- We start with clips from last week where Bobby Laskley left John Cena laying in the middle of the ring after a spear.

- And we kick it off in the ring with Bobby Lashley versus King Booker. This was supposed to be a tag match but with John Cena on Larry King Live it was changed.

Lashley is I think on the cusp of being a breakout star. The Trump angle was fun but for a while there he was being shoved down the fans throats. Having him turn on Cena was a shrewd move because it is going to cause fans to choose between the two guys as opposed to a mutual friendship match.

At the end Kennedy comes out to interfere and we end up with the fact that they will have a tag match later but Lashley needs to get himself a partner. I really like setting up Lashley as John Wayne as it helps make the fans choose which is essential to this match.

- Santino Morella is out next to try and win back his title from Umaga. Apparently last week wasn’t the burial of Morella- hopefully this week is.

Umaga fires back onto Morella and hits the Catatonic- Umaga is stealing Chris Harris’ moves.

The crowd is not into the match until Maria runs to the ring. That truly gets a larger pop than anything done in this match so far.

Umaga just chokes on Morella as Maria cheers on Santino from ringside. Umaga is kicking him around and then running off the ref everytime he tries to step in.

Santino is getting treated by Umaga like Duane Gill got treated by Yokozuna in the early 90′s. The running splash and then Umaga hits the Spike for the 3 count. Maria comforts Santino after the match- which is probably beter than holding the nothing doing I-C title right now.

- Tag champs are with us and they are taking on The Highlanders. Is that really the best they could come up with for a tag title defense? There wasn’t a better team available, or a better team to sacrifice.

Cade and Murdoch have really come into their won in the past couple months. They always seemed like they were ready to break through and the crowd response to them finally pushed them over the edge. PLus they are an interesting looking team becasue Murdoch looks like a guy out of the 70′s and Cade is very new age looking so they are like the Odd Couple.

Rory McAllister is gettig beat up and then gets the ice cold tag to Robbie. The ref tries to get Rory out and Cade/Murdoch hit the Hi/Lo on Robbie for the 3 count.

- Time for a special look at WWE Champion John Cena. Really nice quick video checking out the career of Cena. Hard to believe he has been around for 5 years now. Also very telling they featured him beating the crap out of Kurt Angle at the beginning.

- Snitsky is out for the next match. Forget all teh Wellness Policy talk- there needs to be an ugly policy. Snitsky is way to gross looking to be shown at any time before 2 am. I’m surprised the WWE isn’t forced to pay fines for this.

While I bitch he squashes Super Crazy.

- King and JR discuss the lack of respect shown by Randy Orton in the past few weeks including disrespecting Dusty Rhodes last Monday. Then Dusty is walking towards the ring.

- Dusty is out and he talks about everything Orton has done in the past disrespecting the legends and living legends (Somewhere Larry Z hates me for that).

He is still a better promo than 97% of the WWE roster.

Orton comes down to the ring and they have a verbal debate.

It should also be mentioned that Dusty is going with the slimming black shirt look. Orton then challenges Dusty to a match at the Great American Bash. Dusty declines though saying he is in no condition to wrestle. Like that ever stopped him from wrestling before.

Orton says do it for Cody or he will end his career before it starts. Dusty agrees to the match but says it needs to be a Texas Bullrope Match. Orton accepts and they go nose to nose. That brings out Cody so Orton goes nose to nose with him. Cody slaps Randy and Orton decides that tonight is not the night to fight.

If this angle involves getting Cody into the main event picture I am all for it. He might not be ready in-ring wise yet, but he does have some of the charisma his dad does and I think he could be a star sooner rather than later.

- Paul London and Shelton Benjamin battle in the fight between two underused guys.

Pretty decent little back and forth match before London surprises Shelton with a roll-up pinning him on his birthday. Apparently that means Benjamin and Charlie Haas have to kiss each other on the lips. Yeah that’ll help them get over huge.

- In the back Mr. Kennedy asks Super Crazy if he is alright then beats the crap out of him focusing on the ribs of Crazy.

- Locker room time as Benjamin tries to get out of kissing Haas on the lips. Haas then says he will have to kiss his hand though. Then he says he was just playing and they hug. All this while Ron Simmons walks in and yells, “Damn.”

- Women’s tag action as Candice and Mickie James take on Melina and Jillian Hall

Melina however is “injured” so she brings out Beth Phoenix as a replacement. This match pales in comparison to the 3 way women’s match on TNA last week. Just a horribly rushed awkward looking 2 minute match that ends with a backslide on Jillian Hall getting a 3 count.

Afterwards the three heel women beat up Candice who is up yelling 30 seconds later. Just a waste of a segment.

- Smackdown rebound as The Great Khali issues an open challenge for The Great American Bash. Batista answers. Are they trying to make sure this pay per view lives up to the high standards of 1991.

- Arn Anderson is talking with Lashley in the back as we go to commercial.

- -Video package saying Triple H is coming back. Goody.

- Booker T tells Kennedy he will win tonight because he is teaming with King Booker.

- William Regal versus The Sandman with Carlito doing commentary- even money says the two guys brawl.

Quick brawl that is pretty stiff. It ends when the Sandman gets the cane and hits Carlito and Regal with it. Basically at this point The Sandman serves no purpose.

- Video package on the background of Bobby Lashley setting up his amateur credentials and his military background. Nice package to set him up as a challenger.

- John Cena interview from LA where he was on Larry King Live. Nothing of note as he kind of kayfabes the whole thing.

- Running down the Great American Bash card which just doesn’t look real strong. It feels like they are blowing off this Lashley-Cena match way too soon.

- King Booker is out first then Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy. (Legally you are required to do that).

Lashley is out and he has no partner. Jeff Hardy comes out to be his partner which is a huge downgrade.

Kennedy is apparently healthy enough to wrestle.

Adding Hardy to this match mighit help the flow of it some since he is doing a majority of the in-ring work for his team.

Lashley tags in and suplexes Kennedy and drops an elbow on the shoulder of Kennedy. He then tags in Hardy and plays the Matt role as Jeff jumps into the corner.

Behind the refs back Booker and Kennedy get the advantage and begin working over Jeff. Lashley gets the hot tag and spears Kennedy then dumps him mid-ring. He then hits Kennedy with a backbreaker.

Hardy and Booker fight outside and Lashley spears Kennedy which leads to a 3 count and the win.

NOTE: Months ago I wrote a special column on the Sports Illustrated article naming wrestlers involved with doctors and a steroid ring. You can read it here. I was outraged then, and I’m outraged now. Will those who told me I was over reacting or that this was a dead issue finally get their heads out of the sand?! I am DISGUSTED with WWE and anyone who supports or holds stock in this company today, and I hope someone has the sense to demand they stop destroying the art I love and the national image of it. Oh yeah, and people’s lives. You as a fan should demand the same.

A story written for a Vancouver, BC, Canadian newspaper claims a local woman says Chris Benoit’s son, Daniel, suffered from a rare illness known as Fragile X Syndrome. The article is located via link from WrestlingObserver.com. Though the report has no steam right now, in the interest of trying to research all aspects of this tragedy, I’ve found information on Fragile X Syndrome here.

Again, this is unconfirmed information, and not considered factual as of this moment. Earlier today it was reported investigators found tract marks on Daniel’s arm. It is believed at this point that his parents shot him up with HGH because he was undersized for his age, and that the decision to do so was unrelated to his death.

WrestlingObserver Press Conference rundown

Here is a report filed by Dave Meltzer on an AP story. The timelines between the DA and what is being released to the press are off. We’ve got a Saturday-Sunday-Monday timeline of each death initially. The DA says it’s Friday- late Friday into Saturday, and early Sunday morning. Now Meltzer’s goes back to the original.

Regardless, it is now said Nancy was killed by electrical cord, the son with a bag, and Chris Benoit with the pulldown wire of his weights. Story here.

I sat down and started to watch last night with Vince in the center of the ring explaining why the arena was empty and saying what they planned on doing for the next three hours. We then moved through a retrospective of the career of Chris Benoit that culiminated wth a replaying of the excellent triple threat match from Wrestlemania XX.

It was about an hour into the show that reports started circulating that the belief was Benoit himself had killed wife Nancy and son Daniel before taking his own life. As reports filtered in and I poured through them last night and this morning a reality started to form about what had happened.

In any form of entertainment we get attached to certain performers. Be it a singer, actor, sports star, etc we all latch on to one as being our person- the one we point to as saying “That is the way to do it.” For lots of wrestling fans Chris Benoit was that guy. He wasn’t flashy, he couldn’t talk well on the microphone, but between the ropes he could tell one hell of a story and draw you into a match. The aforementioned Wrestlemania XX match was about as great a story as you will see- it’s my favorite Wrestlemania match of all time based on what it represented. Even though we feel close to them as performers- we never really get to know them as people although we feel like we do. Sadly this was a reminder of that. The guy who so many said was quiet, and introverted in many ways is seen in a different context now based on those characteristics.

The events of the past 24 hours have left wrestling fans confused, sad, hurt, and angry. There are many questions being floated around as well. What drove Benoit to do this? What was the final snapping point? Was it steroid related? Was it something being planned for a while or something done on an impulse? Plenty of questions and unfortunately not all will be answered.

None of this changes the fact that this is a sad day.

Sad for the lives that were lost. There are few things more heartbreaking than a young kid losing their life prematurely. That might be the most tragic thing in all this.

Sad for the families that lost loved ones.

Sad for friends of Chris, Nancy, and Daniel. During Raw last night wrestlers offered thoughts on Chris Benoit. Rumor is one of them received some alarming text messages from Benoit in the hours leading up to all of this. When anything happens to a friend our natural human reaction is to think, “I could’ve prevented it.” Imagine living with that feeling. Chavo Guerrero spoke about being invited into the home of Chris and staying with him days before this all happened. He possibly was the last one outside of the Benoit family to see any of them alive. Imagine the load he has to now carry.

The big question is: where do people go from here- especially the WWE? If it is found that steroids were to be blamed then they will face that storm. They might face it anyway, but it will be worse if there is a causal link.

There is still the possibility that with the advent of depression and other problems related to concussions being researched this is a product of years of physical abuse of his head. That would open up a huge new batch of problems for the WWE.

I think the most important thing they need to do is expand the Wellness Policy to include psychiatric exams for their wrestlers. Maybe if they can get to the root of some of these issues they can help head them off.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how this affects the legacy of Chris Benoit. I was a huge WCW fan back in the day so I have many fond memories of watching Chris Benoit matches. Nothing to me changes the fact that he was one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring. If the story holds true about him being behind this though- Benoit the man takes a major hit in my mind. Some may not be able to seperate the two so they will bleed together. That’s fine too.

As I spent last night thinking that the worst, knowing in my heart what the reports would probably say, and hoping they wouldn’t I had all these questions running through my mind. Questions that we don’t have answers to yet. Questions we might never have answers to. All that I can say with certianty is I feel a deep sadness for the families of Chris, Nancy, and Daniel. And I hope for once a wrestler’s death and actions leads to some kind of change for the better.

Associated Press Article
Meltzer reports on timeline, adding text messages sent to Chavo Guerrero by Benoit
Collection of news stories on case, including Bret Hart’s reaction
WWE Tapings will go on tonight
Figure Four coverage

- Off and running this week with a video package recapping the past week with the “death” of Vince McMahon. I’ve been ok with this angle but in light of Sherri Martel dying this past week it is sort of in bad taste. Most of the angles have some kind of underlying base in reality. I can only imagine what is going through McMahon’s head to go with this angle.

- Mick Foley is out there to start and is issuing an apology of sorts for the way he made fun of McMahon last week. Randy Orton then comes out and says Mick shouldn’t be allowed to just apologize like that because he had motive to do the job. Booker T then comes out and says there is a FBI investigator in the building and he is interviewing Bobby Lashley who had motive. That brings out Lashley who throws Booker to the ground and Orton retreats. Cena hits the ring and says we shouldn’t point fingers but rather focus on doing as the McMahon’s asked and let the show go on. That brings out Coach and he makes our Raw main event of Randy Orton and King Booker teaming up against Bobby Lashley and John Cena. He then makes a match with Mick Foley facing Umaga. That should be interesting.

- Raw apparently is 3 hours again next week.

- Paul London and Brian Kendrick are out to make their Raw debuts and are taking on The World’s Greatest Tag Team. The battle of under-appreciated tag teams. Lawler takes away from the match by saying London was the only one smiling when McMahon was leaving the building last week. If they keep this up I will sour on this angle quickly.

They don’t give these guys near enough time but the crowd seems to be into the match. Finish comes when Kendrick hits the Sliced Bread #2 on Charlie Haas. I’m shocked they kept that name of the move.

- We head to the back and the Federal Investigator is in the back interviewing Coach.

- Carlito is out and offers his condolescenes to the McMahon family. He says Flair and Torrie Wilson are lucky becasue they got moved away so Carlito couldn’t beat them up anymore. Sandman’s music hits and he comes down through the crowd. He uses his head as a can crusher and then swings the Singapore Cane at Carlito but he ducks and bails out. I tried to smash a can on my forehead once like that- I gave myself a concussion and woke up 3 days later. I still think it’s stupid to get yourself all bloody before a match but then again- I’m not a drunk.

- Replay of the week is the same replay of the week from last week. That seems impossible. At least nwo they’ve edited it so it looks like Murdoch actually knocked Jeff Hardy’s foot off the rope. Surprised the production department could work this week in light of Vince’s death.

- Cryme Tyme is on now to discuss what made McMahon. This segues into the Shopping Network where they try to sell a half eaten steak or something. The Investigator then comes in to interview Cryme Tyme- that’s kind of profiling isn’t it?

- Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade have joined us at the announce table for Daivari versus Jeff Hardy.

Daivari has to be in line to get some kind of a push. He went along happily with their stupid Muhammad Hassan angle and actually thought it was tasteful. That makes him one of, well, one. He also shows some pretty good fire and personality in the ring. Even better he wrestles very convincingly as a smaller heavyweight. I think he would be solid in the IC Title picture.

Hardy counters a move at the end and hits the Swanton Bomb on Daivari for the win. Lance Cade then grabs the microphone and says he has something to tell Hardy. They say the Hardys were bad sports so Jeff hits a plancha over the top rope onto them. He then walks out and this Sunday it is the Hardys versus Cade and Murdoch. Isn’t Matt still on Smackdown? Why bother with the draft?

- Coach is in the back talking on the phone and saying that he had no idea how much Vince was responsible for. I think I know how this ends. With all the people saying how much Vince does and apologizing- in light of last week when they were kicking him- this has to end with it being found out that McMahon faked his death so people would realzie how important he is.

Coach then says he has a meeting with Sheik Productions. That turns out to be The Iron Sheik and he wants an interview segment on the show. Oh that should be great. Ron Simmons then comes in and yells, “Damn.”

- William Regal is in the back trying to hook up with Maria but Santino comes in and tries to introduce himself to Regal but he blows him off.

- Interview with McMahon’s limo driver who says it could’ve been him. With that goofy look he would’ve been better off probably.

- Umaga versus Mick Foley. If you had 30 seconds as to when this match gets taken to the floor- the under wins. Foley grabs a chair and hits Umaga in the head bending the chair but it does little damage. Umaga then beats up Foley with a chair and then hits his running splash onto Foley who is leaning up against the ring steps. It looked pretty cool.

- We go to the back as a limo pulls up.

- Mr. Kennedy is out and he gets a huge pop. He then turns the crowd on him by saying they were wrong for not respecting McMahon. He calls him a friend and dedicates the rest of his career to McMahon.

- Back to the limo and the driver gets out. It looks like Andy Richter- maybe networks are done giving him shows to do.

- Womens tag match time as we get Melina and Jillian Hall versus Mickie James and Candice Michelle. We also finally get a mention of the death of Sherri Martel this week.

Jillian’s gimmick is a good one and it is a basic heat generator.

It’s amazing how quickly Candice has improved over the past couple months. It’s probably not as much as Trish imrpoved over her time overall but she is probably further along at this point than Trish was. If she can get to Trish’s level the women’s division will be in good shape.

Mickie gets the hot tag and the hometown crowd gives her a decent spot after chanting “We Want Mickie” earlier. Some good tag work by the heels. Mickie gets the roll up for a 2 count. Melina then hits her split leg drop for a 3 count. Burying the hometown favorite is one of their staples.

- We are back and we go to video of the aftermath of the limo explosion. We then come back live and go to the limo that pulled up in the back.

- Main event time. Cena gets a really good response and minimal boos as he makes his entrance.

Cena and Lashley use power moves to get the advantage. When Cena tags in there is some more audible booing than at the beginning.

Orton is such a case of frustration. He has the persona and attitude to be a huge star in the business but he gets caught up doing all his stupid extra-curricular garbage and being completely unmotivated at times. He is so close to breaking out but just gets in his own way,

Heat segment on Cena as we come back from commercial with Booker and Orton working over the champ.

Towards the end Orton blind tags himself in and then hits the RKO on Lashley for the win. Cross Orton off the list of guy who will win at Vengenance.

- Back to the limo and Stephanie McMahon gets out of it.

- Now its time for Stephanie’s interview, as she is fake crying her way to the ring. She is out to thank the fans for their cards and letters. Ok this angle is getting closer to crossing that line between bad taste- and whatever the other side will be. She announces Raw will be 3 hours next week and they will honor Vince. She says he McMahon’s will seek vengenance on whoever did this then says, “I love you ” to the sky. The end.

You know- I’m a big picture guy so I don’t like to rush to judgment in the middle of a story of anything. However, this is getting real close to being an embarassingly bad storyline. It hits a little too close to real-life situations they have gone through over the years. Depending on where this story ends up going will be the deciding factor in whether this is a good storyline or not. However, they have a long way to go for this to have a good ending.

The in-ring stuff was ok and some of the guys new to the brand got good responses. Otherwise though too much focus on the extracurricular stuff.

- We start off with Vince McMahon reading a prepared statement looking very much like a hostage victim.

- The gimmick tonight is there will be a series of interpromotional matches and the winner of each match will earn a draft pick for his brand.

- The first match we get tonight is champion vs champion John Cena vs Edge. Somehow despite the fact that this is roughly meeting 1,043 between the two in the past 18 months they find a way to have an interesting match together. Sometimes you just have two wrestlers that click together and just work. This would be the modern day WWE version.

- Fairly back and forth match so as not to diminish either brand’s champion They battle to the outside and Cena sets up Edge for the FU through the announce table. Edge rakes the eyes though and beats the ten count back into the ring. That means Smackdown gets the first draft pick.

- The “draft” is a random computer generator that cycles through the wrestlers before randomly landing on a guy. So basically we are playing Press Your Luck with the wrestlers.”C’mon Chris Benoit! No Snitskys! no Snitskys!” Any way- the first draft pick is The Great Khali to Smackdown. Edge looks the opposite of happy.

- First up to toast McMahon is the former Governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura. He tells McMahon he will not call him “Mr.”, and compares him to Fidel Castro. In a related note wrestling forums everywhere blow up as posters try to piggyback jokes onto that analogy.

- Coach is in front of McMahon’s dressing room and announces that the next pay per view will be a night of champions. Carlito vs CM Punk is up next. Underpushed wrestlers collide

- Flashback to last week when Murdoch and Cade beat the Hardys for the tag belts. That finish still looks bad.

- Joey Styles and Taz have the call on this match. “C.M. Punk” chant starts up. If the WWE goes back to a Northeast regional promotion Punk just might be over huge. Carlito works over the ribs of Punk and even breaks out the body scissors. Punk counters and hooks in the Boston Crab. Off the top with a Springboard clothesline and it gets a 2 count. Carlito hits the Backstabber but Punk rolls to the outside. Carlito throws him back in and gets the cover for a 2 count. Punk counters a second Backstabber attempt and hits the Go To Sleep for the 3 count. ECW gets the next draft pick.

- Computer time and ECW gets- The Boogeyman. The less said the better I suppose. The crowd responds with deafening silence.

- Snoop Dogg is up to talk to Vince. He calls Vince an asshole. Whatever.

- WWE Shopzone now is selling life size cutouts of Melina. Who is the market for that? I’m kind of surprsied they haven’t just gone the full mile and teamed with an adult toy company to make blow-up dolls of the Divas. Sounds silly, but you know it would make money.

- A video tribute to the character of Vince McMahon. Basically they are showing video packages from the McMahon DVD, which is good because not many people bought it.

- Mick Foley is out and says he heard about the open WWE Championship match. He throws his name into the match at Vengenance. That segues into talking about McMahon. The best part about Foley talking is- there is an underlying tension to everything he says. Sure he is saying what was asked of him but he is putting his own little digs or flourish on it. Always interesting to hear a list of names read on a wrestling show and listen as to how the crowd responds. Of course a name like Dick Ebersol just completely confuses them. Foley says McMahon isn’t worth our time.

- Next match for the Draft pick is Umaga vs Balls Mahoney. I’m gonna jump in my fast forward machine and say Raw gets the next pick…Samoan Spike and yep- Raw gets the pick .

- Raw gets King Booker. He and Sharmell were a hot act last year but have cooled off some. A change to Raw might be perfect for him and gives Cena a decent heel to work with. So far I’d say Raw is getting the better of this all but only slightly. Khali is a great monster heel but they need faces more over there on Smackdown.

- Steve-O offers some words and says he likes watching Vince get his ass kicked and he doesn’t want to make Vince kick his ass. Why would a guy who once stapled his ballbag to his thigh be concerned with a 60 year old beating him up? To drive a staple that close to your junk you have to be pretty fearless.

- This should be an interesting match-up, Bobby Lashley vs Chris Benoit. For all the griping fans do about the treatment of Benoit- the WWE always lets Benoit control the offense and flow of the match- even against the champions. This is no different as Benoit gets about 65-70% of the offense. Benoit does his best to lock on the Cripple Crossface but Lashley blocks. After a couple attempts Benoit finally locks it on but Lashley counters. Benoit blocks the Dominator and hits the German Suplexes. Lashley counters another attempt at the German but Benoit comes back with the Sharpshooter. Lashley comes back and hits a powerslam for the win. I’m kind of hoping now after that little 5 minute match that Benoit is the draft pick to ECW and he feuds with Lashley over the belt. It would do wonders for Bobby.

- Honest to God I wrote that before it happened. Benoit is now on ECW. Perfect guy to move over to ECW. Lashley will get a very accomplished wrestler to work with. Also if ECW truly becomes a developmental type show working with Benoit and just generally having him around for pointers will help out the younger guys.

- More words for Vince, this time from Donald Trump. He tells Vince he is pathetic. Trump then threatens to give himself an appreciation night. Maybe he should just go back a few months and try to give himself some viewers for this season of The Apprentice.

- Flashback to Smackdown when Vince suspended Ashley for spilling coffee on him. She then fake cries.

- Ashley is then with us via satellite. The lip rings might work for some- but not for me. Now we start flashing back to how Vince has treated the Divas over the years. They then show us the clip of Trish barking like a dog, then stripping to her bra and panties. Bad to bring that back up and bad to show Trish that way because she looks worlds better than Ashley ever will. She then introduces Moolah and Mae Young to come out and act like dogs. Someone needs to make a copy of this and send it to Congress labeled, “Why we need to save Social Security.” Just stupid and not funny. Santino Morella and MVP up next.

- Just becasue I feel the need to pat my own back- and needle John- about a year ago I told him MVP was going to be a big star if his in-ring work caught up with his mic skills. John disagreed. I was right.

- Next up to speak about Vince is Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and The Iron Sheik. Don’t they usually put one of those interpreters in the bottom right hand corner of the screen for stuff like this. It was about a minute long and I got like 3 words out of that all. Jim Ross makes a good joke about the closed captioning person working overtime.

- Morella’s music is entirely horrible for a babyface. It elicits no type of reaction from the crowd. I’ll give Marella this- he has some really good energy and by the end of the match has the crowd with him for the comeback. However, he is completely awkward throughout the match. He looks tentative, like he is afraid he is going to mess up if he isn’t overly careful. The two trade kicks before MVP takes advantage and locks in the Camel Clutch. Marella comes back and hits a shoulderblock off the second rope. An hour and a half into the show and JR shoehorns a Sopranos reference in. Marella pounds away in the corner but MVP reverses it and hits a kick to the face. He then connects with his finishing move to pin Santino. That means Smackdown gets another pick.

- And they get Torrie Wilson. And the announcers have to sell like it is a great achievement. So Smackdown has yet to get another face which is what they really need.

- Bret “Hitman” Hart is the next person to offer us his thoughts. This should be fun. Not as stiff as you would’ve expected but he did say the best way to handle McMahon is to punch him in the head. He calls him an “asshole” then. Snoop Dogg beat you to that one Bret. He looked a lot better than he did in his appearance at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

- The Miz is up next to face Snitsky. This probably means ECW gets another draft pick. Although Snitsky is from the area so they might not put him over. Miz is hung up in the ropes and then gets his adam’s apple collapsed with a clothesline. Big boot and it is over. However, Snitsky keeps on the attack and the referee reverses the decision.

- That means Smackdown gets the pick and they get- Chris Masters. A change of scenery will probably do him good. Again though- a face needs to be moved to Smackdown yet. Although Masters could be a decent face someday.

- Bobby Heenan is next up and he says McMahon must have a severe case of chafing from walking like he does.

- “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is out next and he gives us a video of Vince’s worst moments. And that’s it. Why bring Piper in and only let him talk for like 30 seconds? That seems pointless.

- Candice Michelle vs Kristal is up next. Candace sometime in the past month got really good looking. Kristal has been pretty much good looking from the start. Give Candice credit- she has really improved in the ring and actually pulls off some decent stuff. She then goes for a spin kick but it’s more a bull rush. She gets the 3 count and Raw gets the next pick.

- Raw picks up Bobby Lashley. Color me confused. Does that mean he will drop the title tomorrow night, or tonight yet? Out comes Coach- this might clear up some confusion. Coach strips Lashley of the ECW Title since he is no longer part of that brand. I guess that means we are going to have a tournament for the ECW title coming up. I guess that’s a good way to get the belt off Lashley without having his mometum cooled going over to Raw. I guess we basically are going developmental with ECW

- Bob Costas is up next and says he kicked Vince’s ass in their debate on his HBO show. He then says Bobby Knight was more rational. Now that’s a low blow.

- Next match will pit Jeff Hardy (referred to as one of Raw’s young guns by Cole?) vs Elijah Burke vs Batista in a Triple Threat match. This should be interesting- and a bit of a style clash. Hardy takes control of the match and hits a dive to the floor onto Batista. Batista comes back though and scores the win.

- Smackdown gets the pick and they get Ric Flair. Still not what they really need.

- Time for Captain Lou Albano to speak. He said McMahon has a brain the size of a BB. Then he makes it more about him then about McMahon. This appreciation thing is losing its luster.

- The announcers say that there will be a supplemental draft on Wednesday at 12 noon on WWE.com. So there will be some more pieces moved then. Good.

- Dusty Rhodes is out to talk about Vince. He speaks about Vince as a dreamer and a visionary. He talks about the guys Vince stepped on and over to build the WWE. He then says, even though you may not like Vince, you have to respect him. That was the first really nice thing said.

- “Mean” Gene Okerlund is up next and says Vince is the best for firing him so he could go get a job with WCW. Interesting take there

- 15 man battle royal for the final two draft picks. Smackdown sends out Matt Hardy, William Regal, Chavo Guerrero, Mark Henry, and Ric Flair. ECW sends in Kevin Thorn, Matt Striker, Marcus Cor Von, The Sandman, and Tommy Dreamer. Raw counters with Johnny Nitro, Kenny Dykstra, Viscera, Eugene, and Randy Orton. I would say one person in this match has a chance of winning it.

Are these the best the brands could do for this big match? This is like the Indianapolis Colts needing to absolutely win a game and sending Jim Sorgi out there instead of Peyton Manning. Matt Striker is the first guy out of the match. Sandman is then tossed next by Mark Henry. William Regal is tossed by Viscera, and then Mark Henry throws out Chavo Guerrero- that seems counter-productive. Viscera then tosses Tommy Dreamer. Kevin Thorn is the next to be tossed by Mark Henry. That leaves just Cor Von for the ECW brand. We then get a stand-off for Mark Henry and Viscera staring each other down leading to the biggest pop these two have ever gotten. I’m stunned the crowd reacted like they did. Mark Henry then just tosses Viscera out of the ring as we go to commercial.

During the commercial break Eugene threw out Kenny Dykstra, who was then dumped by Randy Orton. Every man for himself but doesn’t it make more sense to work together so you pick up guys. Cor Von charges at Hardy who ducks and Marcus goes to the floor. ECW is now out of this match. Randy Orton then eliminates Johnny Nitro. Matt Hardy then gets rid of Mark Henry and we are left with Orton, Henry, and Hardy. Matt starts to pull Henry over and Orton finishes up the job. Orton lines up for the RKO but Hardy blocks and hits the Side Effect. Orton comes back though and hits his inverted backbreaker. Hardy hits a move off the top but then Orton blocks the Side Effect and with a European Uppercut knocks Matt out.

- Two draft picks for Raw and they get Snitsky. Guess we know who is getting fed to Cena next. They also get Mr. Kennedy. Wow. Smackdown has come out on the losing end of this draft again. They lose Chris Benoit, King Booker, and Mr. Kennedy and get back Great Khali, Chris Masters, Torrie Wilson and Ric Flair. Hell even ECW got Benoit back in place of losing Lashley- that is a lot closer to canceling out. Raw gets three new heels to work with Cena and picks up Lashley who is second in the company as far as being pushed behind Cena. Hopefully the supplemental draft will help balance this out a little more. Smackdown could use someone like Jeff Hardy or maybe even Punk to put in the temporary face role until Undertaker and Mysterio get back. ECW could use another big heel now like maybe Mark Henry or Umaga to work with Benoit and Punk. Unless they decide to make Benoit the heel on ECW and just be the veteran tough guy beating up and bullying the young guys. But for now- Raw is way ahead in all this.

- “Stonecold” Steve Austin is up next to talk and through all the bleeps he says he was always better than McMahon.

- We now run down the Vengenance card and in the Championship challenge it will be John Cena vs Booker T vs Randy Orton vs Bobby Lashley vs Mick Foley. I think- it really wasn’t made clear. Despite Foley seeming out of place and random that might work.

- Vince is now out to cap off his night. This whole peaceful, zen-like Vince is a nice different approach to his character. He thanks the crowd and says little else of value before leaving ringside. He walks through the back where the rest of the wrestlers who had the night off are standing and lining the halls. (Mickie James looked amazing in her little outfit) He walks out to his limo and sees some sinister people sitting on the dumpster (no I couldn’t tell who it was). He gets in his limo and then it blows up. End of show. I guess the hook is- who set up the limo to explode. Some will most likely be outraged, but it was a really good ending. It had a nice tense feeling, and felt topical considering how The Sopranos ended the night before. That seemed like what they were going for. I would imagine this is how the Jackass people get involved at Summerslam or maybe it means the beginning of a humble McMahon character. Either way is ok by me.

Ok edition of the show. It lost some steam as we hit the last hour, not because it was bad or anything but they loaded the better matches at the top of the show, and the McMahon stuff lost some momentum as we moved along. The draft stuff is fine but like I said- Smackdown came out worse from it- for now.