out after suffering a groin injury in October.

He made two appearance last night and acknowledged, meaning he's finally being taken seriously for his return. It leaves up numerous possibilities whether he joins Nexus or Corre.


Divas Champion Natayla defeated Melina (Divas Championship Match)

I didn't see the entirety of this match, so don't make any accusations, but from what I saw it was a decent match. This feud had a lot more potential than it did, but it still would of made a great pay-per-view match.

The finish was very unique, so it was good finish. But Lay-Cool vs. Natayla again at the Royal Rumble? I hope this just means we will be seeing the debut of Kong.


World Heavyweight Champion Edge def. WWE Champion The Miz with Alex Riley by Disqualification

By far this is the Match of the Night. These two have very good chemistry and it was given great time. Dolph Ziggler's addition on commentary also helped hype the World title bout for the Rumble as well.

I'm glad we got a cheap finish, seeing that The Miz shouldn't look weak being pinned and Edge just lost an upset on Friday. This saves this match for another time down the road.

This post-match brawl between Edge, Miz, Riley, Orton, and Ziggler was very well done and was something I thought would of happened last week. I'm really looking forward to a Rated-RKO reunion for the first time in years onSmackDown this Friday.


Maryse, Ted Dibiase, and Alicia Fox defeated The Bella Twins and United States Champion Daniel Bryan

What a waste. Was this really just used to set up the brake-up of Bryan and The Bellas? Well, look on the bright side: Ted Dibiase actually won!

The segment following was terribly campy, but I did get a chuckle out of Kim's "The Guest Hosts are gone" and the Twins' "When was the last time you were on TV?" lines. Hopefully this is the end of Bryan's horrible angle with the Bella Twins and he can focus more on being US Champion.


Micheal McGuillicutty and Husky Harris with New Nexus defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov (Non-Title)

There was a bit confusion as to whether this was a title match, it wasn't. Cole is just a vintage idiot.

Anyways, this match was very mediocre. Surprisingly, Santino carried the whole thing while the match was very slow-paced.

Husky got the win with a watered-down version of the Knox Out. I hope they don't win the tag titles just yet as Santino and Kozlov have only held the titles for nearly a month.


CM Punk vs. Wade Barrett Ended in a Double Disqualification (John Cena as Special Guest Referee)

This match really got me excited when it was first announced. I mean seriously, how many heel vs. heel matches do we see these days?

With Cena as the referee, I knew something was bound to happen. The match in my mind never actually took place, which is a huge let down. Punk kicked Barrett out of Nexus, revenge should taken in some form.

The ending scene of the mass chaos did nothing for me, as it displays the weakness in this new found 40-Man Royal Rumble Match. There is not one thing to pay attention to, and having the under-card compete doesn't make the match seem any more meaningful.


Final Review

Building hype for the Royal Rumble was the goal of this episode, but it wasn't all there. Having a massive brawl shows why adding ten extra jobbers will reveal the entire concept as a mistake.

This show, unlike last week, was light on in-ring action. Unfortunately, this is the worst RAW of this year, only because nothing progressed and was merely a pointless episode. Nonetheless, I will be viewing the Royal Rumble this Sunday for the many surprises it could bring us.