Full results for this week's episode of WWE Raw after the jump:
- The Big Show defeated John Cena with the knockout punch after Batista distracted Cena. This was a Wrestlemania Rewind match from Wrestlemania XX.
- Sheamus and Evan Bourne wrestled to a no-contest after Sheamus attacked Bourne before the bell.
- WWE Divas champion Maryse defeated Kelly Kelly in a non-title match.
- Shawn Michaels defeated World champion Chris Jericho by countout. This was a Wrestlemania Rewind match from Wrestlemania XIX.
- Triple H defeated Randy Orton by disqualification after Legacy hit the ring and attacked Triple H right after he hit the Pedigree on Orton. This was a Wrestlemania Rewind match from Wrestlemania XXV.
- WWE Champion Batista defeated Kofi Kingston with the Batista Bomb in a non-title match.
My reactions:
- Stone Cold Steve Austin opened the show with a good interview that had the crowd going. It did slow down when Austin had to hit the scripted talking points for the Hart/McMahon main event, but Austin's charisma carried the day.
- I liked the Big Show/Cena match but it wasn't anything you haven't seen before. I'm not sure I get Cena going on a losing streak before challenging for the WWE title, WWE always does this and I'm not sure what it accomplishes other than taking some luster off of an anticipated match, and making Cena look bad when a main event guy should come into Wrestlemania as strong as possible.
- Sheamus made Bourne look horrible in attacking him before the match and easily laying him out. He did cut a good promo afterwards promising to beat HHH at Wrestlemania and becoming the new King of Kings. They also did a backstage interview with Austin and Michaels that I thought was well done, with Jericho interjecting to help hype the Raw main event.
- Maryse attacked Kelly after the match but was saved by Gail Kim and Eve. Michelle McCool and Layla from Smackdown came out to attack the faces and it looks like they're setting up some sort of Heel Divas vs. Face Divas match for Wrestlemania, either a six-man or some other match.
- They aired another great Undertaker/Shawn Michaels video package set to Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave" with various WWE stars doing interviews somewhat out of character hyping the Wrestlemania match, featuring Cena, HHH, Jericho, Big Show, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk. WWE production has been on fire with this feud.
- The Michaels/Jericho finish sucked. I know you don't want to beat Michaels before Wrestlemania, and you don't want to beat a World champion before Wrestlemania either, but why book a match that you can't finish? Edge attacked Jericho after the match and laid him out with another spear.
- They announced a triple threat match with Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase. I'm not sure why this is the natural progression for the feud would be for Orton to find a partner to face Rhodes and DiBiase, since he's already proven he can't beat both of them. Maybe I'm overthinking this.
- HHH/Orton was the typical HHH/Orton match. It seems like we've seen this match a million times, and of course we only saw it a year ago at Wrestlemania. Another crap finish here, too, with the run-in, which is three bad finishes in five matches. After the match, Legacy and Sheamus laid out Orton and HHH, which set up a handicap tag match for next Monday night with HHH and Orton facing Legacy and Sheamus.
- Gorgeous George was the latest inductee announced for the WWE Hall of Fame, as Bix mentioned earlier. He's kind of one of those names who you're surprised isn't in the Hall already. Later, during the Vince McMahon/Bret Hart contract signing, they officially announced Stu Hart as being inducted to the Hall of Fame, because Stone Cold said so or something.
- Poor Kofi Kingston. At one point, he looked like he was a star on the rise, especially after Survivor Series. Even as recently as a month or two ago, he looked like a good bet to win Money in the Bank this year. Now, he isn't even on the Wrestlemania card, and he was used as a tuneup match for Batista heading into the event. I guess if Mr. Kennedy has proven anything, it's that it's not a good idea to be out of position while wrestling Randy Orton.
- Pete Rose is the guest host for next week's Wrestlemania. I know I, for one, can't believe that Pete Rose was available, but there he is hosting next week.
- While Kofi/Batista might have been the last match of the evening, the Vince McMahon/Bret Hart contract signing for Wrestlemania was the real main event of the program. They announced that Vince vs. Bret will be a no holds barred match, probably to get around the fact that the match consists of a 64 year old man and a recovering stroke victim. They finally did the big reveal that Bret was faking the leg injury all along to get Vince to agree to wrestle Bret at Wrestlemania. That's still no excuse for Bret wearing those ridiculous pants. Vince was laid out by Bret with the cast afterwards and that got a big pop.
Overall, this was a much better show than last week, even if some of the finishes of the matches left something to be desired. The show closing angle with Vince and Bret was very well done. Austin did feel a little under-utilized, I get not wanting Cheech and Chong to be used to build a serious angle heading to Wrestlemania but Austin feels like a guy who could have helped other matches along too. This show also featured more wrestling than many Raws of late, even with the non-match with Sheamus and Bourne, but as stated, the finishes definitely could use some work.