It looks like WWE is shaking up Friday television this week with appearances from one of its greatest stars and the return of an old foil.
WWE Champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made an appearance at the Tuesday taping of WWE Smackdown in Bethlehem, Penn., to hype up his upcoming bout with John Cena at WrestleMania 29 in less than two weeks on Sunday, April 7.
However, he wasn't alone, as John Laurinaitis returned on-screen for an in-ring segment with The Rock. As fans remember, Laurinaitis played a major role in WWE programming last year and in 2011 as the main on-air villain on Raw and Smackdown. Laurinaitis asked to be in the "Great One's" corner for his match against Cena at WrestleMania as Cena was the man who got him fired (on-air). The Rock responded with a fake handshake, followed by a spinebuster and a People's Elbow that got the crowd fired up.
Next up, Chris Jericho defeated Wade Barrett in singles action, followed by a plug of Jericho's upcoming WrestleMania match with Fandango involving a staredown and more banter between the two.
Mark Henry and Ryback, who will meet at WrestleMania, squared off in a weight-lifting competition to beat the NFL weight-lifting record in 1999. WWE.com claims that both superstars broke the 225-pound bench press record of 51 reps Tuesday.
"The World's Strongest Man crushed the record of 51 reps, set by Justin Ernest at the 1999 NFL combine. His count nearly stood at 54, but WWE referee Scott Armstrong elected not to count the final lift," the site reads.
Ryback tied Henry's record, but Henry pushed the bar down on him before he could break the record.
Daniel Bryan and Kaitlyn (along with Kane) defeated Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee (along with Big E Langston). Team Hell-No are set to defend their tag team titles against Ziggler and Langston at WrestleMania, but the interesting development is between AJ and Kaitlyn, who may be headed for a Divas Title showdown at WrestleMania according to recent reports.
Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) vs. The Great Khali (with Natalya and Hornswoggle) resulted in a double count out.
And in the main event, Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show built more momentum towards their WrestleMania 6-man tag match with The Shield when they defeated Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow and Antonio Cesaro.
Dark Match
Randy Orton, Sheamus and Ryback defeated The Shield
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