I agree, all things considered it wasn't a bad show. Don't forget that the Smackdown guys had traveled over 50 hours to get back to the states, so they weren't exactly in peak form.

But yeah, it wasn't much of a build for the weekend. I wonder how much Macgruber stuff they were planning to do originally, and how much was added to fill time. I'd be willing to bet that the HHH/Kane skit was last minute.

How could you not mention how great Jericho was, flirting with the sidekick and singing his own version of Macgruber's theme? I know Jericho has tried to remove anything that fans might latch on about him to like, but the old Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla shines through.

Yeah, Swagger... it's the same thing they did with Punk two years ago. If you're not prepared to treat the guy like the champ, don't put the belt on him. Simple as that. More then perhaps any other past MITB champ, Swagger looks like a guy that got lucky and is not ready to be a main event player. Your champion just can't be pinned and look strong, even if it is to the Undertaker.

King and Cole did a miserable job of putting Swagger over as someone who's a threat. The story of the match was supposed to be that Swagger put up a great fight but barely got edged out by one of the greatest of all time. But just listening to the announcers it would seem like a squash match.

I think I had a Y2J flashback. His interaction backstage with the MacGruber people was pretty hilarious.

Props to HHH, that was a pretty decent stall-job.

I'm in favor of matches not having to end with a finisher nearly every time, but I agree the McIntyre/Hardy match finished on a flat note.

I had guessed that the match ended that way just because Taker was unwilling to put Swagger over. When was the last time Taker lost clean to anybody, for that matter? Is he willing to put over ANY young talent?

I take your point about Swagger being buried, but I did come away from this one match feeling like he came off stronger for it. Having Swagger run off or get DQ'd would have felt unsatisfying. Instead, he showed strong offense and stuck in 'til the end. Even though he lost the match, I think he came away from the match a more solid champion than before he had faced Undertaker.

The WWE muffed a chance to showcase Smackdown and highlight some of its young stars. Too much Triple H, too much MacGruber, and too many older stars beating the young guns.

It certainly left the impression that the WWE brass believes Smackdown is the inferior show. (Which, in my opinion, it is not.)

I realize they had to cobble together a show on very short notice, but they could have done better.

I really liked Swagger and Undertaker, but I was sure that Swagger would sneak out a win, as it is PPV time on Sunday. I don't know Taker's demeanor backstage, but would he refuse to do the job for Swagger (like Nash has been reported to in the past)? It would have been a super finish, and after Orton, a neat program with Taker would have solidified Swagger as main event quality. Now? I think Orton will get the belt since he's kind of on a hot streak with his Tweener role right now.

I kinda disagree with you Kev. What usually happens when these Mid Carders win Money In The Bank? They spend months wrestling matches that show they are main event level. If Swagger just went fron jobbing to Santino(basically) getting thrown around when he was trying to claim he would win the royal rumble; and all of a sudden was beating the likes of the Undertaker and Orton left and right, I would think that was just plain foolish. He still has the Smackdown taping to win a match, and in fact that is where he should do it.

I hope that the MacGruber cast was only on so much because of the seat of the pants booking for the show. I was happy that MacGruber didn't wrestle Jack Swagger for the Championship.

What is a horse face???

RESPONSE FROM KE: Someone who has a face that looks like a horse.

Movie characters interacting w/ wrestlers...who's next on the guest host list? Robocop? Chucky? And here I thought only TNA rehashed old WCW gimmicks.

It looked like Edge got hurt bad on his torn Achilles ankle in the last match.

kev i just don't understand why WWE book certain champions that way if you remember when Rey misterio won the world title he was losing non titles matches left & right and i think the same can ve said about C M Punk's title reign. I just don't understand why they just dont book hi mas strong as they book Sheamus he would easily go to new heights because he is more believable, speaking of the latter I can't believe the latter is so popular right now wow i guess if anyone attacks the game it gives you instant credit the IWC should be ashamed of themselves for caring about some undeserving guy who got his spot for being someone workout partner.

This was a fun show and WWE certainly did it's best to make the best out of a bad situation and there was still plenty of star power on offer here.

I'd never even heard of the film MacGruber before the show, but I thought he did a great job and his segments were actually pretty funny. I've seen the girl he was with in films like Knocked Up, but I can't for the life of me think of her name. Also, I thought MacGruber's segments were a hell of a lot funnier than Triple H's opening segment. His line about Lilian Garcia having a horse face just seemed more spiteful than anything else.

It was a nice surprise to have Undertaker there, but I agree that his match with Swagger could've been booked better. Swagger just isn't coming off like a legitimate champion at the moment. I'm guessing he'll beat Orton this Sunday though, which should restore some much needed credibility to him and the belt he holds.

I know you've taken some heat for the updates on the Raw crew stuck in Europe but I for one like it. I'm always interested in "backstage, behind the scenes" stuff & that's one of the great things about this blog. Because you've worked in the business & are so well connected, I'm always interested in your perspective on this kind of thing. On a different note, as someone with a very self-effacing sense of humor, I really hope Lillian takes the lead backstage with this "horse face" stuff. If not, that seems about as mean-spirited as the Mickie James-"piggy" garbage. I have always found Trips funny when he tries to be. But this is not the 1st time I've heard him go down this road with Lillian & I don't like it. Maybe next time she should shoot back with a line about his increasingly sagging man boobs & something about "milking the cow".

Besides staring in the Macgruber film, Khali was probably there to help fill the void by the stranded Raw roster. That being said, I wish they would have had Goldust show up for some type of Hollywood/movie star interaction. He's been way too scarce since going to Smackdown.

Poor Lillian Garcia. She does the company what would appear to be a big favor and they make fun of her. Hopefully she learned her lesson.

Raw was pretty good all things considered. I thought it was good that Taker went over strong. He should come out on top his first match back so his victory over Michaels didn't look weak. I just wonder why they picked Swagger, the new World Heavyweight Champion, to do the job. There are a lot of other top guys that Undertaker could beat and not hurt the Championship.

I know MacGruber does the "blow stuff up" thing. However, April 19th shouldn't be a day that explosive jokes are made. I don't think they would have done that skit if they were in Oklahoma.

Punk was really good this week and I did like the "Jer-i-cho" song with the hair poof. Raw misses those two. Hopefully at least one will be drafted after the PPV.

Kev, its Will Forte and Kristen Wiig from SNL. they do a macgruber skit, but OMG, not a movie?
Why in the heck, does Raw always go over by 5-10 minutes, and Smackdown finishes right on time??
The did good with what they had on Raw. And when was the last time Punk performed the GTS??

How about the interaction between Jericho and Magruber and his sidekick, when he rattled off own "Jair Ree Ko" song. Good stuff.

I'm glad WWE used the Taker-Swagger match and HHH pinning Punk in the main event to remind us for the 1,478,904th time that HHH and The Undertaker are indeed big stars.

I actually thought the MacGruber stuff was hilarious, including him wetting his pants - the look on Kane's face when MacGruber said he borrowed those pants from hi m was priceless! Anyway, I thought they did a really good job - and Jericho's interaction with him was FANTASTIC, especially when Y2J started singing the MacGruber theme song with "Jereeko!" in it. Good stuff. WWE is "sports entertainment" now, and in that respect, I think they delivered, especially in light of their difficulties. I had a rough day Monday and that show put a smile back on my face.

Kev - after the main event 6-man tag match, Edge seemed to have a lot of problems with his ankle. Was he really hurt or just selling the punishment he took from Chris Jericho on Friday night? If it was a sell, he did a good job with it!

Under the circumstances and the time they had to put something together, I thought WWE did a decent job for Raw. I didn't understand Jack Swagger losing clean either.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I assumed he was just selling.

What's HHH's problem with Lillian?

HHH is hilarious. He could do it by himself. He and Punk worked good together.

Punk has stepped to another level. When he said Jersey sucks. I agreed. and the towel...great. I hope they end up on the same brand together.

Khali can just step back across the ocean and see his family. So go back and take Koslov with you.

The thing is if you don't put over Swagger..if/when he does win it looks like a fluke..ex Sheamus, CM Punk ..etc) which never happend to Cena, Shawn Michaels or Kurt Angle ..those 3 guys had something Swagger doesn't ..they had opponents that "hated" them - Undertaker was a good early rival for Cena (followed by Evolution), Shawn had Bret Hart & Angle had Edge who started the "you suc" when his theme song came on ..no one has any reason to hate Swagger, to take him on..he's just blah..same as Punk & Sheamus which is why they are not getting over

I sure as heck Punk doesn't end up on Raw, or on the same brand as Triple H. He's being treated badly enough on SmackDown as it is. He gets more heat than anyone else does, yet he's been pinned by HHH for like the 10th time now, and been one-upped by Mysterio YET AGAIN. Punk better win at Extreme Rules. What is up with the super lopsided booking lately?

LMAO!!!!

What is a horse face???

RESPONSE FROM KE: Someone who has a face that looks like a horse.

I have a feeling that the Swagger/UT match was a one off/non storyline related match and is not going to be referenced much in the future. Kind of like on one of their Tribute or Memorial shows [i.e. something to make the crowd pop and not have any lingering effect] considering the situation with the volcano. It would be really silly to have it be anything but that, considering there will more than likely be no follow-up.

Also - how can 90% of you guys not know who Kristen Wiig is? I mean, I can kind of forgive you for not knowing Will Forte since he's just kind of [finally] breaking through, but Kristen is an Emmy nominated actress who has appeared in dozens of films, hundreds of SNL sketches and is truly hysterical!

Finally, Lillian may have a horse face, but Trips is the jackass for taking a shot at her [not his first, by the way] on live television, especially when she was doing the company a HUGE favor by being there in the first place. Not okay, not funny, not cool. She may laugh it off in front of the cameras, but something tells me she is just mortified behind closed doors.

Kevin, I have been chuckling all morning to your response to "What is a horse face?" That was too funny!

HHH is not funny at all. His jokes are outdated and geared towards semi-retarded junior high losers. If you honestly "laughed out loud" at him I suggest you take a long, hard look at yourself. You likely suck.