#clobberintime: When CM Punk was announced, I half-expected it to actually be Jericho, mocking Punk’s entrance and keeping the pressure on after his comments last week. It is Punk who forgoes his usual stage top routine, so you know we’ll hear some strong words. After claiming Jericho is not there, he gets right to Y2J’s ‘revelation’ and if this is how he handles this new facet to the feud, then it will definitely be interesting. It has shown Punk’s vulnerable side and pierced through his sarcastic veneer. It makes him more human and more relatable to the crowd. Then it gets really serious and this is the most fired up Punk has been in a long time. He goes on to repudiate Jericho’s tactice and say he’s proud of his father and proud of his straight edge lifestyle. Jericho then pulls a Rock and appears via satellite on the Tron, surprisingly humble and even apologizing several times for what he said last week. Of course the other shoe eventually drops and Jericho brings up Punk’s sister and her drug problems. That doesn’t sit well with Punk who lets off a string of something that had to be bleeped out. Well now, if everyone thought Jericho crossed a line last week…
#formerfriends: Kane and Big Show face each other in the ring tonight, but it was just under a year ago that they won the Tag Titles from The Corre and in 2005 had a reign as World Tag Champs. However, this being the WWE and all, I’m sure neither will be mentioned. Show is barely into the ring when Cody Rhodes’ music hits and the IC Champ comes out to watch ringside. Somehow he puts a pair of boxing gloves on and starts shadowboxing, an homage to Show’s loss to Floyd Mayweather. Cody keeps getting more and more inventive in how he mocks Show. However, just like Show’s match on Smackdown this ends quickly when Rhodes distracts Show who gets a top rope Chokeslam from Kane for the win. To add insult to injury, Rhodes attacks Show and even handcuffs him against the ropes as he goes to work with the boxing gloves. Great heel heat but Cody has been getting the upper hand alot, which logic dictates would mean Show will win at Mania, but we’ll have to see.
#ocaptainmycaptain: In a sort of preview of the GM battle at Mania, the team captains, Santino Marella and The Law Offices of David Otunga’s Travel Mug face off, accompanied by their respective GM. The match starts with a pose-off before Travel Mug has enough and attacks Santino. Of course Big Johnny gets involved when he tosses his phone into the ring to distract Santino and give Mug the chance to score a pin. The post-match celebration by Ace is abruptly cut short when getting in Teddy’s face results him getting a stiff arm slap Mr. Tag Team Match. Of course this causes Cole is froth at the mouth about Teddy being out of control and needing to be arrested.
#morehistory: So is Rock doing prep work for his next movie where he plays a history teacher? This time it’s not about Boston or Philly but about Rock, though he is on the Tron, standing in front of the Rocky Balboa statue. Pandering to the Philly fans is mixed in with Hogan, Warrior and Savage impersonations to go along with the usual insulting of Cena and an amusing story about how Rock will get a giant Cheesesteak, turn it sideways and well you know the rest. At least we know what a victory over Cena would mean to Rock, because Dwayne claims it will make him the best of all time.
#inevitablerunin: So Bryan faces Zack Ryder and you can bet Sheamus will get involved somehow. Still it is the in ring return of Ryder as he seeks to secure a spot on Team Teddy, even going so far as to hold a rally earlier in the day in the arena’s parking lot. It’s also a bit ironic that only a few months ago both Ryder and Bryan were standing in the ring with Punk the night after TLC and now they’re in a match. Bryan reverses a Rough Ryder attempt into the LaBell Lock for the submission win. Well so much for my Sheamus prediction.
#crashcourse: So before the match Cole mentions that Cena was in a car crash earlier today and played up whether Cena was alright. He’d better be since he has to face Mark Henry. Of course if this match took place 4 or 5 months ago it would be a different story, since Henry is not the monster heel he was last fall. We do get a reminder of that as Henry manhandles Cena at the start, tossing him out of the ring and continuing to pound away. But this is Cena so he has to make a comeback and hoist Henry on his shoulders for the AA. Without time to catch his breath, Cena must deal with Rock who comes to the ring, gives Henry a Rock Bottom, stares down Cena and walks right out.
#fallbackplan: So WWE couldn’t do Beth vs Kharma for the title at Mania and couldn’t, or wouldn’t do Beth vs Natalya for the title. Instead we now have Beth-Eve vs Kelly-Maria Menounos instead. This means Snooki was unavailable, so they had to go with Maria. This wasn’t announced on RAW or Smackdown but on Extra. At least WWE is branching out I suppose.
#miztory: To illustrate how far he’s fallen Miz brings up the case of King Kong Bundy. Bundy was in the main event of Mania II but next year faced Hillbilly Jim and two little people. Now his drop has been unseated by Miz. To make his case he should be on Team Johnny, he issues an open challenge. We all know how those turn out and it doesn’t look good for Miz as he has to take on Sheamus. It was actually a decent match but doesn’t end well for Miz as he receives a Brogue Kick and is pinned for all his talk.
#fillercontent: So Orton comes out on stage to be interviewed by Josh Mathews about his match with Kane. Standard match hype and I did think that as Orton was posing on the stage afterwards, Kane would come out and knock him off. Then Ziggler and Swagger, who are announced are the newest members of Team Johnny take on Truth and Kingston. I am becoming impressed with the work of Swaggler as both show good chemistry together, tag in often and keep Kofi isolated, eventually getting the win with some help from Vickie.
#endofanera: If this was truly an ‘End of An Era’ match, we would never see Taker or HHH in another match. Taker winning and retiring on top after going 20-0 would be a fitting end to his career. Triple H is nearing his end too and he should focus more on behind-the-scenes work. HBK is out first and plays up the fact that he holds the match outcome in his hands. Next comes Taker and gets straight to it by telling Shawn to shut up and listen. He doesn’t get much farther then that before HHH comes out. Good history legend from the COO in saying that of the 24 HIACs, he and Taker have been in 19 of them. Though it’s not mentioned that 24 number is so high because of the annual HIAC PPV which kind of water down the mystique of the match. H gets in Taker’s face, remaining adamant that he can end Taker’s era. Taker even asks if it’s worth his career or life and HHH says yes. So is this going to be Streak vs Career? With one final parting shot that Shawn is better then Hunter, Taker walks out and the show ends with a staredown between the former DX members.
