Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of A RAW Opinion, I’m Joe and as always I take you through this weeks episode of WWE Raw and give you my thoughts along the way. This is the final Raw before WrestleMania.
We start things off this week with a tag team match. Randy Orton and Sheamus going up against World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and Kane. Very good match, Daniel Bryan and Kane got the win when Sheamus went for a Brogue Kick but AJ got in his way, after she was moved aside, Sheamus kissed the kick, Kane delivered a choke slam and Daniel Bryan got the pin.
Michael Cole is in the ring, he puts on a Team Johnny shirt and says he’s been named official commentator for Team Johnny, he calls John Laurinaitis out from the back, Laurinaitis announces Vickie Guerrero as the official flag bearer, he then introduces his team captain David Otunga, Booker T interrupts, he introduces Teddy Long as the man who is going to send John Laurinaitis back to his “little office cubicle.” Teddy comes out from the back and introduces his team captain, Santino Marella, Hornswoggle comes out with him waving a flag. Booker says he’s the official commentator for Team Teddy. (Awesome…) This turns into captain VS captain Santino VS Otunga, very dumb match. This turns into comedy, with flags being waved in the ring, Otunga swings the flag pole and it bounces off the rope hitting himself, Santino hit’s the Cobra on Otunga for the win. After the match, Teddy pushes Johnny, Johnny got in Teddy’s face, Santino went for a Cobra on Johnny but Miz came in and hit Skull Crushing Finale on Santino, Johnny announced Miz being the final member of Team Johnny (He messed up and said Team Teddy first which was pretty funny)
Up next, they show a video hyping up Triple H VS The Undertaker, taking a look back at their careers, damn good video, WWE’s production is always top notch, great stuff.
Eve comes out to the ring, Eve comes out to the ring being accompanied by Beth Phoenix, her opponent is Kelly Kelly. Hoeski chants for Eve as soon as the match starts. Kelly gets the win in a longer then usual divas match, Eve missed a moonsault and Kelly rolled her up for the pin. Better divas match then I thought, but still not good.
CM Punk walking around backstage, they announce CM Punk VS Christian coming up next.
Christian gets to the ring first, CM Punk comes out after, before the match starts Chris Jericho comes up on the big screen and talks about his family some more this week he did some digging about his mother, but she doesn’t have any vices, however he looked into the wedding date of his mother and father and It’s after Punk was born so CM Punk is the “legal definition of a bastard” Christian attacked him from behind, Punk go the upper hand and started beating on Christian outside the ring, slamming his face into the announce table a bunch of times, the referee tried to get Punk to stop but he chased him off, Punk picked Christian up and yelled for Jericho, Punk dropped Christian face first on the steps and locked Christian in the Anaconda Vise, as he continues yelling “This is you Jericho” it took four referees to get Punk off of Christian, Punk walked away but then ran back and went back to work on Christian, locking him back in the Anaconda Vise, no match took place but this was HEAVY. Watching Punk finally snap because of Jericho, this match on Sunday between Jericho and Punk is going to be INSANE! I really cannot wait to see it!
We come back from commercial, Michael Cole says Christian may have reinsured his neck.
Brodus Clay up next, his victim this week is Curt Hawkins. Brodus gets the win in a short match, I was surprised Hawkins got as much offense in that he did.
Big Show coming out next, his opponent is Primo. God I love Rosa Mendes. Alright, now that that’s out of the way… Big Show beats Primo quickly, after the match Cody Rhodes comes out from the back, he talks about Big Show choking at WrestleMania. Michael Cole announced during this match that Christian is OUT of the match at WrestleMania between Team Teddy and Team Johnny. (On Twitter, John Laurinaitis announced that taking Christians place is Drew McIntyre)
Backstage Brie and Nikki are arguing about Team Teddy VS Team Johnny. Zack Ryder walks up to them and pisses both of them off, Eve walks up to him and flirts with him.
Up next Mark Henry VS the Great Khali… (Wonderful) Mark Henry wins in a mercifully short match after hitting the Worlds Strongest Slam. After the match Johnny threw Teddy inside the ring, Henry cornered him and Johnnys entire team blocked the entrance so Team Teddy couldn’t get by, the entire team ran down and broke the wall, Kofi was able to get through, Kofi took a Worlds Strongest Slam, Henry went back after Teddy but Booker ran in and took out Henry. Teddy got on a microphone and thanked Booker, Teddy then asked Booker to be on his team at WrestleMania. Mercifully that takes one terrible commentator away from the table during that match.
Up next, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson, face to face. They’ve been showing videos all night, between the special they aired before Raw and all the videos they’ve shown throughout the show, I really can’t stand this feud anymore, this is way too much overkill.
Dwayne comes out to the ring first, he gives about a 5 minute speech sucking up to Georgia, John Cena comes out interrupting Dwayne, they go back and forth for over 15 minutes, it got a little long and the fans seemed restless and just started booing both men at one point, Cena really drove it home at the end though. I thought this was a good segment despite it getting stale toward the middle.
This weeks final Raw before WrestleMania I’ll give it a 4/5 simply because the segments that they had to build up to WrestleMania this Sunday were great, I wish they would have had Shawn, Hunter and Taker there live tonight but they didn’t, Jericho and Punk is going to be an absolute war, I’m actually looking forward to that match the most.
I hate that Christian was taken out of the match at WrestleMania, I wonder why he was in the first place. I don’t hate the fact that Drew McIntyre is replacing him though, I’ve always thought he was very underrated, hopefully now he gets a chance.
On a slightly related note, I had this debate/argument on Twitter during Dwayne’s part, I said that he was going to spend most of his promo trying to trend on Twitter, so I was called a hypocrite more or less because I’m a Zack Ryder fan, my argument is It’s fine for Zack to do it because that is his GIMMICK, he’s the internet darling and that’s who he has to pander too. Dwayne just does it because he can.
That’s all for this weeks column, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the column and the show.
Ringsidehustle.com 
Wrestlemania 28 is looking to be a great show.
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Is it just me, or did RAW not have that “WrestleMania Go-Home Show” feel to it?
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I think they wanted as little actual in ring stuff as possible to prevent any possible injuries.
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I felt it, too. I really don’t like how Jericho/Punk is playing out. I wish Jericho as actually on Raw instead of the Titantron. Rock/Cena had the most time it seemed. Taker/HHH/Michaels just kinda….had a video package. So weird.
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All I freaking wanted (in this feud at least) was a face-to-face promo by two of the best talkers in the business, Jericho and Punk.
The Titan Tron is the most over heading into WM; it’s been the center piece.
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Why in gods name wouldn’t they do face to face? Why wouldn’t they be building this match huge? Jericho/Punk face to face screaming at each other would make me want to attack the TV I would be so into it. Fuck Rock/Cena is so annoying now because it’s taken priority over IMO the best match of the card.
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Y2J/Punk “might” be the best match, but Rock/Cena is the biggest and will get more casual fans to buy the PPV.
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Jericho/Punk was being billed to be the most exciting verbal of confrontations of the run up, the fact this didn’t happen and Y2J appeared via satellite 2 weeks in a row is a huge disappointment
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Maybe Jericho is The Rock?
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I was looking forward to the Christian/Punk match… Shame
What happened to Taker/HHH? The go home show and one of the main events are only promoted via video package. Disappointed.
Brodus Clay still having squash matches to be kept relevant, why did they debut him if they didn’t intend to do anything with him until after Wrestlemania?
Was disapponited Rock/Cena didnt come to blows, was a bit of a flat stare down for the curtain
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Punk taking out Christian did put over how scary Punk was when mad and in “the zone”.
Vince didn’t want Taker/HBK to be on the show. ?
I’m think WWE is gonna start a Clay angle after WM.
I’ve heard WWE wanted to save any combat with Cena/Rock for WM itself.
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I didn’t mind the Punk/Christian thing as I hope these two actually have a few matches in the future. I could see Christian coming back after Mania bitching about Punk, and how he deserves one more match against Punk. It could be epic.
Especially weird how Taker wasn’t on the show.
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He had to attend a funeral. (sorry)
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LOL nooooooo. hahah. Agree with this, too…
Capt Smooth said: “Y2J/Punk “might” be the best match, but Rock/Cena is the biggest and will get more casual fans to buy the PPV.”
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It is true though, most of the fair weather fans who stopped watching years ago are going to order Mania to see Rock/Cena. I understand my money isn’t greener then theirs, but I would like to think my opinion means more since I’ve supported the WWF/E before AND after “It was cool to watch wrestling”
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What makes your opinion more important than a fan of the Rock/Cena match? WM is not a playlist. You don’t get exactly what you want. I’ve been a fan since the mid-80’s and Rock/Cena is the biggest match for me. That doesn’t mean I should get exactly what I want. Rock/Cena is the biggest match, because it has the biggest names and both are young enough to be in their prime.(Rock is older, but doesn’t have the wear and tear.) Jericho/Punk isn’t at that level. Should be good though.
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Hopefully Punk/Christian will have a fued, at least this adds an instigator.
I know WWE have had a contact rule between Cena/Rock, but this is Pro Wrestling, that is how problems are solved. You say your pice then follow with the physical nature. Not having two wrestlers brawl just goes against Wrestling Basics 101. Talking the talk for a whole year has put a slight dampener on the fued, a Rock Bottom here and an Attitude Adjustment here wouldn’t have hurt either stars cred (god forbid)
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If they had gotten into a fight, you would’ve had countless people complaining that they didn’t “save it for WM”. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.
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To me wrestling is just that, all about the fight. if they had had a pull apart type brawl I feel it would have added to the cause. Like an ‘oh, so close’ and surfacing their feelings.
These guys have verbally hit on each other all year, these guys have come to blows what, once? If they actually felt the way they did, in their wrestling mind they wouldn’t want to wait until Wrestlemania. That is why to me, this feels like nothing more then WWE putting on a show.
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It’s just conflinting viewpoints. Some want a fight now. Some want to save it for the show. I would’ve prefered a pull-apart, but it’s not that big a deal that they saved it. I understand why, so I won’t trash.
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I pretty much echoed these sentiments in my own review. Rock / Cena have talked each other to death, it was time for some action on the go home show. Talking also made little sense following on from last week after Rock had sent a physical message to Cena via Mark Henry.
Good review – I can’t wait for Jericho / Punk either though I predict that Rock/Cena is going to be like a **** 1/2 bout minimum.
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I would’ve rather had a pull-apart just as a taste before their match.
My only concern with Cena/Rock is if they don’t have that match chemistry together. Some do. Some don’t.
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I was half expected an half-assed show. Saying that, all WWE had to do was make sure Rock/Cena was sold well….and it was.
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In that case, they could’ve just had their handshake a year ago, and that be it, because I’m pretty sure the majority were sold then.
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Yeah, they don’t need blow for people to buy.
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Probably would have been better than the war of words they’ve had, Cena moaning that Rock has made it big time and Rock trend getting
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I don’t see any “moaning”.
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Seriously? Thats what 75% of his promos are is whinging how The Rock is now a Hollywood star and he’s still running the circuit. Depends how you interpret them I suppose.
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He’s just saying Rock is “fake” and that he’s back for the money. I don’t agree. I’m sur ethe money is nice, but I’m sure it has to feel good for him to get that rush with the crowd.
Rock is saying that people are getting tired of Cena. I don’t agree that they got tired of him now. They’ve been saying that since 2005, but I think much of the initial backlash was due to the rise of the contrarian culture that trashes whatever becomes “popular”.
This is why the whole match should’ve been about respect, not insults.
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They probably were but fans were expecting a good feud/build for Rock/Cena going into WM along the road.
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But just because it’s not what people wanted doesn’t make it a bad build. Not a playlist.
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The reason Jericho/Punk didn’t do face to face is because with what Jericho has been saying, you can’t have them face to face without Punk ripping his head off his shoulders.
As for Rock/Cena I’ve been losing interest for a little while now, more so in the past few weeks as WWE continued shoving it down our throats, I don’t like Rock or Cena, but I can at least respect Cena for showing up every week, and you know what, Cena might come off as complaining when he talks about Rock, but every single word Cena has said is 100% true.
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I’d say both have points, but do go overboard with them. (see above post written at 2:03 am)
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Yeah, that’s true. Also by making us more anxcious to watch these two wrestle, it makes it all the better.
Rock/Cena – The winner will be…The Rock. Not many people are saying Rock will win, but I say why on Sunday!
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The real winner will be Hornswoggle. He’ll come in and kick both their asses.
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Just watched it.
I agree with everyone on this comment section, Jericho Punk should have had face to face confrontations, the titantron pissed me off. I mean, The Rock’s already covered the whole “via Satellite” thang.
Punk going nuts on Christian was a little rough, starting to think Christian is legit hurt via Punk. I was kinda looking at the TV thinking, Jeez Punk go easy.
I was actually glad Triple H and Taker didn’t have anything on Raw other than the video package (which I skipped). The build up to the match hasn’t gotten me excited for it. I am excited for the match but only because I know how good Taker and Triple H are, and the fact I wanna see if HBK gets involved.
The Rock and Cena was done to perfection, I was gagging for them to hit each other, but I think this has been what WWE has wanted all along.
Agree with everyone again though, it didn’t really feel like a go home show. Unfortunately.
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Jericho has been doing stuff on the titantron, because he knows he shouldn’t say that to Punk’s face.
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But did that actually hurt the build of the match or make it better? I understand what they’re trying to do here, and make it look like Punk wants to kill him. Jericho being the antagonist will be the sneaky, slippery, slimy fish that keeps getting the upper hand until finally Punk overcomes. Perhaps this will be drawn out till SummerSlam?
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I still like the idea of Punk throwing water on Jericho’s light-up jacket.
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You people are too smart!
I agree with ViolentShadows, it probably doesn’t hurt it too much. I mean, it’s slightly annoying but isn’t that what Jericho’s role is? You have made me see the light Bones!
Also, Capt, that idea sounds like a good idea. Jericho the sneaky, slippery, slimy fish would turn into baked salmon if Punk done that!
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