January: Month In Review

[Serious Jones]

January was an interesting month for the WWE. It had more than its fair share of great matches and great moments. We've seen rises, returns, twists, and early match of the year candidates. And with February on the horizon, what has been the best of January? What has January set up?

On the Raw side of things, we started out strong with an amazing Falls Count Anywhere WWE Title match between The Miz and John Morrison. We got a Triple Threat Steel Cage match between Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, and Sheamus in the same night. Just tonight, we saw Jerry "The King" Lawler become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship in a Raw Rumble match. As for moments, we've seen the announcement and one-night return of the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels. We've seen the rise of the New Nexus, and the memorable promo that CM Punk cut from atop the Tron.

The SmackDown! side of things has had great programming as well. The first night alone, we got a Last Man Standing match between Edge and Kane, a 2-Out-Of-3-Falls match between Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio, and a new Intercontinental Champion in Kofi Kingston, who defeated Dolph Ziggler. There were two notable rises on SmackDown, as well: The rises of Dolph Ziggler and Corre. Ziggler rose to the main event, feuding with Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, while the Corre debuted and began to run roughshod over the show.

And don't forget the biggest event of the month: The Royal Rumble! We saw two early match of the year candidates here: the World Heavyweight Championship match between Edge and Dolph Ziggler, and the Royal Rumble Match itself. The night was not without its moments. We saw the returns of Booker T and Diesel, and had several memorable spots. People will be talking about John Morrison's Rumble performance for years. The domination of Nexus, followed by the domination of John Cena and Hornswoggle kept the excitement coming. The winner of the match was Alberto Del Rio, who narrowly avoided a surprise elimination from runner-up Santino Marella!

January was an intriguing month for the WWE. That being said:

What was your favorite January WWE match?

What was your favorite January WWE moment?

How did this month fare in comparison to recent months?

 

[TUFFY54]

Good Thread.

Favorite match: The Royal Rumble match. Almost perfect.

Favorite moment: Tie: Shawn Michaels returning on RAW. / CM Punk and the new Nexus.

How does it compare: I thought January was one of the best months is years. I don't see how anyone could say that the WWE isn't on fire right now.

 

[JGlass]

My favorite match (I won't pick The Rumble for the sake of fairness) would have to be... actually it's a toss up between Miz vs. Morrison Falls Count Anywhere and Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler at Royal Rumble. Both matches were amazing with great back and forth action, and both will wind up being match of the year candidates. Miz and Morrison was better in regards to more jaw dropping spots, but Edge and Ziggler had a more intense, meaningful, and suspenseful match.

Favorite moment had to be JoMo's spot at the Rumble. My jaw dropped, I shot up out of my chair, and I made whatever noise I could to do that moment justice. I'll never forget that spot, it was that fucking good.

How did this compare to other months? It was pretty good. The RAWs in November and December were consistently awesome. January had mostly good RAWs, but not as consistently amazing as they were in the past few months. That said, the Royal Rumble has been the best PPV in this cycle (starting at last year's Extreme Rules), and there were some pretty fantastic moments on RAW.