Rock's Birthday Celebration on Raw & More - May 3, 2011

Welcome to the "Rocky, it's your birthday" edition of The Wrestling List.

Let's get into Extreme Rules. This sounds like it was a really good show based on all reports. Top to bottom people are saying that it was better than WrestleMania from an in ring standpoint. John Cena wins the WWE title back against The Miz. Yeah, I didn't care for this. When we need something new on WWE programming, having Cena as champion again just doesn't scream new to me. Christian wins the World title. On the other hand, I loved that. Christian finally gets his dream of being a world champion and gets to celebrate with Edge. The Layla/Michelle McCool match ended up being loser leaves WWE and saw the debut of Awesome Kong or who is now known as Kharma. Put over Kharma big in the debut by having her lay out Michelle on her way out.

Last night's Raw was a mix of patriotism and The Rock. The show kicked off with a big salute of patriotism with Lilian Garcia returning to sing the national anthem. This of course was in response to the news of Bin Laden from the night before. How fitting was it to have her kick off that show when she was the one that got to also sing that incredible anthem on the Smackdown show after 9/11 in 2001? It really brought back memories of that time. That video that they opened the show with definitely put tears in my eyes thinking back. Lilian was incredible last night and it was fitting that The Rock was there as well just like in 2001. I remember watching that show in 2001 and how horrible of a week that it had been. The Rock's music hitting and him walking to the ring was the first time that I had truly smiled all week at that time. Having him on this show last night really felt like a flashback as well. Rock was a good one to have out there as a face of the company to get the patriotic feel going. The Rock then had a face off with Michael Cole which was funny and the crowd ate it up. Several good Rock segments throughout the night for his birthday celebration. The stuff with the past movie roles was so cheesy that it was funny especially with Simmons finishing it off. Rock got the big celebration from the end of the show including Vince McMahon coming out to pay tribute to him along with a music video that was very well done. There was a face off with Rock and Cena backstage where Cena held up the WWE title saying that he would have it at WrestleMania XXVIII when they faced off. My goodness, I hope he doesn't hold that thing for eleven more months. Other happenings on the show had Truth putting a beating on Morrison before their match started. Definitely added more to that feud. Kharma once again returned getting involved in the Maryse and Kelly Kelly match. I loved the expression on Kelly's face as Kharma made her way to the ring with the look of fear. Then, Kharma lays out Maryse while Kelly looks on scared in the corner. John Cena and The Miz was a good match. Strange ending though with Miz cheating and using the belt to pin Cena to win the title. I reacted to it but was thinking there has to be a twist. Hoping there wasn't but then there was the DQ. The ref saw the title fly out of Miz and Riley's hands and the ref DQ'd Miz. Cena retains. Umm, yeah. I didn't pay much attention to the tag match with Rey and Kofi against Drew and Swagger so I can't really comment on that. Wow, they are really pushing Mason Ryan. He was taking down both Kane and Big Show and blocking big moves. Take a look at the next guy that WWE is going to push as a monster only for him to be squashed three months ahead.

Other notes from Raw. Nothing like having Rock lay out Michael Cole and seeing JR when they come back from commercial. Just a good sign for commentary for the rest of the night. Being someone that doesn't like the Miami Heat and being someone that cheers every single team that plays them, I did like Cole standing up with the Celtics jersey on in Miami. LOL. I laughed at the Rock's line of picking at himself with his old picture saying he looked like the lead singer of Menudo. Surely, Kharma isn't going to be a face, is she?? Alex Riley's excuse to Miz for not being at the PPV was that he isn't a Raw talent anymore. Umm, aren't both brands supposed to be the PPV's?

Michelle McCool is indeed done with WWE. That was a surprise last week. Michelle has decided not to continue with WWE and has moved on. She thanked her fans on Twitter and that is it. Really surprised by this as she was someone that I expected to be around for a long time especially with who she is married to. I'm interested to see what they do with Layla from here. She made a face turn at the PPV with the divas locker room basically saying we don't like either one of you but we dislike Michelle more. I really like Layla as a heel so I'm going to wait and see what her face turn is like. I am bummed that the LayCool gimmick is over cause I really enjoyed it.

The news about Bin Laden was told to the live crowd after the main event at Extreme Rules. John Cena got on the mic and told the live crowd the news. Probably some knew it already from their phones but you could tell some were very shocked over the news. WWE definitely had a big moment there including some media outlets showing it to get the reactions from around the country to the news.

WWE held their stockholders meeting last week. It was announced that WrestleMania did over a million buys so the return of The Rock did help with buys. Highlights of the meeting was Vince being asked about the PG product. He said that sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward saying that they went back to their roots of being PG. He didn't talk like they would ever go back to an adult type product. I think there is that balance and they have been doing it lately with the build to WrestleMania. Plus, Vince said that being PG is going to help them get bigger name sponsors that they wouldn't be able to get with a higher rating. Absolutely true there. Vince did also say that they were going to focus on bringing in more international stars. Funny moment when Vince was asked if they were going to buy that company in Nashville, TN and if he was going to save the world from Dixie Carter. That of course is TNA. Vince said that "Stephanie has more brains that Dixie Carter has" which got a lot of laughs including from Stephanie and Triple H. Vince answered saying that he didn't know that they were for sale. They aren't of course but it was kind of a funny little moment.

The theme for WWE Classics On Demand in May is The 90's. The programming will center around 90's happenings and events. The Hall Of Fame will be on Stone Cold Steve Austin which will include a profile and matches from his career. The Greatest Superstars of the 90's DVD will be airing. The In Your House Ground Zero PPV will air this month which is one of my favorite PPV's of 1997. It took place from Louisville and that crowd was hot. Other events airing include WCW SuperBrawl VI, WCW Clash Of The Champions XX, and also the WWE TLC 2010 event. A new Ten Count will also air with a top ten list focusing on the 90's. The Shawn Michaels: My Journey DVD will also air in several parts throughout the month. It is a very good program to watch if you haven't seen it. The shorties appear to have a Smoky Mountain Wrestling theme to it which is exciting to see. Just something different and I like it. Those are just some of the highlights for the month.

Take care and God bless!!