Road Warriors getting in the HOF, about F'ing time.

In all honesty, I have not seen a GLAAD-bowing WWE program, for Lord knows how long.

Seriously? This years "Mania line-up, looks like some weak "Best of Wrestlemania" reunion. Minus, the TRULY best.

T-N-A....T-N-A....T-N-A!

It's a shame that a talent like Kofi misses out on Wrestlemania and yet has beens like Jerry Lawler, and a never will be like Michael Cole manage to get a match. It also seems a waste that Morrison and Ziggler are reduced to a lame duck match. To say that MITB is the missing link would be an understatement. Not a big fan of both the IC and Tag champs not defending in any form because of the Corre match. But it's not all bad I suppose, Taker vs. HHH while predictable should be decent, and I'm looking forward to the 2 Championship matches.

Good write-up Kevin, but I've got a problem with what Punk said about getting "new sheep" and building a new stable. Why would a clever, maniuplative heel ever say something like that? It baffled me.

Great RAW with some amazing segments that has me totally ready for WrestleMania. I liked pretty much everything on the show apart from the Snooki stuff.

I think it is right to mention the crowd at this show. An atmosphere like that always makes a event more special.

That was an epic Raw. WWE have incredible writers and talent. When they put it all together it's one hell of a show. I don't see how anyone couldn't have been entertained by last night's episode. What stories! What drama! Seriously.

Hey Kev, I was wondering if you or someone else that posts could tell me the name of the bar in catonsville that gets the PPV's..Im coming down from NY to see the birds opening day and looking for a place to see "Mania". Continued thanks for the most must read blog in the business!

RESPONSE FROM KE: I think you're talking about Loafers.

Rock was not electrifying at all! he looked too worked up and made me dizzy with his pacing! i agree that Taker and HHH and Michaels were the highlight of the show.

Seeing edge and christian was sweet! really want Christian in Wrestlemania though!

Seriously Kevin....all Shawn Michaels need to do is show up and for you he has stolen the show!!
However it was a good segment and he probably saved the matchup between HHH and the Undertaker.

The Rock looked rusty and would need to lose muscle to do his patented moves if he is coming back into the ring. Powerhouses cannot do the "kip up" and it showed though he almost pulled it off. Good for us fans because he will be wrestling several matches to get rid of the ring rust instead of just one big one at a PPV.

Kevin,

Excellent coverage as always. It never ceases to amaze how the McMahons make ever Wrestlemania so special. It seems this may be their first Wrestlemania without the McMahon family represented (not counting HHH). I'm happy to say that's not a bad thing, as it seems this years Wrestlemania has plenty of star power from the top of the card to the bottom. Hopefully a new wrestler like Alberto Del Rio can take over as the new Mr. Wrestlemania with Shawn Michaels no longer around. Again, thanks for the great coverage.

A good show, but not a great show...

Are there any bars showing Wrestlemania Sunday?

Got to disagree on Cena. He went from Rock doesn't care about the business, to I just wanted you to still be here?? Lame. And if Miz doesn't win Sun then WWE has done a terrible job burying the most over heel in the business(besides Vicki.How embarrassing it must be for the other wrestlers that a widow of an ex wrestler has the most heat in the business) To make the Miz look like a bum against a guy who hasn't wrestled in 7 years is lunacy. And most fans now feel Christian deserves a spot ahead of Del Rio so he has not "gotten his heat" back.

Just some thoughts...

As good as the HHH/Undertaker/HBK segment was, it still hasn't gotten me all that excited for the match. There just isn't really anything all that compelling to this match. Maybe it's because there has been little buildup, but maybe it's because the last two meetings between HBK and the Undertaker have been so epic that it just can't be followed.

I've really enjoyed Christian getting a much needed push, but it's taken away from the Del Rio/Edge match in my opinion. I was really looking forward to that match, but knowing that Christian is going to get involved spoils it for me as I'll just be waiting for him to interfere.

Here's what I'd like to see regarding the Miz/Cena/Rock. I'm hoping WWE saves the Rock vs. Cena for next year's Wrestlemania and can build up a Miz vs. Rock at Summerslam on the heels of this WM.

Finally, I'm bummed were not going to get to see a Kim vs. Kong match and instead are going to be "treated" to that mixed tag match with Snooki and Trish. I can't stand Jersey Shore and am no longer a fan of Trish. Don't get me wrong, she was great back in the day, but there's always something lacking when she comes back for these short stints.

On a show filled with icons, someone in the crowd had an iconic sign. It read: The Guy Behind Me Can't See You.
Event specific, but universally applicable.
Well done, Sign-man!

This was for once, a really great raw. They really blew it with Daniel Bryan and Zigglers character, but there's plenty of time to elevate those guys down the road. Again, you're dead on. Hhh undertaker and Shawn Michaels killed it. To cut a segment that stands out amongst a returning rock, company favorite cena, champ miz was pretty impressive. Also, punk is amazing on the mic..always fresh and innovative and hilarious. That said, the streak promo did a great job in making me interested in wm, and the match. Wow. that's how it's done

Funny Nexus is no longer a threat yet there is still an anonymous Raw GM. Also, I see an HHH HBK match in the future as well as Cena Rock.

Was I the only one who thought Cena's initial promo sounded like a rebellious teenager?

I loved the hat tip at the end.
I wonder if i wasn't the only the person who thought tanker would get Sweet Chin Music

KE, do you think there will be some interference from sean michales in the undertaker- triple h match. I could see it going both ways meaning he hits undertaker with chin music and triple H pins him or the undertaker overcomes by ducking chin music and triple h getting hit and undertaker pins for the win. Thus creating a triple h v sean michaels summer slam fued. What do you think?

I was at RAW last night and it was indeed a hot night, especially for Punk, HHH/UT/HBK and of course for Cena and the Rock. It was the first WWE event I ever attended and it was definitely the right one to hit.

I hope the Punk v Orton match is given the time it deserves unlike the Punk v Mysterio last year.

Christian teaming with Edge only makes the Del Rio match a given. The new belt will have a Del Rio plaque come April 4. Now Edge and Christian can win back the tag belts and retire or split like the Dudley's. Any word on who the ref will be for HHH vs. Undertaker?

I know most people out there still believe The Undertaker will never lose at Wrestlemania, but I've been saying it since this match was booked that in my opinion the politics of this match suggest that Triple H should win, and last night convinced me of this more than ever.

Triple H is the under dog. Not even his best friend believes he can win. The Undertaker is showing signs of being over confident and cocky that Triple H can't beat him. Triple H put over how much he respected and admired The Undertaker, and that's part of the payment owed him for allowing Triple H to go over at mania. The Undertaker taunting Michaels about losing his confidence and being filled with regret is part of their character's history now, and he'll be able to say that forever, but there's no way they'll let The Undertaker walk around boasting of how he did the same thing to Triple H.

Triple H spelled out clearly why he will win. For his character, winning is all that matters. If Taker loses he will have still had the streak for as long as it lasted but if Triple H loses he, loses a part of his prestige, his legacy. I expect The Undertaker to dominate most of the match, and beat the hell out of Triple H, right up until Triple H pulls out the sledge hammer and cracks The Undertaker in the skull for the victory. The streak ends!

And Cena kinda did a seudo heel turn. By standing there and doing nothing as The Rock gets beaten down by two men, and then sneaking up from behind to deliver the Attitude Adjustment, then gloating over what he had just done was a heel move. Typically things like that are beneath John Cena and goes against his holier than thou creedo. What should his kiddie fans think of him now? However, At Mania the Rock takes the high road and helps Cena fend off The Miz and Riley and Cena gets the win. Then The Rock hits the Rock Bottom on Cena and steals the glory. Cena gets the belt, but the Wrestlemania moment goes to The Rock.

The Nose's motivation is to put Taker out to pasture, and prove to HBK that he can beat him? OK...

The ending segment was brutal. They buried all three guys.

Cena gushes over Rock, who has mocked him mercilessly and has an entire arena rooting against him.

The WWE champ and his sidekick get tossed out of the ring by a guy who hasn't wrestled in years.

Then the guy who just tossed the two wrestlers gets taken out by a glorified hip toss.

It takes incredible talent to write something like that into a show.

Cena's promo was ridiculously hypocritical. He's been judging The Rock for years about how he's a sell-out. The Rock comes back and responds, and he gets all 16-year old lesbian with a "who are you to judge me?" promo. And The Rock didn't judge his taste in music. He just called him out for being a fake Vanilla Ice. What Rock should've said is that his album sucked, all his movies sucked and that Cena's biggest gripe is that he tried to fill the void that Rock left, but try as he might, he just couldn't do it. CENA SUCKS

Hey,

I think Rock would be the special guest referee/enforcer for the Miz-Cena match. This, according to me, would end up somewhat like the Brock Lesnar Goldberg match a few years ago, where Stone Cold was the guest referee. Austin laid out Lesnar during the match giving Goldberg the win, and laid out Goldberg during the after match beer bash.
I'm saying Rock would lay out the Miz during the match, and after Cena wins, would take him out too. It could happen the other way too (with Cena getting attacked during the match and Miz afterwards)

Whats your opinion KE?

Cena/Rock will get the headlines, but the Taker/HHH/HBK segment was better. Still, this promo should have occurred three weeks ago. It gave a whole new context and depth to their match that wasn't there before, which would be even better if they had acknowledged that they've fought before at WM.

I like what they did with Rock and Cena, and considering that the Rock had easily gotten the better of Cena to this point, it made sense to have Cena land the first physical shot. Still, it was clear that the Rock was holding back promo wise, which is needed so that he doesn't completely destroy Cena and Miz.

Speaking of Miz, well, wow. Any momentum he had was completely destroyed the last two weeks. He couldn't have appeared more out of place than he did last night. From the crowd's tepid reaction to again failing to get the better of a wrestler in a 2 on 1 situation to taking the People's Elbow when it could have easily been booked to be Riley, they have done Miz zero favors heading into WM.

I really thought CENA sucked in the beginning of his promo. How the hell can he suck up to Rock that much while he's supposed to be one of the biggest WWE champion of all time. He really proved to the WWE universe he doesn't see himself as a "great one" He is just such a waste... I wish Jericho was around to feud with The Rock. That could have been more compelling. If only Miz can be given a chance to remain in the main event for a while, he will become more compelling than Cena bcoz he at least can challenge the Rock properly. Cena made The Rock puzzled with his lame-duck praises. We all expected an intense confrontation but I am afraid an elephant gave birth to a mouse

I can smell what the WWE is cooking regarding the streak. Here's my bold prediction Shawn Michaels will storm into the ring and knock out Taker with a Sweet Chin Music allowing HHH to pin Taker. This will lead to a controversial and disputed end of the streak and a feud between HHH and HBK on who actually ended the streak. My reasoning is Taker's public humiliation of HBK didn't go down well with him and HBK will prove again that he was obsessed with ending the streak which he failed to do twice.... KEVIN you can mark my words.

If you're coming to Loafers, your candy azzes better be early. The place fills up quickly, especially for WM.

The only reason why you thought the HHH & Taker segment stole the show is because you are a mark for HBK and everyone knows it, even those of us who are you loyal readers. :)

Did you noticed Cena laughing outside the ring during the Miz's promo? I think that was a mistake caught on camera. His character shouldn't be laughing along with a heel.

A few things

1) I'm not compelled one bit by HHH and the Undertaker. Not one bit.

the Match quality is likely to be lackluster with 2 rusty guys facing eachother and Taker working through an injury. It won't be like HBK v. Taker in quality.

and if the streak ends, I'll be pissed. Waste an artificial streak to put over another veteran?

2) I actually think Miz retains at Wrestlemania. WWE loves even-steven booking, and Cena getting to AA / FU the Rock indicates to me he'll be doing the job of some time to Miz at WM, likely due to interference from the Rock.

This leads to either a Rock / Cena fued, or even a Miz / Rock fued while Cena sells injuries sustained from the Rock.

Raw was okay this week. ;)

Last Night’s show.
Lowlights:
I guess Shameful is on the upswing again. He is being made to look all powerful again. Which is total bullsh*t. Bryan and Morrison looked like total SD Jones’ out there. The Stratus-Snooki thing in the bar =awful. The Mania re-match will be a 50 second squash for Shameful.
What back ass ward booking having Punk cut the beginning of his promo the way he did in his hometown where he is obviously over. It would have been better with just a silent attack.
Alberto putting both faces out of action…really (Thank you Miz for the line)
The last segment….Missed the mark with the verbal exchanges being so one sided. And the clash of the “Attitude Era” and the “G” version Cena doesn’t really work.
Kane doing the trumpet should have been saved for Mania. But… it was funny!
Highlights:
HBK, HBK, HBK, the way he stirred the drink, the bow out at the end saying to HHH you’re going to lose. He is still and will always be the Showstopper. That segment blew the last segment with the Rock and Cena out of the water. For a moment I thought just maybe Taker was going to drop the match this Sunday. Afterwards there is no way he is losing but at least it gave me some doubt….Up until last night not so much. HHH and Taker both did well in their exchanges. I believe the exchange was real from the respect standpoint and I also believe those two are the only ones who would put the other over in a career ender match.
The Rock taking a F’U was a bit of a surprise. His agent must be cringing at home.
All in all the heels had a huge night headed into Mania. It will be interesting to see how the matches turn out.
I can see a Mania where both World Titles stay with the current Champs. The IC is definitely staying with Shameful.

HBK is was and always be THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know Vince hasn't cared about tag teams for a while now but still the Road Warriors should have been in HOF a long time ago. They were the best in the world at what they did for a long time.

Completly agree with Maurice B. Not sure if it was you Kevin, that said HHH is yet to have his wrestlemania moment. But if he's about to retire, what better moment can he add to his legacy than pinning the undertaker. Plus he's the head booker. If it goes down this way, this will be like Kevin Nash booking himself over Goldberg.

SURVEY: BIGGER WRESTLEMANIA ICON HULK HOGAN OR UNDERTAKER

The HHH, Taker, HBK segment was gold. This is the level of promo that the guys in the back need to be striving for if they want to create a "moment" with just words. Shawn makes this match way more interesting in my opinion.

The Cena, Miz, Rock segment was good but like you I'll hold off on judging WWE for booking the Champion so weak in the last segment before Wrestlemania.

All in all WWE has done a great job with mixing the new talent in main events with legends in both title matches. I also give them props for getting HBK and Stone Cold to play a part in matches that will turn a regular match into a Wrestlemania worthy moments for sure.

I felt a little different about the Cena/Rock confrontation at the end.

A lot of people seem confused that Cena "switched" standpoints and suddenly was just hoping Rock would come back. There's nothing hypocritical about that - the reason he was so upset in the first place was BECAUSE he wished Rock had never left. In fact that's really the only reason people -ever- get upset about other people leaving.

As for the segment itself. I found myself pretty solidly on Cena's side. Cena cut what was essentially a shoot promo where he spoke to Rock as a person, as Dwayne Johnson. He spoke directly of his love for the business and how proud he is of being a role model for young people (which I honestly believe he feels). He spoke to Rock as a fan, which I believe he is. He spoke to Dwayne Johnson from the standpoint of a fan who got burned.

The main thing that made Cena's previous promos on the Rock in any way compelling was that they had a degree of truth and honesty in them, where Rock was mostly just playing his Rock character and saying funny things in an entertaining way. Cena was speaking from the heart, partially wrapped in promo-speak. This monday I felt like he stripped the promo speak away almost entirely and just spoke his mind and it made his words even more meaningful.

To have the Rock respond to his honesty with all his characteristic bluster and pomp actually struck an odd chord with me. When Rock did his promos on his own against Cena I didn't really notice it, but to have them face to face, I felt like Rock needed to update his style a little bit, infuse it with some more honesty and fewer 1-liners, if only for the sake of that one promo. Because in the face of Cena's honesty, Rock came off to me as kind of a cartoon.

"Cena: Rock I just want you to come back and show love to the millions who love you"

"Rock: I'm gonna whoop your candy ass"

"Miz (and me): Really?"

George, Punk knows there will be. Always has, although temporary.
I'm disappointed Kofi has no match, but you never know. Congrats Hawk (RIP), Animal and Paul for HOF induction. Glad HBK didn't tip his hand. Makes for a good storyline advancement. UT snicker and tip of the hat, nice!!! I am pleasantly surprised Christian is getting pushed (TNA stint is usually a negative). Looks as if Miz will lose title, double turn possible?? Last thing, how does WWE allow misspelled signs at televised events??

Maybe kane will attack Undertaker at Wretlemania for coming back yet again and weaken him enough for HHH to win and end the streak. Then Undertaker can perhaps have another match with kane for final family bragging rights and retire.

Just a thought....

Didn't you hear the crickets in that "awesome" segment. It had to be one of the lamest promo's I ever heard. It was about as lame as the build up for the HBK/ Taker rematch. Why did it have to take 20 minutes? Nobody even cares about these has-beens anymore. This show was a horrible go-home show. The only thing that mattered was Cena's turn at the end of the show. One easy question: what the hell was HHH and Taker talking about if it was so awesome? I forgot the moment they stopped talking.

It was I that brought up the fact that HHH has never had his WM moment. Kev, you didn't buy into it last week, still so sure Taker keeps the streak alive?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Yep.

Well, HBK has done it again. He has given me intrest in a match where i had none, well done HBK.

Yet oddly the match i want to see the most on the entire card is the Jerry Lawler match. The King is a legend of the business which alot of people seem to forget. During the territory day King was huge. He deserves this match at wrestlemania, heck i thought they should have had him beat Miz via interference by Cena. they could have let him drop the belt back to Miz at the next PPV due the A-rod interfering. This would have given The King a match against A-rod at mania. That would have been a match the King deserves.

Of course, it's only judging from her 2 appearances, but it looks like Snooki may be the first Wrestlemania guest star to actually get go-away heat.

Which is a shame, since I always thought that the divas are always fun to watch, despite all the burying done by the WWE writers.

And no fault to Snooki, since she's just doing what she's paid for.

Jeremy Hale, the fans do not want a heart to heart talk they want entertainment. Rock provides it,while Cena plainly does not. Did you hear the crowd in Chicago? Cena also got booed out of the Wrestle mania press conference yesterday!!

The WWE has a weird problem....Cena provides the money in the PG environment as the kids force their parents to buy his stuff. The older fans hate him and boo the hell out of him at every live event. However the older fans never buy anything and even if they hate Cena they still come to boo as the WWE has a monopoly today in professional wrestling.So the WWE has both worlds.

However it becomes embarrassing when they try to trot Cena out as the face of the company to people not traditionally involved in the wrestling business...yesterday's press conference was a prime example. It is humiliating for Cena to get booed out of character and embarrassing for the WWE that the fans treat the face of the company with no respect in front of outsiders. Cena looked rattled at the press conference yesterday just like he looks rattled at HOF appearances when fans start booing him.

That segment with Snooki, Trish & LayCool was taped earlier in the day on Monday, not live as they said on the show. Congrats to Hawk, Animal & Paul on making into the HOF, but who will induct them?

i think layccool will lose to snookie an trish stratus an john morrison.....goooo snooki......

Kev, did you happen to catch what Cena said into the camera as he entered the stage?

RESPONSE FROM KE: No.

Have you done the rankings of the greatest WrestleMania matches in the past?

I'm curious about your rankings.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I haven't done a top matches list, but I did do a top moments list.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/top_20_wrestlemania_moments/

Great read! I really enjoyed this article and some of the respondents to it because excellent points that were made.

I criticize The Rock for not living up to his promo/retorting expertise against Cena and, especially The Miz. The Rock usually makes every one laugh with a crushing, squelching retort and all he could come up with to the Miz's crushing verbal abuse was a "it doesn't matter what you think." I was unimpressed and he gave Miz's insult of being "over-hyped" a ring of truth. Joe Barber of course brought up the point of The Rock perhaps holding back to make the WrestleMania stars look good. If that's true, how do you explain the Rock completely besting the Miz physically speaking. If anything, The Rock should have bested The Miz on the mic so he could still live up to his reputation to promo/retorting expert that everyone loves him for, while allowing The Miz ALONG WITH ANOTHER WRESLTER BY HIS SIDE FOR GOD'S SAKE get the best of him. No one would think lesser of The Rock for that and deem him as a little rusty because he hasn't fought in so long. That being said, I don't criticize The Rock as harshly for not being to come up with expert retorts to Cena. Mind you, before I saw some of the respondents to this article, I was going to criticize him harshly but some other users, User Larry Mbaco in particular, brought up the point of Cena completely changing his treatment of The Rock which was valid. I can see how that could leave The Rock speechless, especially given a lot of it was laudatory, ultimately throwing off The Rock as to how to respond. (User wwefan brought up The Rock making him "dizzy" with his pacing. Well, "pacing" is a movement that implies pensiveness, uncertainty, and confusion so I thought it was the perfect movement.) LOL @ Larry Mbaco comment Cena "gets all 16-year old lesbian with a "who are you to judge me?" promo." That just made me lmao because I was thinking the exact same thing as I was watching Cena's promo. I also agree with some user who called Cena a hypocrite as all Cena has done over the past is judge The Rock. Still and all, having a rep as a mic artist, should have been keen to all these things and known how to respond and really didn't bring much of anything to the table on RAW, making Miz right about him.

As for The Undertaker/HHH/HBK segment. This also stole the show for me. User Maurice B.'s deserves to be repeated a few times. He made a hell of a lot of good points as to why Triple H may be the victor. I mean, you usually have Taker going in as the underdog but this time his opponent is and HHH has always been about making himself look good with his power and influence in the WWE. Call me crazy but I think it was HHH's idea not to have his WrestleMania loss to Taker mentioned at all. HHH just isn't the type of person to lose twice at WrestleMania to someone and look bad not only a match build-up, but the match itself. I guess it can be argued that WWE is conscious as to the fans knowing the build-up winner will ultimately be the match loser, but something tells me they're just not that brilliant. In addition, you have HHH's rep which further leads me to believe that's not the case. But then again, we're all thinking Taker will make it to solid number 20. I guess the bottomline is this three-way interaction did a good job of adding a degree of unpredictability to this Sunday's match. I'm with you though: why so late in the game?! Why just six days before the ppv? Where the hell was all this 5 week ago? Rather, we've been flooded with two guys putting each other and themselves up on high while pretending as if they've never come across each other before. Guess all it took was a little HBK magic. WrestleMania would totally have me hooked if it were a threeway between Taker/HHH/HBK. All that said, as much as I've become more excited about this match thanks to this segment, I'm still not crazy about it. This segment -- brilliant as it was -- doesn't change the fact that most of build-up was sloppy and idiotic, the two men have before faced.

Sorry for rambling on here but lastly I just want to say that the reason I liked this three-way segment so much is because Taker seemed to have a bit of a heel thing going on which was refreshing mixed with HBK's trademarked sketchy tweener bit and not having his best friends back. I found myself feeling very sympathetic for the Game but after some thought I asked myself, did The Game himself create this promo to look that way?

Anonymous....Cena being booed in Chicago is nothing new. That happens every time the man steps foot into an arena in that city. Cena being booed at the press conference wasn't a big surprise either since Rock had a lot of fans there too. Now if you had seen some video footage of Cena heading to the press conference, you would see he had a lot of fans outside and on the streets of NY cheering for him. There are also thousands of Cena fans down here in Atlanta this weekend as all you see if purple shirts and Cena hats.

The WWE knows what it is doing with keeping Cena the face of the company. He makes them money and his personality gives them positive press in the media. Don't expect that to change anytime soon.

TRIPLE H, WE LOVE U BUT GO LOVES U MOST...RIP. 18-0