Raw thoughts- 3/5/12

Tonight on Raw, The Rock will be live and in-person! What notes will he have on his arm this week? Also appearing for WrestleMania season tonight is Shawn Michaels, who will further stir the pot ahead of Hell in a Cell between Triple H and The Undertaker. Plus, the WWE Board of Directors has put Theodore Long in charge of Raw tonight. What will he put together for the WWE Universe? All this and more - read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.

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I guess Shawn was telling someone to turn their sign around.

For the record, WWE are the ones pushing for HBK to appear post-retirement. One of my all-time favorites (and an all-time great), but if he's not going to be involved in a big way, it's short-sighted to use him so much. The guest star shouldn't overshadow the regular cast.

It's pretty weird that the former leader of DX is now a big executive. Then again, an earlier gimmick of his had him as more of an uptight snob (hence the finisher "Pedigree").

Chant all you want: Taker's not advertised to appear.

Have these two really been friends 17 years? Wow. Time flies.

I wonder if/how they'll tie in corporate suit Triple H with the guy who bashes people with sledgehammers.

bWo signs? Do people do these things just to be cute or do they really want them to return? No way that'd happen in WWE in 2012.

Michaels has some real range to his performances.

I'm kind of surprised people still half-way believe someone MIGHT end the streak.

Why would the Board make Shawn the referee and screw with HHH? He's the COO!

That could be a pretty good main event.

I'd be ok with Santino as U.S. Champion. I don't think it should happen "cold", though. Give it a decent feud and/or advance hype.

WHOA. I would have thought that was the end.

Things get more complicated with WWE storylines every week. If it builds Kofi to work with Long, it works for me I guess.

CHAOS. This is what happens when you have so many people and so little time to feature them.

Nice Cobra counter.

While I'm a fan of Swagger, the place is pretty into Santino's title win.

The Board put Long in power. He can do whatever he wants.

Congrats to Santino. WWE's got a character the fans are cheering for. They should make the most of it.

A Rock history lesson. That could be great or terrible.

THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO SATELLITE.

Hahahaha.

All those things are real, and on WWEShop.com.

Other than the Wonder Woman line, a lot of this was rehashed and/or juvenile.

Pretty upbeat song for a heel. But people know it and boo for it, I guess it should stay (?).

If "no one cares about Eve", why should we tune in to see Kelly beat her (if that's where we're going with this)?

Is Zack Ryder Tiny Tim?

Ugh...this commentary.

Pretty bad when you're booed in your own hometown as the company's top babyface.

Rise Above Eve. Ryder was just made to look like a dope for falling for someone who admitted she used him.

I wonder what would be different about WM28 if it was in Boston instead of Miami given the hometown thing.

The competitors in the WWE and World Title matches at WrestleMania are playing second fiddle to a Hollywood star. Punk, Bryan, Sheamus, and presumably Jericho will be counted on to draw live events, ratings, and PPV buys when Rock isn't around. They need to be treated importantly.

Maybe that Colt Cabana sign is foreshadowing him getting signed again (and used like he could be).

You know one reason why HHH vs. Taker and Cena vs. Rock are so anticipated? They haven't already had matches against each other several times in the past few months.

I hate that they give away so much physicality between performers before PPVs. It makes it even harder to stand out at the actual shows, since we've already seen them collide to some degree.

Oh no. Not another scary miscue. If we've got another Mania injury, I swear WWE's cursed.

That certainly looked like a double pin to me.

This is kind of painful. This is the best they could come up with for Rock vs. Cena in Cena's hometown?

This is like someone put some Rock catch-phrases in a blender, added some Boston references, and shot it in one take.

Oh God. The worst thing about Supershows is seeing Big Show twice a week.

Thank you, Cody Rhodes.

HA. I remember that. No wonder I liked that Mania.

I feel old for remembering that WWE had that restaurant.

I hope Miz can beat a distracted Show.

Nope. Target practice for Knucklehead. WWE must still be ticked about the R-Truth thing from a few weeks ago.

Lots of time for HHH, Shawn, Rock, and Cena. Not as much for the people the company's going to need to draw money off of when three of those guys go back to not being WWE superstars.

I never thought I'd get tired of hearing The Rock, but it's happening tonight. The bloom's kind of off the rose and it's a lot of just "there's more stuff later tonight and at Mania".

Interesting match idea.

I think Kane/Orton could sell itself pretty much on name value. Kane beating R-Truth doesn't do as much for Kane as it does keep Truth below the main event level. Kane's already pretty unstoppable (except facing Cena).

Orton's not afraid of Kane.

The RKO's looking pretty vicious beating people as it is.

Haha. This will be fun promo-wise.

Was anyone else hoping for Kane to do the big sit-up?

Now this is the Cena I've been waiting for.

YES. Keep doing this. I miss this Cena.

I remember The Rock. I want him back too. Instead we have Dwayne Johnson playing The Rock.

I like this "at The Rock's core" stuff as opposed to the catchphrases. Big, talented stars facing off instead of Fruity Pebbles and garden gnomes.

I think Cena took this one.

I think that's Cena's brother?

Good ending to the show.

That's all for Raw. I'll be back for NXT on Wednesday and a news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!