Last night's (Jan. 2, 2012) episode of WWE Raw wasn't just supposed to feature the big reveal of the mystery return man. No, it was also scheduled to mark the debut of one Brodus Clay.
You know Clay. Or maybe you did but forgot because it's been so long since we've seen him. He started on NXT, which is a black hole of its own, before jumping to the Raw brand to be Alberto Del Rio's bodyguard, which he was for a few months before bailing to film a movie. He returned on Superstars and started squashing people left and right, to the point that it was clear WWE was going to do something with him.
They started airing vignettes teasing his return as a big monster heel who was going to destroy everyone. He's a giant of man, after all, and heaven forbid he's given any real depth of thought. Nontheless, the vignettes led to a specific date that he was set to re-debut (for whatever reason they're calling it a 'debut' even though it's not) but a funny thing happened.
He was nowhere to be found.
Then the next week, he also didn't show up after being advertised. And then the next week. And the next. And the one after that. And now it's become his gimmick. Clay is now "the guy who is going to debut on Raw next week." He's stuck in purgatory, which sucks for him, but it's led to hilarity for us. In fact, John Laurinaitis' Twitter account cracked wise on it last night after yet another failed debut:
"And to those wondering why Brodus didn't debut tonight, I have my reasons. He will debut next week, I promise. Why would I lie?"
At this point, Clay's debut can't live up to the gimmick he has now. It just won't be as fun when he's actually on TV in legitimate matches instead of (kayfabe) on the phone complaining to Laurinaitis about not debuting for another week.
Am I crazy here or would it be awesome to see this thing just drag on for an unbelievably long amount of time?