Raw Revelations: American Dream Schemes

Quite a nice twist at the end of Raw last night. Special guest host Dusty Rhodes came out to start things and set up his son in a WWE Title match vs Orton for later in the show. He also added Cena as the special guest referee. All the way leading up to the big main event match, fans were probably thinking, there's no way in any way shape or form that Cody Rhodes would walk out with the WWE Title. And they were right, because the WWE Title match never happened. Instead, it turned out that the guest host Dusty Rhodes set up John Cena to be in the ring as special guest referee between Orton vs. Rhodes, only so he could get a Legacy beatdown.

D-Generation X eventually ran to the ring to try to help (seemed to take them a while), but to no avail as Dusty Rhodes used his boot to take out HHH before a Pedigree could happen on his son. In the aftermath of the attacks with DX and Cena laying on the mat, Orton delivered another shocker when he did the RKO on Dusty Rhodes right before Cody's eyes. Of course, it made Cody look rather weak when he simply pouted in the ring without taking a shot or attacking Orton, but I have a feeling that payback's coming at a later time. In fact, we'll probably see a Legacy turn at some point, when either Dibiase and Rhodes turn against Orton, or Dibiase and Rhodes enter into a feud.

The DX-Rhodes segments were pretty bad, just to try to sell some DVD's. Sometimes DX has some funny one-liners and acts backstage, but some of their recent stuff is some pretty bad improv and far from funny. After discussing WCW and then the 1998 back injury to HBK, Michaels was yelling maniacally and it's unclear how many fans really got what he was talking about or even found it funny. I'll also admit I'm familiar with a lot of WCW stuff, but hadn't seen The Shockmaster before, so I'm wondering how many fans got any of that bit. Well, at least it was a chance to put Santino on the show again. Arn Anderson shown on the mic nearby, then dropping it and running away was probably the funniest part of any of the DX-Rhodes skits backstage.

In case you missed the 3 DVD's they were plugging last night:

WWE: The Rise And Fall of WCW

WWE - The American Dream - The Dusty Rhodes Story

WWE - The New & Improved DX

The Hornswoggle and Chavo shenanigans reached another new low, this time with Chavo having to put on a cow costume while Hornswoggle laughed maniacally and ran around the ring. It seems like pure time killer, but at least it's looking like they'll let Chavo and Evan Bourne do battle. Once that happens, Hornswoggle may have run out of opponents. He's a popular attraction at WWE events, but his novelty just might wear off without a Chavo to fight.

It looked like Miz finally picked up on the best strategy to win the US title in last night's Fatal Fourway; toss the champion out of the ring, to guarantee a new title winner. However, Miz, Swagger and Carlito were all too much for each other and it ended up with Kofi stealing the win on a Trouble in paradise kick to Carlito. I still think Miz or Swagger will eventually capture the title, propelling them to the next level, whatever that may be with Raw.

I enjoyed the Big Show vs Mark Henry match even if those guys aren't considered the best technicians or skilled wrestlers in the ring. The battle of the two big men was entertaining with each able to knock the other around in the ring. Show has the advantage but the World's Strongest Man put up a great fight, until Show used foulplay with the turnbuckle. Would be great to see some more of this one-on-one match in the future.

Not trying to be overly critical but does it seem as if Mickie James has been a bit clumsy in her recent title defenses? She seemed to have some stumble around moments in her match against Gail Kim and then again last night versus Beth Phoenix. There's not much to say about the divas battle royal, but you have to feel sorry for Rosa Mendes with how she just gets tossed out of the ring by Beth. Rosa's almost been like a diva jobber in the way she's been beaten by other divas. For some reason, I think Rosa would be paired better with Chavo Guerrero, but they have her with Carlito for now, maybe because he's a title contender and Chavo's fighting leprechauns.

Next week, the guest host for Raw will be Bob Barker...Remember that he was in "Happy Gilmore" and had the famous "The Price is wrong, b---h" line? Don't expect him to use that on Raw, with the supposed PG rating they're trying to adhere to. But it will be interesting to see if any of the Price is Right games are used on the show format.