By Mark Gessner

- Classy, classy open to Raw and very appropriate based on what's transpired over the last twenty-four hours. Lillian Garcia was phenomenal as always with the National Anthem.

- Rock was awesome. With the exception of the Pitbull appearance, fun opening second all around. From the huge pop he got in his hometown, to him thanking the troops, to leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, and his interaction with Michael Cole before giving him a Rock Bottom and Peoples Elbow.

- The opening segment went twenty-nine minutes so you had to expect that you wouldn't get much of a match between R-Truth and John Morrison. Truth's beat down of Morrison was really well done and Morrison did an excellent job selling a potential neck injury.

- When you saw Maryse and Kelly Kelly coming out for a match, you had to know this would be leading to the Raw debut for Kharma. Really good facial expressions by Kelly fearing an impending beat down but escaping this week unscathed as Kharma left the ring after giving Maryse the Implant Buster.

- The finish to the John Cena vs. Miz match for the WWE Championship was eye rolling. The reversed decision was a weak copout finish. I understand suspending your disbelief, but where is the logic in a decision being reversed for something the referee didn't see? WWE is beating the "reversed decision" finish into the ground with doing it tonight and at WrestleMania after not seeing it for a while. I was perfectly fine with it staying that way.

- With that said, the match itself was one of the best Raw TV matches in a long time. It went twelve minutes and had numerous believable false finishes. Really good work by both Miz and Cena.

- While Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger and Drew McIntyre was a good TV tag match and a good way to re/introduce four of the bigger draft picks to the Raw audience, why would you have the four of them fight each other when they all just came from Smackdown? Why not mix them up against familiar Raw talent?

- The thought of John Cena remaining WWE Champion for the next eleven months is a scary thought. While I understand it is a possible hook to casual viewers that The Rock's first match back could be for the championship, Cena going over the rest of the roster for the next year is not something that male viewers over the age of twelve want to see.

- Big Show is drafted to Raw. Big Show is a WWE Tag Team Champion and can cross brands due to being champion so he didn't need to be drafted. So the main event of the Raw the following week after Big Show was drafted was his tag team partner, Kane vs. Mason Ryan. Figure that one out for me.

- In his three minutes of commentary for the main event, Jim Ross put over Mason Ryan better than he has been put over in his three months on WWE TV. Just another reason that J.R. is the best announcer in the wrestling business.

- Where was this booking for Mason Ryan before tonight? After a hot debut with the new Nexus, he took a backseat following winning a match against R-Truth in his debut match, and then a match with Orton where he lost clean and took a punt kick. Kane did a phenomenal job selling Ryan's strength and the shock of him pulling Kane's hand off his throat when he was going for a chokeslam.

- Much like the opening segment, the closing segment in the long overrun with The Rock was great. It was fun seeing Vince McMahon on TV for the first time in a while. Excellent video package recapping and highlighting the career of The Rock. The Rock seemed truly moved by the gesture and seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself the entire time he was on TV. While some were good and others left something to be deserved, it was a nice touch having various celebrities and athletes wish him a "happy birthday" throughout the show.

- Overall, while not wrestling heavy and primarily just the entertainment aspect of WWE, this was a very good episode of Raw. Rock was electric and while there was a lack in the the quantity of wrestling, the quality made up for it. Miz vs. Cena was excellent with the exception of the finish, Kofi and Mysterio vs. Swagger and McIntyre was good, and Kharma looked good in her Raw debut. Fun show.

Thanks again very much for clicking the link that brought you to my "Mark Out Moments" for Raw. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to email me at kliq4life28@gmail.com or tweet me at @MarkGessner.

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