Monday Night Raw Warm Up for April 1st, 2013

A lot of big names gathered in Philadelphia last Monday night as WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley, Booker T, Dusty Rhodes, Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler asked the Rock and John Cena what we can expect from their WrestleMania 29 rematch.

We’re just six days from WrestleMania 29, and the MLD Monday Night Warm Up is taking a bit of a break this week to prepare. We’ll be back later in the week with a special edition WrestleMania Warm Up, while tonight’s episode of Raw will emanate from Washington, DC. Last Monday’s Raw from Philadelphia was exactly the type of show WWE needed heading into the biggest show of the year. Local sports radio hosts in the City of Brotherly Love may not have understood any of what they were seeing last week, but the fans in attendance did and they approved. It would be great for the last Raw before WWE’s biggest show of the year to get the same high marks. At the very least, tonight is likely to bring the usual rhetoric from Cena and the Rock, more disrespect for the Undertaker from C.M. Punk, and Shawn Michaels returns for what could be the final Raw of Triple H’s career given the stipulations of his match WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar.

While we get our thoughts together for WrestleMania, enjoy some of the highlights from last week.

Starting with the best (in the world) of last week, C.M. Punk and the Undertaker ratcheted things up complete with a lights-out-in-ring-manifestation. We’ve criticized this feud for a quick build, but it feels like its getting just the right amount of time to have things at a fever pitch come Sunday.

At the other end of the show we had John Cena and the Rock featured in WWE Legends question and answer session that was a nice touch. WWE picked the right guys asking the right types of questions to get something a little different from Rock and Cena. It could have been a bit more smoothly executed but effort was appreciated. It was certainly more worthwhile than the Rock taking out the returning John Laurinaitis on Smackdown last Friday.

One of the more surprising elements of last Monday’s show was seeing Chris Jericho turn in a show stealing in ring performance for the second straight week, and some it involved newcomer Fandango. The two are on a collision course for WrestleMania 29, and despite the inevitable Dancing with the Stars stipulation, this could be a sleeper highlight of the night.

The balance of last Monday was dedicated to building up the WrestleMania undercard and left us with the following line up for next Sunday:

• John Cena vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship
• Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, No Holds Barred with Triple H’s Career on the Line
• The Undertaker vs. CM Punk
• Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger for the World Championship
• Ryback vs. Mark Henry
• The Shield vs. The Big Show, Randy Orton and Sheamus
• Dolph Ziggler/Big E. Langston vs. Team Hell No for the World Tag Team Championship
• Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
• Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett vs. The Miz

2012 Hall of Fame inductees announced to date:

• Donald Trump
• Bob Backlund
• Bruno Sammartino
• Mick Foley
• Trish Stratus
• Booker T