The Big News: Raw was again heavily focused on building WrestleMania, and that focus again led to a quality show.

Show Analysis:

Shawn Michaels came to the ring and said that the locker room thinks he’s crazy and doesn’t believe he can beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania. Michaels said that he knows he is Mr. WrestleMania and that he can end the streak. He invited anyone to come out and tell him that he can’t win.

HHH joined Michaels. He said that he doesn’t think Michaels can win, but then quickly added that he knows Michaels can. HHH pointed out he has wrestled all the top stars of the past 15 years (North American, certainly) and that Michaels is the best he has been in the ring with. HHH said that he invoked DX’s tag title rematch clause against Big Show and Miz for Raw. He said they wouldn’t have to defend for 30 days and that they could celebrate together after WrestleMania. He told Michaels that he believes Shawn will win. Michaels agreed to the tag title rematch.

The Big News: Three of the top four WrestleMania matches were officially announced on Raw.

Show Analysis:

Raw began with the return of new world champion Chris Jericho following his extended departure from Raw. He said basically nothing but just repeatedly gloated about winning the Elimination Chamber match, which was very amusing. Eventually Edge speared him from behind and announced he would take on Jericho for the title at WrestleMania. This was a good angle and it led immediately into another good angle.

John Cena came out next. He said that Vince McMahon screwed him by forcing him to wrestle again in a singles match after the Elimination Chamber. I don’t see how that’s any more unfair than Sheamus being forced to defend his singles title in a six person match in a Chamber and come in as the first man to boot. In fact, I’d argue Sheamus was screwed significantly worse than Cena.

The Big News: Well, so much for the streak of excellent Raws. Hell, so much for the streak of non-dreadful Raws, too.

Show Analysis:

Sheamus beat Randy Orton via DQ. There were RKO chants early. Sheamus hit a power slam but missed the big boot. Orton went for the RKO but Sheamus escaped. Orton gained control with the Garvin stomp but was distracted when Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes came to ringside. Sheamus took over with punches, kicks and knees. Orton responded with punches, kicks and stomps. Orton went for the RKO and Sheamus kind of escaped.

On the outside, DiBiase tried to attack Sheamus behind the referee’s back. Sheamus fought him off immediately so Rhodes attacked Sheamus from behind. The referee saw that and disqualified Orton. Afterwards, Orton gave Rhodes the RKO. Sheamus then dove in with a big boot on DiBiase and Orton gave Sheamus the RKO. This match was quite boring with a redundant crap finish.

TNA presents an interesting PPV tonight with an awesome looking main event and the majority of the rest of the show will be taken up by a single elimination tournament. Here my preview:

TNA World Heavyweight Championship:
champion AJ Styles w/ Ric Flair vs. Samoa Joe with Eric Bischoff as Special Referee

This match is practically guaranteed to deliver without any distraction. Unfortunately with Flair at ringside and Bischoff as ref we’re definitely going to get a crappy, overbooked finish. If you want to see how great this match could be, just go back and watch their phenomenal (pun intended) matches at Sacrifice and Turning Point 2005. I’d say there’s not much doubt over AJ going over and feuding with the winner of the tournament. Winner: AJ Styles

Both TNA & WWE seem to have struck a chord with British wrestling fans as their respective signings Hulk Hogan and Bret “The Hit Man” Hart have paid off in terms of viewers tuning in to both Bravo and Sky Sports in the UK.

Although TNA’s January 4 show did not air LIVE in the UK, the exclusive airing which took place on Saturday 11 January pulled in 68,000 viewers with a further 50,000 tuning into the show an hour later on Bravo +1.

Throughout January, viewing figures for TNA programming continued to increase with a record 103,000 fans tuning in to TNA Impact which aired on January 16. 44,000 viewers also watched the show one hour later on Bravo +1.

The return of Bret “The Hit Man” Hart to WWE on January 4 seen a significant rise in viewing figures for WWE programming on Sky Sports at the turn of the year.

Hart made his much-anticipated return to the ring on WWE’s flagship Monday Night RAW programme which recorded an impressive viewing audience of 105,000 viewers in it’s LIVE 2am timeslot on Sky Sports 3.

I’m pretty sure a fair percentage of those viewers may very well have been using Sky+ facilities, and who would blame them considering the 2am start time. A repeat of the show, which airs in the UK on Thursday Nights also recorded 69,000 viewers.

The Big News: Raw made it two excellent shows in a row. They’re not quite on a Washington Capitals level roll, but they’re doing well for themselves.

Show Analysis:

The show started with a fantastic package on the Bret Hart-Vince McMahon angle from last week. They then showed a NASCAR vehicle spinning in circles in the parking lot. The car came out into the arena and we were supposed to believe it was Carl Edwards, but instead it was Hornswoggle who came out of the car. Edwards then came to the ring separately.

Edwards mentioned the Saints’ Super Bowl win for a cheap pop. The crowd was very happy. He then plugged that he will be driving 500 miles in a circle next weekend, so be sure to mark down that one on your calendar. He said that John Cena is his friend, which brought out Sheamus. Sheamus demanded the last entry slot in the Elimination Chamber. Well, he is the champion. It’s unfair enough he’s thrown into a six way title defense. The last slot is the least thing they could do.

The Big News: WrestleMania is approaching and WWE delivered one of its strongest and most memorable Raw efforts in a while.

Show Analysis:

The show started with a graphic for Jack Brisco. Edge then came out. He noted that he is not only back but in the WrestleMania main event. He said he was expected to be out longer but he watched the Slammy Awards and heard Chris Jericho thank him for getting injured so Jericho could team with Big Show. At that moment, Edge said the room went silent, not just because Dennis Miller bombed with another brutal joke but because Edge made a vow he wouldn’t miss Mania for a third time with an injury.

Edge said that he’s the ultimate opportunist and the Rumble was his opportunity to make it back to a Mania main event. Edge said that Jericho has a Slammy and his mug shot on TMZ while Edge has his ticket to Mania. I like little jabs like the TMZ one because it makes the feud feel more real. Edge asked rhetorically whether it would be smarter to go after the champion who is 17-0 or the champion who has never competed at Mania. He said he would do the smart thing and wait until after the Elimination Chamber to make a decision.

This year’s edition of the Royal Rumble arrives amidst a curious period within the wrestling business. At this stage of the year, we’re usually waist-deep in discussion about Mania, and grumbling about how HHH is being set up in a title match at the big event.

However, the beginning of 2010 has seen enormous changes behind the scenes in TNA that have made that company, the main talking point of insiders, while the WWE’s biggest coup has been to bring Bret Hart back to the fold, following an absence that he had maintained since 1997.

That said, the 2010 Rumble has been built up…

The Big News: The Royal Rumble match itself is the primary focus of WWE’s Royal Rumble PPV build this year and Bret Hart will return next week on Raw.

Show Analysis:

DX spoke to each other and the crowd to start the show. HHH wanted to know where the leprechaun was. Shawn Michaels said he sent Hornswoggle home because this was serious business. Hooray! Michaels talked about how important winning the Royal Rumble is to him. HHH said it is important to him too. He knows Michaels wants Undertaker, but he wants a title shot. HHH said…

I didn’t intend on writing this until after Lockdown for the simple reason that I didn’t think there’d be much to talk about but the last three weeks have given me more than enough to talk about.

Hulk Hogan has been on every media outlet that’d take him and he said a lot of the right things in relation to TNA. Less talk, less scripting of promos, ‘breathing life’ into TNA’s…

Ever since October 27th people have been wondering what effect Hulk Hogan will have on TNA. Will he be involved in creative? Will he wrestle? And most importantly will TNA as we knew it change forever? Over the following…

UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is set to return to the Octagon this summer.

Lesnar will fight the winner of the Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir fight at UFC 111.

Lesnar appeared alongside UFC president Dana White on ESPN in the U.S on Wednesday to make the announcement.

Lesnar said that he had been feeling sick for some time while he was training for his fight with Shane Carwin, which was scheduled for UFC 106 last November.

He talked about being diagnosed with…

The Big News: The road to WrestleMania is underway, with Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker taking center stage.

Show Analysis:

Raw started with a tremendous opening segment. First, Vince McMahon came out. He said that life is about decisions, and that he made the decisions to let Bret Hart return, to kick Bret, and to never let Bret return again. He said that the fans want to remember Bret as he was, not how he is. Vince said that Bret is a broken down horse that needs to be put down, and it is Vince’s job to put him…