Pre-Show Notes:
The Wrestlemania card is shaping up nicely with the event only 4 weeks away. From what I’ve seen, they may add 1 or 2 tag title matches to the card. I wish they would because I’ve always been a fan of tag team wrestling and I would love to see a match or two. The BunnyMania is a take it or leave it type of deal. While I’ll love seeing the Divas in their sexy little outfits, I would rather have a solid wrestling match. The IC title won’t be on the line this year either. I guess Vince has something against it. The US title could come into play in the Umaga-Batista match or if MVP has a match. Batista & MVP will take on each other this Friday on Smackdown for the US title. The World Heavyweight Championship match is coming together nicely although I hope they turn up the fire on the feud the next few weeks. The WWE Championship match is coming together although there’s no real frontrunner with the momentum, but that can be a good thing.

The build for the Mayweather-Show match continued this past Friday on Smackdown. Show’s said some stuff on his promos that I wish he wouldn’t have said. He mentioned the fact that Mayweather is getting $20 million for the match. While that’s probably untrue, don’t mention that! You shouldn’t tell that he’s getting that much! He also mentioned something about “wrestling can be very real.” Well no shit. Hitting somebody over the head with a chair is not something you can fake very well. But, the fact is don’t mention that either. People make fun of it because it’s “fake” and all. There’s something’s that are fake about it, yes. You just don’t mention that if you want people to think Mayweather could actually get his ass kicked. I did however, like the promo I saw the other night. It talked about Mayweather being 38-0 or whatever his record is. Then, it talked about facing Big Show and they did a face off. It looked damn good.

One thing that has weirded me out over the past few days, and weird-ing me out it tough, is the new addition of the “Industry” section to WWE.com. When I first heard it here on WNW, I didn’t know what to make of it. So, I checked it out for myself. I was a little shocked to see TNA & ROH news on WWE.com. It’s like going to Pepsi’s web site and seeing news about Coke. It was a little surreal. Why would they do something like this? My guess is they don’t consider ROH or TNA as real competition. But, why would you help them in anyway? I’m also thinking they won’t include any of the “backstage news” that we post here. Speaking of which, if anybody has seen the site, Wrestle Zone, you might have noticed something. Basically, our stories from WNW were appearing on there and someone taking credit for them. I think it’s complete bullshit that somebody would stoop that low to take OUR stuff and call it their own. How crappy is that?

Before we get to RAW, I wanted to mention TNA a little bit. The news came out that they will be doing a live Impact the Thursday before Wrestlemania as well as taping 2 shows before Wrestlemania. How convenient? Honestly, if they don’t pull out all of the stops and really put good product out there, they’ll really fall behind and their progress will be lost. They really need some good stuff to show people they can compete. This is their chance to get part of that WWE audience. After all, they’ll be bringing over 80,000 people to Orlando and this will be a perfect time to showcase their product. I won’t doubt the promo teams will be out in full force to get people to the Impact Zone. I mean, let’s have an Ultimate X match or something to really show they’re the alternative, not that Styles-Angle-Angle love triangle.

One quick thing from this past weekend was Matt Hardy returned at a house show against MVP. It’s unknown if he’ll compete against MVP for the United States Championship or not. Without further ado, it’s time for another edition of RAW is Blogged!!!

RAW is Blogged:
RAW started off with all 3 participants from the main event for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania. Triple H got a huge pop while Randy Orton got plenty of heat. When John Cena was shown, he got his usual mixed reaction. Silly Willy Regal said that for the next 3 weeks, each one will get to be the GM for the night. He said this week, Cena would be the GM and it would rotate in the coming weeks. Orton tried to make a deal about not getting injured. Trips said he couldn’t trust either one and Cena said he would find something extremely satisfying. Good way to start off RAW.

Next up was a mixed martial arts exhibition match. I guess WWE wanted to capitalize off of UFC 82. By the way, Anderson Silva is a straight bad ass. Big Show came out and during his entrance; they kept showing Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. on the screen posing a bunch. It didn’t really make sense. Show’s opponent was Brandon “The Thrill” Hill. This guy came out in boxing garb for his MMA match. Um, ok. Hill had on gloves and Show was gloveless. This was basically a squash match that was worse than “Brawl for All.” Show won and then cut a great promo. He reminded me of me when I talk shit. During the whole promo, Mayweather kept saying, “get the jet ready” and “I’ll break your jaw this time.” Well, this build went down hill quick.

Next up, it was Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair taking on Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. They planted the seeds for a heel turn last week, which is what I’m expecting. It was a quick match with HBK & Flair locking on dueling Figure Four Leg Locks for the win. Afterwards, Michaels got on the mic and talked about not wanting the match. He then went into tweener mode, saying if Flair wanted to keep pushing it, his show would be ended at Wrestlemania. I was expecting a Sweet Chin Music but I’m thinking we’ll get that next week.

Backstage, John Cena made a match between himself & Mr. Kennedy and kicked Silly Willy out of his office for the night. During the commercial break, we find out that next week’s RAW will be 3 hours! Not only that, it will be a “Wrestlemania Rematch” night with past matches from Wrestlemania on RAW. Please God, no Khali-Kane, please!!!

Floyd Mayweather says he’ll break the Big Show’s jaw at Wrestlemania.

Back from the break, we learn that Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel will return with special guest, Jeff Hardy. We also then learn that Finlay and John Bradshaw Layfield will have a confrontation. I do like the new graphics they’re using to preview stuff. They’ve come a long way from just having two pictures up there.

At ringside, Silly Willy joined JR & King on commentary. Oomanga came out for a squash match against Super Crazy. Once a while back, Super Crazy was an ECW Television Champion. You know, the same belt Rob Van Dam held for 23 months and made it more important than the ECW World Heavyweight Championship? King read a statement from Batista, saying he was ready to face Umaga. Goody!

After the break, Chris Jericho was in the ring for the return of the “illustrious” Highlight Reel. Jericho said he was there to talk about the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania. Hardy came out to a great reception. So, who are these other guys in the MITB match? Jericho brought down the Jeri-tron 500 to recap the events from last week in their kick ass match. Jericho said there was nothing Hardy or anybody could do to stop him from winning the match at Wrestlemania. Chris, I doubt it. Unless somebody has gone retarded in the back, Hardy will win this match. They talked about the past and Jericho said that from now until ‘Mania, it’s anything goes. Hardy then proceeded to give Jericho a Twist of Fate, which got a few boos from the crowd. Hmm. Backstage, Mr. Kennedy was shown walking to the ring to get squashed by Cena.

They showed a Wrestlemania commercial with Carlito and Maria. Carlito wrestled around with a sea gull the whole time. Damn funny commercial!!!

Floyd Mayweather says he’ll break the Big Show’s jaw at Wrestlemania.

Back from commercial, they showed Kennedy’s Mic Check on Cena last week. Kennedy came out to his remixed theme music followed by Cena, with his mixed reaction. Cena is back saluting. Before the match got going, they cut to a commercial. For those wondering, Burger King now has cheesy tots for breakfast. I don’t know if I was seeing things or not, but Kennedy was kicking Cena’s ass. Once again, it was mentioned that if Kennedy wins the Money in the Bank, he’ll cash it in that night after the main event. That would be the sickest twist ever but I don’t think it will happen. Then again, I didn’t think Edge would come out after the Elimination Chamber at New Year’s Revolution and cash his in either. Cena beat Kennedy with 5 moves: clothesline, kick to the gut, his flip over head buster, a top rope fame-asser, and an STFU. Simply amazing.

Meanwhile backstage, Maria & Candice Michelle were talking. King said they were going to unveil Maria’s Playboy cover. Too bad most of the internet marks have already seen it. You know, if I could land a woman like Maria, or any of the Divas, man…well, you know!

Back from commercial, we lean that Wrestlemania is 27 days away. The music for that package was pretty bad ass.

King was in the ring for the unveiling of the Playboy cover. He introduced Maria & Candice Michelle. I mean, damn. They say that this year’s BunnyMania match will be a Lumber-Jill match and Snoop Dogg will be the Master of Ceremonies. They revealed the cover and in every place that a man would want to see, Santino’s ugly mug was covering them up. Santino said every time somebody wants to dream about Maria being in Playboy, they’ll have an erectile malfunction. Funny stuff. Maria finally stood up to Santino about his behavior. Santino said it must be that time of the month. He tried to drag Maria out of the ring but King knocked him down and got a nice “Jerry!” chant not to mention a hug from Maria. Candice got on the mic and talked about revealing another cover, which lead us to see the real cover. Maria is f***ing hot!

They showed a video package about Carl Edwards and his friendship with John Cena. Cool stuff.

After that, we had a “Money in the Bank” qualifying match between Carlito & Cody Rhodes. I guess we won’t have a tag title feud going into Wrestlemania? JR said the winner of MITB would get a shot at the World Heavyweight or WWE title. I guess the ECW title is back down to a secondary belt. They had a good match despite the lack of crowd reaction. Carlito won so I guess his team with Santino is over.

After the break, they interviewed Mayweather. In case you missed it, Floyd Mayweather said he’ll break the Big Show’s jaw at Wrestlemania.

Mike Adamle butchered the Hall of Fame announcement. Mae Young will be inducted into this year’s class. Please, no more highlights. Finlay was shown backstage getting ready to come out and confront JBL.

Finlay came out to his new theme. I miss the “My name is Finlay and I love to fight.” Vince came out and asked Finlay a bunch of questions. He is Hornswoggle’s son. JBL was live via satellite with Hornswoggle in a hospital bed. I really don’t like stuff like this. JBL slapped little Horny. Horny cried. JBL turned out the lights and I guess demolished Hornswoggle. Finlay is a good actor.

The main event between Triple H and Randy Orton was next with John Cena on commentary. I bet you he’ll be the best commentator storylines can write. These guys put on a hell of a show. There was lots of mat wrestling and technical moves unlike a match involving the guest commentator. He was busy hyping his opponents up and would make the casual fan think he had no shot at beating either one of them. The match ended with Cena attacking Triple H. He hit an FU on Triple H and then Orton his an RKO on Cena. Wheww. I thought this would be the 3^rd week in a row that a different guy would the advantage.

I give this RAW:
3 out of 4 ring posts
Well, if you like that stuff, you probably liked RAW. It was decent but could have been better in other spots. In case you missed it, Floyd Mayweather said he’ll break the Big Show’s jaw at Wrestlemania.

“RAW is Blogged” Power Rankings
1. Edge
2. Randy Orton
3. Triple H
4. The Undertaker
5. John Cena +1
6. CM Punk +1
7. Chavo Guerrero -2
8. Jeff Hardy +1
9. Ric Flair +1
10. MVP -2

Here’s another treat for my loyal readers!!!

“Wrestlemania” Match of the Week
Wrestlemania 20
Cruiserweight Open Championship

RAW – Mondays at 9PM on USA Network
ECW – Tuesdays at 10PM on SciFi
Friday Night Smackdown – Fridays at 8PM on the CW

Wrestlemania 24 – March 30 – 7PM – Only on PPV!

Tags: Batista, Big Show, Jeff Hardy, John Cena, Mayweather, Triple H, Wrestlemania