The Rager - Raw Thoughts 2/14/11

Welcome back, my sticky Ragers, to everyone's favorites somewhat weekly random thoughts of Monday Night Raw: VD edition. This edition of Raw has a major surprise, as referred to in the last Rager entry, but more on that later. Lets roll:

1. The opening shindig between John Cena and CM Punk was alright, the Nexus interference by supplying the wrench felt a little campy (ooo a mysterious arm with Nexus band extends from under the ring slowly with a wrench). I'm ready to see these two fight without outside interference, its long overdue and I'm hoping we get that soon after the feud between Punk and Orton is done (which I almost forgot completely about because Punk has been facing Cena so much).

2. They're still continuing Smackdown stories on Raw now? Really? I mean, I get that they're trying to convince people to watch a non-sci-fi show on a channel thats dedicated to the genre, especially the big 600th episode thats so big that it'll feature Raw superstars because Smackdown doesn't have speakable talent to promote (Spoiler Alert: Rey Mysterio gets abducted by aliens and I die happy).

3. I know I give Divas matches a hard time but the Natalya and Eve match was just painful and awkward to watch. Just bad on so many levels that I can't even start to think about.

4. Please don't tell me that Mark Henry is being given a real rivalry with a real story. I can't take this, WWE, I can't and I won't. Bad WWE, bad! I will smack you in the nose with a rolled up newspaper if I have to!

5. Who else thought Daniel Bryan broke his neck when Miz hit the neckbreaker off the 2nd rope and onto the outside mat. It looked wicked awesome but I had a moment of concern. Miz also made me a bit uncomfortable after the match when he addressed Jerry Lawler's mother passing away over the weekend. He recovered well and didn't make it too tasteless but I almost had a moment like I had during CM Punk's suicide attempt fakeout a couple weeks ago. No bueno.

6. How is R-Truth still in the Elimination Chamber? Better question: why is he still in the WWE? Not only did he have the massive screw-up of the century last week, but then he gets his butt handed to him against a rookie...a giant rookie, but still a rookie nonetheless. Putting him in the match seems pointless but I guess they need an easy elimination. I'd much rather see a guy like Ted DiBiase or (even better) Daniel Bryan, in the match, not necessarily as a big contender but definitely as young guys with something to prove.

7. Does Khali even wrestle anymore? Oh wait, wrestle might be the wrong word here...slowly walk and awkwardly grabs people without bending over too much. I think that works better.

8. It was good to see Sheamus compete against real talent with Orton. It felt like he won the King of the Ring and then they put him on the shelf and gave him midcard storylines.

9. THE ROCK IS BACK! I mean, sure he kinda let the cat out of the oven...I mean, bag, earlier when he announced on Facebook that we was at Raw but still, it was a huge surprise to see him come into the ring with his full-on Rock persona. I know he's just the host for Wrestlemania but something about his wording left things open on if he'll actually, literally layeth the Smackdown on somewhere...literally...his extremities making contact with another wrestlers body, not figurative Smackingdown. BUT, the one thing that has me scratching my head was the close-up of a woman's foot coming out of the limo. Earlier that same camera was set up outside and was said to be waiting on the arrival of Mr. McMahon. Now, its time for my speculative moment of the Rager so please bear with me. Knowing they were anticipating Mr. McMahon, the woman's foot may allude to Stephanie McMahon being involved somehow in this happening which could mean that HHH has some sort of involvement as well. This could possibly lead to some sort of face-off between Rock and HHH (there are other things, I'd rather see but I'm just going off of whats in front of me) or maybe Rock uses his hosting powers to do something in favor of HHH. I know this speculation has a lot of loose ends but its late and I'm working off of just seeing a woman's foot.

No matter what the case may be, The Rock's involvement with Wrestlemania has made the pay per view that much more interesting to watch as well as the weekly programing leading up to it. If you have your own speculations or general statements (salute), feel free to leave a comment and we'll Rage together, because thats what WWE is all about.