Monday's episode of Raw was peculiar to say the least.
For starters, creepy Pee-Wee Herman was the guest star, and former WWE Diva Lita made a random cameo in a backstage segment. The most bizarre thing on the show, however, was a comedy sketch involving Vince and Stephanie McMahon, actor Freddie Prinze Jr. and the voice of Triple H.In the sketch, Vince was in a coma and Prinze (who reportedly is once again working on the WWE creative team) was his doctor. Vince abruptly snapped out of his comatose state when Prinze mentioned that Vince's wife, Linda, had spent $50 million on her Senate bid. Vince was wearing a bunch of Linda McMahon stickers on his hospital gown. When he got out of bed to go to the bathroom, he had a campaign poster of Richard Blumenthal (Linda's Democratic opponent) covering his buttocks.
Suddenly, WWE cut to a shot of Stephanie sitting up in bed and saying that she just had a weird dream about her father coming out of his coma. Triple H (who supposedly was lying next to her under the covers but was not shown), said that Vince was indeed "brain dead" and still in a coma.
On Election Eve, WWE just couldn't resist doing a politically themed skit. While some of the interaction between Vince and Prinze was funny, I could have done without having this on the show.
As for Herman, I have never found him to be the least bit funny, so I thought his long segment with The Miz and The Big Show (who was dressed in a Pee-Wee Herman outfit) was absolutely awful. Overall, this was a sub-par episode.
Other thoughts on Monday's show:
The main event, which saw Randy Orton and R-Truth defeat Wade Barrett and David Otunga with John Cena as the referee, was good from a story line perspective, but it wasn't much of a match. Cena called the match down the middle, but he did not see the heels make a legal tag and that allowed Orton – who was not the legal man – to hit an RKO on Otunga, who was covered by R-Truth for the win. ...
The way R-Truth stooged on Cena to Orton almost makes me think that R-Truth is turning heel. ...
I liked the Daniel Bryan-Ted DiBiase Jr. match, which was won by Bryan. The crowd was very into Bryan. ...
I was glad to see The Miz not have to job to The Big Show. Miz got in a decent amount of offense before losing by disqualification for using the Money in the Bank briefcase. By the way, why was Smackdown's Big Show on Raw in the first place? ...
Lita showing up unannounced was a pleasant surprise. ...
Santino Marella was hilarious on the mic when he was trying to talk Sheamus out of destroying him. ...
I find Sheamus much better-suited for his current mid-card role than his previous role as a world champion and pay-per-view headliner. ...
New WWE tag team champions Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater gained some credibility with their victory over former champions The Hart Dynasty. ...
Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith continue to not get along, but the way their inevitable split is being booked isn't doing either of them any favors. ...
Ezekiel Jackson was impressive in his quick squash of Zack Ryder. I have long believed that Jackson has potential as a powerhouse, regardless of whether he's a babyface or a heel. As for Ryder, well, at least he is still employed. ...
I don't think the WWE brass gets it that LayCool mostly has go-away heat. ...
WWE ran a video package featuring former Raw guest hosts talking about what a positive experience hosting the show was. Among them was Dennis Miller, who said that people shouldn't denigrate wrestling. That was hilarious coming from him, because I sure got the impression that he felt wrestling was beneath him when he hosted the Slammy Awards last year.