It Begins 2012 Promo

I’ve decided, as fantasy booker for thinkwrestling.blogspot.com, that it is my duty to scrutinise and over analyse the ItBegins2012 video that WWE so sneakily slipped into Monday Night Raw this week. After doing some research, I will now go through some possible answers as to who the video might be referring to…

The first, and most likely candidate, is The Undertaker. We saw similar last year in the build up to Undertakers return with the 2/21/11 promos on Raw. The link to the It Begins video aired on 11/21/11 episode of Raw. The video itself states that someone will be arriving on 1/2/12. All of these dates are just 1’s and 2’s. I know this is a weak theory, but I had to start somewhere. The video is very dark and eerie, and it involves a child. Undertakers past promos often used a scary little girl, this time it’s a boy, but it’s still quite similar. The video also includes images of supernatural power, the swings move without being touched, and a ball suddenly disappears. The voice in the promo says “a familiar force shall arrive to claim what it is his”. Undertaker is definitely a familiar force, and could be returning to take back his yard. Also, if WWE wanted to pick up on an old storyline, claiming back what is his could refer to his other-worldly powers, which I believe Kane took from him after he buried him alive. After Taker fought HHH at Mania he had to be carried from the ring for the first time in his career, which would give him a valid reason to want to get back his supernatural powers. The fact a promo for Kane aired 20 minutes later on Raw makes this seem more likely. The voice in the promo also says “For power should come to punish the weak for their inequity.” This could refer to Paul Bearer, who will be punished by Taker for helping Kane.

The second option, and equally as likely as Undertaker in my opinion, is the return of Chris Jericho. The way the youtube link was first presented on raw, with the screen looking almost like it was being hacked, is similar to previous Jericho return promos in the past, particularly the Save Us ones. Jericho has always been technologically savvy, and therefore a viral promo rather than one airing on raw seems fitting with him, more so than other wrestlers. Y2J has recently been having a war of words with WWE champion CM Punk, on twitter and other media platforms. CM Punk is currently using the tagline “best in the world”, Chris Jericho used to refer to himself as “best in the world at what I do”. In the promo the boy states “And it will be the end of the world as you know it." This could be Jericho claiming to put an end to the person who considers himself the best in the world. A globe is also one of the few items to appear prominently in the video, adding to this idea. Jericho has stated on twitter that on January 2^nd 2012 he is working in Hawaii, this is exactly what CM Punk stated the night he returned to WWE. There are also clues within the return date. (Y)ear 2012, (2)nd of (J)anuary. Chris Jericho’s nickname is Y2J. The end of the world angle could also tie in to Jericho’s original debut in WWE, which was centred around the whole millennium end of the world Y2K phenomenon. The promo may seem a little dark or eerie for Jericho, but he has said he’d like to return to WWE with a new character.

Another candidate for the subject of the video, as with last years 2/21/11 videos, is Sting. Again, this is probably more out of hope than anything else, but I’ll throw some possibilities out there. The 2-21-11 thing was supposedly originally meant to be Sting. The New York Daily News even reported he was hired. They just ended up having to postpone things so he could fulfil his obligations in TNA. Maybe now the time is right for him to have his one big Wrestlemania send off. The title, ItBegins, is an anagram of ‘I Be Sting’. I know it’s clutching at straws to think WWE could be that creative, but this is fantasy booking. The line in the promo, “for on the second day of 2012, a familiar force shall arrive to claim what it is his”, could also relate to Sting. He is a familiar force, as he has been in wrestling for many years, yet it is an arrival because he has never wrestled in WWE before. Also, Sting once said "the world would end" before he joined the WWE, so the line in the promo that says “And it will be the end of the world as you know it" would fit nicely.

Here’s where we start getting a bit more far-fetched. The next option is… Batista, and here’s why. The scripture the boy is reading is from Isaiah 26:20 through the end of the chapter. In chapter 27, the "force" that God sends is named Leviathan. That was Batista's name in developmental. Also, it would be the "end of the world as you know it." That was the recurring theme for the Armageddon ppv in which Batista debuted. Batista might be coming back to claim the WWE title, something he always claimed was his during his final run with John Cena. I’m not sure exactly who Batista would be returning to face, but he can definitely be described as “power” and also a “familiar force”.

The next idea is a return of Vince McMahon, but not only that, Vince accompanied by the nWo. The promo is in black and white, something always synonymous with the nWo, and with Kevin Nash already in WWE to lay the groundwork could this be too far-fetched? "Come my people and shut thy doors about thee” could be a reference to No Way Out, the ppv were the nWo originally debuted in WWE, and they could certainly be described as a power that punishes the weak, particularly Vince. “For on the second day of 2012, a familiar force shall arrive to claim what it is his” could be Vince wanting to reclaim control of the WWE, which was taken from him by Triple H and the board of directors, and using the nWo to do this would be reminiscent of how he used them previously when half the WWE was taken from him by Ric Flair. The promo has similarities with the famous nWo poison promo cut by Vince in 2002, and “it will be the end of the world as you know it" could be similar to the way he tried to use the nWo to destroy the WWE injecting it with a lethal dose of poison.

Finally, I will just throw out some general and some more fantasies about who the promo could be referring to. Firstly, it could be Goldberg. He is definitely a “power” who could “punish the weak for their inequity”, and “a familiar force shall arrive to claim what it is his” could be Goldberg returning to reclaim his winning streak, that was taken from him by Kevin Nash, who is currently in WWE. The promo could refer to Brock Lesnar, the words used could be adapted to suit him when necessary. A very long shot would be Goldust, the video doesn’t really have any of his characteristics, but he is angling for a return so he can face Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania. I like the idea that the promo is about the anonymous Raw GM. Someone who would be returning to claim what is his after WWE seem to have completely forgot he’s in charge of the show. A crazy shout is for the promo to be about Raven, and him being used to bring back the hardcore title. The words in the promo are quite Raven-esque, and a return of the hardcore title has been suggested recently. The hardcore title could definitely bring about the end of the world as we know it, and it definitely punishes the weak.

I’m going to end this now before it gets too stupid, but I’ll leave you with a final thought. The promo is for the return of the old WWE winged eagle title, returning to punish the weak for their inequity in producing such a terrible belt that we have now. It is a familiar force that shall arrive to claim what is his, its place around the waste of the WWE champion. It will be the end of the world as you know it, when the spinner belt is gone marking the end of the PG era…


@adamheath

Raw Report 21.11.2011

Raw started with new WWE champion CM Punk coming to the ring, accompanied by the crowd chanting his name. He’s over at the moment. He cut a promo about how he always wanted to be a “professional wrestler” and how much winning the title in MSG meant to him. Again, Punk played to the internet wrestling community with his references, talking about how he plans to end the WWE’s game of “hot potato”, referring to the fact the title has changed hands so often recently, and he talked about bringing back the ice cream bars. He said he planned to make interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis the former Raw GM John Laurinaitis. Johnny said he can be just as wild and creative as Punk, which sounded strange coming from him. At one point, Punk claimed he genuinely couldn’t hear a word of what Laurinaitis was saying. This is an issue I’ve been noticing over the past few weeks, he has no idea how to use a microphone. Laurinaitis sets up some of the night’s matches. Punk will face Dolph Ziggler, even though the fans clearly want him to face Zack Ryder. Zack Ryder is busy tonight facing Del Rio, whilst the Mexican aristocrat will have to wait til next week’s Raw for his title rematch. WWE building up an episode of Raw in advance? Shocking.

Zack Ryder vs Alberto Del Rio

Roberto Rodriguez was cut off from announcing by Ryder. First he’s outshone by Howard Finkle, then he’s cut off mid announcement. Things aren’t going well for Ricardo. This was a good match, I never expected Ryder to get the win, but he put up a good fight. I like the way Del Rio works the arm throughout the match before locking in his finisher. Ryder tapped to the arm bar, but both men came away from the match looking good.

Sheamus vs Jack Swagger

This was another decent match with both wrestlers giving a good account of themselves. I was glad to see Swagger didn’t get squashed, he even managed to get Sheamus in the ankle lock briefly. Sheamus got the win via brogue kick after missing one earlier in the match. Kevin Nash is seen heading to the ring…

Nash cuts another promo about Triple H. When he returned he thought he had a friend but instead he had a boss. He made more references about The Kliq that the majority of the audience wouldn’t understand. Nash claimed the main event of Survivor Series should have been him and Triple H vs Rock and Cena. Hmmm… I actually wouldn’t mind seeing that, even if it’s just to see Triple H and Rock having one last feud. They should give Big Sexy some booking power (just kidding). But seriously, they would have been a more legitimate threat than Awesome Truth, but I suppose that’s not much of an achievement.

Cody Rhodes vs Santino

Rhodes is already in the ring, he doesn’t even get an entrance. I’m still not a fan of his new music, it doesn’t make you think “here’s Cody Rhodes, he craaaazy” like his old music did. He talks about why he’s taken off his mask, only to be interrupted by Santino. Great, the match we all wanted to see. Luckily, Rhodes gets the win via crossroads, but even the 2 or so minutes this match is given is too long. Rhodes proceeds to confront Booker T on commentary, saying “do you think I can’t hear you? I watch the show”. He then throws a glass of water all over Booker. If this leads to a Booker T vs Cody Rhodes feud, I’ll be very happy. Booker definitely has one last run in him, and I’m just hoping it leads to a feud between Rhodes and Goldust, but I’ll save that for my fantasy booking (seriously though, how good would it be to see some interaction between Booker T and Goldust again).

One interesting thing that happened during the Rhodes Santino match was, during one of WWE’s regular trending now updates, the little twitter box turned to static, as if someone had hacked it, and the trends were replaced by a youtube link: youtube/itbegins2012. I checked the link out before and it’s a strange video being narrated by a young boy. He says: “"Come my people and shut thy doors about thee. For power should come to punish the weak for their inequity. For on the second day of 2012, a familiar force shall arrive to claim what it is his. And it will be the end of the world as you know it.” It reminds me of the whole 2/21/11 thing earlier this year, what could it be about? Undertaker? Sting? Goldberg? Hopefully they will expand on this in the next few weeks.

CM Punk Vs Dolph Ziggler

This was a great match, fast paced, back and forth. I’d love to see Ziggler feud with Punk for the WWE title over the next few months. I was thoroughly behind the one man in the crowd who tried in vain to get a “this is wrestling” chant going. Punk got the win via GTS. I think the ending was slightly botched, it looked as if Punk was meant to catch Ziggler mid-air before hitting his finishing move, but he dropped him. However, both of them were good enough to recover from this.

A promo aired next for Kane. It was not obvious who it was for at first, the person in it had like a hood on, and my first thought was that it looked like Scott Steiner in his chain mail thing he wears. But at the end, the thing we’ve all been waiting for appeared – Kane’s mask! Please WWE, bring back masked Kane, even if it’s for his final run or something. I’d take masked Kane vs Undertaker at Wrestlemania.  The announcers acknowledged the promo, with Booker T describing it as “disturbing”, but they never mentioned who it was about. But later in the show they showed what was trending on twitter and one of them was “masked Kane”. To me, that’s WWE breaking Kayfabe. If the announcers are going to act like the person in the promo is a mystery, don’t go on to say everyone watching knows it’s Kane.

Big Show came out and cut a promo about Mark Henry. I don’t see why he had to come out to do this, it could of happened backstage.

Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox are seen backstage playing WWE 12. Two things about this: firstly, Kelly Kelly is playing as herself. How egotistical do you have to be to do that? Secondly, Alicia Fox has a controller in her hand so she is player 2, yet she’s not doing anything with her character allowing Kelly Kelly to batter her. What a suck up. Beth Phoenix and Natalya appear, telling Kelly and Alicia that the game is different from real life because the characters don’t cry. Thankfully, this is all we’ll see from the divas tonight.

Wade Barrett vs Kofi Kingston

I’ll be honest, I skipped most of this match. I love Wade Barrett, but Kofi Kingston just does nothing for me. It didn’t even get interesting when Orton came out and sat ringside. Barrett got the win via wasteland, staring at Orton as he got the 1, 2, 3. Barrett got the mic and reminded Orton of his Surivor Series victory, Orton faked to get in the ring and Barrett flinched and dropped the mic. Orton left triumphantly to his own music. Sorry, but making someone flinch is not enough to warrant your own victorious exit.

After a few timewasting promos, John Cena comes to the ring. His entrance is accompanied by boos, it’s not even 50-50 these days, everyone hates him. He talks about how good the Rock is, basically making out like he didn’t take anything that happened to him at Survivor Series seriously. Still haven’t learned have we John. He talked about Zack Ryder, I think he’s using Ryder to try and get himself over rather than the other way round these days. Miz and Truth come out and are actually quite entertaining, they speak the truth about how no one wanted to see Cena at Survivor Series and they rip on the Cenation. This upsets Cena, so he goes on to tell them what they think of each other. Apparently John Cena telling each of them what the other thinks about them is enough to make them split up. Cena leaves, basically brushing aside everything that happened at Survivor Series. He can’t be blamed too much for this though, because the storyline can’t exactly be advanced if the Rock is never there. Truth then attacks Miz because John Cena said Miz thinks Truth is crazy. Nice one. But Miz ends up getting the upper hand with a skull crushing finale on the ramp. Looks like Awesome Truth is finished then.

That concludes Raw, but finally I’d just like to point out the highlight of the show for me. Seeing our mate La Parka again!


@adamheath

If I worked for WWE...

This is my idea for what WWE could do with The Rock vs John Cena storyline. Part of it is already irrelevant as I wrote this before Survivor Series, but they could still get it back on track for what would be a brilliant storyline...

It starts with The Rock and John Cena teaming up at Survivor Series, and basically how the Rock has no reason to even be there, therefore making the ppv seem less important. Firstly, I’ll go with my idea for how they salvage this storyline, and will expand on how it could have been better in the first place later on.

For this storyline to get interesting, John Cena will have to turn heel at Survivor Series. This will involve turning on The Rock, but just that in itself is not enough to turn him. If you remember, before Wrestlemania this year Cena hit Rock with the Attitude Adjustment, but it wasn’t a heel turn, and the same thing would happen if he did it again at Survivor Series. Cena would have to also align himself with Miz and R-Truth, similar to the way Hogan joined the outsiders with his first heel turn. Cena would then have to cut an epic shoot promo about how the fans have booed him even though he’s worked his butt off for years, and the final turning point would be him insulting the kids who love him so much. Can you imagine it, Cena ripping on the kids whilst the crowd throws trash into the ring WCW style?

This new stable of Awesome Truth and John Cena could have been the new nWo, but that ship has probably sailed now. A new nWo could have worked, and I’ll do some backdated booking now to explain how. ..

Back when Miz and R-Truth first attacked Punk and Triple H, and the referees, and they were actually starting to look a threat, you might remember they were fired by Triple H. When he kicked them out the arena that night at the end of Raw, a limo should have pulled up, the window rolling down to reveal Kevin Nash. Miz and Truth should have joined Nash in the limo and drove off. This would have fitted with the storyline, because Nash was also feuding with Triple H at the time, and John Laurinaitis was sending his sneaky texts all the time. The next time Awesome Truth returned, you’ll remember, was at Hell in a Cell, when they entered the cell and attacked everyone with lead pipes. During this segment, you might also remember, they were wearing hoodies. When the roster came out and tried to break the cage, Miz and Truth should have stood over Cena, Punk and Del Rio, who they had just beaten down, and removed their hoodies to reveal nWo shirts. How awesome would that have been?

WWE could have used this angle to tie up a lot of unanswered questions. Kevin Nash could have been the anonymous Raw GM. At this time Triple H was COO of the company, and the anonymous GM was still technically in charge of Raw. A few weeks later Triple H got fired as Raw GM to be replaced by Johnny Ace, even though it was a job he never had in the first place. If Nash had been the Raw GM, he could have been the person trying to lose Triple H his job, the one CM Punk mentioned on the walk out episode, and Laurinaitis could have been helping Nash from the inside, sending the texts ect.

Now we would have an nWo of Awesome Truth being led by Kevin Nash, and John Laurinaitis as the authority figure helping them out a la Eric Bischoff, wreaking havoc throughout the WWE, attacking everyone including officials. CM Punk would go on the title route against Del Rio, and Triple H would be out of action because Kevin Nash destroyed him with his own sledge hammer (which actually happened, but in my storyline it would be more significant). This would leave John Cena on his own against the new nWo, which would fit his super Cena character perfectly, but would also mean he actually needed someone who could help him beat them. Meaning Rock’s return would feel a lot more significant.

Anyway, all of that never happened, and we’re at Survivor Series were Cena has just screwed the Rock and aligned himself with Miz and Truth, and he’s just cut an epic shoot promo on the kids who love him. The Rock will undoubtedly disappear again for a few months after Survivor Series. They could claim he’s injured, but Rock’s too big of a star really for wrestling kayfabe. We now have Cena, Miz and Truth running the WWE with the help of Laurinaitis and Kevin Nash. Punk has won the title from Del Rio at Survivor Series, so Del Rio also loosely aligns himself to the stable, along with all the other heels on the roster. John Cena would become a cross between a chicken heel but also a credible wrestler. He can win matches cleanly, but then bring his cronies in the dish out beatings when the match is over to get him heat from the crowd.

Cena would at some point win the title back off Punk, and Punk would be spearheading the opposition, or more likely the victims to the new stable, along with Triple H when he returns. You’d also have Awesome Truth win the tag titles to make the faction even stronger. We’d then see Cena turn into more of a chicken heel, he’d hardly ever have to defend the title because John Laurinaitis would be helping him get out of matches, and he’d also be using the threat of future endeavouring people to get them to do what he wants.

Cena’s refusal to defend the title will be important for his character as we head towards Royal Rumble. John Laurinaitis could cut a promo on Raw stating that it doesn’t matter who wins the Royal Rumble because they won’t get a title shot against John Cena at Wrestlemania because he’s already got a match against The Rock, which he’s decided will be non-title.

There’s two ways the next part of the storyline could play out. We could have a major surprise return at Royal Rumble, or announce the return in advance to really sell the ppv. To be honest, it wouldn’t matter either way because they’d both be amazing. I’ll go with the surprise return at Royal Rumble first…

John Cena will be a guest on commentary for the rumble to make it even more intense. The heels will all have a plan to stop the faces winning, so for example we get down to the last 3 being Miz, R-Truth and Del Rio in the ring, with only entrant number 30 to come out. 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… IF YA SMELLLLL. I’ll let you take a moment to imagine the pop, and in your head just picture JR on commentary, and the shocked face of John Cena as they focus on him. The Rock enters at number 30 and goes on to win the rumble. After the match he cuts a promo to Cena, talking about how Cena said he won’t be defending the title because he already has a match against The Rock, but now the Rock’s won the rumble and their match at Mania will be for the WWE title.

The other way of doing it, the way to best sell the Royal Rumble, is similar just without the surprise return at the event. Basically, after Cena and Laurinaitis have cut the promo about how he won’t be defending the title at Mania, the Rock’s music hits, and he can either be there live or do a video via satellite. He would just say how he’s entering the rumble and he’s going to win and make their match a title match. You’d still get the shocked face of Cena, and hopefully the commentary of JR. Then everyone would buy the rumble hoping to see the Rock, but this return would be a lot more valid than his Survivor Series one because it would feel like he has a real reason to be back. You could also have some great backstage attitude era-esque segments during the Rumble, with Laurinaitis stating The Rock is not entering the rumble at any cost and he must be stopped, and you could have all the affiliates of the faction looking for him. When Rock did enter the rumble the pop would still be epic, and the Rock vs John Cena at Wrestlemania would be a title match, but it would actually feel important.

Wrestlemania could then be built around members of the faction going against people they’re feuding with. I know a lot of people don’t want to see HHH vs Kevin Nash, but if they built it up this way it would be a good match. My other great Wrestlemania plan would be for Awesome Truth’s tag team title opponents. CM Punk will have also still been feuding with them for months, so he will want to go against them. Similar to before Survivor Series with John Cena, Laurinitais will tell Punk he can face them with a partner of his choice. Whilst Cena’s choice of the Rock seemed pretty unnecessary this time, Awesome Truth will now be strong and extremely hated, and will have also beat down Punk many times over the past few months. They could tell CM Punk that no one he gets to be his partner will be good enough, or that no one will be brave enough to team up with him. Then a few weeks later on Raw Punk will tell them he’s found a partner. You could do the whole backstage hunt for the partner, Miz and Truth attacking people from the roster and asking if it’s them or if they know who it is, then during the closing segment they could tell Punk they don’t believe he has a partner, leading to CM Punk saying he does and here he is… And the glass shatters and out comes Stone Cold Steve Austin. Again, in your head, just picture the faces of Miz and Truth (I’d say Laurinaitis also but he only has one facial expression, he looks like Johnny Cab off Total Recall) and also the voice of JR on commentary “Austin! Austin! Austin!”

So there, by having Cena turn heel at Survivor Series we’d have 3 feuds that would lead to Wrestlemania matches, but not only that they would feel like important matches that follow a well thought out storyline. Triple H vs Kevin Nash, Awesome Truth vs CM Punk and Stone Cold, and John Cena vs The Rock. I might do my whole dream Wrestlemania card next week.

That’s my idea for where WWE should go, it’s probably got as many flaws as theirs (but at least I’ve planned ahead as far as Mania, they don’t seem to know what’s happening next week) so let me know if you spot them, and tell me what you would do differently. It makes for good discussion.


@adamheath