Last night's episode of Monday Night RAW, live from Shreveport, LA, while not the greatest show ever, was a vast improvement over last week's torturous two hours. (Then again, counting individual squares of toilet paper would have made for a better show than last week's ode to the Donald and Rosie feud.) This week's show, however, made reparations to the audience for last week's lackluster block of programming, making up for lost time with some good matches and a few clever and satisfying touches to storylines sprinkled throughout.

The show opened up with the WWE Champion, John Cena sitting down at a table set up in the middle of the ring to sign a contract solidifying another title match against Umaga at the next PPV. As Coach expounded a bit on the upcoming Royal Rumble match, Umaga and his handler, Armando Estrada (Apparently, Senor Estrada dropped the "Alejandro" part of his name. Bummer.) walked out to the signing.

In a nice touch that even Marvel's continuity department would be proud of, Estrada signed for his charge. Good thing. I was wondering how a guy who can barely talk would be able to sign a contract, much less abstain from smearing it with Dorito-fingers stains.

Estrada also elaborated that the match would have special circumstances which would prevent a fluke like Cena's win over the then-undefeated Samoan Bulldozer. This would be a Last Man Standing Match, in which the winner would have to pummel their opponent so badly that they could not answer a count of ten.

Cena mulled over signing the paper, addressing those in the ring as well as those in the audience and pondering if he was indeed crazy enough to sign the contract and make the match a go. Cena affirmed that not only was he "crazy enough to sign," but that he was also full of surprises. The Champ launched himself over the table and onto Umaga, pushing the big man backwards. The action spilled onto the floor out of the ring with Cena ramming Umaga into the steel steps before picking them up and clobbering the large Samoan with them. From there, Cena slid back into the ring, picking up Armando "Oh how I miss the 'Alejandro'" Estrada and FU-ing him through the table before signing the contract.

After a commercial break, the first match of the evening swiftly got underway. Melina and her partner, Johnny Nitro made their usual entrance to the ring for the Intergender Tag Match. Their opponents, Jeff Hardy teamed with Maria came out in an entrance that combined two times the skipping and bad dance moves, now in stereo!

The match began with Nitro immediately kneeing Hardy in the stomach before nailing him with a nice European uppercut. Nitro then whipped out something that looked like a bastardized version of Booker T's Spinaroonie and landed a leg on the Intercontinental Champion.

Nitro tagged in Melina. According to the rules of the match, only tag members of the same sex could battle with one another in the ring, which automatically called Maria into the match.

Maria dodged a hit by Melina and slapped her more experienced competitor hard before running to the ropes and catching Melina in a bulldog that looked kind of sloppy. While I certainly give the girl credit for trying, Maria shouldn't be a wrestler.

Melina fought her way up from the canvas, whipping Maria to the ropes and then viciously kicking her before bearing back on her in a standing Camel Clutch that extended half of Maria's body outside the ring ropes. Yanking Maria back into the ring, Melina put the girl into a seated Camel Clutch on the ring's floor. As Melina let up, Maria tried to capitalize with a kick to Melina's leopard-clad nether regions which failed. Melina put Maria in a backbreaker, which Maria got out of using a ham-fisted looking headscissors takeover. It was an interesting segway out of a maneuver, but it didn't look very pretty.

Nitro was tagged in and was immediately kicked in the groin by Melina. Jeff Hardy came in and pulled off another flawless Whisper in the Wind off the ropes. Climbing back to the top again, Melina attempted to grab Hardy's leg and pull him off. Running to the outside and making the save for her partner, Maria slapped Melina and freed Hardy's leg. Almost too late, Nitro got up from the mat and attempted to Superplex Hardy off of the top rope. Jeff wasn't having any of that and Nitro ended up landing face first on the mat in a failed attempt before Hardy pinned him with the Swanton. The team of Jeff Hardy and Maria won the match.

Backstage, Coach and his boss, Mr. McMahon were talking about the lack of order in the Umaga/Cena Royal Rumble signing before Mr. McMahon fretted about Donald Trump not returning his phone calls. Getting on the cellie, Vince dialed up The Donald and reached his secretary, yet again. The crowd didn't seem too into this segment, heckling it from off screen, perhaps perplexed at the thought of yet another Trump-tastic skit.

Following the break, Edge and Randy Orton came out to hype their 2-on-1 handicap match against the lone member of DX, Shawn Michaels, later in the program. Oh, and look! This time they have matching outfits! Black work-shirts that look like they came straight outta the filling station with their names emblazoned on little patches on the chest. How cute! And look! Edge has a brand spanking new tattoo on his shoulder, too! It's positively adorable how these two got dolled up for their 2-on-1 tonight!

After an annoying sound of a hospital machine flatlining, the beep extending for several ear-splitting seconds, Team Rated RKO informed the audience that it heralded the end of DX. As the crowd voiced their disapproval, executing possibly my favorite maneuvers from the Wrestling Heel Handbook, Orton yelled at the crowd to "Shut your mouth!"

As the crowd continued to chant for DX, Orton politely excused himself backstage to check on something. (Oh, boy. I wondered if this was going to be the umpteenth time that poor Ric Flair gets beaten down by Rated RKO.)

Continuing with the promo, Edge informed the audience that Shawn Michaels had made his first WWE appearance in Shreveport and coincidentally, it would also be his last match before joining his cohort, Orton backstage.

Team Rated RKO dragged a bloodied figure out from backstage. While it wasn't Flair, it was yet another old school legend, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. The young whippersnappers spoke about how the loveable veteran had been a longtime friend to Shawn Michaels and was present at Michael's WWE debut. To ensure that Duggan would not be intervening on Michaels part and helping him out during the match, Team Rated RKO brought out the chairs and planned on giving him a chair shot.

A hoard of referees (and Mike Rotundo and Dean Malenko, too!) came out from the back to stop Edge and Orton from mashing poor Hacksaw's brains. Too late. Duggan was nailed with a Con-Chair-To before Rated RKO exited stage right. The concerned officials looked on and got Hacksaw backstage for medical attention! Forget the ambulance! This man needs some booze! Hook him up to an IV filled with Jameson STAT! Hacksaw will be back to his goofy, 2x4 wielding self in no time!

Moving from one legend to another, perhaps the greatest living one today, Ric Flair made his entrance to thunderous applause and "woo"s from the Shreveport audience. In what seemed to be a visual clue, Ric was wearing his gold velvet and sequin-encrusted robe. Usually, whenever Flair rocks this robe, he wins his match. (Ah! The science of wrestling!)

Once again, Flair would be facing young Kenny Dykstra tonight. With the replay showcasing Kenny's devious win over Flair at the New Year's Revolution PPV a week ago and Flair's crotch shot to Kenny in his match against Jeff Hardy last week, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler set the stage for the evening's match.

Kenny made his entrance, once again sans headband. If Jim Ross mentions yet again that Kenny is "only 20 years old," I'm going to start my own drinking game. (One shot for every time good ol' J.R. says that Kenny is a "20-year-old-Superstar." One shot every time Shawn Michaels is busted open. One shot for every time Ric Flair takes a chair shot to the head. You'd be looped like a Bushwhacker before the first hour ended!)

The match began in the usual Flair manner with Ric chopping Kenny into the corner before whacking him with one more hard chop to the chest, sending the youngster crashing to the canvas below. Dropping Kenny to the mat again, Flair hiptossed Kenny.

Dykstra came back with a hit to Flair's kneecap, setting him up for a standing vertical suplex. Flair kicked out of a nearfall, only to have Kenny attempt to use his own signature maneuver, the Figure Four, against him. Flair tried blocking the hold somewhat successfully before Kenny eventually clamped it on him. Inching his way backwards to the ropes, Flair broke the hold.

Getting to his feet, Ric landed a beautiful and brutal kick to Kenny, sending him to the outside. Dragging the young whippersnapper back into the ring, Flair delivered some more chops to Kenny, while Jerry "The King" Lawler made a comment about what a honker of a nose Kenny has. (That made my day!)

The Nature Boy climbed to the top rope with Kenny attempting to throw him off. Flair jumped directly onto him. The two men rolled back and forth, yanking one another's tights (Which makes the match sound semi-erotic. Trust me. It wasn't.) before Flair finally pinned Kenny with his feet on the ropes in true "Dirtiest Player in the Game" style. Once again, Kenny sells the pissed off like a 5-year-old with a lemonade stand.

This was a solid match pitting a young upstart against a wily veteran. It reached a satisfying conclusion for the fans, allowing the fan-favorite to escape with a win, even if it was underhanded. It's Flair being Flair and one of the elements of the legend that makes him such a dynamic force and continuous crowd pleaser.

I'm still not entirely sold on what a "blue-chipper" Kenny is. He still needs some work on his in-ring arsenal and skill. Hopefully with time and working with Flair as much as he has in so many matches as of late, he'll become better, or at least halfway to the level of the push he seems to be given.

Backstage, Shawn Michaels was met by interviewer, Todd Grisham and asked about his 2-on-1 match for the evening and if he was going to bring anyone in to help him even the odds. Shawn told him that he has one partner and one partner only, Triple H. (Awww!) Ambling in from his match to the backstage area, Ric Flair told Michaels how much he loves and respects DX, offering his services for the match later in the program, if need be. He told Michaels, "I'm gonna be there for you, brother." (Again. Awww!) before walking off camera.

Once again backstage, Mr. McMahon was venting to Coach about the letter his "good friend" Donald Trump had sent him lambasting last week's skit as "poorly produced, inane and lame." Sing it, baby! Mr. McMahon also read aloud that Trump believed that viewers would much rather see actual wrestling and compelling television than the steaming pile of a segment that sucked up so much time last week. (I wonder if this was actually The Donald that was writing to Vince McMahon or if the Chairman himself had read my review of last week's show. Hmmm….)

An angered Vince slammed down the letter saying that if Trump wanted "compelling television," then he would give it to him.

Vincent Kennedy McMahon made his jaunty, swaggering entrance to the ring before complaining that his dear friend Donald Trump hasn't called him back. Addressing the crowd, Mr. McMahon once again replayed the satirical "match" he had deemed "brilliant," showing it again in slow motion. He lectured the crowd about how Trump had written him the letter on behalf of fans everywhere who would rather watch exciting matches than a poor attempt at satire. Vince informed the fans that he really knows what is best for them, that he doesn't ask the audience what they want, he tells them what they want…. And they will like it.

In an attempt to show Trump what "compelling television" is and how the Miss USA incident that sparked the Donald/Rosie feud should have been handled, Mr. McMahon trotted out Torrie Wilson in an evening gown and sash and made her read an apology stating that she had been "a bad, bad girl." Mr. McMahon leered wildly before Torrie Wilson's "friend," Carlito came out to save the day, telling McMahon that he was "not cool" and that last week's segment "sucked." (This seems to be the majority's reaction to last week's show. Good to see I wasn't alone.) Carlito also echoed the sentiment that the fans don't want to see gum-flapping, they want to see people fight. McMahon whipped off his jacket and prepared to fight Carlito.

This was a clever ruse on McMahon's part, diverting the Caribbean Cool One's attention as The Great Khali made his entrance, this time with pants that were picked up somewhat higher than last week. (I'm really starting to wonder if The Powers That Be actually read last week's review or if this is a series of eerie coincidences.)

Carlito ran to the ropes to headbutt Khali in the chest, looking like a small child next to the towering Punjabi. Carlito then tried to launch himself backwards to knock Khali backwards, to no avail. He bounced off of him and onto the canvas before Khali picked him up in a double-handed chokeslam, sending Carlito crashing backwards onto the mat. Khali stood looking menacing while I took a "Pecker Checker Moment" and noticed The Great Khali isn't packing anything that looks too great downstairs. Standing above the prone Carlito, America's Favorite Billionaire, Mr. McMahon looked down and said "Now, that's cool!" The show went to a commercial break as Torrie tended to her man on the mat.

After the break, up next was a Women's Title match, continuing the feud between Champion Mickey James and her challenger, Victoria.

The two women locked up in a show of strength with Mickey grabbing Victoria's arm into a twisting armbar, wrenching her to the ground. Grabbing a handful of hair, Victoria sent Mickey flying to the corner, making a run at her. The athletic Women's Champ dodged the blow by sailing over Victoria's head in a move straight out of the Hardy Boyz catalog.

With Victoria thrown halfway over the ropes and leaning out of the ring, Mickey doled out a playful bit of humiliation, smacking Victoria's ass several times while tangled in the ropes. Angered, crazy Victoria turned the tables on Mickey James, putting her in a painful looking backstretcher before the Champion ended up doing a split the hardway.

Utilizing an elbow to her opponent's face, Mickey got to her feet, clotheslining Victoria into the corner. Mickey then performed an impressive headscissors takeover, sending Victoria to the mat. The challenger recovered, getting to her feet and picking up the Women's Champion in a fireman's carry before executing a perfect tilt-a-whirl sideslam.

However, it wasn't perfect enough. Mickey got up from it, landing a hard, spinning thrust kick to Victoria, knocking her down for a three-count. Mickey James retained her Title belt.

Up next, The Masterpiece Chris Masters was in the middle of the ring with a microphone and a chair. Much like fish and dairy, a microphone and Chris Masters are two things that don't go too well together. To his credit, Masters has gotten a lot better on the stick.

Masters had a piece of paper from Mr. McMahon himself proclaiming that his Masterlock record is still intact, not having been broken in Iraq by soldier Jose Avilar due to outside interference by JBL. He offered to let someone else attempt to break his still-unbroken finishing move.

Who comes trotting out from the back to a huge pop from the crowd but the legendary Ron Simmons - AKA - Farooq, sporting his "DAMN!" shirt. Masters put him in the hold and it looked as if Simmons may have been able to break the hold. However, Super Crazy intervened, dropkicking Masters and forcing him to break the hold. Super Crazy then executed a beautiful moonsault, causing Simmons (and most of the audience) to say "DAMN!" Once again, because of outside interference, Masters' record remained intact.

With the action shooting to the backstage area, apparently, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan wouldn't be the only one being carted out of the arena on a stretcher. In what seems to be a weekly occurrence, Ric Flair was shown bloodied and unconscious with paramedics and Shawn Michaels attending to the fallen legend. So, Flair has a Tuesdays With Morrie-Moment on a Monday night with HBK only to get beaten down to a bloody pulp once again, presumably by Rated RKO. It's gotta get better than this.

The show then turned towards Cryme Tyme's JTG (accompanied by his partner, Shad Gaspar) and The World's Greatest Tag Team's Shelton Benjamin (with his partner, Charlie Haas in his corner) in singles competition.

The match started off in what seems to be a trend for the opening moments of a match now, with that two men locking up. Benjamin landed a kick to JTG's stomach and sending him backwards with a hard clothesline. JTG recovers, slipping over Shelton's head and catching him with a flying crossbody.

Turning the tide, Shelton showed off his superb wrestling skill, picking JTG up in a shoulderbreaker before using an armbar takedown into an armbreaker. No one can chain link maneuvers like Shelton Benjamin can!

Outside, Shad pounded on the ring apron to rally his partner and the crowd behind him. Charlie Haas similarly lent support to Bejamin as Shelton punched JTG in the corner, screaming "Like he's nothing! Like he's nothing!" and all but foaming at the mouth. Take it easy, Charlie. You're not in the match.

JTG battled back with an interesting twisting maneuver that culminated in a kick, only to get hit in the face by Shelton. Meanwhile, Shad was loosening the turnbuckle pads, similar to Cryme Tyme's strategy last week. JTG caught on and slammed Shelton into the turnbuckle, pinning Benjamin for the win.

This was not a bad match at all. Any opportunity to see Shelton Benjamin wrestle is always a good one. It seems that WWE is pairing up some of the more green wrestlers with seasoned veterans in an attempt to up their ring work. This strategy seems to be working as there is some improvement in Kenny. Cryme Tyme still has a long way to go to get their ring skills up to the level of their comedic timing, but they -- and their careers in the WWE -- are still young.

Backstage, Todd Grisham was sticking the microphone in Shawn Michaels' face as Ric Flair was carted away in the ambulance. Frustrated, alone and angered, HBK said that tonight if he had to go out, he would do it in a blaze of glory (cue the Bon Jovi) and he was taking everyone with him. Michaels punctuated his statement by clipping Grisham hard with some Sweet Chin Music.

Wow. Now THAT was cool! It's a rarity to see a face savage an interviewer unless they've done something to really deserve it. Either way, it was a great surprise moment that added to the desperation and anger on the part of Michaels with not only his partner Triple H, his mentor Ric Flair and his friend (which was news to me) Jim Duggan getting taken out of the equation by Team Rated RKO.

Prior to the 2-on-1 match, Jim Ross and The King updated the fans on Triple H's condition. He successfully came through surgery for his quadriceps and would be back in action, depending on the speed of his recovery in four to six months. I'm sure WWE is polishing off the U2 "Beautiful Day" montage clips in advance.

At 10:47PM, Team Rated RKO came out to the ring. Wait a minute. An actual main event match was going to happen with more than five minutes left in the show? Am I dreaming or have I entered some sort of wrestling Bizarro World? Alas, no. I was shaken from my pleasant reverie by Edge and Orton hauling out security to confiscate many of the numerous DX signs from the crowd under penalty of being thrown out of the building for the remainder of the show.

After the commercial break at 10:55 (Now that's more like it!), Shawn Michaels came out to a huge reaction from the crowd. He ran into the ring throwing punches on both members of Team Rated RKO, clipping Edge over the top rope and tossing Orton in a back body drop and throwing him out of the ring.

In a fury, HBK dragged Edge back into the ring, sending the Rated R Superstar to the corner by channeling Flair with a series of vicious chest chops. Michaels then proceeded to stomp Edge directly into the canvas, mashing him into the ground like he was trying to dig a canal to China. Edge was dragged to his feet, only to give Michaels a shot to the jaw.

With the crowd strongly behind Shawn, Michaels laid into Edge with a swinging neckbreaker before stomping him yet again. En route to the ropes, Edge managed to turn the tide and kick Michaels in the gut. Orton got in on the action, punching HBK.

With his attention now focused on Orton, Michaels began punching and chopping him into the corner. Sending Orton to the ropes, Orton hit the deck which sent HBK flying to the outside over the ropes. The action carried on outside the ring for a bit before Orton nearly scores a pin on Michaels. HBK took a beating for some time with RKO throwing him to the corner and Michaels taking yet another page out of Flair's book by flying upside down to the corner and landing on the mat. Continuing the homage to Flair, Michaels was busted open and bloody.

Dripping with blood as he was, Michaels managed to dodge Edge's spear, with the Rated RKO Superstar knocking his own partner, Orton out of the ring instead. Michaels nipped up to slap a surprised Edge before grounding him with an inverted atomic drop. Michaels then climbed to the top rope, delivering a flying elbow to Edge.

The referee began to count with both men seemingly out cold on the canvas. HBK was the first to get to his feet with Edge following suit. Michaels began "tuning up the band." He was interrupted by Orton, who Michaels took out of commission with a Lou Thesz press. Edge then capitalized and finally speared Michaels. All three men were down before Edge and Orton grabbed two steel chairs from ringside. The referee called for the bell, signaling the end of the match.

As Edge hovered over Michaels with the chair in hand and another steel hair propped behind his head, Michaels nipped up yet again, kicking the chair directly into Edge's face. Orton tried to get some kicks in, only to be thwarted by HBK, who then delivered double low-blows to both members of Team Rated RKO.

HBK rolled out of the ring and just when you thought it was over, he lifted up the ring apron dragging out Triple H's other best friend, Mr. Sledgehammer. Climbing back into the ring, Michaels and his Equalizer took a trip to Edge's gut and Orton's jaw. With his bloodlust piqued, Michaels snatched up the chairs that were originally intended for him and bashed Orton in the head, bringing the chair down hard. From outside the ring on the ramp, Edge winced in pain, clutching his ribs as his partner absorbed some heavy-duty blows by an infuriated Michaels.

The credits rolled as DX's music rang throughout the arena along with the crowd's emotional reaction, staunchly behind San Antonio's Favorite Son, Shawn Michaels.

I was quite please and impressed with last night's show. After last week's fiasco, there was nowhere to go but up. However, there were several strong matches and a great deal of effort to bring some of the younger superstars up to snuff to round out the roster and bring in some new blood. While I'm not high on Kenny, he is improving and it was nice to see Flair pull out a win, even if it wasn't clean. It still keeps within Flair's character and storied past as the Dirtiest Player in the Game. I'm not too keen on the weekly recurrence of Flair getting his bloodied ass handed to him and carted off in an ambulance, but compared to another faux-celebrity brawl, it's programming gold.

Cryme Tyme has a long way to go in terms of wrestling skill. Working a program with Haas and Benjamin should help hone their skills nicely. Conversely, Haas and Benjamin could learn a few tricks on how to deliver a promo from Cryme Tyme. This feud could balance itself out and turn out rather well.

The Women's match was solid, however, the division is sorely in need of some new blood. Mickey James and Victoria cannot carry it alone. While Melina seems as if she could be a good addition, Maria has no business in the ring. She plays a good character that lends a bit of fun to the backstage blahs of Todd Grisham, but otherwise it would be hard to taker her seriously as a competitor.

Speaking Todd Grisham, the HBK Superkick Swerve was an oddly unexpected highlight. The show's closing moments pulled left the fans with some level of vindication. I was dreading the worst with the usual 2-on-1 beatdown that seems to have been heavily favored in the years following what was once unique about the old ECW. Instead, Michaels decimating Team Rated RKO was made to be actually believable with the always-resilient HBK fueled by extreme anger and emotion and pushed towards his breaking point… Or the point of breaking a chair over Randy Orton's head.

And in the proudest way possible, it seems that dear Vinnie Mac owned up to last week's disastrous debacle of a celebrity-centric episode. It's as good of an apology as the fans will get and hopefully will be a lesson that WWE has learned from, due to the fans' fallout. This installment was a huge step in the right direction towards developing wrestlers and storylines fans can actually care about. Good show!