WWE Raw 3-25-13: WWE Championship Match For WrestleMania 29 Intensifies

The show began with CM Punk and Paul Heyman coming out to taunt Punk’s WrestleMania 29 opponent The Undertaker once more. Punk was still in possession of the urn he stole from Undertaker. Eventually, there was a gong and the lights went out in the arena. Then, there was a second gong and when the lights came back on, The Undertaker was in the ring. Undertaker started to attack Punk, but before he could regain possession of the urn, Paul Heyman sprinted off with it and Punk managed to escape Undertaker’s wrath. The mind games from Punk continue. Also, Fandango was scheduled to have a match, but before his opponent could even come out, Chris Jericho comes out to get some retribution on Fandango for his attack on Jericho this past Friday on Smackdown. Jericho drives Fandango out of the ring and Fandango’s match never gets under way. Then, Mr. Money In the Bank, accompanied by AJ Lee and NXT Champion Big E Langston, come out for Ziggler’s match with Jericho that they were supposed to have later on in the show. Jericho ends up defeating Ziggler, but Big E Langston attacks Jericho after the match and lays him out with his finishing maneuver. After the trio takes off, Fandango reemerges and picks up Big E’s scraps. Later on in the show, Jericho comes out of Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero’s office and Josh Mathews then interviews him about it. Jericho announced that at WrestleMania 29, he and Fandango will go one-on-one. In other action, The Miz went one-on-one with Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett in a non-title match. The Miz ended up defeating Wade Barrett and during this week’s edition of Backstage Fallout from this week’s Raw on WWE On YouTube, The Miz pointed out that if you beat the Intercontinental Champion in a non-title match, then you get an opportunity at the championship. With that being said, The Miz issued a WrestleMania 29 challenge to Wade Barrett for the championship. I hope it ends up happening because I want Miz to have a match at WrestleMania. Speaking of WrestleMania 29, after The Shield beat the team of The Great Khali, Zack Ryder, and Justin Gabriel, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Big Show came out to retaliate from an attack earlier in the night. All three men ended up driving The Shield out of the ring. I should also point out that I noticed all three men sort of embraced one another, so that’s enough to convince me that Big Show has turned face. Now, it’s official, at WrestleMania, all three men will team up to take on The Shield in a six-man tag team match. Also, WrestleMania 29 opponents Ryback and Mark Henry both impressed in their respective handicap matches. Mark Henry beat The Usos in a 2-on-1 handicap match while Ryback beat 3MB in a 3-on-1 handicap match. This Friday on Smackdown, the competition between these two powerhouses will continue as they will compete against one another in a weightlifting contest. Finally, WrestleMania 29 opponents John Cena and WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took part in a Q-and-A WWE Hall of Fame Panel. The Q-and-A was moderated by WWE Hall of Famer and Raw Commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler. The other four men who asked Rock and Cena questions were WWE Hall of Famers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes and soon-to-be WWE Hall of Famers Smackdown General Manager Booker T and Saturday Morning Slam General Manager Mick Foley. While Jerry Lawler moderated, the other four men asked The Rock and John Cena some questions and after one man answered, the other one was allowed to respond to it. At first, the Q-and-A was going quite smoothly, but then, Booker T asked John Cena why he thinks he can beat The Rock at WrestleMania. John Cena responded with “Because I have to. That’s it, because I have to.” The Rock, however, wanted Cena to explain why. John Cena responded by telling The Rock that he knows that he’s the better man and that he beat himself at last year’s WrestleMania because all that it took for Cena is one mistake that allowed The Rock to beat him last year and he felt that if he hadn’t made that one mistake, then he would have beaten The Rock and Cena vowed never to make that mistake again. The Rock responded by telling Cena that if he could have beaten The Rock last year, then he would have. The Rock then told Cena that at WrestleMania 29, Cena will get the opportunity to prove him and everybody else wrong and then challenged Cena to prove everybody wrong right there and now. After getting in each others’ face, Cena then attempted to hit Rock with his signature move, the Attitude Adjustment; however, Rock countered and hit Cena with his signature move, the Rock Bottom, to end the program. Now, as far as what Cena said, in a way, I feel he kind of did beat himself last year because Cena attempted to beat The Rock with Rock’s own move, the People’s elbow, and while he mimicked every part of the move leading up to the elbow drop part of it, The Rock kipped up and hit Cena with a Rock Bottom to defeat him. So, I guess some people could say that Cena took a little to much time showboating and it ended up costing him. Now while I am a fan of both of these guys, I am rooting for Cena to beat Rock this year since Rock beat Cena last year.