By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S WWE RAW TAKE
MARCH 26, 2012
ATLANTA, GA. AT PHILLIPS ARENA
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK

-The Rock-Cena documentary/infomercial was pleasant and informative, but not particularly controversial. It's always cool to see top wrestlers in a different context and learn something new about their backgrounds and thoughts on something other than their next opponent. Well done in that respect, but it lacked any major hook regarding the match. I suppose that comes tonight live on Raw.

-Jerry Lawler plugged "John Cena and The Rock meet face to face in the ring tonight." I suppose that language, suggesting a possible actual match, wasn't chosen by accident, even if almost everyone viewing would know better. Pretty much that same language is used when they're promoting a match: "Wrestler A meets Wrestler B face to face in the ring tonight."

-Michael Cole formally introduced the show as Randy Orton made his ring entrance, then introduced Booker T as their special guest commentator. Booker said he wouldn't miss it for the world. My hunch is Booker is there not so much to add to the show but to force him to catch up on Raw shorelines before he does commentary on Sunday.

-Seeing Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan in part of the opening tag match was a teaser of what could have been at WM28 if Orton had won the Rumble and they stayed with Bryan as the World Champ. It would have been a good match. I'm hoping Sheamus has a real Statement Match with Bryan at WM28 and shows the level he can reach in a showcase match on a big show. Orton vs. Kane will be decent, probably, but it doesn't feel particularly epic in the course of either of their careers.

-Well booked finish storyline-wise as it gave Bryan a pinfall win over Sheamus, although the Kane chokeslam and A.J. interference certainly contributed to it.

-The clip of last year's WrestleMania main event with Rock giving Cena a Rock Bottom and costing him the WWE Title against The Miz was a reminder that these two have a history to draw from. Cena hasn't really, though, incorporated what happened last year into his promos. It would have been added motivation that you'd think Cena would have expressed by now - getting revenge for Rock costing him the title last year. If he referenced it, it was in passing and certainly not a focus. If you imagined pro wrestling as "real competitive sport" certainly what Rock did last year would be enough to be the primary focus of Cena's pre-match motivation.

-Michael Cole pointed out he was the no. 1 trend worldwide during the start of the David Otunga vs. Santino match, just minutes after he announced himself as the official commentator for Team Laurinaitis. Is it just me or does the whole Cole character seem to have lost most of its steam at this point. The good part is he's less of a distraction and annoyance, but the bad part is he's also lost that "heel heat" he once had that made up at least a little for the big loss that comes with having a heel goofball character as the lead announcer selling storylines. I always think it was a net-loss for WWE's business to have their lead host be a goofball heel character, but now it's not worth it since the whole act is stale and largely ineffective and just background noise. The novelty is gone and they're left without a credible lead voice for the brand to sell feuds, build new wrestlers, hard-sell matches, and effectively hype PPVs.

-Featuring Otunga vs. Santino as the final hype for the Team Teddy vs. Team Laurinaitis match just accentuates the comedy/prelim feel to the match. Having Miz part of it doesn't boost anything because he's been jobbed out lately, so if anything his involvement just brings him down another notch as he stands waving a flag like a goof with Laurinaitis, Otunga, Miz, and Vickie Guerrero.

-The clip from the day after WrestleMania 27 last year reminded us of how long this match has been on our minds when they announced the WM28 match a year ago. I'm still not sure it was the smartest move, as it cast a big shadow over everything since then and made it feel a little "dragged out" or "overdue" by this time compared to if they had kept it quiet and had Rock return out of nowhere four or six weeks ago or even at the Rumble to challenge Cena to a match. They'd have lost the Survivor Series match, but that didn't help much anyway and took the novelty away of WM28 being "Rock's first match in eight years!"

-By the time the Undertaker vs. Triple H video package aired, you started getting the sense this was going to be a video package heavy show. WWE is good at it, and it's not necessarily a bad move to drive everything home with "big show feel" video packages, but it does take a little adrenaline away from the show.

-The old footage of Triple H and Undertaker was fun to see, as was the footage of Undertaker's previous big WrestleMania wins as part of the streak. It gave the whole match an epic feel, which is key to WrestleManias selling. The video recapped how Taker had to convince Triple H to accept the challenge. I wonder if it would have been more effective if a Triple H vs. Taker rematch were announced the day after WrestleMania 27 last year, and if Cena had to goad Rock into accepting a match (or vice-versa) on the same timeline as the Taker-Hunter storyline played out. I could imagine that approach working as well or better.

-Quotebook - Jerry Lawler: "I wonder what Rush Limbaugh would call Eve?"

-Someone should track how long it takes (to determine a standard over/under) for a Divas to pull or yank on another Diva's hair in matches on WWE TV. It took about ten seconds tonight for Eve to yank on Kelly's as she drove her head into the mat over and over.

-The clip of the Rock & Cena tag match at Survivor Series - that match that everyone forgot and nobody's talked much about since (other than when the disappointing butyrate data came in) - just reminded everyone that Rock has already wrestled, it didn't matter much, and even Rock has even given Cena a Rock Bottom before. So a bunch of "firsts" will actually be "seconds" at WM28 on Sunday. In retrospect, the whole Rock & Cena tag match at Survivor Series should go down as a net negative, but with different hype and better follow up it could have not only drawn better in November, but made Sunday's match even bigger.

-Quotebook - Chris Jericho to C.M. Punk: "It turns out your mother's actually a kind, decent woman with no vices whatsoever, so who would have thunk that? Congratulations, Punk, there's finally someone in your family who's not an embarrassment."

-Christian's getting beat up in an angle to get over Punk's rage rather than getting ready to face his former partner and real-life best friend Edge in what could have been Edge's retirement match at WrestleMania 28. Tough luck. That said, it was a good angle to get across the intensity and anger seething in Punk that will be unleashed at WM28 against Jericho. But isn't there a major title Jericho would like to win, too. Shouldn't he (and the announcers) be talking a little more about that, too?

-So is Brodus Clay the warm-up opponent for Curt Hawkins to get ready for his next workout with The Rock?

-Right after WrestleMania it will be time for Brodus Clay to move to the next stage of his character's WWE existence.

-I like the Hall of Fame highlight show airing before Raw the day after WrestleMania rather than lost on a Saturday night. If it airs live on WWE.com, as it has in the past, it should be advertised during Raw to amp up web traffic. They did drive traffic to the website by saying the presenters includes some surprising names.

-Nothing promotes the tag team division more than Big Show destroying Primo in a short win and Epico in a failed post match attack. Since when did jobbers and tag team championship contenders become synonymous? Why even bother with a tag division if that's how "top teams" are treated, not that Primo & Epico ever were a believable credible team. But seriously, imagine the Road Warriors being treated like jobbers like that. Or Demolition. Or the Hart Foundation. There was a time where there were top tag teams who are an important part of the mosaic that draws and makes pro wrestling great to watch who were protected as a separate category not interchangeable with jobbers.

-Mark Henry squashing Great Khali didn't get me particularly excited about the Team Teddy vs. Team Johnny match. If Khali supposed to be an ace teammate for Team Teddy after that?

-I do love Henry's little dance after he powerslams someone, though.

-Booker's run-in at the end was a good final twist in the Team Teddy vs. Team Johnny hype.

-I'm watching Rock walk out and I'm half wondering if he's not just looking forward to getting past this weekend. I'm sure he's excited about wrestling in front of a sold out stadium, but this hasn't exactly gone smoothly and been an entirely pleasant experience. I'm also half-wondering if WWE didn't mute the crowd response to him or if the response was as tepid as it sounded as he stood out there waiting for a rise in crowd noise.

-Quotebook - The Rock: "The Rock goes in for his yearly check-up, and they tell The Rock, 'Go ahead, drop your pants, turn your head, and cough, but when you coming back.'" Then he added that he refused to drop his pants because that was his dentist.

-Quotebook - John Cena to The Rock: "They hate it, but they know what I know - I am going to win at WrestleMania."

-Quotebook - John Cena to The Rock: "Do you know I've been an active member of the WWE roster longer than you… I've been here when it wasn't so cool to be a WWE Superstars. Even in the good times and the bad times, I'm the guy who beats the company drum saying this is where I belong, this is what I do and I'm proud of it, and this is what I love. This is what I love. So many people say that these days it's become a cliche, but after ten years of doing this every night, when one guy says it, regardless of whether they like my character, they know I mean it. That's why at WrestleMania I have to win… This is still my life."

-Quotebook - John Cena to The Rock: "You know, the past year we've said a lot of stuff to each other and I feel real comfortable saying this to your face. I will be god damned if you come in as a visitor - as good as you think you are - and come take my life from me."

-Rock then said the match is just as important to him. He said he talked about what The People know, but "here's the first thing they know - they know that The Rock ain't know dog damned (bleep) of WWE. This house, your house, The Rock helped build. Let The Rock tell ya' what they know. They know you've never before had an opponent you couldn't overcome until The Rock. They know that to me it's more than just the biggest match of all time… They know The Rock, the People's Champion, has come back after all of these years to beat you." The crowd didn't pop. Some fans cheered and some booed, but most just listened. I just am not convinced that's a good sign.

-Rock said he wants to be the first to beat Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and John Cena. He said he needs to beat him to become the biggest WWE Superstar of All-Time.

-Quotebook - The Rock to Cena: "On a personal level, I just don't like you. And because of that, in six days, The Rock will tell you to your face, not only is The Rock going to beat you, but The Rock is going to give you the ass kicking of a lifetime. You know it, The Rock knows it, and you can bet your ass they know it, too."

-Again, after that last quote - a great comeback for The Rock - the crowd was rather muted. Cena then fired back with, "It doesn't matter what you think!" Rock fumed at that, preparing for the latest improvised shoot-ish line from Cena. Cena vowed to stand over Rock's carcass with his hand held high and the headlines will read that he kicked his ass at WrestleMania. They ended with a staredown.

-That was good. Not fantastic. I didn't sense a crescendo that guarantees a record butyrate. But they hit the talking points that I think were the best to hit: They don't like each other, they have a history that makes them natural rivals, they both have a compelling reason to really badly want to win, and there's just enough of a sense that the tension between them is real that something could go off-script on Sunday. That's a pretty good combination. I just wish the crowd seemed more passionate vocally in taking sides. I'm not sure where they stand, exactly, and what that means.

[Wade Keller is the PWTorch founder and editor. He has covered pro wrestling full time for nearly 25 years since launching the PWTorch Newsletter in 1987.]

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