In the follow-up to last week's explosive WWE Monday Night Raw following WrestleMania 29, Raw was filled with several major events that should set things up for the May Extreme Rules Pay Per View.
The John Cena vs. Ryback feud gained steam with an eye-opening promo from Ryback, where the former NXT powerhouse vented his frustrations over being in Cena's shadow since his debut last May, explaining his attack on Cena last week to end Raw.
The build-up continued in the final segment of the show where Cena chastised Ryback's actions when The Shield stormed the ring and laid Cena out with a triple powerbomb while Ryback merely looked on.
Speaking of interesting segments, CM Punk delivered his first interview since his loss to the Undertaker at WrestleMania two weeks ago, speaking about his battles with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Undertaker to a crowd largely supportive of Punk before he abruptly dropped the microphone and headed out of the ring. Lords of Pain.net reports that there is no word yet on when the popular five-time world champion will return to working live events, as the plan has still been for Punk to rest and take time off to heal nagging injuries; fans shouldn't expect him to wrestle anytime soon.
WWE appeared to be testing the waters for Fandango's popularity after the New Jersey crowd last week made the dancing superstar an overnight star by singing his theme song, "Cha Cha La La," through the night. It is reported that company officials are expecting huge reactions for Fandango when Raw is hosted from London, England.
Brock Lesnar made his return to television by destroying 3MB outside the ring as he and Paul Heyman issued a challenge to Triple H for a steel cage match at Extreme Rules.
Kofi Kingston defeated U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro, who has held the title since Summerslam in August, to become the new U.S. Champion.
New World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler came down, entourage in tow as he cut a promo only to be interrupted by Alberto Del Rio, who demanded a rematch, and Jack Swagger and Zeb Coulter, both of who proceeded to attack Del Rio as Ziggler looked on, setting up a Swagger vs. Ziggler matchup.
Swagger defeated Ziggler with a roll-up, and Del Rio stormed the ring to attack Swagger, setting up a possible three-way title bout between them at Extreme Rules.
WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No, Daniel Bryan and Kane, defeated the Prime Time Players in tag team action.
R-Truth defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett.
Nikke Bella defeated WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn.
Team Rhodes Scholars beat Great Khali and Santino Marella.
And in an update on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the Rock tweeted that he turned down the option for doing surgery to repair the major abdominal injuries that he sustained against Cena at WrestleMania 29.
"Injury update: Dr's & I elected not to reattach tendons to my pelvis. They'll just scar up. Now I prep to shoot HERCULES," tweeted The Rock.
There is speculation that Johnson has legitimate anger with WWE officials concerning the results of WrestleMania. WZROnline.com reported that sources said the Rock was upset that the original plans of the WrestleMania match were changed on the day of the event. Those plans included the Rock retaining the title at WrestleMania, then dropping it at Extreme Rules-plans that obviously did not go through.
The Rock was said to have "stormed out" of Metlife Stadium and refused to see any WWE doctors, telling officials that he would only see his own doctors. The Rock failed to appear last week on Raw despite a segment plan to have Lesnar attack him on camera to set up a possible WrestleMania 30 match-up between himself and Lesnar, prompting hasty re-writes of the script.
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