The 18^th February 2013 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with a video recapping the events of the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View (click here for our Elimination Chamber report) and hyping what is to come on this episode and at WrestleMania.

John Cena’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring to kick off the show, where he talks about how WrestleMania is taking shape, but he is interrupted by CM Punk’s music hitting and him making his way to the ring with Paul Heyman.

CM Punk asks Cena if he is sure that he will be facing The Rock for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, as while he acknowledges that The Rock beat him fair and square at Elimination Chamber, Cena has never beaten The Rock and has also never beaten Punk.

Cena admits that Punk has a point, and says that although Punk talks business, he himself handles business, so as Punk wants to go to WrestleMania and Cena himself wants to prove that he can beat Punk, he is going to put his WrestleMania opportunity on the line, and wants to do it right now.

Punk tells Cena that he has just made the biggest mistake of his life, but that it is going to be on his terms, namely next week. Cena has no problems with this, telling Punk to rest and bring his best to Raw next week, and claims that he will beat Punk next week and The Rock at WrestleMania.

After Matt Striker interviews Sheamus and Ryback about The Shield, in which Chris Jericho appears and says that he’ll convince Vickie Guerrero to set up a match between them and himself being Sheamus and Ryback’s partner, and a video recapping the events involving Mark Henry and Rey Mysterio two weeks ago and involving Mark Henry and The Great Khali last week, Mark Henry takes on Sin Cara.

The match sees Henry get the victory, when he hits Cara with the World’s Strongest Slam for the 3-count. Afterwards, he attempts to attack Cara further until he is interrupted by The Great Khali’s music hitting and him making his way to the ring.

When Khali enters the ring however, Henry exits the ring on the other side, telling Khali that he has had already had enough of Khali and that if he wanted to dance, he’d get a date, and Henry then leaves.

After a video recapping the events involving Antonio Cesaro and The Miz last week on Raw, The Miz takes on Antonio Cesaro in a No Disqualification match which sees The Miz get the victory, when he applies the Figure-Four Leg Lock to Cesaro, forcing him to tap out.

After showing a YouTube video involving Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, an interaction backstage involving Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton, in which Orton compares Kane to Barney The Dinosaur, and an interaction involving Vickie Guerrero and Paul Heyman, Alberto Del Rio is pitted against Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by AJ Lee and Big E Langston).

The match sees Del Rio get the victory, when he applies the cross-armbreaker to Ziggler, forcing him to tap out. He doesn’t have much time to celebrate however, as he is then attacked by Big E Langston, who yells that it’s over for Del Rio.

Ziggler keeps looking between the destruction wrought by Langston and ringside where his Money In The Bank briefcase (and thus contract) is located, until he decides to take advantage of the situation and cash it in.

His attempt to cash it in is thwarted by Ricardo Rodriguez however, as Rodriguez grabs the briefcase and runs off with it, pursued by Langston.

Rodriguez drops the briefcase on the ramp during the pursuit, prompting AJ to fetch it and return to the ring to hand it to Ziggler, but the time that has passed has allowed Alberto Del Rio to recover, as he hits Dolph Ziggler with an enzuigiri and then kicks the briefcase out of the ring.

Next, Wade Barrett is in the ring and he talks about how everyone knows that he is a top WWE Superstar, but that in addition to that, he is about to become a huge movie star too. He says that he recently starred in the upcoming movie release “Dead Man Down”, as the trailer is then shown.

After the trailer is shown, Sheamus appears on the titantron and tells Barrett that the star of the movie is not him, but rather his good friend Colin Farrell is, and he says that Barrett doesn’t say a single word in it.

Now, Tensai, “Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay, and Naomi (accompanied by Cameron) goes against Primo, Epico, and Rosa Mendes in a Six-Person Tag Team match which sees Clay get the victory for his team, when he and Tensai hit a double jumping body-splash for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the announcement that WrestleMania XXX (30) will take place in New Orleans, USA, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter stand in the ring and talk about how Swagger won at Elimination Chamber and how the match at WrestleMania with Alberto Del Rio will be a battle for the heart and soul of the country.

Colter says that Swagger will accomplish two goals at WrestleMania, the first to capture the World Heavyweight Championship, and the second to reclaim America.

Next up, Daniel Bryan takes on Jack Swagger in a match which sees Swagger get the victory, when he applies the ankle-lock (which according to Cole, Swagger now calls the “Patriot Lock”), forcing Bryan to tap out.

After a video hyping that WrestleMania is forty-eight days away, Vickie Guerrero stands in the ring, where she announces that she has appointed a new assistant, as she then introduces Brad Maddox. Maddox makes his way to the ring, talking about how he was made the assistant as a reward for his loyalty to the company, by exposing the connection between The Shield and Paul Heyman.

Paul Heyman doesn’t understand why he needed to be in the ring to hear this, as he doesn’t care what either one of them have to say, but he is interrupted from leaving by Vince McMahon appearing on the titantron.

Vince McMahon says that his surprise is him, and after telling Heyman to shut up, he rolls footage of Heyman saying that he would do anything to get the stipulations for the match between CM Punk and The Rock at the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View.

He quips that everyone knows that he doesn’t have a heart, and that if he did it would be cold, and therefore dismisses Heyman’s claim that it was out of the goodness of McMahon’s heart. McMahon points out that “anything” could mean that he could fire Heyman right now.

McMahon says that it could be a good idea, but that it would be too good for him, so although he is only two weeks removed from hip surgery thanks to Brock Lesnar hitting him with an F-5, next week he will make his way to the ring on his crutches, and he and Paul Heyman will have a fight.

Now, Chris Jericho, Ryback, and Sheamus are pitted against The Shield in a Six-Man Tag Team match which sees The Shield get the victory, when Seth Rollins dives from the top rope to take out Jericho, allowing Dean Ambrose to get the cover for the 3-count.

Next, Kofi Kingston is set to face Damien Sandow in a match, but the match is never officially started as Sandow attacks Kingston, until he is interrupted by R-Truth’s music hitting and him making his way towards the ring to save his former tag team partner, and he leaves Sandow lying outside the ring after hitting Sandow with a scissors-kick and following it up by hitting him with a clothesline that knocks him out of the ring.

After showing a video trailer hyping the upcoming release of the “GI Joe: Retaliation” movie starring The Rock, and a video hyping Fandango, Randy Orton goes against Kane in a match which sees Orton get the victory, when he takes advantage of Daniel Bryan’s appearance distracting Kane, and hits Kane with an RKO for the 3-count.

It’s time for The Rock’s WWE Championship, and after an entrance that involves the University of Louisiana Lafayette Marching Band, The Rock makes his way to the ring and talks about defeating CM Punk at Elimination Chamber and being able to say “Finally, The Rock has come back to Lafayette!”

He says that he is going to WrestleMania as the WWE Champion, but that he is not going with the WWE Championship belt currently in his hand, which he then hands to someone at ringside and tells them to take it to the Hall Of Fame backstage.

The Rock says that the WWE Championship belt should inspire everyone and be worthy of being around the waist of many names to have been the WWE Champion in the past, as he then reveals the new WWE Championship, which includes Brahma Bull logos on the side.

He talks about how there is one man between CM Punk and John Cena who he wants to face at WrestleMania, who he says is a man that bring out the very best in The Rock, but before he can specifically say the name of that man, John Cena’s music hits and he makes his way out onto the stage.

A stare-down between the two is interrupted by CM Punk appearing and taking out Cena from behind with the previous WWE Championship belt that The Rock had sent backstage, and Punk throws the title down before saying that he wants the WWE Championship belt that The Rock is holding, as they commence a stare-down of their own until Punk leaves.

The camera switches focus between The Rock and a downed John Cena, as Raw goes off the air.