The Road Is Long

Monday Night Raw kicks off with the Smackdown World Heavyweight Champion Batista. He says he was invited by William Regal to come to Raw to take on some competition. Batista says that he is gearing up for the hell in the cell match at Survivor Series with the Undertaker. He promotes his match well. He sends a message to the Undertaker, who just happens to be there too.....He steps out and makes his way to the ring to face the champ. Are we going to see a pre Survivor Series match-up tonight? Well it looked that way until William Regal came out to add his two cents worth. Wow, Batista and Undertaker are going to be partners against Raw's tag team champs Lance Cade and Trevor Murdock. This is going to be a quick slaughtering. Undertaker and Lance Cade begin this match-up. I don't think these two red necks have seen anything the likes of the Dead Man. Batista tags himself in blindly and he begins working over Cade. Are the Dead man and the Animal going to be able to play well enough together to secure a win? Undertaker looks absolutely evil on the ring apron waiting for his turn in the ring. I love the facial expressions of this man, and to think that he's a father of a little girl! The Undertaker tags himself in blindly and he makes quick work of Cade. Undertaker and Batista easily win this match, sending a message to one another that neither of them plan on leaving that ring a loser.

Beth Phoenix makes a grand entrance and will face off against Maria. Maria is sure looking incredible this evening. Beth Phoenix shows no mercy to the beauty as she starts this match up. Maria gets off some really nice moves for a moment before the Glamazon steals a win using sheer power. I have to give Maria credit, she tried and against a lesser competitor she might have one, but the Glamazon takes her matches very seriously.

Santino Marella comes out to talk about his "attack" by Stone Cold last week. He doesn't consider his girlfriend's loss in her match, he's only thinking of himself right now. He calls out Stone Cold for an apology. Since Stone Cold is not there, he goes over to the announcers table and demands that J.R. give him an apology. He berates J.R. and King stands up to Santino. Santino challenges King to a match and King makes his way into the ring. King knocks the crap out of Santino who runs like a scalded dog out of the ring. King proves that you don't mess with Good Ol' J.R. on Raw! Good job King!

Santino challenges Jerry Lawler to a real match tonight and King takes him up on it even though he doesn't have ring attire with him. Now that's dedication! I look forward to this match up, cause once and for all someone needs to shut Marella up!

Smackdown's Matt Hardy comes out for a match tonight on Raw. His tag team partner's tonight will be Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy. They will face off in a 6 man inter promotional match against Finlay, Mr. Kennedy and MVP. This is going to be an explosive match for sure. Matt Hardy and Finlay square off first. Mr. Kennedy is tagged in and begins working over Matt. MVP gets tagged in quick enough to refuse to fight against Matt Hardy then tags Mr. Kennedy back in. Matt Hardy puts his back to Kennedy while distracted by Finlay and gets himself tossed out of the ring by Kennedy. Never put your back to the enemy, everyone knows that! Mr.Kennedy gets an advantage and is dominating Matt Hardy at this point. Kennedy makes a tag to Finlay and Matt Hardy tags in Rey Mysterio. I love to watch this man in the ring, he's so electrifying! Finlay tags in MVP to take on Mysterio. MVP uses his kicks to weaken the firecracker Mysterio. One can only wonder if Rey is at 100% after his match last week with Finlay. Rey refuses to give up but it's looking bleak for the Luchador. Mr. Kennedy gets in the ring with Mysterio and is doing what he can to injure Mysterio's back. These men are just not letting Mysterio get a leg up in this match tonight. Mysterio counters a move by MVP. Mysterio makes a much needed tag to Jeff Hardy who has yet to be in the ring tonight and he's taking it to MVP. Mr. Kennedy tries to interfere and all hell breaks loose. A huge 619 to MVP and Mr. Kennedy by Mysterio, a Swanton bomb from Jeff Hardy on MVP and the match is won by the Hardy's and Mysterio! This is what wrestling is all about!

Mr. McMahon is in the ring getting ready to over see the face off between Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton. There is a red carpet and a podium in the ring, however I don't think either of these men is thinking about giving a speech right at this moment. Randy Orton comes to the ring looking like the cat who swallowed the canary. The stipulations for the match on Sunday at Survivor Series is that Shawn Michaels is not allowed to use his famous Sweet Chin Music at all during that match or he looses the match and will never again be allowed to face Randy Orton for the WWE championship. The other stipulation is that if Randy Orton gets himself disqualified or throws the match in any way, he forfeits his title to Shawn Michaels. These two are throwing insults at each other fast and furiously. Does Shawn Michaels depend on his super kick too much, is that all that Michaels can bring to the table? Is that the only move that he's got under his belt? Michaels is absolutely teasing Orton at this point and making fun of the Champ about his stipulation placed on the match at Survivor Series. Michaels claims that all he needs to compete on Sunday is the memory of Orton trying to end his livelihood six months ago. Orton gets rude and the fight is on. Orton beats and batters HBK while Mr. McMahon just stands there and does nothing. However, Mr. McMahon does stop Randy from kicking Shawn's head off once again, but he cannot stop the RKO. Michaels is left lifeless in the ring tonight, but I don't think that will be the case on Sunday.

Melina makes a sexy entrance tonight with Layla and Jillian Hall in a 6 woman tag team match tonight against Mickie James, Michelle McCool and Kelly Kelly. Melina and Michelle start the match off. Michelle tags in Kelly and she faces off against Melina. Melina tags in Jillian and the match continues. Kelly tags in Mickie and she brings the fight to Jillian. Soon all the women are in the ring and the poor ref has to figure out who is legal. Mickie James and Layla are and Mickie gets a quick three count over Layla and picks up a win for her team. It's a nice view that's for sure.

Jerry the King Lawler faces off against Santino Marella. This is what we call a filler match folks. I love King and I hope that he beats the crap out of Marella. I am really wishing someone would super kick him and put him out of commission at some point. King repeatedly knocks Marella down by kicking his thigh. It's a good match up and each man is getting his blows in. King gets an inside cradle and wins the match because Marella was distracted talking to J.R. It's his own fault for underestimating the original King of the Ring!

The comic relief comes from a clip from the training of Hornswaggle for his match against the Great Khali at Survivor Series. Hornswaggle comes out from under the ring and William Regal is over seeing this match. Jonathan Coachman comes out dressed up like Khali and it's supposed to be all in good fun but Coach is not liking being the training dummy. This is cracking me up as Hornswaggle kicks, bites and gets a three count over the dummy "Khali". I have a feeling that the match this Sunday is not going to be fun and games. The disadvantage this Sunday will be that Khali knows how to fight, and Coach thinks he does. Best of luck to Hornswaggle!

Todd Grisham talks with Triple H about his match tonight against Umaga and his match Sunday at Survivor Series this Sunday. Triple H sends a very strong and threatening message to the Samoan Bulldozer. The King of Kings is confident about his ability to win, and frankly so am I (but I'm biased cause Triple H is my favorite wrestler)!

Triple H comes out for his lumberjack match against Umaga. Both men are accompanied to the ring by their lumberjacks and I'm not sure what will be more interesting to watch, the two men in the ring or the lumberjacks on the outside. If either man is knocked to the outside, it's the job of the lumberjacks to put that person back in the ring to continue the match. Triple H is first out of the ring and he knocks the crap out of Matt Striker who tries to put him back in the ring. Umaga is next out of the ring and the lumberjacks are a little hesitant to touch the Samoan Bulldozer. Triple H is tossed out again, and his lumberjacks protect him against the lumberjacks on Umaga's side who would love to dismantle the Game. Umaga and Triple H are beating each other to tiredness at this point, but the match goes on. Triple H appears to have left his Game elsewhere tonight as he is absolutely manhandled by Umaga tonight. This is definitely not making me happy. I hate to see Triple H at a disadvantage. The lumberjacks in Triple H's corner try to rally behind him to get him on his feet but he doesn't remain upright for long. I'm hoping that Triple H does better on Sunday than he's doing tonight. Triple H gets a second wind and gets in some really good hits and a nice DDT on Umaga. The King of Kings fights back and tries to get a Pedigree and gets a Samoan Drop instead. Triple H goes for the win and is interrupted by Finlay. The match is called for interference and all the men rush the ring and start fighting each other. That's how Raw ends tonight folks, they went over time allotted and were rudely cut off by the Steve-O show. I'm pretty sure that we'll get to see more in your face action leading up to Survivor Series tomorrow night on ECW and Friday night on Smackdown.