WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Toronto, Canada

[Q1] Footage aired of last night’s Randy Orton vs. John Cena match with an Orton interview stating he would make Cena quit. Cena exclaimed afterward, “I did not quit!” ...

The opening video aired and in lieu of fireworks, Lilian Garcia immediately introduced Batista. Batista came out with a big brace on his arm. He did not partake in his machine gun entrance. Footage was shown of Legacy taking out Batista three months ago...

Batista said before he made his announcement, he wanted to thank the people in the arena and the people watching at home. He proceeded by saying he had a bad year with two bad injuries. “This is not the way I wanted to come back, but unfortunately, I’ve come back to say goodbye.” Randy Orton’s music hit and he came out. Batista turned his back to the stage and then faced Orton.

Orton walked slowly to the ring. Cole and King bitched about how Orton will stoop to any and every level. Orton said he was not happy about losing the WWE Championship last night. However, it did cheer him up that Batista was retiring. He said “the big, bad Animal is going out with a whimper.” Orton said he was causing Batista to retire. He mentioned the two times he put Dave out of action.

He instructed Batista to cry but Batista laughed at Orton instead. Orton asked Dave what was so funny. Batista said two things made him laugh. “One, you are so predictable.” Batista then pulled off his arm brace. “Two, I know something you don’t know.” He then attacked Orton and closelined him to the floor.

The crowd went nuts. Batista said he was not in Toronto tonight to announce his retirement. He was on the show to announce he was headed to Smackdown. However, he talked to “the guest host” and she promised him one more match on Raw. He announced he would face Orton tonight in a No Holds Barred match. He celebrated as his music played... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Coming into the show, I figured Batista would make a predictable announcement, so the swerve was pretty well done. I wasn’t fooled, as I’m sure nobody was, but they did a nice job of making the segment interesting and unpredictable. I hope we get an explanation on Smackdown as to why and how Batista is able to go there.

[Q2] Back from commercial, footage aired from the previous segment. Lilian introduced the “diva of the decade,” Trish Stratus. Trish came out to the stage looking absolutely fantastic. She sported her new brown hair. She said she was glad to be home in Toronto and WWE. She said she would be a great host and mentioned Bob Barker also did a great job last week. She also said she enjoyed making Chris Jericho cry like Barker did.

Trish mentioned she already booked Orton vs. Batista for later in the show. She also said Orton deserved a rematch for the title that he lost last night. She then booked a rematch between Orton and John Cena in a Hell in a Cell match at the next pay-per-view...

Twill’s Two Cents: Trish looked relatively comfortable on the mic and rambled a bit, but it was great to see her. She looked better tonight than she did while she was active with the company. By the way, guest hosts can book pay-per-view matches?

1. Jack Swagger and The Miz defeated Kofi Kingston and Primo in 2:54. Miz and Swagger gained the advantage early on Primo. Kofi received the hot tag and hit a series of moves on Swagger for a nearfall. Miz took the United States Championship belt and Kofi was distracted. Swagger hit the gutwrench powerbomb for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: That was fast. That really could have been a match to get the crowd going. That being said, I like the storyline direction with Miz and I like that Swagger got the win for his team.

A graphic for DiBiase vs. Michaels for tonight was shown... [C]

[Q3] Mickie James came out to join the announce booth. Lilian announced Trish made a triple threat match to become the number one contender for Mickie’s title. The announce team mentioned Lilian messed up again and that it was a one-on-one match...

2. Alicia Fox defeated Gail Kim to become the number one contender for the Diva’s Championship in 3:40. Mickie’s history with Trish was momentarily mentioned. Mickie sort of acknowledged it. Gail hit a blind high cross body for a nearfall. Gail missed a missile dropkick. Alicia followed up with an axe kick for the win...

After the match, Alicia and Mickie stared each other down... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Better effort from Gail this week and Alicia’s improvement has been fun to watch. She is no Beth Phoenix, but she is a good heel.

King reminded us of tonight’s match between Shawn Michaels and Ted DiBiase... [C]

Footage aired reminding us of the first time Randy Orton took out Dave Batista and caused him to miss significant time...

Backstage, Trish was lighting candles. Beth Phoenix entered and asked how she was not involved in a number one contender’s match. I think everyone was wondering that. Chris Jericho came in and said Trish could not get him out of her mind. Trish said Jericho should be glad she left him because he found his new soul mate in Big Show.

Beth told Trish that Jericho was somebody who had guts and somebody who backed up what he said in the ring. She said Trish retired because she did not want to face Beth. Trish questioned that and then booked a match tonight involving Jericho and Beth vs. Trish and a partner of her choice. Jericho then told Trish he would face Bob Barker “anytime, any place.” ...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice! I guess Trish is not going to work another WrestleMania but this is a nice consolation prize. Jericho was golden here and Beth was solid too. All around, this was a very good segment.

[Q4] Still photos aired of last night’s DX vs. Legacy match. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase were shown walking through the backstage area... [C]

Legacy made their ring entrance. Cody Rhodes mocked Triple H in doing the “Are you ready?” DX mic work. Cody ran down the list of all time greats who never made DX tap. DiBiase said they shocked the world, but they did not surprise themselves. Cody said they were no longer known as the sons of Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase because those two were now known as the fathers of The Legacy...

DX was shown backstage watching on the monitor before they headed to the ring... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: It was imperative for Rhodes and DiBiase to follow up on their win last night and they could not open the show because there was a lot going on tonight, but that was a solid promo.

DX made their entrance and did so very quickly...

3. Shawn Michaels (with Triple H) defeated Ted DiBiase (with Cody Rhodes) via disqualification in 9:02. DiBiase attacked Michaels right away and Michaels quickly countered. DiBiase fought back with a powerslam off of a Irish whip.

[Q5] DiBiase sent Michaels to the floor and waited as Cody and Hunter eyed each other. DiBiase suplexed Michaels back into the ring and scored a two count after the Million Dollar Man fist drop. Shawn fought back with knife edge chops, but DiBiase hit an impressive standing dropkick. Ted tried another dropkick and missed. Michaels went for a Sharpshooter and the fans booed.

Michaels almost immediately was able to lock in a figure four leg lock, but Rhodes distracted the referee long enough for DiBiase to rake Shawn’s eyes to break the hold. DiBiase locked in the Million Dollar Dream but Michaels broke free and rolled to the corner to recover. Ted went for a piledriver but Michaels backdropped him to the floor.

Michaels had trouble seeing. Chris Jericho was smiling backstage. Shawn hit the top rope elbow. Apparently, Cole’s finished was screwed up too because he said he “believed it was an elbow.” Shawn set up for Sweet Chin Music but Cody grabbed his leg. The referee called for the bell...

Triple H attacked Cody and absolutely kicked the shit out of him. The beating continued as the show went to commercial... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Well, I won’t say that undid last night’s win for Legacy because it didn’t. However, we now are left to believe that Shawn would have won the match if not for Cody and Cody then got decimated by Hunter. The saving grace here is that the team of Legacy looks like huge stars and DiBiase dominated the bulk of the match.

Graphics aired for tonight’s remaining main event level matches and footage aired of what took place before the break...

[Q6] 4. Evan Bourne and Hornswoggle defeated Chavo Guerrero and Carlito (with Rosa Mendes) in 3:53. Carlito started with Hornswoggle but Bourne and Chavo quickly tagged in. Carlito and Chavo worked over Bourne in their corner. Bourne took out Carlito. Horny spit apple in Chavo’s face and hit the tadpole splash for the win...

After the match, Chavo took the mic and one night too late, he “gave up.” He said Hornswoggle won the feud and he did not want anymore of it...

Twill’s Two Cents: I guess this is better than Bourne not being on television at all. However, I just wish he was doing more than teaming with Hornswoggle. Perhaps Chavo giving up on his feud with Hornswoggle will lead to better things for Bourne too. I hope so.

Footage was shown of Batista defeating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship... [C]

[Q7] Josh Matthews introduced John Cena. The fans booed the shit out of Orton. Cena stood with the belt around his waist and was very stern. Cena gave a very Cena-like promo, complete with promises Orton will give leading into their Hell in a Cell rematch. Cena promised he would be different, more brutal, more savage, and Orton would be lucky to make it out alive. “The champ is here.” I guess Jason called that one...

Cole and King announced DX vs. Legacy for the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view...

Trish Stratus made her entrance. MVP was announced as her partner. He and Trish talked things over going into break... [C]

5. Trish Stratus and MVP defeated Chris Jericho and Beth Phoenix by disqualification in 1:31. Trish and Beth started the match. Beth dominated early. She hit a series of awkward looking chops in the corner. Trish went for the cover and Jericho broke it up. MVP and Jericho tumbled to the floor. Big Show attacked MVP and Mark Henry came to his partner’s aid. The referee called for the bell...

After Lilian announced Trish and MVP as the winners, Trish grabbed the mic and made a six person tag and it would be starting right after the break... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Looks like the tag title program will continue as is.

[Q8] 6. Trish Stratus, Mark Henry, and MVP defeated Chris Jericho, Big Show, and Beth Phoenix in approximately 4:41. The match was joined in progress with the heel team working over MVP in their corner. MVP starting getting the best of Jericho when Jericho tagged in Beth. MVP looked to tag out but Beth egged him on. MVP tagged in Trish and they hit a double team “ballin’” elbow on Beth.

Big Show grabbed Trish’s leg during an Irish whip. Trish hit her signature handstand head scissors on Beth after the males took each other out at ringside. Trish followed with the best Statusfaction elbow she has ever delivered. She pinned Beth and the babyfaces celebrated...

Twill’s Two Cents: Fun match that allowed fans to see Trish in the ring for perhaps the last time and it continued a current program, which is effective.

Footage was shown of the second time Randy Orton took out Batista for an extended period of time. Batista was shown walking through his the backstage area for his “last match ever on Raw.” ... [C]

Cedric the Entertainer was announced as the special guest host for Raw next week...

Twill’s Two Cents: Wow.

[Overrun] 7. Batista defeated Randy Orton in a No Holds Barred match in 4:58. Orton went for a chair immediately but was unsuccessful. They went back and forth for two minutes in the ring and Orton did grab a chair. Batista speared him out of the ring. Dave rammed Orton into the announce table and threw him over it into the barricade.

Batista abused Orton on the floor. Orton tried a RKO in the ring but Batista countered it with a Rock Bottom-like suplex. Orton left the ring and headed up the ramp. John Cena’s music hit and he forced Orton back into the ring with physical force. Batista hit a spinebuster and Batista Bomb for the win...

Batista posed on the ropes to close out the show...

Twill’s Two Cents: Predictable main event on an enjoyable show. However, it was not as noteworthy as the announcers made it out to be. It was definitely a fun show and it was great to see Trish back. We’ll have to see what happens with Batista and his move to Smackdown.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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