I see Ken Shamrock has failed a drug test. After looking what great shape he was in last week at 52 I was not surprised to see he failed a test.

Luckily Vince never has to do one

Of course there are still heels and babyfaces in wrestling.

This does not mean that every feud in every promotion has to be face vs. heel - all the time. This has been demonstrably untrue not just in this 'Reality Era' but even going back to the 80s when you had Hogan/Warrior, huge parts of the Attitude Era, and of course, modern WWE storytelling.

Why does someone need to be a heel in this feud? Taker is fighting Shane because:
a) It's Wrestlemania
b) He always fights to win and defend his legacy
c) He's still an employee of the company and will fight whoever he is told
d) IT'S WRESTLEMANIA

If that wasn't enough, the brief segment between Taker and Vince made it very clear that Taker was not acting as a puppet or a stooge for Vince.

But, please, continue boggling your mind with questions such as "Who am I supposed to root for?!" and wait for the powers that be to tell you. Or you could be an independent thinker and actually make up your mind for yourself as to which one of two faces you want to win and why. Free will is a beautiful thing.

Free will is a beautiful thing.....as long as we all see things your way.

Lol, if they had bothered to explain a single one of those a through d points then fine. But I'm sick of WWE leaving me to put the stories together myself and then people complaining when it's pointed out.

Ive been following WWE for close to 4 decades and I would love earlier starts. Maybe a 7pm start and yes I know its impossible to them being america and us being UK so the time difference. Even back in 1999 I hated the 1am starts where to see Austin beat Rock for the title at mania was close to 4am or even 5am. Yes its a killer if you have work or school the next day but its always been that way.

Mondays at school used to be a nightmare when you would tune into WCW Pro Wrestling in the early hours of sunday morning and trying to catch up on some sleep but if there was late night wrestling that day man sleep in class.

Now had Lesnar gone after Bray after the match and battered him, might have made it at least interesting.

Neither did Batista or triple H.

But why do they need to piece everything together for you?

Look, I'm sure you're an intelligent bloke, and contrary to popular belief, most wrestling fans probably are (at least those of us discussing it on these boards anyway). We all watch TV shows, movies, read books, play games in which the plot is not always spelt out for us in black and white. We interpret, discuss, evaluate.

And then we watch wrestling and complain whenever the story is not generic good guy vs. generic bad guy. We complain whenever we have to accept and determine certain things for ourselves and moan whenever every little detail is not laid out in front of us.

Taker/Shane is not a complex story by most terms. But in wrestling terms it is giving us a rare opportunity to cheer who we want and decide for ourselves which one of the two we would rather see win. Do we want to see Shane shock the world and become one of only two people to beat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania in over 20 years in the business? Do we want to see the repercussions, both on and off-screen, that could have in regards to the McMahon family drama? Or does our respect for The Undertaker extend so far that we cannot fathom him losing to Shane, even with what is at stake? Are we happy enough to see The Undertaker beat Shane, earning a victory for the villanous Mr. McMahon, if it means that Taker himself maintains a Wrestlemania record with only one blemish? This is one of those relatively rare moments in wrestling - similar to Rock/Cena for the first time - when there are no rights or wrongs. And that is something that should be embraced, not criticised.

I thought Roadblock was alright last night nothing special but there were some good matches I enjoyed the NXT tag team title match Enzo and Cass are good talkers mostly Enzo and the Revival are brilliant.

OMG seriously? They should mention it on Raw tomorrow night but why do I have this feeling that it won't be mentioned and the whole foot under the rope debacle will be swept under the carpet?

To be honest I just hope the whole of Roadblock is swept under the carpet asap and they actually try to build up the WM card.

I tend to agree to with this. Though I do think they could have done it a bit better. For example, it works more if Vince isn't playing the evil Mr. McMahon character. Actually responding to Shane's attacks (the company is in great shape), cutting out the hints at him physically abusing his son years ago, the childhood picture etc. The segment with the Undertaker had the potential to be much more, considering they haven't had any interaction in probably a decade and not in a 'reality era' setting.

He basically played himself in the angle with CM Punk in 2011 and then with Daniel Bryan two years later. That's the tone they should have aimed for, in my opinion.

You see, it's an interesting story when you tell it that way but they really aren't emphasising that well enough at all. Taker has barely featured in the build-up. It would be different if there was some overlap with everyone in the locker room talking about it in those terms too. Really ramp up those elements.

I don't think WWE necessarily need to lay out every little detail but the company has so little internal consistency and short term memory that it's clear to me that they miss out on details not as a way to make things more intriguing to the audience but because they're half-arsing the story. The reality is, they have hour after hour of TV per week. I shouldn't have to be making up the gaps that they haven't bothered to fill in for myself.

Im guessing we are supposed to cheer Shane but if he gets to run Raw how long before he turns heel like most GMs do.

One of the many, many problems with Taker / Shane is that we already know the result, because we know Shane isn't sticking around.

Caught 'Roadblock' BTW. About as entertaining as a roadblock. Looked like a TNA house show (bigger crowds obv), booked like a house show. And filling out the card with NXT nobodies? Jesus are WWE *this* strapped for cash, or do they just not give a ****?

Some of the most popular acts are nobodies?

Unless he puts someone in charge to run the show....What is Daniel Bryan up to?

Be pretty embarrassing for Taker to lose to a non wrestler for a wrestlemania. Shane didnt wrestle that often to be a full time wrestler.

There is only 3 more Raws left and I do feel like what you've had so far is what you're gonna get more. If WWE had put more thought into this Wrestlemania and wanted to make more effort they would have. It's not gonna suddenly change in the last few weeks. I think the Shane and Vince story is a throwback to the Attitude Era, the only reason it's even happening is because there are so many injuries, nothing is gonna change after Wrestlemania, it will be the same wrestlers doing the same things with the commercial breaks at the same time on the show, the same set, same music, same routine. The Undertaker's streak hasn't even been mentioned so that really does make it a throwback, I don't think tomorrrow or even at Wrestlemania they will even mention that streak, I think that's it over and done with, it doesn't matter anymore. It seems to be filler but because of the state of the WWE it's ended up being for many people the selling point of the PPV which really shows you what WWE can really do when they put their mind to it.

If it wasn't just a temporary story and there was a long term arc to it they could do so much more and some of the things they could do could easily be done on TV right now just to really sell it and let the viewers know how important it is they watch this match and watch Wrestlemania.

Just ideas like Shane again breaking kayfabe and parading men and women who haven't had their shot at the big time in the ring and telling some home truths about why they've been held back.Have the heels side with Stephanie and Triple H.

Having Stephanie give the entire roster a pep talk in why she should be in charge and is the future of WWE.

Have Shane do a similar talk with the entire roster.

Have some of the heels break off and side with Stephanie.

Have some faces break off and side with Shane.

Have Vince give his own speech to the roster and have some people stand up to him, maybe have some of the heels turn against him.

The following week we can see Shane back at Titan Towers for the first time in 7 years. He meets fellow colleagues again and tells us about his time working there as a teenager and how he worked his way through the company and all the different jobs he did and how he earned his place in the family business.

Have the Undertaker talk about not needing anyone's help or support and everyone is too busy choosing sides, have him take out some of the big names on Raw to show he has no favourites, he's doing his job.

Throughout the night you have the wrestlers interacting, they're all picking sides, those sides end up leading to matches on the shows.

You can have Shane somehow derail the Authority and Vince McMahon getting to the arena meaning Shane is in charge of Raw for the night and Shane decides to show people what Raw will be like once he wins at Wrestlemania.

Bring Shane's wife and kids to the arena. Have Stephanie slap his wife and Vince attack Shane while his kids are left to watch their parents lie in the middle of the ring.

Do a McMahon family history segment in the ring where Vince shows all the things he has went through on television from is announcing days to his days as on screen character, all the things his family have done to him, all the things that the Undertaker did to him including putting him in a wheelchair, Vince sells the history of the company and what he means to the company and at 70 years old those things will never happen again, he is part of TV history and if Shane wins at Wrestlemania the WWE will never be the same again nor will it ever be as good again and sell this as the last days of the Mr McMahon character on WWE TV.

Have a McMahon family dinner filmed in Vince McMahon's mansion. Throughout the night we check in on them as they get served their different courses. The final dinner the family will ever have together and just have them all be civil to each other and through gritted teeth give each other some home truths aswell as remember good times, have Linda there, have the family broken up, Linda blames Vince, Stephanie goes against her Mother and really sell to the audience that nothing will be the same after Wrestlemania and the family cannot be mended whatever happens leading Vince to disown the family, he ignores Stephanie and no one will ever take his company from him, not until he is dead, he is the Chairman, it's his bloodline, Stephanie realises she's on her own as Vince gives up his family, Shane reminds him of the lockbox and after what he has just said to his wife and daughter and what is in the lockbox is revealed or not, he really will be on his own for the rest of his days.


And it's all built on story and reality and it's engaging with the audience.

To be fair we don't "know" that. We know that he has been contracted to work from now to Wrestlemania, and the dirtsheets have suggested what happens after that is up in the air.

It probably looked like a house show because it was a supposed to be a house show. They had a house show in Canada the night before, why transport that set plus the full TV set?

But we dont know that Shane isn't sticking around.

I'm excited for the Shane match and I don't really care who wins. It's the main event for me because I don't care about Roman Reigns winning amongst a deafening wall of boos ... and even the Lesnar match is going to be a bit shit.

Not long back from an indie event that ran 2 and half hours. In that time they had 7 matches, with 3 promos, 2 turns (face to heel and heel to face), two match run-ins and set up the main event for their next show in May(!)

It had me gripped the whole way through, some genuine shock moments and got me excited for the next shows.

I know everyone moans about Raw being 3 hours but for me, tonight was proof it can work. Such simple booking and story telling and event that long can be entertaining beginning to end. I just don't understand how they can get it so wrong.

Funnily enough someone posted this video earlier. The advert for when Raw first moved to 3 hours. Really entertaining actually haha