Tuesday, January 20 – 9:43 A.M. (CT)

-Dot Net Member Nathan Timm pointed out that the first person to hit the ring after Randy Orton punt kicked Vince McMahon was WWE vice president of talent relations John Laurinaitis. He was not acknowledged by the broadcast team, but it's worth noting that he was the man who got in Orton's face and ordered him to leave the ring.

Oh, and when Nathan pointed this out to me, my first response that Laurinaitis had to make the appearance because they fired everyone else.

-Dot Net readers Ryan Madland and Joseph McDonald both emailed to throw out the possibility that Shane McMahon is actually aligned with The Legacy. They believe he could be out for revenge for the way Stephanie McMahon treated him during his last appearance on Raw.

It was acknowledged during a backstage skit with Shane and Orton that Shane is also a multi-generational performer in the industry. That said, Shane and Orton bickered during said segment and I haven't picked up on any additional clues that point to Shane.

Keep in mind that according to the storyline, Steph was being manipulative behind the scenes even when Mike Adamle was the general manager. She also added Orton to a match that Shane had originally booked as a singles encounter between Batista and Chris Jericho to determine the No. 1 contender to the World Hvt. Championship on the Nov. 24 Raw.

Steph wasn't happy two weeks ago when Jericho informed her that her father was returning to television. She was also fidgety as she exited her office on Monday's Raw before she noticed that Jericho sitting on the couch. Despite her obvious frustration with her father returning to television, she was all smiles and hugged Vince in the ring on Monday night. It doesn't add up.

As if all that evidence isn't enough, let the record show that Stephanie also introduced Chief Jay Strongbow on the Nov. 17 edition of Raw!!!

Okay, so I'm not really sure why she introduced Jay Strongbow, but the other clues point to Stephanie McMahon wanting total control and showing favoritism (at least once) regarding Orton.

Sure, this could be cheap booking designed to lead viewers one way and then present them with something that doesn't make sense (see most TNA swerves), but I'd like to think the WWE creative team planted the seeds for Steph's heel turn weeks ago and now intend to deliver a logical payoff.

As such, I'm sticking with my original theory that Steph is in cahoots with Randy Orton.

By the way, is there a chance the conversation Steph had with Manu and Sim Snuka (the one Cody Rhodes told Orton about) was her lining them to help Orton in the Rumble? Or maybe it will be revealed that she fired them for opposing The Legacy.

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