By Jason Powell

Dot Net Members will be listening to my exclusive audio review of WWE Raw later tonight. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via Prowrestling.net/amember/signup.php. You are also encouraged to download our free iPhone, Android, and Kindle Fire apps.

WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Boston, Massachusetts

[Q1] Michael Cole introduced the show and said the building (home of the defending Stanley Cup Champions) was sold out with 16,282 fans in attendance. They wasted no time in going to the introduction of Shawn Michaels, who got a great reaction from the hot live crowd. Lawler said it must have been Teddy Long's idea to open the show with HBK because you can't do better than that.

Shawn said the greatest thing about the HBK chants these days is that it gives him a moment to catch his breath because he's not used to doing his entrance. He breathed heavily into the mic for effect. The HBK chants started again. "I've got my breath back, I'm good," Michaels joked. He acknowledged that things got heated between him and Triple H.

Michaels said he desperately wanted Triple H to take the match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 28. Shawn said something made him change his mind. "My good buddy not only accepted the match, he upped the ante and it's going to be Hell in a Cell," Michaels said. Shawn invited Triple H to come up and explain what made him change his mind.

Triple H's entrance music played and he headed to the ring dressed in a suit. They shared a quick hug. Shawn admitted he threw everything at Hunter because he wanted him to take the match. "That's why you're the responsible one," Shawn said. He said he took shots below the belt and said things that friends should never say. "I'm amazed, you didn't buckle, you didn't waver," Michaels said.

HBK said Triple H is a man of honor and integrity. Shawn recalled referring to Triple H as a coward. "Nobody looks at Triple H and calls him a coward to his face and gets away with it," Shawn said. Things started to get tense. "That is why I say he's an oak," said Michaels. Shawn said he had to know what changed Hunter's mind.

Triple H was about to reply, but Shawn cut him off. He said he didn't get to see the footage, so he asked the production truck to play the moment that made Triple H break down. HBK put his arm around Hunter. "Let's you and I share this moment together," Michaels said.

The video with highlights from the Hunter and Undertaker segment from two weeks ago was shown with the shot of Hunter walking back to accept the match after Taker told him that Shawn was better. Back live, Shawn's expression changed while Hunter squirmed a bit.

Hunter started to talk, but Shawn cut him off again by saying: "So, that's all it took. The worst thing that anybody could say to you is that I am better than you." Triple H said he knew Michaels didn't see the segment live, but it has nothing to do with which one of them is better. "I'm tired of it," Hunter said. "I'm tired of listening to it. I'm tired of listening to people like the Undertaker talk behind your back and say you couldn't get the job done."

Triple H said he's tired of people saying Shawn is a failure and he wasn't as good as he thought he was in the first place. "That eats me up, Shawn," Triple H said. He said he believes with every fiber of his being that Shawn is the greatest in-ring performer of all time. "It kills me, it pains me beyond measure to look at you as a loser," Triple H said. "That's why I'm going to do it. That's why I'm going to break it. I am going to end the Undertaker." Hunter said he's going to do it for himself and just as much for Shawn.

[Q2] "Well, thanks for that," Shawn said. He said he thought they had a problem, but Triple H in his nice suit has it all under control. "Silly me," Shawn said. He admitted that it hurt him last year. He said he watched Hunter dominate Taker and beat him within an inch of his life. "And then you lost, and I was right," Michaels said. Shawn said he knows who is going to win this year. "And I'll be right again," Michaels said.

Shawn teased leaving the ring, but he stopped and said: "I'm sorry, the reason I know that is because I've been named the special referee." Shawn patted Hunter on the shoulder and left the ring while Hunter watched him while stone-faced...

The announcers hyped The Rock and John Cena both appearing, and hyped C.M. Punk and Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho... [C]

Powell's POV: A very good segment with Shawn acting snotty throughout, which should get fans questioning where his loyalties lie heading into the match. The announcement wasn't treated like a big deal by the announcers. Perhaps they were being told to get to commercial, but they just moved right into hyping the rest of the show. Strange. Overall, though, I really enjoyed the segment and it's been fun to watch HBK dive into a role again.

A graphic noted that over 200 Make-A-Wish families will be WrestleMania 28 guests...

1. Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger (w/Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler) to win the U.S. Championship in 6:35. Vickie handled Swagger's intro while walking to the ring and got good heat from the crowd. Cole reminded viewers that Teddy Long was in charge. He claimed it was favoritism of Long to give Santino a title match. John Laurinaitis and David Otunga walked to ringside.

Santino put the Cobra glove on his hand. Otunga was bickering with the referee when Ziggler got in a shot on Santino. Swagger went for a pin, but Santino kicked out. Teddy Long walked to the ring with Aksana and Kofi Kingston. Long bickered with Laurinaitis at ringside as the show went to break. [C]

After the break, Laurinaitis stood on the ring apron to bicker with the referee. Long pulled him down. Santino ran the ropes to go for a move, but Ziggler knocked him down. Santino recovered and hit Ziggler with the Cobra. Aksana shoved Vickie to the ground at ringside. Santino went for the Cobra on Swagger, who countered with the ankle lock. Long pushed Laurinaitis down again. Santino kicked Swagger off into the corner and then rolled him up for the pin.

Laurinaitis took the mic and ordered that Santino's music stop playing. He said it was his show. However, Long cut him off and reminded him that he was in charge tonight. Long called for security to escort Laurinaitis from the building. Long told Laurinaitis and Otunga to get out of the building. Security escorted them to the back...

[Q3] Long told ring announcer Justin Roberts to take over. Roberts introduced Santino as the new United States Champion. Santino acted like he was crying as he celebrated his title win...

The announcers hyped that Rock would host "History Lesson No. 1" after the break...

Powell's POV: Let's just say that Eve does a better job of getting tears than Santino does. That said, it was a fun segment and the crowd popped big for the title change. I can live with the general managers overshadowing the match in this case because it's not like the U.S. Title is ultra important at this point. Could this lead to Zack Ryder getting jealous that Santino won the belt he covets?

Cole set up The Rock video, which was met with some scattered boos. Rock stood in the Boston Harbor. He talked about how the revolutionaries through the British tea in the harbor. The camera pulled back and showed a stack of Cena merchandise, which included "midget shorts," a Cena garden gnome, and wristbands. Rock threw them all in the harbor and had some hilarious lines along the way.

Rock said his favorite was the John Cena cologne. "This smells like fear, Fruity Pebbles, and possum piss," Rock said. "The revolution begins tonight," Rock said. He said Cena could take all of the crap he's been shoving down the throats of fans for years because "we're sick of it." Rock said Cena could roll it all up in a ball and stick it straight up his ass.

Rock said they would go all across Boston until they ended up in the middle of the ring. He ordered someone off-camera to round up all of the Cena merchandise and throw it all in the trash where it belongs...

Powell's POV: Fun stuff from The Rock. The boos early on were likely due to Cena having some hometown fans in the building and because a few fans probably thought they were getting the "via satellite" treatment and we're going to see Rock live. I guess we'll find out what the true reaction is once he makes his entrance.

2. Eve defeated Alicia Fox in 0:35. Kelly Kelly was on commentary for the match. Eve tripped Fox when she went for a pin and then mounted her for the pin to end the quick match and Kelly's commentary.

Zack Ryder's music played and he limped onto the stage with the aid of a crutch. Ryder told Eve not to bother (apologizing). He said he's happy they never hooked up because "it's Broski's before Hoeski's." Cole said Ryder has been home all this time and that "stupid line" was the best he could come up with...

A shot aired from earlier in the day of John Cena sitting inside an empty TD Garden. He had a serious look rather than the usual happy go lucky Cena smirk. The announcers said he addressed his match with The Rock earlier today and they would show the footage after the break... [C]

[Q4] Backstage, Eve ran after Ryder and said she had something to tell him. Eve gave Ryder a big kiss. He kissed her back and smiled like a tool after she walked away...

The announcers set up the John Cena feature that was taped earlier in the day. Cena was in serious mode while sitting alone inside the arena. Cena spoke about WrestleMania 28 and said all eyes will be focussed on two men and one match. He said the match is everything and is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Cena said that despite their differences, there's no denying that The Rock is the most successful star in WWE history. He said Rock vowed not to return until he found a worthy opponent, and he did that in him. Cena said he's not just going to WrestleMania to go along for the ride. He said he has wants to win.

Cena said he grew up around Boston and noted that it's become the city of champions. He recalled the Patriots going undefeated in the regular season and losing in the Super Bowl. He said nobody remembers who finishes in second place. Cena said that if he doesn't win at WrestleMania, he becomes another name in the notebook of people The Rock has defeated.

Cena said that if he can somehow win in Rock's backyard, then he'll have won the big one. "This is a match... this is an event that will make history," Cena said. He predicted that WrestleMania 28 will break every record in the history of WWE.

"And no one will remember second place," Cena said. "That's why I need to win. That's why WrestleMania is so important. WrestleMania 28 is sink or swim, it is all or nothing. WrestleMania 28 is my legacy. WrestleMania 28 is once in a lifetime." Cena looked up at the WrestleMania 28 logo... [C]

Powell's POV: Okay, so NFL fans remember the Patriots and their nearly undefeated season very well despite their second place finish, but that was a strong segment that focussed on the match rather than the insults. I want to hear something similar from Rock or I'll just assume that Cena is going over since he's talking about winning the match, while Rock has been talking about giving Cena an ass kicking. Either way, it's always nice to see serious, sports-like Cena rather than the bad joke telling, smirking Cena.

An ad for Smackdown focussed on Randy Orton and Kane, and hyped that John Laurinaitis would be in charge of the show for one night only... Lawler hyped the Flo Rida theme song for WrestleMania... Cole hyped that they were 27 days away from WrestleMania and did the reset heading into hour two...

C.M. Punk's music played. He walked onto the stage, looked at his wrist, and yelled his usual "clobberin' time" line. Video footage recapped the Punk and Chris Jericho segment from last week. Back live, Punk was watching the footage on the big screen. Sheamus made his entrance.

[Q5] Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho made their entrances for the tag match...

3. Daniel Bryan (w/A.J.) and Chris Jericho defeated C.M. Punk and Sheamus in 11:50. Punk got the better of an exchange with Jericho, who tumbled to his corner to tag in Bryan. Punk backed Bryan into the corner and tagged Sheamus into the match. Punk tagged in again and was getting the better of Bryan when Jericho caught him with a kick. Jericho tagged in as Punk sold and the show went to break. [C]

There was a cool spot late with Jericho going for a bulldog, yet being thrown feet first into the corner when Sheamus shoved him off. Punk sold a back injury through the match. He went to the top rope and performed a top rope elbow drop on Bryan. Punk continued to sell the back.

Later, Jericho went for the Walls of Jericho on Punk, who countered into a pin, but Jericho rolled through and got the pin instead. Punk sold the back injury again. Jericho headed to ringside and grabbed the WWE Championship belt. After posing with the title, Jericho slid it back inside the ring to Punk while smiling at him...

Powell's POV: An expected outcome given that they need to put heat on the heels heading into WrestleMania. Punk was protected via the back injury story, which they established happened when Jericho attacked him last week. I can't say I'm a fan of having Punk and Jericho in the same match. It takes something away from their WrestleMania match for this viewer.

[Q6] The Rock hosted his second history lesson while standing in front of a Paul Revere monument. He questioned what would have happened if "this dude" had been on the horse instead of Revere. The camera pulled back to show a cardboard John Cena. Rock said we would have been sipping tea and blessing the queen.

Rock said he's 25 percent black, 25 percent Samoan, and 50 percent Clydesdale. He also had a line about the women of Boston would be lining up to give him a piece of the cream pie. He did the Yankee Doodle song and closed it off with "Rock stuck a feather up his ass and called him a jabroni." Huge laugh from the crowd over that one. Rock stressed that he was coming to TD Garden tonight...

Powell's POV: I love how things get a lot less PG as WrestleMania approaches and/or whenever The Rock shows up. Another fun one from The Rock. Cena set the serious tone, while Rock is all comedy and insults thus far. Is it just me or is the production truck obsessed with showing the reaction of the same two fans whenever they air something with The Rock tonight?

Cole hyped that John Laurinaitis will be in charge of Friday's Smackdown television show... The announcers recapped the general manager saga that occurred during Santino's U.S. Title win. Cole said it was no way to treat a trailblazer like Laurinaitis...

4. Big Show pinned The Miz in 2:00. The bell rang, but Cody Rhodes told them to hold on. He aired the latest embarrassing moment for Big Show. This time Show was shown hyping WrestleMania 28 at the WWE Restaurant in New York. Miz jumped Show, who cut him off quickly and finished him off with the knockout punch... [C]

Powell's POV: There wasn't much to the match, as most of the two minutes was taken up by Cody and the video. Poor Miz. Lawler even said maybe Miz can wait tables at a restaurant. Meanwhile, Cody's video wasn't very embarrassing this week. I didn't care for this segment, but they have done a good job of building up Cody as the pest and making viewers look forward to seeing Show get his hands on him at WrestleMania.

[Q7] A WrestleMania video aired. We are 27 days away...

The Rock hosted another history segment. He spoke about his revolution to overthrow John Cena. He said he had traits of George Washington and Ben Franklin, and the "you know what of John Hancock."

Rock got serious while talking about WrestleMania: "Mark the Rock's words and you take it to the bank, The Rock will beat you, John Cena. You will fall to The Rock." He turned his attention back to tonight and said he was going to look Cena in the eyes and tell the world what he sees...

Powell's POV: There it is. I've been waiting to hear The Rock say he is going to defeat John Cena, just as Cena said he was going to beat him. Now they're even and I won't feel like the match result is tipped off because the loser didn't want to talk about winning and losing.

A graphic touted WWE Axxess... Cole hyped that Undertaker will respond to the news of Shawn Michaels serving as special referee, and Michaels will be there to hear it live...

5. Kane beat R-Truth in 1:25. Highlights of Kane attacking Randy Orton on Smackdown was shown. Truth went after Kane aggressively with punches to start, but Kane cut him off and eventually won with a chokeslam. After the match, Randy Orton's music played and he headed to the ring. Kane started punching R-Truth again, which allowed Orton to hit Kane with the RKO. Orton grabbed a mic and got down next to Kane. "It's good to be back," Orton said...

Powell's POV: For those not paying attention, Orton's line was in response to Kane welcoming him back after attacking him last week. I feel for Orton. He had a good 2011 and his likely match with Kane will be an afterthought on the WrestleMania card.

[Q8] [C] The second Smackdown ad hyped John Laurinaitis serving as the general manager of Friday's show...

John Cena's entrance music played and he came out to a lot of boos. He looked into the camera said Boston is the home of Larry Bird, Wade Boggs, and himself, and added, "Can you believe that one." Once in the ring, Cena said the building was packed and noted that there were even people behind the scoreboard.

"Finally The Rock is back," Cena said. He then added that Rock was back giving history lessons all over Boston. He said they were exciting, entertaining, and everything The Rock needs to be. He said it's exciting, but if you get past the informercial and dramatic head whips, what is Rock actually saying?

Cena held the mic up while the fans chanted "Fruity Pebbles." Cena said Rock talks about whatever he calls his penis and how many girls he's had sex with. "Wait a minute, am I fighting The Rock at WrestleMania or am I fighting The Situation from the Jersey Shore?" The crowd popped.

Cena said that Rock was shook up for the first time in his career last week. He said Rock spent 20 minutes talking about some hashtag Twitter thing. He said that after he came out, Rock was stuttering and sounded more like Rain Man than The Rock. Cena said Rock got shook up by a prep school thug with no balls who dresses like a Wonder Woman transvestite.

"Seriously, take a look from head to toe," Cena said. "I look ridiculous." He mocked his own black socks and that he wore kneepads just to talk to the fans. He said Rock has that University of Miami swagger back. He said Rock has been doing his best work has been pre-recorded or via satellite.

Cena said he hopes that he faces The Rock at WrestleMania. "I need The Rock," he said. "Because I don't want to beat the second best at WrestleMania." He asked the crowd if they want to see The Rock back tonight. The crowd cheered. "I would too," Cena said. "Let's see who is going to show up for WrestleMania, bring on The Rock."

The Rock's music played and he walked quickly to the ring and then did circles around the ring while Cena backed up in the same circle. The crowd chanted Rocky. Rock delivered the "Finally" line. Cena held up his hands. Rock got some boos. Cena smirked at Rock, while he said he was going to look Cena in the eye and tell the world what he sees.

[Overrun] The Rock said he sees fear. He said Cena fears that he is taking everything away. Cena smirked. There were some boos. Rock said he sees fear from Cena that everything he's worked for over the last ten years will go away when he gets his ass kicked at WrestleMania 28.

"You think you shook my confidence," Rock asked. "Look at me." The crowd chanted Fruity Pebbles. Cena smirked again. Rock held the mic at his side and stared into Cena's eyes. Rock held up his hand in Cena's face and said, "You think you shook The Rock's confidence, The Rock has never been more confident about anything in his life."

The crowd chanted "Boots to Asses." Cena asked if they were chanting Tooth Fairy. Rock remained serious. Rock said you can strip away everything, and Rock is 6'4" and 260 pounds of man who will rip Cena's throat out. "At your core, you will always be a little boy, always as The Rock's bitch." Cena, who interrupted Rock by asking "What do you got?" repeatedly while Rock was trying to finish his line, smiled and nodded once Rock finished his line.

Cena said The Rock's height and weight don't scare him. He said Rock said he would rip his throat out. "That's exactly what he will have to do," Cena said. He said Rock was right in that Cena will lose everything if he loses at WrestleMania. He said that if Rock thinks he's afraid of him, he's lost his damn mind.

Cena said "Captain Catchphrase" has it half right when he said he'll make history by making him his bitch. "At WrestleMania, I'm the son of a bitch that's going to make history by whipping The Rock's ass," Cena concluded. He went to ringside and dove into the arms of some people (family perhaps) at ringside. He headed back to the ring briefly, and then headed back to ringside where he hugged his father and kissed his wife. He pointed out his brother-in-law also...

An ad hyped The Rock's concert and John Cena raps for next week. Yes, really...

Powell's POV: I'm more surprised by Cena acknowledging his wife on camera than anything that happened during the segment. Okay, so I'm even more surprised that Rock will be in concert and Cena will rap next week, but I'll reserve my judgement on that part.

Cena's strategy seems to be to smile at Rock and act like Rock is a joke. He also tried to interrupt his closing lines. I don't see why this is something they would agree to since it makes for more of a clumsy exchange than entertaining television, but it did leave me wanting to see Rock smack the smirk off of Cena's character's face, so I guess that's something.

Overall, it was another loaded show and I really enjoyed the Triple H and Shawn Michaels exchange, but I didn't care for the final segment once Rock and Cena were both in the ring together. I'll have more to say in members' audio later tonight. Thanks for watching along with me, and my apologies for the server problem that occurred during live coverage.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: