JC's Take: WWE Week in Review 12/20-12/26

JC's Take: WWE Week in Review 12/20-12/26

Hello everyone and welcome back for my review of anything and everything WWE from this past week!

-With six weeks until the Royal Rumble, the WWE decided to take things slow this week. They are in no rush to build towards it. Instead, what we got this week was a conclusion to WWE TLC. I'm fine with that, no need to start building towards the Rumble yet. Instead, we got some very good wrestling on both shows this week. It's ashame that we can't get stuff like this every week. Even though it was only 5 minutes, we saw a very good Daniel Bryan/William Regal match. I hope it is the start of a program and not just a short one off match between the two. They worked a stiffer style than most of the WWE wrestlers, and you could tell the crowd was taking notice of it. I'd love to see these two get a good 15 minute match at the Royal Rumble.

-It appears that John Cena is finally done with the Nexus on RAW. The Nexus was nowhere to be seen this past Monday. Instead, Cena was in a confrontation with Dolph Ziggler and his girlfriend Vickie Guerrero. The beginning of that segment was amazing with the heat on Vickie. You could tell everyone involved was really enjoying it. After that, the insults from John Cena and Jerry Lawler on Vickie went a bit too far in my opinion. In an era where the WWE is trying to market to the kids, it doesn't look good having your top star making fat jokes about anyone, especially a woman. Considering Laycool was booed for doing the same thing to Mickie James earlier in the year, I don't see how Cena can get away with it. But as wrestling fans, we're not suppose to have long term memories like that. Cena had two good matches with Dolph Ziggler, but both times was attacked by C.M. Punk after the match. It'll be interesting to see where they decide to go with the Punk/Cena angle. Could it be dragged out to Wrestlemania? Possibly. Both men are good enough performers to make it work. But Punk needs to be built up as a credible threat to Cena. Some people know he can hang in the ring with Cena, but to the mark wrestling fan, Punk isn't in Cena's league. Also, the WWE has to know that Cena could get booed heavily, especially because the 20s and 30s internet crowd LOVES Punk. I'll be curious to see where they go with this over the next couple weeks.

-It appears that the WWE will be rolling the dice with a Miz/Morrison WWE Title program. Like I've said previously, I'm fine with that. The Rumble sells itself and it's nice to see the WWE give title opportunities to mid-card and lower main event guys. The more big guys in the Rumble the better. Morrison was ok in his shirt promo exchange with Miz on RAW Monday. I wish he would have been more involved in the finish of the main event. They need to build up Morrison a bit more for fans to take him as a serious threat to the Miz. Although that shouldn't be a problem, considering the Miz has looked kind of week in his first month as Champion. I understand the WWE wants people to look at him as a vulnerable champion, but he still needs to look strong every once in a while. It doesn't help that Alex Riley gets involved in all of his matches either.

-Lastly for RAW, it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the Nexus. They are in reset mode. Cena pretty much took them out single-handedly, so they need to do something to get back some heat. They still have that whole "we're here for another purpose" thing, but at this point that reason seems to be a moot point. If they really see Barrett as a top star, they could have him win the Rumble and go to Smackdown to take on Edge for the World Title. It gives the entire Nexus a chance to feud with different guys, and it gives Barrett the opportunity to move to Smackdown and not look weak in the process. I think this might be the only way for the Nexus, Wade Barrett specifically, to get any heat back.

-On Smackdown, this past week appeared to be a potential star-making week for Dolph Ziggler. He had two very good matches with John Cena. He's been having quality matches recently on PPVs and can put on a solid match. His only problem is that like John Morrison, he needs to work on his promo work. But the good thing for him is that he has Vickie Guerrero with him. She is a heat magnet and it instantly puts heat on him. I think Ziggler will get a main event push sometime in 2011. Especially if he stays with Vickie. I'd love to see him get a title match at the Rumble. There's instant history with Edge and Vickie, so there would be no problem developing a back story.

-The only problem is that it looks like we may continue to get Edge and Kane fighting over the World Title. Hopefully now with Paul Bearer out of the picture, they will focus more on the World Title rather than Edge finding ways each week to try and kill Paul Bearer. I understand it was a way to manipulate and play mind games with Kane, but it was just a tad bit ridiculous. I'd much rather they have another match on Smackdown, then have Edge face someone new at the Rumble. I just think it's time for Kane to move on to something new, although what that is I would have no idea at this point.

-The WWE released Kaval this week. The guy goes from winning NXT Season 2 to being released. I'm actually not surprised. He just doesn't have the WWE look. He was being jobbed out left and right on Smackdown. Hopefully he has better luck on the indy scene, or TNA if they decide to bring him back.

-Right before I started this blog I read that Brock Lesnar is looking for a way to get out of UFC. Dave Meltzer says that he hasn't even trained for another fight after his loss to Cain Velasquez. The reason this is news is because it means that chance the WWE can land Lesnar for Wrestlemania grows. According to Meltzer, Lesnar really wants to do Wrestlemania. He would probably make a couple million dollars for doing all of 20-30 minutes of work at the show. That doesn't include appearences he would make on WWE TV in the weeks before. I still don't think Lesnar actually wrestles at Wrestlemania, especially against the Undertaker. I don't think Lesnar would do a job to Taker, and Taker wouldn't lose his Wrestlemania undefeated streak to a non-full time performer. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Lesnar and UFC over the next month, as it will have a heavy impact on the UFC as a business, as well as the build to Wrestlemania.

My time is short so that is all for today. With the NFL week being extended to Tuesday, my Week 16 Review will most likely come Wednesday. I'll probably have a "WWE Look Ahead to 2011" blog either tomorrow or Thursday.

Until next time,

Justin C