After WWE hinted for weeks on television and on its Web site that Mr. Kennedy was Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son, it was revealed at the end of last night’s Raw that it was not Kennedy.

Whether there is a cause and effect between WWE suspending 10 wrestlers – whose names have not been made public by the company – and Kennedy not getting the role is a matter of speculation. The Wrestling Observer reported that Kennedy was indeed the original choice when the story line was first conceived, but once WWE began dropping hints that it was Kennedy, I figured it had to be someone else because WWE wanted it to be a big surprise.

It will be interesting to see if there is a spike in the ratings next week for the revealing of the son’s identity.

Some other thoughts on last night’s show:

I like when all of the McMahons are on the show doing the dysfunctional family bit, but I did have one problem with their segment. I understand from a story line standpoint why WWE would want to air footage of Vince’s match against Stephanie from 2003 at 1st Mariner Arena, but seeing a jacked-up man choke his daughter with a metal pipe and shove down his wife while the Chris Benoit tragedy is still fresh in people’s minds was in poor taste. …

Randy Orton and John Cena made only cameo appearances, but they were effective nonetheless. Orton continues to be great as the guy who shows no remorse, and Cena, who did not say a word, displayed a lot of intensity in his attack on William Regal. …

Based on past results, I understand that Jeff Hardy defeating Umaga for the Intercontinental title is considered an upset, but I thought Jim Ross’ analogy of Appalachian State beating Michigan was off the mark. The wrestling equivalent to Saturday’s college football upset would be Funaki beating Umaga. …

Is it ironic that Hardy, of all people, won a title because the champion may have been suspended for violating the wellness policy? …

You have to love Regal’s strange pronunciations. “Tonight, it will be Triple Haytch vs. U-manga.” …

Speaking of Triple H and Umaga, since when does sadistically bludgeoning someone with a sledgehammer make you a babyface? If a heel had done that to Umaga a few weeks ago, Umaga would have gotten over as a babyface a lot better than he did. …

I was surprised to see Carlito with shorter hair since the big fro is such a huge part of his gimmick. I figured at some point Carlito’s hair would be on the line in a pay-per-view match. …

Not to nit-pick, but the sign on the door that Maria came out of should have said “divas’ locker room” not “diva’s locker room.” Unless, of course, Maria has her own personal dressing room, which really would make her a diva. …

The best match of the night was Paul London and Brian Kendrick’s win over Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. I’m looking forward to London and Kendrick’s match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch at Unforgiven. …

I liked the CM Punk videos. I don’t know that he will ever be a megastar, but he is clearly the top guy on ECW and his popularity seems to be growing. With all the negative headlines surrounding wrestling recently, it is the perfect time to give a big push to someone who lives the straight edge lifestyle. …

For those keeping track, three wrestlers who are thought to be among the 10 suspended –Umaga, Regal and Santino Marella – were involved in angles that seemed to temporarily take them off television. King Booker, who also is on the list of “suspects,” was not on the show.