1. The part that stood out the most to me about the Rock’s promo last Monday (which all wrestling bloggers are mandated, by law, to react to) was how he all but glossed over the Miz. In that it reminded me of this. Because I relate all things to the Simpsons, mainly. But really, Rocky let the Miz off easy! (Something that the Miz ran with in his promo, which I liked a lot more than Cena’s response to the Rock, which I’ll get to later.)
2. I missed the PPV. I wanted to see it, for the Raw chamber and the possibility of a feel good moment for Lawler, but between having barely paid off my purchase of the Rumble and other priorities taking precedence (which mainly involved trying not to die every ten minutes in Dead Space 2, but that’s still a kind of priority), I wound up skipping it. The recaps I’ve read make it sound worth watching it some point. If nothing else, I really want to see why people other than WWE management (and Chantal) are impressed by Drew McIntyre for the first time ever. Well, that and John Morrison trying to single handedly make everyone forget about all the crazy shit Jeff Hardy and Shelton Benjamin used to do to defy gravity. That sounds like fun.
3. As great a moment as it could have been for Lawler to win the WWE Championship, given both the angle and the loss of his mother, in the long run it’s better that the Miz is keeping the belt. If nothing else, he’s going to be the first Money in the Bank winner to keep the belt long enough to defend it at ‘Mania, so that’s definitely a feather in his cap.
4. I wasn’t crazy about Cena dusting off his dis rap skills to finally respond to the Rock (well, without a bowl of cereal), but he cut a promo as close to what he did in the pre-PG days as he could. If nothing else, I did appreciate the use of the pinwheel for one of his dick jokes. Well, that and his calling himself the Doctor of Thuganomics reminded me of a running gag a friend and I had in college about applying to the Thuganomics program. In retrospect, that probably would have been a better choice than what I actually went for my degree in.
But I digress. It was pretty much the only way Cena could respond to the Rock and not look like a total wiener, so hey, mission accomplished! He only sort of looks like a wiener now! Pretty much the usual amount given his ring attire. (I do appreciate that he wears his hat straight. I don’t want to move in on Chantal’s territory, mainly because I know very little and care less about fashion, but the sideways baseball cap drives me crazy. So at least he’s not that douchey.)
5. This was a good night for promos overall. Punk and Miz were excellent as usual, Lawler showed great intensity in finally laying down a challenge to Cole, and we got the big stare down/signature taunt off between Triple H and the Undertaker. It’s nice to see a big segment like that play out like something out of an N64 game. I also found it funny that they crammed two big returns together one after the other.
6. I was surprised that Triple H didn’t just bash ‘Taker’s head in with a sledgehammer. Kind of a shame to see him abandon the kind of cunning plan that got him that Cerebral Assassin nickname all those years (and other nicknames) ago.
7. As much as it will probably annoy Aaron that I’m going with three comments on the UT/HHH and not Rock/Cena, I seriously have to ask; was the Undertaker supposed to be hanging out in that spooky cabin the whole month they were teasing his return (and, accidentally, making people mark out for Sting more than TNA ever did in the process)? What did he do?
8. Okay, I apologize to everyone, but I have one more; they should begin all Undertaker intros with those Johnny Cash lines from now on, shouldn’t they?
9. Between Dolph Ziggler’s World Heavyweight Title reign that lasted about one segment, cumulatively, and tonight’s tag title changes, is WWE trying to break some kind of record for shortest, lamest title reigns ever in the span of a week (which was surely set by Vince Russo)? And what will the consequences be if they do? I mean, at least we don’t have Wacky Mismatched Tag Team Champions that hate each other, but I’m seriously worried that the booking team may be trying to summon Lovecraftian Dark Gods via their weird booking choices. Just a feeling I get every once in a while. I’m worried that they’ll find a way for Kofi to vacate the Intercontinental Championship and pin himself to win it in the same night now, with Alberto destroying his arm and everything.
10. While this is damning with some pretty faint praise, we’re off to the best start for a Wrestlemania build in years. An upside to a predictable Pay-Per-View, to be sure. Hopefully we get more Rock in the six weeks until ‘Mania, but even if we don’t things are still building quite well.
