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Tonight WWE followed up a lackluster WrestleMania XXV with a superb Monday Night RAW that hit on all cylinders and was a great fun follow-up. The only thing missing from tonight’s show was an appearance from Undertaker and/or Shawn Michaels, just so at least the crowd could give the two warriors a much-deserved standing ovation.

Randy Orton kicked off the show complaining about his loss to Triple H the night previous and promised to take out the entire McMahon family. The patriarch Mr. McMahon appeared and makes a six man tag for the Backlash pay per view where Orton and Legacy will meet Triple H, Mr. McMahon and Shane McMahon. Orton then challenged McMahon to a singles match tonight, which he readily accepted.

Carlito & Primo Colon beat John Morrison & The Miz in a WWE Unified Tag Team Titles match. The match was also a Lumberjack match, essentially a rematch from last night’s WrestleMania. The match was really quite good and did justice to all these guys who got snubbed from the live pay per view broadcast. It looks as is Miz and Morrison will be split up in next week’s Draft.

WWE Women’s Champion Melina, Layla, Mickie James, Jillian Hall & Kelly Kelly beat WWE Divas Champion Maryse, Natalya Neidhart, Gail Kim, Eve Torres & Maria when Mickie pinned Natalya. It was a pretty good match and got much more time than I anticipated.

World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk & Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat beat Edge, The Big Show, Matt Hardy, Kane & Chris Jericho in a 10 man WrestleMania All-Star match when Mysterio pinned Edge at the same time as Steamboat came off with a cross body onto Jericho. This match was about as much fun as you could have in a wrestling match. Ricky Steamboat looked like he was having the time of his life out there and got plenty of offense. The heels all bumped their asses off for the legendary Steamboat and the crowd reacted in kind, including a “You Still Got It” chant. Punk, Mysterio, Hardy and Steamboat may make up one of the greatest collections of Intercontinental Champions in one spot at one time. After the match the good guys gave Steamboat his props and let him have one last curtain call in the middle of the ring. It was great to see Steamboat in the ring for one last weekend; he still worked better than half the current roster. It should be also noted how awesome the heel team was with three ultra-rudos like Edge, Matt and Jericho all working together alongside the two monster enforcers Big Show & Kane.

Vickie Guerrero comes out with her nephew Chavo Guerrero and announces she is now the permanent General Manager of RAW and books Edge versus John Cena for the World Championship at Backlash in a Last Man Standing Match. She also makes the six-man tag between Legacy and The McMahon family a WWE Championship match, where if anyone on Team McMahon wins then Triple H retains the WWE Title, and if anyone on Legacy wins then Orton becomes WWE Champion.

Miss WrestleMania “Santina Marella” comes out to celebrate “her” victory from last night. Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes come out to confront “Santina.” The argument segues into a match between Beth and “Santina” which “Santina” wins. The fans really got a rise oout of the absurd Santino/Santina stuff. Even the announcers Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole couldn’t keep a straight face as they were announcing the “action.” It was a pretty absurd segment but the crowd was having the time of their lives and responded strongly to the absurdity and ended up coming off pretty funny.

Randy Orton versus Mr. McMahon was a no contest when Shane McMahon interfered. Soon Triple H, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes were all involved as well and it degenerated into a six-man brawl. Then as Legacy was gaining the upper hand Batista made his surprise return and cleaned house. Mr. McMahon then announced that Batista would be taking his place in the six-man tag at Backlash.

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