Talking Points of RAW - April 1st

We’re just about 5 days away from the biggest event of the year, WrestleMania 29. Last night’s RAW was the final stop before the mega event, and was the last chance for the WWE to close the feuds and send out a strong message. WWE has failed in hyping the PPV, but since it is WrestleMania, and the matches itself are enough to sell the tickets, it didn’t make much of a difference for the WWE. Although, in a traditional sense, this has been the worst, and the least hyped WrestleMania till date, which doesn’t speak well about the feuds or the WWE’s creative.

Last night’s RAW put out a stronger performance than the previous few episodes. Although it doesn’t speak that much about the episode, considering the other RAWs have been disappointing to say the least. In this article, we look back at the 5 talking points coming out of this week’s RAW. So without further ado, let us jump right into it.

Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo) – Jack Swagger (With Zeb Coulter)

Going into this week’s RAW, Jack Swagger got the upper hand on ADR last week, by attacking Ricardo and winning the psychological battle. This week, ADR faced off against Zeb Coulter, but before the match could begin, Jack attacked Ricardo and Zeb struck ADR with the crutch. Both Jack and Zeb took turns in beating ADR down with the crutch to stand tall over the fallen champion. It wasn’t a pretty sight either, as ADR took a beating for real and his back became a mess. If we take the ‘Take the beating before PPV, win the match’ analogy of the WWE, it would mean ADR would retain the title going into WrestleMania. But I believe Jack will win it, considering his monumental push and the attention he received from the media. Although their feud doesn’t seem to interest a lot of people, it came out well this week, showing how Jack and Zeb work cohesively in beating down ADR, and could do the same going into WrestleMania.

Team Hell No – Dolph Ziggler and Big E

Although this match was put out hastily, it has grabbed a spot here in place of The Shield – Orton, Sheamus and Big Show purely because of the fact that Ziggler might have a bigger role to play at WrestleMania. This week, we had a TV match between Bryan and Ziggler, and as it looked like Bryan was winning, Big E came out to distract Bryan, and give the win to Ziggler. Post match, Bryan was beaten down until Kane tried to make the save, but he was beaten down as well. This gives Ziggler a rare TV win, which shouldn’t be the case. But one might argue that this will create a scene where people won’t expect Ziggler to cash in his brief case at WrestleMania, but when/if he does, it would create that much bigger of an impact. That works fine with me.

The Rock – John Cena

The main event of the show, which has been one of the most poorly booked feuds for WrestleMania 29. Rock vs Cena is arguably one of the bigger matches on the card, but it feels like the WWE is counting on the star power to sell the PPV than the actual build up, which is pretty poor. Another reason for that being The Rock not being able to show up on RAW. I wouldn’t have minded that, but very few would actually remember that Rock is the WWE Champion, and this match will be for the WWE Championship. I liked how Rock mentioned that ‘It is not about passing on the torch’ (Wait, did he read my previous article? No? Never mind). That would put some doubts in people’s minds about the ‘respect’ angle that has to be present at the end of the match, for the torch to be ‘passed on’, so to say. But the WWE could have done much more with this feud, but have faltered. Let us see how the people will receive it come WrestleMania.

HHH (With HBK) – Brock Lesnar (With Paul Heyman)

The second most hyped feud for WrestleMania is between HHH and Brock Lesnar. Rumours of a rematch started right after their first match many months ago. I’m not against this, as having Brock on the card is a great deal for the WWE, as his first PPV match after nearly 8 years did great buys, much better than previous year’s. HBK is involved in the match, which is surprising. I thought Stephanie might get into the mix, but considering HBK is a bigger name than Steph, especially at WrestleMania, it makes sense. This week saw a great promo by the three guys, HHH, HBK and Paul Heyman to close the feud for WrestleMania. Paul used the dreaded implication of Hunter disappointing his wife, but that he might have gotten used to it by now. As I previously said, Hunter will win this match, which will leave the door open for a rubber match down the road if WWE chooses to go that way. A good segment which drove the point home, and did exactly what it had to do.

The Undertaker – CM Punk (With Paul Heyman)

Paul Heyman is pulling double duty here, which shows just how great of a manager he is. CM Punk interrupted Taker as Taker said Punk might end the streak, but will not live to speak about it. Great intensity by the deadman, and as Taker finished his promo, the druids came out, along with Heyman dressed up as Bearer. Taker went up the ramp, and started attacking the druids. One druid attacked Taker from behind, and it was Punk. Punk kept beating down Taker with the urn, and finished the segment by pouring the ashes out of the urn. A fantastic way to drive the point home. No one in history has gotten under the skin of The Undertaker like Punk has in only 4 weeks! That is why Punk is such a great character. People might say they pushed the envelope a bit too much, but I don’t think so. This also involved Bearer without even mentioning him! That is how a great storyline should pan out, going into the mega event. Now people will pay to see Punk getting his butt kicked, and that is the true essence of a feud.

Well, those are the 5 talking points coming out of this week’s RAW. It is also noteworthy that Jericho got beaten down, twice in two weeks by Fandango. People have already started saying how bad his gimmick is, or how he’s not in Jericho’s league. I say wait and watch. Curtis is a good performer and a tremendous athlete. I’m sure once the people see him in a match, they’ll begin to like him. Also, The Shield delivered a good promo to drive the story into its last gear, as we head into WrestleMania. Let us wait and see how this event pans out, and if it will reach the expectations of the people.