Just a running collection of my thoughts regarding the RAW before Wrestlemania. I haven’t really been able to get through RAW since…a while now. I’m already sold on the show since I have the Network…but this is the chance to really sell me if that makes sense. You have three hours WWE (I’m not watching Smackdown!).

8:00: Sold out Staples Center. Lesnar-Reigns face to face tonight! We get Snoop Dogg AND Bill Simmons tonight.

8:02: We kick off RAW with Sting. It does feel weird to write that. I really hope they go with the WCW crow theme at Mania and now the Unholy Alliance remix they’ve been using.

8:05: Sting already alleviates one of my fears for Mania. The build-up has been about WCW vs. WWE where Sting is WCW. Sting here says he’s not fighting for a forgotten war, he’s just here to bring HHH down. Good.

8:06: Here comes Stephanie!

8:09: Steph rambles a bit, but she tears into Sting well despite bring back the WCW narrative Sting just killed and she goes for the slap! Sting blocks! Here comes HHH!

8:11: Steph gives HHH the sledgehammer…but Sting has his trusty bat! HHH walks away from this one but Sting wants more! Steph says to save it for Mania. I can’t help but think they should have went with this more fun Sting than the dark brooding Sting for this feud. Anyway awesome segment to open.

8:14: No commercial here. Dean Ambrose is on his way out. I assume this is a tag with the IC Title ladder match guys. THEN we get the commercial.

8:19: It’s R-Truth and Ambrose against Stardust and Harper with IC Champ Barrett doing commentary.

8:29: Tornado DDT from Ambrose on Harper. There’s a move you don’t see often anymore.

8:30: Truth and Ambrose win. Truth getting the pin makes me feel like he’s not winning (not that I thought he would). Good tag team match nonetheless. Dean Ambrose starts dancing with Truth. It’s be great to add an edge to Ambrose’s character and have him knock out Truth, but he doesn’t.

8:38: Pre-taped interview with Roman Reigns. Nothing special here. Reigns just isn’t the man….yet. They should have done this for Mania 32.

8:40: Bill Simmons on commentary. Let’s do it!

8:42: Amazing what a reaction Mizdow gets.

8:46: 10 Man Tag involving all the guys in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. There’s two big multi-man matches at Mania and they are both getting what seems to be meaningless tag matches as their final build up. I guess that’s okay though for the battle royal at least.

8:53: Ryback pins Miz to win for his team. Not sure what Bill Simmons was supposed to add here.

9:00: We get the Randy Orton match for the 9 o’clock slot. This match was voted by the fans online. He faces either Big Show, Kane, or Rollins and J&J Security. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t Rollins.

9:01: Rollins and J&J wins 77% of the vote. There was 11% who wanted Orton vs. Show. Well then.

9:03: IN-RING RETURN OF JAMIE NOBLE!

9:06: Noble does the job for Orton. Just build here of course.

9:09: AJ and Paige can’t decide who gets the WWE Divas Championship match later. It seems like they are just going to rehash the frenemies deal again.

9:10: I can believe Bray Wyatt is the new face of fear. Let me believe WWE.

9:15: Looks like Paige was picked. Paige and AJ used to hate one another, no? Then again, so did the Bellas.

9:26: A second Alabama Slam tonight. I wonder if that’s forshadowing a Hardcore Holly return. I think Paige is winning this by the way.

9:27: Oh, I shoulda saw that coming. AJ accidentally elbows Paige and Nikki gets the Rack Attack to retain. I thought Paige was winning as it’s rumored the Bellas are leaving soon. But the obvious AJ-Paige mishap was obvious. Ah well. By the way, that was an awesome match and hopefully a result of #GiveDivasaChance. Nikki has improved leaps and bounds.

9:30: Ziggler vs. Bryan where one of the other IC Title ladder match participants is the special ref? Now that’s an interesting stip!

9:31: Snoop Dogg is next. Yay?

9:36: The crowd does not care about Snoop Dogg.

9:37: #AXELMANIA!

9:39: I did not expect Hulkamania that’s for sure. Hogan went over Mr. Perfect back in the day…maybe he’ll put over Hennig’s kid?!

9:42: Snoop gets to throw Axel out of the ring. I really hope they don’t keep Axel going with just laughs. I’m as shocked as anyone thinking this, but there’s money in Curtis Axel.

9:44: Brock Lesnar: “At Wrestlemania I am gonna fuck up Roman Reigns. The End.” That’d make a good t-shirt.

9:48: 6 Person Inter-species tag match. Matadors and El Torito against Cesaso, Kidd and Nattie. Usos, Cesaro and Kidd, Los Matadors and New Day at Mania pre-show. I will say Tyson Kidd deserves tons of credit for remaining relevant all this time. It’s not his fault he became irrelevant at one point though.

9:53: El Torito pins Nattie for the win. Well then.

9:55: IC Champ Barrett is asked by Kane to give him the IC belt to hang up. I wonder if this is planting a face seed for Barrett.

10:00: OMG where’s Lana?

10:02: WE WANT LANA! WE WANT LANA! Of course we do.

10:05: Rusev finishes off Jack Swagger pretty quickly. Rusev doesn’t let the Accolade go, so of course here comes Cena for the save. Rusev gets the better of Cena. That does not bode well for Rusev at Mania.

10:10: Rusev destroys Cena. What a convincing bad ass. All serious here too.

10:17: Wyatt time!

10:23: Amazing promo from Wyatt. Just give him all the belts and main events now. Seriously.

10:28: Kevin Nash in the Hall of Fame. Makes perfect sense. Diesel was my first favorite wrestler actually.

10:33: Tyson Kidd is hilarious. It’s great that he finally has a chance to show off his personality.

10:36: Weird how Bryan and Ziggler are basically in the midcard…yet there are six world titles between them.

10:36: Dean Ambrose wins the vote to be the ref.

10:51: Ziggler beats Bryan again. Ambrose attacks afterwards of course. All the IC guys go at it afterwards. This is much better build than earlier.

11:00: Well…Here Comes the Pain. Yeah I know that’s a dated reference but it still applies.

11:09: Paul Heyman might be the best ever on the mic. Roman Reigns is here now and he’s getting booed out of the building.

11:11: Wow, show closes with Reigns and Lesnar doing a tug-o-war with the title. Probably smart not to have Roman say anything after Heyman’s incredible promo.

I won’t lie though, after a string of pretty bad RAWs, this one was a great one in the lead up for Wrestlemania. Good stuff WWE.