Well, on the one hand having this "Beat the Clock" thing for the Elimination Chamber meant the matches wouldn't be terribly long... but on the other hand, it meant that RAW had a lot more ring action than I've seen in a long time!

Having Batista come out as the last participant for that event also aided the slow burn to facedom for him. The fans were also seeming much more into him.

On the negative side: first was not only seeing Viscera / Mabel continue employment with the company, but having Chris Benoit stuck wrestling him. Granted it helped to continue his "David versus Goliath giant-killer" theme, but it pretty much guaranteed that the match itself wouldn't be pretty.

Second was Shawn Michaels as the special referee. Admit it: many of you saw that coming a mile away. Me included.