Another week on the road to the grandest show of them all in Miami. This week saw Raw calling into Boston, the hometown of a certain John Cena, to progress his feud with The Rock, while also offering up the latest addition to the feud between The Undertaker and Triple H. Meanwhile Smackdown saw developments with Kane v Randy Orton, as well as serving to up the ante between General Managers Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis.
The Undertaker v Triple H
With The Undertaker not in attendance in Boston, Shawn Michaels made his return to address a few issues he had with his friend Triple H following The Game's confrontation with 'Taker. This feud is becoming marred in a bog of slow running promos, the lack of action I assume a result of wanting to keep the two old warhorses out of the ring. As a result, at present the WWE is choosing to build up to Wrestlemania and the latest defence of The Streak with a series of 10 minute promos between the main protagonists that revolve around the same overdone themes of vengeance, the end of an era and superiority. As such, HBK at least proffered a little change this week, ever the showman and cutting on the mic. At the end of the segment Michaels delivered the surprise we all expected but which had been given stunningly little build, that he would be the guest referee in the Hell in a Cell match at Wrestlemania. With the three men in the ring this should at least be more entertaining than last year's slug-fest between The Game and The Phenom. Where they will go with this angle is still unclear, which is a good thing, with the potential for HBK deciding to screw either The Undertaker or Triple HHH out of the victory. Assuming his physical state still means he could not wrestle then the final act will have to be decisive, without the possibility of HBK stepping back into the ring in a wrestling capacity. The inclusion of HBK as special guest referee adds intrigue to the match, and hopefully means the match should be less predictable. Plus any excuse to see Sweet Chin Music delivered to an unwitting face once more. Current Prediction: still cannot see this going any way but an Undertaker win.
John Cena v The Rock
With this week's Raw coming from Cena's hometown of Boston this instalment of the feud between The Rock and Cena was always going to take on a more personal sheen. Through the show Rock delivered promos from around Boston based around his own brand of history lesson, shaped to further his message that everyone was sick of Cena. This was accompanied later by a promo from Cena filmed earlier in the empty arena, talking about The Rock and how much their match means to him. Once again Cena's apparent honesty cut through a lot of the extravagance and tackiness of Rock's promos, which are starting to stick in the throat somewhat. When they finally came together in the ring at the close of the show, it was undeniable that once again Cena seemed to come out of it looking the stronger, ridiculing The Rock's attempt to get serious and his delivery. Whatever the reason, for the second week in a row Cena has been allowed to take down The Rock a notch or two in the area he is supposed to be unstoppable - on the mic. Current prediction: at the moment Cena seems to be consistently gaining the upper-hand.
WWE Championship - CM Punk v Chris Jericho
This week the two opponents for the WWE Championship were paired in a tag-team match with those for the World Heavyweight Championship, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. The match itself was fairly standard, with all the men eventually getting involved. Finally Punk and Jericho were left in the ring. Punk rolled out of the Walls of Jericho into a pin, only for Jericho to reverse the pin and get the three-count himself. Giving Jericho a clean win over Punk at this stage is finally giving Jericho the strong build he should have had as soon as he returned. Jericho proceeded to mock Punk, who looked typically unhappy, and showed signs Y2J was getting to him. Little else happened between the two this week, but the feud is progressing well, and I still expect their match to steal the show in Miami. Current prediction: I still anticipate Punk will come through with the win.
World Heavyweight Championship - Daniel Bryan v Sheamus
Though they were involved in the champions tag-team match on Raw there was little interaction between the Champ and the number one contender, and again little to progress their feud. On Smackdown there was finally some interaction between the two with Michael Cole mediating between them on the mic. A pretty damning statement of their promo abilities that Cole was needed, and again there was little to offer in terms of chemistry between the two. Typically, a tag team match was made with Big Show and Randy Orton joining Sheamus to defeat Bryan with Cody Rhodes and The Miz, but there was little to build any feud between the two contenders at Wrestlemania. With little to no effort being put into building some chemistry between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus, the WWE, it has to be assumed, are relying on this instead being a strong wrestling match. Without doubt they both have the talent to put on a 4/5 star match, and this must be the favourite to open the show. Current prediction: Sheamus.
Intercontinental Championship - Cody Rhodes v Big Show
Little to report here. A quick clash on Raw again established the Big Show can be big and scary, and Rhodes is a heel and will win by cheating. Current prediction: Rhodes sneaks the win.
Team Long v Team Laurinaitis
This week the two General Managers swapped shows, apparently to establish which would be better equipped to take overall control of the two. Long got in the first blow when he arranged for his assistant, Santino Marella, to have a title match against US Champ Jack Swagger. Santino eventually got the win, much to Laurinaitis' chagrin, with Ace eventually being escorted from the arena. Personally I was delighted to see Santino get the win, not because I'm particularly a fan of his, but because Swagger has been such a pointless, bland champion. This could potentially see Swagger incorporated into the feud on the side of Laurinaitis, with of course Marella alongside Long. Interesting to see Kofi Kingston at the side of Teddy Long during the match, suggesting he will besandwiched into the feud too in order to get him on the card. On Smackdown, it was Laurinaitis' turn to be in charge, with the GM declaring a cage match between Swagger and Marella for the US Title. Marella retained, along the way delivering a Cobra to Dolph Ziggler when he tried to intefere, after Vickie Guerrero accidentally hit Swagger with the cage door. This assumedly means Swagger's rematch clause has now gone too. Whether this also means Ziggler might be incorporated on the side of Laurinaitis we will have to wait and see. Though he deserves so much more, this might be the only way to get him onto an already stacked card. Ace later makes a match between himself and Long, with the winner getting to decide if Long's girlfriend, Aksana, should face Kane. Meanwhile, he grants Drew McIntrye a chance to win his job back. At first his opponent is announced as The Great Khali, but David Otunga changes this to Hornswoggle, with McIntyre getting the win and his job back. Another on Laurinaitis' side? Teddy Long later gets the win over Laurinaitis after Kane attempts to interrupt and is laid out courtesy of an RKO from Randy Orton. There seems to be an array of Superstars now being thrown into this feud, perhaps just for the sake of getting them on the card for Wrestlemania. This could still prove an entertaining match on the night, and an opportunity to see the likes of Ziggler and Kingston shine in the spotlight.
Randy Orton v Kane
The Viper without doubt got the upper hand this week, laying Kane out on both Raw and Smackdown with an RKO. Interesting to see the two involved in the feud between Long and Laurinaitis, suggesting they may be involved directly. Personally I think the two should be allowed to have their own singles match rather than getting involved in the quagmire of a multi-man match. The feud undoubtedly needs work, but a match between the two could be a surprise show stealer at the big show.