WWE Monday Night Raw Recap

Monday Night Raw this week had an old familiar feeling, an almost eerie feeling as an absent legend returned to the premier brand of sports entertainment. The phenom, the deadman if you will... The Undertaker made a special appearance to announce (or in true Undertaker style... simply glare at) his opponent for WrestleMania 23.

I think many old school wrestling fans will agree that it was one of the best Monday Night Raw's to be aired in some time. It was the first Raw of 2007 that was able to trigger that emotion buried deep within wrestling fans souls that keeps us watching week after week and year after year. It was due in large part or maybe entirely to a special appearance of The Undertaker. Since he is now a regular on Friday Night Smackdown, many of the less hardcore fans rarely get to see one of the true living legends and all-time favorites of the wrestling industry, The Undertaker.

The Undertaker kicked the show off with his patented ring entrance. It was the same entrance that we have been watching for years, you know the one. The lights fade, the bell sounds, the fog rolls, and that eerie music begins to play. Then, from the shadows, the deadman emerges, and makes his walk to the ring, ever so slowly, but always on a mission.

So, who is the lucky man that gets to step into the squared-circle against the undefeated Phenom (14-0) at WrestleMania events? The three choices that The Undertaker had to choose from were the champions from each WWE brand. The WWE HeavyWeight Champion John Cena, the ECW Champion Bobby Lashley, and the Smackdown World HeavyWeight Champion Batista. With the latter ultimately being the choice of The Underaker for WrestleMania 23.

The three men stood in the ring awaiting an answer from the deadman, and an answer they got. His intimidating glare fournd all three of the current champions at one time or another, but one of them felt the power of the Phenom's stare dissecting him limb from limb for a bit longer. Making it clear who The Undertaker had chosen to face at WrestleMania 23. None other than The Animal Batista.

When The Undertaker finally made his choice he simply stared the HeavyWeight Champion in the eyes and slid his thumb across his throat as to say "You're dead!" The defending champion subsequently raised his belt high in the air as to say "I don't think so." But The Undertaker had something to say about this too... or at least had something to do about it. Only an instant later Batista found himself caught in The Undertaker's menacing grasp and choke slammed halfway to hell, according to WWE commentator Jim Ross.

It made for an exciting show that is for sure, although I was greatly dissapointed in the choice that The Undertaker made, as I wanted him to choose John Cena, win the WWE Title, and return to Raw, but oh well. At least he made an appearance.

The rest of Monday Night Raw was basically the same show that we watch every week, minus Ron Simmons stopping in for his weekly speaking of his simplistic one word catchprhase "DAMN!" His absence took a little away from the comedic relief of the show, but The Undertaker more than made up for the overall value.

Mr. McMahon and Jonathan Coachman had their normal aside which is usually used to foreshadow upcoming story line plots. This one featured a letter from billionaire Donald Trump stating that he would be on next weeks episode of Monday Night Raw... actually, in this rare case, Thursday Night Raw. "The Donald" said that he had a business proposal that would change Mr. McMahon's life forever, but Mr. McMahon said that he had a business proposal of his own. Tune in to a special Raw on Thursday Night to see what the two billionaires come up with for entertainment value.

Vince later sent Umaga to decimate ECW's Balls Mahoney and send a message to the ECW locker room. It is my belief that Vince is trying to start some kind of feud between Raw superstars and the extremists of ECW to save the ECW brand from going under.

Ric Flair is appearantly still alive as he took on Jeff Hardy for a shot to face Hardy again at WrestleMania, where he would put the Intercontinental Championship on the line. The 60 year old lost the match, but survived. Which, at this point in Flair's career may be just as good as winning a championship.

I suppose that since Bobby Lashley was in the house for The Undertaker to make his decision, Mr. McMahon decided to put him to good use, and made him put his ECW title on the line. He defended against Kenny Dykstra, former member of the Sprit Squad, or as I like to call him "The Pink Pansy." In reference to his pink colored ring attire. Naturally, Lashley retained his title and will return to ECW tomorrow as the champion, whilst Kenny continues his quest to become the youngest champion in WWE history.

Ric Flair later caught Carlito leaving the show early and took him to school on why he should stick around and watch the exciting upcoming main event, and then went on to bash Carlito saying that he is lazy, and doesn't deserve anything that he has. I believe this to be a setup for Carlito to take Flair on as a mentor, which will do two things. 1) Put Flair in a managerial role and extend his WWE career. 2) Make Carlito one of the biggest stars in the industry, which he certainly has the charisma to do, as a face or a heel. (Just like Flair.)

Then, came for me, the most dissapointing part of the night. The potentially great main event. Where the winner goes on to face Cena for the WWE title at WrestleMania 23. A triple threat match which included Team Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton.) And HBK, the showstopper, Shawn Michaels. Was it a good match? Sure it was. Every match that includes any of these guys is above average. The part that dissapointed me was that HBK was able to walk away with the victory with both members of Team Rated RKO in the ring. Leading to even more dissention between the two superstars. A break-up between these two is inevitable, I am just trying to figure out which one is going to go on to become the ultimate good guy character, and which one will continue down the path of the bad guy persona. Only time will tell but I think that both men are great wrestlers and have great charisma, It is Edge however, who has the better mic skills. Which, could ultimately make him the better "face" of the two.