That’s WWE’s Derrick Bateman on yesterday’s episode of NXT, talking to Chickbuster Kaitlyn and wearing a With Leather t-shirt.

And I’m done. I’m hanging up blogging forever, because unless the Phillie Phanatic and I end up as a tag team at Wrestlemania I don’t think my job snarking about sports news and/or Dolph Ziggler’s Jiffy Pop ass can get any cooler. This comes less than a month after one of our readers brought an @MrBrandonStroud sign to an episode of Raw, and I can’t tell you how surreal it feels to watch something I’ve been watching for decades and go “oh hey, there’s me”.

In case you’re wondering, that’s the shirt you would’ve won by participating in one of our trivia challenges. Check out the segment for yourself after the jump, and imagine me doing the dancing emoticon in real life. This one:

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Photo credit: WWE.com

Pre-show notes:

- Oh, hey, I’m back.

Before I start with the last Best And Worst Of WWE Raw column of the calendar year, I want to let Bill Hanstock and Justin O’Connor know how much I appreciate them filling in on the Best And Worst Of WWE TLC ’11 and Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 12/19 reports respectively. You guys are hilarious and I’m lucky to call you my friends. I could outsource this column every week and nobody would notice or care.

- P.S. please care. Leave us a comment if you watched the show and/or read this report. When you’ve done that (or possibly before), click that “like” button over the banner image and/or share it along. I’d really appreciate it, and if you do it enough times I can give you a sappy blurb about FRIENDSHIP~ in the pre-show notes.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- I’d also like to formally congratulate Twitter users @Methusael86 and @ImGoingCrazy. You’re the two randomly selected winners of our WWE Vengeance “retweet this and win 50 bucks” contest. You retweeted and won 50 bucks. Shoot me a message on Twitter and I’ll get you a check in the mail, because I’m old school and want you to see my racist-ass Cleveland Indians Chief Wahoo checks. If we can get this back up to 150 comments I’ll give you guys another shot at cash. Yes, I’m bribing you.

Well hell, let’s get to it. The last Best and Worst of the year starts after the jump.

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Pre-report notes include:

- I almost called this “The Worst And Worst Of WWE Raw”. Just a heads up.

- We’ve got a new social set-up on the UPROXX Network, so now is a better time to leave a comment than ever. We’re going to start giving away prizes to commenters, so get on that train early. And hey, if you disagree with my assessment of the show, let me know. I’m not “right”, I’m just a fan. At the same time, if you disagree with me, make sure you read the paragraphs that go along with the point you’re pissed about, because at least I’m trying to explain it.

- You are going to need a picture of A.J. so bad by the time you finish this report, so I’m just going to go ahead and put a picture of her (and Kaitlyn, and Derrick Bateman) from the pre-show “Solidarity Rally” in the header. You’ll thank me later.

- If you have a surgical mask of any kind, please place that over your nose and mouth before reading the next page.

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A few things before we place our votes.

- Be sure to read The Best And Worst Of WWE Hell In A Cell before reading this week’s report. Yes, there was a pay-per-view on Sunday. Another one!

- For those of you who want to follow the column more closely, be sure to – like us on Facebook!, Follow us on Twitter so you never miss an update, or follow me personally (I’ll talk to you about wrestling, I swear). We had a few technical difficulties earlier today, so I apologize for the lateness of this.

- Okay, you got me, I was busy screen-capping Kaitlyn.

- The last few columns have seen a decrease in comments, so don’t let that happen. Drop us a comment when you’re done reading and let me know what you thought of the show or the report.

Enjoy the column, or at least the first 90 minutes.

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Photo credit: WWE.com

Oh hi mark.

- For those of you who only show up to read Best and Worst (shame on you), I’m back from my nearly week-long vacation in sunny southern California for a mix of Dodgers baseball, Brady Bunch house visits and mark photos with SoCal Jack Skellington and have returned to my post as the Raw reviewer who is extremely positive about everything but only likes Alberto Del Rio. Before I start, I want to give another thank you to Andrew Johnson for filling in on The Best And Worst Of WWE Night Of Champions and to Diego “the only Dr. Cube that matters” McCafferty for The Guest And Worst Of Raw 9/19. They did a fantastic job filling in, and if you haven’t read those recaps yet, please do so.

- Like I said, this is my first column back in two weeks, so I am going to absolutely badger you to f’ing death for comments, Facebook shares, Twitter retweets, Google Plus plus-ones, Friendster wall posts (does Friendster have a wall? I can’t remember), Xanga rants and Diaryland entries in the support of Best and Worst of Raw. They are appreciated, and if I don’t get enough of them I’m turning With Leather into an indecipherable mass of misdirecting Stephanie McMahon Nude Click Here links and Free iPod announcements.

- In case you need to be bribed, and because last week nobody here liked her enough to include a gratuitous picture, here is Smackdown’s A.J. doing a split.

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A few things to go over before we begin.

- Normally the fine folks at WWEFanNation upload clips of Raw throughout the day on Tuesday, and by the time I’m done slaving away writing paragraphs about Kelly Kelly’s boobs I can plug in the appropriate videos. For some reason those videos never showed up today, so I’m going to chalk it up to WWE’s tour of Canada creating YouTube issues and/or somebody at the WWE front office finding out about Best and Worst and not wanting you to see their show without the correct number of “Royal Pains” commercials. I’m bound by doctor-patient confidentiality! I’m your brother!!!

- Comments on this post, be it feedback or just your thoughts on Raw, are appreciated. As funny as it is, I do ask that we move away from the “john cena gay” gag, as “john cena gay” has started popping up on everything on Uproxx and makes us look like a weird niche hate site. If Best and Worst has to have a running gag, let it be something that doesn’t confuse and dissuade the new people.

- Sheamus vs. Mark Henry is the main event of Smackdown this week, so if there was ever a week for me to start doing Best and Worsts of that, it’s this one. I’m also considering doing a live blog of next week’s Super Duper Live Smackdown, if that sounds like a thing you’d like.

- I’m going to be in Los Angeles next month enjoying the Dodgers, Van Gogh and the Matterhorn (in that order) so I’m looking for someone notable and accomplished to fill in for Best and Worst of Night of Champions and/or the next night’s Best and Worst of Raw. Shoot me an e-mail if you possess these qualities: 1) you are funny, and can send me something funny you wrote as proof, 2) you are able to write about wrestling in a somewhat positive way and don’t ever use the phrase “came out to a big pop”, 3) you are interested.

Anyway, enjoy the recap, and thank you for your patronage. Vote Bateman, in case this season of NXT ever decides to end.

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