WWE Raw: 5 Most Important Things We Learned from Tonight's Episode

One down, three more to go.

With tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw in the books, we now have just one more Raw and two more SmackDowns before WrestleMania 28.

Tonight's edition of Raw was certainly interesting for a number of different reasons, but it was a promo-heavy show that featured mostly short matches and was structured mainly to build toward the WWE's top three feuds.

Like always, there were some things about this that I liked, and some I didn't particularly care for. But everything that happened served a purpose.

Now that the March 19 edition of Raw is in the rearview mirror, let's take a look at the five most important things we learned from this episode.  

5. The Final Members of Team Long Are Still Up in the Air

Well, this is actually kinda something that we didn't learn.

While we found out on tonight's Raw that Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler would be the fourth and fifth members of Team Laurinaitis, no new members of Team Long were revealed, and the options for the baby face side are pretty slim.

We've heard all sorts of rumors about who may or may not join Team Long for the big six-on-six match at WrestleMania, but with only three shows left until the pay-per-view, we still only have three members supporting Long as GM.

Could this mean we're in line for a major swerve? Maybe so.

It's pretty clear, though, that Team Long is far from set in stone and that we may not actually know who's on it until WrestleMania.

4. Chris Jericho Is the Best Heel in the Company

Ever since its top four superstars (Randy Orton, CM Punk, John Cena and Sheamus) all moved to the baby face side, the WWE has had a really hard time finding a legitimate No. 1 heel.

Daniel Bryan approached that spot recently. But Chris Jericho has now undoubtedly taken over it.

The promo work from Y2J over the last week has been simply phenomenal. He cut the best two promos since his return on last week's Raw and SmackDown, respectively, and he followed that up with yet another amazing promo on tonight's Raw, in which he faked an apology to Punk and then ripped his sister for being a drug addict.

Suddenly, this feud has gotten 20 times more interesting, and Y2J has established himself as the top antagonist in all of the WWE.

Jericho is on fire right now, and that should lead to an excellent WWE Championship match against Punk at WrestleMania. 

3. The Creative Team Is on Its Last Legs

The WWE creative team seems to be running out of ideas.

While the Jericho/Punk feud is picking up steam, there has been virtually no build between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus on Raw, The Rock's promo and Rock Botton on Mark Henry were great but didn't really add anything new to his feud with John Cena, and the HHH/HBK/Undertaker segment essentially featured those three repeating the same things they've already said five times.

Although I enjoyed Shawn Michaels' sly little smile at the end of the show, that segment fell way short of my expectations, and Raw overall seemed like it featured a lot of the same stuff that we've already seen before.

Maybe my expectations are too high, or I'm simply being overcritical. Whatever the case, it looks like the stress of the road to WrestleMania is taking its toll on the creative team.

2. Something's Going on with Zack Ryder

While there haven't really been any backstage reports about Zack Ryder's status in the WWE, it definitely looks like something's going on with him, and by something, I mean that Ryder's in the doghouse.

Ever since he won the United States Championship last December, Ryder has gradually plummeted down the card. He was booked like a complete loser during his rivalry (if you can call it that) with Kane that saw The Big Red Monster destroy him on a number of occasions and eventually write him off of TV for a while.

Then, on tonight's Raw, Ryder found himself losing to world heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan in a one-minute squash match.

Yes, Bryan is the world heavyweight champion. But there are about 20 other WWE stars who could have done the job to him, and yet, Ryder was the one who wound up doing it.

Although I have no confirmation of this, I have to think that Ryder's got some serious backstage heat for some reason or another. There's just no other logical explanation for his incredible plunge down the card.

1. Lord Tensai Is Coming

Throughout the weekend, we saw a number of conflicting reports regarding Matt Bloom's (a.k.a. Albert, A-Train, Giant Bernard, etc.) rumored return to the WWE, and Bloom himself denied that he was heading back to the company on a number of occasions.

But on tonight's Raw, we saw a vignette air for the debut of a character known as Lord Tensai, and apparently, it's Bloom after all.

From WrestlingNewsWorld.com:

"

WWE began airing vignettes on tonight’s Raw Supershow for a new character with a Japanese-like gimmick named Lord Tensai.

Tensai is actually Matthew Bloom and his signing was a topic of conversation backstage at this weekend’s live events. Bloom has spent the past six years with New Japan Pro Wrestling working as Giant Bernard and was in WWE during the Attitude Era as A-Train.

"

Well, we can finally let the speculation end: A-Train, now known as Lord Tensai, is coming back to the WWE.

While I wouldn't expect to see Lord Tensai on WWE TV until after WrestleMania 28, rumor has it that he could be aligning himself with interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis and/or feuding with John Cena.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter (DMs are easier), and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.