RAW Results

Tonight's RAW was just plain odd: it didn't really create new story lines or feuds nor did it extend or improve upon those existing ones. Instead, it was a bizarre reactionary tale derived from patches of One Night Stand, Judgment Day, and Backlash. Two hours of matches I've already seen intertwined with an unusually long McMahon fit never sits well with me.

During the initial Cena promo, I didn't even know what was going on. This was partially due to the fact that my girlfriend kept asking me when I was going to grow out of wrestling (answer: never), but I'm relatively sure that nothing important happened. It became obvious in the early goings that the night was going to be one of stagnation. I think that the WWE is afraid to do anything too drastic right before the draft.

Cryme Tyme was back in action which I like to see (I guess they got better in the ring?) and had a nice match with Kenny and Nitro. Santino Marella was forced to put the belt on the line, which he did (against Chris Masters), and retained in typical "I'm still pretending I don't know how to wrestle fashion." Orton and Flair fought for some reason (see the point about not doing anything drastic or starting new feuds), with Orton taking care of Flair in a typical HBK-RVD rewind. Carlito beat up a girl again, which makes sense, considering backstage reports suggest he isn't playing nicely with the other boys...and girls.

In the only real development of the night, Cade and Murdoch beat The Hardy Boyz for the belt and then turned on them (point for Drew) suggesting that the Hardys may return to singles action after the draft (another point for Drew). Never mind that this was a match we had seen twice in the last three months at Backlash and Judgment Day.

Jonathan Coachman came out to tell us everything we needed to know about the draft which amounted to absolutely nothing new.

The Main Event wasn't bad, but I just didn't need to see Cena fight Umaga (so New Year's Revolution/Royal Rumble 2007). And I certainly didn't need to see Cena fight Khali (didn't they fight...yesterday?). The match itself was relatively entertaining, but if I hear about The Great Khali's shoe size one more time, I'm going to start watching TNA. RAW ended with one thing being very clear: the WWE needs this draft more than ever.