By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

After spending a week in Las Vegas to see the Strikeforce MMA show at the Hard Rock and go to the CES convention, I had a chance to watch last week's Raw start to finish today, so here are my "random thoughts in chronological order" on the show.

-Kane basically restated what he has previously said about people living lies filled with repressed hate based on a lack of hope and constant misery, but that's fine in that they're trying to establish a major storyline, so reenforcing it isn't the worst idea. He said John Cena represents hope for a better life. This works on the basis of good vs. evil, hope vs. hate, instead of being based around “making WWE better” or “drawing ratings” or ripping on each other's talent on the mic. This is straight-up good guy reacting to an awful threatening bad guy.

-The brawl on the loading dock gets the show out of the arena bowl and backstage area where everything typically takes place. They shouldn't do it all the time or it becomes numbing but in this case it made the new feud a little more memorable, and also left nothing solved since Kane just disappeared mid-brawl.

-I can't believe they went from jobbing out Mahal to trying to make him a credible opponent for Sheamus to feud with. WWE has a steep enough hill with Wade Barrett being rebuilt to a credible heel after a quick TV loss on Raw a few months back when they “had nothing for him” otherwise, but Mahal suddenly being back in the mix is stretching it against someone portrayed as a near top tier in Sheamus. It's almost like viewers have to wonder what's wrong with Sheamus that he has any trouble destroying Mahal in seconds. Mahal losing to Santino's Cobra further sets back Mahal. Cole saying Mahal lost to a move that is “ridiculous” doesn't help Mahal's cause.

Laurinaitis: “I'm not Little Jimmy, I'm Big Johnny.”

-Cole said “Kofi is trying to hang in there” after Kofi had tapped precisely 11 times before he even started that sentence. What was he watching (or not watching)? So now Bryan is acting heelish and instead of Cole embracing Bryan's change in his approach and Lawler criticizing him, Lawler rubs it in Cole's face that Bryan won and Cole complains that he celebrates too much. So is Bryan still a face or is Cole turning face? It has to be one or the other, right? Shouldn't Cole be celebrating that Bryan has finally seen the light.

-I'm in the wait and see category when it comes to Brodus Clay. I'm okay with trying some things different with characters, and this is something that could be a fun mid-card comedy act, or they could end up going somewhere darker or more credible with it over time. He never seemed like a great fit for a hardcore threatening heel type of act. This is along the lines of Goldust's debut where you're not quite sure what to think of it, but it gets people talking and somewhat polarized.

-They should have done more to hype the return of Jericho. You'd think they weren't even aware of their dropping ratings in hour two lately the way they half-heartedly hype some things during the first hour that are happening in the second hour.

-Not sure what the point of is of giving a heel something legit to complain about with blown ref call; I assume there will be follow up. Lawler applauded Laurinaitis for putting at stake Vickie and Ziggler being at ringside. If they're a threat in general to a fair match, shouldn't Lawler say they should always be banned rather than applaud the G.M. for making it merely possible that Punk could get them excluded with a win.

-Now that WWE Network plans are likely pushed back until fall, do we have to live with these WWE Network seizure-inducing commercials for another eight months. I liked it at first, but every week it will become too much, especially if it's just advertising the Legends House over and over again.

-We're supposed to believe Ricardo Rodriguez flew from Mexico to Raw just because the Bellas had a message for him. He didn't even seem all that interested in them or what they had to say. Cole's line about Miz being bilingual and his fake laugh afterward was as bad as any scripted one-liner on a TV awards show.

-Shawn Michaels: “Tully Blanchard was the first cool bad guy I ever saw.” They did a nice job touting legit strengths of each of the Four Horsemen. You're not likely to see a body type like Anderson during some of those clips being pushed as a tough guy in 2012, but that's not a good thing.

-WWE should poll all of the teenagers who have abandoned Raw in the last year if they know who Ricky Ricardo is and if they've seen much or any “I Love Lucy” episodes. It's one of the best shows ever, but I'm not sure basing all of the Ricardo jokes around a 1960s TV character is particularly wise, although Raw's average viewer is in his late 30s, so it probably works with at least 40 percent of the audience. A new viewer would have no idea whether Ricardo, Truth, or Miz were supposed to be the “likeable” character in that skit. Truth came across as unstable and bullying. Ricardo was the most sympathetic character. Miz even seemed like a good guy in the end, saving Ricardo from further humiliation.

-Did the fans chanting “Y2J!” watch last week's show? Or are they chanting his name ironically? Seeing Jericho stand there three minutes in pretending the chants were overwhelming was pretty funny once again. His crying was over the top and farcical. It's still too early to judge whether this is a good use of Jericho or whether it's too out of the box or even headed in a useful direction.

-Ryder deciding to try to change his tire with Eve locked in the car was just slapstick level ridiculous. It was worth a chuckle followed instantly by a groan.

-The hype for Cena vs. Ziggler was just awful, likely because they didn't plan to deliver much of a match in the end, but that's a lousy reason. The announcers wouldn't know how the match is going to turn out, so wouldn't they hype it up the level of its potential? They psychology is to not build it up so viewers don't feel let down by a six minute throwaway match with no finish, but what it really does is diminish the value of Cena wrestling on TV against someone of Ziggler's caliber.

-WWE won't call Kane's “hand over mouth” hold a “suffocation” hold because it could be pretty bad p.r. if kids imitated Kane and suffocated their friends. I'm not sure not naming it makes them any less culpable p.r.-wise if it were to happen, though.

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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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