By Will Pruett

- Going into this show I expected a very talk-heavy episode of Raw will all of the key segments being filled with promos. I was quite pleasantly surprised when the show started out with a long (by TV standards) tag team match. This was a nice way to get Sheamus and Daniel Bryan on the show and in a match without giving too much between them away.

- Kane and Randy Orton is not on par with the World Heavyweight Championship match on the Smackdown side, but it is pretty close. The star power involved helps enforce that. This feels like a consolation prize for Kane and Orton, but I expect both men to put on WrestleMania caliber performances on Sunday.

- The opening tag match left us with one guarantee: A.J. will get involved in the Daniel Bryan and Sheamus match.

- The Rock and John Cena videos recapping their history throughout the night were a really great way to hammer home how important their confrontation at the end of the night would be. WWE risked building this match to the boiling point one year in advance, but they picked a good time to bring those clips out of the moth balls.

- Michael Cole as the official commentator for Team Johnny makes me chuckle. It guarantees us that Cole will be crazy biased for one match at WrestleMania, but I do believe he will pull it together for the big three matches. I hope that Jim Ross is called upon for Rock vs. Cena and the Hell in a Cell match, but I also know how stubborn Vince McMahon is about this issue.

- Why can't wrestlers just leave t-shirts looking like t-shirts? I want to ban scissors from backstage at WWE events.

- I sincerely hope that John Laurinaitis does work in a cubicle.

- Could Teddy Long win the 12-man tag and instantly replace Michael Cole with Jim Ross?

- When I think of WrestleMania, I tend to think of Madonna.

- The video package of 2012 award is pretty much wrapped up. The package featuring Triple H, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels was absolutely perfect. WWE's production department did a great job making the "End of an Era" match feel extremely important. The Metallica song was used to perfection. I cannot heap enough praise onto this video package and I look forward to seeing it once again on Smackdown and at WrestleMania.

- Undertaker and Triple H did not need another face to face confrontation this week. They sold their match with an almost perfect build. This was the week to let that build do the talking once again with a recap. Giving the attention to the other feuds being built was a fantastic idea.

- I'm looking forward to the welcome break that the Diva's match at WrestleMania will be. Those nachos don't assemble themselves, you know?

- Chris Jericho's revelation about C.M. Punk did not quite strike the nerve that his last few revelations did, but it did reinforce the notion that Jericho is a slimy heel that deserves to get what is his. The video screen promos have been an interesting choice, but I totally understand WWE saving the face to face confrontation for the end of the show.

- C.M. Punk snapping and destroying Christian was a nice way to show just how angry he is going into WrestleMania, but I hope Christian was not just sacrificed for that purpose. If Christian is legitimately injured again, all the best of luck to him, but if he isn't, he was the wrong man to pull from the match.

- Any Raw episode where I get to dance along with Brodus Clay is a good Raw episode to me. After WrestleMania, I hope he gets to do a little more than squash others, but he is still entertaining me. I would have loved to see his extra long and extra funky WrestleMania entrance.

- I'm honestly glad that Big Show only squashed one of the Tag Team Champions instead of both of them in a handicap match. Maybe we'll get that tag team division we have all been dreaming about after WrestleMania. I'm not holding my breath, but I am hoping.

- Cody Rhodes has done a great job building up his match with Big Show through his promos. It will be fun to see Rhodes get his at WrestleMania and to see where these two go after April 1.

- I'm afraid that Abraham Washington is about to return to a speaking role on TV. Please don't let it be a talk show.

- C.M. Punk delivered in his final promo before WrestleMania. I would have loved to have seen it in front of the crowd, but once again, I understand that certain things needed to be held back for the Rock and Cena moment later in the night. Punk is angry and intense, but he also looks vulnerable now. This is a great place for him to be at.

- Booker T was one of the least impressive choices for Team Teddy, but also one of the best possible. Here's hoping that this means Booker will not be calling any part of WrestleMania, or that he will be pulled from the booth for and after the 12-man match.

- All night long crowd reactions in Atlanta seemed a little soft. I seem to remember this about the Raw after WrestleMania last year. Perhaps this is just a strange arena to mic. The fans all looked active, engaged and like they were prepared to be loud. I doubt they were as calm as they sounded on TV. The crowd not being fully audible hurt Rock and Cena's promos at first.

- I really wish that Rock's shirt would be misprinted to read "Boots to Assess."

- The Rock's promo before John Cena entered was standard Rock. He paused a little more often than he should have, but he was back to form with the combination of jokes, catchphrases and seriousness that Rock was known for years ago. He told a great story about why he wants to comeback and what it means to him.

- John Cena seemed very nervous and was way too into his hype-man personality when he first entered. This is where it seemed like this promo segment was about to tank. There was something very off about his delivery in these moments. Perhaps he had hyped himself up for this moment just a little bit too much.

- Once John Cena and The Rock made their pitches for why they had to win this match and why that was all that mattered to them, I was hooked. They both dropped in and suddenly seemed grounded and ready to have the confrontation we have waited a year to see.

- The best part of what The Rock and John Cena did in this segment was that they legitimately made it seem like they both had to win. This is ridiculously important. Going into WrestleMania I have no idea who wins this match and it is worth the cost of the pay-per-view to find out.

- John Cena has never made a case for himself as a person or as a character like he did in this segment. I have a massive amount of respect for him and for what he did after seeing this segment. I know that the idea was to split the crowd and I believe that Cena delivered a promo that was capable of doing that.

- I'll have more to say about Rock vs. Cena in my WrestleMania preview and predictions later in the week. For now, I'll leave you with this one thought: WWE may have gotten the hype for this show wrong for 50 weeks, but that may not matter because they hit a game-saving grand slam with this segment.

What really matters about this episode of Raw? The last twenty minutes sold WrestleMania. That is what matters. The rest of the show did a nice job of building up the various feuds going into the show of shows. Sunday feels like the day when various rivalries reach a fevered pitch. This was a decent go-home show.

Am I ready to pay $65 and am I counting down the days until WrestleMania? Yes I am. That is the point and WWE achieved that goal.

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.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: