3-25-13 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the March 25, 2013 episode of Raw

The show starts with CM Punk & Paul Heyman coming to the ring. Heyman has the urn. Then he tosses it to Punk. Punk places the urn on the canvas and says that everyone says Taker’s undefeated Mania streak will never be broken. They say Taker’s unstoppable and that the urn feeds him power. “They” have a lot of opinions and “they” say a lot of stupid things. Punk asks the urn who are they anyway? Do they really know what they are talking about? Punk knows they don’t because everybody has opinions but his opinions are fact. He is the only 1 that matters. Last year Taker went 20-0. It’s a great legacy and it should’ve ended last year. But Taker ruined it all because he came out on Punk’s show and pointed as Punk’s sign. Now Taker’s story is being rewritten by a guy who happens to be the best in the world. The fans can boo Punk put Taker’s to blame. He didn’t take the urn to disrespect Paul Bearer. He took it because it means everything to Taker, but it doesn’t mean anything to him. He throws down the urn. The streak is Taker’s & Punk will break it. Punk has something that Taker wants & Taker is at a psychological disadvantage. If Taker returned and fought any other guy he would go to 21-0 and that Taker could have gone to 30-0 or even 50-0. Punk says there’s no one in the world that is better or smarter than he is. CM Punk is the 1 as in 20-1. He’s waiting for the lights to go out and hear the magic words rest in peace because rest is something he’s never been afforded and piece is something he’s never lived with. At Mania Taker’s streak will rest in peace. Then the gong goes off and the lights go out. When they come back on Taker’s in the ring and goes after Punk. Punk & Heyman eventually bail with the urn. Punk stands on the stage and Taker does the throat slash. Punk’s promo was really good and I liked Taker coming out but I feel really uncomfortable having Paul Bearer’s passing as the center of this feud.

 Fandango comes out to most likely not make his “debut.” He gets the mic and says his name but before he finishes Jericho’s pyro goes off and he storms to the ring and attacks Fandango. Fandango escapes & heads up the ramp to the back. Then out come Dolph, Big E & AJ. Dolph will face Jericho next. It looks they’re gonna have Jericho vs. Fandango at WrestleMania. 

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler. Jericho wins by submission. This was a solid match but Dolph lost again! Then Big E hits Jericho from behind and then gives him the big ending. Then Langston screams to Jericho, “It’s over for you!” As Dolph, Big E & AJ leave Fandango comes back out. He and his chick dance in the ring as Jericho lies on the mat. Then Fandango goes after Jericho. He shouts at Jericho to say his name. Jericho gives him a chop but then Fandango gives him a super kick. The fans give Fandango the you can’t wrestle chant. Then Fandango gives Jericho a top rope leg drop. Then he gets the mic, leans over Jericho and says, “It’s Faaaandannngooo.” This was ok. At least we finally got to see Fandango sort of in action. I’m hoping Jericho can get a good match out of Fandango at WrestleMania.

Backstage Matt Striker is with Sheamus. They show the end of Smackdown. Striker asks Sheamus if he & Orton have managed to bury the hatchet with Show. Sheamus says that when The Shield tucked their tails between their legs…then The Shield comes in & attacks Sheamus. Then Orton comes in and they beat him down too. Then Big Show comes by and he fights The Shield off. The Shield bails and then Big Show helps Orton up. This was good.

The Usos vs. Mark Henry. Henry gets the pin after the World’s strongest slam. The Usos got a bit of offense in but this was mostly a squash. Then Henry throws the other Uso in the ring and gives him a World’s strongest slams and shouts, “That’s what I do!” Then he picks up the other Uso and gives him a World’s strongest slam. Then he gives 1 of them a big splash. This was all about Mark Henry being a dominant monster and he did a good job here.

Ricardo comes out on crutches and a cast on his left foot. His legs might be weak but his voice is still strong. Then he does the usual introduction for Del Rio.

World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro. Cesaro wins by count out. Jack Swagger comes out and throws Ricardo into the steel steps. Then he drags Ricardo by the time keeper area. Then Del Rio goes after Swagger and hits him a couple of times. Then Swagger escapes through the crowd. This led to Del Rio getting counted out. Afterwards Cesaro is posing on the turnbuckle but then Del Rio gets him & gives him the cross arm breaker. Then he checks on Ricardo. The match was a back drop for the Swagger attack but I thought they Del Rio-Swagger brawl was good. However, Cesaro was booked like a jobber despite technically winning the match. That said I thought they did a good job continuing the build for Del Rio-Swagger title match.  

WWE Tag Team Champions Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. The Primetime Players. Kane & Daniel win when Kane pins Darren. This was decent. Dolph, Big E & AJ watched from the stage. Afterwards the champs jaw jack with Dolph & Big E.

Time for a look back at the HHH-Lesnar contract signing from last Monday.

Triple H comes to the ring. He says for the first time he finds himself going into a WrestleMania match knowing that if he loses his wrestling career is over. If you go against Brock and think your career won’t be over than you have already lost. Brock’s a destroyer and a guy who can end your career at any moment. Hunter’s had a 20 year career and has fought every night like his life depended on it. If Heyman thinks he’s made this grand coup by backing him into a corner, he’s mistaken. HHH tells Brock to show up at Mania like his life depends on it because it very well might. HHH is coming to WrestleMania to kick Brock’s ass. Then out comes Wade Barrett. He & HHH have a stare down and then HHH kicks him low. The promo was good and short but did they have to have Wade Barrett get punked out by Triple H?

Back to the show & Wade Barrett is in the ring selling the kick from HHH. Then out comes The Miz.

The Miz vs. Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett. Miz wins by submission. This was good but Barrett cleanly lost a non title match. It does look like they might be setting up a rematch for the title at WrestleMania though.

Kane & Daniel Bryan are backstage. Daniel needs Kane to be focused. Kane knows what he’s doing. Daniel says Kane knows what he’s doing against The Primetime Players but Dolph & Big E have she who will not be named. Then they bicker over who’s more pissed about being dumped by AJ. Then Kaitlyn comes in and tells them to move on. Daniel tells Kaitlyn AJ isn’t focusing on Kaitlyn’s Divas Title. She says she was AJ’s best friend. If the champs want to keep the tag titles at Mania they have to accept that this is the knew AJ. She is crazy. AJ was watching the whole time and then went after Kaitlyn. This was kind of weak.

Great Khali, Justin Gabriel & Zack Ryder vs. The Shield. The Shield win when Rollins pins Gabriel. Then Khali fights off The Shield but they get the upper hand and give Khali the triple power bomb. Then out comes Sheamus. Then Randy Orton. They head to the ring and Big Show comes from the other side of the ring and The Shield is surrounded. Orton, Sheamus & Show get in the ring & brawl pound on The Shield. Then The Shield retreats through the crowd. The match was a squash but I was cool with Orton, Sheamus & Big Show coming out & fighting off The Shield.

Chris Jericho comes out of Vickie’s office. Josh asks Jericho what they were discussing. Jericho says when you’ve accomplished as much as he has you become a target. Fandango has kicked his ass twice in a row but that doesn’t mean anything. Thanks to Vickie Jericho will face Fandango at WrestleMania. Jericho says now that the bulls eye is on Fandango’s forehead, Fandango will never be the same. This was a solid promo from Jericho.

Out come Rhodes Scholars. Sandow says Philly is a city that’s famous for greasy sandwiches and a stadium with a prison inside it. Tonight they have a gift for the fans. The Bella Twins.

Brodus Clay & Sweet T Tensai vs. Rhodes Scholars. Rhodes Scholars win when Cody pins Brodus. This was short. Cameron & Naomi brawled with The Bellas. That distracted Brodus & allowed Cody to hit the beautiful disaster kick for the win.

Time for a clip from the G.I. Joe movie with comments from The Rock and others in this film.

Ryback vs. 3MB. Ryback wins when he pins Slater. Ryback gave Heath & Jinder a double marching muscle buster for the win. Just like The Usos-Mark Henry match, 3MB got a bit of offense in but this was mostly a squash.

They announce that Ryback & Mark Henry will be in a weightlifting competition on Smackdown.

Then they mention that Arnold Schwarzenegger will induct Bruno Sammartino into the Hall of Fame.

Divas Champion Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee. AJ wins by count out. This was short.

Michael Cole says Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show vs. The Shield is official for WrestleMania

Time for The Rock-John Cena Q & A panel. Jerry Lawler is in the ring. At Mania the Cena-Rock match will be historic but first they’ll make a bit of history tonight. At Mania they’ll answer who will be WWE Champion but tonight they’ll answer questions from WWE Hall of Famers and super stars. Out first is 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Booker T. Then another 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Mick Foley. Then class of 2007 Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes comes out. Then out comes class of 2006 Hall of Famer Bret Hart.

Back to the show & Jerry Lawler brings out The Rock. Then John Cena. Lawler says the legends will ask Cena or Rock something and after they respond the other guy will have a chance to respond too. Mick Foley goes first. Almost 10 years ago he teamed with Rock at Mania 20. He asks Cena if he’s ready to deal with the fact that he might lose to Rock at Mania this year too. Cena says April 7 will be a historic day for WWE. Whether Cena wins or loses it will change WWE forever. If Cena wins he gets the belt and redemption. He mentions that he said losing wasn’t an option last year and then The Rock beat him. Cena knows that losing is an option. Cena then brings up Donovan McNabb and the fans boo. Statistically that guy’s the greatest quarterback to put on an Eagle’s uniform but listen to how the home town fans react to him. They boo because he couldn’t win the big one. The fans want to look to a guy who can win the big 1. If he loses he will carry the legacy of Donovan McNaab. He might be good but he will never be able to win the big one. That’s a big regret but he can handle failure, something that Rock doesn’t know of yet but he soon will. Rock says when he was 23 he was so broke he had to get his mattress out of a dumpster. A year later he got his big break in WWE and 6 months later he flopped. He tore his knee and went home. He could’ve quit but he didn’t. He came back at that time and said to just give him a mic. 2 years later he became the youngest champion and headlined WrestleMania. Then he says that he’s finally come back to Philly. Rock was riding high at that time. That night Rock got his ass kicked by Stone cold. He sat alone in that locker room thinking about that loss. He says that the guy that he became and is now will whip Cena’s ass in 13 days. Bret’s next. Bret says they’re both good friends to him but it pained him last year to watch them. It became like Bret & Michaels. What he & the fans want to know is what changed. Rock says 2 guys went at it last year looking to be the best. Rock beat Cena clean and Cena didn’t complain & Rock respects that. Cena started all this when he called Rock in an interview years ago. Rock came back to host Mania 27 and then beat him last year. Rock beat him in his home town. Then Rock proves that he will not stop till he is WWE Champion, which he is right now. Cena respects Rock and appreciates that Rock said Cena handled his loss with class and we’ll see how Rock handles losing. Next is Booker T. He says he’s the only guy on this panel who has been in the ring with both guys. He wants to know why Cena is gonna beat Rock at Mania? Cena says because he has to. Rock asks what kind of weak answer is that. Rock tells Cena to tell everyone why he thinks he has to beat Rock. Cena says Rock didn’t beat Cena, Cena beat himself. He comes out every week, some fans like him, some don’t and that’s ok. Every week for 10 years the fans have been 50-50 and Rock is the only guy that clouded his decision. Cena handled the best Rock had and then figured he could beat Rock in Rock’s hometown with Rock’s own finisher. This year he steps in the ring and does it his way on his terms. Cena knows he is better than The Rock and The Rock knows it too. Rock knows if Cena had him beat he would’ve beaten him but he didn’t. Rock talks about what happened at the end of their match last year. Rock says there’s 1 legend he wanted to be like. He had a saying. “To be the man whoooo you gotta beat the man.” Rock says Cena can’t beat the man because Cena’s not the man. Rock got the people’s elbow from Dusty’s bionic elbow. Rock says that Cena will never ever be the man. Dusty says Mania is about winning & losing. There’re no guarantees in this business. Sometimes you don’t always get what you want and sometimes what you want is not what you always get. Dusty asks what they really want. Cena wants to win the big 1 & dominate The Rock. He wants Rock to realize that Cena’s better than he is. He wants to hand Rock a loss so devastating that it will haunt him for the rest of his life. Rock says he’s not wired that way. The day after Mania Rock will still be champion and Cena will be eating Fruity Pebbles asking why he couldn’t beat The Rock. Rock says Cena can prove him wrong at Mania but how about Cena proves him wrong right now? Cena takes his shirt off and gets in Rock’s face. He does the you can’t see me gesture. Then Rock pushes him. Cena sets up Rock for the AA but Rock gets out of that and gives Cena the Rock Bottom. Rock heads up the ramp to the stage holding the title. Cena watches from the ring as Rock tells him to bring it. This ends the show. This was really good. I thought both Rock & Cena cut good promos here and really gave this match a lot of meaning. I really enjoyed hearing both guys saying why they need to win at WrestleMania. Plus it was cool to see Bret.

This show was easily better than last week’s and I thought it was a solid show overall. It also went longer than the last 2 shows. This went to 11:20. I really hope they don’t decide to make Raw 3 & ½ hours. That would really be too much. The Punk-Heyman promo/Taker attacking Punk at the start was solid but I feel really uncomfortable having Paul Bearer’s passing in this angle. The end was really good. I thought both Rock & Cena cut good promos. Del Rio-Cesaro was more of a back drop for the Swagger attack and the Del Rio-Swagger brawl and they did a good job continuing the build for the world title match. Both The Usos vs. Mark Henry & Ryback vs. 3MB were squashes. Kane & Daniel vs. The Primetime Players was decent. The backstage bit with Kane, Daniel, Kaitlyn & AJ was kind of weak I though. Kaitlyn-AJ was short. Brodus & Tensai vs. Rhodes Scholars was also kind of short. I’m curious if they’ll have Brodus, Tensai, Cameron & Naomi vs. Rhodes Scholars & The Bellas on the youtube pre show. Jericho-Dolph was solid but Dolph lost cleanly again. I was ok with Fandango attacking Jericho afterwards since he finally did something besides complain about his name being “mispronounced.” I thought Jericho’s backstage prom later on was solid too. Let’s hope that Jericho vs. Fandango will be solid. I also liked the backstage brawl with Orton, Sheamus, Big Show & The Shield. Khali, Gabriel & Ryder vs. The Shield was a squash but I liked when Orton & Sheamus came out and then Big Show came out from the other side of the ring. I thought that brawl was solid too. Triple H’s promo was good and short but I wasn’t into him kicking Wade Barrett in the groin. The Miz-Wade Barrett match was good too and while I wasn’t a fan of Barrett cleanly losing a non title match it looks they might have Miz vs. Barrett at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Title. On the whole I thought this was a solid show this week and easily better than last week’s.