WWE Champion Triple H began the show by entering the ring and delivering his usual post-PPV victory promo. The Game’s speech was cut short by John Cena, who arrived to challenge Hunter before the pair were interrupted by Jeff Hardy’s music. The eccentric high-flyer pointed out that each of them emerged victorious from their respective matches at ONS and suggested a match between himself and Cena to determine who would receive the shot at Triple H. Vince McMahon appeared on the TitanTron and instead proceeded to book an idea of his own - Jeff Hardy squaring off against John Cena, with the winner challenging Hunter at Night of Champions for the WWE belt. Um … yeah. I understand Vince is a heel, but that still seemed strangely out of place. Anyway, Cena went on to defeat Hardy in a very good bout and earned the opportunity to wrestle Triple H at NOC. Personally, I would have went with Hardy and saved Hunter-Cena for SummerSlam, but I suppose the company’s intent here is to draw interest for one of their secondary PPVs.

Chris Jericho defended the Intercontinental Title against rival John Bradshaw Layfield. Jericho dedicated the match to Shawn Michaels (who was at home selling his beating from Batista the night before) in a pre-match interview. Following JBL’s disqualification, Jericho raised a steel chair over the millionaire cowboy’s prone body and teased an assault with the object before deciding against it (similar to the Michaels scenario last week).

Paul Burchill was scheduled to face Mr. Kennedy, but the rugged Brit backed out of the bout, claiming he was busy preparing his sister Katie Lea for her in-ring debut later in the program. Umaga substituted for Burchill, but lost via count-out after crashing into the announce table following a missed flying bodypress from the ring apron. Post-match, Burchill blindsided the Green Bay grappler, but was later pearl harbored himself when Kennedy attacked the Englishman in the aisle as he was applauding Katie’s tag team win.

Vince McMahon addressed the WWE audience to explain the rules of his McMahon Million Dollar Mania contest. Vince said that all fans must do to become eligible for the weekly money giveaway is register on WWE.com, but stated that only U.S. citizens may enter (That is certainly not going to sit well with many people). The Chairman admitted that this contest was created to encourage former and non-fans to watch Raw before prodding the crowd to make noise against the “elitists” and “snobs” who look down on wrestling devotees.

In other news, Roddy Piper inadvertently assisted Carlito and Santino Marella in a non-title win over World Tag Team Champions Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes, and Lance Cade cleanly defeated former partner Trevor Murdoch in a good, short brawl (So much for that feud).

This was an entertaining episode of Raw and a great follow-up to One Night Stand, although I question the decision to offer the inaugural meeting between John Cena and Jeff Hardy on free television (and on a smaller scale, I suppose the same case could also be made for Murdoch-Cade).

Match Results: Mr. Kennedy over Umaga via count-out … Santino Marella and Carlito over World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly via Marella’s pinfall on Holly … Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho over JBL via disqualification … Beth Phoenix and Katie Lea Burchill over WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James and Melina via Burchill’s pinfall on Mickie … Lance Cade over Trevor Murdoch via pinfall … John Cena over Jeff Hardy via pinfall in a Number-one Contender’s Match.
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