I don't think the chase went on for too long. It was actually kind of funny... It looked like they got the idea from a cartoon

One thing about Jericho's promo confused me. He said the the NWA wasn't even recognized by WWE as having existed, yet Steamboat's HoF video package referenced his NWA title win over Flair. Can you clarify, Kev?

RESPONSE FROM KE: From the mid 80s to the mid 90s, WWE did not acknowledge the existence of any other wrestling companies.

Kev do you think that wwe is to hung up on cm punk and ignoring other superstars in the process
i mean how many title has he won the the past 9 months alone???

I wasn’t sure how creative could stretch things out until Mania but then realized a couple extra chases, HHH squashing Rhodes and DiBiase in singles matches, then Steph’s return should make for a long enough build up till then.

Reason why Show may not have been pitted against Cena because we may see several familial or friends take on Cena until Mania...OR there may be a major change in this storyline concerning Show because the hints of infidelity were flying last night. You never know, an Edge/Cena vs. Show and Vikki could actually be the Mania match! Vikki draws so much HEAT show has to be involved at mania somehow!

Hope Punk will be the first - two time winner of the MITB match. It would make for something interesting.
All promos were last night was good. Injecting real-life [ala Jericho] is so refreshing; wish the WWE would do it more.

Kev, please say that you are having a Mania festivity so this community could finally connect. I'd be glad to drop a couple of bucks on something like that.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I cannot go into details but I have had talks with some people about doing some type of event, although not for WrestleMania. Don't want to be too coy but can't really say anymore because it's just talk right now. I will actually be in Houston attending the Hall of Fame ceremony and WrestleMania.

Eck I felt the show for the most part was a big " YAWN " As always Jericho was very good. Steamboat brought back some good memories. Vickie is always fun to watch her facial expressions. They are priceless and her and Edge do make your skin crawl. Someone wrote last a Steph Vs Vickie Catfight I have to agree that would be fun to watch. LOL As for the Orton/HHH chase in the back that was REALLY bad and poorly acted. I wonder if HHH will have 7 years BAD LUCK after breaking that mirror. WOOOOO

Steamboat really made that segment extraordinary. Out of all the veterans Jericho has confronted in the last three weeks, Steamboat was the best on the mic. I'm wondering why Flair was the only veteran to get the better of Jericho physically? If Jericho beat up Flair, he would have had some mega heat. He already does, but there is no such thing as too much heat.

Team Priceless was great on the mic as well last night.

Despite what fans think of him, JBL should be on the Wrestlemania card. The guy is worthy of it and the card is taking place in his hometown. I see no problem with him being in the MITB match. That is partly a brawler's match and JBL is a natural brawler.

Hey Kev, justr a quick ? kinda off topic. After watchin Raw last night and seeing Kozlov come in after the HBK JBL Match I have to say that Kozlovs "billed" height of 6'8 is a joke as he didnt look much taller than Michaels, I stand 6-9" tall and have met Shawn in person and he is not a big guy, so dont you think that WWE goes a bit far with the "hyped" size of some characters?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Exaggerated heights and weights have been around the business forever. Andre was always billed as 7-4 or 7-5 when in actuality he was like 6-10.

Raw was interesting last night, but the HHH thing was a little over the top. I had to chuckle when they showed the "interview" again and Triple H made a comment to Vince being a 63 year old man. I haven't forgotten that three years ago H shoved Vince's head up Big Show's crack before breaking a mallet on the back of Vince's neck.

What would have been great is if the WWE would have done like they did at the Homecoming show a few years back. If we recall, Trips beat the snot out of Ric Flair from one end of the arena to the other before throwing the bloodied Naitch into the back of his limo and sending him on his way. It would have been awesome if Orton was in the ring cutting his promo about how he's the victim and out comes H from the crowd to just beat the everloving crap out of Orton, either leaving the broken and bloodied Orton laying in the ring, or heck, take him and throw him in the back of his rental. And just have Legacy stand at the top of the ramp and watch. That leaves Trip to deal with Rhodes and DiBiase for a few weeks before the return of Orton to get a one up on Triple H prior to going into WM. That would have been awesome. But sadly the company is PG now and those days are long gone.

Also, on a side note, did anyone else notice the crotch chop from HBK last week at the top of the ramp after he left JBL in the ring? With H back on RAW, could we see a reunion of DX in the near future? Possibly since Triple H is dealing with Legacy at the moment, and HBK will need to kill time until Taker at WM.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I think DX needs to take a break for a while, especially with Triple H in full tough guy mode. Sophomoric humor would kill the angle with Orton. Same for Undertaker-Shawn.

"Michael Cole mistakenly said that every Money in the Bank winner cashed in and won a championship. 2007 winner Mr. Kennedy did not. …"

I am cutting Cole some slack because the history became convoluted when Edge took Kennedy's MITB privilege from him.

I am not so sure that HBK will face the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. I think that Kozlov will beat Shawn through some underhanded means, and Michaels will win the MITB match at Wrestlemania.

Kevin, I disagree with you on Legacy running from HHH. To me it just doesn't make sense that three guys would run from one - especially when 2 of the three could have had a sledgehammer by picking up the two that were dropped ringside. I don't really recall ever seeing the four horseman, evolution, or the nwo running in fear of their foes. They all knew that it was just a numbers game, and they had the numbers.

I was also upset that Punk won the money in the bank qualifier. WrestleMania is the biggest PPV of the year and the way it looks now the IC belt won't be defended. Talk about devaluing a title. To me that is just ridiculous.

The Chavo thing was just stupid. I don't know who thought that up but they should be demoted. It didn't even make sense. Why would anybody care that Chavo is coming to face Cena? If they really wanted to go that route they could at least have had Big Show do a run in. That could set up a Big Show vs Cena match on a future raw or smackdown to buy time until Mania.

HBK better go over clean next week against Kozlov so I can stop hearing about this undeafeted nonsense.

Ditto for HBK at WM. I am tired of the Undertaker's WM streak, although I realize that most likely won't end until his last Mania - if ever.

How dare you besmirch Jamie Noble!?

I don't think Michael Hole,(thanx Santino) mistakenly say's anything I think he just doesn't know any better because he's a twit!! I thought it was great when Cena punked him out about how bad his commentary is.If I have to here him say someone's move is vintage again I'm gonna take a hostage.I've never known anyone to get paid for doing so little.Whenever there is something remotely dramitic going on he shuts up! What happened to CALLING THE ACTION!!! When HHH was stomping toward the ring or chasing Orton all over the arena he should've beeen flipping out!! Show some enthusiasm man!! The worst part is it's starting to ware off on some of the other annoucers.J.R does it sometimes now too.Complete silence should be saved for when something REALLY jawdropping is going on,like when Matt Hardy waffeled Jeff with a chair,Tazz and J.R were right to be silent it added to the moment,it was like "I don't belive I just saw that happen."Cole goes quiet if Mike Knox roughs up Rey Mysterio a little bit.How bout' some passion.Look back on some old Raw videos during the hight of the Austin\McMahon war and listen to J.R."Austin got McMahon! Austin got McMahon! Austin got McMahon!!" Hell he host's the Monday night war's on WWE 24/7,you think he'd take a few notes!
Anyway I could go on all day about that nitwit but I digress...
...I was a little dissapointed to see C.M Punk win the money in the bank qualifing match, not that I don't love love Punk, I do, but 3 years in a row he's in MITB co'mon do something with him he's such a great talent.Hopefully he'll win again and get him into a major program with some major players.
Speaking of winning MITB does anyone know what happened to KENNEDY!................Kennedy! He was givin' MVP the business,promoting his movie,doing some bad political skits, and then all of a sudden Poof,he's gone.
One last thing ,HHH runs pretty well for I guy with two major knee surgerys under his belt.I was impressed.
Great blog Eck,as always! Keep up the good work!!

What about the inadvertent kick to the Glamazon's crotch by Melina? Didn't even phase her but Lawler felt her pain.

"Plus, let’s not forget that Orton is a heel. The intent of having him hide behind lawyers and doctors and run from Triple H is to make fans want to see him gets his comeuppance. Standing his ground last night would have made him a babyface."

I hate this line of logic, it's so out of touch. WWE would be a lot better off these days if they focused on making compelling characters instead of worrying about which characters were booed and which characters are cheered. People react to and identify with different types of characters, its the reality of modern wrestling.

Pining for the days when promoters could so easily control the reactions of the audience with simplistic characters will get the company nowhere.

HHH is probably the most over 'pure' face in the company. Cena gets booed by a fraction of the audience, Hardy doesnt get nearly as much response. Having Orton stand his ground wouldnt have made people cheer HHH any less. Some probably would have cheered Orton, but a segment of the audience is cheering him anyway. No one would have started booing HHH on account of Randy standing up to him.

interesting fact:

last night was not the first triple threat match with cm punk facing morrison and the miz-they also faced each other for the ecw title at survivor series 07 when morrison and the miz first started teaming up
also, i predict mvp will win mitb this year

I'll be honest, the Orton/HHH storyline, or how it's be playing out, I should say, is tremedously weak so far. Considering we all know that HHH is married to Stephanie, his actions so far have been pretty pathetic; from the interview on Smackdown, to the hide and seek skit from last night. Yes Kevin, we all know that they need to stretch out/build up the story until Wrestlemania, so you can't have HHH destroy Orton right away. With that, seems like it would have been better to just keep having HHH in short snippets from an interview, where he's a brooding/seething character. That, or have videos of him pop up on the TitanTron when Orton is out there, maybe Orton keep guessing or wondering when/where HHH is going to show up to extract his revenge.

Based on how they've handled this storyline for the last week and a half, I'm just not feeling it. They're dropping the ball, to me.

I don't agree with this notion you seem to have that heels can never be made to look anything but cowardly. I don't ever remember HHH being booked that way during his heel runs. Randy Orton was really riding a wave of momentum following his return from injury that culminated in the Rumble match win. But ever since then he has been sliding backwards, to the point where he went from looking like the future of the company to now just being fodder for another HHH revenge storyline. He deserves better.
While Edge and Cena are at least being booked to look like competitive equals, it looks like Orton will be spending the next 5 weeks either running away or hiding from HHH. By the time they make it to Wrestlemania, will anyone really believe Orton has a chance of winning the title?
I share your disappointment about the apparent lack of an IC title match, but I believe the last time that belt was defended at Wrestlemania was back at WM18. Sad but true. In all likelihood MVP and Shelton Benjamin will be in the MITB match as well, so the US title will also likely be absent from the card.

RESPONSE FROM KE: The point you made about Triple H rarely being booked to show fear of the babyfaces when he was a heel is one of the reasons I got sick of him as a heel. He outsmarted the babyfaces, wasn't afraid of them and always ended up winning in the end. The Rock showed fear. When Steve Austin turned heel in 2001 he did as well.

Kevin it sounds like you have firsthand knowledge of running from a guy with a sledgehammer .

LMFAO! You and I are on the same page. I was thinking the same exact things you were during all last night's matches.

1.) While I was watching that, I was like Triple H just happened to know Randy Orton was going to say that so brought an extra sledgehammer. Yea surrre! But in retrospect, he was pretty mad and especially considering Orton was likely to have a lot of backup with the Legacy, it actually makes sense that he would kind of do that when you think about it. LoL!

My other thoughts on Triple H and Orton's performance from last night is I always get so excited when they have a chase throughout the backstage area because it's like you don't know where the hell they're going or what's about to happen. However, as exciting as it can be for the viewers at home, that has to piss those fans in the arena off who paid to see all that stuff live and not have to watch it on the titantron. You also forgot to mention that Triple H's facial expressions improved greatly this week and wasn't overdone. I thought he did rather well in terms of that considering last week he looked absolutely ridiculous and overacted.

2.) Wow! Now I don't a thing about Ricky the Dragon Steamboat as I first started watching wrestling in late 95, but from what I saw last night I was totally impressed by the guy's promo skills. Looking at his history on the flashbacks, he was quite the stud back in his day and doesn't look all that old or beat up either. Usually they come back after two decades looking hella old. I was thinking this is a guy that probably could have hung in there these days like Rick Flair did. Great promo skills! Not that old looking at all considering that was like 2 decades ago.

3.) As for Jamie Nobel. I read your post last week and it doesn't seem like you like Jamie Nobel. I don't like what the WWE is doing with him and making him lose like that. My view of Jamie Nobel back when he had more matches was that he was feisty little guy ready to take a fight with a big guy sort of like Scrappy Doo on Scooby Doo. LoL! And he did well in a lot of his matches because he was feisty little guy. I had hoped that they would make his feud with Regal a lot better but it was around that time that they weakened him. I don't like what their doing with him at all. I like Jamie Nobel. He's a cutie!

4.) I totally agree with you on all the points you made about Chavo. That was what I thought you'd hate on longer than anything? Wtf was the point of that. That whole thing just pissed me off with her deciding on Chavo but it also makes me laugh at the same time because it seems like Vicki hates Chavo. She's always throwing him in their like she's angrier at him than anyone else. I mean, she should have known Chavo would be no match. I say Chavo finally turns on that whole group. I mean, she really treats him like a slave. Vicki vs. Chavo more than anything

5.) Dolph Ziggler finally returned. I was happy to see him finally return but it was a 6 man tag so he didn't get much ring time. I thought that match was purely for Shad to show that his in-ring skills could improve so they made him squash Santino. Rumor has it that Shad was in trouble in the back for poor ring performances.

6.) I don't understand this whole angle regarding Taker vs. HBK with HBK having to earn a match vs. The Undertaker. I thought HBK was Mr. WrestleMania so why the heck should he have to earn a match vs. The Undertaker. It makes no sense. I could understand if it was someone like JBL or Kozlov having to earn a match vs. a legend but why HBK? Also, what exactly is the point with having Taker face Kozlov and if Kozlov wins he will get a WrestleMania match vs. Taker and then Kozlov facing HBK next week? None of this is making any sense. Taker shouldn't even be in it. They need to do a lot better with building up to an HBK Undertaker feud. This one is terrible. I know their trying to pass the time and do something with these guys since WrestleMania is like 3 months away but this is ridiculous especially considering the fact that the lead-up to Taker and HBK's matches back in the late 90s were classic. I still remember the classic shady chair shots (were they accidental or not) that led up to their first match and everyone questioning HBK. Now you compare this crap with that. Wow! These are legends. The lead up to their match needs to be classic and at least make some sense!

Cole referred to stephanie as triple h's husband.

Glad to see santino isn't turning gay at least.

Had UPN not told WWE to get rid of Muhammad Hassan back in the summer of 2005, I expected a babyface turn from JBL and feud between those two.

The awesome thing about a JBL face turn against an "evil foreigner" is that he wouldn't have to change his character at all.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I also thought that Hassan was the guy JBL would work with. The thing about Kozlov is that he hasn't really done any anti-American promos that I can recall.

Sounds like Raw was a good show last night. didn't get to watch it since I live in Australia :( . It would be funny if shawn micheals lose to Koslov to get to vs undertaker in Wrestlemania but the creative team would have to be brain dead to have koslov vs undertaker at wrestlemania and Kev will you watch The marine 2 with Ted Dibase JR as the main star probably will be worse than the first one with John Cena.

I would pay to hear a conversation between Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger, that would be sssweet.
Triple H's acting is almost as bad as his running, it looked like he had a 3rd sledgehammer somewhere else if you get my drift.
Why didn't every member of legacy just have a weapon?
The story with Vickie not using Big Show is probably that she doesn't want to put her "special" friend at risk.

You know, I was thinking the same thing about the Chavo/Cena match and there's only 2 possible motivations, neither of which make sense.

1. As you said, Vickie for some inconceivable reason thought that Chavo could actually BEAT Cena, which he couldn't.

2. What occurred to me as more likely is that Vickie wanted to waste Cena's time, show him that she's the boss and can dangle him along however she wants.

The problem there is that she's basically admitting that her nephew is incapable of beating the champ.

Despite that flaw, I'm inclined to think it's the latter of those possibilities. I think it was a move to play into the "Cena will haunt them no matter how much they try to avoid him" angle.

Big Show would've presented a couple larger problems to the angle. It would've presented a serious challenge to Cena if he did in fact win. And if he didn't then it would derail his momentum right off the bat in his "if you hide I'll find you, if you run I'll catch you" quest.

I thought it was a good choice, if a little strange, just because it allowed for a more direct interaction between Cena and Vickie before/during/after the match since Cena didn't have to pay too much attention to the match itself.

What do you think?

RESPONSE FROM KE: I understand what you're saying, but it just took the air out of the crowd when Chavo came out.

I would have had JBL turn face at Raw by attacking Kozlov right after he attacked Shawn Michaels. That would have popped the crowd, then the following week, JBL screws over Kozlov in his match against Michaels.

Or I would have simply put in an angle where JBL was made GM of Raw by "buying the position" due to the WWE's low stock value.

I can't see though how JBL can be put at the top again after losing every single important match for how long now????

Legacy needs a muscle guy to fill them out much like Batista did with Evolution. Umaga seems to be a good choice. They could point out Umaga's grandfather as a "legacy" angle. There's really no angle for Umaga to do on Smackdown so this seems to be the logical choice.

Big Show needs to retire. Over the past year, he's gone from headlining to Wrestlmania to being very lucky if he gets in at all. Fans aren't buying his constant heel-good guy changes either, they happen far too often. Big Show is just too likable to be a heel. I think his back and knees are bothering him bad and he's gained a bunch of weight again.

Khali been off TV for a while. And speaking of Show and Khali, they are going to wrestle each other in a body-slam challenge match here in Columbia SC on a weekend. Ugh

Best promo Steamboat has ever done in his life.

No Mysterio, no Kane, no Regal this week.

I don't mind a cowardly heel at all when it is done right. Last night's skit involving Legacy & HHH was simply not done right. In the first place, it was a three on one situation. Sure, HHH had a weapon but Orton & company had plenty of opportunities to fight weapon against weapon. There were two sledgehammers at ringside. In the dressing room, there was a chair right in front of Orton. Out of the dressing room, Orton actually picked up some metal rod which was even longer (and hence, has a better reach) than the sledgehammer. Instead of using it to defend himself or go on the counter-attack, he simply dropped it (so why even pick it up?) and continued to flee.

There's a time and place for a heel to be a coward and there's a time and place for a heel not to be a coward. Every heel in the past has alternated between taking the upper hand when they could and running like a coward when they had to (even HHH showed fear against Cactus Jack). The circumstances on the show last night meant that the heels should have taken the upper hand instead of running like cowards. If HHH had stalked and ambushed Legacy throughout the show, taking out Rhodes & DiBiase backstage one by one, then yes, Orton should have reacted like a coward, running away from the weapon wielding HHH. With three guys in the ring, one of whom was wielding a weapon too, there was no reason why they should have even expressed fear of HHH.

Is it possible that WWE is planning to insert Koslov in with HBK and Undertaker, making it a triple threat? I mean, they keep billing Koslov as "undefeated" even though he's never beaten anyone except jobbers.... and he was thrown quickly out of the Royal Rumble and his other two PPV appearances were the worst WWE segments in recent years.

So, if Vince has truly got his money stuck to Koslov for the same inconceivable reasons he tried to force Lex Luger down our throats years ago, he might have the HBK Koslov match on Raw end in a draw or a DQ next week, and then make it a triple threat at WM25. I'm praying that will NOT happen, but for some bizzare reason, Koslov seems to be in WWE's favor, so it is entirely possible.

All I can say is that if they ruin HBK vs Undertaker by inserting Koslov, I won't watch wrestlemania - I'd rather turn on an episode of Impact. (I've watched it once and turned it off about half way through)

HBK must win and win clean next week, then the Undertaker needs to appear, igniting the feud.

It was so obvious the way it was played that it was going to be Chavo, you could almost hear the atmosphere being sucked outta the building when his music hit..

I have never been a fan of Punk but for crying out loud he is the IC Champ and as such should be in his own programme at WM, that title has pretty much no meaning anymore they may as well just cruiserweight it..

And when is Vince gonna give up on Kozlov, the guy is a wrestling/charisma black hole.. Always said Michaels could make a mop look good but part of me is kind of hoping this upcoming match is a stinker just so we can finally get rid of the guy, not that I want anyone to lose their job I just want him out of the main event picture, way things are going TNA would probably snap him up in a heartbeat anyway lol..

I am a newcomer to the wrestling fans community, so please EXCUSE ME: could you explain to me why everybody is considering Kozlov and Knox as very bad wrestlers? I watched their EC matches at No Way Out, and didn't really understand why everyone was so sarcastic about their in-ring performances: for me, here are two big and slow guys, that's a fact — you don't expect them to climb on the third rope or to do a 619 — but it seems to me that they do correctly what their are asked for: to outpower smaller opponents and to throw them all around the ring. And even when some moves don't go as expected, I find it rather refreshing: it makes the matches look more like real brawls and less like a choreographed ballet... Since I seem to be the only one who is not horrified by the in-ring work of Kozlov or Knox, and I don't really know anything about wrestling, I would be glad if someone could explain this to me (in my wildest dreams, I even imagine Kevin writing a "technical" entry for people like me).

Also, what happened to Kofi Kingston??? At No Way Out, the guy gets the greatest chance of his life when being involved in the EC match, but is taken out by Edge before making it to the ring... and he doesn't even appear on the two next shows! Why not have him complaining and getting a match for the belt with Edge? Kofi being a babyface, that could bring some more heat on Edge. They should at least have explained that after Edge's attack, Kofi is in the hospital or something, but unless I missed it, nothing has been said, it's just like he never existed... Strange.

One last thing: Kevin, do you think that the fight between Morrison and Miz could lead to the ending of their team? And if so, could we have at last that long-awaited Morrison solo push that a lot of people are waiting for? I love this guy and I hope he'll still be in the MITB match, despite his loss in the qualifying match.

RESPONSE FROM KE: There are big men who can work, and no they don't necessarily have to fly all around the ring. I think Knox works a good big man's style. Kozlov gets criticized because he just doesn't seem to get it -- he's frequently in the wrong place and is a little clumsy.

Miz and Morrison will go their separate ways at some point, but I'm not sure it will be real soon (although there have been hints). And yes, Morrison will be a star, I believe.

Sorry for my English, I'm actually not a native speaker as you might have noticed; actually, I'm from Russian origin — which permitted me to understand Kozlov's announcement on last week's Smackdown when he said he would come to Raw to confront JBL and HBK — but I live in France. With some friends, and partly inspired by this blog, we recently decided to create a website about wrestling — you would not believe how awful are almost all the wrestling sites in French, they all seem to be written by 10 year olds, and maybe it is the case. I don't know if it's allowed here to give links (if not, no problem of course Kev if you erase this from my comment) but if there are some people here who read French, I would be glad if you could give a look at our site: http://www.lescahiersducatch.com/site/

Thanks!

The promos on Raw were good, but the wrestling wasn't anything special. The only match that stood out was the Triple Threat. Otherwise, Raw has been really good lately, and there's very little to complain about.

Glad i watched ecw last night. Swagger-christian was the best match i have seen on free tv in a long long time.

Kevin, do you have any info on regal and his heart condition? I suspect it is why his ring time in 09 has been so limited. I hope he recovers.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I only know what I have read about Regal -- probably same things you have re ad.

I didn't think too much into Chav/Cena, as I figured during the opening segment that Cena would opt to face the "family" member and it would be Chavo. He's such a gopher, it's not even funny. It probably zapped the fans' zest for the show, but it could've been worse...Ryder and Hawkins could've showed up...

BTW, "I would pay to hear a conversation between Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger, that would be sssweet.

LOL "Priceless."

After being excited about last week's episodes of RAW and Smackdown, I was disappointed in RAW Monday night - I totally agree with Paul in Hawaii, that WWE is dropping the ball with the storyline re: HHH/Orton - they should keep Orton and his goon squad guessing when HHH is going to show up ---- I was hoping he didn't show at all or show up via the TitanTron and make some kind of comment that Orton better watch his back because he'll never know when HHH will be behind him. Also I felt the running scenes were overdone and the 3 could definitely with all the opportunities they had definitely taken on HHH. Although the dumbest written line last night (insulting the fans) was when Orton made a comment about he hoped Stephanie's children were watching, etc. --- come on now --- that was dumb - her children are 2 and 6 months old --- I'm sure by 9 p.m. they're in bed and I'm sure they DO NOT WATCH or understand WWE.

I thought Ricky the Dragon was great, however, I'm getting tired of the whole Chris Jericho routine --- does he only wrestle at Pay Per Views anymore? Don't think I've seen him wrestle for months on a regular show.

Since I don't like Vickie at all, when she opened the show saying she was interim general manager, I had a sense that the show would not be that great. Can't wait until Steph is back or someone else takes over that spot.

On another note, Kevin, I didn't realize how much they were playing up the heights etc. until a live event I went to about a year or so ago --- Khali was there, along with the Undertaker, etc., and I remember saying to the person next to me, boy they look a shorter than what the announcers are saying or what they appear on tv.

I don't think the point of Orton running was to reinforce him as a heel. I think he HAD to run from Triple H. Creative backed themselves into that corner with the Shane debacle. After booking Shane as Superman, how else can you possibly make Triple H look meaner and tougher than Shane, except by having Orton turn tail?

It was brutal watching HHH trying to run. He is so bulked up he couldn't swing his arms when he was supposed to be sprinting. It seemed Orton had to slow down at times to let Trips catch up.
It's also sad to see that there won't be an Intercontinental Championship match again at WM. That belt used to be very important and had a huge build up prior to WM. Steamboat/Macho, Rude/Warrior, Hart/Piper, Michaels/Razor were some of the best WM matches I remember. Now, like the tag team belts, it doesn't have much importance.

Hasn't Randy Orton got the choice of which Champion he faces at Wrestlemania?

He hasn't even challenged Triple H yet and the feud has started.

Surely, rather than running away the ultimate chicken heel act would be to challenge Edge....and then get forced in to fighting Triple H somehow?

I could not be any less excited about HHH Orton. I can't believe Morisson isn't in MITB, him and Shelton had the best spots last year by far. I hope Kendrick gets in.

"Some probably would have cheered Orton, but a segment of the audience is cheering him anyway."

Yes. I have a female friend who supports Orton, no matter what. If Orton were to pull out a gun and shoot Stephanie in the head, my friend would worry about whether the recoil hurt his wrist.

As for all the running away in terror, is it a coincidence that the remake of Friday the 13th was released a short time ago? Just saying.

As usual, another excellent blog posting.

I wanted to touch on the part where you stated that it didn't make a lot of sense for HHH to bring a second sledgehammer with him. You stated that his character shouldn't have known what Orton was going to do.

Perhaps, his character had something in mind already where he was going to convince Orton that he wasn't going to use the sledgehammer?

Just a thought.

"Legacy needs a muscle guy to fill them out much like Batista did with Evolution. Umaga seems to be a good choice. They could point out Umaga's grandfather as a "legacy" angle."

You must have read my post from about a month ago Shawn.

Iron Mike - Yeah, i too was suprised that CM won the MITB qualifying match. Seems very strange to put the IC champ into the match, kinda devalues the belt (yet more) if the champ is chasing other titles. I'm hoping Punk is gonna lose the title before Mania so that whoever succeeds him can defend the belt on 'the grandest stage of all', as it deserves.

Part of me hopes Regal gets it back, but then i'm a Brit so kinda biased.