The Shield make strong impact going into Royal Rumble

There’s something about losing everything you just typed and not having a saved draft that makes a 23 year old man want to cry. So if this entry seems to have a grumpy tone, I swear it sounded better the first time I typed nearly the entire thing.
This past Monday was the final Raw before the Royal Rumble event this Sunday. I must admit I was a tad distracted during the opening segment as I experienced an unfortunate accident involving my phone and a glass of beverage. So after drying my phone and my lap, I paid full attention to the show.
The show opened with Vickie and Heyman in the ring and Vickie saying she will not be allowing The Rock to enter the arena. This angle has done with many different combinations of people, but it always seems to work. We know The Rock will eventually get in, but the fun part is finding out how.
The theme of Monday’s Raw was a Beat the Clock Challenge in which the superstar winning his match in the shortest amount of time would get to pick his entry number in the Royal Rumble match this Sunday. Match number one of the Beat the Clock Challenge was Randy Orton vs Antonio Cesaro. Orton hit Cesaro with the RKO and set the bar at 11 minutes and 36 seconds, a time that sounded way too long to be the winning time.
In a quick match, Big Show squashed Zack Ryder with the KO Punch. This match defines Zack Ryder’s career as of late…absolutely meaningless.
In another squash match, Ryback defeated Heath Slater with the Shellshock after a couple of failed attempts by 3MB to get involved.
Brad Maddox is shown with Heyman in the locker room area, once again begging Heyman for some type of job. This time, Maddox gets his way. There were no details on Maddox’s involvement with Heyman, but it will be interesting to see what that role turns out to be.
The Rock is again shown backstage trying to get in the building. One of the cops mentions how he was suppose to be in attendance as a fan with his wife and kid but had to work the show instead. The cop says he still has his ticket. We know where this will eventually go, and if not, I’m guessing you have no wrestling knowledge at all.
Punk is in the ring with Heyman to deliver a promo. He says we can call The Rock a lot of things, but we will not be able to call him champion after Sunday’s match.
Beat the Clock Match #2 is Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz. Around the 10 minute mark, I thought maybe Orton’s time was going to hold up, but Ziggler takes advantage of a Big E Langston distraction and hits the Zig Zag to post a new best time of 10: 56.
Kane and Daniel Bryan came down to the ring in graduation robes for their ceremony of completing anger management classes. To my surprise, I have actually been very entertained with the Dr. Shelby character, and if this is the last we see of him, I’d like to commend WWE for not making this gimmick as terrible as it could have been. The segment ended with a threesome hug and jumping around. It will be interesting to see how much longer Team Hell No lasts after this. They are set to defend the tag titles against Team Rhodes Scholars at Royal Rumble.
WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn defeated Alicia Fox in a non title match.

Heyman and Punk are shown backstage and Heyman tells Punk he has arranged for Punk to be seated in a private sky-box while Heyman delivers a “Paul Bomb.” Heyman assures us The Rock won’t win the WWE Championship and that Vince McMahon is just desperate to have someone beat Punk. The Rock’s music hits and he is waving the cop’s extra ticket, as expected. The only thing that I’m confused about, as I know other people are as well, is how that cop got “middle of the ring seats.” I’m just a blog writer though, so I know nothing. Rock once again promises to beat Punk Sunday and goes to the corner to celebrate. My pre-show prediction then became a reality as the lights went out and came back on with The Shield standing in the ring. The Rock attempted to fight them off but the numbers game was too much. The Shield hit the spike powerbomb on The Rock and he was shown spitting blood. I’m not sure if this was the result of an accidental bitten tongue, or if Rock just has that much pull with Vince that he’s allowed to bleed in the PG Era.

In my opinion, The Shield needed this because I feel like they were starting to fall to the mid-card level and I know that isn’t the plan for these guys. Attacking The Rock was the one thing the Shield needed to do to remind the WWE Universe and the WWE Superstars they are still here to make an impact, and that they did.

The final Beat The Clock match is next and it pits Sheamus against Wade Barrett. Just when it seems Sheamus is about to hit the Brogue Kick and beat the clock, Dolph and the gang come to ringside and distract Sheamus. By the time Sheamus gets re-focused and hits the Brogue, the buzzer sounds and Dolph Ziggler’s time holds up and he is the winner of the Beat The Clock Challenge. This means Dolph would likely pick the final entry, number 30, or maybe 27, the number that has produced the most Rumble winners. After break Dolph is about to pick his number but Vickie stops him and says she never said he could pick ANY number. He has to pick between #1 and #2,  and since these two start in the ring at the same time, Ziggler has no choice but to lead the pack of 30 superstars into the Rumble. I thought this was a pretty entertaining twist, plus it gets Ziggler more time in the ring to impress in the Rumble.

Punk and Heyman run into Vince McMahon backstage and Vince says if The Shield get involved in the WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble, Punk would be stripped of the WWE Title.

Alberto Del Rio defeated Tensai in a non title match with a moonsault. Not sure if the match was being rushed or if they are planning on incorporating the moonsault into Del Rio’s finishing moves.

The next member of the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame was announced. That new member is Bob Backlund.

The final segment of Raw has Cena delivering a message to the WWE Universe saying he will win the Royal Rumble. This turns into Sheamus then coming out and delivering the same message. Then Orton. Then The Prime Time Players (random), then Miz, then the whole locker room was in the ring in a brawl as the show ends.

I found this show to be leaps and bounds better than the 2oth Anniversary show, but that may be because I was really hoping to see The Rock finally get beat down and that happened. I’m also excited about Dolph starting the Rumble from the beginning because I think it is WWE’s way of really having him put on a show. I guarantee he lasts until the final 4. I like the idea of having the same person holding the Rumble victory and the Money in the Bank contract at the same time.

A couple of side notes: Next week’s Raw is being advertised as Raw Roulette Live from Las Vegas. These gimmick shows are always a different adventure so we’ll see what’s in store. Perhaps we’ll see a strange bedfellows match…I just like to say strange bedfellows.

Side note 2: Just because you saw someone in the ring at the end of Raw does not guarantee you’ll see them in the Rumble match this Sunday. There have only been a handful of confirmed entries, and you can always assume there will be some throwback entrants as well.

That does it for this edition of Daily DDT. I’ll have a Royal Rumble recap either late Sunday or sometime before Raw on Monday. Thanks for stopping by.