By Jason Powell

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WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Anaheim, Calif.

[Q1] Pyro went off on the stage as the Nickelback theme song played. Michael Cole and Josh Mathews checked in from ringside. They hyped the reveal of the guest host of WrestleMania 27. Mathews said the rumored names included Justin Timberlake and Will Smith. Really? Cole hyped the three matches involving Elimination Chamber participants...

John Cena's music played and he headed to the ring. The announcers narrated highlights of Cena low-blowing C.M. Punk last week and then clearing Nexus from the ring with a chair that Jerry Lawler handed him. In the ring, Cena issued a thanks to Lawler for passing him a chair last week.

Cena said he sees some guys smiling and others sweating. He said that means it's Valentine's Day. He noted that there were couples in the building and said nothing says love like tickets to Raw. Cena played up the WrestleMania 27 guest host rumors and let a Rocky chant break out in the crowd.

Cena told a couple of Grammy jokes and then said his suspicion is that Michael Cole is the guest host of WrestleMania 27. Cena recalled the way Vince hyped the guest host last week and then told jokes that applied to Cole. Cena said we've never seen proof that Cole is a man, and compared him to a Ken doll.

John turned his attention to Elimination Chamber and said it's bigger than the guest host because they find out who will go to WrestleMania. He said he needs this WrestleMania moment because of the year he's had. He recalled being fired and spoke about what he's to endure with The Nexus. He said the great thing is that Punk is the only member of Nexus in the Elimination Chamber.

C.M. Punk's music played and he headed onto the stage with a mic in hand. Punk walked toward the ring as he talked. He reminded Cena that the record books say Punk 2, Cena 0. Punk entered the ring and said that he doesn't need the fans like Cena does "because I am a good person." Punk said good things happen to good people...

1. C.M. Punk defeated John Cena at 10:35. Cole said Nexus has been banned from ringside by the anonymous general manager. He said anyone who gets involved is out of the Chamber match on Sunday. Punk jumped out to the early advantage. He sent Cena to ringside and then dove at him with a clothesline off the ring apron. [C]

Powell's POV: Cena was in ultra-happy and cute mode tonight. He told several bad jokes and never bothered to make it seem like Punk or Nexus is getting to him. If Cena isn't bothered by the group, then why should his fans be? Maybe it's by design. Perhaps Punk wins tonight and then Cena will start taking him seriously. However, with Cena expected to win the Chamber match on Sunday, and Punk moving on to face Randy Orton, this might be the blowoff match to this feud, so I expect a Cena win.

After the break, Punk was still in control. Mathews stressed that Punk would be out of the Elimination Chamber match if any member of the New Nexus interfered.

[Q2] Cena started to make a comeback, but Punk cut him off with a leg lariat. Punk dominated the majority of the offense up until this point. Cena came back with a slam at 7:45 for a near fall. Cole stressed that there must be a winner either by pinfall or submission.

At 10:00, Punk ended up at ringside. An arm sporting Nexus armbands emerged from underneath the ring and slipped a chair to Punk. He slid the chair inside the ring. As the ref turned his attention to the chair, the arm slipped a wrench to Punk, who struck Cena with it. Punk entered the ring and hit the GTS and then scored the pin...

Powell's POV: I love seeing Punk win the match to keep his momentum going. Great move. However, the idea that the person under the ring would wear Nexus armbands is idiotic. Would they really risk Punk being removed from the Elimination Chamber match when they could just play it safe by removing the armband?

At ringside, Cole and Mathews addressed the passing of Jerry Lawler's mother. Cole said he spoke with Lawler today and said that he will be at Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to face The Miz for the WWE Championship. They transitioned into hyping the WrestleMania guest host. Mathews said some people believe it's Ryan Seacrest and others believe it's Vince McMahon...

An ad aired for the 600th edition of Smackdown that airs Friday on Syfy. The 12-man tag match was hyped as the main event... [C] Highlights aired from Alberto Del Rio's celebration from two weeks ago when he applied the cross armbreaker on Edge...

Justin Roberts introduced Ricardo Rodriguez. Alberto Del Rio drove a 2009 Bentley Continental Convertible, which Cole said is worth $150,000. Ricardo handled the introductions for Del Rio, who then walked to the ring in street clothes. Del Rio got good heat as he went through his usual introductions.

[Q3] Del Rio said his destiny was to win the Royal Rumble, and his destiny is also to become the World Hvt. Champion at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Edge's music played and he ran onto the stage carrying the title belt. Cole said there's no way Edge should be the champion after what happened on Friday's Smackdown.

Edge said he's been so busy beating Dolph Ziggler that he almost forgot that Del Rio attacked him with a guitar two weeks ago. Edge said he also has a destiny. He asked Del Rio if he wants to know what it is. Before Del Rio could answer, Edge tackled him and hit him with a flurry of punches.

Edge backed into the corner for the spear. Ricardo jumped up on the apron and took a clothesline from Edge. Del Rio fled the ring. Edge went after Del Rio, who caught him with a punch. However, Edge came right back and was standing tall in the ring when the cheers suddenly turned to boos.

"Excuse me," Vickie Guerrero said. The boos were so loud that it was hard to make out what she was saying even on television. She introduced Dolph Ziggler as the new World Hvt. Champion. Highlights aired fro Friday's show of the angle that closed the show with Packers linebacker Clay Matthews counting the pinfall.

Vickie said there will be an official coronation of Dolph Ziggler as the new World Hvt. Champion on Friday's Smackdown. Vickie said Edge is going to lose his job. She said she can prove that Edge assaulted Teddy Long. Vickie started laughing maniacally...

Powell's POV: My guess is that Teddy makes his return to Smackdown on Friday to prevent Vickie from firing Edge and/or giving the belt to Dolph Ziggler. It was nice to see the situation addressed on Raw, but the fact that they waited this long makes the World Hvt. Championship angle seem inconsequential.

Separate shots aired of Eve and Natalya walking backstage...

The latest 2-21-11 video aired. Undertaker could clearly be seen walking past the window of the cabin. They did a close up of Taker, and then the 2-21-11 graphic was shown while the Johnny Cash song played...

Powell's POV: Why do I have this bad feeling that I'll still get dozens of emails from people claiming that it was actually Sting dressed up like Undertaker in the video? There are a lot of people out there who desperately want to see Sting at WrestleMania.

2. Eve defeated Natalya in a lumberjill match to retain the WWE Divas Championship in 3:35. Cole announced that tickets for SummerSlam in Los Angeles go on sale tomorrow. The lumberjills were The Bellas, Maryse, Melina, Alicia Fox, Gail Kim, and Tamina.

Natalya was thrown to ringside at 2:45. The heels ganged up on her and all the lumberjills converged. Eve dove onto the women at ringside and then both women ended up back in the ring.

[Q4] Cole said Natalya's head is so big that she had to wear the headsets that Jim Ross used to wear. In the end, Natalya went for a "pinning predicament," but Eve countered it into a pin of her own for the three count. Eve and Natalya shook hands after the match... [C]

Powell's POV: Awesome Kong really should have come out and destroyed every Diva. The live crowd never got into the match. Only polite applause. The idea of having a lumberjills match for two babyfaces is bizarre. Was there any reason to think that Eve or Natalya were going to walk out? I guess they wanted to get all the Divas on the show. Honestly, they shouldn't bother.

The band Rev Theory was shown sitting in the crowd... Backstage, The Bellas got in Eve's face about something. They ended up roughing her up. Gail Kim and then Natalya ran in for the save. Two referees tried to pull the Divas apart...

At ringside, Cole said that if this keeps up between the Divas, they will have to assign them chaperones. Yes, it was a corny setup for Triple H's corny looking movie. They played the trailer of the movie...

Mark Henry made his entrance. Sheamus ran out behind him and attacked him. Sheamus laid out Henry with the Brough Kick. He took the mic and said that's a reminder to everyone in the Elimination Chamber of what he's capable of. He said he'll give an even bigger reminder to Randy Orton later tonight.

As Henry was getting to his knees with the help of two referees, Sheamus floored him with another kick to the head. Somewhere in there, Mathews mentioned that a lot of people think C.M. Punk was pulling the strings by playing mind games with Sheamus and Henry last week...

Backstage, The Miz and Alex Riley were shown walking through the backstage area. Miz encountered that guy that Cena is too chummy with and pushed him down. Funny... [C]

Powell's POV: That was a great minute in WWE television history. First, Sheamus saves us from a Mark Henry match, and then The Miz roughs up that guy who goofs around with Cena backstage.

The Miz and Alex Riley made their entrance as Cole reminded us that we were watching the longest running episodic television show in history. He said it's all because of Miz. Cole stood up and applauded The Miz and then talked about how he can't wait until Sunday to see Miz embarrass Lawler.

Powell's POV: Wait, so Cole spoke with Lawler earlier today about the passing of his mother, but now he can't wait to see him embarrassed by Miz at the pay-per-view?

[Q5] 3. The Miz defeated Daniel Bryan in a non-title match in 12:00. Riley sat in on commentary for the match. The announcers ran through the history of Miz and Bryan going back to NXT. Bryan went for a sleeper at 2:45. Miz appeared to lose his footing and fell sooner than intended.

At 5:00, Bryan jumped off the ring apron and caught Miz with knees to the jaw. Cool spot. Back inside the ring, Bryan hit a great missile dropkick. He went for his submission finisher, but Miz reached the ropes. Miz came back with a neckbreaker off the ring apron that caused Bryan to fall to the floor as the show went to break. [C]

Byran scored some excellent nearfalls after the break. He went for the LeBell Lock again, but Miz fought him off. Bryan ended up on Miz's shoulders, but Miz shoved him forward. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale and scored the clean pin. Riley and Cole celebrated at the announcers' table...

Powell's POV: The match was especially good after the break. It's good to see Miz get a clean pin. I'll give WWE a pass on not advertising that one in advance simply because they may have done some rewrites due to the death of Lawler's mother. I hope they go back to that feud again because Miz and Bryan have great history and work well together.

[Q6] The Miz cut a promo after the match. He mentioned the death of Lawler's mother and then offered his sincere condolences. He said he hopes Lawler won't use that as an excuse when he loses on Sunday.

Powell's POV: I know I can't be the only person pleasantly surprised that they didn't exploit the death of Lawler's mother. Honestly, I didn't really think they would until Miz mentioned her passing and then I got worried.

Cole hyped that the speculation continues regarding the guest host of WrestleMana 27.... [C]

Powell's POV: Thanks to Dot Net reader CEB for pointing out that Michael Tarver was standing by when Miz pushed Cena's buddy to the ground earlier.

4. R-Truth and John Morrison beat Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga (w/Mason Ryan) in 4:15. Morrison had makeup burns around his eyes to sell the spray can angle from last week. Cole said there has been some question as to whether Morrison has permanent vision damage. He also said the general manager turned the advertised singles match into a tag match due to what happened last week.

Morrison showed good intensity when he entered the match. He kicked Ryan and then flipped Truth onto him at ringside. Morrison ended up getting the pin on McGillicutty following a running knee...

Powell's POV: They didn't have Truth do an entrance, so there's no telling if he knows what town they're in tonight. The explanation of the general manager changing the match didn't make much sense since the original match between Truth and Morrison was advertised earlier today, although I guess the GM could have had a change of heart. I loved the intensity that Morrison showed and the way he maintained it throughout and even after the match.

The announcers hyped Chris Jericho's book "Undisputed" being released on Wednesday...

[Q7] [C] The Did You Know graphic touted that the Elimination Chamber structure weighs 16 tons and is heavier than two adult male elephants and the combined weight of every WWE Superstar...

Justin Roberts introduced Ariel Winter of "Modern Family" fame. She said her father is played by Triple H in the movie "The Chaperone." She introduced The Great Khali for the Kiss Cam segment. Unfortunately, Ranjin Singh came out with Khali, who was rocking a shorter haircut.

Singh said the camera was going to show the wrestlers backstage as well. Santino kissed Tamina. Dolph kissed Vickie. Ted DiBiase was going to kiss Maryse, but she gave him the hand and then kissed Yoshi Tatsu instead. William Regal kissed Zach Ryder on the cheek and made a classic Regal face. Funny.

Hornswoggle emerged from underneath the ring with a box of candy. He entered the ring and gave the candy to Winter, who gave him a kiss on the cheek. He celebrated as his music played to end the segment...

Powell's POV: Don't bitch. It's Raw and it's Valentine's Day. The Valentine's comedy segment could have been so much worse and so much longer. That was quick and painless. Be grateful. Okay, so I sped through whatever it was Khali tried to say. Sue me.

Cole said they were waiting on the arrival of the Raw guest host as a shot aired of the garage entrance... A shot aired of Randy Orton walking backstage... [C]

The Undertaker's 2-21-11 video was shown again. Several readers are convinced there was more than one person in the video. Nothing personal, folks, but I think a lot of people are seeing what they want to see...

Sheamus made his entrance as the announcers hyped the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and recapped his attack on Henry from earlier in the show. Randy Orton made his entrance to a big ovation...

[Q8] 5. Randy Orton defeated Sheamus in 5:00. Sheamus got his fair share of the offense, but Orton hit the RKO to get the clean win. The Nexus hit the ring right after the pinfall and went after Orton as Sheamus rolled to ringside. John Morrison ran out to help, and then R-Truth followed.

John Cena ran out to help fight off Nexus. Cena and Orton cleared Nexus from the ring together. C.M. Punk was the last man out when Orton pushed him onto Cena, who hit him with the Attitude Adjustment. Orton and Cena stood tall in the ring as the fans cheered...

A shot aired of a huge limo arriving in the parking garage. The announcers questioned who it was. The fans started cheering "Rocky." However, a woman exited the limo. The camera focussed on her feet as she walked away from the limo. "Who is she?" one of the announcers asked... [C]

Powell's POV: Does this mean The Rock has undergone a few, um, changes since the last time we saw him on WWE television?

Justin Roberts stood in the ring and said, "Please welcome the host of WrestleMania 27..." Music played and the lights around the arena went off slowly but surely until it was completely dark in the arena. Then we got some a video show on the screen followed by, "If you smell what The Rock is cooking..."

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson walked onto the stage and received an ovation that would make John Cena blush before lose his hearing. Rock, wearing a "I Bring It" t-shirt, played to the crowd and eventually entered the ring.

[Overrun] The Rock stood on the turnbuckles and looked up to the WrestleMania 27 sign. Awesome visual. The fans in the building continued to cheer as Rock stood in mid-ring. Once his music stopped, a huge "Rocky" chant broke out. He teased speaking, but backed off and soaked up the live crowd's cheers.

"After seven long years...finally, finally, finally, The Rock has come back Anaheim," Rock said. "Which means finally The Rock has come back to Monday Night Raw. Which means finally The Rock has come back...home." Massive Rocky chants.

Rock said he has many nicknames - The Great One, The Most Electrifying Man in all of Entertainment, and The People's Champion. Rock took off his shades and said he has to tell the fans something as Dwayne. He said it's been a longtime since he's been in WWE.

Rock said he's not back because of the money or to promote a movie. "I am back in the middle of this ring because of you," Rock said. He said he left WWE and dreamed big and the fans dreamed big with him. He said he accomplished his dreams because the fans never left his side. Rock said he was taking the moment to thank the fans.

"Thank you, I love you, and it is because of you that I am back in this ring," Rock said. "And I give you my word, I am never, ever going away." The fans erupted and another Rocky chant broke out. "Simply put, ladies and gentlemen, The Rock is back."

Rock said he wanted to do something unprecedented. He said he wanted to host WrestleMania. He said he called Vince McMahon. He said Vince knew why he was calling. He said Vince said there's only one man electrifying enough to host WrestleMania and that's Justin Bieber. The fans booed. Funny.

Rock said he knows Justin and he's a cool kid, but there's only one man who can pull it off. Rock was censored when he got into a rhyme about whooping some ass. They censored it late. Serves them right, pricks.

Rock said he's going to host WrestleMania and will layeth the smack down at the drop of a dime. "But to who?" Rock said. "That's the question. Could it be the WWE Champion The Miz?" He said he hears Miz say he's awesome all the time. Rock said that if you have to run around telling everyone how awesome you are, it means you suck.

"But there's one more man, who The Rock wants to see," Rock said. "And that man..." The anonymous general manager's email chime sounded. They cut to a shot of Cole, who was laughing. Hilarious. Cole stood up and did his usual setup for the anonymous general manager's email.

A very smug Cole smirked at Rock, who responded with a "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Rock threatened to slap the taste out of Cole's mouth if he took another step toward the computer. Rock asked Cole if he thought anyone gives a damn what the general manager has to say.

Rock asked Cole if that's what he thinks. "I'll tell you what I think," Cole responded. Rock did the "It doesn't matter what you think," line. Rock told Cole to know his damn role and shut his damn mouth. Rock said that if he doesn't, Rock will have some good Facebook pictures to put online tonight.

Rock listed Facebook.com/DwayneJohnson and a graphic did the same. Rock said he would shine the computer up nice an stick it straight up Cole's candy ass. No censoring crap that time. Rock said Cole looks like a drunk hobbit and told him to sit his ass down. The "Rocky" chants started up again. Cole sat down and had a frustrated look on his face.

Rock said there is one man that he has to see face-to-face. "A guy who I met and a guy who I thought was a cool guy," Rock said. He said the guy eventually started to talk trash about him. "I don't know why, and I don't care," Rock said. "But I'm back now. You might have heard of him and his name is John Cena." Awesome.

The Rock said WWE has gone from the powerful Austin 3:16 to Can You Smell What The Rock is Cooking all the way to You Can't See Me (Rock used a high pitched mocking voice). "Believe me, we all can see you," Rock said. He said Stevie Wonder could see his monkey ass.

Rock mocked Cena's bright colored shirts and said he looks like a big bowl of Fruity Pebbles. The Rock said he will see John Cena at WrestleMania. He said he would also see The Miz at WrestleMania. He said he will see everyone at WrestleMania. He took another jab at Cena by saying he looks like he was just shot out of Barney The Dinosaur's ass.

Rock said the last and most important thing is that The Rock and the millions (he made the crowd repeat "the millions" part three times) of his fans will go to WrestleMania and electrify the fans like no one else can. He did the "If you smell..." line. The crowd filled it in and Rock paused for a bit before saying, "is cooking" to close out the promo. Rock played to the crowd on the ropes.

Cole hyped that viewers could go to WWE.com for a live chat with Rock right after the show...

Powell's POV: Absolutely spectacular Raw moment. He had the live crowd with him every step of the way. That was the hottest promo we've seen on television in years. I could go on and on about how great it was (and I probably will tomorrow in the WWE Raw Hitlist), but I think everyone watching knows how spectacular it was.

All signs point to The Rock getting involved in the Miz and John Cena match at WrestleMania 27 since he mentioned them both by name. I love the way he tore into Cena, but I think we'll see them shaking hands at some point during the WrestleMania 27 show. Even so, it's going to be a really fun ride.

The smartest line of Rock's promo is when he told the fans he wasn't back for the money or to promote a movie. The line about him never leaving WWE sets up some viewers for a big disappointment. Again, though, it's going to be a really fun ride while Rock is around. I'll have more to say about the show on Tuesday in audio. Oh, and by the way, there's an Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on Sunday.

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