With the WWE Survivor Series event set for next Sunday, the company ran a major angle in England at the Raw taping last Monday that centered around the return of Ryback and the question of just which team he would be joining for SS. The Authority tried to persuade the behemoth that his best move would be to wrestle for its squad against Team Cena, if he wanted future championship opportunities and his fair share of fame and glory.
Cena, playing his usual role of the nonchalant, super-cool operator, didn't so much as attempt to recruit Ryback as dissuade him from falling for the transparently phony promises of Hunter and Steph. Ryback paused, looked around and delivered a spinebuster to Cena. When he walked out of the ring, Michael Cole lamented that it looked like Ryback was joining Team Authority, but that appeared to be somewhat premature speculation by the end of the show.
The early encounter led to a Cena-Ryback main event which ended with Kane interfering and Cena winning via disqualification. This infuriated Ryback and he attacked Kane. When Rollins tried to make peace, Ryback slugged him and before you could say Michael McGillicutty, Sheamus, Mercury, Noble, Mark Henry and Big Show ended up in the post-match melee. All of a sudden it appeared Ryback might end up opposite the Authority with Team Cena, which will apparently also include Big Show, Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler, while The Authority looks like it will be Rollins, Kane, Rusev, Mark Henry and the new look Luke Harper.
Chris Jericho returned for the European tour and appeared on Smackdown this past Friday, however it was a one-week deal for Y2J. He will be back to touring with his band Fozzy by the time you are reading this. Jim Ross made some news this past week when Jeff Jarrett announced Ross would be the play by play announcer for the upcoming New Japan pay per view from the Tokyo Dome set for Jan. 4. It will be the first wrestling announcing gig for Ross since his WWE days on Raw, although he has recently announced an MMA show .
Ross also continues to do a highly regarded weekly podcast on podcastone.com. Recent shows with former WWE writer Alex Greenfield and legendary manager J.J. Dillon were two more in a long line of podcasts that are simply fascinating shows for squared circle fans and are well worth going out of your way to listen to because they are both educational and entertaining.
The same could be said for Chris Jericho's recent podcasts with guest Dolph Ziggler and Roddy Piper's with Cowboy Bob Orton, who referenced the days of television tapings on back to back nights in Allentown and Hamburg that brought back some great memories for yours truly.
JR has also confirmed that he is working on an autobiography that should be no less than incredibly entertaining in its own right. His 40 year career in wrestling encompassed so many facets of the business - from his days working for Bill Watts in Mid-South to his tenure for Jim Crockett in Carolina and the years spent in Atlanta with WCW. All of that preceded the 20 year stint with the WWF/WWE where he served as an announcer, target of on-air ribs and head of talent relations.