Review: - The show began, as expected, with a promo. However, it was not by Triple H as I would have guessed. Randy Orton was the one who began the show and started to argue that Triple H couldn't have beaten him without the sledgehammer. He added he would love to get his hands on another McMahon, maybe even Linda, Aurora Rose, or Murphy Claire. Soon enough, Vince McMahon interrupted and informed Randy that at Backlash, he would team up with his son Shane and son-in-law HHH to combat Orton and Legacy. Eventually, RAW's main event was set with Mr. McMahon squaring off against Orton himself.
- The Colons (Carlito and Primo) def. John Morrison and the Miz in over nine minutes to retain their unified WWE World Tag Team Titles (?). It was once again a nice lumberjack match. Both teams pretty much get over well. Would have been nice for the match to have been on the Wrestlemania card instead of on the DVD-exclusive pre-show. Expect Miz and Morrison to split at next week's Draft.
- Shane McMahon fought his Dad backstage over the Orton fight later on.
- Melina, Layla, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, and Kelly Kelly def. Natalya, Maryse, Maria, Gail Kim, and Eve Torres in five minutes. Pretty lame match. Seems to me they end up doing a brand feud every year with the divas for no reason at all. No one really cares. Natalya should be at the top of the Women's division.
- Shane tries to convince Triple H backstage to talk to Vince.
- Ricky Steamboat, Rey Mysterio Jr, John Cena, CM Punk, and Jeff Hardy def. Chris Jericho, Kane, Big Show, Matt Hardy, and Edge in about 16 minutes. Steamboat proved for the second night in a row that he is much younger than his actual age. He hit the most exciting spots of the match and took a monstrous slap from Show that left a giant handprint on his chest. Mysterio got the winning fall after he and Steamboat hit Jericho and Kane with aerial attacks (The Dragon hit his trademark Crossbody.) Rey is dropping some muscle which is great. Hopefully he'll get back to his natural weight as he was in WCW and won't be as sluggish in the ring. Punk stared at Cena as if he was going to cash in his Money in the Bank. Good match overall. It might be the end for Steamboat. Any real wrestling fan knows he still has it and should hope that wasn't his ultimate sendoff.
- Hunter and Vince had a brief bit backstage. Each boosting the other's ego.
- Vickie Guerrero, in a wheelchair, announced that, with the draft next week, she will remain as RAW General Manager permanently and placed Edge in a Last Man Standing match against Cena at Backlash for the title. She added a stipulation to the six-man tag at 'Lash already announced, too. Whoever's team wins, the WWE Title will go to the captain (HHH or Randy.)
- A Superstars ad, its debut: next Thursday on WGN.
- "Santina" started to talk when her "brother's" girlfriend Beth Phoenix came out. Eventually, a match was agreed to between them. After the commercial break, Santina def. Beth Phoenix in a little over a minute. Relatively funny comedy bit. Next week should be the last hurrah for "Santina."
- Main Event: Randy Orton def. Vince McMahon by DQ in 5 minutes. When Randy was going to win, Shane interrupted the pin. Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr.) came out soon thereafter, followed by Hunter Hearst-Helmsley. The brawl went on with the heels gaining the upper hand. Meanwhile, the crowd sounded as if they would have more interested with just about anything else, until.......Batista returned! Excuse the excitement. I'm not a big Batista fan, but anything would have got the fans going at that point. The feud was becoming quite boring. Dave is a new factor in the whole thing. Anyway, the faces chased out Legacy with Batista's aid. Vince, quite exhausted, then announced Batista would be taking his place at Backlash. Boring segment until the comeback.
Reaction: Better than average edition of RAW. The 10-man tag and Tag Title matches were nice. Can't say the same for the 10-Diva match or Main Event however. The "Santina"/Beth debacle was entertaining and provides for a short angle. Hopefully, Beth won't turn on Santino who would be the face. That would be akward. The announced 6-man tag is pretty useless. Seems like something Double J and Vince Russo would write as the main event at Slammiversary (*Note: TNA has used this angle once with Sting and AJ Styles.) The other Backlash match, Edge/Cena, should be good.
Rating: In RAW terms and what is expected, 3 out of 5.
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