Here it is, folks, The Rock making his long awaited return to WWE and its flagship program, Monday Night Raw, last night (Jan. 7, 2013) in Tampa, Florida, to confront CM Punk in advance of their WWE championship match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Jan. 27 in Phoenix.

You could argue, and I would, that this segment holds better than anything Rock did with John Cena throughout their entire feud. Punk is absolutely on his game, striking the right tone of the seriously disrespected champion who knows a legend has come through but is looking through the fluff and not seeing much else.

Rock was his usual pandering self. He debuted a few new catchphrases and did his usual schtick but Punk deflected most of it and even made it look like Rock was in over his head for a moment.

It was an amazing segment and one that has me giddy in anticipation of how they follow up on it. Any guesses?

For complete results and reactions from Raw last night click here and here.