Randy Orton connects with an RKO onto Cody Rhodes. Good match with Randy Orton and Sheamus defeating Team Rhodes Scholars. It mostly a rehash of what we got on Raw, but it was still well-wrestled nonetheless. The outcome was never in doubt, but Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow still looked good in defeat. The Shield challenging Orton and Sheamus to a match at WrestleMania made sense from a story-line standpoint and gave viewers a hook for the rest of the show to find out who Sheamus and Orton's tag team partner would be. Exceptional tag team match with Divas Champion Kaitlyn and Layla defeating Tamina and Aksana. The in-ring action was surprisingly better than expected and maintained a nice flow throughout. The match wasn't a classic by any means, but it received enough time to feel somewhat significant. Based off the post-match antics, it looks like Layla is headed for a heel turn in coming weeks to contend for the Divas title. Solid match between Dolph Ziggler and Kane. The crowd was flat for the bout at certain points (most notably during mid-match), but the pace picked up down the stretch. The outside interference was well done, which allowed Ziggler to score a rare victory. It's nice to see him back to his winning ways again, but this seems to be indicating he'll be involved in a tag title match at WrestleMania, which is something I'm a bit skeptical of.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews Effective opening segment with Aces and Eights attacking Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. It put good heat on the villainous stable and saved the World Tag Team Championship match for a later date. Bully Ray offered some explanation for why he turned heel at Lockdown, but not much. Regardless, it was a strong promo and it's been awhile since we've heard one of Ray's classic heel promos. Good match with Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky and Mickie James defeating Gail Kim and Tara. Once again, the focus was on the tension between Kim and referee Taryn Terrell, but the match itself was still well-wrestled. It was also nice to see James again, who hasn't been seen on television in several months. I'm not sure who enters the title picture at this point, but the Terrell-Kim feud has shown promise in recent weeks. Undertaker pays tribute to the late Paul Bearer to kick off Raw. Excellent opening segment featuring Undertaker and CM Punk. The video package remembering Paul Bearer was touching and very well done. Having Undertaker kick off the show by paying tribute to Bearer with the patented urn was a nice touch, and Punk's inevitable interruption was logical. I would have found this disrespectful had they had not paid tribute to Bearer for the remainder of Raw, but since they did, I was fine with it. Kane's subsequent attack on Punk helped set up their main event match for later in the night. Smart booking with The Shield dismantling Big Show. The first singles match of a Shield member should feel special, so I'm glad they held off on doing Show vs. Rollins here. The Shield delivering a triple powerbomb to Show was a cool visual and helped further their recent strong momentum. It was also nice to not see Randy Orton and Sheamus come to the aid of the World's Largest Athlete, wouldn't' have made any sense at this point in time. Great match between Dolph Ziggler and WWE Tag Team Champion Daniel Bryan. These two have such amazing chemistry together, so it was great to see them get just enough time to shine inside the squared circle. AJ Lee's involvement was interesting given her history with Bryan, and Langston also played his role well. The action was exciting and Ziggler scoring the victory was a refreshing change of pace, as Bryan loses nothing from the loss. This appears to be setting up a tag title match between the duo of Ziggler and Langson and Team Hell No, which I wouldn't mind if it meant finally getting the straps off Kane and Bryan. Typical promo with Fandango refusing to face Tensai. He did the exact same shtick he did last week, so there was nothing new here whatsoever. He generated some mild heat, but that was about it. As previously stated, I can't form a full opinion of the character until we see him change things up in coming weeks. Strong segment with Brock Lesnar interrupting the match between Team Rhodes Scholars and New Age Outlaws. I didn't even think about the possibility of Lesnar attacking Road Dogg and Billy Gunn due to their affiliation with Triple H, so that was brilliantly booked. Paul Heyman's promo was excellent as expected and really put over Lesnar as a force to be reckoned with. The feud between Lesnar and HHH has been built surprisingly well in recent weeks and I look forward to what's in store for the rest of this rivalry going into WrestleMania. Nice match with Mark Henry defeating Kofi Kingston. We all knew Kingston didn't have a chance against Henry going into this bout, but the Ghanian grappler still had an impressive outing regardless. Hernry catching Kingston in mid-air for the World's Strongest Slam was a sweet spot and once again showcased Henry's dominance. By Brandon E The main focus at the moment is WrestleMania and WrestleMania only. But, what about after WrestleMania? Last year was a very memorable Post-WrestleMania as Brock Lesnar returned and a big match was set-up between Lesnar and John Cena in a Extreme Rules match. From then on however, WWE seemed to fall downhill, hopefully history does not repeat itself this year and the momentum can be sustained from WrestleMania. Whilst a big of a return as Brock Lesnar likely won't happen this year, there still could be a big surprise the Raw after WrestleMania. For months there has been speculation amongst fans about several wrestlers perhaps returning in the near feature, I think it would be wise to expect at least one wrestler to return the day after WrestleMania whether this be face returning from injury such as Christian or a past wrestling face in MVP. It's become a sort of tradition for this to occur. Or at least something else surprising. Personally I'm not sure what that surprise will be, I'm just going to sit back and see what WWE has in store. However, I do believe I have a good idea about what might happen after WrestleMania. My predictions for WrestleMania from the matches so far would be: John Cena winning, Jack Swagger winning, Undertaker winning and if the match happens Triple H winning against Brock Lesnar and getting his revenge. Whilst these are not all my picks to win, I believe they are the most plausible. Firstly, John Cena winning is probably the most obvious. We recently found out that The Rock has agreed to work Post-WrestleMania dates including the pay-per-view Extreme Rules, this could mean that The Rock would ask for his rematch clause for Extreme Rules after WrestleMania. If this does in fact happen I would hope it would have some sort of stipulation attached to it, seeing another normal match between the two right after WretleMania would be the wrong move, a stipulation added would be wise to well and truly end their feud. |
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