Smackdown goes Raw before Extreme Rules

This past Monday's Raw the WWE had to do the best it could minus the majority of the Raw roster. The only guy really able to show up was Triple H, who entertained the crowd for the opening bit. When I first heard Lillian Garcia announce his name I thought her voice was being played over the speakers, or they were using HHH's video game entrance. Lo and behold, Lillian Garcia had come to the rescue of Raw, who was obviously down ring announcer Justin Roberts as well.

The twist for Monday's Raw was of course that Smackdown superstars came over to help out. I think a few things were made obvious by this, especially with Extreme Rules this coming Sunday. We saw two guys who are involved in Extreme Rules matches lose by pinfall on Raw, as well as Undertaker's return probably a lot earlier than originally planned. Taker even looked like he wanted to rest, and it had a bit of a house show feeling. Nonetheless he won by pinfall on the World Champ Jack Swagger, which is kind of a strange move to make prior to Swagger having a title match at a Pay-Per-View. That one right there makes you think if Swagger was pinned on Raw, he's likely to stay champ Sunday somehow.

The other pin we saw on Raw came from Triple H on CM Punk. Doesn't make sense when you've got Luke Gallows in the match who really doesn't have to look strong right now, especially after his loss to Darren Young on NXT. Trying to hype up a PPV by having a guy lose to Undertaker is not the best idea, especially with Undertaker not even involved in the event, and Swagger fighting his first PPV as World Champ. Same goes for having Punk take a loss. Both those losses make you think the guy pinned will be victorious Sunday.

Another loss prior to Extreme Rules that is puzzling came on WWE NXT Tuesday night. Heath Slater got a surprise pinfall to defeat Chris Jericho. Jericho is heading into a match against Edge in a steel cage, so why would you want a rookie to pin him. Very strange move by WWE, or maybe it was the Uncasville Screwjob.

Since Orton, Cena, Sheamus weren't able to be at Raw, they showed satellite footage of them, which may have been pre-recorded. Sheamus cut a promo where he beat up a nearby WWE staff member a bit. Probably could have done that one a bit better to make the point.

Obviously the whole stranded in Northern Ireland thing really disrupted storylines and the lead-up to Extreme Rules. Undertaker made his return early, Edge had to compete despite what happened to him on Smackdown, and even Great Khali showed up after announcing a few weeks ago he was heading back to India and would be back sometime later. So much for all that!

No divas on Raw whatsoever, not even Smackdown divas. Definitely a good thing that Lillian Garcia and Kristen Wiig (of MacGruber) showed up for at least a little bit of eye candy for many members of the WWE Universe.

As far as guest hosts, MacGruber was actually funny, although he probably pushed the whole PG envelope quite a bit. There were people getting blown up (last time we saw that was with Vince in a limo), jokes about pissing your pants, talk of Vladimir Kozlov's mother's uterus and a few others. Still it sort of reminded me of the Attitude Era a bit, when guys could actually have comedic fun and not worry about being censored. It may even get MacGruber a few more tickets bought when the new film arrives in May.