Alas, we have what looks like concrete plans for WrestleMania. We already had a good idea where they were going, but they seem to be cemented now.

Here’s what I believe the WrestleMania line-up looks like so far:

The Rock vs. John Cena
Triple H vs. The Undertaker
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

It’s rare these days when Raw shows come across as important. But coming off the PPV from Sunday, this was about as must-see a Raw you were going to get. The Undertaker was promised on the show, which meant further development of their feud. Finally, the Kane/Cena angle was put to rest so we could focus on Cena/Rock. And we knew that something was going to happen with Chris Jericho and CM Punk.

I won’t say that all of it was a homerun, but I’ll say that one was and two were stand-up doubles.

First, the homerun. I’m going to give credit where credit is due. Triple H has been phenomenal these last few weeks. I’ve never been a huge fan and I’ve tired of his act often, but the guy is absolute money right now. And here’s where I’d love to get in the mind of not only Triple H, but the Undertaker. For 10 months now, John Cena vs. The Rock has been touted as the main event for WrestleMania 28. Part of the conflict with The Rock and the locker room, allegedly, is that Rock isn’t around and he comes in and main events. John Morrison said something to that effect. CM Punk mentioned that Rock didn’t say hi to the guys. I wonder how much of Triple H’s inspiration is related to all the attention Rock is getting. But whatever it is, it’s some of the greatest work of his career. The Undertaker was a bit off on his promo, but he’s the Undertaker so it really doesn’t matter. The addition of the Hell In A Cell stipulation doesn’t do much for the match itself because the gimmick is so watered down these days, but I think it still comes across as special and increases the specialness of the match.

John Cena redeemed himself in the eyes of many based on his promo calling out the Rock for being Hollywood. Here’s what I think the gist of the angle is: when Rock left WWE full-time in 2002, the fans didn’t respond to him well because they felt like he was using WWE as stepping stone for Hollywood. In a sense, that’s what it turned out to be, even if it probably just happened that way. The fact that Rock is still in wrestling today shows how much he loves the business because it’s not really necessary for him to be back. He’s a real movie star now. And thus, when he comes back to wrestling, because he’s a movie star, he’s more important to big business for WWE than the guys who are there every day, John Cena included. I’m sure there are many guys in the back who resent Rock for coming right back into the main event, even if from a box office perspective, he absolutely deserves it. Even if Cena hasn’t done a good job at outlining that part of the angle in the past, he did so on Raw last night. He stands for the fans who resented Rock for leaving and for the wrestlers who resent him for being back in the main event.

It’s an interesting story because who Cena represents is the minority and the casual fans don’t understand who he’s really standing up for. I hope they flesh out that part of the angle a bit and have guys like CM Punk and Randy Orton who have spoken out against the Rock in the past talk about why he may not be all that likable. Now, they may have spoken out against him in hopes that they’d get to work with him and make more money, but I do think there’s a twinge of truthfulness in what they say. If Cena is going to be able to come close to Rock in this angle, I think Team WWE has to side with him (or maybe just side against Rock) and thus, the audience will understand more where he’s coming from. I think it’s money and will work if the story is told correctly.

Chris Jericho winning the 10-man battle royal setting up his match against CM Punk at WrestleMania was okay. I don’t think it ended up as powerful as it could’ve if they just allowed Jericho and Punk to go back and forth for 20 minutes. In fact, I’m almost sure it would’ve worked twice as good as this, but with the Taker/HHH promo and Cena’s promo, I get why they didn’t do that. But hell, they could’ve held Jericho out this week and told that story next week. I sort of have an issue with a Royal Rumble and a battle royal determining the two contenders, especially since an Elimination Chamber didn’t really give us a conclusion. I don’t like PPV setting up TV, but hell, it happens often. I just hope we get to see some back and forth between the two of them.

Next week, Rock makes a live appearance and later today there’s a live Smackdown with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in what I hope is a long match. I imagine Jericho is involved someway. And I guess Sheamus would have to be as well, though he seems less important today than before he won the Royal Rumble which is exactly the opposite of what is supposed to happen.

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