For the second time in a month, I missed the RAW Recap. D'oh. I continue to have difficulty prioritizing my Monday nights, thanks to "Better Call Saul" and "The Edge and Christian Show," both of which demand my attention before I go to bed. That's the time where I always gave the RAW Recap my attention.
 
Complicating matters 36 hours ago: this weekend took a toll on Your Humble Webmaster.
 

• Monday's RAW was a sort of paradoxical one. On one hand, it was a "busy" show that really went a long way to locking us into a game plan for WrestleMania.
   
  But on the other hand, Roman Reigns is still nowhere to be found, and in his stead, WWE is focusing on a side-feud in which Triple H defends the WWE Title against Dean Ambrose on Saturday night's Roadblock event. And the whole appeal of that match is that maybe NOTHING is set in stone for WrestleMania.
   
  It's certainly an odd move by WWE, because it's clear to any fan over the age of about 12 that this whole HHH/Reigns main event at WM32 won't really go over to well. At best, Reigns gets booed out of the building, as fans rally behind HHH. At worst, the crowd just shits all over both of them... and that must be avoided at all costs. So BOOM, all of a sudden WWE introduces a very easy way to shake things up, adding Ambrose (and possibly Lesnar) to the WM32 title picture, and suddenly making things WAY more palatable.
   
  Problem is, they've had to make last second changes to WM main event plans for the past 2 years, because fans rejected Batista in 2014, and rejected Reigns last year. For as hard as it is to believe that WWE is this stupid to misjudge the obvious THREE YEARS IN A ROW, it's almost as hard for me to believe that they'd just give in to us three years in a row.
   
  The hopeful fan in me wants Saturday's show to end in chaos, resulting in a HHH/Ambrose/Reigns/Lesnar 4-way at WrestleMania. The longtime conditioned-for-disappointment cynic in me expects HHH/Ambrose to end when Lesnar runs in and attacks Ambrose, and thus, HHH retains. Wheeee! Full speed ahead to WM32, where admittedly, I think Lesnar/Ambrose should be good, but where HHH/Reigns has zero redeeming value: it's a match where it's pretty obvious that Reigns is set up to win, and nobody wants that. But nobody wants HHH as the champ, either. So even "swerving" us, by having Reigns lose, accomplishes nothing (unlike the swerve last year, where Rollins cashing in went over like gangbusters).
   
  Regardless, Saturday night is gonna be interesting... either WWE really does use it to shake up WM, or they have the audacity to dangle that shake-up in front of us, only to serve up the entirely expected. A genuine Roadblock? Or merely an annoying, money-grubbing Toolbooth? I'm sure we, as a fanbase, will lose our shit either way.
   
  As a bonus, I feel like HHH and Ambrose should be a really good match-up of styles and chemistry, and a worthy main event. They're also delivering Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt as a special attraction, and TWO tag title matches. The WWE tag titles will be on the line, as the New Day defends against Sheamus/Rusev. And in a unique move, the NXT tag titles will be defended by Dawson and Wilder, against Enzo and Big Cass. Both IC Champ Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are billed, too, and will be over huge in their home and native land of Canada.
   
  Roadblock. Saturday night. WWE Network. Nine ninety-nine. Yadda yadda yadda.
   
  
• Back to RAW, and how it did some nice things for the WM32 undercard, even if it raised more questions than it answered about the main event....
   
  Sami Zayn showed up, and attacked Kevin Owens. To us, that's a perfect set-up for a one-on-one IC Title Match at WM32. But the way WWE seems to be playing it, look for it to expand into a multi-way gimmick match. Probably a ladder match. Throw in Neville, Ziggler, Miz, and a few others, and you're good to go.
   
  Ryback continued his heelish ways, and challenged US Champ Kalisto. To us, that's a perfect set-up for a multi-way US Title match where Kalisto can bump around like crazy and Ryback's lack of moveset can be hidden by props and other guys like Neville, Ziggler, Miz, and probably a few others.. But the way WWE is playing it, look for this to be a one-on-one match, with the Big Bully taking advantage of the Little Mosquito, setting up one last shot for Ryback to get himself over.
   
  Ahem.
   
  Still, complain all you will, both the IC and US Title pictures went from 0 to 60 on Monday, and that's a good thing. Maybe WWE is flipping the two scenarios, but finally having some order out of the chaos is a step in the right direction.
   
  We also got the long-awaited heel turn out of Chris Jericho. Masterful jackass that he is, he waited until AFTER the "Y2AJ" t-shirts were printed and for sale and only THEN did he attack AJ Styles, after losing a tag title match against the New Day. Conceivably, those two could be added to whatever IC or US Multi-Way Match WWE chooses to do... all their talk of wanting "WrestleMania Moments" certainly means chasing a title makes more sense than a singles match between the two; but you never know...
   
  The Triple Threat for the Women's Title is also locked in, and they're keeping it simple: the fans can pick whoever they like between Becky and Sasha, and Charlotte's just gonna keep stirring the pot, trying to drive a wedge between them, so her job is easier at Mania.
   
  And lastly, the Shane/Vince stuff was no great shakes, but after last week, it's still a huge upgrade. They're just really overplaying their hand on all the "OMG this is REAL FAMILY DRAMA," which is the part nobody cares about. And I think they are neglecting the INTERESTING part, which is the business aspect of somebody who might have good ideas taking over RAW. I don't care about Vince breaking picture frames; I don't care about Steph claiming that she's put too much effort into her work to be pushed aside.... I care about Shane breaking kendo sticks, and the fact that -- as far as the fans' perspective goes -- Steph may have worked very hard, and gets an A for effort, but she's still not produced the best results. Maybe Shane can.
   
  To me, that's the meat of the story, moreso than sibling rivalry, or the notion that Vince writing Shane out of his will makes a lick of difference (since Shane is independently wealthy)..... oh, and also, the small matter of WHY THE HELL IS THE UNDERTAKER DOING THIS, ANYWAY? Because nobody's bothered even TRYING to sort that out.
   
  That said, Shane undoubtably has the babyface gene, and was once again on fire on Monday, closing the segment out by beating the hell out of four security guards. That's a nice little "reveal" along the way to WM, since Shane is 8 years older than last we saw him, but is also apparently a bit more coordinated and athletic, thanks to all them karate classes.
   
  All told, I think a final grade of B is the right call. Coulda been a B+ or A-, but they didn't really do anything with the main event. Ring the bell, wait for Wyatts, obvious teaser brawl to build up to the PPV on Saturday. Meh.
   
  
• Shane's return spiked ratings for WWE, and two weeks since, RAW has stayed ahead of recent averages. However, the distressing trend of viewership declining over the course of the three hours continues... WWE is doing a better job of getting more eyeballs locked in to start RAW, but still struggles to keep them around.
   
  This week, RAW opened with almost 4 million viewers and averaged 3.8 million for the first hour.  Then 3.6 million for hour two, and 3.2 million for the third hour. This is pretty much par for the course.
   
  
• SmackDown's move to USA Network has seen the show pop back up to about 2.4 million viewers, on average, a jump of about 500,000 versus where they were for the last few months on SyFy.  That's still probably a bit shy of what everybody was hoping for when this decision was made almost a year ago (when SD on SyFy was topping 2.5 million per week), but you take what you can get, and the bump from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016 is a statistically significant one.
   
  
• News isn't as good for Total Divas on the E! "Network." The "reality" show, which opened to about 1.2 million viewers per week for it's first couple of seasons, only averaged about 1.0 million for its summer season in 2015.
   
  So far this new season, viewership has settled in at about 600,000 per episode. With all due respect to the women, who surely enjoy the extra exposure and paycheck, it couldn't happen to a more deserving show. Well,  yes, it could, if that show featured Kardashians or Jenners or Dance Moms.... but the genre, as a whole, is a toxic sludge with no redeeming values.
   
  
• While the Rock is still hyping an appearance at WrestleMania 32 (capacity, unknown), and while Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin are all going to be used, too, John Cena just revealed that -- despite his best efforts to beat the odds -- he will not be competing at WM.
   
  Unless I'm missing something, Cena has been a part of every WM since WM20, in 2004, where he won his first US Title. He hasn't exactly been injury-free, but when the chips are down, he's always made it back for the Big One, which is remarkable.
   
  Of course, now that Cena has announced he won't be there, he WILL be there. Hell, how well does one have to be to jump in there for the Andre Battle Royale? The fricking Iron Shiek won a Battle Royale at WM18, despite being barely able to walk.
   
  
• Assuming Cena is back for WrestleMania 33, we now officially know where he'll be on that day: Orlando, FL.
   
  Orlando's Citrus Bowl was kind of a toilet when WWE went there for WM24, but in the middle of a 2 year super makeover made possible by BCS money. WWE was suitably impressed by the new look, and agreed to return to the site, despite their displeasure with how things went down 8 years ago.
   
  Of course, with NXT and the Performance Center located in Orlando, look for WWE to expand the weekend's events accordingly.
   
  
• Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker started on Monday. I only mention it because the conventional wisdom is that, if Hogan wins and gets this swept under the rug, he will be welcomed back in WWE. Possibly even as soon as WM weekend.
   
  For WWE, the embarassing part wasn't that Hogan got caught on a sex tape, it was more the racist shit Hogan said on said sex tape, apparently while wasted out of his gourd. To a man, people who know Hogan have sworn that he doesn't have a racist bone in his body.... but like many (especially those of a certain age), Hogan may not have any truly Racist (capital "R") feelings, he'll still say stupd racist (lower-case "r") things, and so he had to pay his pennance.
   
  If the whole thing just goes away, with Hogan as the nominal "victor," then the heeling can begin.
   
  Personally, I don't think there can be a "victor" here, because even a charitable interpretation of events casts Hogan as a complete sleazebag.... but much like the aforementioned case of Total Divas, the particulars don't really matter, and I just wish all manner of harm upon Gawker and TMZ and their entire genre, which is a scourge upon any attempt to have a civilized society.
   
  So: go, Hogan, go? [I feel gross.]
   
  
• That's all I got for today, kids. Even if I'm tardy with the posting, Pyro's still got all the details from SmackDown for you, and I'll be back on Saturday night with a full recap from Roadblock.
   
  See you then, and in the meantime: GO FLYERS~!