LIVE Raw thoughts - February 20, 2012

11:08 - So it's official....it's Punk vs. Jericho at Mania. And based on the booking of the battle royal, perhaps Big Show vs. Cody as well? WrestleMania is certainly taking shape now. A good show, as far as I'm concerned.

11:02 - "Well it's a good thing Miz won't be headlining WrestleMania again." Considering Punk's legitimate gripe for Punk going into Mania as the top heel, I found taht comment humorous.

By the way, that was a really nasty fall Dolph, Barrett, and Truth took outside. I truly hope everybody is okay.

10:54 - Is Dolph Ziggler taking fashion tips from Jeff Hardy now? Honestly, ditch that t-shirt tucked into the back of your trunks look.

10:49 - Not to beat a dead horse, but Punk REALLY needs to grow his beard back. Aside from looking cooler with it, it actually fit with his everyman, voice of the voiceless character. With his clean shaven face and slicked back hair, he looks like he could be a lawyer or on Wall Street. Way too corporate and clean.

10:46 - In my view that was a really great promo from Cena. It was the first time in a long time that he actually seemed angry and hostile towards the Rock, and not super respectful with a couple snide remarks. And he hit all of the important points. I think one of the best parts was how he mentioned that he's filmed a couple of movies too, but even while doing those, he was still there every single week (true). My only issue, really, is that they spent all this time driving Cena to the edge and have now seemingly abandoned any of that character development.

10:32 - Looks like the writers of the second hour remembered that the Bellas are heels.

10:17 - That was an interesting segment. To be honest, I think it struggled a bit before Triple H showed up. Undertaker just seemed to repeat himself a lot. But things certainly picked up once the two began interacting with each other. But I enjoyed it, overall. The mind games were actually a lot of fun, with Undertaker manipulating Triple H into the match by mentioning Shawn Michaels' name. And I REALLY liked the way Undertaker condescendingly patted Triple H on the shoulder (like Triple H had done to him) after the challenge was accepted. The Hell in a Cell twist was unexpected. Unfortunately, it's been so diluted since we started seeing, like, three in a given night.

10:09 - Wait, aren't Kane, Big Show, and Mark Henry essentially the same era as Triple H? And they're certainly more active than him. So why are Undertaker and Triple H "the last of the era"?

9:52 - I'd hate to see anybody lose their job, but I'm guessing that Zeke is involved in the post-WrestleMania Spring Cleaning.

9:50 - Finally, the resolution to that New Nexus/The Corre feud!

9:43 - A well deserved honor for Ron Simmons. And overdue as well! But how sad is it that Kofi, Booker, and Mark Henry were the only three black Superstars that they bothered using in that video package?

9:37 - I'm going to have to agree with a lot of the other people who are disappointed that instead of naturally building a story between Punk and Jericho, they're just resorting to their old standby of the Royal Rumble. And like I said, why bother winning a 30 man Royal Rumble for a World title match at WrestleMania when you can just win a 10 man Battle Royal for a World title match at WrestleMania a month later?

9:31 - Am I wrong or has R-Truth's theme changed slightly? Wasn't "The Truth shall set you free?" during his heel run? Now it's "The Truth has set me free." By the way, I'm disappointed that Kofi changed the style of his trunks. I liked his creepy smiley dreadlocks guy.

9:24 - A fine enough match, but I wish Sheamus was a bit more dominant. He won clean, but he's going into the title match at WrestleMania while Henry doesn't have anything set in stone. Make Sheamus look as strong as possible.

9:14 - We've seemingly shifted from Cena's "Embrace the Hate" stuff, as he was very jokey, but Eve was surprisingly an effective foil to get the fans back on his side. This was a fun enough performance. I think Eve could be a great heel Diva, in the same vein as Lita. Who to pair her with, though?

And that Undertaker promo still annoys me because the bit of him cutting his hair is so lazy. There's absolutely no context or symbolism behind it. Why does cutting his hair equate to getting another match with Triple H? What's the connection? A lazy moment in an otherwise great story.

9:05 - So let me tell you what I liked and what I didn't like about that opening.

What I liked: Aside from the over the top laugh, Eve was actually surprisingly good at being an evil bitch. She's incredibly well spoken and always seems comfortable and confident.

What I didn't like: First and foremost, why were the Bellas used in that segment? It's been established that they're bitchy and shallow, yet they're being compassionate towards Zack Ryder, and then act in disgust when we find out Eve was just using him (like the Bellas did with Daniel Bryan)? Where were Kelly and Alicia, two girls that Eve has been friendly with?

And while I appreciate that a certain level of suspension of disbelief is necessary with the backstage camera, I DETEST when somebody reveals their evil plan in front of the camera. And why exactly would she need a recording with her phone with the camera man right there?

8:38 - First off, it's my mom's birthday today....so Happy Birthday, Mom!

How about a quick pre-Raw discussion before the show starts. While the journey wasn't quite what we expected, the end destination of last night's show was what we predicted. Both Punk and Bryan retained (thankfully), and it looks like we're going to get Punk/Jericho and Bryan/Sheamus like we thought. This, in my eyes, is good (unlike Punk shaving.....he looks so much cooler with the beard).

Now, the beard is 100% on WrestleMania. The big headscratcher, from what I've gathered (I didn't see the show last night) was Cena's non-selling of going over the edge. While the feud with Kane had many, many pitfalls, one of the cool parts was that it did a great job of teasing a Cena heel turn. Or, at the very least, Cena showing a significant amount of edge that would garner a little support from the fans against the Rock. They were doing a really good job with this slow burn. Yet from what I've read, it seems like he was back to his happy go lucky self last night. They need to focus Cena on Rock now, so going back to all this stuff with Kane and Zack Ryder and Eve would really hinder the story that you're selling WrestleMania on. I'm interested in what's going to happen tonight, but I'm surprised they didn't make Cena a little darker last night.