LIVE Raw thoughts

11:11 - Odd Raw. Atypical of the typical exciting Road to WrestleMania shows.

11:02 - Anyone else finding the lack of John Morrison curious?

11:00 - And, for what it's worth, the Miz messed up on sending that TwitPic.

10:57 - For those of you wondering, the Miz did, indeed, tweet during commentary.

10:52 - Legitimate options of who that heat segment could have been used with, that aren't your United States Champion: Santino Marella, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Mark Henry.

10:46 - Again, curious scripting tonight. Why do the Rock and Shawn Michaels' segments back to back?

10:40 - While nobody can ever deny the Rock's passion when he's giving a promo, to me he fell short of Cena's response last week. In my opinion, he came off as too angry and defensive, and since he was the one who originally called out Cena, it came across as "I can badmouth you but you can't badmouth me." And all he really did was make fun of the fact that Cena rapped, and he AGAIN brought up the fact that he's wearing a purple shirt (why is this a big deal?) It came across as Rock making fun of Cena, Cena calling Rock out on his hypocrisy, and then Rock getting all upset. And the fact that he wasn't even in the arena -- diminishing this great gesture about how he's "back" -- hurt things as well. Certainly not a strike out (how could Rock ever strike out?) but it was a swing and a miss, in my view.

10:31 - Does Rock have any other rooms in his house other than the one with the title belt display?

10:24 - On that topic, I'm surprised they didn't put the Divas championship on Beth Phoenix at Royal Rumble, giving her an absolutely dominant reign until Elimination Chamber. Then around this time have Kong debut and decimate her. Now Phoenix is defending her title at Mania as the underdog. A WAY different dynamic.

10:22 - Could we finally see Awesome Kong debut? I would think a big WrestleMania match would be the time, but it doesn't seem like it.

10:18 - Is it me or has virtually every segment had a pretty lackluster ending? While it hasn't been an overall strong Raw (compared to past weeks), even the strong segments have sorta deflated in the final seconds for one reason or another. It kinda feels like everyone isn't "on" tonight.

10:14 - The Riley/Cena match is a bit too similar to what we just saw with Orton and Nexus.

9:58 - By the way, my prediction is that Mason Ryan is the only one that Orton fails to defeat, so that at least one person is in Punk's corner at Mania.

9:56 - Interestingly, CM Punk seems to care about the well being of the members of the Nexus (I dislike the name "The New Nexus") than Orton ever did about his Legacy brethren.

9:53 - It was just suggested on Twitter that the special guest ref for the Lawler/Cole match be the anonymous Raw GM. I actually think that's a fantastic idea, if they actually have an identity for the person. It would be a great way to reveal the person at the biggest show of them all.

9:46 - While I would have preferred to see Punk vs. Cena at WrestleMania, I must admit they've done a great job building Punk/Orton. And I really like this twist where Orton will face a different member each week to determined if they're banned or legally able to be in Punk's corner for the match.

9:40 - Well, Lawler vs. Cole is official at WrestleMania. Who would have guessed that a year or two ago? Although, I will admit, they've done a pretty good job of alternating Lawler and Cole on announce duty. What's going to happen at Mania, though?

9:29 - Did they build a new announce table?

9:22 - I don't think any two people hit their high aerial finishers with more grace than Evan Bourne and Justin Gabriel. And is it me, or has every single segment of the show so far segued into each other?

9:18 - I think Josh is great, but did he just say "for whatever reason" Sheamus came in to confront Triple H? Weak.

9:15 - Just minutes after I said that people would read into Sheamus treatment as evidence that he's in the doghouse:

9:14 - "What do we do with him?" King, of Sheamus' lifeless body across the collapsed announce table. Okay, that was pretty funny.

9:11 - Glad to see they bothered to blow off the Sheamus/Triple H matter. I'm sure many will say this just shows how far Sheamus has fallen -- and perhaps it has -- but honestly this was the best way to handle it. It resolves the matter, and Triple H has a far more important feud to build up. Why bother extending this?

9:07 - How is Triple H Undertaker's "only true challenge he has left"? He already beat him at WrestleMania.

9:05 - In fairness, was Triple H ever "loved"? I mean, at best he was insanely popular. He was well liked, but loved?

9:01 - I kinda love that Josh Matthews is now doing Raw. He and Cole were my favorite announce team of 2010, for their work together on NXT. Let's see how he does with Lawler, though.