It sounded like JR and Jerry Lawler suggested they could be drafted next week. Who is NOT available to get drafted? Is it possible we will see the likes of Randy Orton or William Regal or even Undertaker drafted? Or will they become "Free Agent" signings some time after the draft?

What a waste of a Triple H vs. Jericho match. It could have been a huge PPV match but instead we get it on Raw and it starts at five minutes 'til 11.

Great job by Ric Flair. Even if he may not be able to do anything more than chop his opponent as Larry Z. said, he can still cut a promo. He appeared to be completely upset with Jericho's comments. I thought for a minute he was going to go off on Chris the same way he went off on Eric Bischoff years ago.

Nice write up Kevin, if you noticed and I'm sure you did, but IMO the best part of the night was Flair leading Jericho through the arena and to the parking lot(I was expecting HBK at some point, but I knew they needed to milk the glass in the eyes) and HHH brought Y2J back in. The best segment IMO and who shows up VKM. Vince had to be there so he could throw Naitch from "HIS" building, but mainly set up a HHH/Y2J match, I guess. HHH and all his power could've done that and Vince would've had more time to practice dialing a phone. BTW, didn't Hacksaw and his 2x4 look svelte?

A bikini pose off? Look, I like a good bikini as much as any Man, but I can do a search on the internet and find my share. I mean if the WWE wanted to really waste 10 minutes of my time they should've had Haas wrestling Mae Young. Honestly this is part of the problem with Wrestling today.

The "Money Night RAW" was a joke and man I hope its over.

Does it make sense to have this draft before a PPV? What are the chances that all the titles end up on Smackdown? LOL

Carlito in a singles match, no Santino Marella? I thought they were going to wrestle Holly & Rhodes, but its good to see Holly & Rhodes winning again. I mean beating Cyme Tyme in like 5 seconds has to be a huge confidence builder. Had to cut that match short so Vince could call someone else and give them 16 Dollars. did I mention the "Money Night RAW" is a joke?

Hey Kevin

Gotta say great posts, try to read them as often as possible as you are fair to the industry and trutful to the fans.

In regards to the Y2J Heel, do you think this is going to be permanent or only for the story with HBK, have to say Y2J is one of the best talents they have there whether on the Mic or in the ring, do you see him getting another chance at being champion?

I also agree about the HHH vs Y2J angle you may have thought it would have been saved for a ppv do you think that this means WWE does not see them in the same league any longer or more of a taster for things to come.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Especially with Orton out for a few months, I think Jericho is going to be a heel for a while.

Kevin,

From what I've read elsewhere, it seems that Haas appearing onstage with Vince last week for that giveaway segment was an inside joke of sorts. Apparently Vince has been vocal in his distaste for Haas, and talked about how boring he finds him to be. Classy guy.

Kevin,

I am done with the Million Dollar mania. Maybe they should just give it away in 2 or small segments. It ruins the flow of the show.

I was glad to see HHH be the recipient of a beatdown. I would of been extremely disappointed if he would have gotten a clean win.

I would of had HHH interfere and cost Cena his match. Although there is good heat with them, this would have just added to the fire.

I can definitely see Jericho costing HHH the belt, setting up a nice summer feud..

.

I feel with the way they ended the match between Triple H and Chris Jericho (non-conclusive) along with the way Jericho has no feud or candidate for the Intercontinental Title that at Night of Champions there should be a triple threat match between Cena, Triple H, and Jericho with both the WWE title and Intercontinental title up for grabs. Then the Intercontinental title might actually mean something being in the hands of a WWE Champion.

I hate how HHH has to bury all of his opponents verbally. It just makes him look insecure. I got sick of seeing him in every single backstage segment.

I thought it was really strange how they cut to commercial once Flair walked out. I've never seen that happen to a big time star like that before.

.

I really expected more from Jericho last night. His speech to the fans sounded like the same speech Mr. Kennedy gave us after losing his Money in the Bank last year. Jericho is a performer, but his speech came off so flat last night. It was a good thing they brought Ric Flair out, because I was about to nod off. I never thought I would feel that way about a Jericho promo. I thought this was a role Jericho was comfortable playing...He may have pointed at the fans, but the delivery made it look like he was pointing at the writers...They made me do this! It was perhaps one of Jericho's worst...and the Jericho's worst is a pretty short list.

"Triple H, acting a bit heelish in his verbal confrontation with Cena, needlessly buried him."

Normally, I pass by most negative comments about Triple H. For the most part, it is the same, tired crap that has been circulating dirt sheets for years. This time around, however, I find it interesting that he's getting the accusation of burying Cena - by saying the exact same things that every internet "smart mark" says about Cena every chance they get. Think about it. Trips didn't say anything that we haven't read on the internet countless times before.

What I don't get is how very few people mentioned last week how massively Triple H put over Cena, but everyone is all over a promo that was supposed to be harsh. Kevin, you know I enjoy reading your stuff, but even you made specific mention of last night's perfectly logical next step in the feud, where the Cerebral Assassin starts undermining his opponent's self-image, whereas you did not mention the week before that Triple H did a STELLAR job putting over Cena on commentary. In fact, Triple H built Cena up to be almost God-like during his stint on commentary. In contrast, Cena spent most of his turn on commentary talking about himself, rather than Triple H or the match he was watching.

I realize that people who want to hate Triple H are going to, regardless of what logic is presented to refute their argument. I just don't think it helps to use inflammatory language (such as 'bury") for a wrestling promo that was designed to sow the first seeds that the contest at the Night of Champions is becoming about more than the belt and who is the best.

Honestly, what would have been acceptable for Triple H to say? I'm really asking that, and not being sarcastic at all. What would have been acceptable for the promo?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I thought Triple H's line about it being past the bedtime of most of Cena's fans was perfectly acceptable. He also could've talked about Cena holding the title for as long as he did only because Triple H was either injured or distracted (DX reunion), but now he's back and focused. He also could make fun of Cena's ring attire, his square jaw ... anything is fair game. Like you said, every smart mark on the Internet thinks that Cena can't work, so Triple H gave their opinion credibility. And, again, if Cena is so bad and uncoordinated, how impressive is it for Triple H to beat a guy like that?

I don't know what entitles mid-carder Lance Cade to leave main-event-level babyfaces lieing on the canvas, but I am not complaining. It is something fresh.

The Jeff Hardy-Carlito match was decent, and the main event had just started to get good when Cade interfered, but the show was too lite on wrestling action.

The young lady from Illinois's enthusiam was a welcome change from last week's ho-hum reaction from the winners. I was amused that Hacksaw with his tuxedo-wearing 2x4 dialed numbers without an error, in contrast to McMahon.

i liked the segment with HHH and Cena. When HHH made his jabs at Cena (don't forget the dig about Cena's fans being underaged) I laughed out loud- it was pretty entertaining from my end. BTW, I wouldn't call Cena uncoordinated in the ring, just a bit stiff...

This RAW was pretty interesting compared to previous weeks- of course I turned before every Money giveaway so that helped.

In the bikini segment I was wondering who would be the one to reveal a latex painted bikini or a thong bikini- is it a little lesbian of me that I was disappointed when none of the women did?

and finally i liked the look of an alliance between Cade and Jericho; now when Orton returns it would be interesting to see how he would fit into all of this

I thought it was a boring Raw. I've grown tired of the Million dollar Giveaway. The only 2 things had me off my chair was the return of Ric Flair and Kennedy's dive thru the ropes. Other than that I had a hard time staying awake. Even the Hardy/Carlito match wasn't that impressive to me. What kinda surprised me after reading the off-air matches that Santino teamed with Snitsky instead of Carlito

I have always found HHH's tendency to bury his opposition in pomos to be unnecessary and counterproductive. I felt the same way when he dressed down Orton before their last PPV match. A week after singing Cena's praises at the announce booth, and HHH has to call him an uncoordinated goof that only little kids will cheer? Class act.
I must say I'm confused at the timing of the draft being the week before a PPV. Say HHH gets sent to Smackdown and Edge gets sent to Raw next Monday. What is their motivation for their title defenses? If they lose the match, they lose the belt; if they win the match, they forfeit the belt anyway. it's a lose/lose situation.

"And, again, if Cena is so bad and uncoordinated, how impressive is it for Triple H to beat a guy like that?"

I agree with you on that point, Kevin. However, I suppose that I am looking at from another angle. Trips is the Cerebral Assassin, right? So he gets into his opponent's heads and screws around with them before the big match. Especially as the challenger to the big title, you want to go into the match confident and sure that you can kick the rear end of the guy who currently holds the title. But here's Trips, who holds more titles than just about anyone else, has a reputation for putting on great matches, and is an established star clearly over with fans. And he knows it. Keeping in mind all of the qualifications listed above, he tells Cena that he's not nearly as good as he thinks he is. Not only that, but things have changed in the last couple of years and the big one is that, going into the match, Triple H is the champion, not Cena. He's just done two major things that are perfectly in character. He's planted the seeds of doubt in Cena's mind and reminded everyone that the conditions of this match are much different than they were the first time these two met on a big stage.

Sure, he could knock on the ring attire, the budding relationship with Mickie, or anything else. But that isn't the same sort of hard hitting mental tactics that reflect the moniker of Cerebral Assassin. For continuity's sake, I'd have like to see him bring up the idea that Cena's long title reign may not have been so long if Trips hadn't been injured or distracted. But hey, they've got another week until NoC and almost assuredly more ability to feud in the future, so that can always come later.

I can see your point of view, most certainly; I just prefer the idea that they're actually playing to the Cerebral Assassin character. And, in my mind, planting those doubts is perfectly in character.

Of course, I can also recognize that it is entirely possible that the subtlety of my proposed scenario may be lost in the shuffle of the sad fact that many fans can't appreciate the hard work and passion that Cena has for the business. Trips makes a point to acknowledge such in his DVD. For that matter, it might also get lost in the rabid hatred some people seem to have for Triple H.

(And to be perfectly clear, I know you aren't one of the above referenced people blinded by hatred. But I also know that there are many of those types out there too.)

I guess Cena's program with Mickie James is off, otherwise HHH would have definitely brought her up amongst his Cena insults last night.

Looks like according to various sources like the Wrestling Observer, that people were notified before the show they were "Finalist" in the McMahon million dollar giveaway verifying their addresses and telling them to stay off the home. That would explain a lot. The contest is legit but if you don't get a call from the prize organization before the show, you are not going to be a winner.

I believe the call they made where no one answered was a prop. I also believe the 16 dollar thing was a prop... just too much of a coincidence that Flair claims to be from NC and so did the caller.

Speaking of which, Flair was born in Minneapolis, MN but in Flair's autobiography, he claims he was born in Memphis, TN.

Hopefully, they will not use Flair on every Raw. Putting him on every couple of weeks is the way to go, you keep putting him on the air each week and he'll get stale again.

If they want to bring a huge interest... set up a case where Lance Cade gets the belt without a build up. Then work it from that angle.

Is it me or why do they keep promoting Hardy as a "young talent" ????

No Santino this week and Carlito was force to job again.

The million dollar giveaways will continue until the main stream media stops covering it.

You are so right about Maryse. Good lord what an attractive woman.

In regard to what Elevation pointed out, I thought it was very poor timing to take a commercial break at that point. Was there a money giveaway immediately before the Jericho promo? If so, it is one more strike against Million Dollar Mania.

Pretty funny McMahon Jr! Now people correctly booing a no talent bum is "being sheep"?! Who told you to write that Dad or Steph? Another Raw that I gladly missed. Thanks Vince for giving me 2 hours on Monday nights back.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Actually it was Linda, or as I like to call her, Mom.

So Kevin , you did some work for the Ravens , maybe we can lobby the "Sun" to have you replace Mike Preston.

Am I missing something, or is it obvious that the NOC match will be Jericho v Michaels for the IC belt? I know it hasnt been announced but that seems to be the logical next step in the storyline.

Overall a confusing RAW, random introductions of HHH, Flair and Cade into the mix make this a 6 person fued( 5 if you take away Batista but who knows if his part will be reignited following the draft) with 2 titleholders. O ya and one of the 6 is retired the other burst out of the midcard. Gotta admitt im excited for next week though so guess it served its purpose

I don't understand why Maryse doesn't get more of a push as a diva. She is absolutely hot and kinda has that "Sable" attitude thing going.

ERIC : you must be my long lost brother . Kevin admits to his lineage. My question is how long before we see Kev on Raw with the rest of his family ?

I've got a 5 step plan on what the wwe has to do to turn things around to make the show interesting again.

1. For one there are way too many titles. The Miz being champion is proof of that. And worse than that, Hornswaggle is competing for the tag team belts next weekend. ECW should be scrapped all together. It's nothing more than a Sunday night heat replacement.
The IC belt used to mean so much. Remember the days when it was used to bring up wrestlers to the next level. The Steamboats, Savages, HBK's, Bret Hart, etc. Now its just used as just another title for guys like Jericho, Jeff Hardy ( who both have held it so many times it seems meaningless) and others who should be wrestling in the top programs.
I've counted 9 different titles in WWE. There would be more prestige if there were fewer titles.

2. They need to bring back wrestling managers. Growing up in the 80's managers made wrestling so much fun. Jimmy Hart , Heenan, Slick, Cornette, etc, they were all so entertaining. And going to House shows back then, the best pops would go to these guys getting there asses handed to them. In todays wwe, there are so many guys with no personallity and they could use some good managers to put them over. I know Vince likes to put his divas in managerial roles, but with the exception of Melina when she was in MNM, it's just not the same.

3.In wrestling's 2 biggest eras, tag team wrestling was at it's best. You had the Bulldogs, Harts, LOD, Killer bees in the 80's and the Hardy's, Dudleys, APA, Edge and Christian in the late 90's. They need to put the focus on tag team wrestling and not so called "tag team Main Events" between HHH + Cena vs Orton + Kennedy. Those are so pointless and boring.There's nothing on the line.
And when I say they need more Tag Teams I'm not talking about makeshift tag teams like Snitsky + Umaga. We need fresh tag teams that need to be put over like Cryme Tyme, you know guys with good gimmicks.

4. The thing that has irked me the most in recent years is the commercial break in the middle of a good match, particularly a main event. They hype the freaking thing for 2 hours during the program. For instance, HBK vs Edge in a Street Fight. When the match finally starts, Ross yells we have to take a commercial break. Why can't they take a commercial break in the middle of a lame Vickie Guerrero vignette? Or during a Triple H snoozefest promo?

5. They final thing is Vince needs to do a overhaul in the characters in wrestling. They just don't entertain me anymore. Cena was more entertaining as a rapping heel. Kamala had more personality than Batista does. They are completely ruinning Mr Kennedy as a face. He seems to be losing that edge that made him entertaining as a heel.
They really blew it by losing Christian. He was gaining so much steam before he left. They could definitely use him now. And Marella is losing all credabillity by losing to every one but Beaver Cleavage.
Can someone please explain to me the appeal of CM Punk? He has a flabby Barry Horowitz body and the two times I' ve seen him at live events the boring chants where everywhere.
And why do they have Murdoch, a singing cowboy, dressed like one half of the Beverly Bros?
Vince needs to give more creative freedom to the talent. For every Undertaker that he has created there is The One Billy Gunn. Vince didn't create Stone Cold, Steve Austin did. What I have read in various interviews, including Kevin's with WCW's Daphne they shoot down every idea the talent seems to bring up.
20 years ago when every wrestler were really independent contracters, they needed to come up with their own identities and interviews. That brought us such greats as JYD, Randy Savage( who really IS a first ballot Hall of Famer), Hacksaw, LOD and the list goes on and on.
Listen Vince. If you clean the wax out of your ears as Jessie Ventura used to tell you, the next Rock could be in your Locker Room now.

"Of course, I can also recognize that it is entirely possible that the subtlety of my proposed scenario may be lost in the shuffle...."

It was lost on me until I read your post. While I watched the scene in question, I thought only that HHH was mocking the physical attributes of a man who is one of company's biggest stars. It wasn't a good way to sell the idea that not everybody can be a professional wrestler, let alone a main eventer in the business.

Don't get me wrong: I think it's great that you try to find a deeper interpretation, but when it comes to subtlety, wrestling and J.K Rowling don't have much in common.

Best moment of the night: That unknown diva Eve Torres slapping Maria's rear. Oh but yeah, Maryse tops the list got love them "stacy keibler-like" legs.

You said "Asking the winners to humiliate themselves by barking like a dog and singing the national anthem is an odd way to “show appreciation to the fans” and didn’t do much for me. If I wanted to watch people degrade themselves for money, I’d watch reality shows with my wife. I didn’t think it was cool either when McMahon and even Jim Ross were mocking the winners’ enthusiasm. When one woman got overly excited, Ross said, “Now go take your medicine.”

I really like the mocking of the winners. Many of the older fans will remember the Ted Debiase gimmick where he would pull fans out of crowd and have them humiliate themselves for one of his $100 bills. I am hoping this is leading to a return of the Million Dollar Man as a manager to his son.

"Don't get me wrong: I think it's great that you try to find a deeper interpretation, but when it comes to subtlety, wrestling and J.K Rowling don't have much in common."

Thanks. :) I enjoy the storytelling aspect of wrestling as much as the wrestling. I even learned to see which matches are actually furthering the story and which ones are just there.

I suppose, however, that there is some argument to be made that not everyone is going to look for those nuances and there's something to be said for being more cautious in how promos are delivered.

Still, I try to enjoy it for what it is and I liked the emotion and heat in that segment.

A little hypocritical of Vince to go on a rant about how people look down on wwe fans and then turn around and mock everybody he calls, don't you think?

Hated the Vince's desperate Million Dollar giveaway again, but loved the overall Raw. Flair's appearence, Cade's run-in in the main event, Jericho's official heel turn, some good matches (Umaga-Cena, Mixed Tag Match, Carlito-Jeff Hardy), a super hot crowd (best of the year?), and Kennedy's awesome spear through the ropes made this one of the better Raws in recent memory.

They should have made the main event a lot longer though. If they scrapped the giveaway segments, they could have made HHH vs. Jericho 20 minutes or so or even put the always entertaining Santino on the show.

And like it's been said Trips poking fun at Cena's wrestling ability is ridiculous. John has improved a great deal since his early days...stick him in the PPV main event with someone decent and he'll put on a great match.