By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

KELLER'S WWE RAW TAKE
MARCH 5, 2012
AIRED ON USA NETWORK

-For a detailed report on all the happenings on Raw, check out James Caldwell's report on the main listing. These are my thoughts on what jumps out to me while watching the show...

-They open with Shawn Michaels. Interesting strategy formatting-wise considering how well it did in the ratings last time he was on at the start of the second hour. I assume this will be a set-up for something later in the show and not the last we see of Hunter and Michaels, otherwise I doubt they'd open the show with it. It'll be interesting how long this goes, because last time they benefited ratings-wise from having no commercial breaks in their segment to bring the average down.

-Quotebook - Triple H to Shawn Michaels: "I am tired of people talking behind your back saying you're a failure… You are the greatest in-ring performer of all-time, so it kills me, it pains me beyond measure to look at you as a loser."

-Okay, calling Shawn Michaels "the greatest sports entertainer of all-time" would be worse, but calling him "the greatest in-ring performer of all-time" isn't that much better. It's another way of side-stepping the use of the term "wrestler." Is Michael Jordan the greatest "on court performer of all time?" Is Babe Ruth the greatest "behind the plate performer of all time?" Is Wayne Gretzky "the greatest on-ice performer of all time." In the context of the show where wrestlers put on simulated wrestling contests, it really is okay to call them "wrestlers." That's what everyone calls them and always will call them. But I suppose this is quite a bit better than "sports entertainer" so I begrudging accept the compromise.

-Does "in-ring performer" include promos that are performed inside the ring, or does "in-ring performer" only take into account… uh, their wrestling matches?

-Great "behind-the-mic performances" from Triple H and Michaels. I know they have a ton of history to draw from, but there'd be less of a post-WrestleMania hangover if they'd put the type of thought and energy into non-WrestleMania angles and storylines as they do these. Not everyone can "perform behind the mic" like these two, but a lot of wrestlers involved in feuds could benefit from the depth of storyline thought that this is getting.

-To add to that last thought, Triple H and Shawn Michaels could bring another wrestler to a new level if they brought that kind of gravitas to something they were involved in. I know Michaels is retired and Triple H is essentially retired, but wrestlers who can do what they just did - and Michaels's reaction to Hunter was as good as he's ever been on the mic - should be using those skills to boost the next generation of wrestlers. Instead, though, Triple H casts the others asweak replacements for his smash-mouth generation.

-Who made Michaels the special referee? That's a problem with Triple H being COO (storyline-wise). Did the WWE Board do it? Did Vince McMahon himself? Oh wait, Triple H replaced Vince, right? There should be some hierarchy established so it makes sense that the CEO could be blindsided like that. Cole and Lawler said it wasn't Teddy Long or John Laurinaitis, so who did it? At least they asked the question.

-The angle did a great job setting up Michaels as a believable impartial referee, rather than seen as Triple H's friend. In fact, it seems his being appointed as referee greatly benefits Undertaker, because Michaels was not only insulted by Hunter's patronizing comments, but he has an incentive to make sure Hunter doesn't do what he himself couldn't do.

-Quotebook - The Rock on John Cena Cologne: "This smells like fear, Fruitty Pebbles, and possum piss."

-That is a lot of littering in the Boston Harbor for the sake of a funny promo. He did order someone to clean it up afterward, so he covered his candy ass on that one. Will Cena call him a polluter later?

-I thought I was watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" for a minute there during the Rock promo with all of those cutaway shots to fans laughing at Rock's one-liners and jokes.

-Quotebook - Zack Ryder to Eve: "I'm glad we never hooked up. You know what they say, broeskies before hoeskies!"

-Cena said Rock said he was retired until he found an opponent worthy of his returning to the ring. Really? Maybe that's true, but I don't remember Rock saying that.

-I have been informed by a PWTorch reader there is an actual Rock gnome. Are men in their 30s and 40s who own this "players" or are they also virgins, I wonder? (http://www.wweshop.com/item/the-rock-gnome/therock/50-07871)

-It's great that John Cena is talking about "needing to win" at WrestleMania (or should I call it "InRingPerformerMania"?). Rock needs to talk about needing to win, too. Why wouldn't he? Whatever the planned finish is and the post-match fallout is going to be, before a fight (or an in-ring performance), both parties involved should of course talk about winning as the primarily goal. Cena saying he needs to win indicates he's (a) either going to win, or (b) he's going to lose (stick with me here…) and losing is going to be character-changing for him in some way (perhaps a heel turn, perhaps something else). Why put so much stress on winning, when it wasn't even mentioned by him last year before his WM27 match against Miz, if it's not one of those two reasons?

(VIP members, check out my VIP-exclusive Keller Quick Blog entry from earlier today in the new VIP BLOG SECTION, the start of a series of blogs this week on what I think Vince McMahon would do with various top TNA wrestlers if he were to sign them away from TNA. It's also mobile-friendly, part of our new VIP Mobile Grid giving VIPers access to our message board, our top newsletter articles, select back issue articles posted new each week, and the VIP blogs!)

-Makes sense for Chris Jericho - the challenger - to get a win over C.M. Punk - the champ. It gives Punk a sense of being vulnerable and having something to prove.

-Quotebook - The Rock: "25 percent Black, 25 percent Samoan, and 50 percent Clydesdale."

-The Rock's promos are back on track this week, and sometimes his promos that don't have a live crowd to feed his energy aren't as good. The downside is he keeps talking about wanting to kick Cena's ass, but not actually defeat him. It seems like he's setting himself up for that "out" - so he can say afterward, "I did what I promised. You may have won the match, but I kicked your Candy Ass for 15 minutes before you got lucky." I just want them both to declare the importance of winning.

-The Miz is getting to the point where it will be tough to recover from being jobbed out like this. It's not just that he's losing, but the announcers not even reacting in surprise that he gets beat so quickly and easily sends the message to viewers that it's no big deal he loses so much and so quickly. I know that the Kevin Dunn 101 approach here is to focus on the match they're hyping, and Miz is just a bystander, but it doesn't hurt anything to spent five seconds acknowledging that Miz losing like this is noteworthy and that it's a big accomplishment for Big Show to beat him. There's no downside, and it protects Miz from being perceived as someone everyone expects to lose.

-Great to hear Rock, in his "third history lesson" segment, say he can entertain around the world, but only in WWE can he fight. Last week a certain someone suggested Rock clarify that point, so great minds think alike, apparently.

-Quotebook - The Rock: "There is only one place Rock can take his size 15 boot and stick it up a certain smiling Superman's candy ass while the world cheers him on… The Rock has the charisma of George Washington, the brilliance of Benjamin Franklin, and the you know what of John Hannnnn-cock!"

-Is George Washington known for being charismatic?

-Finally… The Rock declared he is going to win the match. Hurray. This is seriously a big moment in the hype for this match when it got on the best track it can be on. Two huge stars declaring they are going to win. He said he would be "overthrowing" Cena and then vowed: "Mark my words, The Rock will beat you, John Cena. You will fall to The Rock."

-When that bus began to slowly drive by behind Rock at the end of his promo, I was so hoping someone would honk and yell, "Yeah, we smell ya'!" or something like that.

-I got a kick out of R-Truth looking at the camera and stopping mid-sentence and asking, "Who am I talking to?"

-I loved final segment with Rock and John Cena. That was tremendous, memorable, "makes me want to see them wrestle" delivery. Cena is schooling Rock on the mic. Tell me a year ago I'd say that and I truly would have been shocked (but since I trust you, I would have believed you). Cena has a swagger about him that I've never seen at this level. He knows he is destroying Rock right now on the mic. Rock is shaken by it. When Rock walked out after Cena pretty much undercut everything Rock could possibly do to counter-punch, I was reminded of Rich Franklin walking out for the rematch with Anderson Silva in UFC. Last week Rock looked like Franklin half way into the fight with Silva after being kneed in the face a dozen times with no answer. Tonight, he walked out with a look that said, "Stay confident. You'll be okay. Don't blink. Don't let this asshole psyche you out" - but not believing a word of it. Of course, Cena had home turf working in his favor tonight which gave him an extra spring in his step. But the way Cena is taking down a legend, it almost seems crazy to think of turning him heel right now at any time in the near future. This is a type of destruction of a legend that makes Cena a legend. I just don't see Rock generously submitted to this on purpose. This is two supremely confident people who agreed to go at it without the right to censor or edit anything ahead of time, and one is destroying the other at every step.

-All of that said, Rock did the best he could. And it wasn't bad. He was off his game last week and Cena embarrassed him by calling him out for it in such humiliating detail before Rock walked out. When Rock did walk out, Cena had the crowd with him. Cena knew it. And since Cena is booed so often anyway, he had nothing to lose in this. Rock is Rock, so losing on the mic to him is nothing to be ashamed of. Cena's body language, facial reactions, mouthing words to Rock as Rock tried to gain his footing and win the crowd back, or at least get some pride back after last week, got in the way of Rock trying to get his mojo back. Rock did the smart thing, though, which was keep it short and simple and simply vow to beat Cena and take everything away from him on April 1st. But Cena interrupting Rock to point out the crowd was chanting "Tooth Fairy" - and Cena was clearly delighted by this - seemed to irk Rock. And then when Cena talked over Rock at the crescendo of his promo seemed to piss off The Rock.

-So work or shoot or something in between? Well, I made my perspective clear a little earlier. I think Rock is the most generous, secure, ego-free Superstar I've seen if he's agreed to all of this because he is jobbing to Cena in a way that could elevate Cena to a new height and win over the male fans post-WrestleMania, no matter what happens in Miami. Maybe they are planning all of this out. Evidence that points to that is Cena having a great comeback ready for Rock's closing lines. But that much may have been scripted ahead of time and Cena may have freestyles after Rock left. Cena could have improvised writing the height and weight on his wrist, but my hunch is he brought the pen out and planned to do something with it at some point, and that opportunity just presented itself. I am completely willing to be totally wrong in thinking this is being improvised to a great degree and Rock is simply having his lunch money stolen on live national TV because he wants to do what's right for business and "give back." But this smells more like something else to me.

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