Some thoughts on Monday’s Raw and last night’s ECW:

Three years after headlining SummerSlam and becoming the youngest world champion, Randy Orton is back in the main event of the annual August pay-per-view and has another shot at realizing his vast potential. I think WWE has done a good job rebuilding Orton as a top-level heel after his push had stalled due to his poor behavior on the road. Where his career goes from here is up to him. The time is right for WWE champion John Cena to drop the belt to Orton, and I’m looking forward to the buildup to their SummerSlam match over the next four weeks. …

King Booker’s act gets more entertaining every week. His delivery and facial expressions during his confrontations with Jerry Lawler the past two weeks have been fantastic. It makes me laugh out loud when Booker speaks with a campy British accent when he’s calm, and then slips into an exaggerated form of Ebonics when he gets riled up. …

Obviously, Booker’s angle with Lawler is just a setup for Booker to wrestle the returning Triple H at SummerSlam. Other possible matches at the pay-per-view include The Great Khali vs. Batista, Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero and Bobby Lashley vs. Carlito. A match that reportedly is not happening is the one involving Umaga and several cast members from Jackass. The deal apparently fell through, and I can’t say I’m upset about that. Speculation is that Jeff Hardy will wrestle Umaga in a rematch from Sunday’s Great American Bash, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as a triple-threat match with Mr. Kennedy in the mix. …

Speaking of Hardy, he has been very impressive as of late. He and brother Matt are more over as singles wrestlers than they have ever been. Jeff followed a good match with Umaga at The Great American Bash with an outstanding match against Mr. Kennedy. I was relieved to see that Jeff was able to continue in the match on Raw after slipping off the ropes and landing on his head. I thought for sure he had broken his neck. …

WWE obviously realized the Santino Marella babyface push wasn’t working and has decided to go in another direction with the character. Now that he is starting to show subtle heel tendencies, I already find him a lot more interesting. …

As for ECW, there wasn’t much to this week’s show. The highlight was probably Stevie Richards pinning Kevin Thorn. No one saw that coming, but I think it’s good to have an upset to shake things up every now and then. Richards, who looked really good two weeks ago against CM Punk, could be in line for a minor push. With the ECW talent roster being so thin, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. …

I like the pairing of Big Daddy V and Matt Striker. The former Viscera is effective as a monster heel and Striker makes a better manager than he does a wrestler. …

Finally, I have to get something off my chest. Because I have such great respect for anyone who gets in the ring, I don’t harshly criticize wrestlers that often. But in the case of The Miz, I am making an exception. I just don’t see anything remotely entertaining about this guy. If he hadn’t been on MTV’s The Real World, would WWE have even given him the time of day? You would think someone with such an annoying personality would be a great heel, but The Miz doesn’t make me love to hate him, he just makes me want to turn the channel. His work in the ring is average at best, his catchphrase is lame, and when I say his look is strictly mid-card, I’m talking mid-card at an indy show.

It seems like WWE was trying to make him a babyface a couple weeks ago, but now he appears to be a heel again. I’m just hoping that the angle in which the members of Extreme Expose have a crush on The Miz ends with the revelation that the women were just stringing him along and setting him up for some form of humiliation. Then again, is The Miz even capable of suffering humiliation?