WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 3/25/13 Review (There's an episode this week? Where did it go?)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 3/25/13. Who will I piss off this week? Let's find out and start the review. 

Punk Mocks Death

We open up the show with CM Punk mocking 'They'. Oh no! 'They' are showing up in WWE? Run away!!! Anyway, Punk talks about beating Taker and continues to disrespect the urn. Taker comes out to retrieve the urn, but Punk and Pauly manage to escape. I know I talked a week ago that I was enjoying the build to this match, but I've had a week to reflect on this and I'm starting to notice that WWE is being kinda lazy with this rivalry. Do you really think Punk is gonna defeat the steak? As of right now, not a chance. They have something going with Paul Bearer and the urn, but so much more could be done. How about Punk trying to hurt Kane or something? I guess you can blame me for being spoiled with the previous build for the last few Taker matches, but they could've done something to add that tension to Punk and Taker. I'm not saying the tension isn't there, but it just doesn't feel like the streak is in any danger. If the streak isn't in danger, what's the point to doing a Taker match? Is it because it's gonna make them a lot of money? Did I just answer my own question? Just to clarify, I don't completely hate the build of this match. I like what they're doing here, but I can't help but feel this to be underwhelming since I know they are capable of doing so much more between these two. 

Fan-ridiculous-o

Just as Fandango is about to walk away from another match, Chris Jericho comes out to attack him. Umm….why? I know the two had some interaction last week, but it consisted of Jericho mocking the guy. I'm sorry, but the previous scenes don't really justify this deal…..Until I remembered Smackdown. Yeah, I almost forgot about their interaction on SD last week. If you hadn't seen SD, you would be totally loss. At the same time, I cannot blame you for not knowing this. WWE crams so much on Raw that SD is just an afterthought these days. Once he retreats, Dolph Ziggler comes out to have a match with Y2J. In a good match, Jericho wins with Walls of Jericho. After the match, Big E takes out Jericho, thus Dolph and Big E make their claim at the tag titles--what? Fanlosero shows up and finally does something besides dancing. After the post-match beat down, he reminds Jericho to say his name right. It appears Jericho will be working a match with Faaaaaaandddddddddaaaaaaaangooooooooo at WrestleMania. I got some mixed views on this idea. While Jericho continues to do his role of helping out young and upcoming talent, I don't want to see him put this guy over. I know that's a terrible thing to say, but I don't want to see this character go anywhere. Look at what we got here. We are dealing with a Dancing with the Stars reject who should own a summer home in Malibu. You really want to see this character go far? I won't judge you if you enjoy the character. You obviously see something in this guy that I don't, but don't be shocked if this guy is in TNA in about three years. Just saying. 

It's Jobberin' Time!

Mark Henry destroys the Usos with a case of beer. Later in the night, Ryback feasted on 3MB in the same fashion. That was literally all the build you get for Ryback/Henry on Raw this week. Seriously, that's it? We're two weeks away and that's all you got? Come on, man! You gotta give me more than that! How about Ryback eating Henry's hand-child or Henry taking out Ryback's steroid supplier? I'll take any of those at this point. I should note the two will compete in a weight lifting competition on Smackdown this week. Depending on how things go over there, I might actually talk about SD this week. We shall wait and see. 

Mexican Pizza

Alberto Del Rio and Antonio Cesaro had a very short match thanks to Jack Swagger and Zeb Coulter. Zeb distracts Del Rio, which allows Swagger to attack Ricardo. Antonio picks up the countout victory since Del Rio was busy dealing with Swagger. Very little development with the WHC match this week. I guess that's what SD is for, but I feel more could be done right now. Oh, and there was a Team Hell No match against the Prime Time Players. Nothing of importance happened here, so let's just skip it. 

It's time to play the Brit

Triple H comes out and claims he has always fought with his career on the line, so he's prepared for the worst against Brock Lesnar. Well, that was short and to the point. Some underwhelming build if you ask me. It was so underdone that it seems pointless to even talk about it. Hey, if they aren't gonna try, why should I? Wade Barrett comes out since he appears to have a match next. Wade and Trips end up engaged in an eye-staring contest. Most people who talk about how bad-ass this looks, but I think it looses its flavor based on Wade's current stock. Trips kicks him in the crumpets to end this interaction. Again, very underwhelming if you ask me. After a commercial break, Wade has a match with the Miz. Thanks to the earlier attack from Trips, Miz wins via submission. Hard to get excited for a rivalry that was slapped together out of nowhere. Where's the storyline? This entire paragraph has been underwhelming. See, it's causing me to be redundant. That's where we've gotten. 

More jobs on the way

While the Shield is taking care of a group of misfits, Team Rhodes Scholars defeats Failed Fatties thanks to the Bella Twins. Talk about having a lot of pointless matches this evening. At least there was some interaction between Shield and Team WWE, but even that was lackluster. Sigh….I'm seriously out of it right now. Tonight's show has been nothing more than an endurance test. I've seen bad shows, but bad shows at least try to offer something. When you watch a boring show, you're s*** out of luck. It really pains me to say that, but that's personally how I feel about tonight's show. Well, that isn't exactly true. You could always turn off the television……So, back to the review. 

I'm talking about a diva segment? Whaaaa…..

A match that was a year in the making…..Kinda? Sort of? Almost? Well, not really, but you get the point…sadly. The two have a match and AJ is able to pick up the victory via countout. This pretty much ensures a diva match for WM. I know this is stuff I shouldn't point out, but does anybody remember me saying how Kaitlyn being champion will mean nothing until it comes time to crown the next divas champion? Well, ask and you shall receive. 

Q & A time

The WWE had various current/future Hall of Famers asking Rock and John Cena questions about their upcoming match. This was definitely the most intriguing part of the show, which is odd coming from me since I haven't been very intrigued with Rock/Cena 2. I think the reason I enjoyed this scene is it honestly felt for the first time all year that WWE actually did some proper build with this rivalry. I know they've built this match up for the last two years and there's a decent amount of people who are sick of it, but I can at least appreciate effort if you're going roll with this money-making move. Tonight's build was done so well that it got me a little interested in the match….Just a tad. I'm still not completely sold on the match, but at least they put some effort this time around. Still, it makes you wonder where all of this was back at the Royal Rumble. I think it could've turned a lot more people's head if they started this sooner, but better late than never I suppose. Speaking of which, what's Cena next excuse gonna be? He Rock Bottomed himself?

Overall Impression:

While the final segment had something to finally offer for WM, I can't say the same for the rest of the show. As I mentioned somewhere in the review, this was a boring episode of Raw. Not only that, but we are two weeks away. Two weeks away and THIS is how you build your biggest PPV of the year? 

You said it, Lemongrab. This really was unacceptable. It almost felt like they didn't try this evening and are just sitting there counting all the money they will get for this event. I really hate when I got to come on here and be really negative, but that's honestly how the show ranks with me. I also have to be a bit concerned with WM based on the build for the big event. I sound like a total smark right now and I hate how I'm sounding, but the build towards this event has felt somewhat empty. There's still a chance this PPV will turn out well, but we will have to wait until April 7th to find out. That does it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.