Raw: Ongoing LIVE Thoughts

11:09 - Solid enough Raw. I am mildly curious who they'll have win the Money in the Bank match. I hope it's not Edge, Orton, or Jericho, who are always just a storyline away from a WWE Championship feud. If I were a betting man, I'd guess they're going to have Miz win it, but I'd like them to take a real gamble and go with Morrison, or bite the bullet and give the nod to Bourne.

Who do I think should be in Smackdown's ladder match? CM Punk, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, and I don't know, how about MVP, Big Show, Matt Hardy, and Dolph Ziggler?

10:41 - I REALLY think they need to reunite Morrison with Melina when she makes her return. It can be like an Edge/Lita thing, where the female maintains her own career in addition to appearing with the male. I think that would do wonders for setting him back on track. And it'd work with them as faces or heels.

10:39 - Wow, did they just remember that Jericho came up with the MITB idea? Wow... Oh, and why didn't Jericho get the "last entrant" honors?

10:37 - Okay, I kinda like that the briefcase for the Raw MITB match is red (and presumably the Smackdown one will be blue). Nice little touch. Oh, and Edge needs to grow his beard back, especially if he's going to be a heel.

10:22 - I do appreciate WWE taking the time to explain perceived "plotholes" to its viewers. But still, some of these babyfaces, particularly the goody-goody ones, are a little tougher to root for now. I mean, I'm to believe that Edge would pass up an opportunity to capture the WWE Championship, instead opting to help his opponents (including arch rival Orton and mortal enemy Cena) mid-match due to an NXT attack.....but John Cena wouldn't sacrifice a suspension to help a bunch of old men?

10:15 - I thought that was a pretty solid beat down. I'm sure some people will complain about how the Legends got the upper hand during certain parts, but I didn't really have a problem with that, because they were on dominant ground. And I liked the way it played out. The rookies couldn't make their attack, so they began systematically thinning the herd. But like the Cena attack, the lack of assistance from the backstage area was a little disconcerting. I mean, am I to believe that somebody as virtuous as John Cena cares more about his career and getting a title shot than the well being of a bunch of highly respected elderly Legends?

But man, how nervous must those NXT rookies been? I mean they come to ringside and everybody's wearing a tie.... In fact, the Legends should have just kept on their ties. It's the best way to ensure that they won't get touched.

10:02 - Methinks these WWE Legends are going to be the latest Nexus victims...

9:46 - Another great segment. The Raw MITB participants are pretty flawless. I'm glad to see John Morrison in a PPV match (a high profile one, no less) and it's great to see Jericho in an ANNOUNCED PPV match. A bit curious including guys like Orton and Edge, though, as they've flirted with the injured list a bit much this past year.

And while I criticized the AIM "bleep" sound last week, I have to say it's been really well utilized this week. It's actually been pretty cool seeing a scene get really tense, or seeing a heel character get really cocky, only to be interrupted with the "bleep" sound, as if to say, "Oh yeah, well how about this?"

9:40 - That answers that. By the way, Metalingus is sooooooooo much better than the Zombie song.

9:38 - It's too bad Mike Knox isn't still on the WWE Roster, as he's an absolute spitting image of the Zombie-version of Michael Myers from his Halloween 2. Any chance they'll acknowledge that he used to do Edge's theme?

9:33 - Wait, are Santino and Kozlov still doing that WWE-produced sitcom?

9:16 - It was an interesting opening segment. I actually think the over-the-top computer set up for the Raw GM is pretty hilarious. At the moment I don't think Cole is the GM, only because (a) it's too obvious, and (b) McMahon was on the phone with the GM during Raw's broadcast. But I think it's a bit of a moot point -- Cole is smarmy enough that him acting as the GM's representative works just as well.

So, the NXT rookies are now officially now known as Nexus. Works for me. Although I hate this "if you attack anybody this week, you're fired!" crap. For one, if these attacks have been so incredibly vile, why not just say "if you ever do that again, you're fired"? And why is Nexus worried about getting fired? Surely they wouldn't have attacked the owner of the company if they feared losing their job.

Overall, I thought it was a good opening. They accomplished a lot in 20 minutes.

Be sure to check the blog at 9:00 for my ongoing Raw thoughts.