WWE Monday Night RAW Review (02/23/09): Triple H Gets His Revenge!

This week's Monday Night RAW begins with Vickie Guerrero in the ring. She is probably one of the best heels in the WWE right now as she gets more heat than almost anyone else. Her patented "Excuse me!!" is hilarious. She announces that she is the new Temporary General Manager of RAW. John Cena comes out to interupt Vickie and the crowd goes crazy for him as usual. Cena announces that he wants to cash in his rematch clause tonight and have the match with Edge here on RAW. Edge's music hits and he comes out with the Big Show (new protector, maybe?). Vickie does not grant Cena his rematch clause instead telling him that he will be in a match tonight against either "friend" (Big Show) or "family" (probably Edge). Good opening segment to start the program.

Before the first match of the night, they show Randy Orton arriving in the arena with Dibiase and Rhodes. First match is a Money In the Bank Qualifying Match and it is a Triple Threat Match. CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz. Sounds like a good matchup but it may turn into a two on one match considering Morrison and Miz are tag team champs. Miz and Morrison work on Punk until he is out of the ring. Then, they fight with each other. CM Punk knocks Miz to the floor and pulls off the GTS to Morrison to pick up the 3 count and the win. No real surprise here.

Hilarious backstage segment between Santino with Beth Phoenix and Dolph Ziggler. Santino is perhaps the funniest guy in WWE right now. Second match is a Six Man Tag Match between Melina and Cryme Tyme vs. Dolph Ziggler, Santino Marrela, and Beth Phoenix. Somewhat of a quick matchup as Shad lands a good move (finisher maybe?) on Santino to pick up the pinfall victory.

The next match might be the match of the night. It is JBL vs. Shawn Michaels with the winner going on to WrestleMania to wrestle the Undertaker who is 16-0 at WM. A change has been reported minutes into the match. The announcer said that the winner of this match will actually face Vladimir Kozlov next week on RAW and the winner of that match will face Undertaker at WM. Back and forth match until Shawn Michaels finally has him down and lands the big elbow drop. JBL comes back and counters with the big boot. JBL goes for the Clothesline from Hell but HBK counters and lands the Sweet Chin Music for the 1 - 2 - 3. After the match is over, Kozlov comes to the ring and HBK stares back at him. Kozlov slams Shawn to the mat and Shawn looks hurt. Crowd is booing Kozlov. A sign of things to come?

Next match is Mike Knox vs. Jamie Noble. Noble announces that if he can last longer than he did last week (15 seconds), then he will go to WrestleMania. This is a squash match as Knox lands a couple of moves and then his huge finisher. He pins Noble in 29 seconds. At least it's an improvement for Noble. The next Inductee into the 2009 Hall of Fame is announced and it is Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Ric Flair will be inducting him. Cole is on the ramp and he introduces Ricky Steamboat and he comes out to a big pop from the crowd. He thanks the fans and before he can finish his sentence, Jericho's music hits and out comes Chris. He makes fun of Micky Rourke for not winning an Oscar. He then turns his attention to Steamboat and calls him a loser. Jericho then talks about how Steamboat is a nobody and puts down his family. Steamboat comes back and talks about how Jericho turned on his fans the first chance he got and that he is a hypocrite. Jericho hits Steamboat with a cheap shot. He hits him with the mic. Steamboat goes down and Jericho tells him to stay down. Jericho smiles as he walks to the back.

Cena comes to the ring for his match to a big pop. He is getting prepared when Vickie walks from the back. Cena is mad because Vickie says that she will not grant his Championship Rematch and tells her, he will follow her everywhere she goes and vows to be on this week's Smackdown. So who will the opponent be, it's ... Chavo Guerrero. Cena hits a slam, Five Nuckle Shuffle, as he stares at Vickie. He then hits the Attitude Adjustment (used to be the FU), then locks in the STF and Chavo immediately taps. Cena wins.

Orton, Dibiase, and Rhodes make their way to the ring with Randy holding a sledgehammer. This will get very interesting. Orton practically dares Triple H to come to the ring and talks about what he did to Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon. Orton hopes Triple H's kids aren't watching and suddenly the Titantron shows up with Triple H walking in the arena from the parking lot holding the sledgehammer and looking very angry. Triple H enters the ring but stops just short of it as he sees the other members of Legacy. Orton takes a mic and tells him not to be stupid because someone will get hurt. Orton suggests they drop their sledgehammers and fight like men as Orton tosses his sledgehammer aside and Triple H does likewise. HHH walks into the ring, taking off his jacket to reveal a spare sledgehammer! Randy and Legacy jump out of the ring and run for their lives as Triple H chases them down. He chases them to a locker room and hits Ted in the back as he has Randy now cornered. Orton pleads with him to not do it, saying no. Orton ducks and Triple H throws the sledgehammer, smashing a mirror. The Game continues the chase as Legacy jumps into a car as Triple H smashes the rear-side window. Triple H throws the sledgehammer at the cars as it speeds away. A close zoom in on The Game shows that he has snapped. All in all, a very good RAW!