Raw after-party: Orton/Edge shine as Nexus runs its course

Two hours of Monday night Raw and I walked away enjoying about 20 minutes of it. Those 20 minutes belonged to the Edge/Randy Orton match. Once again, those two guys did not disappoint fans who got a full throttle match from start to finish. Orton continues to prove why he is the absolute best thing on Raw, and possible the entire company.

The ending had your usual interference thanks to Chris Jericho giving the win to Edge. However, this match was not to advance a feud between Orton and Edge. This match was about setting up momentum for this Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay per view. After Jericho got involved, Evan Bourne decided to play with the big boys. The highlight of Raw was Bourne’s attempt of a shooting star press which Orton turned into an RKO. That was without question one of the best counters to a high-flying move I have seen in recent memory. The counter was clean with no botches what so ever. It should be on YouTube within a day or so.

Orton was the last man standing in this melee. Looks like he has the most momentum going into the Raw Money in the Bank match, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s your winner.

The rest of the show was a snoozer. I will admit, my eye was on the Home Run Derby. I gave my all to pay full attention to Raw, but nothing grabbed me. Nexus continues to beat up wrestlers backstage. Tonight they took out John Morrison and Evan Bourne. What are they showing us by doing the same thing over and over again? We get the point. They are a bunch of mean dudes and there is strength in numbers. This angle has continued to plummet and the match with John Cena did nothing to elevate it to a higher level.

The 6-on-1 match had no excitement and the crowd was dead. Cena lost fair and square which anyone would have expected. Even the WWE’s Superman could not overcome those odds against a group the WWE has built up for weeks. It was interesting to see Sheamus come out at the end of the match and protect Cena from another post-match beat down. Both of these men are opponents in a few days in a steel cage for the WWE Title.

There is no question that Nexus will show how get involved in steel cage match. Seeing Sheamus help Cena tonight made it clear that this match is secondary to the feud with Nexus. Therefore, it makes it a little hard to match Sheamus vs. Cena when they have showed some unity. Afterall, Sheamus is supposed to be a top heel on Raw and Cena is your top baby face. Sometimes this unity thing works and maybe it will in the end. It’s all about Nexus going into the steel cage match.

In a weird move by the WWE, Mark Henry was named a replacement for R-Truth in the Money in the Bank match. [Yes, insert joke here] [Insert fat joke here] [Insert ladder breaking joke here] Henry was involved in a Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania last year according to a high light reel shown on Raw tonight. I have no recollection of him being in the match, yet I remember the match itself very well. That doesn’t bode well for Mr. Henry because he will just be taking up a lot of space this Sunday. [Insert last joke here]

Overall, Raw did not do a tremendous job building anticipation for the pay per view. The Raw GM is still anonymous and Nexus remains on a never ending path to no where. Luckily, a pay per view with three gimmick matches will sell itself and maybe the WWE knew that going in.

Quick Hits:

*Miz did a number on Mark Henry tonight. He has quietly become a solid performer on Raw for a while now. I don’t expect him to win this Sunday, but I do see him getting a major push sometime after Summerslam.

*There was less e-mails from the Raw GM tonight which was a good thing. If the WWE continues to keep up the anonymous angle then I don’t really care to hear the e-mails. It was fine for the first two weeks, but it has now become pointless. Either gives us a GM or limit it to two e-mails per show because fans are starting to become indifferent to the angle.

*Florence Henderson was actually a decent guest host. I’ve pretty much given no credit to the entire guest host gig, but the guest host they least promote I liked. The match was hideous on many levels but she did a decent job for someone I would have never thought would work well in that spot. If you sat far from the TV tonight and have bad eye sight, Florence Henderson looks very similar to Linda McMahon.

*I’m sure you’ve noticed but I will state it anyway, the Raw guest host has started to fade in recent weeks. It seems like the angle is still alive but used sparingly. That’s the way it should be used to make the occasion more special. Let’s also try to get people that wrestling fans can identify with. I know the WWE is headed in a PG direction, but come on. Florence Henderson? Betty White is more bad ass than her.

*There was some news this past week that Triple H had surgery of some kind. However, that’s not the story. The way this news got out is the kicker. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dirk Hayhurst tweeted that he saw Triple H following his surgery. The posts were removed from his page once the news traveled like wildfire. If Dirk Hayhurst thought the baseball writers were tough he has no idea what the internet wrestling community is like.

*Anyone catch the opening before the Raw opening? They changed it up a bit. The one thing I noticed that was missing was Jim Ross' quote at the very end, "The world is watching." 

*I’ll be back tomorrow with my Money in the Bank predications.