WWE WrestleMania XXVIII starts tonight at 7PM EST on pay-per-view with a pre-show on YouTube and WWE.com at 5:45PM. Poster image by Paul Michael Griffin courtesy of SEScoops.com.

WrestleMania XXVIII begins in just a few short hours from Miami, Florida. We’ve been talking about the build up for weeks, and with the biggest night of the wrestling year finally here, it’s time to take a hard look at what’s on the card and see how this event stacks up with its predecessors. The Rock versus John Cena has dominated the promotion for this year’s show but it’s not where our attention is focused as C.M. Punk versus Chris Jericho is the clearly the match we’re most looking forward to tonight.

Read on for our picks for each of the nine matches scheduled along with a look back at where last week’s Raw from Altlanta, Georgia, left things heading into the next entry in the “Super Bowl of Sports Entertainment.”

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WWE Champion, C.M. Punk, made a strong showing on last Monday's Raw in Philadelphia even with his WrestleMania opponent, Chris Jericho, appearing "via satellite." Punk also made an in ring appearance on last week's Smackdown.

WrestleMania XXVIII is only six short days away and tonight’s Raw from Atlanta is the last chance to sell us on the biggest pay-per-view event of the year (although a surprising number of announcements have been coming on Smackdown). The last Raw before WrestleMania should be the best show of the year, at least until the night after WrestleMania which has it’s own history of making history. Before we get to tonight (and the one-hour documentary on the Rock and John Cena airing before Raw that no one was asking for), we have our last Warm Up before WrestleMania featuring a look back at last week’s show from  Philadelphia.

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John Cena broke out his old theme music, basketball jersey, and pad lock for his rap routine shredding the Rock last week. The two did not meet face to face, but after what they had to say it's highly likely they will tonight in Philadelphia.

Obviously the big story coming out of last week’s Raw in Cleveland, Ohio, was the “John Cena rap versus the Rock’s concert” in the town that boasts the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While neither performer is headed for induction, the musical battle didn’t quite go down the way the promos gave the impression it would be and it was a blessing. Most importantly, everyone got some air time with Cena and the Rock were limited to one segment each. As we head into tonight’s show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, expect a heavier focus on C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho and much clearer picture of the final names added to the card for WrestleMania XXVIII.

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In the last edition of Standard Deviations, we took a look at a set of variant covers for Marvel’s House of M series released in 2005. The Scarlet Witch was a central figure in that series as she will be in this year’s Avengers versus X-Men. Also central to AvX  is Hope Summers, the first mutant born since the Witch’s “no more mutants” curse. In the interest of equal time, this go around we’ll be taking a look the variant covers that shipped with 2007’s Messiah Complex, the story that introduced Hope to the Marvel Universe. The story stands as an important part of X-history and a who’s who of top artists turned in some beautiful cover artwork for the thirteen-part crossover.

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Shawn Michaels shares the good news that he'll be the Special Guest Referee in Triple H's Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII. Michaels will be a factor in the Undertaker maintaining his 19-0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania for a fourth straight year.

As expected, last week’s Monday Night Raw from Boston dedicated a lot of time to the Rock and John Cena with their upcoming match at WrestleMania XXVIII. Thankfully both men were in attendance to move things along, unlike this week’s Warm Up at MLD where we’re wishing Brian best of luck in “all of his future endeavors.” We’ve brought our old friend “The Jason” up from developmental to get ready for tonight’s Raw in Cleveland, Ohio.

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