after watching the dibiase-orton match all i could think about is these 2 headlining ppvs against each other.

I would love to hear a psychologist 'explain' Vince McMahon's fascination with family tension. Why do brothers always have to fight? Why do fathers and sons always have turmoil? Why is his son-in-law incapable of losing a match clean?

There are moments when I think Vinnie Mac has Verne Gagne sitting on his shoulder.

Thank God Shane only wanted to be a part-time wrestler.

Appreciate the post, Kevin. Keep up the good work.

I enjoyed the MVP-Swagger segment as well, but I really cannot speak highly enough of the Dibiase storyline.

It was so simple - the father wanting to push his son and get the best out of him while the son isn't able to see it - but so effective. The Orton-Dibiase match also put both guys over because Orton got a clean win and Dibiase put up a good fight.

While I'm praising Dibiase, the guy's wrestling skills are amazing - he carries himself like a veteran. He's really good at keeping the modern fan interested but wrestles an old school style. Time to give both Dibiase and Rhodes their own feuds.

Unrelated to the main post, but just curious -- what if anything has happened with Santino Marella since the firing of "Santina" by Trump a couple weeks back? Did he need a break or have the writers just not come up with a new storyline for him yet?

That was the best episode of Raw in many months.

It seems like they have finally put some effort into the undercard, and Cena had a solid match with HHH (yes, Trips is not without his own merits). I have no interest in the triple-threat match, but this episode was quite good.

I was never a fan of Ted DiBiase Sr. as a wrestler nor have I been of his son so far, but both did a lot to convert me on this episode of Raw.

Gail Kim and Micky your dream team, eh Kev? I won't even go there to ask what's in that dream of yours.

They were very good in the ring yesterday though.

How many tag partners is that that Carlito has turned on now over the years? That's not cool!

HHH/Cena had a good match but way too predictable and ultimately boring.

I might stop fussing about HHH maybe if he would just show enough motivation to at least learn some good new moves in the ring instead of the same old stuff, even if he is not capable of losing clean to anyone. How long can anybody just go out there and do the same old stuff year after year? OK, I know he's nasty and hardcore already. Grow up a little HHH.

I guess if your father in law is the boss, you can.

You thought Henry's pop was may have had something to do with post production enhancement but you really thought there was a M-V-P chant going on...intersting.
It's amazing, to me it clearly sounded like Michale Hole and the King called that broadcast from a studio in Stamford, and Hole still sucked! He said what an embarrassment it would be for Orton to lose to DiBiase, he used that word, embarrassment! Way to help put a guy over.
I'd kinda like to see Tony Atlas stick with Mark Henry if Henry is going to feud with Legacy. Mark could say how Legacy has no respect for their own father's and how Atlas is like a father to him and a legend in the business. It would add an element to the whole second genaration thing.
If Cena and HHH would have spent half as much time wrestling as they did looking out to the crowd to see who was getting the better response the match would have been 100% better. Pretty silly booking since they made such a big deal about how "All bet's were off" and how "It's all about a shot at the title."
Since the "The Million Dollar Man" had absolute power I was expecting him to restart the Henry/Rhodes match and let Cody continue to take his beating.
I think the only reason that I've liked HHH for so long is because Motorhead does his entrance music. Let me see your devil horns if you're with me! \m/ !!!

RESPONSE FROM KE: \m/

I have many thoughts on Raw. 1st i agree, this was best Raw in a while.
I thought Ted Sr. coming in to push Ted Jr was just what Jr. needed, I also agree Dibiase/Orton will be a match seen in the future.
MVP/Swagger was great, Am i the only one who thinks Swagger reminds me of Biff from Back to the Future fame, Biff, by the way, a great heel, as is Swagger..
rest of the show was good, main event was well done, I am just tired of the mutiple combinations of Orton/HHH/Cena, If Batista wasnt hurt then it would be a 4 way, Enough already, Id rather see Orton/Mark Henry at this point, lol

RESPONSE FROM KE: I would rather see Orton-Henry, too. And I'm being serious.

Franklin oliver i think thats horrible to compave Vince to Verne. Vince has put a title on everyone in his family but his Wife and never put the World title on his son and was deserving to wear it himself although he did put it on his son in law who diserved it but i think Greg deserved it more than Greg. As far as the Mcmahons go you got Vince withthe World title,Shane European title,Steph Womasn's Title And HHH every title they have except the U S. Anyway I think MVP/Swagger feud would be nice but we know how its gonna end. I hate that champions are always losing clean in non title matches this weeks victim is Kofi which is sad although I like Bourne their almost the same wrestler in alot of ways so to me what is the point. hated to see the colons break-up so i guess the tag team division is going away again with the eventual break-up of Legacy I guess all that will be left is cryme time & the Harts.

You've been complaining for months about Kim, then when she gets a big win in a tag match, you barely have anything to say.

RESPONSE FROM KE: It's going to take more than that for me to believe that she's going to get a real push.

Not really as much a comment towards you as towards all the wrestling smarks. What do you see in Dibiase? I see nothing. He bores me. I actually had to change the channel when he fought Orton, and I didn't even do that for the Trips match.

Mickie James needs to lose the manly looking baseball cap.

Whenever I see triple H wrestle (thankfully not too often) I always ask myself "Self,why does this guy wear a Maltese Cross on his gear??"

Obviously he's not from Germany like the (kayfabe) Fritz Von Erich,and he's not even from the Isle of Malta as was the wonderful Baron Mikel Scicluna.And he's certainly not a 60's surfer/biker/hot rodder.There were damn few of those in Lawrence Mass.

Surprised you didnt have anything to say about the lack of AWESOME on Raw (No Miz, thankfully).

I dont understand how Mark Henry beats the WWE champ the week before and then isn't given a title shot...?

Wouldnt he be the number one contender? Just makes no logical sense......

I dont know....the HHH/Cena main event just had no emotion to it....It just felt like a good match...but HHH had his pedigree broken atleast 3 times....

I just miss the old days o well

Nice article, Kev. You pretty much covered everything I was going to say.

I just hope that when Legacy does split that DiBiase feuds with Orton and not Rhodes. A DiBiase-Rhodes feud would do nothing but bury both of them.

Ted DiBiase did a fabulous job hosting as a complex, multi-layered heel.

MVP-Swagger has a lot of promise. But Swagger seriously needs to shave the peach fuzz. His mic work leaves a lot to be desired as well but he does have that smirk. Henry said Swagger reminds him of Biff from Back To The Future. I hadn't thought of it but it makes sense. I would also say that Swagger looks a lot like Christopher Nowinski from the first Tough Enough.

I see a heel turn in Gail Kim's future. If it does hopefully it won't come faster than Carlito's.

I don't know if I would compare Vince to Verne Gagne. At least Greg Gagne could deliver a dropkick and properly apply a sleeper hold. OK, I'm an AWA fan.

I agree. An Orton-Henry pay per view match would make more sense than what they are doing. If we see a permutation of Orton-HHH-Cena every week, much less every PPV, exactly what are they going to put together to make Summer Slam or Wrestlemania special?

I too enjoyed this Raw. DiBiase versus Orton was a fascinating match which was well set up and performed by both men.

MVP showed more mic skills, personality and creativity than he has been permitted in the past and Swagger also played his role well.

New matchups like these are the key to success.

On the other hand, Cena's posturing before his match with HHH was something I could have done without.

The thing I liked most about the MVP-Swagger angle is that MVP finally showed some strength again. I feel like the last strong showing he put up was his first night on Raw.

Kev, I have 2 questions. One, who do you see Triple H feuding with after Orton? (Providing it ends of course)
And second, I know Raw wasn't live this week, so how did they tape it? Same night, same building? Cuz if so its interesting the difference in pops MVP got from last week to "this week."

RESPONSE FROM KE: Yep.Same night,same building. Maybe a Triple H-Cena feud up next.

OMG, Henry, you're right! Swagger does remind me of Biff!

Hello, anybody home?

Lots of good things this week. Seing the Million Dollar Belt brought back memories. Plus he played his role perfect. Especially his skit with Cody. Cody doing the American Dream dance and MDM cutting a classic promo on him and taking his money. Such a shame his back couldn't hold up.

Anyway, I also hope the crowd response to MVP was legit. Even if it's not, it came across well and should carryover. I figured you scripted the VIP Lounge segment when I saw it.

If the VIP Lounge was your writing then the US Title match was mine. Surprising result, but I liked it all the same. If only one can get the push as a face, then I'd choose Bourne.

Hopefully this leads to a hhh cena feud with one going heel. I think the colon brothers will have some great tv matches over the next month, maybe primo will even get the better of his brother and get a push, i see a bit of rey mysterio in him.

How is it that with so few established tag teams they decide to break up the Colons and have one less?

Especially if Jericho and Edge will be out of the picture it seems like the Colons, if not Legacy, would have another shot at being champs.

Frank... Besides the WHC and Tag titles HHH won all the titles prior to Dating Steph.. The WHC did not come into being in the WWE until 2002, and yes while their is likely some nepotism there, lets not shy away from the fact HHH is the WWE's biggest live draw and second biggest seller of Merchandise, to the Sellers go the titles.
The simple fact is it was a massive main event and I loved it not a big fan of the ending but loved the match... I loved what occurred after the final bell more (search on you tube).

But for me the stand out match has to be Orton/Dibasie Jr, I have been waiting for this match since April and it delivered, I did not expect to win... not yet but he is clearly a future champ, now let's see what happens with Rhodes.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the Ted Sr. and Cody Rhodes exchange during Raw. I never understood how (storyline wise) the Million Dollar man would approve of his son running with the Common Man's son. And why would Dusty approve of his son teaming up with the son of a guy who "bought" and turned his manager against him so may years ago. I'm glad they acknowledged this.

I would think, character wise, that Ted Sr. would disapprove of junior being a lackey to anybody....if anything junior should be buying a lackey of his own (does Vrigil have a son lol?).

Almost forgot to mention, Carlito's heel turn. Hell yea! Carlito is so much better as heel. He just hasn't really stood out all that much as face.

"How long can anybody just go out there and do the same old stuff year after year?"

Two words: Hulk Hogan

Great Raw - I even paid a little attention to the HHH/Cena match.

I see good storylines developing with Swagger, MVP, Bourne, Kofi and so on. Bring Christian in and this Show will be a wrap. I just wish Vince (or whomever) would not project the mid-carders like they can't carry things like HHH or Cena. I wish fans would even give Cody more credit instead of comparing him with Orton and DiBiase. Did anyone remember how great he did on Superstars with Shane?

I like the Mark Henry storyline, amazing how someone can go from heel to hero in one night. DiBiase Sr. should have restarted the Rhodes/Henry match.

Raw was o.k. It's become a shadow of its former self, but I guess that's the evolution of the business. If WCW Nitro came back, at this point it would stomp Raw. It's encouraging that they tried to do some swerves on the show. Will they be able to follow it up, or will they have a change of heart and sweep it all under the carpet like they usually do after Vince changes his mind?

Bradley.. one of the reasons why HHHorrible is a "money draw" is because the WWE made him so. When he is in every main event its easy to attribute success to him when much of it is either undeserved or forced. I don't believe HHHorrible brings in lots of casual fans to watch wrestling. Yes, he has had a Hall of Fame career because he is a talented wrestler and yes, he had success before Stephanie. While both those things are true, it is also true that he is stale, boring, and over pushed. HHH makes it his job to HHHold down talent. Ask Chris Jericho. Jericho is the best performer in the WWE currently and is probably a top 10 wrestler of all time (the only other active wrestlers that get that title are Taker and HBK) but it took him 6 years to get another world title reign after he lost to HHHorrible (and HHHorrible was on the other show). SIX YEARS. That is made worse by the fact that HHHorrible lost the belt a month later to Hogan and then turned heel after burying Jericho. HHHorrible has been in a world title match at Mania 9 of the last 11 years and one of the times he wasn't he was injured.You can't build talent if you continually push yourself. That's why HHH is a bad thing for the WWE. He has losing career records against 2 people as much as I can recall: Taker and Batista. What we saw on Monday was a face off of two of the biggest stars in wrestling. And every single move was done in their previous matchups. If it was the first time it would've been excellent, but everything Triple H does is stale. We get that he's big, bad, and angry. He is the Game and he likes to hurt Randy Orton. We get that too. He needs to get traded to ECW for Christian so he can go bury Koslov more.

On the flip side, Jericho can sit in the undercard with IC title feuds or petty disputes and turn it into the best thing on TV. The reason why HBK, Taker and Jericho are the best of the best and why Triple H is not is very simple: They don't need the belt to make a feud work. Triple H always has to have a belt and I can't recall a time when he was in an "epic feud" and it didn't involve the belt. Taker has had 6 title reigns, Jericho has had 5, and HBK has had 4. Combined those three have 2 more title reigns than Triple H. That is why nepotism criticism is correct.

When Triple H steps out of the limelight he can rediscover the magic that made him good (not great) but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Bradley, don't forget that WWE didn't know Edge was going to get injured when they staged the spat between the Colons.

Kevin, unlikely you'll see a slow heel turn for Carlito .. at the Perth house show last night, Primo wrestled without Carlito at ringside .. and when Carlito came to make the 'save', he just attacked Primo.

is it just me, or did gail kim really beat maryse and alicia fox in what was essentially a handicap match? i don't remember mickie even getting on the screen other than taking a shot from maryse. maybe this is the start of something good for her? she is hands down the best womens wrestler i have ever seen!

also, i totally agree with what jason posted above -- one of the highlights of the night for me was cody trying to buy off ted sr. with a couple hundred and their whole exchange ... that was just awesome!

too bad we probably can't get ted sr as permanent gm because he was great as always ... Money money money money mon-eeeeeeeeeeey!

Having Ted Sr run the show brought back a lot of memories and he did his job well. Would there be a chance of him coming back as a manager at some stage for his son?
It could make for some interesting moments. His put down of Cody was great!

Andrew K,

Touche!

I was bored with Hogan as well after a couple of years. I guess I'm in the minority.

YAY for Gail Kim finally pinning somebody...Although I think she's better as a face, I wouldn't mind her turning if it means she feuds with Mickie. They could put on some awesome matches. I remember when Gail was heel towards the end of her last WWE run. I dug that they kind of made her the submission specialist, when she went heel. That'd be cool if she does turn, and that comes back...

Carlito takes Edge's place with Jericho and becomes his new protege maybe?

Kevin
The pop you heard when Mark Henry came out was real. I was at the show last week and was amazed how quickly the fans got behind him after one match beating Orton. Henry is now an official babyface. Kinda sucks