Blogging Raw: March 11, 2013

Here we go:

00:02  Great tribute to Paul Bearer.  One of the most well-liked individuals in WWE history (They say you couldn't find someone who would take bad about Moody in a business where everyone gets talked bad about).

00:06  The Undertaker tribute keeps it going.  Classy WWE here.

00:07  And we get the easy heel heat from CM Punk.  It always works well.

00:10  I said it last week, I'll say it again: CM Punk is the one guy in the company who could get a massive benefit from beating the streak.  It probably won't happen, but would be interesting.

00:14  Smart move.  Getting Kane involved in the Paul Bearer stuff and setting up a Punk/Kane match...should be good.

00:15  I know I probably won't actually get to see much of this, but I want to see some good singles action from Rollins tonight.  The Shield can work.

00:19  Well, that's about right.  Two minutes of wrestling before a gang assault.  I know, I know, they're building to a Mania match.  I get it.

00:20  Come on, Shield...John Cena can hit the AA on Show with no problem; you have an issue just getting him up for a triple powerbomb?  Ah well, they hit it anyway.

00:23  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

00:23  Bryan VS Ziggler?  Oh, I say it again...Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

00:30  I wish these two would get more time than they're actually going to get.  The one nice thing about the post-Wrestlemania stuff is that we'll finally (Hopefully) get back to building some of these higher mid-level guys into main eventers.

00:37  Daniel Bryan is awesome.

00:38  Is there any doubt that Ziggler is the WWE workhorse right now?  I really hope they give him an extended championship run as they did with Bryan.

00:41  It sucks for it to come at the expense of Daniel Bryan, but that was a great win by Ziggler.  They need to re-establish him as a threat.  And please, please let him cash in at Wrestlemania.  Just saying.

00:50  Yep, Clay and Tensai...we're skipping this one.

00:51  The gimmick may be silly, but I still want to see Fahn-Dahn----Goooo...wrestle.

00:55  The only way you can get The Rock on this week..a movie preview for which WWE has no vested interest.

1:00  Nice job, Rhodes Scholars.  Made me chuckle.

1:05  I guess if you're going to utilize the New Age Outlaws, why not have Lesnar kick the crap out of them?

1:09  Well, it's a good thing Lesnar's okay with Heyman as his mouthpiece, because he's the only one who can get Lesnar over verbally.

1:15  Remember when Kofi wasn't used as a jobber?  Yeah, me either.

1:18  Michael Cole, if you felt the force of that kick, you have a serious medical issue that you should probably get checked out.

1:20  Ah, the Bellas...oh, that's right, no one cares.

1:27  Oh, come on...Ryback  VS Heath Slater?  Moving on.

1:38  Cesaro is solid.  Del Rio has a simple style, but he's also solid.  This should be a good match.

1:43  Like I said, solid match so far.  Looks like it'll be a short one, but good nonetheless.

1:45  The right outcome.  Doesn't necessarily make the US Championship look amazing, but you can't have your WHC lose a match like that.

1:46  Kane is selling it well, though I'm sure it's not hard to "sell it" in what has to be a very emotional moment right now.

1:52  Really, though?  We're going to fill our time with more replays?  Well, again, I guess this is the only way to get Rock on TV this week.

2:02  This could be a sneaky good match.  You've got two established competitors against two continue-to-be up-and-comers.  All four seem to be able to work pretty well.

2:10  Strong match, strong finish.  Can't complain about this one.

2:16  I do appreciate that they've given Paul Bearer  much respect tonight.

2:18  Y2J...one of the greats.  He's so good, he can disappear for months, reappear and not miss a beat.  Oh yeah, and he can talk too.

2:19  Welcome to Raw...Is...Jericho!

2:20  Doesn't really matter what happened to the Jeritron 6000, all that matters is how well Y2J can take it in stride and turn it into a joke.

2:24  Come on...Jericho is hilarious!

2:25  Won't happen, but I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Jericho make it 10.

2:26  Well, with Brad Maddox out here, you may be right, Michael Cole...worst segment ever?  Perhaps.

2:36  Predictable finish, but that's alright.  Still a good match.

2:44  No desire to see Swagger/Cara.  Sorry.

2:59  So either they're going past 3:05 or we're getting a very quick main event.  Annoying either way.

3:09  I'm sorry, I love a Punk match, but it's ridiculous to me that Raw has to go 3 hours at all, let alone we're now going to "overtime."  Come on WWE, stop putting a bunch of filler crap in the way and start getting done on time.  Better yet, go back to two hours.  This is where you show how bad of a move 3 hours can truly be.

3:12  Chokeslam to DDT counter.  Nicely done.

3:13  Punk's roundhouse kick is just awesome.  It looks like a knockout every time.

3:14  Beaten by the gong.

3:15  Yep, that's the way to use this death and put it into the storyline.  Well done on that one, WWE.  You could still could have done that in two hours, though.