Rock and Punk in Boston, Questions on WWE's thoughts on Miz, Cena vs. Rock, Natalya, Punk/Bryan, Ryder and Eve, Smackdown main event, WWE Classics update, notes on Rock and Ryder, Mysterio and Del Rio updates, another FCW star on the road, Edge interview, another Rock-Raw appearance, Raw rating, and the Smackdown dark match

The Boston Herald caught The Rock and C.M. Punk ahead of Raw.

For my take on PWInsider.com's Tuesday questions:
1. On top of that, he might not have the best reputation in the locker room if a recent interview with Del Rio is any indication. I hope this is just a phase like we went through with Sheamus because I think Miz really has "it". The descent from where he was last year is disappointing to say the least as he could have been on his way to being one of THE guys in WWE. I really hope things pick up for him sooner rather than later. WWE can't really afford to botch the ascent of ANOTHER promising star.

2. Nope. It's big enough on its own. If they do a rematch (or two), then they can bring in stipulations. The loser has to watch the winner's movies or something. Seriously though, it's already a clash of two of the biggest stars of the last 20 years. What more do you need?

3. They're using a technically sound, credible performer to get over the people they want to push (and possibly improve Eve's ring game in the process). This is not a new thing in wrestling. I doubt this is punishment for Natalya as much as them wanting to get other, less-experienced Divas over.

After the break, I go into everything else from Tuesday, starting with a question on Punk vs. Bryan.

4. Not entirely. It's just adding fuel to the fire. There are also the factors of the champions and their challengers being in play, plus the history between those two performers. Working with someone he's familiar with has been a big boon for Bryan, who's had kind of a rough road to where he is now.

5. Zack Ryder's gone form being lucky to be featured on Superstars to being an important part of a feud involving the company's top babyface and a major monster heel. He's got plenty of merchandise and his own show on WWE's YouTube channel. There are performers who would kill to be that "buried". Eve's similarly getting the chance of a lifetime. Why would they throw all that away to wrestle in Orlando? As over as both of them are with the crowd, I don't see them being devalued at all. Just because some people don't like their angles, that doesn't mean WWE's trying to kill their careers.

The announced main event for Smackdown is Randy Orton vs. Kane. They're not doing that at Mania? Strange. Both of them deserve a spot there and I think they can make that into a good little feud.

Since I've talked about this before, I'll keep people posted: WWE is continuing its Classics on Demand channel until further notice given the stalling of the WWE Network. As I understand it, they still have some contractual obligations to make content for that channel.

The Rock's historical vignettes were shot on the Sunday ahead of Raw. He was backstage the day of the show. This was likely partially to play up the whole "not in attendance vs. on the road all the time" aspect of the feud, which is smart.

Zack Ryder is in Europe to do promotion for WrestleMania. Refer to this when considering how "buried" he is. If they didn't like him, would they be willing to use him in that role?

Rey Mysterio is on at least one WrestleMania T-shirt, suggesting that he'll at least make a cameo there.

Alberto Del Rio is waiting to be rewritten into storylines and featured on TV again. That MITB match not happening's really thrown a wrench into things. I figure(d?) he'd be a part of a big multi-man tag match between associates of Long and Laurinaitis.

Dean Ambrose was backstage at the Smackdown taping and worked this weekend's live events, beating Drew McIntyre. How did I miss that? WWE was said to be pretty high on him when he tried out on the main roster a few months back. Very much looking forward to seeing the new crop of stars after WrestleMania.

Edge was interviewed ahead of his WWE Studios release on wrestling and more. I like his list of Hall of Fame inductees. Interesting take on the whole Rock issue, and I can very well see his take. I also drew the Hogan vs. Rock parallels.

The Rock has been added to the 3/19 edition of Raw.

Raw did a 3.2 on Monday, with hours of 3.27 and 3.19. Hopefully some of them got tired of The Rock's shtick. Not a bad rating, but long-term (post-Mania, with no HHH, HBK, Taker, or Rock) is going to be really key.

Finally, Xavier Woods (formerly Consequences Creed) beat Hunico in the dark match before Smackdown, I liked him alright in TNA, so I'm kind of iffy on how excited to be about him maybe being on the main roster.

To recap, in the past 6 months, there've apparently been 10 performers who've tried out for the main roster in either dark matches and/or on live events:
Antonio Cesaro (former ROH Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli)
Big E Langston
Damien Sandow (formerly Idol Stevens)
Dean Ambrose (former DGUSA performer Jon Moxley)
Husky Harris
Kenneth Cameron
Leo Kruger
Ryback (former Nexus member Skip Sheffield)
Seth Rollins (former ROH Champion Tyler Black)
Xavier Woods (former TNA Tag Team Champion Consequences Creed)
Hopefully that all means we're going to be seeing some really good talent post-WrestleMania. These things take time, though.

That's all for Tuesday's news. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!