By Will Pruett

- Raw's crowds have been growing by leaps and bounds in the last few months. It's not even The Rock that is boosting attendance, since shows that he is not advertised for are still selling better. For this show Boson was sold out.

- Starting out Raw with Shawn Michaels will never draw a complaint out of me. He cut a really good promo that told a great story. It started in one place, then gradually shifted until we heard the announcement that he was special referee. He did amazing work reminiscent of his final few years and the amazing storytelling he did then.

- Triple H more than held up his end of the promo exchange with Shawn Michaels. He was intense and brutal as he talked about ending the streak for Michaels, not just for himself.

- The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels' story is a masterpiece in long-term storytelling. From the 2007 Royal Rumble match to today they are still involved in a feud with each other. It has been the slowest of slow burns, but it has always been entertaining. The story that ties in these four matches of the streak is one of the best WWE has ever told.

- Santino winning the United States Championship was rather random. The mess that was that match was rather frustrating. I have no issue with Santino winning the title, but why not just let him beat Jack Swagger? It is not like Swagger means anything and Santino is super over.

- John Laurinaitis and Teddy Long are having a feud merely to get eight to ten mid-card acts on the WrestleMania card. While it is a noble goal, the feud was thoroughly unenjoyable on this show.

- Teddy Long rocking a red suit and John Laurinaitis wearing a blue tie to signify the shows they're running this week was an entertaining touch.

- David Otunga carries a coffee tumbler, not a mug. It is time to clean up our terminology, folks.

- The Rock returned to form with his promos from all over Boston. I wonder if he tried to fish his old Intercontinental Championship belt out of that river.

- The announcers and the The Rock did a nice job hyping that Rock's promos would play throughout the evening. Hopefully this hooked viewers into staying tuned into the show all the way through, as opposed to just tuning in for the overrun like last week.

- Why would WWE ever make garden gnomes and try to pass them off as acceptable merchandise? Who buys those?

- John Cena cologne seems pretty disgusting.

- The Eve and Zack Ryder story took a surprising turn. Will Zack Ryder be the friend that we all know is dating a girl that is awful for him? It is a fun real-life situation, but I don't know that I love it.

- Hey Zack Ryder, learn to sell injuries while walking down the ramp, or just don't walk down it.

- I really appreciated the sit-down segment with John Cena, but I felt like the delivery was a little off. Throwing an interviewer in to ground the segment (preferably Jim Ross, but Jerry Lawler would also fill that role well) would have really helped. He looked like he was just chatting with an empty room.

- John Cena has upped his game quite a bit for this Rock feud. In both his sit-down pre-tape and his in-ring promo on this show he was more impressive that he has ever been in his career. Cena is doing a great job and has me anticipating his segments on a weekly basis.

- The tag match with the two WrestleMania World Championship matches involved was far superior to the Ring of Honor 10th Anniversary main event. Yes, that match had more suplexes and kicks to the head, but it strongly lacked any ounce of storytelling. This tag match told a great story and the action kept things fresh. Less more more, ROH, less is more.

- While the tag match was great, it also seemed odd to go to a tag match between the two title matches right now. I would rather see C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho kept apart and the same goes for Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. It makes WrestleMania feels a little less special to get these little previews along the way.

- This year WWE did something they never bothered to do in the buildup to last year's WrestleMania, put heat on the heels.

- Were there only two adult men in the crowd enjoying The Rock's promos? They were shown quite often and looked less entertaining as the night went on.

- Once again, The Rock was impressive from outside the arena. Some people believe that Rock is getting thrown off by Cena, but these outside the arena promos show that his rhythm is still intact.

- Miz enters, Miz loses. At least Big Show has priors for knocking people out quickly. Remember when Miz was a rising star and teaming with Show two years ago? Well, Miz is falling far faster than he rose.

- Big Show did look rather large in his WrestleMania 18 flashback. Wow.

- The Rock said that he will beat John Cena and defeat him in the match. This is the moment where this feud gets even more interesting. Rock and Cena have both vowed to win the match. It is anyone's game at this point and I'm quite excited to see the next three weeks. This was the most important moment on this show.

- Undertaker and Shawn Michaels will be face to face next week and I cannot wait. Once again, this storytelling is top-notch.

- On the plus side, Randy Orton is doing something on the WrestleMania card and it isn't a multi-man match. On the downside, it is a match with Kane. It feels like he is getting Cena's sloppy seconds as he is getting a broken monster.

- For perhaps the first time since Money in the Bank, John Cena won over a crowd. He did so by being a little bit obnoxious and a little bit cocky, but he did it. By the end of this show, John Cena seemed just as over as The Rock in Boston. It was Cena's hometown, which gives him an advantage, but they have not been classically pro-Cena in the past.

- They are pushing hard to make this match the most meaningful thing that Cena will ever do. He is talking about how has must win to validate his career. John Cena is already a first ballot hall of famer without this match. It is interesting for them to make it seem so important. This also leads me to believe that Cena goes over in the long run, but a major loss could build some sympathy for him as well.

- Is The Rock shaken up a little but? It is possible. Is he still delivering on the mic? Absolutely. There is something truly special happening in these segments and whether they are shoots, worked-shoots, works or all of the above they are doing the job of entertaining and building up the match.

- John Cena is stealing some moves from the C.M. Punk play book by interrupting The Rock in his promo-climax. Given everything we got from Rock on this night, this is fine, but I'd rather not see it permanently.

- Next week John Cena will rap. These have always been entertaining and mildly offensive as for some reason he references his genitalia and gets homophobic in almost every one of them.

- The Rock will reprise his famous "Rock Concert" next week. This was a great moment in 2003. I hope it ends up being a better segment that the attempted "This Is Your Life" reprises from 2004 and 2011 have been.

This was a solid episode of Raw building into WrestleMania. Once again, it was bookended by long verbal segments hat delivered. Rock an Cena is interesting and entertaining. It is fascinating in a way that is rarely seen in wrestling. On the other side of things, the story with Triple H, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels is getting better week by week. If these five men continue to deliver up to and through WrestleMania, then I will be one happy camper.

We also saw a really good tag team match that built WrestleMania logically and a title change. One mattered, one didn't, but that is the way it is sometimes. WWE is doing a nice job getting me to countdown the days until WrestleMania and that is the point of Raw in March.

Let's do some good old fashioned talking about this show! Feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me on twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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