Official Monday Night Raw Thread: 3/23/2009

No they're not, HBK mentioned that he "Outplayed the game" and then showed several shots of Undertaker beating up Triple H.

I don't know how you missed it, unless you wanted to just so you could bash HHH. ;D just kidding.

Somehow ,I can't help imaging Stephanie turning on HHH at Mania and hooking up wiith Orton....She'll probably say that Triple H didn't help her at all everytime swhe got beat up...SO tha's my prediction for mania.Orton/Helmsly era begins.

That is sick (in a bad way). If he's gonna do it to one of Orton's family member's, at least have Orton sr. or his plastic doll wife.

where is austin man

I don't care what anyone says, Santino rolling around was the best part of Raw. I was crying laughing.

HBK's promo was great imo, reminded me infact of the one Taker did in the graveyard about Vince before SvS 2003

Last night's show was so fantastic live. The entire last segment was crazy live, with most everyone standing the entire time just to see what would happen next. I was so excited that they had Orton take his time, really savoring the moment. And having HHH seem so hopeless was fantastic.

For the record, the Undertaker promo was the highlight of the night IMO. Watching Taker's reactions to the video was great.

Decent show, and it served its purpose unlike like last week's episode as far as I'm concerned - build Wrestlemania as much as possible.

Jericho/Flair segment felt a little dragged out, but it was good for what it was. I won't go into much detail for fear of getting into my distaste over the fact that the legends are most likely going to beat Jericho at Wrestlemania, but with that said, the segment served its purpose.

Hardy/Ziggler, on the other hand, seemed incredibly out of place. I understand Jeff Hardy getting "extreme" before Wrestlemania, but why on Raw? He had no reason to compete on Raw, or even make an appearance. I understand Wrestlemania is a time of a lot of cross promotion, but it should at least be justified. At least do something to build the feud if he's going to appear.

Eight man tag match was a fun, quick bout. I didn't quite understand the idea of Finlay being on the heel team, though. If anything, it should have just been random pairings to stress the every man for himself idea. Finlay just seemed like the odd man out the whole time. Regardless, though, the best part about this is the continued build up of the Money in the Bank match, something that has never really been done. Despite having a weak lineup, the match has got some decent build for once.

I can't say I was at all impressed by the Edge/Show segment. Part of me wishes the match at Wrestlemania would be a one on one (Cena makes no sense in the match at all), but after seeing the two go at it last night, I have little hope for a decent singles match between the two. This feud, though, is still going absolutely nowhere, and is an embarrassment to the Wrestlemania card to be quite frank. Cena has no business anywhere near the match, and as I've said several times, its just a matter of poor booking.

Mysterio/Regal was a decent, quick match. Glad to see them at least trying to build up JBL/Rey a bit, despite the match being completely random and thrown together.

The Undertaker segment was quite cool. Taker's promos when he has no one to interact with in the ring are excellent, they should allow him to get the mic more often. HBK's video was over-produced and made the whole situation feel like a cheap horror movie, but it was cool nonetheless. I understand the decision to go in a different direction, the same promos every week would have grown less captivating with the general audience. Hard to top last week's sweet chin music, though.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I thought the Mickie James/Santino match was hilarious. I know a lot of people are upset that Santino has been used as a joke character, but the fact of the matter is, I bet this guy is incredibly happy with what he's doing. He's comedic relief - I look forward to seeing him each and every week, and if he weren't doing this, he probably wouldn't be on TV at all, because truth be told, he has very little else going for him. Looking forward to seeing him being at ringside and doing something ridiculous at Wrestlemania.

Orton/Triple H segment was excellent. It added fuel to the fire and made up for the last couple of weeks of somewhat lackluster confrontation between the two of them. The best way to go with it from here on out is for Triple H to try to attack Randy next week, but realize that he cannot touch him without being provoked. Of course, to the be natural heel, Orton doesn't provoke H.

But overall, excellent stuff between the two of them. Triple H's emotions when reaching out for Randy were excellent, I couldn't help but have a smile on my face the whole time, knowing how well this feud is being carried out.

Unfortunately, I see little hope in Orton winning at Wrestlemania, which I think is the obvious and smartest direction to go in.