Three-Hour RAW
Well, it sure felt like three hours, that’s for sure. It wasn’t a bad show, but the constant bickering between the three announce teams often did take things down a peg. However, JBL and Taz’s interaction was funny at times.

There was a new opening and a new theme song. I liked the old one but I have to admit that the new one was a slight improvement.

Cena and Booker and Big Show. Two are really good champs and the third is The Big Show. The three of them actually played off each other really well. John Cena brought up that he starred in The Marine. Big Show brought up his role in The Waterboy. Booker brought up Ready to Rumble and that led to Cena and Show breaking out in laughter. That was a good bit. Cena attacked Show, but Show still managed to clear the ring of everybody. A fun segment.

Heyman, Coach and Theodore R. Long all played off each other well too and that ended up with them making matches for each of their champions. I’m really glad Heyman is a TV figure again, because he’s really good.

Umaga and Kane had their "Loser Leaves RAW" match. I really think this should have been higher up on the card. It was actually a better match than I’d expected. Kane worked hard and Umaga’s actually pretty talented. They brawled a bit and Umaga had a lot of the offense, which is a good thing.

You've got to defile Kane or he'll come back. The next moment wasn't for kids.

Kane managed to stop the Buttdrop and went for a Chokeslam, but Umaga escaped. It was Armandoo distracting Kane that allowed Umaga to get the spike and send Kane off to SmackDown!.

Not a bad match at all, almost PPV level entertaining. After they came back, The Highlanders met Kane and said that it had been an honor to work with Kane. Kane attacked them both. Nice touch.

There was another DX Press Conference. It wasn’t nearly as funny as the ones they did back in 1997.

Big Show beat Jeff Hardy, which isn’t the right move since Jeff had just won the title. You don’t job a champ, no matter what champion he is, the week after he won the title. Hardy got a little offense, but even after a Swanton, Show tossed him off like he was nothing. Show got the pin and then Nitro attacked Hardy and that led to Show attacking him and laying him out. Wow, they really did a number on the IC title in that one little segment.

DX beat Cade and Murdoch in a Street Fight. It wasn’t a bad street fight, but the lead up to it, with all the stupid cock jokes, was just unwatchable. The brawling was good and even though they’re not in the same league as DX, Cade and Murdoch know how to work and are good at the double teaming thing. Their Atomic Drop-Big Boot combo’s an awesome set-up move. Cade bladed, which is rare on TV, after a chairshot. It ended the way you’d expect: Sweet Chin Music and a Pedigree.

Chris Benoit and Shelton Benjamin had a decent little match where the crowd was told not to cheer for the hometown boy. That’s always a mistake. The match was short and it started explosively with Benoit coming out with chops and suplexes. Benoit missed the Diving Headbutt, but when Shelton went for the T-Bone, Benoit turned it into the Crossface and got Benjamin to tap.

Shelton needs to leave and go to TNA where they’ll make him a star by having him face the X-Division stars and actually winning a match or two. They might even let him play the cocky heel who wins by being a good wrestler that worked for some obscure workers like Ric Flair and Harley Race.

There was a SmackDown! six-man match that was pretty OK. Rey, Lashley and Batista took on Finlay, Regal and Chavo. Rey ended up playing Face In Peril for most of the match. The heels took turns pounding on him and tagging in and out. It was the right way to go. Rey managed to tag Batista who looked really good coming in and just leveling people. Batista hit a Jackhammer, and though the pin was broken up by Finlay and Regal, Lashley speared them out of the ring. That’s really all he did that had any sort of impact on the match. A Spinebuster on Chavo allowed Rey to hit the Frog Splash and get the pin. Again, not perfect, but a very acceptable TV match.

You'd pay at least $50 for this in Reno County.

Melina and Torrie had a Lumberjack match in the Woman’s Tourney. It wasn’t good, but at least we got to see Torrie give Kristal the Stinkface. Melina is very very hot. She’s .850 Laylas. Kristal tripped Torrie to allow Melina to win. I am not looking forward to Strip Poker…unless they let Ariel get a little less clothed. That’d be awesome!

They pushed the debut of Cryme Tyme. I’m not sure this is a good thing, but it’s basically the same gimmick as The Gangstas. I still don’t like the feel of the idea.

King Booker beat RVD. This wasn’t anything as far as a burial goes, though RVD has looked better against other opponents lately. The big deal here was the argument between JBL and Taz. It was funny, especially the lines about JBL getting the spot on SD! because Taz didn’t want it anymore. It was very distracting, but the match was OK. I’m not sure how much of this was simply annoyance from the two who really don’t care for each other.

In the most fun segment of the night, Mitch of the Spirit Squad got squashed by Ric Flair. Mitch had said that Flair had no friends and he had the Squad to back him up. Never say that because it means the other guy’s gonna bring out people. In this case, it was Piper (good pop), Money Inc. (decent pop), and Arn Anderson (really good pop). They held the SS at bay and allowed Flair to get a fast Figure Four and win. It was a nice change from the days when a show in the Carolinas meant that Flair was jobbing.

Edge did another edition of The Cutting Edge and brought out Randy Orton. This was a nice way to start a feud. They had Edge point out that it was HHH who side-tracked Randy’s career and kept Edge from winning another title. They needed to band together and take their careers back. This was a good promo.

The ending was Undertaker and Cena fighting to a no contest. It was really pretty weak. It ended like I thought it would, with Booker and Big Show, who will both face Cena at CyberSunday (which will be a crap show but it may well prove what the WWE thinks of its big stars) and Mr. Kennedy came out to brawl with UT. Cena managed to get Big Show in the STFU and then gave the FU to Booker to end the show. It was an exciting finish, but utterly predictable.

UFC- Shamrock vs. Ortiz 3
I didn’t watch all of the show, I was only interested in Kendall Grove vs Chris Price (Grove dominated) and the main event. The Ortiz-Shamrock match wasn’t very good, but Ken lasted longer than he did last time, but Tito got Ken down fast and just rocked him. It’s a shame that Ken had to go out like that, but it is what it is. UFC’s on a roll and I’m betting this’ll put any WWE TV rating for the last five years to shame. The Three-Hour Special RAW only pulled a 3.8. The ratings slide continues