"WWE RAW" 2-28-11 Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

The Rock has a response for what John Cena had to say last week. And after last week's silence that spoke volumes, The Undertaker vs. Triple H is official for WrestleMania!

WWE RAW #927
Monday, February 28, 2011 @ 9 p.m. ET/8 CT on USA Network

U CAN'T 'FRIEND' ME
Tonight, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson responds to John Cena's comments from last Monday. Judging from his Facebook page, don't expect The Great One to "Friend" Cena!

CEREB-RAW ASSASSIN
Following his startling reemergence last Monday to challenge The Undertaker to a momentous clash at WrestleMania, Triple H returns to Raw. What does The Cerebral Assassin have in store for The Phenom and the WWE Universe?


Please remember that not everyone reads spoilers for taped programs and direct or side comments about WWE shows that have yet to air are not acceptable in this thread. Additionally, spoilers for shows that air after the show that is the subject of this thread do not belong here.

[Kindness King]

Random fan yelling a Dumb and Dumber reference = .

[ToonFaithful]

Mistico, now known as Sin Cara looks amazing. I've heard good things about the guy, can't wait to see him in the ring!

[Matt Hazuda]

Is anyone else completely sick of Cena's gay jokes each and every week? It was awful when he started doing it and it has gotten progressively worse each and every time.

[EinBebop]

Eve: "But first of all, I have something I want to get off my chest...."
Yay, Eve's going to tell me who will win the battle royal...

[Wonderwall]

Is anyone else completely sick of Cena's gay jokes each and every week? It was awful when he started doing it and it has gotten progressively worse each and every time.

Could be worse...could have been a joke by Alex Reily. Wow that toilet joke was something else. I've heard bad jokes before but that takes the cake.

[JShaggy]

Could be worse...could have been a joke by Alex Reily. Wow that toilet joke was something else. I've heard bad jokes before but that takes the cake.

That joke Riley made was pretty weak. You can only go so far with the toilet humor before it gets old and stale.

[Zen Man]

Wouldn't it be awesome if Austin and Rock show up next week and just school everybody?

[RedNinja84]

Wouldn't it be awesome if Austin and Rock show up next week and just school everybody?

God please let this happen. Just one night to have the Rock and Stone Cold back together again.

[EinBebop]

I approve. Because Miz going one-on-on with Cena and losing will still be more credible than any scenario with Alex Riley in his corner.

And whatever the future holds for Alex Riley... tonight he went one-on-one with John Cena in a steel cage in the main event of Raw. Whatever comes of his career from here, he had this one pretty big moment.

[sag_2002]

How ironic. The Undertaker makes his long awaited return to RAW, and the following week, the burials begin. Yes, tonight saw quite a few guys get jobbed out in spectacular fashion. Among the unfortunate victims:

*Sheamus. The 2010 King of the Ring is all but certain to be Future Endeavored after getting destroyed by Triple H in the opening segment, then jobbing to a returning Evan Bourne..

*Michael McGillicutty. The son of the late Curt Hennig was less than perfect tonight, as he joined fellow New Nexus mate Husky Harris back down to FCW by getting the Punt of Doom by Randy Orton.

*Daniel Bryan. The US champion never even made it to the ring before the Miz Pearl Harbor'd him shortly before the main event.

*And finally, Alex Riley. Miz's Mizfit lost the main event cage match to John Cena and was fired/forced to leave the WWE Champion's side.

Other developments:

*A few more Wrestlemania matches were announced tonight. Taker-HHH is official, as is Cole-King (Cole will have Jack Swagger as his trainer) and Orton/Punk.

*The Rock answered Cena's rap last week with a killer promo of his own.

*Otherwise, not a lot of actual wrestling tonight, which made for an interesting but fairly tedious RAW. My overall grade; 2/5.

[hobbyfan]

What worked:

The Rock, of course. You take something real, like the interview Cena had somewhere that was the touchstone for this angle, and you run with it. It sells itself.

Triple H. The man sounds like he's ready to follow his best bud HBK into retirement, but I'd not be surprised, as I said before, if the Dead Man & the Game end up both retiring this year. As for unfinished business, well, Sheamus was dealt with rather quickly, wasn't he?

Cole vs. Lawler. Ok, so Jack Swagger will be Cole's trainer/cornerman. Is that bait for luring JR into this scenario? I don't think so. The guest referee is yet to be revealed, and we've got a month's worth of Raws to find out about that one. I don't think JR will be in this spot, either. Of course you know there's a certain disreputable ex-GM that's looking for work right about now......

What didn't work:

Lack of matches. 4 on tonight's card, with one screwjob, and that was in, of all things, the diva battle royal. The Bellas vs. Eve for the Divas title?!? What worked for a now-stale act like LayCool won't work with the Bellas. They're not championship material. Eve tried stooging them off, and got beat down. They don't impress me as heels and evil twin gimmicks are a dime a dozen anyway.

Sheamus getting squashed, Daniel Bryan getting beaten down by Miz, & Michael McGillicutty getting punted back to FCW. Apparently, Creative is looking to clear the decks by Wrestlemania and start fresh. Nexus jumped the shark long ago, and changing leaders to CM Punk didn't help. If I'm Wade Barrett & the Corre over on Smackdown, I'd worry about Undertaker.........

Miz and his ego. He's definitely jobbing at Wrestlemania. He stuck his foot in his mouth when he said he was going to beat the Rock. That tells me right there he's not winning jack shiznit at the big dance, and that giant ego of his is going to be cut down. He's lost A-Ri, who couldn't win a match on Raw, even with Miz's help, to save his life. I see Riley joining McGillicutty on the FCW express bus.

Oh, and Miz? You're definitely not the most must-see champ. I think guys like Hunter, Cena, Rock, and some others would disagree pretty strongly.

Time to fire the writers. Let Cena go back to the freestyles, and let the rest of the guys do their own things.

[Wonderwall]

How ironic. The Undertaker makes his long awaited return to RAW, and the following week, the burials begin. Yes, tonight saw quite a few guys get jobbed out in spectacular fashion. Among the unfortunate victims:

*Sheamus. The 2010 King of the Ring is all but certain to be Future Endeavored after getting destroyed by Triple H in the opening segment, then jobbing to a returning Evan Bourne..

Really? You think a former two time WWE champion is going to be released because he got beat up( while he didn't expect it ) and jobbed to a guy after he went through a table. Was it cool, not really but it isn't out of the ordinary for Sheamus lately and to say he is all but released is really overreacting.

*Michael McGillicutty. The son of the late Curt Hennig was less than perfect tonight, as he joined fellow New Nexus mate Husky Harris back down to FCW by getting the Punt of Doom by Randy Orton.

He got in some offense so I wouldn't call that a burial.

*Daniel Bryan. The US champion never even made it to the ring before the Miz Pearl Harbor'd him shortly before the main event.

Being sneak attacked is also not grounds for burial

*And finally, Alex Riley. Miz's Mizfit lost the main event cage match to John Cena and was fired/forced to leave the WWE Champion's side.

Refer back to McPerfect. He got offense and it's already been established that Riley can't win legit in kayfabe so I don't see that as burial either.

[EinBebop]

A couple of interesting notes...

1.. What got cut for time tonight? The announcement of a Hall of Fame nominee... in this case, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, officially announced on WWE.com.

2. Chris Jericho will be part of the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

[The Penguin]

“The last two will meet. …There can be only one.”

I liked Triple H kicking off the show. I felt like some of the stuff he said about he and The Undertaker being the only challenge the other have left was unintentionally disrespectful to the rest of the roster, but it certainly is true. That being said, I did like how The Game presented this match and thought it was a strong promo.

If You Believe What You Read On The Internet™, the great and powerful Dunn (Kevin Dunn, WWE Executive Vice President of Television Production) is not a fan of Sheamus (and holds a lot of power with his position as Vinnie Mac’s TV right hand). After Triple H just destroyed The Celtic Warrior I would be inclined to believe it. I thought Sheamus and Triple H would at least have a match leading up to ’Mania, but I think that was the end of it right there. At this point it’s Money in the Bank or the top name in the pre-event battle royal for Sheamus.

I am so happy to have Evan Bourne back (who should be a shoe-in for Money in the Bank) and I liked seeing him go on the attack and beat Sheamus. Evan has been beaten down by The Celtic Warrior before and he was smart not to give him an inch.

Michael Cole introducing The King to his trainer Jack Swagger made things interesting (well, this year is going to pale in comparison to last year for Swagger). Lawler was in no shape to hear a referee announcement from “Cole Sore” so we’ll have to wait on that.

“…And make your permanent residence a rehabilitation facility where your one and only goal in life is to some day walk again. …And the only thing that you will have left is the faith that failed you.”

Wow Randy Orton’s promo was awesome and really brought home his new year’s resolution to be less nice in the new year. I loved it.

The GM booking Orton against The New Nexus with their presence at ringside on the line is a great way to keep this thing going over the next several weeks. Going first, I knew Michael McGillicutty was not going to get it done. My money would be on Otunga losing next week and then it’s a toss-up if Mason Ryan manages a win. My guess would be not. There is safe money on Mike Mac being MIA for a while.

I really liked what The Miz had to say in response to The Rock not ‘responding’ to him after last week. He really represented himself well here. As far as John Cena coming down? I think what he said last week sums it up pretty well “…you can have your joke(s) back.”

I was so disappointed in the Divas battle royal, not because it was fairly short or because the Bellas cheated, but because with Eve talking so much about the Bellas, over half of the eliminations were basically ignored. It was down to the final three before the in-ring action got any actual attention. The Divas are almost always what gets cut when time needs to be picked back up, but Eve should have had a backstage interview or something and then been out on commentary (Brie & Nikki still needed to attack her of course).

“The Rock came back to RAW, kicked down your door and addressed you like a man. And what do you do in response? You rap to me? You rap… to me. You address me in the form of rap. Well of course you did. ’Cause that’s how the guy in the purple shirt responds with his dog tag chains and his jean shorts. Yeah, yeah. Hustle, loyalty, respect, yeah. Thuganomics, yeah. I thought it was funny. It was real funny.”

And then The Rock got serious. That was a terrific mix of bravado and real truth. Rock most definitely brought it and he makes everyone else on the entire roster (definitely including Cena) seem… quaint by comparison.

“John Cena, The Rock ain’t no rapper and clearly, neither are you…”

I have decided that the WrestleMania DVD (or at least the Blu-ray) is required to have all the Rock segments leading up to ‘’Mania in their entirety. It must be done.

It was neat hearing from Shawn Michaels on the Undertaker-Triple H match. I also liked hearing The Undertaker praised by four different announcers (I still love Gorilla Monsoon). The amount of history already contained in this match brings back so many memories.

Despite their shared history, Daniel Bryan was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. John Cena told The Miz that he has something to prove and he is doing it. I don’t like it when guys are attacked on the way to the ring and they don’t seem to have an opponent. I’d like to assume that Bryan would have faced Ted DiBiase after their match on Superstars.

I love The Miz in the main event. Getting involved and then acting like he knew nothing about it was a classic heel move and tweeting a picture of Cena in a moment of weakness was a heel move for the 21st century.

I’m disappointed Alex Riley lost because I think he really compliments The Miz’s character (seems like banning from ringside would have been good enough), but it was great how the WWE Champion didn’t miss a beat. His attempt to keep Cena inside the cage failed, he simply gave the number one contender a Skull-Crushing Finale and walked off.

A couple of interesting notes...

1.. What got cut for time tonight? The announcement of a Hall of Fame nominee... in this case, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, officially announced on WWE.com.

2. Chris Jericho will be part of the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

Thumbs up to both of those things (I hope Bullet Bob has a video later this week). With the other shows I watched/evening stuff it was pretty much impossible for me to watch when Stacy Keibler was on, but I think I may have to put forth whatever effort is necessary for Chris Jericho.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Tonight was the night of promos. The Rock had an excellent and incredibly emotional pre-taped response, and despite the awful crowd, it really drove the point home about him not being a sell out, and remarked on Cena's own criticisms. The Miz also had a powerful promo putting himself over and making the crowd refocus on him. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by toilet humor and gay jokes, but regardless he got his point across. Finally, Triple H's return promo really kicked the Undertaker feud into overdrive. He got everything across without waiting until the pre-PPV show to let him have it. If they keep each other away between now and WrestleMania, the match will definitely be worth the hype.

Unfortunately, the night was also filled with some casualties. Sheamus and Daniel Bryan barely got a lick of action in before they were completely crushed by Triple H and The Miz. Considering the two seem to have a program going on, this does neither of them any favors. Alex Riley was a victim of circumstance, although this might be a good thing for him. He's been coat tailing off of Miz for too long, and he'll never break out if he sticks with him any longer. McGillicutty was Orton's latest victim, and now Nexus has been reduced to 3 guys. Honestly, does anyone care about Punk's group at this point? Even the SES had more presence than this.

Matches were...passable. nothing really stood out to me much, aside from the promos and losers. Oh yeah, Swagger is now involved in the Cole/King feud. I'd much rather have him involved in an actual match, but better to use him than to let him flounder like MVP did. I greatly anticipate Mistico's debut, that dude is spectacular in CMLL and he can easily be the next Rey Mysterio given the right push. I doubt he'll sink either since they made such a huge deal of his signing, and he has a very similar aura as Mysterio, so he's bound to be a fan favorite.

[mumbo]

There were hardly any matches at all, but at the very least the rest of the time was devoted to building WrestleMania, so it wasn't a waste. Well, except for that disastrous Diva battle royale. What the hell are they going to do for a Divas' match at WrestleMania? I have no idea where they're going.

Poor Sheamus' downward spiral continued today as he was totally destroyed by Triple H and then jobbed to Bourne. I don't get it. Hopefully things turn out better for the guy after WrestleMania, because with him not having a major angle there, they're just trashing him. Meanwhile, I'm not buying into the Triple H/Undertaker angle at all. I really have no interest in seeing these two lock horns.

A-Ri may have told one lousy joke, but I actually don't have a problem with it, because A-Ri's character is that he's a giant tool, so it fits. Cena, on the other hand, was obnoxiously terrible tonight. This is supposed to be the face of your company and they're feeding him the stupidest crap to read. It's painful, and it's only making him look more and more pitiful in comparison to the Rock. The Miz completely outworked Cena on the mic tonight, honestly. I thought he did a great job.

Nice movement with the Orton-Punk storyline, and I like the stipulation with the New Nexus's presence. I'm thinking that Mason Ryan will be the only one in Punk's corner at the big show (and Otunga and McGillicutty then team up against Gabriel and Slater for the tag team titles either in a DVD-only match or a pre-Mania online exclusive).

The Rock was of course awesome again. Crowd didn't seem all that into it, actually, well, not as much as I'd expect them to. Must have been the lack of catchphrases

Jack Swagger was a surprising choice for Cole's trainer against Lawler, but it works. I'm buying into this feud pretty well actually. It's best that Cole gets the upper hand all the way until the show, because if we get to see Lawler kick Cole's ass before Mania, it makes the actual match pointless.

But yeah when it comes to the road to WrestleMania, it's usually a really bad time to be an upper midcarder with no angle, because you're going to get buried.

I wonder if we're getting a Money in the Bank at WrestleMania this year, because I would have thought we'd get some qualifying matches by now. Really seems like JoMo's all set up to take it, so...wait, was Morrison not even on tonight? That's a bit odd.

[Wonderwall]

Fun fact that we learned is that Alex Riley eats toilet paper. For some reason the image of him doing that makes me laugh more than it should.

[Mesousa]

You know, I know they're building up for Wrestlemania, but the arena was sold out, so they could at least have a few decent matches.

But nope, they got only 15 minutes of actual wrestling for 4 matches. I bet the fans left with regrets.

[Jin Kazama]

I'm not too thrilled with Swagger being Cole's trainer, just because it means Swagger won't be in an actual match. They guy went from winning Money In The Bank last year, being World Champion, and now playing a side role in a feud between two announcers. Seems like such a waste.