Raw Revelations: Jericho & Orton Strike!

The finish to last night's Raw did a great job of establishing Randy Orton as the sinister, demented villain in the whole Triple H feud and WWE Title picture. I won't go as far as calling him Robert Deniro in Cape Fear, but the looks on his face and the way he methodically toyed with HHH yet extracted pain do a lot to build up this feud. It was scheduled as a 2 on 1 Handicap match with Dibiase and Orton versus HHH, but the match was never officially started. HHH did his best to go after Orton, with Cody Rhodes sneaking out from under the ring. Legacy then overpowered HHH, cuffed him to the ropes and continued to beat on him. Orton grabbed the good ol' sledgehammer and then announced only Stephanie McMahon could save HHH. Stephanie showed up, HHH tried to warn her, but Orton capped things off with a DDT to drive HHH's wife into the mat face first. The Game was of course helpless, cuffed to the ropes, watching as Orton did the damage. Orton then clocked Hunter with the Sledgehammer to further add insult to injury. Definitely made Orton look like the diabolical sort of supervillain that guys like Jericho, Edge, Kane and Kurt Angle have all played in the WWE.

Speaking of that, Jericho also showed himself as a top notch heel on Raw with his attack on Ric Flair to open the show. Jericho came out to once again denounce the legends and Flair as a has been. Flair spoke about how he will revel in the moment at Wrestlemania 25 when the 3 legends defeat Jericho to shut him up. Flair added that Mickey Rourke will attend and he'll be invited into the ring following Jericho's loss. Jericho then beat Flair to a bloody pulp in and around the ring to the dismay of fans. To finish it all off, Jericho took off the gold watch Shawn Michaels had given Flair as a retirement gift, then stomped it to pieces on the steel steps. Many people, self included, aren't particularly thrilled to see three older legends versus Jericho in the ring as it seems like Jericho deserves a better match on the card, even Money in the Bank. Next week, we'll see Jericho take out Jerry Lawler en roue to the buildup for the 3 on 1 Handicap match at Mania.

On Raw they also displayed a graphic with 17 divas from the upcoming Wrestlemania 25 Battle Royal: Jillian Hall, Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Tiffany, Mickie James, Rosa Mendes, Eve Torres, Natalya, Layla, Katie Lea, Kelly Kelly, Maria, Melina, Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix and Maryse. It appears that a week or so ago, WWE showed Gail Kim up in the corner of the screen on the battle royal participants graphic, and also had Candice Michelle included. Both divas were removed from the graphic on the latest Raw. This could have been a slip by WWE in terms of showing Kim who hasn't even debuted on a WWE show yet. Also, the news has been Candice is recovering from injury and uncertain if she can even be part of the event. There's 8 spots left which could include divas such as Gail Kim, Torrie Wilson, Sunny, Trish Stratus, and more. Don't be surprised if they toss Mae Young into the contest so she's included at the 25th anniversary of Mania, for nostalgia's sake. It's too bad Santino lost his qualifying match for the Battle Royal last night, but maybe he sneaks into the match wearing a wig and dress?