We are just one day removed from a HUGE WrestleMania 28! Welcome to another edition of A RAW Opinion, I’m Joe and as always I will take you through this weeks episode of WWE Raw and I’ll give you my opinions along the way, at the end of this weeks column I will give my short opinion of WrestleMania.
We start the show off with John Laurinaitis he announces Santino will defend his United States Title against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger in a triple threat match, CM Punk interrupts him and says he’s still a giant tool box. Laurinaitis then books CM Punk VS Mark Henry for the WWE Title.
Dwayne Johnson comes out from the back on his way to the ring. There are quite a few boos that were audible during his entrance too. Dwayne talks for a few minutes about wrestling at WrestleMania last night, and says he has to thank John Cena, he says that one day he will walk down the aisle once again the WWE Champion… (HELL NO! Keep the hell away from CM Punk, don’t need him being buried too.)
Our first match is the United States Championship match. Santino retains the United States title in a pretty good match, Ziggler and Swagger started fighting each other after double teaming Santino most of the match, Santino took advantage. Afterward they chased Santino up the ramp, Brodus took out Ziggler as he ran toward him.
Lord Tensai making his WWE debut right now, Alex Riley on jobber duty tonight. Lord Tensai (Formerly known as A Train) destroyed Alex Riley in an absolute squash match that I thought went on way too long.
CM Punk VS Mark Henry coming up next. If anyone wants to see why CM Punk deserves to be THE MAN in the WWE look no further, GREAT MATCH between these two! BIG shocker, Mark Henry wins by count out. After the match Mark Henry attacked Punk, giving him a Worlds Strongest Slam on the floor. Chris Jericho came out as Punk was laid out, he told Punk it was time to celebrate their match with a drink, he got a bottle and poured it out over Punk, Jericho kicked him but slipped on the puddle. Jericho got another bottle and broke it on the back of Punks head.
Sheamus is up next, Justin Roberts said his name the fans rained down boos and rightly so. Sheamus gets in one word and gets interrupted by Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez. MASSIVE Daniel Bryan chants. The fans start chanting “si” at Alberto, the fans have been fired up all night chanting “yes” for Daniel Bryan. Del Rio challenges Sheamus to a match on SmackDown, if Del Rio wins he gets a future title shot. Del Rios microphone cut out, he went to switch microphones, he turns around into a Brogue Kick to a chorus of boos. They showed Daniel Bryan watching a monitor, the fans erupted into cheers.
Cody Rhodes comes out for his match against Kofi Kingston. Not a good match at all, Cody was about to put Kofi away when Big Show came out and caused an interference, Kofi hit Trouble In Paradise for the win. I guess this was tonights divas match…
Mark Henry throwing stuff in his locker room, Abraham Washington walks into the room wanting to unite with Henry to lead him to the top.
Eve comes out from the back and stands on the top of the ramp with a microphone, she talks about everyone wanting their WrestleMania moment, and last night she got hers, when she manipulated Zack Ryder. HUGE Zack Ryder chants from the crowd.
The Miz comes out next for his match against Zack Ryder! Zack Ryder showing a mean streak in this match early on, Ryder hits the Broski Boot on Miz and got a near fall. Miz went on to win with Skull Crushing Finale. Pretty lame that Miz went from big time jobber just a couple of weeks ago to getting two big wins in a row.
John Cena comes out from the back to a ton of boos and a few cheers. Fans started a “You’re a loser chant” Cena talks for a bit about wanting Dwayne to come out from the back, the fans chanting LOUDLY “We Want Lesnar” John Cena gets interrupted by Brock Lesnar to a huge ovation. Cena extends his hand and Lesnar gives him an F5, the crowd erupts and the show goes off the air with Lesnar playing to the crowd… This sucks, I now have to root for John Cena for ANOTHER YEAR, because I can’t stand Lesnar.
Overall I loved the show, I’m sure most of it was due to the crowd, the crowd was on fire all night, and I’m sure most of it had to do with it being the day after WrestleMania. I’ll give this show a 4.5/5, probably the highest rating I gave a show to date, thank the crowd for making this Raw absolutely amazing, people were throwing out “best Raw in 10-12 years” on Twitter, I wouldn’t go THAT far…
I wonder what’s going to happen between Jericho and Punk now, obviously they’ll meet in another match, probably at Extreme Rules.
I wish Zack Ryder would stop being buried, again… Just a few weeks ago The Miz was a bonafide jobber, and how he’s somehow back toward the top of the WWE scene.
My last piece of advice for John Cena… Aim for the ribs, we’ve learned one thing about Brock Lesnar the past couple of years, the man can’t take a body shot.
I said earlier I would give a shortened opinion of WrestleMania 28, here it is, the first hour was terrible, take away the first hour and you have a damn near PERFECT PPV, Daniel Bryan losing in 18 seconds is a disgrace. Rock VS Cena was 3rd best match of the night in my opinion, great match, wrong man won. HHH/Taker stole the show with CM Punk/Chris Jericho a somewhat distant 2nd.
That’s all for this weeks column, I hope you enjoyed the column as well as the show itself.
Ringsidehustle.com 
Brilliant show. Mark Henry and CM Punk had a great match that sadly ended via countout. Jericho v Punk at Extreme Rules looks set. Probably in a ladder match. I loved Brock Lesnar return. F5 on Cena. OVW class 2002. Crowd was awesome all night.
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Yeah, the crowd was unreal! As I said on twitter, it felt like an old school RAW crowd where they told you exactly what they wanted. They booed Sheamus b/c they wanted Bryan as WHC. They demanded Lesnar with ”We Want Lesnar” chants! They told see exactly what they wanted with ”You’re a loser”. Amazing crowd.
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I only caught the show during commercials, but did catch the end. Interesting…
GO BIG BLUE!!!
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By gawd the crowd as electric!
That was a fantastic show and I can’t wait to see the ratings, I think they’ll get close to 4.0. Honest I do.
Capt. Try and watch the full show, it was amazing. Plenty of wrestling, great promos and great excitement.
I re-watched Brock’s return about 4 times over, I literally had goosebumps. When Cena listened to the crowd sing we want Brock, I said it’s just gotta be him returning, it’s gotta be!
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Cena v Lesnar will be great to see. It would have happened in 2004/2005 had Lesnar not left. I reckon Cena will be putting Lesnar over. Can’t wait to to see what happens next week.
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Yes it will! I wonder what the story would be as to why Lesnar gave Cena an F-5?
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I’m not sure but I can’t wait to find out. Very little Wrestlemania hangover so far. I heard that it could be Rock v Lesnar at next year’s Wrestlemania.
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Yes, that’s exactly what I think will happen next year at WM. Rock vs. Brock. It’s funny how Cena is the most important person of all this. I think Cena will come out on top over Lesnar, though. They can’t have their biggest guy lose to both Rock and Lesnar. Makes the top guy look weak.
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I think RAW did like 3.48 or something like that.
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I really didn’t understand Brock attacking Cena, it would have made more sense if Brock came out and talked about wanting to face Taker at WrestleMania, I wonder where this is going, but it looks like I’ll sadly have to root for John Cena for another year.
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They’re not going to make this another year feud, are they? I know Brock is popular but he’s not The Rock. Brock doesn’t have that connection The Rock does. Another year of build would not be interesting IMO.
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I don’t think they’ll be having Cena/Lesnar at WM29 so there will no year long wait or build. I’d rather see Brock/Rock, Cena/Taker.
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God I hope they dont and I hope they never announce a match a year in advance again. Looking back the build up was painstakingly long.
Hopefully Cena is just the early build to get Lesnars return over so Lesnar can face someone like Taker, Rock, Punk… I dont a believe Brock/Cena would have that good a chemistry, two completely different styles.
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I’d love Lesnar to face Cena first, then Punk at SSlam, then Rock at SSeries, then Taker at mania. I’m dreaming, lol.
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I agree, if they’ve got a years contract out of him (from what Ive read) They should get as much possible as they can out of him. He is an excellent worker who can work a good match with anyone (remember his title defense against Big Show?). A nice 2-3 month build between each opponent would give it a good pace to.
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It really doesn’t matter who Cena faces. It usually takes him one or two matches to build chemistry, but once he does that with somebody, the matches are usually very good to great.
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Totally marked out when Lesnar’s music hit! Used to be a huge fan of his for a while. Here’s hoping it’s Cena vs. Lesnar at WM 29. I definitely don’t want to see Cena/Rock II, and we’ve already seen Rock/Lesnar back in the day.
The crowd made this show.
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I wouldn’t go as far as to say Cena has great matches, they’re good at best which is rare.
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Most of his matches are good to very good, because he’s built some nice chemistry with different people. His worst are with green people(Otunga). He has had some terrific matches with plenty of people(HBK, Edge, Umaga, Y2J, Ziggler, Punk, etc.) Plus, he’s had better-than-expected matches with Khali, Truth, Lashley, etc.
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Personally, I dont see Cena as a good in ring worker, he has a few moves which he can perform with minimal effort but his whole selling of a match and its progression isn’t something he can do very well.
Your right when you list the people who he has had good matches with, but then you see that the worker is his opponent, not Cena.
His Five Moves of Doom, cartoon combebacks and unrealistic no pressure STF just makes it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief… which is what wrestling’s all about.
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I didn’t say he was the best “worker”.
I doubt the “workers’ in matches with Cena are Khali, Truth, Lashley, or Otunga and most of those were better than expected. I think it depends on the match. HBK I can see leading their match, but it still takes two to have a one-on-one match. Chemistry has a big part as well.
As far as the 5 Moves… deal goes, most wrestlers in the WWE use that core group of moves. It’s the “WWE style”.
“Cartoon comebacks” don’t bother me, because I see wrestling as a live-action comic book in a way. It’s not so much about realism for me(crisp moves, selling, etc.), but idealism(good vs. evil, feeding off the crowd, etc.). This might have more to do with personality type. I’ve noticed a lack of pressure on the STF, but that goes with the “real vs. ideal” thing as well for me.
Suspending disbelief could go under “real vs. ideal” as well. What appeals to you might not appeal to others. It’s just personality and worldview to me.
His “working” ability is not his strongsuit, but what he excels at is connecting with the crowd in a way that somebody like Regal(a better worker) could only dream of.
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Good write up Joe. It was a good Raw and really showed they’re trying to catch everybody’s eyes. I don’t think it’s going to get enormous ratings but I would say at least an average of 3.6. The runover probably went well over 4. Glad to see Rock wants to go for title. This will shake things up a bit.
Good thing about Rock/Brock returning and future names returning is it will put the current roster in it’s place. Any egos that were there will now be gone, or they’ll leave/be released. People will truly have to shine and perform to play with the big boys.
Dolph cracked his head damn hard after taking that headbutt from Funkynuts. Head straight to the steel ramp. Ouch.
Loved Lord Tensai. I actually always enjoyed A-Trains power moves, but hated his gimmick. It seems with some Japanese skills in his move set he’s got quite a bit more to offer. For a big guy he’s fast, too. Also like how he is less hairy. I hate body hair on backs. LOL. His manager is awesome. I hope this actually opens the door for more managers.
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Great Raw, one which the crowd very much made.
YES YES YES… is the now new What.
I actually thought Clay had dropped the Funkasorous gimmick, it was good to see a more spontaneous, rougher reaction from him and not stuck in the usual squash match.
Tensais debut was a slightly more prolonged squash match. People have been saying that they were dissapointed but if you watch his New Japan matches he’s not the most athletic person but more powerhouse moves with some technical thrown in, people were underwhelmed as they were expected different from the hype.
I was jacked to see Lesnar return, it was very reminiscent to Goldbergs return against the Rock. I’m intruged to how will it will play out and will be interesting to see who plays what roles
The only problem I have with it though, is that it keeps Cena on that top shelf, the shelf that is above every other star in the WWE. Its as if they have no confidence in any of their talent to compete at Cena’s level to draw money, which is unfortunate as they have an entire roster full of superstars that with a little WWE backing could be elevated to such success.
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I guess I’m in the minority, possibly even alone when i said, I don’t care about Brock Lesnar, honestly, It’s hard for me to care about a guy who’s only going to be around for a year or so, same reason why I didn’t care about seeing Dwayne back, it won’t last. This isn’t 1999 or 2001 anymore, I would much rather see the WWE put their time and energy and money into developing guys like Ziggler and Ryder, rather then bringing back guys just to boost nostalgia.
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As anyone who’s read Brock’s book knows he’s only in wrestling for the money. But, he’s a great worker who’s exceptionally athletic for his size and his mix of technical and powerhouse style brings a refreshing mix to the table.
I also stumbled upon this video of the Raw Dark match, D. Bryan is pretty much the star of the night…
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I heard there was many ROH fans in Miami as they had an event on so that could be the reason why they loved Bryan, also why the crowd was loud…hardcore fans like.
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I hope not. I want those “yes” chants every week. It’s the greatest chant ever.
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Believe me I do too. It’s chant of the decade! It’s like the modern day ”WHAT?”
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I want a “Sally” chant! It’s dirtier, dammit!
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P.S. I’m still hated by friends for supporting Cock Chestnar in UFC. They’re UFC purists and didn’t believe he would do anything there. Thank god he proved them wrong.
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“Cock Chestner”? What type of movies have you been watching?
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lol you know! That’s the one with John Cemen!
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And Randy Whoreton!
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People were mad at Cena, because he kept on repeating himself before Brock came out. The thing is Brock didn’t get to the arena until 30 SECONDS before he showed up on tv, so Cena had to stall.
The various chants were funny, but “Si!” might’ve been my favorite.
Also, I still prefer the “Sally!” idea.
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PWTorch reported that I think, but I read on WWE.com that he was there 18 minutes before he came out. Like he wouldn’t just execute an F-5 without talking it over in person with Cena.
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Hmm? Conflicting reports.
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I guess WWE didn’t want ANY fans seeing Brock so it wouldn’t spoil it. PWTorch reported it as if Brock was half assed. Fuck Wade Johnson. haha jk
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Well, you never know.
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I’d say that was part of the plan, WWE didn’t want to give away the Lesnar appearence, hence the late arrival.
At the time when Cena called out the Rock I expected WWE to show a shot of the Rock getting in his car and leaving the fans behind for the movies, to turn heat from Cena… How suprised was I when the Next Big Thing showed up (Can we still call him that?)
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I’m in NO WAY involved with WWE but I’m guessing WWE have to be REALLY careful on how they use The Rock. Like The Rock is a commodity to WWE IMO. Rock had NO reason to come back in the first place, I genuinely think he came back for the fans only. So what you’re saying could be bad, it could be good too. I think WWE want The Rock as popular as possible.
Once Cena put the MIC at the fans while chanting WE WANT LESNAR, I said to myself, he’s gotta be returning, if he wasn’t…..Cena would disappoint fans like that.
Whatever rumours and shit i saw online, I marked the FUCK out when Lesnar returned. I think he has to lose to Cena, why would WWE want Cena to lose to two ”part timers” (And use that very lightly)? Cena is the main guy, he can’t look weak.
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I’ve watched his return about 6/7 times now and I still get chills when his music hits and the crowd goes ballistic.
The timing was perfect, had this been held for next, next month or even done at Mania it would not have received the reaction he got at Raw.
Cena beginning to lose high profile matches maybe a trend WWE are starting to say ‘Hey, this guy isn’t invincible and he can be beaten’. But as you said, he’s losing to part timers and not the regular talent… Time will only tell, but one things for sure, I can’t wait to find out!
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Agreed fully. That’s because we know he is a BIG deal. I think the whole idea of Cena on a high profile losing streak is to finally make him lash out! I know he didn’t lose to Brock yet but I’d be surprised if he won.
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I bet he leaves, has surgery and comes back as The Prototype.
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YES!!
They see he’s been rebuilt (like the HHH return promo in 2007)
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I’d mark out!
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I know Brocks return stole the show and I am a HUGE Brock mark but HOW GOOD WAS JERICHO’S LITTLE SLIP ON THE “WHISKEY”?!? Unreal!!
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lol it was class! He actually botched the glass bottle to Punk’s head if you watch it in slow motion.
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I bet if that were Cena doing it, the net would be all over him.
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That’s very true. The IWC can indeed be quite when they want to be.
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They just like to be “ironic”.
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Hmm no matter who slipped over I think I would have loved it!! Even Flair. Unless he put a hip out. Then I would be sad that he is still putting himself through this nonsense
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Flair would have started doing elbow drops to the wet mat that caused the fall!!
‘Woooooo! You want some mat! Eh. You want some of the naitch! Woooooo’
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Flair is the man!
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If you think about it, WWE needed something big to happen on Raw. Their main eventers who have been dominating our TV for the last 2 months and the top matches at Mania have all disappeared… HHH, HBK, Undertaker, The Rock…
There was very much a huge drop in star power (WWE still don’t see the likes of Punk/Jericho/Orton at the same level with these guys, and don’t make any effort to) So Brock’s return done a good job to mask this.
That being said, Raw also produced a few other good suppress. Brodus Clay finally done something which pushed him more in one night than all the matches he’s had so far. Lord Tensai made his return, although by the end of the night this was overshadowed by everything else (WWE have actual acknowledged on their Website that this is A-train repackaged). Del Rio returned to confront and challenge Shameus, which was completely washed out by D Bryan chants. Mark Henry has been put back on track and was well protected in his match with Punk, the match by both men was very well done and got both men over without hurting the other.
I think I agree with everyone when I say Zack Ryder needs to stop being this bull shit material.
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Lord Tensai is just not working for me. I can’t see past A-Train. The squash match felt awkward and was too long as you said. It didn’t do anything to make him seem bad ass to me & I was disappointed they used A-Ry.
Brock’s return was great but the F-5 was just so shit. I mean, they expect us to believe that Cena, who just headlined Mania was just supposed to take that F-5 like a bitch & not even TRY to stop it. Maybe I’m just being picky. Aw well.
I hope they keep Cena-Taker for WM 30.
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Perhaps Cena was shocked?
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Cena’s not that kind of guy though. He offered Brock his hand and Brock shook it, then picked him up for the F-5. Maybe Cena should have tried to squirm out but thats Cena for you, he doesn’t have that ring ethic to know when to sell.
I loved it when he kicked his hat of the ring too.
Lord Tensai should have been held off another week or so, although it was nice to debut squash match go over a minute.
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He sold more than when Johnny Ace got the GTS from Punk.
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Theres a reason John Laurinaitis is Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and not a wrestling superstar
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But Johnny Ace was a wrestler. Plus, I was refering to Ace’s lack of selling when it came to this photo. His face is classic!
http://www.cagesideseats.com/2012/1/23/2729161/wwe-raw-cm-punk-hits-john-laurinaitis-with-the-gts-and-creates-the
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If you turn that photo sideways it looks like he’s been freeze framed running!
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Johnny Ace is…The Flash!
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I’d go so far as to say that this was one of the hottest episodes of Raw in history. I wish every crowd was like Miami!!! For the first time in a while it feels like WWE is genuinely a hot product. We’re just coming off of a historic Mania and now Lesnar is back. Yahoo Sports even covered his return!!! From what I’ve read, Lesnar will be competing at the Extreme Rules show. If the plan is for him and Rock to battle at WM29 for the belt then that would be just as epic as Rock vs. Cena. I have a feeling that interesting times are ahead for WWE.
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