Last night's episode of Monday Night RAW featured some great matches but if this were a tuna casserole, it would have required quite a bit of seasoning to bring up the bland taste left in viewers' mouths

John Cena comes out to the ring, belt-less. Last week, The Great Khali snagged it during Cena's match with Randy Orton last week and loved it, hugged it, and named it "George."

Cena looks just a tad too crestfallen sans spinner belt, like he lost his best friend. In a voice that sounded as if he was about to read a eulogy, Cena noted that although he was announced as WWE Champion, he doesn't have the Title belt with him. Instead, now it is in the hands of The Great Khali. (Actually, it's probably not in his hands so much as being used as a coaster for Khali's very large glass of morning orange juice. The bright side is that it isn't being used for his morning prune juice.)

Cena then does some 'splainin' about the loss of his belt last week in addition to addressing the crowd on their weekly chants of "You Suck" and the farting in his general direction. He adds that he will reclaim property of his belt not Judgment Day, but that very night. Khali has something of Cena's and he wants it. Right. Now. (And that something in question is Cena's autographed copy of Vince McMahon's cover stint on Muscle and Fitness magazine.)

The Titan Tron shows the hulking Punjabi backstage. Khali is moving up in the world, considering he's got his very own pocket-sized, Daivari-like translator now. Apparently, the little dude next to him can speak not only Hindi but Wookie. Now there's something you don't see every day.

Khali and his garbled rantings get the "What" treatment from the fans, interjecting them in between bursts of speech.

Khali's translator deciphers his gurgling as a call out to Cena. Both Khali and his translator then do the unthinkable. They steal their opponents catchphrase, letting loose with "You want some? Come get some!" Instantly, I have an image in my mind that shatters the perception of a monster of a giant with Khali wearing a chef's hat and apron and cooking up a spicy batch of vindaloo to be served piping hot to John Cena, lovingly served with delicious Indian fried bread to soak up some of the hot sauce accompanying the dish so as not to upset The Champ's tummy-tum. Yes, it would seem that, at least in terms of my recap, Monday Night RAW had something of a crossover with Food Network. Come to think of it, Mickie James does bear a vague resemblance to Rachael Ray.

Cena rushes Khali backstage and The Great Khali effectively uses him as a paintbrush to redecorate with The Champ, (I smell a "Trading Spaces" crossover here, too) bashing him off of several walls, tables, chairs, and garbage cans before ultimately choking the champ into submission with Cena slumping down. Indeed, The Great Khali's choke game is pro.

Ring skill or not, I have a hard time busting on Khali who seems like a genuinely nice person and is something of a revered hero in his homeland. Still, Charlie Murphy… I was having too much fun.

After a commercial break, the first match of the night gets underway. The Hardys make their entrance with Matt accompanying Jeff in singles competition against Trevor Murdoch, the heftier half of Murdoch and Cade.

Both men lock up and Murdoch backs away in a clean break and a show of clean sportsmanship. Hardy executes a nice side-headlock takeover and the action continues fast and furious with an arm-drag by Murdoch to which Jeff Hardy follows suit. Both men dodge each others' clotheslines. Hardy rushes the ropes and Murdoch claps into him, bouncing him off the ropes and down to the canvas with a near pin. Hardy gets up as Murdoch is on the outside, the recipient of a divebomb by Hardy taking Trevor Murdoch down to the ground.

Back in the ring, in the corner, Murdoch moves out of the way as Hardy tries a swinging jump-kick off of the second rope. Hardy eats canvas with his foot on the rope and his head hitting back against the mat. After recovering, Jeff nails Murdock with a jawbreaker and then a top-rope reverse neckbreaker to his opponent.

Hardy goes for the kill, climbing to the top to deliver the Swanton onto Murdoch. He connects, but Trevor Murdoch picks his knees up, driving them into the velocity-propelled Hardy and gaining another near fall.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Hardy rolls Murdoch for an inside cradle and pins him. Murdoch is seriously bummed, shocked that he lost. Jeff Hardy stands in the corner with his brother, Matt and is trying to get up, still selling his back after Murdoch's knees were driven into it during the Swanton.

In keeping with their new banner of good sportsmanship, Murdoch and Jeff Hardy shake hands, although the Hardys seem slightly apprehensive.

I was surprised at how good of a match this was, in particular due to the skills of both men. Normally, I'm a huge mark for the Hardys, however, Murdoch did a good job. For a man not exactly giving the appearance of one who is terribly athletic, he kept pace very well with the acrobatic Jeff Hardy and still managed to get in more of a brutish offence in keeping with his character. I'm beginning to really like this feud and that the Powers That Be are giving Cade and Murdoch actual personalities. Dare I say it, but they're really growing on me.

The announce team of Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler make mention that John Cena is being attended to by EMTs and both he and Khali have left the building for the night.

Also scheduled for tonight is a "Rated R Shocker." Heh. They said "shocker" and "Rated R" in the same sentence. Edge will be giving his farewell address to the RAW audience as he makes the jump to the Smackdown roster as that brand's new Heavyweight Champion, hornswoggling the Undertaker out of the title after the Dead Man was weakened by his grueling cage match with Batista. On Smackdown, Edge swooped in to exercise his right of the MITB match which he won last week on RAW, following a sneak attack on its previous holder Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Kennedy.

Backstage, Coach appeared to be perplexed, gearing up for a match against the man who whooped his ass last week, the former ECW Champion, Bobby Lashley -- who, ironically, spends more time on RAW than he does ECW. Shane O' Mac was there giving him a pep talk and insisting everything would be alright since he had Shane, Umaga, and the ECW ChampionVince McMahon in his corner. Shane looks over uneasily at Umaga and says "Hi. How ya doin'?"

Meanwhile, Vince has a doo-rag that matches his lilac-pearl colored suit and coordinates right down to the last fiber of his deep lavender tie. Preening for the camera and his son, he tells Shane that "I'm down." Doo-rags just might be the greatest thing ever to happen for Vincent Kennedy McMahon's character.

After another break, Santino Marella comes out to his opera music, happily hopping around. The Intercontinental Champion is now billed as living in NJ. (I think someone's been watching too many episodes of The Sopranos."

"The Masterpiece" Chris Masters then makes his entrance as Marella kisses the belt.

Masters has a slightly new look with shorter hair and some Evil Spock facial hair kickin'.

Masters goes for several cheap shots from behind with large, double axehandles to Marella's back. The Masterpiece delivers a nice Tilt-a-Whirl backbreaker followed by several knees to Marella's back. Masters goes for a spinning backbreaker with Marella going over Masters' knee and coming down hard.

Masters rams Marella to the corner. The I.C. Champ winds back and gives a spinning slap to the back. Masters counters with a spinebuster on Marella, going for the pin but the champion kicks out. Masters signals that it's "Master Lock time" to the crowd. Marella slips the hold and then lands in a wheelbarrow position between Masters legs' as the Masterpiece clamps back.

What follows is an insanely nice move by Marella, with a modified sunset flip into a pseudo Boston Crab style pin on Masters showcasing the new guy's agility. Color me legitimately impressed!

Marella wins, but Masters puts him in a damaging Master Lock with Marella writhing on the canvas before the commercial break.

Again, I was surprised by how good of a match this ended up being. Both Masters and Marella looked good out there. I had thought Marella looked a little sloppy last time, but he cleaned up and then some this week.

One commercial break later, the Women's Champion, Melina comes out to sit with J.R. and The King and do some commentary. She oes a little dance with her belt on the runway, reminiscent of the Ickey Shuffle as she makes her way ringside. Melina has killer hair tonight as she does her split-legged entrance on the announcer's table in front of J.R. and The King. King looks abnormally excited. Well, there's one man of the age of 50 who hasn't succumbed to Viagra prescriptions.

Candice makes her entrance and her outfit is just screaming for a wardrobe malfunction. Once again, I must re-iterate that she should really take it easy on the bleach as she's becoming rapidly blonde week by week.

Some clips from last week are shown with Candice pinning Melina and the week prior, pinning Victoria, her competitor for the evening.

Victoria steps in Candice's face and Candice does a snapmare takeover on the veteran along with a stiff-armed clothesline to Victoria.

The announce team notes that Candice is getting better. Melina agrees, but adds that she's still not championship material. I have to agree with all three of them. I don't think Candice Michelle is quite ready to hold the belt yet, but she's turning into a pretty decent wrestler and I have to really applaud her efforts to learn and not just be merely eye-candy. That's pretty damn cool.

Victoria hooks Candice's leg and arm, driving her knee into her side before yanking back on her hair. Candice clobbers Victoria with several whirling fists and a boot to the gut. And boy is she jiggling all over. She drops the elbow on Victoria, almost gaining a nearfall. Victoria wings Candice to the ropes and is clipped with a spinning headscissors takedown.. Victoria goes for the F5 but puts her opponent down. This gives Candice and opportunity to land a running heel kick on Victoria and Candice Michelle pins her.

The announce team mentions Candice's miraculous three victories in a row. Even more of a miracle is the fact is that her top stayed on throughout the match. Candice looks over at Melina and points to her own waist, running a hand across her abs. Melina plays the heel-bitch role awesomely well and yells into the microphone: "What? You're showing me your fat rolls? You're fat, Candice? Is that it? You don't need to brag about it!" She also adds that she is never getting Melina's title belt.

Moving from one champion to another, here comes Edge, carrying his new Championship belt and preparing to address the RAW crowd for the last time in what may be a long while. The Titan-Tron rewinds to last week with Edge walloping Kennedy for the MITB briefcase as the new Smackdown Champion notes that he could have cashed it in on anyone, but he cashed it in on Undertaker.

Edge laments that he won't have one last great RAW match. Cena is kaput and Khali already left the building.

Enter Shawn Michaels who wants a go at the Champ to give him one last great match. Edge asks HBK if he has a table to be put though or a concussion to get before adding that he will enjoy beating Shawn up in his last RAW outing.

Backstage, Bobby Lashley is being interviewed by Todd Grisham. He opens his mouth and out comes the tiny Mike Tyson voice before he's interrupted by Shane McMahon. Shane taunts Lashley with his title shot being forfeited if he touches him. Then, Shane O employs several 2nd Grade playground techniques by putting his finger an inch from Lashley and saying in a sing-song voice "I'm not touching you-ou." Over and over again. The boss's son tries to make him flinch by wiggling his finger at him and exiting with making a kissy face at Lashey. Lashley and his tiny, oddly shaped ears do not look amused.

Afterwards, both Vince and Shane come out with Umaga, preceding Vince's executive assistant, Jonathan Coachman. Mr. McMahon has his pants pulled up high in the European way, dragging and scooping with his leg in a new style of strut for the night, overcome by the spunky power of his doo-rag and matching suit combo.

Bobby Lashley makes his entrance and does another more restrained version of his arm-throwing entrance. Pyro goes off and the crowd reacts.

I notice that Umaga has his hair loose instead of in the braids. It looks a little greasy, but stylin' nonetheless. Looking more closely, it seems that Umaga has another new tattoo. This one looks like a tribal bat. I have a bat tattoo, too. Between finding humor in Khali and common ground with Umaga, I think the big men I'm supposed to hate are strangely growing on me.

In ring action, Lashley warms up as Coach teeters on his legs and slaps Lashley. Lashley slaps himself harder, psyching himself up. He grabs Coach and gets him on the ropes and begins pummelling him. Vince looks concerned and taunts Lashley with goofy hand gestures to distract him from his Executive Assistant.

The match results in a quick pin by Lashley. Suddenly, Shane and Umaga rush the ring and hammer on Lashley. Lashley throws Shane over top rope as Umaga goes to ass splash Lashley. He dodges it and Umaga rams his own ass into the corner. Meanwhile, Shane saves his father from an ass beating as Vince hikes it to the back aided by Shane's intervention.

Shane then hops the barricade and runs to the back through the crowd. Lashley takes chase and the two are running at top speed to the back. Shane swings himself around a media cart and rushes through it. Lashley catches Shane by his jacket before Shane shrugs it off, shaking off Lashley's grasp. He's still booking like mad to the outside parking lot and it seems Lashley will get a crack at the boss's son. Shane flings himself onto a limo which speeds off, with Shane attached to its roof. Seriously, Shane McMahon would have a fine career as a stunt man if he weren't already filthy rich.

Going for the element of surprise, Vince clobbers Lashley with his belt from behind. He picks up the strap and leaves Lashely on the ground in the parking lot

Up next, prepare for some jobbing! Heeeeeeere's Val Venis! The 21st Century equivalent of Barry Horowitz and the Brooklyn Brawler. What a shame considering Val still can put on a decent match and, as King and J.R. belabor, he once was an Intercontinental Champion.

Carlito in the ring locking up with Val Venis. Venis takes over Carlito in a bearhug suplex to ground. Carlito wrenches Val's arm back in retaliation. Val picks him up and deposits him to the canvas. Carlito then goes on the warpath, delivering knees to the back and gut, clotheslining Venis and connecting with several shots to the former I.C. Champ's head.

Outside the ring, Carlito sends Val back-first to apron, nearly pinning him in the ring. Carlito delivers an elbow to the back and another big one which sends Val to the canvas. The two men trade fists before Carlito goes for dropkick and then another near pinfall.

Carlito goes for the Jawbreaker and Val counters with a Neckbreaker by Val. Venis climbs to the top for the Money Shot and comes down hard. Carlito nails him with the back cracker as he lands and wins with a pin.

Carlito starts to celebrate as the Nature Boy, Ric Flair comes out! Wooo! Carlito hightails it to the back as the crowd shows some mad love for Flair.

Dude. I'm so over Carlito already. It'd be nice if they'd "try" to make him interesting again.

Backstage Randy Orton pays a visit to Shawn Michaels, oh-so-sincerely wishing him good luck… And saying that he can beat him. Another match for the Judgment Day card ensues with Orton going up against Shawn Michaels.

Just then, I notice that the font for "Judgment Day" makes it look like "Fudgment Day" instead. Now that would be an interesting PPV.

Making his final RAW ring entrance for awhile, Edge slides into the ring, having a terrific hair day.

Shawn Michaels comes out with a more energetic entrance than usual, full of pep, vigor, and bounce.

The two men tangle up and Edge gets the ball rolling with a chinlock choke hold on HBK.
Shawn counters with a flying swinging neckbreaker to Edge. He throws Edge to the corner and then once more, another. As he whips Edge off the ropese, Shawn leans down and gets a boot to the face by Edge. Edge rushes at HBK, but he moves out of the way, sending Edge to the outside and flying over the ropes. Michaels then leaps over the top rope and runs and lands on top of Edge with a Lou Thesz press.

After commercial break, Edge has Shawn in vicelike chokehold. Shawn slugs Edge and fights to freedom only to land a high boot on Michaels who kicks out at the count of two. Michaels' concussion from last week is played up with Edge hammering him with several headshots. Shawn scoots to the corner and tries to get up. Even the referee has to check to see if Shawn is able to continue the match. He continues although Edge gives him a hard, backhanded slap. Again, HBK kicks out at two.

HBK absorbs lots of shots to the head before Edge goes for a crossbody and misses. Michaels comes back with a flying elbow and The match ends with Edge falling victim to Sweet Chin Music and losing his last RAW match to HBK.

Following Shawn Michaels' victory, Randy Orton rushes the ring and assaults Michaels. The two roll around on the mat engaging in a little slap n' tickle before Orton lands a seriously hard looking boot to Shawn's head. HBK collapses to the canvas and Orton kicks Shawn when he's down as the credits fade up.

This wasn't a bad RAW. The matches were half-and-half in terms of excitement. The first half of the show yielded the best contests while the second half seemed to rely more on the upper- to mid- card "names" to sell the matches and set up the Judgment (Fudgment?) Day card.