By Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist

Monday’s Raw, while not always smooth, was promising in a lot of ways. Ryback’s promo added a new layer to his character. It was a promo that felt completely out of left field at first, but by the end, I think WWE accomplished what was intended.

Cesaro also got mic time, and while he flubbed a line, at least he had the opportunity to make a statement. The follow-up, losing to Bad News Barrett, was not the follow-up many had in mind. But, Barrett had gained traction amongst fans before his injury, so despite Cesaro’s loss, this is hopefully a good sign for Barrett.

The Ascension finally debuted. They defeated The Miz & Mizdow, who lost the tag titles back to The Usos earlier on the show. The Ascension handily beat the former tag champions, setting them up for a likely meeting with The Usos at some point.

And Daniel Bryan made a triumphant comeback to announce he has returned to health and will be competing in the 2015 Royal Rumble match. So all in all, a Raw that felt “different” and “new” and not the same-old, same-old. Well…until the end.

All the positivity that was built up throughout the show disappeared when Triple H and Stephanie McMahon returned. John Cena was forced to bring them back in order to save Edge from a brutal beating at the hands of Big Show and Seth Rollins.

The segment itself felt like it dragged on forever, though Rollins did a good job in his role. The Authority’s return may bring a focus back to the show, and provide strong heels for the babyfaces to rail against. But, it also returns long Triple H/Stephanie promos; a feeling of the status quo; and it resets the major shake-up following the Survivor Series, rendering another stipulation useless. Heading into 2015, WWE looks a lot like it did for much of 2014. That is not a compliment.

Other Thoughts: As I’m on vacation visiting family in New York, I was able to catch most of the latest episode of ROH TV this weekend, including Brian Kendrick vs. Adam Cole. Kendrick looked good and could be a valuable addition to the WWE Performance Center if the rumors are true of him looking to get in there...I was also able to watch the Iron Sheik documentary that is now available on iTunes, called “The Sheik.” It’s an interesting look at the Sheik’s career, as well as how he was rescued from a downward spiral of drugs following the death of his daughter. I’ll have a full review of the documentary in my column in the upcoming edition of the PWTorch Newsletter...

The news of Kevin Nash’s recent run-in with his son is obviously disturbing and I hope that he can get things worked out. WWE was wise to take him off the advertising for the Kliq reunion episode of Raw, but their knee-jerk release when negative stuff gets in the press about former wrestlers, noting the last time Nash worked full-time in WWE, feels like they want to make it overly clear that “hey, this isn’t our responsibility.” It may be true, but it feels a little crass... Kurt Angle officially re-signed with TNA on the eve of their debut on Destination America. This had been all but confirmed weeks ago, and is not really a surprise. He could have had one last run in WWE, but even that was a long-shot. This may be his last full-time run, and he’s more important to TNA than he would be to WWE.

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