Results and reactions from tonight's Raw after the jump:
- John Morrison (with R-Truth) defeated WWE US champion and Unified Tag Team champion The Miz (with WWE Unified Tag Team champion The Big Show) after hitting Starship Pain.
- Kofi Kingston defeated Vladimir Kozlov in a Money in the Bank qualifying match after Trouble in Paradise.
- Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Sheamus defeated Triple H and Randy Orton after Sheamus hit the bicycle kick on Orton.
- Shawn Michaels defeated Kane with the superkick in a match that could only end by pinfall or submission.
- WWE Women's Champion Michelle McCool, WWE Divas Champion Maryse, and Alicia Fox defeated Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, and Eve Torres after McCool pinned Eve with the Faith Maker (Styles Clash).
- Shawn Michaels opened by cutting a promo on Undertaker for Wrestlemania. The jist of his interview was that Wrestlemania would not be his last match, and that he was going to be known as the man who ended the Undertaker's streak. The crowd in San Jose reacted to Michaels as if he was a heel, and as the interview went on, Michaels did act more heelish. He was then interrupted by a nice video package that highlighted Shawn's career, starting in Texas, moving on to the AWA, then to the WWF as the Rockers, his solo career, DX, and his later stuff, with the emphasis at the end of Undertaker pinning him with the tombstone. After it aired, Shawn challenged Undertaker to come out, but was interrupted by the MLB on Fox music and Pete Rose. The all-time hit king seemed drunk, and was booed by the crowd. He told Michaels he was going to get revenge on Kane for him in the main event.
- Miz and Morrison had a good match that was somewhat distracted by R-Truth and Big Show on commentary. They announced R-Truth and Big Show as wrestling each other on Smackdown.
- Kofi and Kozlov had no chemistry together at all, and had a bad match. Jack Swagger was on guest commentary and was also pretty bad, although he really had nothing to say, as he's not really in the middle of a program right now, he was just hyping a match that he's unlikely to win next Sunday. He did push at the end of the match that if he wins, he is going to cash in the Money in the Bank ladder match, which might be a hint that whomever winds up winning (and Drew McIntyre seems like the favorite right now) is going to cash in the title match that night.
- Before the handicap match, Legacy cut an extended promo on Randy Orton that seemed to go nowhere. I don't know if it's the WWE environment or what, but I've never been a real big fan of Rhodes or DiBiase, they both seem really, really generic, and this promo was no proof otherwise. Just a generic "blah blah, we're better than Randy Orton, we've been held down, we'll win at Wrestlemania" promo delivered with little or no passion from both. They did start teasing dissension between Rhodes and DiBiase for the first time.
- The handicap match was not as long as some matches featuring various combinations of the wrestlers in this match, and the story once again was the numbers game catching up to Orton, as Rhodes had distracted Orton right as he was getting ready to hit the RKO before eating the kick to the head. Kind of as nondescript as the other matches featuring these guys, and the Orton/DiBiase/Rhodes and Triple H/Sheamus matches have to be the least anticipated by most fans heading into Wrestlemania.
- Bret Hart did not seem to be used to cutting long, extended in-ring promos, as the old WWF style promo was backstage, with extra takes if anything went bad and nothing that had to really carry a long segment. It wasn't a bad segment, but he seemed to run out of steam about halfway through. Vince did come out afterwards and add on a post-script, saying, "Bret, this Sunday, one way or another, YOU'RE SCREEEEEEEEWED!" so I guess there's going to be some sort of goofy finish there. I'm still looking forward to what happens there.
- In what might have been his last free TV match, Shawn Michaels made sure to get most of his signature spots in against Kane. They did a tease where Michaels had the advantage, the Undertaker gong hit, the lights went out, and when they came back on, Kane was gone and Undertaker was in the ring and chokeslammed Michaels. The gong hit again, the lights went out and back on again, and Kane was back, but all of the special effects only got a two count.
- Bob Uecker was the final WWE Hall of Famer announced, which I guess was appropriate on a night the show was hosted by Pete Rose. That leaves the class as Uecker, Ted DiBiase, Stu Hart, Gorgeous George, Mad Dog Vachon, Wendi Richter, and Antonio Inoki. I'd love to see the conversation between those seven folks come Hall of Fame day.
- I guess Pete Rose didn't want to get manhandled on camera this year, as he took this beating from Kane behind a dressing room door. After talking of finally getting revenge on Kane from all of these years (and getting a cheap shot in on the San Francisco Giants), Kane was waiting in his dressing room and the door closed and a bunch of hokey fake fighting noise came from behind the door. Not that I'm criticizing Rose, I mean he is pretty old these days, I'm not so sure taking bumps in a wrestling ring is a good idea for the guy.
- The women's match was short and non-descript. I was assuming that they would do something like this match at Wrestlemania as an opportunity to get the women on the show, but this match would seem to preclude that, unless they change something on Smackdown.
- They aired a series of clips showing how Batista had ruined John Cena's life ever since taking the WWE title from him at Elimination Chamber to hype this week's main event; a final showdown between Batista and Cena heading into Wrestlemania. Batista is so great as a heel. Even when his material is weak, he does a great job delivering it and is so good at being a complete jerk. After his promo, when he called for Cena to come out, he ran right in back of a seven-man security detail, which was similarly great.
- Cena's rebuttal started slow but gained some momentum. I think part of the problem with Cena is the attire. Coming out wearing a baseball cap, t-shirt, and jorts makes him look like a child, especially compared to Batista in the ring. Then again, maybe that's his appeal to kids is that he looks so much like one. Anyway, after his promo, Batista and the security guards went after Cena, but he cleared the ring of the guards and Batista got out of the ring, setting up their big match for Sunday.
This show didn't seem to have the long matches that last week's Raw had, and I guess that makes sense going into a major PPV. They hit most of the points they needed to hit, gave a segment or more to all Wrestlemania matches. Everything on the show felt necessary, and nothing felt out of place except maybe the Women's match, and that might be some sort of backwards-ass build for a multi-woman match at Wrestlemania for all I know. Overall, I'd give the show a thumb's up, it was a decently entertaining 2 hours-plus.
The final Wrestlemania card, as of tonight's show:
- Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - Streak vs. Career, must end via pinfall or submission
- WWE title match: Batista vs. John Cena
- World title match: Chris Jericho vs. Edge
- Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Vince McMahon - No Holds Barred
- Money in the Bank Ladder match featuring Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Christian, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, MVP, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Matt Hardy, and Shelton Benjamin
- CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
- Triple H vs. Sheamus
- Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Cody Rhodes