Vince McMahon is pulling out all of the stops to make the PPVs in 2008 a huge success. At the Royal Rumble, we saw some good matches along with a pretty good Rumble, along with a John Cena return nobody expected. Vinny Mac wasted no time starting the build for No Way Out this past Monday, mainly because it's 3 weeks away. They started off by having John Cena "cash in" his shot at Randy Orton and the WWE Championship. Now, from an objective standpoint, this isn't good. By having him go for the title at No Way Out, it diminishes the fact that Cena won the Rumble. This is different from a guy winning the Rumble and not challenge for the title. There's been cases where somebody has won the Royal Rumble and lost their shot, i.e. Rey Mysterio. Mysterio went on to challenge for the belt in a 3-way match involving Randy Orton and Kurt Angle. But, the fact is Cena is challenging for the belt too quickly in my opinion. Even when Chris Jericho came back, it was a week or two before he got the match. I realize No Way Out is only a few weeks away but if this is some way to get Triple H into the main event at Wrestlemania, it's bad. With the proper build, Cena-Orton would be a true dream match, not that Lashley-Cena crap. All along during Orton's reign, they could have been building for this return match. Every so often, mention that Orton didn't beat Cena for the title, which is the truth. If WWE.com or WWE Magazine does an interview with Cena, have him call out Orton. They could have planted the seeds for the return match all along but they haven't. Nobody can provide any evidence that they have because it's not there. If you can find an audio/video clip or an article from a reliable source planting the seeds, I'll be glad to admit I was wrong.

The whole match at No Way Out seems rushed. While I'm not a John Cena fan, they could have held off his return. I know he loves the business and would do anything he's asked, but the timing in this is just rushed. They could have brought him back later and built up a must-see match for Summerslam. Instead, we're getting 3 weeks worth of build for a match that should be in the highest spot at Wrestlemania or Summerslam. They could have done the backstage "Who's Gonna Win" vignettes to lead up to this match. The best way to get fans to want to see a match is to put it out there but not give it to them just yet. Look at McMahon-Austin. They feuded for who knows how long but we never saw them in a match against each other. It was countless segments and interviews before we ever saw them in a one-on-one match. Remember Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco showing Vince moves backstage? It was a big time feel. Austin was finally going to get his hands on Vince until Dude Love came down and screwed it up. They could do this same thing with Orton & Cena. Hell, do the thing they did in 2005 before Wrestlemania 21 where Cena couldn't touch JBL until Wrestlemania. That was great build up. Of course, Cena wasn't limited by creative in his moves. By the time 'Mania rolled around, I was ready to see Cena beat the hell out of JBL.

Speaking of limited moves, I wish they would let Cena expand and do more stuff. Cena's like a great passing quarterback but all they do is let him hand off or run. He could do so much more in the ring but they don't let him. Let's not forget how he runs over everybody. For those of you that sent me mail about me thinking his injury was a work, notice that that comment was before RAW even started. My "Pre-Show Notes" are before RAW even comes on the air.

After all of that jive talk, Silly Willy Regal came out on RAW and barely made it through the announcement about the RAW Elimination Chamber match. The guys involved, in case you haven't heard, will be Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Umaga, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Chris Jericho. I was in person during the last Elimination Chamber match at ECW's December to Dismember. The structure is very intimidating. I've never seen the Hell in a Cell but the Elimination Chamber is bone chilling. When you walk in and it's hanging above the ring, it looks like it's just gonna drop down. They obviously forgot the blood because there was very little of it, even though it was an Extreme Elimination Chamber match. This time around, the match will be to determine the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship. While it's too early to tell who will win, there is a good chance for different feuds to come from this match. That's why I like matches that involve plenty of guys so you can go different directions. I think this one will tear the house down. Weird thing is, no Mr. Kennedy (I know he's in a match against Flair) but it's like Umaga was just tossed in there. I really hope that Jeff Hardy comes out the winner, mainly because I'm a Jeff Hardy fan. I'm expecting Triple H to come out the victor because he's slated to be in the main event at Wrestlemania. Must be nice to be married to the head of creative. From all the talk that's gone on, I'm expecting an HHH heel turn in this match. I thought we were going to get one on Monday with the 7th edition of "DX: One Night Only" but we didn't. It's coming soon. Trips has been a face too long. The JBL-Jericho element will make do for some bloody action, which I always enjoy. Major props for Vince doing an Elimination Chamber match. I'm just hoping for some blood and chaos!

Moving right along, they ended up making a match between Mr. Kennedy and Ric Flair. For those wondering if I'll get to the Smackdown Elimination Chamber, just hold on a little bit. While the MVP-Flair feud was golden while it lasted, I think this one will be pretty good too. Kennedy can talk and Flair can talk. Anytime guys are involved that can cut promos, it will be something special. I don't think Kennedy will be the one ending Flair's career. This could be a feud that ends at Wrestlemania to give Kennedy that push he was going to get by being McMahon's illegitimate son. I hope they conclude that storyline later. I think Kennedy & Flair will be good together promo wise. As far as the wrestling goes, I don't know. I'm very interested in seeing where this one goes.

As we found out on Smackdown, there will be a return match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge and Rey Mysterio. I hope they add a stipulation or something to this match. Mysterio and Edge work well together and the Vickie Guerrero element just adds fuel to the fire. Edge is approaching the level of Triple H when he was heel. I enjoy his work because he's so sadistic! He really makes you want to hate his guts, even thought I'm an Edgehead. His little cronies will probably get a tag title shot soon, which will be great for their la familia. La familia is Spanish for the family in case you're wondering. It would be cool if they made it a ladder match or a cage match. Either way, these two will deliver.

If one Elimination Chamber match wasn't enough, Vinnie Mac went out and made another one! This one will involve Big Flabby V, The Crappy Khali, Finlay, Montel Vontavious Porter, The Undertaker and Batista. This is probably the heaviest Elimination Chamber match and it's probably the one that's involves the most waste of talent. I'm hoping Undertaker pulls this one out since he's supposed to face Edge at Wrestlemania. Considering the people involved, I won't be as amped to see this one as I am the RAW EC match. Big Flabby V and Crappy Khali don't necessarily scream MONEY to me as Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, etc. Oh wait, I said something negative! All I do is complain! I could see coming from this match a continuation of the Khali-Finlay feud but I would rather see something between Finlay & MVP. It seems like Finlay could work with MVP and take him to the next level in the ring. That's all MVP needs to get to main-event status. As for Flabby V and Khali, I could care less what they do as long as Khali is nowhere near the title ever again.

One thing I didn't like about the Rumble was having Chavo Guerrero in the match itself. That devalues the ECW title just like the tag belts were. The IC Champ (Jeff Hardy) and US Champ (MVP) were involved in other matches so naturally they weren't in the Rumble. Having Punk in there was ok but they shouldn't have had Chavo in there as well. I'm sure they could have found somebody backstage to put in there. Was Big Dick Johnson at a dance party or something? What about Nunzio?

Speaking of ECW, Chavo had his celebration for winning the ECW Championship. This was a great segment to end the show. The little Mexican band was great. Just remember, this guy was once Kerwin White, a middle-aged "white" guy. I did notice the guitar player behind Armando Estrada looked a tad tall compared to the other guys. He kept his head down for most of the time until the very end. I know it's a gimmick that's used time and time again but it was still effective. Remember Eric Bischoff as the minister in the Billy & Chuck wedding? What about in TNA when Jeff Jarrett was a camera guy and attacked Sting? Let's not forget Kane was disguised as one of the entertainers in Edge's Mardi Gras celebration. They did again Tuesday night but as I said before, I was effective. I hope they continue their feud despite the beginning of it being crappy. OH! I said another negative thing! Man, I really complain a lot. That's what, 2 complaints to 80something positive things.

Also on ECW, I really like Kofi Kingston. He brings a fresh look to ECW with a lot of unique moves. When I saw his finishing kick, my first thought was, DAMN! Not to sound like Ron Simmons but it was an impressive move. BOO-AH! BOO-AH! While he looks like Booker T a little, he's not as big. He reminds me of CM Punk with the way he's built. The only thing is, his crowd reaction isn't great even though some people like him. I still hope they push him and give him something to do so he'll stay around. I see a lot of promise in him. He's got a great gimmick and we know he can talk from his promos before he debuted. If he sticks around, I'll certainly be looking forward to a Kofi-Shelton, Kofi-Punk, Kofi-Burke, Kofi-Morrison, and even a Kofi-Jeff Hardy match. If anybody can download or find Kofi's theme music, let me know.

Excess Power Rankings
1. Edge +1
2. Randy Orton -1
3. MVP +3
4. Triple H +1
5. Jeff Hardy -1
6. Chavo Guerrero NEW
7. CM Punk -4
8. The Undertaker -1
9. John Cena NEW
10. Ric Flair NEW

One thing I need to address are the e-mails I've received this week and the comments concerning my RAW is Blogged this week. If you accused me of always being negative, then you haven't read a blog of mine the past 4 or 5 weeks. This week was the first time I've been negative about RAW in a long time. Why? The wrestling was sloppy and some of the segments didn't make sense. If you like stuff like that, by all means drink the Kool Aid. RAW didn't deliver in a post-PPV show like I thought it should have. I know some of you can't see that but it didn't. Instead of recapping what happened in the Rumble, like they did with only a few segments, they went straight to building No Way Out. I know they've only got 3 weeks but they didn't play up the Kennedy-HBK feud at all. Kennedy came out and squashed Brian Kendrick and then went into a program with Flair. I guess the "end" of the feud came when Kennedy eliminated HBK. But the funniest thing is how people say all I do is complain and be negative. If you jackasses would have been reading the past month or so, I've been positive about everything going on that was good. If it sucked, I said it sucked. If it was great, I said it was great. Just like I've been doing. If I was some journalist working for a company, I might would be unbiased. But, there's hardly any OPINION blog out there that doesn't show some bias. You trolls better recognize! I speak my opinion and if you don't like what I say, don't read my blogs! You guys tell me if I don't like RAW, don't watch it! It's as simple as that.

A little treat for all of my loyal readers!!!



Wrestling Autism

ECW – Tuesdays at 10PM on SciFi
Friday Night Smackdown – Fridays at 8PM on the CW

No Way Out – February 17 – 8PM – Only on PPV!