By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

HERE'S A FREE PREVIEW OF KELLER'S VIP-EXCLUSIVE RAW BLOG AVAILABLE IN ITS ENTIRETY EXCLUSIVELY FOR VIP MEMBERS...

-Mick Foley looked to be in better shape, as if he has been training for a while to look acceptable in the Royal Rumble. It's great to see something other than Muppet Mick back. He gave us a taste of what made him an unlikely top star and draw ten years ago with that mic work and just the way he carried himself. His flannel shirt wasn't even frayed; it seemed almost, dare I say, not used. When Foley brought up his kids sitting in the front row for WrestleMania, it did bring back memories of one of the low points of his professional life. Taking so many stiff chairshots to the head was bad enough (because it raised the bar so high for what other wrestlers would need to do to try to get similar "tough guy stature"), but doing it in front of his young kids is still cringe-worthy today, perhaps more so knowing what we now have confirmed about concussion syndrome issues.

-One of the fun aspects of the Royal Rumble is when various potential scenarios are played out on air by wrestlers. Dolph Ziggler bringing up the possibility of winning the WWE Title from C.M. Punk at the Rumble and then facing Foley conjured up one of many scenarios that fans can consider when watching the Rumble. Ziggler mixing with Foley is a great way to give Ziggler some high-profile exposure with a star of the past, and that helps bridge the Foley generation with WWE's attempt to elevate Ziggler to a top tier level draw.

-I'm not sure who looked to be dressed down more, Foley or Punk. Good for Ziggler to point that out by saying he's not sure who looked more homeless. Punk sticking his elbows out when he walks to the ring doesn't make his shoulders look any wider, but his choice of clothes certainly play into the image of him being relatively skinny. And is he going to grow out his hair one of these days? This awkward in-between length that requires that greasing back of his hair has been going on forever. That can't be the look he's going to stick with, is it?

-Vickie remains a very effective agitating heel manager. In smaller doses, she's great. If they overdo it with her mic time, it can backfire. Her facial expressions were great as Punk was firing off insults.

-Michael Cole said he was so excited for the tag title match, he stepped on Justin Roberts's ring intros. Yeah, that rings true. Cole excited about a tag title match. I hope he was trying to be sarcastic.

-It is a good touch to have a tag title change at a house show to give fans a reason to believe in the future they, too, could be "witness to history" and see a tag title change. Now they just need to have cameras at every house show visible to fans so they think the cameras are there to record the title change. They could also offer footage of select house show matches as online exclusives to make the effort worthwhile beyond the occasional title change. I hope WWE chose to do a tag title change and this isn't another forced "vacation" for one of our now-former tag title holders.

-With second hour ratings dipping below first hour ratings lately, it made sense to advertise Chris Jericho for the main event. Glad to hear Cole hype it after the commercial break, too. They really need to make it seem like a huge deal that Jericho is returning to the ring and not forget about it and shift to Twitter trending plugs or other nonsense.

-When Josh Mathews finishes an interview, he so often has the body language and facial expression of a funeral parlor director after giving his condolences to a grieving family. Hey, Josh, it's just hurt ribs on Zach Ryder; he will get better. Good to see Ryder... (This full Keller Raw Blog is a VIP exclusive. To go VIP, click here: http://www.pwtorch.com/govip. VIP members have access to over 60 VIP-exclusive audio-shows a month, available password protected in iTunes or via an iPhone friendly RSS feed, plus downloadable or streamable at the VIP website, plus nearly 25 years of archived material, Torch Talk interviews, and much more.)

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Wade Keller launched Pro Wrestling Torch as a print newsletter in 1987. The newsletter is still published every week. It's distributed to thousands of wrestling fans internationally via postal mail and digital PDF's online at the VIP website. He has interviewed some of pro wrestling's biggest power brokers over the years in their longest insider interviews ever done, including Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Goldberg, Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette, Mick Foley, Vince Russo, Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Jerry Lawler, and many many others. He writes every week for the PWTorch Newsletter and also blogs on PWTorch.com. He is also the supervising editor of MMATorch, records the Keller Hotline every day for VIP members reviewing and analyzing the news of the day, and hosts the PWTorch Livecast twice a week. Contact Keller: kellerwade@gmail.com.

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