Tha Raw Report

It was a night of surprises on "Raw," emanating live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bret Hart won the U.S. Title, and Christian, Jack Swagger, The Undertaker, and yes, Virgil, made surprise appearances.

Undoubtedly, Hart's title victory was the most newsworthy event from last night's show. Hart, in fact, kicked off the show by explaining why he wasn't going to wrestle Miz. In a nice twist, fellow Canadian Chris Jericho interrupted, eventually goading The Hitman into wrestling the match.

It made sense that Bret had to be convinced to wrestle, considering that from a storyline standpoint, he got his 'closure' at WrestleMania.

Of course, the match itself had little physical interaction between Miz and Hart. Instead, Jericho, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, Natalya, and even Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal got involved at various points in the match. It was entertaining for what it was, and at least the Toronto crowd got to celebrate The Hitman winning the U.S. title with the sharpshooter. So . . . how was the party on Yonge St.?

It will be interesting to see what happens with Hart and the U.S. title - prior to the show, there were reports that this was to be Hart's final WWE appearance. Apparently, he has at least one more appearance to make.

And one more thing on Hart-Miz: what was with Michael Cole's sudden turn against Bret and the Hart Dynasty after Bret's win? It was obvious that Cole was fed the lines. It seemed ridiculously out of place.

More thoughts on the show . . .

- The highlight of the show was Edge vs. Christian. Not surprisingly, Edge got a huge pop from the Toronto crowd during his entrance. It was surprising, however, to see Christian show up to face his old pal. (Christian, of course, was recently drafted to "Friday Night Smackdown," once again nullifying the significance of the WWE Draft.)

Inconsistencies aside, Christian and Edge told a great story of two former friends who know what the other likes to do in the ring. The match featured Edge working over Christian's shoulder for the most part, and there were plenty of reversals and false finishes (near countout, Christian kicking out of the swinging DDT, sunset flip, etc.) thrown in. Christian eventually landed some of the moves that Edge countered earlier in the match, before Edge won with the Spear. Great match.

It's too bad these two never got the chance to have a full-length main event program on "Smackdown." And for the record, I still think Christian has what it takes to be a main event player in WWE.

- "Wayne Brady, Meatloaf, Vickie Guerrero." Now that's a list I never thought I'd hear.

- Another major surprise, as stated above, was a rare "Raw" appearance by The Undertaker. I imagine WWE was pulling out all of the stops after consecutive weeks of disappointing ratings. It was a nice heel move having Edge bail out of the match, and I suppose they can get away with it, with there being no General Manager on "Raw."

- Remember when Taker was white to, you know, play up the gimmick? I think Triple H is the only one on the roster with a darker tan.

- Batista got good heat on Mark Henry, attacking him from behind with a 2x4, and following it up by insisting the spotlight be shown on him while posing in the ring. Batista was also involved in the main event, causing a DQ in John Cena vs. Sheamus.

Batista then gave Cena three spinebusters before applying a painful-looking submission hold to close out the show. It should be said, though, that it was obvious the ref was telling Batista how much time he had left after Batista caused the DQ. The ref could also easily be heard saying "five seconds, five seconds" right before the show ended.

Still, it was a good night for Batista. I never thought I'd say this, but it's a shame that Batista may be leaving WWE, after finally hitting his stride as a heel.

- After a shaky start to his title reign, it finally seems like WWE has legitimized Jack Swagger as a main event player, as seen on "Smackdown" in recent weeks, and by his evenly-fought match with Randy Orton. Speaking of Orton, I'm really digging his super-intense, badass, babyface character.

- Because Canada's "Raw" feed did not air commercial-free, I'm pretty sure I missed some of Buzz Aldrin's segments. His in-ring segment, though, prior to the mixed tag match, was an unintentionally funny, entertaining train wreck. I couldn't help but laugh as he incoherently rambled on about something while distracting me with his flailing left arm. He also made and introduced the match while Evan Bourne's music was playing, so that you couldn't hear him. Nicely done, Buzz.

I also liked the video clip of him punching out the douchebag who was questioning the lunar landing. Well played, sir.

- Was Virgil's appearance supposed to be a big deal?

- "I never heard any complaints from Virgil." Really, King? Then you're forgetting the Virgil-Dibiase feud, the ONLY time Virgil was ever over (even slightly).

- Dibiase wants Truth to be the 'new Virgil'? Good ol' WWE racism at its finest.

- Is it bad that I didn't know Eve was the Divas Champion? Is it worse that I didn't even know who Eve was?

- John Cena's promo was like a REALLY BAD Presidential address.

- Over The Limit? What a cheesy, generic name for a PPV. Do they actually think a new name will increase buys?

Oh . . . and by the way, Over The Limit is this Sunday.

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