A famous Roddy Piper quote came to mind while I was watching the spectacular Raw 3-for-All three-hour special Monday night. It's the one about changing the questions just when everyone thinks they have all the answers.
WWE had announced on its Web site Monday that WWE chairman Vince McMahon would name a new Raw general manager on the show. The Internet pundits immediately surmised that since Raw was in Charlotte, N.C., Ric Flair would be introduced as the brand's new authority figure.
Instead of getting "The Nature Boy" as the new Raw GM, however, we got "The Donald" as the new Raw owner. Just as McMahon used Donald Trump to pop a WrestleMania buy rate two years ago, he's now calling on the mogul to spike the Raw ratings.
Will it work? That remains to be seen, but it sure can't hurt. Trump is an iconic figure and his involvement with WWE will garner publicity for the company, at least in the beginning. Who knows, Trump's presence may even make for some entertaining television. As for the still-vacant Raw GM position, Flair will likely get the role when the time comes.
In addition to the Trump angle, Randy Orton regained the WWE title; CM Punk, Tommy Dreamer and Chris Jericho successfully defended their championships; and Triple H won a battle royal to earn a title shot against Orton.
It was initially announced that the Orton-Triple H match would take place at The Bash pay-per-view on June 28, but Trump appeared via satellite at the end of the show and announced that Orton and Triple H would square off in a Last Man Standing Match for the title next week on a commercial-free episode of Raw.
However, Orton and Triple H are still going to face each other at The Bash, according to wwe.com. I don't think that was made clear on TV, and it doesn't make a lot of sense on the surface. It seems like the Last Man Standing Match should be the blow-off to the feud.
Other thoughts on Monday's show:
When the battle royal came down to Triple H and John Cena, there wasn't much drama for me. No matter who won, we've already seen Orton wrestle both guys countless times. As for the speculation that MVP would be catapulted into the title picture on this show, Sherri Shepherd's favorite wrestler was the second man eliminated in the battle royal. …
During the battle royal, it didn't make sense when Big Show intervened while a couple guys were trying to toss Cena over the top rope. Since Big Show hates Cena so much, why wouldn't he help them get Cena out? Michael Cole tried to cover by saying something like, "It may have looked like Big Show was helping Cena, but that's not the case. It's every man for himself." Well, it was a nice try. …
The WWE, world heavyweight and Intercontinental title matches were very good, while the ECW match was serviceable. All four matches were well-booked. …
I don't know if Punk was doing a great job of selling his knee after landing awkwardly on the ring steps during the triple-threat match with Jeff Hardy and Edge or if he was really in pain, but I wasn't sure he was going to be able to finish the match. That would have made things interesting since he was supposed to win. …
Punk is playing his tweener character perfectly. Depending on your perspective, he's either telling it like it is and being true to himself, or he's an arrogant opportunist. …
Everyone came out looking good in the fatal four-way between Orton, Triple H, Cena and The Big Show. Orton got the win; Cena and Triple H both appeared seconds away from winning; and Big Show was dominant before finally succumbing after taking all three men's finishers. …
Jericho and Rey Mysterio got the night off to a good start with yet another excellent match together. The bout went about eight minutes, and I wouldn't have minded if they had wrestled for another 20 or so. One question, though: Since Jericho is so determined to unmask Mysterio again, why didn't he take it off him after hitting the Codebreaker? …
On the April 20 episode of Raw, Jericho, who had been drafted to Smackdown the previous week, said that he was "going to be gone from Raw forever." At the time, I wrote that I was taking bets on how many weeks constituted forever. If you guessed seven, you win. …
At times during his ECW title defense against Christian, Dreamer looked like he was going in slow motion. Since Dreamer was booked to go over, I thought Christian losing because of a freak ankle "injury" was as good a finish as any. It's hard to believe that Christian has gone from headlining pay-per-views with Kurt Angle to jobbing to Dreamer. …
I think Matt Hardy has a worse spot on the card now than he had prior to the feud with his brother. He was the first man eliminated in the battle royal (and it was done in a manner that made him looked like a jobber) and he also was verbally dissed by Punk. Hardy deserves better. …
It was great to see The Hart Dynasty getting exposure on Raw, but Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith didn't really get much time to show what they can do. …
Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes weren't very impressive doing commentary, but the more opportunities they get to speak, the better they will get at it. …
Maryse definitely has a presence. She managed to make an impression without saying a word or getting physically involved in the action. …
It appeared as if Rosa Mendes landed on the top of her head while taking a DDT from Mickie James. …
When Goldust made an Ahmed Johnson reference, there was zero crowd reaction.
