By Jason Powell

Join me on Sunday night for live coverage of the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Dot Net Members will be listening to the Dot Net Weekly audio show on Thursday with Chris Shore and I previewing the Rumble and predicting the match outcomes. Plus, they will also be listening to the Dot Net Countdown show on Wednesday with Will Pruett and Jake Barnett counting down the best and worst moments of the week. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up now via Prowrestling.net/amember/signup.php.

WWE Raw Hits

C.M. Punk and John Laurinaitis: The bait and switch element didn't bother me, as you had to assume there was a good chance that Laurinaitis would weasel out of the match. Punk continues to show great fire on the mic. His intensity commands your attention as a viewer, and he makes you want to see him get his hands on Laurinaitis. I didn't care for Punk hitting the GTS on Laurinaitis given that it felt like that's the payoff we've been waiting for and we got it on the go-home show. Fortunately, Dolph Ziggler got some love when he was shown standing tall at the end of the night, which beat the hell out of the usual annual bit of a wild battle royal-like brawl at the end of the go-home show.

Chris Jericho speaks: The three weeks of silence were phenomenal, and the little bit he said last night was a great hook for the Royal Rumble. I'm already looking forward to Jericho's next book and his detailed look back the last four weeks of television.

Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs. C.M. Punk and John Cena: Cena interrupting Punk in the opening segment was an unexpected surprise. The match itself was entertaining and they made the right move in putting Ziggler over heading into his pay-per-view match with Punk. Granted, it was a fluke victory, but it beat the alternative of having Jack "Dead Meat" Swagger lose again.

Kane and Zack Ryder: The match went longer than it needed to, but WWE did a good job of making Ryder's injury feel important by coming back to the angle after a commercial break. How many times have we seen stretcher jobs lead us into a commercial break and then everything just moves on afterwards? Ryder went from being a fun comedy figure to being a character you can take seriously now that he's showing heart by wrestling despite his injury. Could someone compile the long list of things that are worse than a broken back and send it to Jerry Lawler?

Overall show: A minor hit. I enjoyed all of the things I listed above, but the Royal Rumble match hype left a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, they played videos and the announcers pimped the match, but the overall hype for the match over the last month has been surprisingly poor. The odd hook that everyone is eligible for the match is more puzzling than appealing because WWE didn't bother to explain what that meant. Case in point, I've received emails and tweets from several people and most of them have a different idea of what they believe that statement means.

WWE Raw Misses

John Cena's mean face: Was that an angry face or an O face? I'm not quite sure what the hell that was, but it made me laugh out loud, which I can only assume is not the reaction that WWE wanted from viewers. If nothing else, I did enjoy watching Cena slap the mic away from Josh "The Stalker" Mathews, who is now more hair product than man.

The Miz vs. R-Truth: I'm cool with Miz being the first entrant in the Rumble match and I hope they let him play the pest role he plays to perfection by giving him a long run in the match. Unfortunately, the Miz and Truth feud is a failure. Miz is trying to play it seriously, and then Truth comes along to deliver his campier by the week brand of comedy. The draft move that sends Miz to Smackdown for a run as a top heel can't come quickly enough.

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