WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Lafayette, La.

[Q1] The opening montage aired... Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced themselves and hyped the John Cena and Randy Orton vs. the entire Raw roster... Chris Jericho stood in the ring and welcomed viewers to The Highlight Reel. He bragged about winning the Intercontinental Title and then introduced Big Show as his special guest.

Jericho played footage of the big angle with Big Show and Floyd Mayweather from last week. Big Show said no one likes Floyd Mayweather. Show said Jericho is roughly 60 or 70 lbs. bigger than Mayweather, but everyone knows Jericho couldn’t even hang with him. Jericho took offense. Show stood up and said Jericho’s in over his head. Show challenged him to a Intercontinental Title match.

Show mocked Jericho’s hair and ripped his singing. Jericho said Show appeared on Saturday Night Live eight years ago and has been bombing ever since. Very little reaction from the crowd for that line. Jericho accepted the challenge...

Powell’s POV: I just learned the hard way that you never go to a Mexican bar on St. Patrick’s Day. Yawn. Oh well, the beer was cold. Jericho’s comments about Show bombing just didn’t ring true. Show just been too entertaining lately. I take it Mayweather is sensitive about his father and uncle training other boxers because WWE could easily work that into the story line that nobody likes him. Heck, his own father trains his most high profile opponent Oscar De La Hoya.

Pre-taped comments from Vince McMahon aired. He bragged about getting a star of the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame. He booked himself in a match against Ric Flair in a street fight. “I will retire Ric Flair’s career tonight in a street fight,” Vince quipped...

Powell’s POV: It’s a good thing they didn’t advertise Show vs. Jericho, and Vince vs. Flair because more people may have watched. Um, wait...

[Q2] [C] 1. C.M. Punk defeated Carlito at 5:19. Punk’s music was greeted with a big pop from the pleasantly surprised live crowd. At 4:00, Carlito went for the Backstabber, but Punk held the ropes. Punk attempted the GTS, but Carlito slipped out. Later, Punk caught Carlito with the GTS for the win.

Powell’s POV: Either these two have settled their differences or the creative team has a dark sense of humor. For what it’s worth, Punk didn’t pull Carlito’s hair during this meeting.

Snoop Dogg delivered a pre-taped message. He said Maria made a mistake and should have listened to her boyfriend instead of “showing her boobies.” Snoop stopped and said he couldn’t read those lines. Santino Marella appeared from behind the camera and told him to read the cue cards. Funny... [C]

Powell’s POV: My bad. While I was at the pub, er, cantina, WWE.com advertised the Vince vs. Flair match.

Ross hyped the WWE segment on “Larry King Live” for Wednesday night...

[Q3] William Regal walked onto the stage and addressed Paul London and Brian Kendrick, who were standing in the ring. Regal introduced Umaga as their opponent...

Powell’s POV: Please tell me they’re not going squash these guys.

2. Umaga defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick in a handicap match at 2:18. Umaga dominated his opponents. He set them up in opposite corners and ran toward Kendrick for the ass slam (or whatever you want to call it), but Kendrick slipped out the ring. Kendrick looked at the confused Umaga and headed up the ramp to a chorus of boos. Umaga used the Samoan Spike on London for the win...

Powell’s POV: They did and they didn’t. It was an all out squash, but at least there was a story set up for London and Kendrick.

Backstage, Regal told Triple H that Kendrick just walked out on London, and said that’s what he’d do tonight if he were Orton or Cena. Hunter said that can’t happen because if Cena leaves Orton, Cena is out of the match at WrestleMania. And if Orton leaves, he forfeits the title... [C]

Powell’s POV: Nice attention to detail. By the way, I saw some NSHLA at the bar earlier. In case your wondering, the “NS” stands for “Not So.” Seriously, it wasn’t pretty.

A Triple H highlight video aired... At ringside, Ross and Lawler introduced footage of Vince’s Walk-of-Fame ceremony. Vince said it was an honor to have his star next to the star belonging to Kermit the Frog. Funny...

[Q4] Backstage, Ric Flair chewed out Shawn Michaels for showing up at the building even though he doesn’t have a match tonight. Flair said he knew HBK was only there to watch his back. Flair continued to rant and said Vince has no chance in hell of beating him. Michaels stood silently and didn’t say a word... [C]

Powell’s POV: False advertising. Shouldn’t HBK be in the match against Cena and Orton? Yes, I’m being picky.

Finlay’s promo from Smackdown aired... JBL came to the ring and said he was looking forward to going face-to-face with Finlay, but his “freak” son had complications. JBL introduced Delaney as the second toughest Irishman in the company...

3. JBL squashed Colin Delaney at 1:16. All JBL, who finished off Delaney with a Clothesline from Hell. Afterward, JBL took the mic and took a shot at the Irish...

A split-screen shot aired of Vince and Flair walking backstage... [C] A video recapped the Flair retirement story line with Vince creating the retirement stipulation...

[Q5] 4. Ric Flair defeated Vince McMahon in a street fight at 8:28. Flair’s career was on the line. Ugly punches and kicks from Flair early and the match quickly spilled to ringside. Flair dominated for the first two minutes, but Vince shoved him into the ring post and Flair bladed. Vince hit him with a monitor at ringside and Ross teased the possibility that Vince was going to end Flair’s career.

Vince grabbed a trash can from ringside, slammed it over Flair’s head, and scored a nearfall. Vince grabbed a kendo stick and hit Flair twice, but could only score another nearfall, which infuriated McMahon. Vince headed back to ringside and then returned with a chair. Vince creamed Flair with a chairshot and went for the cover, but HBK ran out and pulled the ref out of the ring.

Vince grabbed a table from underneath the ring and then set it up in the corner of the ring. Flair came back with two low blows. He placed Vince on the table and punched him repeatedly. Flair went to the top rope, splashed Vince through the table, and scored the pin... [C]

Powell’s POV: The chairshot as nasty, but this was a fun match. This is the first time since the retirement stipulation was added that a live crowd reacted like they thought there was a chance Flair might lose.

[Q6] At ringside, Lawler introduced Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle. Jared brought Lawler a six-inch sub and a soda.

Powell’s POV: That was horrible, not to mention a health code violation since Jared has presumably been sitting there with that “fresh” sub for over an hour now. Is it wrong to have an uncontrollable urge to kick Jared’s ass?

5. Maria and Candice Michelle beat Jillian Hall and Victoria in 3:00. Before the match, Santino joined the announcers on commentary. After the babyface team won, Santino pitched a fit and accused them of cheating. He threw the Subway drink at Lawler and then stole the sandwich. He met up with the heel team and bragged about stealing “your delicious sandwich”...

A Floyd Mayweather video aired... A shot aired of Big Show walking backstage... A Show vs. Mayweather video aired... [C]

Powell’s POV: Only Santino could make a “delicious sandwich” plug sound hilarious. By the way, I think I forgot to mention that there was a John Cena video during one of the last few segments. I know this will shock you, but the first commercial during the break was for Subway.

[Q7] 6. Big Show defeated Chris Jericho by DQ in an Intercontinental Title at 3:06. This was pretty much all Show getting over his power moves. Jericho flipped and hit him with the title belt for the DQ. Afterward, Jericho charged at Show with the title belt, but ran into a good looking punch from Big Show...

Powell’s POV: I wasn’t expecting a clean finish in this match and they did a good job of getting Show’s power moves over. By the way, there is now a very special Dot Net Poll on the main page regarding my urge to kick Jared’s ass. Please let me know if I need help.

Highlights aired of a groggy Jericho being helped backstage while Ross predicted that the headlines after WrestleMania will read, “Big Show knocks out Mayweather”... A pre-taped segment with Kim Kardashian, who said she’s going to make sure that only the coolest and hippest people will be allowed at WrestleMania. Big Dick Johnson danced onto the scene and she said, “Absolutely not”... A Randy Orton video aired... [C]

[Q8] Backstage, Cena approached Orton in his dressing room and said they should go out there and beat everyone there is to beat on Raw. Orton said it’s obvious that Hunter wants to see them get hurt. Orton suggested they take a dive. Cena said he liked the idea and Orton could take the dive.

Orton said he’s the champion and therefore Cena should lose. Cena refused and cut a nice promo on Orton and told him to fight like a man. Triple H appeared out of nowhere and stood between his two WrestleMania opponents and told cracked, “I’ll be rooting for you”... [C]

7. Randy Orton and John Cena fought The Raw Roster to a no-contest in 8:30. Ross said the match would continue until Orton and Cena can’t continue. The participants were Umaga, Hardcore Holly, Cody Rhodes, Brian Kendrick, Val Venis, Santino, Snitsky, Murdoch and Cade, Carlito, Super Crazy, Jim Duggan, D.H. Smith, Paul Burchill, Charlie Haas, Robbie McAllister, and JBL.

Cena pinned Santino less than a minute in. Orton eliminated Murdoch a short time later. [C]

[Overrun] Cena eliminated McAllister and Smith before the eight minute mark. Orton checked in and hit the RKO on Burchill for a pin. They teamed up and eliminated one or two other wrestlers. The roster side rushed the ring and the ref called for the bell. Cena cleared most of their opponents from the ring with a chair, but JBL cut him off.

JBL accidentally hit Umaga with a chairshot. Umaga no-sold the chair and spiked Orton. JBL ran away and Umaga ran after him. With Orton and Cena down, Triple H’s music started. He walked to the ring with a smirk on his face and hit the Pedigree on both wrestlers. He held up the title belt and mugged for the cameras to end the show...

Powell’s POV: A creative gimmick match. There will be plenty of bitching from people about Orton and Cena pinning so many wrestlers, but it won’t be nearly as bad as if Triple H had pinned that many people in one match. I’ll have a lot more to say about the show in tomorrow’s Raw Hitlist.

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