Raw last night

Well Ari and I will be talking about Raw tomorrow to be sure, but some thoughts to hold you over until then about the show, in no particular order:

• I liked WWE addressing Mickey Rourke's changing his mind about wrestling at Wrestlemania 25: I'm just afraid that Ric Flair is going to step into that spot against Chris Jericho now that the former Y2J has turned his venom on the Nature Boy for still havin' the itch and not knowing when to back away from the business. Jericho's right that Flair had the fairytale career and sendoff to match at this exact time last year - it would be a real insult to the fans, wrestlers, and the real emotions invested by all involved for him to return, especially that soon when it's still very fresh in all our minds. I hope that really Rourke's backing out is just a swerve, or an image-saver until post Oscars; as much as he isn't a wrestler, I'd much rather see him in a celeb match with Ric Flair in a training/managing type of role.
• There were a lot of things that were not dealt with in a satisfactory manner last week, which they went ahead and attempted to address this week, so kudos to the WWE for trying to address the elepants in the room created last week. However, they didn't do so particularly well; for example, Randy Orton explained that Shane McMahon got one over on them last week because he didn't attack, nor did he encourage Priceless to attack, him in retaliation as there was a whole batallion of wrestlers at the top of the ramp. True; however, they DID try to 'contain him' as Orton put it, and even that was unsuccessful. They could have done more with that I think. I'm also somewhat unsure of Stephanie's place in all this; I'm half-convinced she's involved with the Legacy, but as the weeks go by she seems at least somewhat on the up and up?
• The other thing they tried to deal with was the Shawn Michaels-JBL relationship starting to unravel at the Royal Rumble and then at Raw; they will be having an 'all or nothing' match at No Way Out. If Shawn Michaels wins, he gets JBLs payoff and his freedom; if JBL wins he owns the HBK likeness and image, and by extension Shawn Michaels. I half-expected them to drag this out to Wrestlemania, but I think I'm relieved they won't. These two definitely have a place in the Money in the Bank match, or perhaps as potential replacements for Randy Orton in his Wrestlemania main event slot should he get too sidetracked in his feud with the McMahons.
• What I DID like is that they did a nice little build for the Undertaker appearing on Raw to fight Randy Orton next week - he crosses over from the Smackdown brand very rarely, perhaps once a year, and WWE usually does a good job of making that the event it is. Wonder if he'll continue to build on the teaser of his involvement in the Shawn Michaels-JBL angle ... I'm already more intrigued about Raw next week than the last two weeks merit. And they HAVE successfully corrected the uneven matchup between Shane McMahon and Randy Orton by making it no DQ - Shane can use weapons or backup, Randy Orton has his two cronies Rhodes and Dibiase ... it should be more interesting than just a straight-up match between these two otherwise would be.
  

Bottom line: Raw this week was better than last, and next week, plus no way out, looks to improve on the theme yet again. Hopefully that trend continues for the other two brands, who started slow out the starting gate on the road to Wrestlemania, and for Raw as we head towards the Granddaddy of them All.