Well, it was a nice dream... Triple H wasn't on RAW for 2 whole weeks. Here in Canada, his reappearance surprise was spoiled earlier for an ad for RAW in Calgary at the end of May though: the main event advertised was Ric Flair and Triple H against Batista - and this ad was after the first hour, so there was no surprise at all.

Unfortunately this was a generally disappointing show. Although Paul Heyman's promo for ECW was cool (and I can't think it was only a smark thing to note that Vince killed WCW with the InVasion) there were far too many dumb segments (I found myself begging for the plug to get pulled on Viscera much sooner) and not enough entertaining wrestling (Benoit-Tajiri was but a fraction as good as last week... plus neither Shelton Benjamin or Chris Jericho's matches were great). Jim Ross spoke of the great ratings they had last week, but I don't think they'll repeat.

Both this week's Smackdown! and the just completed Judgment Day drove home a major point: the brand desperately needs the Draft Lottery to make it worth viewing.

SD! I would have mostly missed if I hadn't videotaped it... I was so bored by it overall that I slept through most of it.

The matches set up for the PPV overall didn't grip me. Except for Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (Jr.) was pretty much the only match on the card I was looking forward to, followed by the Cruiserweight title bout.

At the PPV itself - Haas/Holly vs. MNM was more entertaining than I expected thanks to Charlie Haas. When he was in the ring, the match was exciting. When Bob Holly was in, it wasn't.

As a match Carlito vs. The Big Show was mostly mediocre - until Matt Morgan lifted Show up for an F-5. It wasn't as stunnintg now after seeing Brock Lesnar do it several times - but it still made for a surprise.

I never thought I'd find a Kurt Angle match dull, but this one was. It felt like it dragged on.

Orlando Jordan isn't exactly gripping as the US Champion (to think: I liked him before he joined JBL!), but a title match against Heidenreich? Face or heel, he's still awful in the ring, and definitely doesn't deserve a title hunt.

JBL vs. John Cena was a really massive brawl, hopefully a blowoff to their feud. Problem is: who makes an interesting challenger now? Booker T? Cena owned him in the US Title hunt. Kurt Angle again? Yawn. Unless Eddie Guerrero will step up as the next challenger, there's really nothing interesting right now.

SD! is in desperate need of fresh blood in the talent pool - and better writers. Both brands need some, but Smackdown! more.