After a lengthy holiday break the BWQ column is back! What better way to welcome it back and ring in a New Year then with another edition of Old School RAW??? This obviously means there will be tons of cameos from past stars, but the questions remains how they will fit into current storylines. Elsewhere, will the return of Batista get more hype? Speaking of returns, what will The Brock Ness Monster do tonight? How many people will claim that they will win the Royal Rumble? How will they tease more Shield dissension? Most importantly, will Daniel Bryan show up as Daniel Wyatt with a sheep mask? Actually, even more importantly, how many people will watch the BCS National Title Game instead of RAW tonight?
Best
Old School: Sure it’s another themed episode of RAW, but it’s Old School! Everything from the graphics and announcer’s outfits to the ring set up and the steel barricades gives the show that Old School feeling. Ric Flair got to strut around and Woo, there was a Piper’s Pit segment with The Shield, Sgt Slaughter got to dust off the Cobra Clutch, Too Cool and Rikishi getting back in the ring and The Road Dogg being Punk’s personal ring announcer for the night were just a few of the segments featuring the Legends. Those first two in particular did a very good job of tying the Old School theme into the Cena-Orton and Punk-Shield feuds. That kind of thing is something WWE doesn’t always do well with these themed episodes. Oh and who can forget the return of Ranjin Singh to Great Khali’s corner!
Heyman: His brief absence has made us all realize how much we missed having Heyman grace our television screens. Seriously, has the man ever cut a bad promo?
JBL Great Quote of The Night: JBL always provides great quotes and it’s hard to pick just one each week. However, tonight it’s not a quote that lands here but his awesome pompadour-style hair.
Worst
WWE App: Just when you thought they couldn’t come up with a worse way to promote the WWE App, they actually do. Introducing the show, Cole mentioned that Lawler wasn’t there because he was under the weather, though it was not his heart that was the problem. So Cole says if viewers want to find out more about this they can tune into the App during the commercial break. Seriously? Everyone knows they’ve already shamelessly exploited King’s heart problems for storyline purposes. Couldn’t they have found another way to promote the App? Maybe one of those Did You Know bits?
You’re Welcome: Damien Sandow appears here through no fault of his own. Creative decided to give him a push of sorts when they gave him the WHC MITB briefcase. Sure he lost his cash0in match against Cena, but there was the potential for Sandow to perhaps emerge stronger then before, which didn’t necessarily have to happen in a World Title feud. Of course after he lost said cash-in match, they promptly forgot about him and he’s now reduced to fighting The Great Khali. Is it possible for him to fall even lower then that?
Questionable
Bray Wyatt: So every time the Wyatts make their full entrance, Bray lights a lantern, proceeds to blow it out and then appears on stage with a lit lantern? Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to appear at first with an already lit lantern? Lighting and re-lighting just seems like a bit much. He would save a few matches, which in and of itself seems like a little thing, but we’re all trying to help the environment, right? Plus with how close he brings the match to himself when he lights the lantern, you half expect him to get careless and accidentally light his bears on fire. If Bray looses his beard, then he loses most of his creepy mystique, yes?
Predictions: It’s a new year so of course people are coming out with their predictions for WWE in 2014. Writers in other sports do their own prognostications, but wrestling is completely different and making predictions about it is kind of futile. Saying this guy will win a title or that will happen means less because of the fluid nature of the company’s booking. Things change all the time and even making predictions a few PPVs down the road is fruitless. Then again some of these ‘predictions’ are either incredibly obvious like TNA will continue to be horrible or incredibly smarky like Punk/Bryan feud over the WWE title.
