(Follow me on Twitter @AndyMc81) –The King of the Ring tournament officially returned to the WWE last night on RAW with the hopes of launching a Superstar to that upper tier level. With legends like Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Edge, and Triple H as past monarchs the WWE brain trust are hoping this royal winner will take things to the next level. Remember though that for all the great careers that were elevated from becoming king there were quite a few forgettable monarchs. The likes of King Mabel, Billy Gunn, and Savio Vega to name a few…yikes!

Well last night it was Sheamus, now crowned the Celtic King who grabbed glory through two gruelling matches (and a bye), culminating with a win over John Morrison. The pasty Irishman looked good in royal garb and is at least a sign that a fresher face is getting a shot at being the next one. Sheamus will make an excellent heel monarch and hopefully plays it up to fullest with a royal court of some sort. My gut feeling though is that the victory is a gradual lead to WrestleMania where the Celtic King will square off with the King of Kings, Triple H, for ultimate royal supremacy. The Game will avenge his previous defeats to Sheamus at Mania and that will mark the end of Sheamus’ main event status.

But for now, hopefully fans will be in store for an entertaining reign by King Sheamus!

The Miz’s first Raw as WWE champion started off amazing with sidekick Alex Riley running around trying to prepare a perfect party for his mentor. Miz’s speech combined his terrific heel persona with legitimate emotion, accurately portraying how he proved skeptics from all walks of life wrong (mentioning JBL and Triple H by name).

The puzzling twist came when the anonymous general manager made a TLC match between the champ and Jerry Lawler, following The King’s rant on how Miz won the title from a severely beat up Randy Orton last week. The title match was one thing , but the fact that Miz needed help from both Riley AND Michael Cole to defeat the over 50 year old Lawler??? Way to further weaken Miz’s claim to the gold.

I know heel champions naturally cut corners, however, Miz won the title from an injured Orton, then needed help to take out The King. At some point he has to come away with a string of clean victories to look strong and be a legitimate threat. Otherwise Miz could end up looking like Chris Jericho’s first forgettable title reign where he cheated every match and no one took him seriously as champion.

Follow me on Twitter @AndyMc81. Andy is a SLAM! Wrestling writer and sports broadcaster for Rogers TV, Durham College/UOIT, and TV Cogeco in basketball, hockey, baseball, volleyball, and pro-wrestling around Ontario.

Well officially The Miz can truly claim that he is “Aweeeesome!”. Mr. Money In The Bank cashed in the briefcase last night on WWE champion Randy Orton following his match with challenger Wade Barrett on Raw. To the surprise of Miz, The Viper was much more game then typical champions when the briefcase has been cashed in.

 However, much like his entire unlikely pro wrestling career, The Miz overcame the odds and has achieved a life long dream. The Tough Enough reality star I’ll admit was an annoyance when he first came off of the TV show and I did not have much use for him. He was bullied and borderline tortured backstage by the likes of John Bradshaw Layfield and other veterans who forced him to change in a different locker room then the rest of the boys. Miz dabbled at being a WWE reporter and commentator before striking it big in a successful tag team with John Morrison.

There was something different about Miz as time went on though. Unlike so much of the talent on the roster he actually developed and evolved. Miz took that hatred from the fans and bitterness from being an outcast in the back and gradually turned it into a terrific heel persona. Now fans “hate” Miz in the right way, as a despised arrogant villain who you’ll pay money to see lose. How much money remains to be seen and will ultimately prove whether The Miz is a flash in the pan champion, or one that is here to stay.

 Now onto the “firing” and departure of John Cena. In angle where finally Cena could have turned heel and freshened up his stale babyface persona as a member of Nexus, good ol’ John did his usual right thing. He called the Survivor Series title bout fairly, counted to three in favour of champ Randy Orton instead of his Nexus boss Wade Barrett and got fired.

So Cena comes out last night on Raw for a teary heart felt goodbye…which of course any wrestling fan worth his/her salt knows will last maybe a month. He thanked his fans, family, and even got the crowd to give him a “Cena Sucks” chant for old time sakes. Then he walked out, and all the wrestlers in the back stood by and clapped for him. How much more cheesy and back to the ’80s superhero wrestler days can you get? I’ve always respected Cena as a hard worker and constantly improving his ring work. Ultimately though he’s a stale good guy on a show that desperately needs a shake up. A golden opportunity was missed to make him a massive ”bad guy” and turn Raw upside down.

Well with Cena on temporary hiatus who will rise up? Miz I’m looking at you. You have your much desired ball so run with it, and try to re-energize a show that is currently anything but “awesome”.

 Follow me on Twitter @AndyMc81

Andy McNamara is a SLAM! Wrestling writer, Play-by-Play Broadcaster and sports Host/Reporter/Colour Commentator for Rogers TV, Durham College/UOIT, TV Cogeco for basketball, hockey (OHL Oshawa Generals), baseball, volleyball, and Ontario Championship Wrestling (OCW).

A happy birthday today to Chris Irvine, better known around the world as Chris Jericho. The WWE Superstar we all love to hate turns the big 4-0 and what better time to reflect back on what has been an incredible career.

However, Jericho’s WWE career almost never broke through that proverbial glass ceiling that so many technically rich performers in Vince McMahon’s fed fell victim to. Whether the rumours were true or not Y2J seemed destined to be stuck in upper mid card limbo with the likes of his old WCW mates Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero due to the backstage politics of supposedly Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

I was one of the many furious fans back in the early 2000s that straight up hated how Triple H seemed to have endless championship runs and thought that ol’ Jericho, along with others were getting hosed. Well The Game has proven quite unselfish over the past few years and has let a plethora of Superstars take a title run. This of course included Jericho becoming the first ever Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion after defeating both The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night. This seemed like the bust out main event status that the “The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla” had been craving. But it was a lack lustre run with the champ never appearing strong and losing the gold at Wrestlemania X8 to Triple H.

No it was in Y2J’s return to WWE in 2007 (after some time off to tour with his rock band Fozzy) when he truly made his mark as an all time great. Following an unsuccessful run as a face, Jericho turned heel…and the rest is history. He became world champion in 2008 and has remained a predominant force among the elite. Following a punt to the head by Randy Orton, he has taken a hiatus for more time to perform with Fozzy.

Some of my favourite Jericho memories come from back in WCW during the late ’90′s where he was a paranoid, self absorbed cry baby. His mocking of Dean Malenko by coining himself “The Man of 1004 holds” as well as his “Conspiracy Victim” signs were classic and are another example of how WCW wasted incredible talent.

Chris was one of the last big name graduates from Stu Hart’s legendary Dungeon and has dozens of titles to his name. His impressive WWE championship stats are:

World Heavyweight Champion (5 times)

WWF Undisputed Champion (1 time)

WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion (a record 9 times)

WWF/WWE & World Tag Team Champion (5 times with Chris Benoit, The Rock, Christian, Edge/Big Show)

WWF European Champion (1 time)

WWF Hardcore Champion (1 time)

Although he was born in New York because his NHL playing father was with the New York Rangers, Canadians consider him there’s as he grew up in Winnipeg. Happy birthday Y2J and here’s hoping you return to the WWE soon to continue your legendary career.

Andy McNamara is a freelance writer with SLAM! Wrestling and a TV/radio Sportscaster who does play-by-play and host/reporting for Rogers TV, Durham College, UOIT, and TV Cogeco. Follow Andy on Twitter @AndyMc81