With two weeks left until WrestleMania, the WWE didn't waste any time pushing some of their biggest matchups Monday in Philadelphia in the second to last Raw before the big event on April 7.
WWE Champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and John Cena, who are scheduled to headline WrestleMania for the second year in a row, exchanged heated words and a few hard blows before Rock eventually scored a Rock Bottom in front of a panel of WWE greats that included Mick Foley, Booker T, Bret "the Hitman" Hart and Dusty Rhodes. The two stars are under some pressure to make this repeat main event just as big, if not bigger, that the first one last year in Miami.
The difference is, unlike the first one-dubbed, ironically, "Once in a Lifetime"--which had months of buildup heading into it, the second Rock vs. Cena match, themed "Greatness vs. Redemption", has had to be built within a short amount of time and with Johnson missing several RAWs to promote his upcoming film "G.I. Joe Redemption." The results have some speculating that the rematch, even between two Grade A stars such as Johnson and Cena, will be somewhat lackluster the second time around.
Meanwhile, CM Punk continued pushing the envelope in the opening promo of RAW for his widely talked-about match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania. Still brandishing the urn that belonged to the late Paul Bearer, Punk mocked the Undertaker as he prepares to challenge the Dead Man's historic 20-0 undefeated streak at the Grandest Stage of Them All, only to be interrupted by the Undertaker himself, who chased Punk out of the ring. The main concern going into this match for both stars in injuries. Punk has been pulled from all live events after taking some bad bumps against Kane earlier this month and Undertaker has reportedly been nursing a slew of injuries heading into this match. Both stars have a reputation of delivering high-caliber performances in big time situations, but whether they can overcome their recent injuries to steal the show at WrestleMania is yet to be seen.
Meanwhile, after staying by the sidelines for the last few months, it appears WWE Diva AJ Lee might be having a bigger role to play when WrestleMania comes to her home state of New Jersey in two weeks.
After attacking WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn-her real-life best friend-and beating her by DQ in a match later that night, it looks like WWE is setting the tone for a Divas title match between Kaitlyn and AJ, the latter who dominated the airwaves last summer and fall in several major storylines involving her romantic entanglements with CM Punk, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler. PWMania reports that word was that the WWE has now penciled in AJ vs. Kaitlyn at WrestleMania instead of their idea of turning WWE Diva Layla heel to fight Kaitlyn; the eight-Diva tag match at the event has also reportedly been scratched.
Former UFC star Brock Lesnar was not in attendance Monday, but Triple H did stop by for a quick promo hyping their rematch from SummerSlam at WrestleMania, where Triple H must retire should he lose. He was interrupted by Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett, whom he swiftly kicked in the nether regions before Barrett dropped his match to the Miz via submission to the figure 4 leg lock.
The Shield also defeated Zack Ryder, Great Khali and Justin Gabriel, but were promptly chased to the back by Randy Orton, Sheamus and the Big Show, whom will face WWE's hottest young trio at WrestleMania in a six-man tag match.
Team Rhodes Scholars also defeated Brodus Clay and Tensai after Rhodes hit the Beautiful Disaster kick on Clay.
Ryback continued to look impressive with his win over 3MB, hitting a double ShellShock on two of them, as he heads towards his WrestleMania match with former World Heavyweight Champion and Olympic weight lifter, the dominant Mark Henry, who defeated both the Usos earlier that night.
Team Hell No defeated the Prime Time Players.
Chris Jericho defeated Dolph Ziggler, though a post-match beating from Ziggler's bodyguard Big E Langston left Jericho prone to an attack from Fandango-the wrestler, not the movie service-that led to their match at WrestleMania being booked.
And World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio's match with U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro was cut short by his WrestleMania title match opponent Jack Swagger, who attacked Del Rio and his announcer buddy Ricardo Rodriguez.