LIVE Raw thoughts - March 18, 2013

11:16 - A bit underwhelming, no?  And based on the fact that the audience had NO reaction whatsoever, I don't think I'm alone.  The No Holds Barred stipulation, in itself, doesn't hold much luster.  I mean, we seen that sort of match countless times a year.  And the added stipulation that Triple H's career on the line is a little lame, too.  The guy wrestles, what, two matches a year at this point?  Actually, in the past two years, I figure he's wrestled a total 5 matches (Undertaker twice, Kevin Nash, CM Punk, and Brock Lesnar).  Him losing his career doesn't mean a whole lot.

And the very least, I commend them for actually beginning to put together their undercard.  But can they PLEASE give Kofi Kingston and Cody Rhodes matches already?

11:13 - Brock Lesnar is SO furious about Triple H beating up Heyman that he wouldn't even come out and save him?

11:11 - Triple H throwing Paul Heyman down onto a table and tearing his shirt off is an incredibly uncomfortable visual.

10:53 - I'm thrilled that the Intercontinental Championship was so heavily hyped for the past two weeks and essentially got the main event slot of Raw, but where do we go from here?  Miz vs. Barrett?  Fine, let's move forward with that (even though, less than a month ago, he was feuding for the U.S. title).

Personally, I would have gone with Cesaro vs. Miz for the U.S. title, and then done a multi-person ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship -- including Barrett, Rhodes, Kofi, Truth, Sandow, and Jericho (if he had nothing better to do).

10:21 - I'm happy that Ziggler and Team Hell No FINALLY have a match for WrestleMania -- even though it's not the ideal match for any of them -- but I can't help but be a bit irked that Big E Langston has a match and guys like Kofi, Cody, and even Cesaro and Barrett don't.

10:13 - Wow....this has to be the first time in two or three months that Kofi's had a televised entrance.  And just like the issue we had last week with Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan, Ziggler AGAIN is up against somebody who really can't sacrifice a loss either.

9:52 - I didn't expect the Booker T induction, but that doesn't mean it isn't deserved.  Good for you, Booker T!

9:39 - Loved that it was a semi-long, competitive match and that Cody didn't look like a chump, but I still can't get into this ADR/Swagger feud.  The biggest reason is that everybody that Del Rio beats, I'd rather see in the position that Swagger is in.  I'd DEFINITELY be more into ADR vs. Ziggler or ADR vs. Rhodes. It just bothers me even more that these other guys don't even seem to be getting any real attention whatsoever.

9:26 - A little extra flair to Del Rio's theme, huh?

9:15 - This Team Hell No vs. AJ/Dolph Ziggler thing is out of nowhere and somewhat stupid, but at least they're doing SOMETHING with each of these characters (all of whom I like).  But for the life of me, I don't understand why they're not going to do AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn.

Also, are they honestly going to do a Fandango feud for WrestleMania?  When they JUST came up with something for Ziggler?  And there's still no sign of any storyline for Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Antonio Cesaro, and loads of other guys more deserving than Fandango.

9:05 - Fun segment with Punk.  Like last week, he managed to take things far enough that it was uncomfortable, but not so far that it was downright distasteful.

8:54 - I'm about an hour late for work because it snowed -- AGAIN -- by me tonight and the road conditions were AWFUL.  It took me nearly two hours to get home, and since I wasn't driving during rush hour, that's about 3 hours longer than it should have taken.

So what did I miss?  It seems that Mark Henry vs. Ryback is officially on, which is a better choice than the six man match anyway.  I'm glad they didn't wait too long to make the switch.  WrestleMania is 20 days away and it STILL feels like half of the matches are going to be a mystery.

By the way, the fact that we're still getting snow on a semi-regular basis at this point in the season makes me somewhat nervous about what the weather will be like for WrestleMania.