New York, NY - The countdown to WrestleMania continues as it is only 34 more days until the biggest pay-per-view of the year happens in Atlanta, Georgia.  This Raw gave fans lots to think about as the pieces to the company’s biggest pay-per-view of the year are slowly coming together.

 

The night began with a confrontation fit for a King as Triple H would come back and cut a promo for the fans. Hunter would explain that he has never had a Mania moment that wasn’t overshadowed by another superstar and ‘supposedly’ this year with his recently booked bout with the Undertaker he will.

 

There will be more of my thoughts on Taker/Hunter Mania bout later, but first let us get to the part where Sheamus would interrupt and the confrontation of Kings would finally happen. Hunter was able to exact revenge on the young lion with a Pedigree through the announce table.

 

Expect for the two real life friends to feud for a little just so Hunter can regain his form in the ring before his encounter with ‘The Deadman.’ Personally here is hoping that Hunter doesn’t destroy the good reputation that Sheamus has built for himself thus far.

 

Right now Sheamus is not someone a lot of people care about. Sheamus just had probably one of his biggest and embarrassing moments, in dropping a contest to Evan Bourne on this night. It is a shame to see this after what was a very good run with the strap, there will be more on Sheamus later on.

 

Another piece to the Mania puzzle was handed to the fans as Michael “I <3 The Miz” Cole agreed to a Mania bout with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler. The cowardly Cole would agree to the bout under two conditions first is that he would get to name a special guest referee, and second the fact that Jack Swagger will be in his corner.

 

It turns out that the All-American American is currently training the heel announcer for the big bout at Mania. Personally this bout between these two are not that important to me and I have a feeling many of the members of the WWE Universe; as this will hopefully put an end to the feud between Lawler and King.

 

The one thing though that this journalist hopes to see out of this though is more of Jack Swagger on Raw. Right now Swagger hasn’t done much for himself, he is in the same boat as Sheamus not doing a lot after a run with the strap. If Swagger gets to go on Raw from time to time it can set up feuds with several superstars and hopefully he can regain his form.

 

If I were a member of WWE Creative I would allow for Swagger to continue on this path and also allow for him to train promo wise under Randy Orton. There is something about the combination of a submission type wrestler like Swagger combined with the short promos that have impact that will in the end push the young lion to the top.

 

As for Sheamus maybe a trip to SmackDown would be in order, who would like to see a Sheamus/Drew McIntyre feud. Or even Sheamus feuding with anyone on the blue brand just to help some of the younger lions develop. Heck Sheamus/Zeke would be interesting, but again this journalist got one wish this year in the quick Sheamus/Mark Henry bout.

 

Members of the WWE Universe received yet another piece of the Mania puzzle as the announcement was made that Randy Orton will officially take on C.M. Punk at the pay-per-view. This is slightly disappointing since the whole Cena/Punk thing would have been more dynamic and interesting, but for some reason you can’t have Mania without Cena in the main event.

 

So for now the fans of ‘The Viper’ get to sit back and enjoy as Orton will now get to face each member of the ‘New’ Nexus one-by-one to eliminate them from aiding Punk at Mania. The first victim for Orton was young Michael McGillicutty, who was first defeated then received a punt to the head for good measure.

 

The segment would end with Orton proudly standing in the crowd and celebrating as he will work his way through Punk’s lackeys until the pay-per-view, where he will hopefully get to punt the leader himself in person. It seems weird to me that the members of the WWE Creative will allow Orton to do something that Cena never did.

 

You know that Orton is going to punt each and every single member of the Nexus upside the head, single handedly getting rid of each member. If the Viper also does that to Punk he would have finally gotten rid of the ‘Black and Yellow’ for good in the WWE. If my memory serves me correctly didn’t John Cena promise the WWE fans that he himself would get rid of the heel group? Stay tuned for this one folks.

 

The action would take a break so that the buildup for the Cena/Miz/Rock confrontation at Mania can build. This was the part of the show where The Miz wanted to make sure that the fans knew that he was still an important superstar in the WWE. Not only is The Awesome one important but after this win at Mania no one will mention guys like The Rock or John Cena, as The Miz will take his place as the greatest of all time

 

Speaking of Cena WWE’s resident Superman comes out and does his usual face promo ripping into both The Rock and The Miz. Cena would set the stage for the Main Event of the evening where he would face apprentice Alex Riley later on in the night. If Cena should win Riley is fired and the ’Chain gang leader’ and the Awesome One get to fight one-on-one at Mania.

 

However if Riley should win then Cena would have to tell the whole world that the Miz is awesome, and is the greatest superstar in the history of the company. Everyone would agree to this including the anonymous General Manager; who would make the bout a steel cage match so that the Awesome One could not interfere.

 

Raw would get back to the action with a very quick Diva’s Battle Royal as Brie Bella would earn her and her twin a title shot at Eve. Who knows why the Bella Twins are receiving such a push after a storyline that featured them hanging out with Daniel Bryan.  This is not a good sign for the woman’s division, which is still not being used as well as it can be.

 

Members of the WWE Universe would have to sit through two televised promos. The first was supposed to get the crowd excited, but instead I think it may have disappointed many in the crowd in Buffalo, NY.  Throughout the night WWE promoted the idea that The Rock would respond to John Cena’s freestyle rap last week.

 

Instead of getting ‘The Peoples Champion’ in person, fans sat through a very emotional and another well cut promo from the Rock, just this promo was via satellite.  Dwayne Johnson pulled out all the stops to try to get the crowd into his promo, but for the man who loves the WWE so much this promo would have meant more if it was in person.

 

Yes The Rock did have his belts proudly on display from ‘his home’ and yes The Rock did give plenty of good reasons why he was away.  But if the Rock really wishes to win the hearts of the WWE Universe back, he will need to do more than trash talk John Cena to do so.

 

According to ‘The Great One’ he and Cena will be meeting face-to-face before Mania happens, and once that epic encounter happens then not only John Cena but the rest of the WWE Universe will know what The Rock is cooking.

 

Before the second video segment could take place, the fans at home watching on television would get a preview of what will take place on Friday night. According to the commercial the Undertaker will make his return to the blue brand, along with a Mania contract signing between Del Rio and Edge.

After that commercial segment this journalist along with the rest of the fans in Buffalo, had to sit through another video promo this time featuring ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels, where HBK would speak about the up-and-coming Mania bout between his best-friend Triple H and the Undertaker.

 

 

Shawn would say on this segment that he is having mixed emotions of the bout between the two at the granddaddy-of-them all. Yes he would love to see his best-friend win, but he would be angry due to the fact that he ‘The Showstopper’ could not get the job done itself.

 

The great thing about wrestling and WrestleMania is all the great debates one can get into with the members of the WWE Universe. Recently I posted on Facebook that I feel this will be the end for Takers 18-0 legendary winning streak. There were many-many people that disagreed saying that Taker will never lose.

 

Here is my perspective on things for those interested. Before my column that you all get to read weekly, I have always been one to applaud and cheer for Takers streak at Mania. I am one of many who believe that the Icon should retire with the streak intact; the man has deserved and worked his butt off for it.

 

The thing with Hunter though is this, what Hunter wants is what Hunter gets. There is really no point to this Mania bout if Hunter loses. A loss to the Undertaker really doesn’t do anything for Triple H, who is looking for his name to be etched amongst the greats in wrestling.

 

However snapping the Undertakers winning streak will propel Hunter to heights that can never be reached by any other wrestler. Hunter knows that his time is almost over, and there is probably no way he can ever reach his mentor/idol Ric Flair’s streak of holding the most heavyweight straps.

 

Instead what may likely happen in Atlanta, Georgia is this; HBK goes into the Hall of Fame the night before. Hunter and Taker go at it one-on-one either with Shawn as a referee or without him. At one point in time in the bout Shawn will super kick the Taker (this is with a regular ref.); Hunter will get the 1-2-3 ending the legendary streak.

 

 Now WWE creative can go another route and have HBK super kick his best-friend and allow Takers streak to continue.  This may require a feud then between the two friends, and that is a road that the WWE has taken before, and is one that I am sure not many are anxious to see again. I know like many I am anxiously waiting to see what is going to be done with this storyline between these three great stars.

 

Before the Main Event can get underway we have a vicious assault on Daniel Bryan by The Miz, just to let everyone know that yes The Miz is in fact someone to watch for. This was an interesting attack due to the fact that there was a new found aggression seen in The Miz. If the Awesome One wishes to retain the strap at Mania it will be thanks to this aggression and rage.

 

Finally we would have our Steel Cage main even bout between Cena and Alex Riley. WWE’s resident Superman would display his strength as he was able to push his way past two roadblocks in both The Miz and the door of the Steel Cage for the victory.

 

SuperCena’s victory would not last long, you see as the face flew out of the ring he was quickly met by the Skull Crushing Finale walking right into The Awesome One’s finishing move.  The Flagship Brand would end with The Miz looking to prove that he is not an afterthought, but the only thought and the true main event of WWE.

 

Stay tuned fans this is going to be a crazy week WWE wise for all members of the Universe. First of all there is the return of the Undertaker to SmackDown and the buildup there between Del Rio and Edge. Then we have the homecoming for Stone Cold Steve Austin next Monday; as Raw comes to fans live from Dallas, Texas. Plenty of surprises are in store as the countdown continues to WrestleMania.

 

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