If you tuned into Monday night's episode of Raw, you saw babes in bathing suits running in slow motion, a talking car and a guy in a guy in a cheesy sparkle jacket. All of that could only mean one thing: "The Hoff" was in the house.
I didn't have high expectations going in, but I have to say that David Hasselhoff was a fairly entertaining guest host. The former star of "Baywatch" and "Knight Rider" seemed to be enjoying himself, pronounced everyone's name correctly and didn't stumble over his lines. And like William Shatner, it's obvious that he totally gets the whole self-parody thing.
The crowd in London was definitely into him, although that wasn't a surprise; Hasselhoff is a phenomenon in Europe. He got over with me the instant I saw Gail Kim and the Bella twins jogging to the ring in slow motion.
The best part about Hasselhoff's appearance was that he added some light-hearted humor to the program but did not get in the way.
Overall, there wasn't anything spectacular or can't-miss on the show, but there weren't any bad segments either. The highlight – I mean besides the "Baywatch" parody with the divas – was a marquee main event between Randy Orton – who was named the No. 1 contender for Jack Swagger's world heavyweight championship – and Batista – the No. 1 contender for John Cena's WWE title. Not surprisingly, both Swagger and Cena got involved in the match.
Swagger, after getting pinned by Orton the past two weeks (the first time was in a tag match), finally got some heat back by attacking Orton during the match and delivering a gut-wrench powerbomb. Cena then hit the ring and laid out Batista with the STF.
Other thoughts on Monday's show:
My prediction that Swagger would defend the title against Chris Jericho and Edge in a triple threat match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on April 25 turned out to be wrong, as it was announced that Orton will get the shot. That probably means that Jericho and Edge will face each other at Extreme Rules. It now makes sense why Orton was getting the better of Swagger before Monday's show. ...
It's been years since Orton was a babyface and Batista a heel, so it was a little odd seeing them wrestle each other with their usual roles reversed. ...
Two weeks after saying goodbye – for the third time – Bret Hart was back on Raw. I'm not picking on Hart and I certainly don't have a problem with him being part of the show, but his farewells are getting to be a running gag, just like when Jericho kept getting booted off Raw and returning a week later. ...
When David Hart Smith challenged The Miz to a match with the stipulation that The Hart Dynasty would get a title shot against WWE unified tag team champions The Miz and The Big Show at Extreme Rules if Smith won, and Hart would have to declare ShowMiz as the greatest tag team of all time next week on Raw if Smith lost, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that Smith was going over. Nope. I'm assuming there will be an angle coming out of Hart's appearance next week that leads to the tag match taking place at the pay-per-view after all. ...
The Miz had a great line when he told Hart that if they had faced each other in their respective primes, "I would have slapped a Sharpshooter on you faster than you could put a pair of cheap sunglasses on some ugly kid's face."
I liked the finish for Eve's victory over Maryse for the WWE Divas title. As it appeared that Maryse was about to finish her off with the French Kiss DDT, the challenger rolled through and scored the three count with a bridge. Eve has worked hard to improve and it's nice to see her rewarded with a title run. ...
It looks to me that David "A-List" Otunga has surpassed Daniel Bryan as WWE's "chosen one" among the NXT rookies. Otunga wrestled Cena (in a follow-up to the angle last week in which Otunga double-crossed Cena in a tag team match) and also had a backstage segment with Batista. While such interactions on WWE's "A" show are definitely a positive sign for him, WWE is making it clear that he still has dues to pay, as he was squashed by Cena and talked down to by Batista. He also was referred to as "D-List" by Hasselhoff of all people. ...
I'm glad that Kofi Kingston was booked to be competitive against Sheamus rather than getting squashed again. In fact, Kingston was taking it to him before Sheamus was disqualified for hitting Kingston with the monitor out of desperation. The booking made sense, as Kingston wasn't needlessly buried further, while Sheamus came off looking more like a threat to Triple H for their upcoming street fight at Extreme Rules by brutally attacking Kingston after the match than he would if he had won. ...
Jerry Lawler wasn't making sense when he was talking about Sheamus' reign as WWE champion. He said that Sheamust lost the title without getting pinned. Actually, he was pinned in an Elimination Chamber match, although the guy who beat him – Triple H – didn't go on to win the match. Lawler then said that at least Sheamus actually beat the champion (Cena) to win the title. Well, yeah, but that was on a fluke in a tables match. Lawler must have been too pre-occupied with the divas' "Baywatch" match that took place later on the show. ...
Speaking of that match, I was disappointed that Rosa Mendes made her slow-mo entrance during a commercial break. Seeing all of the divas competing in one-piece bathing suits reminded me women's wrestling in the 1970s, although The Fabulous Moolah and Leilani Kai never looked like that. ...
The Evan Bourne-Carlito match was good, although for some inexplicable reason Carlito raised his shoulder when the referee was making the three count on him. ...
It was announced that the cast of "MacGruber" is hosting the show next week. No clue.