The WWE enters a New Year and with the first Raw of the New Year (January 7th) right around the corner, the WWE has some big news coming out of its corporate headquarters. Vince McMahon will be back and he will have the name of the new Raw General Manager along with him. Vickie Guerrero has been given the thumbs up as the supervisor of Raw for the past few months, but the Board of Directors have put their heads together and have come up with a permanent name to fulfill the role.
CM Punk also enters the New Year the same way as the last, still WWE Champion. Punk had yet another controversial title victory at TLC as he just barely escaped the raw power of Ryback. Punk can thank The Shield once again for saving his championship reign. Punk now looks to the 2013 Royal Rumble on January 27th, where he will go one on one with The Great One. The Rock’s return is imminent as CM Punk’s title reign is said by many to be on life support.
With the affair scandal behind them, Cena and AJ look to move on. Cena and AJ have vowed to leave their relationship off screen and look to set their sets on championship gold in their respective divisions. Cena vowed that he will outlast 30 men and headline Wrestlemania and recapture the WWE championship, a championship that has been off his waist since October of 2011. Meanwhile AJ looks to capturing her first Divas championship, but has a mountain of Divas that want a piece of Eve Torres.
On the Smackdown side of things, Booker T’s job is safe…for now. The Board has put all their focus in the naming of a new Raw GM and now that a name has been decided on they can shift their focus onto Booker T. Booker has gotten the seal of a approval, but his job is on high alert.
The World Heavyweight Championship is now back around the waist of Sheamus as he recaptured the gold from Big Show at the TLC PPV in a grueling Chairs Match. Big Show told WWE.com in an exclusive that he isn’t waiting long for his rematch as he plans on doing so on the first Smackdown (January 4th show cancelled due to Holiday) of the New Year, a live special on January 8th. Show has revenge on his mind, Sheamus may want to be on high alert.
Now onto the championship titles not mentioned. The tag team division is heating and is one of the hottest things going in the WWE. Following their upset victory in a ladder match at TLC, The Primetime Players (Darren Young/Titus O’Neil) have been spouting off their Millions of Dollars is being made. However Team Hell No has their eyes on recapturing their title belts. However the dysfunctional team can’t seem to decide on the date. Will the tension between Daniel Bryan and Kane continue to build or will they use it to their advantage and retain the titles that were once theirs.
Kofi Kingston overcame the odds at TLC and retained his Intercontinental title after a grueling duel with Wade Barrrett. Barrett says he isn’t done with Kingston after an assault on the high flying champ during the final episode of Smackdown in 2012. Kingston plans to strike back as he has issued a challenge to Barrett for the first Raw of the New Year. Is Kingston biting off more than he can chew or will the Wildcat IC champ continue his roll of success as champion?
And that leaves Antonio Cesaro. The anti-US champion has had the gold in his hands since Summerslam and once again took care of R-Truth at the TLC PPV. Cesaro has been unmatched as he looks for a new challenger. He has bashed the WWE Universe (in five different languages, albeit) on twitter and put out the challenge to any American who deems themselves worthy of taking on the US Champion. Cesaro will address the WWE universe and his challenge on the first Raw of the New Year.
All of this and much much more as WWE heads into a New Year!