As Smokin' Joe Frazier would say, "lordy, lordy." I actually found that DX commercial to be entertaining.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I think they've all been entertaining. Just, like I've said, odd considering their current story lines.

I don't know if Orton could pull off a turn. I just can't see him as a face, but a Batista heel would definitely be worth seeing.

After seeing who the particiapnts were in the matches last night, it was clear to me that JBL will be getting the title shot (because he is Michaels' boss and we will see more of Michaels having to do the dirty work for JBL).

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I totally agree. It's a transition match before Cena's WrestleMania program.

"With Double K out of the picture, I knew it was going to be Stratus. Did I know this because I’m so smart?"

No. You didn't have to be smart to figure that one out. As soon as KK split, I knew it would be Stratus. With the show being in Toronto, it was almost a certainty - even without reading a spoiler.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Sure. But the spoiler made it a complete certainty.

I was at the arena last night and there were a few things that surprised me:
1)orton, jericho and marella got bigger pops than any of the faces( i started the santino chant!)

2)Trish's pop was way smaller than i thought it would be.

3) the glamazon fan ( sitting 2 rows ahead of me ) didn't appear till the last match of the night.

Overall, it was a great show but I missed the orton promo for some merch time , and the arena was REALLY crowded. the weirdest part, some guy sitting a couple of seats down from me looked EXACTLY like Bobby Lashley

One other thing...was it just me, or did Trish's face look a little different then the last time we saw her? Has she had a nose job or any plastic surgery recently that we know of?

"Despite contrasting styles, JBL and Rey Mysterio worked pretty well together"

You're tricky Eck, that was a clever pun.

I really enjoyed last night's Raw. It felt fresh. The JBL-HBK angle is shaping up well. Punk-Jericho was a fantastic match, though as an aside when was the last time the Walls of Jericho ever actually made somebody tap out? Every time somebody gets caught in it they escape.

I loved seeing Trish back. She looked great as always. That pop she got was Stone Cold like.

This was a very good episode of Raw. Stratus coming back (to a massive pop) was hardly a surprise but still fun, and she looked like she hadn't been gone a day. Still, her appearance couldn't do much to mask the boo birds aimed at Cena. Batista's injury pretty much ends any chance of a Cena heel turn in the interim. Santino was great as always (even making Cena break character), it's amazing how over he is considering he hasn't gotten a legitimate victory in ages.

It was a really good night for wrestling. Jericho/Punk was just an awesome PPV caliber match, and JBL/Mysterio worked well together as usual. HBK/Kane was passable, and they even attempted to tie up the HBK/HHH loophole in his "I'm broke" storyline, the operative word being attempted.

Kinston/Manu was a little rough as well, as Kingston missed a couple spots. I think his surprise victory over Manu further cements him being Kelly's love interest, but whether it's him or not, how does it help elevate any face that he allows his girlfriend to be tormented repeatedly on camera by Kane without retaliating?

I hate to point this out ... but how can you not...at the end of the Cena match, did he look a little too excited in the pants?? Or was it just me??? PLEASE tell me someone else noticed that as well!!!

i love it when wwe goes international, even if it IS just toronto. the crowd was super hot. even if they WERE cheering the heels mostly.

at first, i was very pleased that michaels was getting heat, even more than he got at armageddon. but then i realized... oh, we're in canada tonight. even if it's not montreal.

santino is just too good. the john chena part in the beginning. and the beginning of the much where he was trying to look bigger to match cena. that guy is pure ratings gold. i tune in just for him sometimes.

also a great promo by orton. though, the manu loss to kofi is poor since i think the legacy should be booked as a force. no outside interference from cody? come on now. what kind of heel stable is that?

it's about time batista took some time off. i dont cheer for people to get hurt but batista's act was getting stale, as well as his 'no-sell' ways.

i tivo-ed raw. and i must've rewinded the finish to jericho and punk's match at least 12 times. that was fantastic.

trish's return got me thinking. i wonder when WWE is gonna get gail kim in the mix...

one more thing... did anyone else notice that the crowd kept going "woooo" flair-style while the DX wweshop promo was going, each time shawn and hunter play-hit each other? you could hear it in the background.

Hi Kevin,

Merry Christmas, do you think Michaels using the crossface was an effort to tweak the Toronto audience or tribute to Benoit?

I agree Micki may have legit injury. If she didn't then not only did she do a great sell job but Melina did as well.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Happy holidays to you as well. I didn't read anything into the use of the crossface. It's not the first time it has been used since the Benoit tragedy.

I agree Trish looked awesome!

Also Jericho vs. CM Punk was a great technical match! It was the closest thing to a Benoit/Angle/Eddy/or HBK kind of match! I wish there were more guys that can go in the ring like that these days!

Damone rocks! "I woke up in a great mood; I don't know what the hell happened."

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: "No, I don't have any Blue Oyster Cult. I ate 24 tickets last time around. I was this close to working at 7-11."

As someone born and raised in Canada the reactions to certain WWE wrestlers is intriguing to say the least.

You probably noticed there was loud segment of Toronto fans chanting, "You screwed Bret," during Shawn Michaels' match with Kane. Imagine if it was Michaels who was booked with Jericho rather than CM Punk last night?

I find the booing of John Cena far more visceral amongst Canadian fans and just a bit disturbing. I remember being in Toronto in May 2007 and watching part of the Judgment Day PPV at a bar near Yonge and Eglinton with my older brother. We watched Cena captured the World Championship from the Great Khali. The fans in the bar were actually hissing and heckling Cena. Unfortunately, what drives a lot of the resentment towards Cena in Canada is his "Marine" persona and outspoken support of the U.S. military. There is a strong anti-American sentiment in Canada especially in large urban areas like Toronto and it manifests itself with someone like Cena. The disdain for him runs far deeper up in Canada than it does down here. So even Trish Stratus couldn't help Cena in Toronto last night. Bret Hart couldn't have helped him for that matter either.

Given that the show was in Toronto and that we were told from the outset of the show there would be a mixed tag match with a mystery female partner it was either going to be Trish or Gail Kim (who also hails from Toronto). Trish has made cameos when RAW has visited Toronto in the past couple of years so there was a pretty good chance it was going to be her. Still, it was cool to hear her ring music and to see her in the ring again. I only wish she had delivered a Stratusfaction to Beth Phoenix.

A final observation. You have stated previously that Mickie James and Melina have had little love lost for each other in the past. Yet they seemed very chummy with each other during their ring entrance which included a piggy back and even more so when it appeared Mickie was hurt. Part of the storyline? Or have they genuinely buried the hatchet?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Their interaction seemed genuine to me. Perhaps they have buried the hatchet; or perhaps reports of their problems were blown out of proportion.

EVERYONE should see the finish to this match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hlh-T6OeGs

I had a chance to see the Orton Promo. I have to admit, it may be the best promo of his I've seen all year (which says a lot since he's progressed quite a bit since coming back from injury). Having Toronto behind him helped big time though.

Can someone who started teaching him give a cue to Matt and Jeff Hardy?

Yeah, I would have to say that I was glad to see Stratus come out for the main event. I didn't see it coming at all. In fact, I was worried they were going to trot May Young out in some kind of Santa's helper outfit. I would have had to shut off the TV at that point. Even worse, Santino probably would have jobbed to her.

I really enjoyed RAW.

The show-long angle between Cena and Santino was great. The Goldust cameo was hilarious. I want to see Santino & Goldust in more skits together, they have the potential to be funnier than the Goldust/Booker T skits. Youtube them - they're hilarious.

One thing I noticed during RAW is that JBL and Rey Mysterio have great chemistry in the ring. Often, a lot of Rey's matches are unbelievable due to the fact that the match just doesn't flow; they don't sell good enough or Rey's offense isn't believable enough. JBL is great at selling for Rey without making it look phony.

CM Punk and Jericho have the potential for a feud if WWE wants to go there - Jericho has defeated Punk 3 out of the last 4 times they fought. They could duke it out in the Royal Rumble match then have a singles match at No Way Out or something.

I think that was one of the better episodes of Raw this year with a mix of everything. Good stories, good wrestling and comedy. Watching Cena crack up reminded me of the best skits on SNL and just goes to show how great Santino is. I have to think he was unscripted or Cena wouldn't have cracked and it furthers the theory that more promos should be that way and I can't agree more.

I was also glad to see that they backed off a little on the Kane/KK storyline. I was a little uneasy last week since foreshadowing rape on a show with a lot of kids in the audience is never a good thing. Same goes for teasing a secret about Santa Claus. I thought they walked on very thin ice dancing around that and Lawler almost ruined all the dancing around it while on commentary. I remember when Diane from EITM on DC101 got threats after she said Sirius Black died in the 5th Harry Potter book when it came out. It just seemed unecessary to get that close since I'm sure most kids watching started asking their parents what the secret could be.

Anyway, thanks for a great blog as always and have a Merry Christmas Kev!

Why did Punk have Ramsey written on the tape around one of his wrists?

Why couldn't the WWE have made CM Punk look as good as he has lately (in the IC tourney and agaisnt Jericho) when he was the world champion?

Hello kev, I noticed during the hbk kane match the commentators made sure not to say the name of the move that HBK was using(which was the crossface )
they just said "what an amazing counter"...
coincident???

P.S. Happy Holidays
and good luck in the new year.....

I enjoyed raw even if it is still the same old faces for the fatal four way title shot next week. I am disappointed that cm punk did not make it through, all though his match with y2j was good. Santino was pure gold as usually and trish still looks as good as ever. I will miss big dave as i was looking forward to him and "chayna" headlining wreslemania in 2009. I was surprised the amount of heat that cena got, a lot more than usually it seems.

God, I hate the majority of Toronto fans. So arrogant and smug. The Bret incident happened ELEVEN years ago and those morons are still chanting about it. Singing O Canada during a fantastic match is lame and distracting, even if Jericho is from the country. And booing Cena is so hip!!!!1

Good show though.

Damone, 'one of the greatest movie characters ever', thank you sir I've been saying that for decades.

C-M-PUNK, C-M-PUNK, C-M-PUNK, C-M-PUNK, C-M-PUNK