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JR's Blog: JR's RAW Thoughts for Tonight's Show, Batista, Rumble Match, Lesnar, DBryan, RINGSIDE Update, Fox Sports

Posted: Jan 21st 2014 By: CMBurnham

Big Monday's here again. Pivotal Monday Night RAW tonight. Here are thoughts..

Monday Night Raw marks the return of Batista. Dave has been away from WWE doing film work, etc for around 4 years. His return is going to be perceived by the TV viewer/WWE fan only as big as it's made to be tonight on live television.

The pressures on.

When will Batista be first re-introduced on the show? If it's me, I'd consider doing it in the last segment of the broadcast.

Establish that Batista is in the arena and then facilitate him making a major impact on night one. Much like the slogan being utilized on the WWE Network, go over the top.

Certainly Batista could be paraded out to the live audience earlier and then, later, have him do a heroic run on to garner another 'pop' as there are always multiple ways to do something the right way in the world of entertainment and in sports.

How WWE strategically produces tonight's broadcast has me especially anxious to watch it. There are many stories to forward all the while getting one last shot on their franchise broadcast to sell PPV's for Sunday's Royal Rumble.

One thing for sure is that the Rumble Match needs a lot of promotional love tonight.

Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be on RAW tonight and that rare appearance can't be taken for granted and requires creating water cooler talk in some regard. Brock is too much of an investment and has too few dates to have a pedestrian appearance for Lesnar who's preparing to face Big Show this Sunday.

Brock vs. Show needs another log on the fire.

Randy Orton has garnered ample steam after assaulting John Cena's father again and the key here is for Orton to escape RAW with that 'heat' still in tact.

Then's there's the case of one Daniel Bryan. The white hot fan favoirte is exactly where I'd personally want him to be. He is on the chase as a hell bent underdog and is battling for professional respect every time he steps through the curtain.

I'm a fan of Bryan's chase. I like that he is "Yes'ing" his way to success and last week's closing moments of RAW were Austin-esque. Bryan is so hot right now that he doesn't need the WWE World Title until the stage is better set and in the biggest environment that can be facilitated.

Fans who bitch and moan about "what if" and "this should have happened already" are over thinking a matter of which they have no impact. Enjoy the ride. Expect the unexpected. Allow things to evolve.

When I see an episode of 'Boardwalk Empire' that I don't particularly like, I'm patient enough to wait until next week to see how the episode that I did not care for affected the future of the episodically produced program.

If you are a Denver Bronco or Seattle Seahawks fan, now is not the day to fixate over what might go wrong in the Super Bowl. Relax and enjoy the ride. Your team made it.

Daniel Bryan has made it too.

Great deals on JR's products at http://www.wweshop.com, http://www.americansoda.co.uk and http://www.beyondtheropes.co.uk. Easy, safe online shopping with quick delivery of the best tasting products you'll ever have. BBQ Sauces, Ketchup, Mustard,Seasoning and Beef Jerky head the all star cast.

We are now doing TWO shows in NOLA on Thursday April 3 at the House of Blues. Great, unofficial kickoff to WM30 in my biased opinion. Ticket info promised Tuesday but expect ticketmaster.com to be involved.

Tickets for RINGSIDE: An Evening with Jim Ross on Saturday March 1 at the Gramercy Theater in New York City are on sale now at the Gramercy box office and ticketmaster.com. Two shows and both are selling well.

You have a personal invite to follow me on Twitter @JRsBBQ.

Lost both my NFL Playoff bets as I had both Pats and the 49ers and the points but enjoyed a great day of NFL football on Sunday.

Speaking of the NFL on Fox, we should be finalizing my contract with Fox in the next 48 hours based on a meeting I had today with my representative. I'm very excited to begin this journey and to contribute in a fun and entertaining way to Fox Sports specially FoxSports.com.

Q&A's here are updated. If your's did not get answered it was either too long or a recently answered question.

See you back here soon.

Boomer Sooner!

JR @JRsBBQ