Raw Revelations: No DQ ends with RKO

Last night's Raw offered some intriguing matchups featuring the two major champions both getting the Raw deal. Both men ended up layed out by their future Backlash opponents, with Edge sneaking in to get the best of Cena and Orton able to sneakily steal a victory with the RKO when Triple H was out of it. Legacy had Orton's back, while Shane and Batista didn't seem to have each other's backs. In fact, it looks like Batista and Triple H might be where we're heading next, with Orton possibly winning the WWE title, and those two fighting over the #1 Contender's spot. As for Cena, the whole time he was layed out, I kept waiting for CM Punk to emerge with the briefcase to win the title right before Backlash, once again screwing Edge out of it. But this didn't come to realization and Cena will keep the title heading into the PPV. As for Punk, his victory over Kane was good to see, in fact it might be the start of his push and possible heel turn.

There's been some wrestling bloggers disgruntled over how Raw wrestlers who were drafted to Smackdown are still on Raw and guys drafted from Smackdown are still on Smackdown and so forth. It's not a huge deal unless it keeps up for weeks, which it doesn't appear it will. The best way to view it may be similar to NBA trades, or even other pro sports where you don't see the guys on your team right away but know you will soon. The more I think about the way the 2009 WWE Draft went, it makes Raw extremely heavy with the top stars, while Smackdown seemed to lose a lot. Smackdown's title picture really just looks like Edge, Jericho, Jeff Hardy, Kane and Undertaker. As we know Undertaker is iffy in terms of when he can wrestle or not, and lately his title reigns have been shortlived. Kane has been lost in the shuffle in terms of a major title push and matches. Jeff Hardy, Jericho and CM Punk seem like the most likely choices for championship material on Smackdown. Raw on the other hand has the four biggest stars on its roster with Triple H, Batista, John Cena and Randy Orton. Toss in Big Show as well and Raw really has the more powerful contenders overall. It almost makes you wonder if one of them, maybe Cena or Triple H are heading off for a movie role, surgery or some time off. Same goes for the strange in-ring scenario where Big Show KO'd Mysterio and he was still on the mat for some time, is this a sign of time off for Mysterio, or will they be involved in some inter-brand feud?

Last night's Santino-Santina skit with the Titantron was definitely funny as Santino was trying to convince everyone his sister was a different person, but the replayed message on the screen kept going off at inopportune times or sped up when Santina was talking. Khali will get his opportunity to plant a kiss on Santina this coming Sunday at Backlash. Also, it looks like the Rosa-Beth feud everyone was anticipating is getting off to a start as Mendes was partly responsible for Beth losing the title match. It'll be great to see Rosa finally start wrestling, and possibly getting involved in the Divas title picture.

As for Ricky Steamboat, it's nice to see him getting his time in the spotlight again. We found out last night it'll be him and Jericho one-on-one at Backlash. I've seen Steamboat since his WWF days including his feuds with Macho Man, and have no problem with his return. It seems as if the WWE also is really banking on Ricky's recent popularity with the fans chanting and getting behind him, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. The question is how much steam does Steamboat have left to keep doing these matches?