WWE Raw 03/15
We are live in: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler
_______________________________________________
Raw intro starts.
Cut to the arena. Pyro goes off.
Tonight Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels will meet in the ring at the same time. Also, John Cena faces Mark Henry, and The Rock is in Philly.
Justin Roberts tells the fans to welcome WWE Champion CM Punk.
Punk comes out. He heads into the ring and grabs a microphone.
A clip is shown of last week when Jericho told the fans that Punk's father is an alcoholic. Alcohol is in his genes, and he's going to make him drink.
Punk says right off the bat that Chris Jericho is not here tonight. Goes to show you the kind of man Chris is. At the end of the day, him not being here is a gift because Chris pissed him off. Last week Jericho said his father...
Punk pauses, finding it hard to say.
Jericho said his father is an alcoholic. He's not sure if it was supposed to be a big secret; those close to him know it to be true. But it's not Jericho's story to tell. It's none of his business. It's not so much that he said it, or how he said it, but it's that he said it in front of the entire world. Now he's being see by thousands in the audience, millions watching around the world, and he's under a microscope, naked for the world to see. He looks out and sees little kids, grown ups, parents, brothers, sisters, and there's not a person in this building or sitting at home who hasn't somehow been negatively affected by the disease of alcoholism.
He's not going to let Jericho's words swindle some little kid into thinking just because life dealt him a crap hand, he can't shake if off and be destined for greatness. He wants to make light of a serious subject all to get under his skin and in his head for some sort of advantage at WrestleMania. He wants to play head games and say he's "predisposed" to drink. That it's in his genes to crave alcohol. Well Jericho doesn't know him at all. And it backfired! Because if there's a devil in his DNA, it's his problem now. If there's a monster inside of him, he's going to let that monster out. He refuses to let his past dictate his future. There isn't a person on this planet that should let a past dictate or cloud their future dreams. Chris Jericho forgot to tell them the finish of that story. His father worked really hard to overcome his addictions. He has beat his demons. Jericho doesn't want them to know the fact that he is proud of his father. He is proud of his father, and he's proud of the fact that he's straight edge. It's real, and it comes from the heart. It's true, and it's tattooed on his skin for a reason. It's what he believes. He's proud of his father, proud of being straight edge. His father overcame an obstacle, and that's what Jericho is.
You can go around an obstacle, you can jump over an obstacle, or, like Jericho, you can dig a hole and crawl under an obstacle. But at WrestleMania, Chris Jericho is his obstacle, and he's going right through him to prove that he's the best in the world!
Punk goes to leave, but Jericho shows up on the Titantron and interrupts via satellite.
Jericho says to listen to him. He didn't think it was right to be there tonight. He didn't want to face him in person because he wants him to really hear this. All the points he's making are right. He was out of line for what he said last week, and he's sorry. This is Chris talking, not Jericho, or a fancy jacket, or any bravado. He was out of line and crossed into territory he had no right to cross into. It was none of his business, he should never have brought it up, and he's sorry. He hopes he accepts his apology, and he will never say anything about his father on the show again.
However...his sister? That's a whole other ballgame. Come on, he found out all about his sister's substance abuse problems.
Punk tells him to shut up. What is he talking about?
It's well documented that his sister has problems with drugs, and as anybody knows drug addicts will do whatever they can to score their fix. Anything. He's sure Punk's still proud of her and loves her just like he's proud and loves his father, but there's a pattern starting here. His father's an alcoholic, his sister's a drug addict, and he's going to end up like them. It's inevitable. Punk's going to drink, it's his destiny. It's a good news/bad news situation thought. The good news is that substance abuse and alcohol can be overcome. Bad news? When he beats him at WrestleMania and becomes the new WWE Champion, that's something that he'll never overcome. Ever.
Punk gets angry. Really angry. He then looks at Jericho and says something that gets censored, but gets a loud pop from the audience.
He adds that Jericho is bulls**t, and that's what he's going to beat out of him.
Punk tosses the microphone down and exits the ring, heading back up the ramp with a scowl on his face.
Up next, Kane versus Big Show.
-Commercial Break-
Back from break, and Kane is already in the ring as he awaits his opponent.
Big Show comes out and heads to the ring for his match.
Before the match starts, WWE Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes comes out and heads to the ring. He will be standing at ringside during the match.
The video shows highlights of Big Show's most embarrassing WrestleMania moments. Show looks annoyed as the match is about to start.
Match #1
[Kane vs. The Big Show]
[Singles Match]
The bell sounds. Kane and Big Show grapple. Show gets Kane into a corner and slugs him with a few right hands. He then whips Kane off the turnbuckle, turns him around, and whips him right back into it. He charges forward and Kane catches him with a boot to the face. Meanwhile, Cody puts on boxing gloves outside the ring. Kane grabs Show by the neck and goes for a chokeslam, but Show counters by grabbing Kane's neck. The two squeeze each other's necks until Show wins out. He goes for the chokeslam, but Kane manages to get behind Show and catch him with a jab to the throat. Kane runs off the ropes and Show catches him with a spear. Show starts climbing the turnbuckle to the middle rope, but Cody then jumps on the apron and goes after Show. Show sees it coming and shoves Cody off the apron. The distraction allows Kane to grabs Show by the neck and connect with a chokeslam off the turnbuckle. Kane covers for the three count.
[Winner via Pinfall: Kane]
Kane exits the ring and leaves. While Show gets back up, Cody slips into the ring, springboards off the ropes and connects with a disaster kick to Show. Cody kicks Show against the ropes, then exits the ring again. He walks past the announce table and picks up a pair of handcuffs. He then goes over to Show and cuffs him to the ropes. Cody picks up his boxing gloves and enters the ring while Show tries to get up without the use of his arms. Cody puts the gloves on and starts punching away at Show's head until he's face down on the mat. Cody steps back after a few referee's try to restrain him, but Show only looks enraged instead of hurt. He yells at Cody to run, and Cody exits the ring without hesitation. A ringside member of the crew uses pliers to cut the handcuffs from the ropes. Show tries to get up, but starts feeling woozy after so many punches, and the referees help him out of the ring.
Later tonight, Cena takes on Mark Henry.
-Commercial Break-
Back from break, we get a recap of Cody punching Show with the boxing gloves a la Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Back at ringside, David Otunga comes out along with Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis for his match.
Santino Marella comes out along with Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long as his opponent.
Match #2
[Santino Marella vs. David Otunga]
[Singles Match]
As Long and Laurinaitis sit on opposite sides of the announce table, the bell sounds. Santino pauses, takes down the straps of his singlet, and shows off his painted abs. He flexes, and the fans cheer. Otunga flexes and they boo. This goes back and forth until Santino pulls a muscle during a pose. This allows Otunga to attack him from behind and knock him down. He picks Santino back up and slams his head into a turnbuckle pad. He then lifts Santino up and goes for a powerslam, but Marella slips behind and catches Otunga with a few lefts followed by a big right hand. Otunga runs towards him, but Santino ducks with a split. Otunga rebounds off the ropes and gets caught with a hip toss. Santino then runs the ropes and connects with a flying headbutt. Santino takes out the cobra sock puppets and puts it on. Laurinaitis goes over to the ring apron while texting on his phone. Santino sets up for the cobra, but Teddy then goes over to Laurinaitis and bumps against him causing Laurinaitis to drop his phone into the ring. Santino, noticing this, looks down at the phone, picks it up, shows it to Laurinaitis, and then proceeds to stomp on it a few times. Santino turns back to Otunga, but Otunga catches him with The Verdict. Otunga covers for the three count.
[Winner via Pinfall: David Otunga]
Laurinaitis gets in the ring and celebrates with David. He then picks up his damaged phone and puts it back in his pocket. Teddy goes in the ring to check on Santino. Laurinaitis mocks Saintino's victory trumpet walk, then goes over to Teddy and taunts the win. Laurinaitis gets in his face and Teddy proceeds to slap him across the face. Laurinaitis goes after him, but Teddy exits the ring along with Santino and the two run up the ramp. Teddy and Santino start dancing at the top of the ramp while Laurinaitis and Otunga look on in the ring.
We get a rewind clip of last month when Triple H accepted Undertaker's WrestleMania challenge. Later tonight, those two along with Shawn Michaels will be in the ring at the same time.
Up next, The Rock has a message for Cena.
-Commercial Break-
Back from break, and we get a teaser video hyping the debut of a new wrestler named Lord Tensai.
At ringside, Lawler and Cole talk about how evenly split the WWE Universe is with The Rock and John Cena on WWE.Com This leads to the Rock video.
We cut to a live video of Rock standing in front of the Rocky Balboa Statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
FINALLY...The Rock has come back to Philadelphia!
Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. The city that loves you back. It's always sunny in Philadelphia. But above all else, it's the city of ass kickers. This statue of Rocky Balboa represents the fighting spirit of Philadelphia. He's been coming to Philly for years walking these streets. At twelve years old he stood in front of this statue and became inspired. Look at the picture!
A picture is shown of Rock as a kid posing in front of the statue.
His arms were held up high, and he dreamed of one day being an ass kicker. Yeah, the Rock knows what they're thinking. He looks like a chunky little girl at twelve years old. With short shorts, his little pebbles were coming out, but that's not important. What's most important about that picture is that at twelve years old he was dreaming of becoming the greatest of all time. One year later, the very first WrestleMania took place. It was then that he watched Hulk Hogan. Years later, at WrestleMania Six, he watched The Ultimate Warrior. The Rock had no idea what he was talking about, nobody did. But he became an icon.
Years later, Rock headlined his first WrestleMania as WWE Champion right here in Philadelphia against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Rock stepped in the ring, went toe to toe, and you know what happened? He flipped The Rock off, gave him a stunner and beat him in the ring. Stop laughing! The Rock made two vows that night. The first was to never again fight a man in jean shorts. That didn't happen obviously. The second one, he was going to continue his dream. He went on to beat Austin, to beat Hogan. And in order for his dream to come true, there's one person left: John Cena. Mr. "You can't see me" Mr. "The champ is here." Mr. "You want some, come get some." Cena, The Rock can see ya. The People's Champ is here, and when The Rock wants some, believe it that he gets some. That's thirteen days away, but Rock's not talking about that right now. He wants to talk about tonight.
Tonight he's going to get into his car, drive down Broad Street, he's gonna head into the arena right in the Wells Fargo Center, The Rock's music is gonna hit, the roof is gonna blow off with electricity, and he's gonna head into that ring and send John Cena a message loud and clear in front of the world. And if he doesn't get that message, Rock is gonna drive to Pat's, get the biggest cheesesteak he can find, they're gonna ask "you want it with, or without?", and he'll say both. The Rock wants it with extra onions, with extra cheese, and with extra of that sauce they put on it. Then he's gonna take all that, roll it up into a ball, make the biggest cheesesteak ball they've ever seen, turn that sumbitch sideways and stick it straight up his candy ass!
The Rock ain't stopping there. When he's running around in Philadelphia with a cheesesteak from Pat's shoved straight up his ass, all the greats are gonna thank The Rock in their own special way. They'll say "Bang Bang!" (Mick Foley), they'll say "WOOOOOO" (Rick Flair), and they'll say from above looking down proudly "OOOOH YEAH, DIG IT!" (Randy Savage). Cena, it's just the beginning. In the spirit of Rocky Balboa, he's gonna eat lightning and crap thunder. He's gonna layeth the Smacketh down, and at WrestleMania 28, the biggest of all time, what the world is gonna see when The Rock beats him one, two, three, the dream of that twelve year old boy to become the greatest of all time comes true. Standing there..."YO ADRIAN! I DID IT!"
IF YA SMELL...WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING!
Rock's video ends.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan come out and heads to the ring along with AJ. He has a match up next against Zack Ryder.
-Commercial Break-
We're back, and Bryan and AJ are in the ring discussing something.
Zack Ryder comes out. He heads into the ring as Bryan's opponent.
Match #3
[Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder]
[Singles Match]
Bryan gets a kiss from AJ as the bell sounds. They grapple. Bryan with a hammerlock, but Ryder counters with a hammerlock of his own that goes straight into a headlock. Bryan shoves Ryder into the ropes. Ryder rebounds and shoulder tackles Bryan. Ryder off the ropes, Bryan drops to his stomach and Ryder jumps over him. Ryder bounces off the ropes again, but Bryan gets up and catches him with a knee to the stomach. He then kicks Ryder in the back and drops a knee on his neck. He leaves it there for a couple seconds before letting go. He kicks Ryder into the ropes. Bryan grabs Ryder's arms and pulls on them while pushing his head back with his foot. Bryan then grabs Ryder's legs and slingshots him into the bottom rope. Bryan covers for a two count. Bryan with a head lock, but Ryder fights out of it with a couple elbows. Ryder whips Bryan into the ropes and goes after him, but Bryan catches him with an elbow to the head. Ryder kicks Bryan down against the bottom of the turnbuckle. He steps back, pumps a fist and hits Bryan with the Broski Boot. Ryder steps back, waits for Bryan to get up and goes for the Rough Ryder, but Bryan catches his arm, drops him to the mat and applies the Lebell Lock submission. Ryder taps right away.
[Winner via Submission: Daniel Bryan]
Bryan celebrates and AJ gives him a victory kiss.
Cole informs us that earlier in the day it was reported on WWE.com that Cena was in a car accident. They're saying he's fine, but a marketing representative with him at the time says otherwise. Cena versus Henry is up next.
-Commercial Break-
Back, and John Cena comes out. He heads into the ring for his match. He appears to be fine, but it's reported that signs of whiplash may not show until a couple days later.
Mark Henry comes out next. He heads to the ring as his opponent.
Match #4
[John Cena vs. Mark Henry.]
[Singles Match]
The bell sounds. They lock up, and Henry tosses Cena up against a turnbuckle. Cena gets up and circles around Henry. He gets behind Mark and applies a side headlock, but Henry shoves him off once again and Cena slides out of the ring. Cena heads back into the ring and goes for a shoulder tackle, but Henry doesn't fall. Cena goes for another one, but Henry knocks him down again. Henry punches at Cena and gets him trapped in a corner. He lands a headbutt to Cena. Another punch and a kick easily knock Cena down again. Henry grabs Cena and tosses him out of the ring. Henry exits the ring, grabs Cena and clubs him across the chest with his massive arm. Cena tries to get back into the ring, but Henry grabs him and tosses him into the barricade.
-Commercial Break-
Back from break, and Cena is getting out of a submission hold Henry has applied. Cena punches Henry back and runs the ropes only to receive a clothesline. Henry runs the ropes and hits a body splash for a two count. Henry lifts Cena up against a turnbuckle and lands a punch to the gut. He whips Cena into the opposite turnbuckle, runs at him and connects with a body splash against the turnbuckle. Henry steps back and waits for Cena to get up on his own. He runs at him for another splash, but Cena avoids it and Henry hits the turnbuckle. Cena grabs him from behind and hits a back suplex. Cena runs the ropes and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle. He tries to lift Henry for Attitude Adjustment, but fails to do so. Henry goes for a clothesline, but Cena ducks, runs the ropes and goes for a cross body. Henry catches him and goes for the World's Strongest Slam, but Cena falls out of it, lands behind Henry, and this time manages to lift Henry up and drop him with Attitude Adjustment for the three count.
[Winner via Pinfall: John Cena]
Suddenly, The Rock comes out. He runs down the ramp and enters the ring. He goes over to Henry and drops him with the Rock Bottom while Cena looks on. He looks at Cena for a second before exiting the ring, his message sent to Cena. Cena points at the WrestleMania banner, message received.
A clip is shown of Raw from two weeks ago between Michaels and Triple H. Michaels tells him that he knows who's going to win, and he'll be right again. Why does he know? Because he'll be the special referee.
Michaels, Triple H, and Undertaker all in the ring still to come later tonight.
-Commercial Break-
Back, and we get a clip from Extra with Maria Menounos. She's interviewing Kelly Kelly when Even and Divas Champion Beth Phoenix interrupt and confront her about not getting interviewed. Beth touches Maria which causes security to hold her and Eve back.
Maria shouts that they're not in the ring, they can't touch her here.
Beth says they should settle this at WrestleMania.
Maria asks if she's challenging her because she'd love to show her some new moves.
Beth and Eve get taken away, and Maria asks Kelly what she's gotten herself into.
Kelly says she's got her back.
It's officially announced that Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos will take on Eve and Beth Phoenix in a Divas Tag Match.
Back at ringside, Miz is standing in the ring with a microphone.
1987. King Kong Bundy was in the main event of WrestleMania 2. Then he had a match with Hillbilly Jim and two little people at WrestleMania 3. This is known as the biggest main event drop off in WWE history. Until now. At least Bundy had a match, right? He will not, repeat NOT, go from main eventing WrestleMania 27 to doing absolutely nothing at WrestleMania 28. That is why he issued an open challenge tonight, and he invites Mr. Laurinaitis to watch very closely so he can prove to him that he deserves to be on team Johnny at WrestleMania. He's never been more determined and focused in his life because he's The Miz and he's-
Sheamus comes out. He heads to the ring as Miz's opponent.
Match #5
[Sheamus vs. The Miz]
[Singles Match]
The bell sounds. They tie up. Miz quickly gets behind Sheamus and clubs him in the back a few times. Sheamus invites him to hit him some more, then retaliates with punches of his own. He whips Miz into the ropes and ducks for a back body drop, but Miz stops and kicks Sheamus in the face. Miz goes off the ropes and Sheamus catches him with a running forearm to the face. Sheamus with another whip into the ropes, but this time Miz grabs the ropes and stays against them. Sheamus runs towards Miz and Miz catches him with an elbow. Miz with a kick to the gut. He goes for a DDT, but Sheamus lifts him up and hits a rolling fireman's carry slam for a one count.
We cut to backstage where Laurinaitis and David Otunga are watching the match closely.
Sheamus has Miz against the corner, and he's pulling at Miz's face. Sheamus backs up and runs forward only for Miz to move out of the way in time. Miz grabs him from behind and hits an inverted knee across the neck followed by a neckbreaker for a one count. Miz drives a knee to Sheamus' back, then presses his knee against his face while against the ropes. Miz kicks Sheamus while he's down a few times and covers for another one count. Miz with a sleeper hold submission. Sheamus gets back up, shoves Miz into a turnbuckle and clotheslines him against the corner. Sheamus clubs and stomps Miz into the corner. He then lifts Miz up and powerslams him for a two count. Sheamus sets up for the Brogue Kick. He goes for it, but Miz ducks and kicks Sheamus back. Miz runs off the ropes and Sheamus catches him with the second attempt at the Brogue Kick for the three count.
[Winner via Pinfall: Sheamus]
Sheamus celebrates his win while Laurinaitis looks on with disappointment.
This Wednesday Night Chris Jericho will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
A clip is shown of earlier today when Jericho went from apologizing to Punk about mentioning his father's alcohol abuse to talking about his sister's drug problem. Punk's going to end up like them.
Up next, we'll hear from Randy Orton about his upcoming match against Kane at WrestleMania.
-Commercial Break-
We're back, and the Michaels/Taker/Triple H meeting is still to come.
We then cut to Josh Matthews standing on the right side of the ramp (called The Okerlund Position). He tells the fans to please welcome Randy Orton.
Orton comes out, goes to the top of the ramp and walks over to Matthews.
Josh asks him how he plans on beating this monster Kane.
Orton says the question is how does the monster plan on beating him. They're talking about a match between him and Kane only because he beat Kane last summer. He beat him so badly that Kane shook his hand. He became human, only that was then. This is now. Now he looks into Kane's eyes and there are no signs of humanity. He couldn't care less about his recent identity crisis. He knows who he is and who he's capable of. He's not the big red monster, the big red machine, or the devil's favorite demon. His name...is Randy Orton.
Orton leaves.
We get a video of WWE Superstars meeting with children about the BE A STAR anti-bullying campaign.
EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!
Vickie Guerrero comes out.
It's with great excitement that she introduces the two newest members of team Laurinaitis, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler.
Swagger and Ziggler come out together. They head to the ring for a tag team match against R-Truth and Kofi Kingston.
-Commercial Break-
Back, and there's already a fight about to star. Kingston, Truth, and Aksana are already in the ring along with Swagger, Ziggler and Vickie. Aksana and Vickie try to get at each other, but both sides hold them back.
Match #6
[R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler]
[Tag Team Match]
The bell sounds as Kofi and Swagger start for their teams. Swagger goes after Kofi with a clothesline, but Kofi ducks and kicks away at Swagger. He whips Swagger into the ropes, but Swagger counters and sends Kofi into the ropes instead. Swagger runs towards Kingston, and Kingston catches him with a pendulum kick. Ziggler tries to cheap shot him from the apron, but Kofi punches him off. Swagger tries to spear Kingston off the apron, but Kofi catches him with a kick to the head. Kingston springboards off and hits a cross body to Swagger for a two count. Kingston tries to set Swagger up for a move, but Swagger shoves Kingston into the turnbuckle. Swagger runs forward and Kingston knocks him back with an elbow. Ziggler once again interferes, and this time lands a clothesline from the apron. Swagger catches Kingston with a corner slingshot splash for a two count.
Swagger punches Kingston into a corner. While he distracts the referee, Ziggler grabs Kingston and chokes him in the corner. Swagger stands on top of Kingston's chest for a four count. Kingston tries to fight back, but Swagger clubs him down and tags Ziggler in. Swagger drives a knee into Kingston's back for a few seconds before heading to the apron allowing Ziggler to have the advantage on Kofi. Ziggler grabs Kofi and goes for a neckbreaker, but Kingston reverses it into a sliding pin for a two count. Ziggler gets up right away and catches Kingston with a dropkick for a two count. Ziggler tags in Swagger. Swagger goes over to Kingston and drives elbows into Kingston's stomach before doing push ups on his back. Swagger pulls Kingston's arms back and pulls for a chickenwing submission. Kingston fights out of it and shoves Swagger back. He runs forward and Swagger catches him for a back body drop, but Kingston holds on and tries to use the forward momentum to reach towards Truth for the tag. Kingston then drops Swagger with a DDT. Both men are down. Swagger goes to Ziggler and tags him in. Kingston goes to Truth and tags him in.
Both partners enter the ring. Truth ducks a clothesline and comes back with one of his own. Truth with another clothesline. He goes for a whip, but Ziggler counters. Truth shoots off the ropes and hits Ziggler with a corkscrew flying forearm smash. He waits for Ziggler to get up and catches him with a front suplex. Truth goes for the pin. Swagger tries to break the count, but Truth moves out of the way and Swagger hits Dolph instead. Truth clotheslines Swagger out of the ring. Kingston then comes running from his side of the ring, jumps up on the ring steps and knocks Swagger down with a flying clothesline. Truth goes for a corkscrew scissors kick to Ziggler, but Ziggler avoids it and catches Truth with a legdrop bulldog. Ziggler covers, and Truth gets a foot on the rope, but Vickie pushes it off the rope and the referee makes the three count.
Winners via Pinfall: Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler]
Aksana confronts Vickie and shoves her to the floor. Aksana gets in the ring and tries telling the referee what happened. Vickie gets in the ring, grabs Aksana and shouts at her for shoving. Vickie shoves Aksana's face back. Aksana tackles Vickie to the mat and the two pull at each other's hair. Truth, Kingston, Ziggler and Swagger all try pulling the two women apart from each other. They eventually do so, and the two sides stare each other down.
We're shown an exclusive video clip from WWE.Com of a house show at Madison Square Garden where Triple H was part of a six man tag team match. He has Dolph Ziggler set up for the Pedigree, but instead decides to give him the Tombstone Piledriver complete with Undertaker's unique way of pinning his opponent.
Up Next, Michaels, Triple H, and Undertaker face to face to face.
-Commercial Break-
And we're back from our final break of the show.
We get a clip from earlier tonight when Cena defeated Mark Henry, and then Rock came out to Rock Bottom Henry in front of Cena. Next week will be their final in ring confontation before WrestleMania.
Back at ringside, Shawn Michaels comes out and heads to the ring.
The end of an era. The Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H. And what's everybody talking about? The special guest referee, HBK. It can't be a big surprise, he made a Hall of Fame career out of being the show stopper. He did it at WrestleMania year after year, and this year will be no different. If he can be honest just for a second, he has to admit...it's pretty cool knowing that he holds the end of an era in the palm of his hands. And everyone wants to know what ol' HBK's prediction is on the match. Well they'll have to wait until WrestleMania. But he will give his opinion on what he thinks will happen. First is, can he be an impartial referee? Considering his seventeen year friendship with Triple H, can he be impartial? Before he answers that, Taker, let's be honest. He knows just as well as he does that it's just code for the end of the streak. The fact of the matter is that he's been where he's been. He's stood in his shoes. Two years ago he saw the end, and saw it was inevitable. And he's in the same place. There he stands-
BONG!
The lights go out. Undertaker appears and heads down to the ring.
Taker says Shawn did enough talking last week. It would be in his best interest to shut up and listen. He's already told him that this match has to remain pure. So before he and his buddy start making plans-
Triple H comes out. He heads down to the ring. All three stare at each other.
Triple H says he needs to stop worry about Shawn. As much as Shawn's ego wants this to be about him, it's not. It's about him and Taker. It's always been about him and Taker. It's their destiny to do this. Two parallel legendary careers connected side by side by Hell in a Cell. There have been twenty four Hell in a Cell matches since the beginning. They've both been in nineteen of them. It's not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that the match that started as the devil's playground became his proving ground. It's where he learned that what doesn't kill him makes him stronger. It's where he learned how to push the limits of human endurance. It's where he learned what it takes to end another man's career. It's where he thrives. It's where he excels. All those matches, all of them, everything he's been through, have been for one moment. April 1st. WrestleMania. Hell in a Cell. The whole world is gonna see the end of an era. His. And don't worry. He knows exactly what it's going to take.
Taker says does he? Is he sure? His mind, his body, his soul. His career. His wife, his kids. All this. Even his life. Is he willing to put it all on the line?
Triple H thinks about it for a moment.
He says if it means giving him the end he so richly deserves, then he is. And he will.
Taker and Triple H silently stare at one another. Undertaker goes to leave, but then stops himself. He walks back over to Triple H.
Remember when he said that Shawn is better than him? He is.
Undertaker turns and leaves the ring. Triple H and Shawn watch him leave, and Shawn has a smile on his face. Triple H looks at him and Shawn drops the smile right away. Triple H looks back at Taker and Shawn smiles again as the show comes to an end.
