Wow. Just. Wow. Live from Wilkes-Barre, PA (my home town!) the special three-hour, Tri-Branded Draft episode of Monday Night RAW delivered mayhem, insanity, and a surprise, cliffhanger ending that not even the most jaded and omniscient wrestling fans could have predicted. In addition to showcasing some terrific matches from members of all three WWE brands, some genuinely surprising draft picks were moved to different brands that will ensure a jolt of new blood to each of the separate programs and one major storyline that will encompass them all with an added bonus of an ending more climactic, shocking, and satisfying than the one The Sopranos threw at viewers a mere 24 hours earlier.

The show kicks off with a discombobulated Vince McMahon requiring Hooked on Phonics to read to the viewers about what tonight's episode of RAW will entail. The inter-brand matches will determine by the victor which brand will get to pick a new draftee to the brand with a randomly determined choice generated by the computer. Vince also declares that tonight will be the defining moment of his life in conjunction with the Vince McMahon Appreciation Night festivities that will be sprinkled throughout the matches and draft picking hijinx.

The show starts off with a match I've seen way too many times already. Smackdown's Champion, Edge faces off against RAW's Champion, John Cena. Surprisingly, as tired as I was of this pairing, it was a pretty good match with both men putting on a tremendous show.

Edge averted a Sunset Flip by Cena and came in to choke out the RAW Champ as he struggled to his feet. Just then, I realized how much I missed hearing Good Ol' J.R. refer calling a match with "Hedge."

Cena delivers an impressive looking Flying Bulldog, scaling the top of Edge's head as he drove it towards the canvas. Cena gets to his feet and Edge follows suit. The two Champions trade shoulder blocks before Cena whips out something sort of resembling a tilt-a-whirl slam, but lacking the full tilt. Edge hits the mat and Cena then dodges an angered Edge. The Smackdown Champion accidentally goes flying through the ring ropes. Cena gets out of the ring and slams Edge's head into first the ECW announce table and then the steel stairs before picking him up, primed for an FU on the steel steps.

Meanwhile, the referee has been counting both men out. Edge makes it back into the ring before the final count of ten and the match is awarded to Edge via countout. The first draft pick goes to Smackdown. I'm legitimately shocked.

Considering that Cena never loses and that currently, RAW has less talent on its roster than the past season of American Idol, I was figuring this was going to be a pick for the RAW brand.

The computer (which makes some of the most horrendous electronic music I have ever heard) "randomly" decides to draft The Great Khali to Smackdown. Edge looks like he just pooped himself, dreading the 7'3" behemoth's arrival on the Smackdown brand, possibly having to face him. Cena smiles like a man who has just found someone to pull his finger so he could fart he's so happy. Subsequently, I'm pretty happy, too since I don’t have to see John Cena face Khali for the millionth time already.

This ended up being quite a good match, in spite of the fact that I was anticipating the worst. It was relatively short, sweet, and action packed with Cena whipping out some new moves. He and Edge work well together and compliment one another in the ring. Sometimes, it's easy to overlook this fact when you've seen the same pairing ad nauseum. Still, this was a good one to start the show out with and the crowd was really into it.

In keeping with the theme of Vince McMahon Appreciation Night, there is a brief segment outlining how Vinnie Mac got his start as a WWF/WWE broadcaster. Vince McMahon Sr.'s announcer at the time issued him an ultimatum and Vince Sr. canned the guy on the spot. That's right. Papa don't take no mess. Vincent Kennedy McMahon was then thrust into the announcer's spotlight to fill in for the newly-fired announcer. The rest is wrestling history.

I will have to admit, I really miss ol' Vinnie Mac calling the matches. While he's great in front of the camera, Vince had quite an enthusiasm for commentary and was more than capable of correctly calling the maneuvers and simultaneously doing color commentating. McMahon is probably one of the most underrated commentators of all time. Between his physical condition and penchant for throwing himself in the position of the company's top heel, you can really tell that Vince had always wanted to be a wrestler, although his father frowned upon his son being one.

The first colleague/former colleague to give his thoughts on Vince McMahon Appreciation Night is the former Governor of Minnesota, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, sporting a baseball cap and some overgrown hair that makes him look more like Murdoch from the A-Team than the flamboyantly jacked superstar of yore. Weighing in with a less than flattering commentary, The Body mentions how McMahon is a remarkable man, but then again offers that "Dictators always do some remarkable things." Ouch.

Tazz and Joey Styles are on commentary and yet again, Tazz has on a rather spiffy ensemble. For a big, beefy guy, Tazz can dress really well.

The next match is up and ECW's CM Punk is announced to take on RAW's Carlito.
Man am I sick of Carlito already.

Carlito locks up with CM Punk who delivers one hell of a high kick to the side of Carlito's face and moves in with repeated headbutts as he's standing. Punk runs into Carlito in the corner with a high knee lift. CM delivers a flying boot to Carlito's back that looks both impressive and painful.

Carlito recovers to nail Punk with a standing dropkick along with repeated knees driven into his solar plexus, resulting in a nearfall.

He wraps his legs around Punk in a body scissors before raking his ECW competitor's eyes. Punk breaks out again and Carlito's eyes bug out of his head as he clamps on the scissors again. Punk reverses it and gets Carlito in a Boston Crab. Carlito ekes it on over to the ropes.

Both men back in standing positions, Punk delivers a springboard clothesline and takes down Carlito with yet another nearfall in the match. Once again, he lands a flying boot to Carlito's back, circling it around and hooking it right into him before driving his knees into the RAW roster mainstay.

A blown move in the corner turns the tide and Carlito is able to land the Backstabber on Punk which throws him clear out of the ring. He drags him back in and there's another nearfall.

Punk gets to his feet and brings knee up as he dropped Carlito backwards over his knee, pinning him for the win with a jaw-dropping maneuver.

Punk picks up the win and Litle Naitch, referee Charles Robinson, in a victorious hug. The Random Computer Draftee Generator is fired up again and Boogeyman is drafted to ECW. That sucks. Who's going to take care of Little Boogey now!?

The Boogeyman comes out and makes his appearance and Boogey comes out and does his awesome dance, beans himself over the head with the clock, and then eats some worms. For a split second, I asked myself if he had teeth. It was just foam. My bad.

Punk put on a great match, as always with some really interesting maneuvers. Carlito… Well. I liked his trunks. Too bad he didn't get shuttled over to ECW instead of Boogeyman.

Appreciation Night continues with commentary by Snoop Dee-Oh-Double-Gee. Snoop declares that Mr. McMahon is the greatest **BLEEP** in the world. (I think he said "pimp," but perhaps due to the very early 8-ish time slot, "pimps" and "hoes" are relegated to a series of bleeps. Bummer.) Yeah. I can picture Snoop getting high and watching RAW.

More Vince-y goodness ensues with some great soundbites from the man himself including "Each and every one of you are fired." and "I will not take crap from anyone ever again."

Mick Foley makes a live appearance and solicits a cheap pop from the Wilkes-Barre crowd. (Overcome with hometown pride, I relinquish a pop in the Fabulous Foley's direction as well.) Even before the trademark "cheap pop," Jolly Ol' St. Mick gets a humongous ovation from the crowd and informs fans and viewers that he will be a part of the WWE Championship match at Vengeance, a neat segway into saying that Mr. McMahon thrives on vengeance before running down a litany of dirty deeds done by the Chairman himself.

Foley doesn't totally pee on McMahon and cites some of his charitable works and the yearly show for the troops overseas as some of the (rare) acts of kindness he is capable of.
He then asks the crowd if Vince McMahon has any real friends before running down a list of people who were asked to participate in Vince McMahon Appreciation Night and "politely" declined. Hulk Hogan, Dick Ebersol, HBK, HHH, The Rock, Eric Bischoff, Trish Stratus (Mick Foley's" unofficial 5th child"), all silently stated that Vinnie Mac was not worth their time. Foley offers a few more ponderous questions to the crowd before retreating to allow the next match to take place.

Up next is a rather swift bout with Umaga facing off against Balls Mahoney. The Samoan Bulldozer delivers a kick to Balls' Mahonies, dropping him to the mat. Out comes the Samoan Spike and he clobbers the ECW Original to the mat, pinning him in record time. RAW gets a draft pick.

King Booker gets drafted from Smackdown to RAW!!! This is RAWesome! The always impeccably dressed Booker T comes out in a awesome, pale yellow suit accompanied by Queen Sharmell and does a kingly flourish to the crowd that reminds me of that commercial with Prince singing "Guitar" for some cell phone provider commercial.

This answered my question as to whether or not any injured superstars would be in the draft.

Steve-O from Jackass gives some heartfelt props to Vince and thanks him for the years of entertainment.

Bobby Lashley, the Once-and-Current ECW Champion is set to face Smackdown's Chris Benoit. This should be a good match. However, I have a feeling Chris Been-Jobbed is going to put over Lashley, much like he's been doing for Cena and MVP with his current position of being the point-man for putting over the next generation of top-tier superstars.

The two men circle one another and Benoit and Lashley take one another down to the mat. Michael Cole and JBL expound on the amateur style of both men and it's a mat-bound match with Benoit trying to get an armbar on Lashley. Benoit gets towards the ropes and the hold is broken.

Lashley has Benoit's legs and picks him up, slamming him back-first to the canvas and resulting in a nearfall.

Benoit goes for another armbar before whacking Lashley into the corner with knees to the ECW Champ's stomach. Lashley reverses it and then scoops and slams him to the mat for a count of one.

Benoit lands some kicks to Lashley's stomach and a hard chop to the chest. He goes for a snap suplex to the canvas for a count of one, which Lashley kicks out of.

Lashley hammers Benoit's back before picking him up in a near FU. Benoit punches his way out of it and then goes for another (you guessed it,) armbar. Nice move by Lashley with a horizontal backbreaker. Benoit, miraculously kicks out at two.

The two men trade hammering blows before Lashley spears Benoit into the corner. Benoit manages to get Lashley in the crossface. Lashley is near the ropes and the ref breaks the hold.

Benoit almost gets the sharpshooter on Lashley and the ECW Champion counters it. Lashley almost powers Benoit with the Razor's Edge but Benoit counters and goes for three German suplexes in a row on Lashley. Probably encumbered by Lashley's considerably larger frame, the suplexes seemed very low to the ground. He drags his thumb across his throat.

Lashley is already up on his feet by the time Benoit turns around. He goes to rush him into the corner, but Benoit battles back. It's still not enough as Lashley picks up Benoit with a slam and pins him for the win.

Benoit is pinned and ECW gets another pick. Wow. Let's give the show that's only an hour long even more quality talent to waste. ECW picks up….Chris Benoit. Damn. Benoit shakes hands with Bobby Lashley but it's a rough handshake. Another Original is back on ECW.

Smackdown's having a crappy night, having lost King Booker and now Chris Benoit. It doesn't get much better.

Time for a McMahon Moment and Donald Trump gives his pre-recorded comments on Vince McMahon, which are none too flattering. Plus, we get to see the whole head-shaving incident from Wrestlemania again. Whoopedy-doo.

Another mini-"tribute" comes from Ashley Massaro, showing clips from last week's episode of Smackdown in which Vince McMahon mocks then indefinitely suspends Ashley for spilling coffee on him while doing his best impersonation of the creepy preacher from Poltgergeist 2. I'd like to give my appreciation to Vince McMahon for suspending Ashley. Thank you, Vince.

Via sattlelite, Ashley talks over a flashback to Trish Stratus in lingerie barking like a dog to curry Vince's favor and stave off a good firing. Ashley should thank her lucky lip rings that she's even allowed to mention Trish Stratus' name, let alone place herself in the same category as the former Women's Champion as having to degrade herself for Vinnie Mac's graces. You, madam, are NO Trish Stratus. Hell, you, madam, are no Judy Martin, for that matter.
Again, picking the lucky straw, Ashley has the privilege to announce the Fabulous Moolah and the Great Mae Young via satellite as they pay homage to Vince McMahon and the doggie/lingerie segment of the glory days of RAW. Cue the '50s boogie woogie piano music because "Ohhhhh baby!!!" It's Moolah and Mae Young. Alright!!! These women are AWESOME!!!

Both Women get down on all fours and bark like dogs and Lawler makes the hilarious comment that "They look like a couple of Sharpeis."

While I admire the utter lack of shame (and Mae Young's arm tattoo. You gotta hand it to a woman in her 80s with body art!) these two women should be given a better opportunity than coming out to bark like dogs. I say this with love, but I'm just glad to see 'em both still up and around.

Coming up next, as indicated by the split screen that prompts me to yell "PLEASE BEAT HIS ASS!!!" Is that goofy guido Santino "Gorilla Monsoon is rolling in his grave right now" Marella facing MVP.

But first, we have the legendary Superfly Jimmy Snuka and Iron Sheik to give their thoughts on Vince McMahon. At first, I thought "bruddah" Superfly was a little hard to understand, saying that Vince was visited by the "cuckoo bird". Snuka looked like a professor of superlative diction next to the Iron Sheik though who I had a hard time figuring out what he was saying besides "Ya Allah. Ya Mohammed." (Ya Mohammed Ali!) I'm surprised Sheik didn't advise Vince to take Donald Trump, break his back, (I'm just going to omit this part, but you hardcore wrestling fans know what to "insert" here) and make him *ahem* "hum-bell."

I think every show should have an appearance by Superfly and Sheik. And I'm not just talking about every wrestling-related show, either. Think of shows like "Lost" or "One Tree Hill" with an infusion of Sheik's legendary and YouTube-worthy hijinx interjected on the shows. It would be ratings gold.

Speaking of gold, the United States Champion from Smackdown, MVP comes out with his blow-up tent and awesome music. (I will guiltily admit to loving MVP's theme.)

Conversely, RAW's Intercontinental Champion, Santino Marella comes out in an outfit as bad as last night's series finale of The Sopranos. I swear, he looks more Albanian than Italian.

MVP hops around and slaps Marella's hands away from him as Marella attempts to lock up. MVP takes Marella down to the canvas and J.R. marvels at what a big heart Marella has. I just marvel at the big tattoo of a lion on his back.

Marella whips out a drop kick that swings his own legs around behind him and takes MVP's legs out from under him in the process. Displaying surprising agility, Marella does a half split, a la James Brown, as he takes him down again.

MVP counters with a vicious clothesline and a near fall. Just then I realize how much I love MVP's rhinestone studded boots as he clamps a headlock on Marella.

The I.C. Champ powers out of it and the two men trade kicks to one another's sides and MVP counters with a chop to the throat. MVP delivers a rhinestoned boot to the back and a crossface on Marella and his crappy tattoos. MVP has the I.C. Champ on the in a side-headlock. Marella flips MVP over his back to get to the corner and recover before flying from the corner and clobbering MVP.

MVP has Marella in the rack and then drops him to the canvas. Marella grabs MVP's leg and takes him down to the canvas and it's another nearfall. There's a double reverse with MVP sending a huge flying kick to Marella's face in the corner and MVP hits the Playmaker for the win. I *heart* MVP.

In scoring a win, the computer kicks into gear again and Smackdown gets… Torrie Wilson!?! WTF!?!? Wow. That's just going to totally make up for losing Chris Benoit and the Boogeyman. JBL sells the acquisition of Torrie Wilson like it's the greatest thing since the Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon ladder match and that he'd trade the whole roster for Torrie Wilson. Ah, if only JBL could tell us what he REALLY thought.

Coming to spread some McMahon-a-Mania love is the legendary Bret "The Hitman" Hart. This was probably one of the biggest shocks of the night. I don't think anyone would have expected a live (via satellite, at least) appearance by Bret. And boy, is Bretlooking harsh. He looks like a ghoul, but then again, after all he's been through and having had a stroke on top of it, he's got a free pass to look like he crawled out of a freshly dug hole. The Hitman mumbles something about clocking Vince some "appreciateion" right upside the jaw. It's too bad it wasn't "El Dandy Appreciation Night." I have no doubt that Bret could have offered a lot on that subject.

Up, from Smackdown, The Miz comes out and I can only hope that ECW's Gene "Baby Huey" Snitsky can take him out. And hey-la, hey-la... His bacne's back!

Snitsky tosses Miz in the corner and Miz throws punches before he himself gets thrown. Miz jumps off of the top rope and Snitsky catches him in mid-air before throwing him back into the corner for a Tree of Woe, kicking him in the stomach and the *ahem* "Mahonies." Snitsky clotheslines the Miz and I notice just how bad Snitsky looks without hair. Even ANY sort of hair would help Snitsky's cause here. Some eyebrows would certainly be nice, although I really miss the ZZ Top goatee he used to sport.

Snitsky pins Miz and earns ECW another draft pick. He goes back into the ring to kick the crap out of the Miz and then runs at him with a forceful whack, knocking the Miz even stupider.

The referee reverses the decision and awards the match to The Miz, who can barely stand. Now, Smackdown, gets the next draft pick. And it's….Chris Masters going to Smackdown! JBL makes a comment about his brand's latest acquisition, mentioning that The Masterpiece has "got a nickel brain but a million dollar body."

How fitting that after ripping a page out of the Bobby Heenan Handbook, The Brain himself makes an appearance on Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night. In a pre-taped segment, "The Brain" mentions that Vince had given more people jobs in the wrestling business than anyone else, but also "Put more people out of work in the history of wrestling." I wish Heenan had more of a part on the show, but it's still good to see him whenever he makes an appearance.

Live and in living color -- or at least black and white, since that's what he's wearing tonight -- Roddy Piper weighs in on Vinnie Mac. Piper looks awesome for someone who was as sick as he was. The crowd gives him a huge ovation as he runs down some of Vince's proudest moments ranging from "I Love Cocks" courtesy of DX, his son Shane's face being jammed in his ass, DX once again being behind Vince and his McMinions being covered in poop, peeing himself when Austin threatens to shoot him with a fake pistol, swimming in beer thanks to Austin again, Shane owning WCW and pwning his father in the process, and then the Wrestlemania head shaving incident. Again.

After the brief video package, Hot Rod scampers to the back after cackling like the mad man he is and making way for the next match, RAW's Candice Michelle and Kristal from Smackdown.

It seems that Candice Michelle has inherited Eddie Guerrero's Herbal Essences Highlighting Kit and penchant for adding new, much lighter streaks to her hair on a weekly basis. And boy, is blonde ever unflattering on Ms. Michelle. Also unflattering is her impersonation of a G-Unit backup dancer with her ring entrance. It seems Candice has abandoned skipping in favor of "dancing." Please, Candice. You're not with Cryme Tyme any more. That was last week. Stop dancing, Candice and please go back to skipping.

Teddy Long's main squeeze, Kristal comes out in a dominatrix type of outfit and starts things off with a boot to Candice before throwing her back to the canvas. She picks up her leg and then drops a hard elbow on it. Candice clobbers Kristal with a boot and then some hard hammer fists to the head. She yanks Kristal backwards over her knee and delivers a backbreaker. Candice launches into the Go Daddy dance and then lays into Kristal again on the canvas. As much as I bag on Candice Michelle's bad dancing and dalliances with hairdye, she's shaping up to be a pretty good wrestler. Not one of the greats, but she's made an impressive effort and looks really good out there. I gotta give the girl some respect.

Throwing out a nice maneuver, Candice hooks Kristal into the ropes with her legs hanging upside down. Just then, I notice both women are sporting tramp stamp tattoos. Candice pins Kristal and earns RAW a draft pick. Bobby Lashley is going to RAW. I'm so shocked. Lashley looks incredibly pleased. I'd be pleased, too, if I got off of the sinking ship that is ECW.

Vince McMahon's executive Assistant, Jonathan Coachman comes out and congratulates him. He then says that according to Mr. McMahon's wishes, he can no longer be the ECW Champion having been drafted over to RAW. He must relinquish the ECW title. The crowd boos as Coach requests that he hand the title over to him. Lashley begrudgingly gives him the belt. He grabs the mike and then grabs Coach, saying that he will prove that he is a champion on RAW. J.R. mentions how that may not go over too well with reigning Champion, John Cena, however, a Lashley/Cena face vs. face feud could prove to be interesting.

Back to some cameo appearances and this time, Bob Costas gives his "appreciation." Costas is still pissed that Vince denied him "Mean" Gene Okerlund's spot as an announcer and that he was stuck covering such things as the Olympics and championship sporting events. Costas also recalls Vinnie Mac's fateful appearance on Costas' show, citing that by comparison, the man who followed him as a guest on the couch, Bobby Knight, was the most calm, level headed guest in the room. Ouch.

Up next is a Triple Threat Match featuring Jeff Hardy for RAW, Elijah Burke from ECW, and Batista from Smackdown. The crowd goes NUTS as Batista does his Typewriter Dance and his pyro goes off. The announce team mentions that regardless of if he is drafted to a different program, Batista will still have his "Do or Die Match" with Edge.

Things start off as Burke rolls out of the ring only to be clobbered from behind by Hardy and rammed face first onto the barricade. Batista effortlessly picks him up as Hardy dropkicks him on the canvas. Batista looks at Hardy and mouths the words, "What did you do that for?" before clotheslining Hardy to the canvas.

Batista picks up Hardy and sets him up for the Batista Bomb. Hardy gets out of it and jumps over Batista's head. He flies over Batista's head in the corner but the big man catches him in mid-air. Hardy lands a Swanton on Batista and almost pins him. Burke breaks it up and smacks Hardy down. Burke and Hardy then lock up with Burke clotheslining Hardy backwards and then landing a missile dropkick on Batista, knocking him out of the ring.

Hardy does one of his patented baseball slides to Batista and knocks him backwards on the announce table. Back inside the ring, Hardy climbs to the top rope and Burke dodges the high risk maneuver. Batista picks up Burke for a Batista Bomb and pins Burke for the win.

Smackdown gets another pick and boy, is this a big one! Ric Flair is going to Smackdown!!! The announce team mentions that Flair is one of Batista's best friends and Batista looks ridiculously happy in the middle of the ring. Flair comes out and blows kisses to the crowd. Wooo! As if I didn't have another reason (or a life) to stay home on Friday nights, Flair is moving to Smackdown!

From one legend to another, here comes the walking catchphrase, Captain Lou Albano! Yes! This is Captain Lou and he's talkin' to YOU. Albano mentions that he's known McMahon since he was a kid and is pretty nice in his roasting of Vince. (I didn't realize just how ironic of a term "roasting" Mr. McMahon would be until after 11:08 PM Eastern Time.)

As is the format for the night, one pre-taped tribute and one live one, this time, Dusty Rhodes comes out and makes a live appearance. He does the Dance of Dusty to his super awesome American Dream theme music and tells the crowd that Dusty had a dream, but Vince had a vision. (Referring to oneself in the third person is a staple of any official Dusty Rhodes promo.) Some chant breaks in the crowd as Dusty is speaking and it's hard to understand what they're saying. Nevertheless, Dusty says that Vince's legacy is all around them and whether you like the man or not, you have to respect him.

After a commercial break, it's time for "Mean" Gene Okerlund to make his appearance. He thanks Vince for giving him a shot at hosting TNT, Tuesday Night Titans (back in the '80s) when Vince stepped down as host… right before it was cancelled. Mean Gene (bruther!) then goes on to talk about how he appreciates how Vince fired him after 10 years, although he ended up pretty well with a job in WCW. Thanks for the memories.

The last match of the night was a Battle Royal in which the winner from whatever brand's team would determine to which brand final two draft picks would go.

On Team Smackdown was the newly-drafted Chris Masters, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, William Regal and Chavo Guerrero. Team ECW consisted of Kevin Thorne, Tommy Dreamer, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker, and Sandman. And finally, Team RAW featured Johnny Nitro, Viscera, Eugne, Randy Orton, and Kenny Dykstra

As per the usual with Battle Royal matches, there was the usual visual assault of too much going on to really take in. I'll just run down the eliminations in brief: Matt Striker was eliminated first. Then Sandman and William Regal. Marc Henry eliminates Chavo. Kevin Thorn tossed out. Ditto for Tommy Dreamer.

Euegene eliminated Kenny. Orton eliminated Eugne. Cor Von gets pummeled by Orton. Hardy dodges and Cor Von eliminates himself. Masters is eliminated by Matt Hardy. Mark Henry and Matt Hardy go at it and Orton pops up and dumps Henry out of the ring.

It's down to RAW's Orton and Smackdown's Matt Hardy. Orton is in the low crouch ready to RKO Hardy, but Matt counters with a Side Effect. Orton is able to give Hardy an Inverted Backbreaker and eliminates Matt Hardy by tossing him over the top rope. RAW gets two more picks!

From ECW, Snitsky goes to RAW. I'm not entirely shocked considering promos hyping Snitsky on the other two non-ECW shows. Snitsky comes out and is non-verbal before retiring back to the dressing room area.

The other pick is Smackdown's Mr. Kennedy is drafted to RAW. Kennedy comes out to a huge reaction and I'm looking forward to seeing him add some new life to the brand and spicing things up… If they let him.

The final Appreciator of the Vince McMahon-themed evening is none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin. In his Thanksgiving in June speech, Austin appreciates all of the times he's gotten to make a monkey out of Vince McMahon and that he doesn't appreciate anything Vince has supposedly done for him. And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold says so.

Back in his "office"/green room, Vince is preparing to go out and face the crowd. Although his hair is looking pretty good, Vince is walking around all types of crazy in his dressing room.

Making his way out to the ring in a very subdued manner, no swaggering walk or even a hint of the crazy, Institute of Silly Walks walk he broke out with on Smackdown, Vince finds himself getting booed in the middle of the ring by the crowd. He drops the mike and slowly, sadly, and dejectedly, walks back to the dressing room with a bizarre smile on his face. He's still actually walking in a normal manner. I could tell something was wrong or going to happen.

Vince walks to the back with a dazed look on his face. Lined up from end to end of the hallway, nearly every member of all three rosters are against the wall and looking like a gauntlet, Vince looks at all of the wrestlers collected there. It's slightly reminiscent of the scene in Sunset Blvd. where Gloria Swanson is slowly descending the staircase and tells Mr. DeMille she's ready for her closeup.

Instead, Coach catches up with his boss tells him he's going the wrong way and that his limo is back the other way. So, Vince walks back the other way. At the very end of the hallway is Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson! Yaaay! (I always mark out big for the Stooges, particularly Pat Patterson.)

Vince opens the door leading outside and takes a deep breath as he rather calmly walks to his long, white, stretch limo. He hesitates before opening the door and then gets in the vehicle. Vince shuts the door to his limo and…. It explodes. Holy schneikes!!!

That was probably the biggest shocker of an ending I've ever seen on a Monday Night RAW. No one expects the Spanish Inquistion, but there's not much of a shot of them appearing on RAW, so blowing up Vince's limo with him in it is about as shocking as it gets.

It's one of the craziest, hokiest, and cheesiest ideas ever which simultaneously, makes it so out of left field. I'm going to miss seeing Crazy Vince on the show every week, but I can't wait to see what they do with this storyline. The potential is endless. From Santino Marella and Fit Finlay being fingered as potential suspects on the basis of ethnic profiling to just nearly every person who appeared on the show to express their "appreciation" for McMahon being considered as behind this deed.

The draft itself was interesting and I'm looking forward to the reshuffling. As long as they don't push the same people, albeit on different shows in different time slots and give some new talent a shot at the spotlight, this could be great. Between the new blood on all three shows and the "explosive" (bad pun, I know) development with Vince McMahon, wrestling is officially fun again!