John Cena started off Raw with a live rapping performance as a throwback to his old 'Thuganomics' persona, in full old-school garb, which provoked a mixed response from the crowd as he made his way out, but he soon turned them around after an entertaining rap about The Rock. These promos with this more attitude driven Cena over the past few weeks have been a vast improvement over his usual material.
Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler in an average to decent contest. The action was largely solid throughout but a few periods were just a little boring I felt. While the match was taking place the World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and girlfriend AJ watched on from a box in the arena, where they were briefly interviewed by Josh Matthews until Bryan had enough and asked him to leave.
Before the following mixed tag match could commence, John Laurinaitis decided to alter it and instead make it a handicap match.
Mark Henry and David Otunga defeated Santino Marella in a Handicap match. The bout was fortunately short and only served to build up the forthcoming Team Laurinaitis versus Team Long match at WrestleMania. During the match up Teddy Long once again pushed over Laurinaitis after a heated argument.
After the bout Otunga and Henry carried on the assault on Marella until Kofi Kingston came to his aid, but was unfortunately also taken out by the duo, the same then happened to R-Truth. Laurinaitis entered the ring and officially announced Mark Henry as a member of his team.
Backstage The Miz asked John Laurinaitis when he was going to name him a member of his team at WrestleMania, Laurinaitis simply said that if he won his match against CM Punk that night he'd be in the team.
Brodus Clay defeated Jinder Mahal in one of his usual squash matches. So after all this time off TV to improve the persona and his in ring skills, he's still doing the same routine? What was the point?
Shawn Michaels recapped the talk between him and Triple H on last weeks Raw and then called out the man he has yet spoken to so far in the lead up to this coming 'Mania, The Undertaker. Michaels confronted 'The Dead Man' about the rumours backstage about him being a failure, a looser and not being able to get the job done against Taker. undertaker asked if these were not his words, but maybe his good friend Triple H's.
Undertaker carried on to admit that whether he wins or looses on the grand stage in Miami, he can live with the consequences, but he couldn't accept Michaels sticking his ego into the match up as special referee. He also warned HBK that if he interferes and the outcome isn't "pure" then there will be "hell to pay." Michaels said that he found it ironic and he was the man who could count Taker's shoulders and make him the looser who couldn't get the job done, and still be the man who could end the streak. Taker warned that if Michaels didn't do the right thing then he would "end" him. HBK patted him on the arm before leaving.
As Michaels made his way down the ramp, Triple H was there to greet him. 'The Game' then simply signalled to Taker the DX chop. it was yet another interesting segment in the build up to what should be a tremendous Hell in a Cell match and what is a believable and intriguing feud. But it just makes me wish that they put this much thought and effort into all the storylines in WWE.
CM Punk defeated The Miz in a well rounded and enjoyable contest, thereby ruling Miz out of Laurinaitis' team at 'Mania. Afterwards Chris Jericho congratulated Punk on the big screen and also revealed that he discovered a deep, dark secret of his that week. That secret being that the reason Punk is straight edge is due to his father being an alcoholic, which is true. Jericho also theorised that Punk's biggest fear is ending up like his father, and that he plans to drive Punk to drinking alcohol by beating him at WrestleMania and taking away everything that's important to him, thereby leaving him a "broken man." A distraught Punk left the ring without saying anything.
It was an effective and quite powerful segment, especially cutting so close to home for Punk, much like some of his promos back in ROH regarding the same subject. Certainly the best interaction between both men so far in my opinion.
Randy Orton defeated Jack Swagger in a solid bout that was surprisingly competitive considering Swagger's status on the roster as of late. After the match Kane's signature fire and red lighting appeared to intimidate Orton but there was no sign of 'The Big Red Monster'.
The Rock mocked Cena's alter ego from earlier on, claiming that it was a fake him and the real him that we usually see is like "if Vanilla Ice had banged a Teletubby." He then performed his own rendition of Jailhouse Rock, along with the guitar, altering the lyrics to again joke about Cena, his Mum and his fans. He ended the show with another of his own renditions but this time with Queens' We Will Rock You. It was quite a humorous segment and certainly got the Cleveland crowd excited.
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