Quick RAW Thoughts

My very tired Raw thoughts in no particular order:

• The tie in through the show of Randy Orton vs. Batista, and Flair calling Orton out, and the Legacy supporting Orton, was basically strong, although makes Sunday a bit more predictable; while Batista got the better of Cody Rhodes early on despite Orton acting as spoiler to their steel cage match, Legacy trapped Ric Flair in the cage later on leaving Batista helpless to save his friend. Usually he who gets the last laugh, loses on PPV; my guess is Batista becomes World Champ and Randy Orton chases for awhile, which opens up several possibilities in terms of continuing their feud, or Batista getting into conflicts with current buddies John Cena and Triple H down the road. In terms of tonight though, a great way of giving Ric Flair a taste of the action without putting him in an out-and-out match.
• A good promo night as well, basically - from the Miz in particular, and from Randy Orton at the beginning.
  
• I don't find the Santino Marella-Vicki Guerrero thing that humorous; I wasn't a fan of slop matches when they made sense due to a wrestler's pig farmer gimmick and I certainly don't like it now where really it serves no purpose other than making fun of Mrs. Guerrero's weight. Two once-awesome comedy characters, and I don't know whether they just don't play well together or the characters are getting old on their own, but Santino as the amusing bumbler with no skills and Vicki being reduced to a shrill witchy laugh is making one-dimensional characters that have the potential for more - which we've seen in Santino's few ring successes, and Vicki playing both evil/scorned, and vulnerable in various conflicts with Edge.
  
• I found the John Cena/Chavo Guerrero vs. Big Show/Miz match interesting; I'm wondering if ultimately Show ends up going face, given by the end of the match he had as much beef with the two other heels as with Cena. I also want to applaud Miz being in this match and being given something of an interesting role in it as well - the push continues and could only have been stronger, as Jason Powell implies, if he'd gotten that fluke pin on Cena after cold tagging Big Show.
• I find Matt Hardy's helping of Edge's onscreen 'wife' interesting and I hope they pursue the history and relationship there, although with Edge on a separate brand I doubt they will - although PPVs provide ample opportunity. On a semi-related note; the Hardy-Regal pairing makes little sense given Regal's bashing of Raw draftees last month; I know they're both heels but I always appreciate it when WWE provides a bit more nuance than that; good guys don't need to like each other just because they're good guys, nor are bad guys automatically alligned for being co-heels. In fact, quite likely just the opposite in that case. This was shown much more clearly with Big Show's interactions with Miz and Chavo Guerrero.
  
• Diva's match was basically non-existent; short and definitely to the point.
• Highest praise for last: best Raw match I've seen in awhile from MVP and Kofi Kingston; always a pleasant surprise to see a title switch on TV, and Kofi's definitely deserving of this push while MVP goes on to the main event scene I presume; good show of respect between these two performers after giving it their all. My favourite Raw moment since before Wrestlemania I think, this match right here. My only fear: with MVP being so respectful of Kofi's win, and it being pimped on the show he went to prom with Sherri Shepard of The View last week, he could enter John Cena 'tool' territory quickly.
  

A better Raw than last week overall in terms of combining story AND action; didn't necessarily feel all the way like a 'go home' Raw, but entertaining, somewhat newsworthy with a title change, and didn't let the PPV go unacknowledged, especially with the use of the steel cage stipulation. Strong showing from the WWE, moreso than in the last few weeks now where Raw's been generally weak. Keep it up guys!