After weeks of cryptic, perhaps misleading, video vignettes that had this writer thinking, due to the children being involved in the videos, that maybe this was an avenue for Undertaker to make his annual push toward Wrestlemania, Chris Jericho returned to the WWE on Raw.
The glittering vest smacked of Jeff Jarrett's Electric Horseman look during his first go-round with WWE in the mid-90's, before the Attitude Era. The entrance looked like it was 1999 again. The interaction with the adoring masses was classic Y2J, who soaked up the cheers, but didn't bother with a promo. The pundits tell us he will be a heel again, but in 2012, no, he shouldn't.
Before he was punted off to tour with Fozzy in September 2010, Jericho claimed he was close to unmasking the anonymous-at-the-time Raw GM, whose ID was never revealed, another storyline dropped because the incompetent, untrained writers couldn't settle on a conclusion sufficient enough to satisfy Vince McMahon. Well, who's at fault for the Uncreative ineptitude, anyway? Yep, it's Vince, but we've written enough about him.
Some of Jericho's best work during his two previous runs (1999-2005, 2007-10) has come with him having a strong hand in writing the promos himself. WWE clearly needs more of that, in order to get over that the emotion from the talent can match that of the audience. Why do you think John Cena seems to take such a laid-back, I'm cool with the people's opinion approach? Because he knows you can't script emotion.
With Jericho and Kane having returned in the last month, WWE is now well stocked with veteran talent who don't need the idiot savants in the creative office putting words in their mouths. They can do that on their own. It's not just Jericho. Kane, it appears, has taken that approach, based on what we saw at the end of Raw. Borrowing from any number of horror movies, including his own ("See No Evil"), Kane tried to drag Zack Ryder down through the ring to send a message to Cena. Cena, of course, saved his pal, but the shocked looks on their faces told the whole story. They were creeped out. Supposedly, so was the audience, too, but the ratings will tell us if Kane actually is making this work.
And, then, there is the current champion, CM Punk. He could take acting GM John Laurinaitis to school 10 times over on how to cut an effective promo, and could help Dolph Ziggler out by convincing Ziggler to get rid of the albatross hanging around his neck, that being Vickie Guerrero. In order for Ziggler to get to the next level, he has to get rid of Vickie. She leeches away all of his heat, no matter how hard Dolph tries to get over by himself, even if she isn't in the picture. I've said this many times before. Vickie is a stale act, close to, if not past, moldy. Ziggler & Jack Swagger need to divest themselves of Vickie, preferably yesterday, and it's past time to get Vickie off television permananently. They had a chance last year, and fumbled. Vickie was off exactly one week before being moved from Smackdown to Raw, but her flaws are exposed week in and week out.
Where Creative fails is in not tying everything together and forming a central plot. Right now, that would help explain a lot of things on both shows, actually.
First Kane, now Jericho, and, soon, very soon, Undertaker. Triple H will be back, and rumors have him vs. UT for the 2nd year in a row at Mania, but that shouldn't happen. He's already faced UT twice and failed. Same thing with Kane. Undertaker-Jericho hasn't been done at Mania, but they're likely to set up Jericho for Punk at the big dance instead. What would make things so much fresher is if the veterans basically decided they don't need the writers and can go old school. Jericho, UT, & HHH all come from a bygone era where wrestlers cut promos practically improvised. It's time to return to that era, time to return to the days of yesteryear. With WWE Network due in time for Mania, it would be appropriate, don't ya think?
And, yeah, the title fits me, too, since it's been nearly 4 months since my last report. Happy New Year.
