This week’s Raw featured less than 25 minutes of wrestling, but that’s no complaint. Fans were treated to quality promos from some of the WWE’s top mic talents. John Cena opened the show with a response to the statements made by the Rock last week, and he brought his A-game. Reverting to his former, rapping self for “one night only,” The Doctor of Thuganomics unleashed a rhyme on The Rock that was both hilarious and poignant. He reminded fans of the Rock’s abandonment of the WWE, criticized The Great One’s movies, and slung some accusations about The People’s Champ not caring much about his people at all. Should these two engage in a full-fledged feud, we’ll be in store for some amazing verbiage in the upcoming months. No matter where you stand on either guy, they’re two of the WWE’s all-time biggest draws, and the reason for that is because of the game on the microphone.
Meanwhile, on Ring of Honor, the Kings of Wrestling and the All Night Express split victories in a pair of singles matches. Claudio Castagnoli was victorious in his match with Rhett Titus, while Kenny King was able to get the better of Chris Hero. The two teams will meet at the company’s 9th Anniversary show this Saturday. Christopher Daniels also wrestled on last night’s show, successfully defending his TV Title agaisnt Devon Storm. The rest of Monday Night’s action, including the massive returns of The Undertaker and Triple H, after the jump.
- Cena wasn’t the only one to stand in the middle of the ring and deliver an impactful promo on Monday night. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler went face-to-face in an interview that resulted in Cole fleaing the King through the crowd. Although he promised to display professionalism, Cole’s line of questioning was stabbing, and it led to Lawler challenging his broadcast partner to a match at WrestleMania. Although the card for the big PPV is already crowded, I have to believe that this match will be a part of the show.
- The 2.21.11 countdown clock expired square in the middle of Raw, and The Undertaker made his unsurprising return. He was immediately followed by Triple H, confirming rumors that the two will meet at WrestleMania. Now let’s see if that career gets put on the line…
- Sheamus, who hasn’t been able to buy a win as of late, lost again on Monday night, this time to Mark Henry. After the match, Sheamus engaged in a stare down with Daniel Bryan backstage, and I suppose these two could be on a collision course at WrestleMania. With his potential match against The Game being foiled by The Undertaker, Sheamus is currently without an opponent on the show. A US Title match between the Celtic Warrior and the equally opponentless Daniel Bryan could remedy the WrestleMania problem for both men.
- Hacksaw Jim Duggan is going into the Hall of Fame, HOOOOO!
- CM Punk defeated John Morrison in a match that would have been better had the two not been selling injuries from last night. They both hobbled and gimped around for the duration of their match, which was only three minutes. Post-match, Miz got on the stick and tried to appeal to “Randall” Orton’s sensibilities, telling him to walk away from their feud. Of course, Orton wanted no parts of Punk’s offer and charged the ring, chasing the Straight Edger off. In my opinion, Punk is superior to Randy Orton in just about every conceivable way, and I will be crushed if they put Orton over him at WrestleMania.
- Smackdown’s Alberto Del Rio was being introduced for a match against an unknown opponent but was attacked from behind by Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston. Kingston maintained the upper hand for a minute, but after Ricardo involved himself, Del Rio turned the tide. He brutally assaulted the Jamaican star and applied a nasty cross arm breaker. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kofi selling this injury for a few weeks.
- The Miz cut a fairly decent promo on The Rock before being interrupted by the Raw GM. The main event was announced as a Tag Team Title match between the Corre and The Miz & Cena. It seems like every year, right before Mania, the Champ and the #1 contender take part in a match like this, and usually exit the Champions. It’s never been entertaining.
- Gail Kim & Eve jobbed to the Bella Twins in a two and a half minute match that served no discernable purpose.
- In the main event, The Miz & John Cena defeated The Corre to become the WWE Tag Team Champions in a very awkward three minute match. The ending came cleanly after The Miz hit a Skull Crushing Finale on Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater just stood on the apron and watched the three count. Immediately following the match, the Corre invoked their rematch clause and were able to regain the belts when the Miz turned on Cena. The purpose of this main event eludes me. The Miz and Cena are exactly where they were before tonight, Gabriel & Slater padded their numbers with a pointless title reign, and nothing was accomplished in terms of building for WrestleMania.
I enjoyed the show, but most of that was because of the fabulous mic work of John Cena, CM Punk, and The Miz. The WWE creative team seemed to fall asleep at the wheel half way through Raw, and things really began to go awry. At any rate, the Road to WrestleMania is taking shape, as Cena vs Miz, Orton vs Punk, Triple H vs Undertaker, and King vs Cole all look like locks on the Raw side of the card. Sheamus vs Bryan looks like it could be happening, and Mania could realistically need to accomodate a dozen matches this year. One has to assume that Smackdown will get to work giving some form to their half of the show this Friday.
I disliked what they did with the 2.21.11 unveiling… They should have had the Undertaker talk for a few minutes about his return and then showed the second figure and a new 20 second countdown on the screen to introduce Triple H. All the buildup, 7 minutes worth of entrances to have them only come out use there trade mark taunts and leave.
Also I thought it was made a little weaker having Sheamus come out immediately following that segment. What sense does it make that the guy who took Triple H out 10 months ago comes out right after the guy returns and loses to Mark Henry.
Yeah man, the segment did nothing for me, it seemed to get the crowd hot though. Actually, the match itself doesn’t do much for me either. If Triple H is going to lose his career, I think it would have been better to just have Sheamus as the man that ended it. The Undertaker doesn’t need another notch in his belt. And I agree, Sheamus jobbing to Mark Henry immediately after the segment didn’t do any favors to his character or to the preceding returns. Wade Barrett kind of seems left out in the cold now too, as he was the logical opponent for Taker after the events of Survivor Series.
The one bit of solace I do take in this match is that WrestleMania will feature Triple H and Undertaker (who it was bound to include anyway), and they won’t be in a title match or squashing young talent. They can’t really do much damage in this capacity. After all the 2.21.11 buildup though, you’re absolutely right, the payoff was flat. It would have been much cooler to include a second countdown, if for nothing else but to give those of us holding out hope for somebody else an extra 20 seconds of excitement.
Agreed and I def look forward to the match. I love these type of matches because it takes you back to growing up and watching the early feuds between the guys. Everything from the build up to the match itself just has a feeling in it that you don’t get from a lot of today feuds.
With The Rock being the host, and Stone Cold surely being present due to the debut of Tough Enough the next night, this Mania will definitely have it’s share of nostalgia. I can definitely see a Rock / Austin segment being part of the show along with the HHH vs Taker match, and HBK will there because of his HOF induction. Some of the backstage segments and what not could get wild.
Also I hope Vince saw the reaction John Cena’s promo got because his current current character has been stale for about 5 years and going.
Man, Cena’s promo last night was SO GOOD. I liked him a lot when he first adopted the rapper gimmick shortly after his debut. And while I’ve never been strictly anti-Cena, I definitely stopped enjoying him somewhere around his US title run. But I marked out to last night. That was awesome, and was the perfect response to The Rock. Hopefully he keeps it up.