Raw Thoughts - November 23

• Jesse walked to the ring and said "Hershey, Pennsylvania" and I was already longing for the days when he was in the colour commentator's position. There has barely been anyone like him for fifteen years, with the exception of JBL.
• I'm watching Raw early afternoon Tuesday, UK time, but I've had a spoiler as to who wins the "Breakthrough Battle Royal" that I've just seen Jesse announce. I'll try not to let it spoil things.
• Nice covering by Cole for Randy and Kofi simply having a stare-off and not fighting in the aisle by saying that perhaps Randy has gained a measure of respect for Kofi.
• I like the concept of different brands' wrestlers fighting each other and then facing their respective champ.
• We have an issue with the tourney straight away. Kofi and Ziggler are both talented individuals - and what did that match take? Four minutes? I don't set stopwatches, but that wasn't very long at all.
• Now I don't mind Sheamus and Finlay being short. Not because they couldn't have a good match, but because it fits Sheamus' current push to dominate like that.
• I enjoyed that Cena/Punk match. I don't think there was a lot of doubt that Punk would be losing the match, but they at least let Punk get to the ropes out of the STF and then it took a supersize version of Cena's finisher to polish him off. Did Punk no harm, that.
• That was AWESOME! Great promo by Jesse on Vince, classic McMahon double-taking and adams-apple-bobbing - I can't wait for these two on the mic.
• I don't like that concept - the six man tag with all winners progressing. Seems ludicrous to me.
• I give him enough abuse, I think I ought to say that Cole is on great form tonight. He just zinged Lawler for not being made Mayor of Memphis. Made I laff.
• Match itself was ok. I thought for a second that Henry and Porter were going to turn on Truth, but not to be.
• That DX segment was so poor. Two of the WWE's premier performers, amongst the top five biggest names in the business currently, both lost a title match last night, but rather than bemoan their bad luck, express their desire to win the title, Shawn played his "goofy Shawn" routine and they made Midget jokes. I don't know if DX are booking themselves at the moment, but they are doing a terrible job if they are - and I'm a DX fan.
• Sorry Cole, my kind words were short lived.........how can Orton 'stalk' Bourne, lying in wait for him......then hit an RKO "out of nowhere", exactly?
• I wonder if WWE poached Hector away from TNA to put him in the Gooker suit.
• AAAARGH. What am I supposed to do? I love Pilgrims, but now McCool is dressed as one. What do I do?
• So, where to start on that Divas aftermath? Why was King scared of Maryse? Why didn't Kelly and Mickie come back to help? Gooker's music and a video played, so therefore the conceit is that he was booked to be the timekeeper - so they knew it would be Maryse? King doing the interview in the ring? You have to do that often with no recriminations for it to actually be a surprise.
• Should Nattie make her surname "Brake" just for one night. Since Hart and Kidd are doing such a great job of killing Shawn - Hart, Brake and Kidd would be awesome. Actually, maybe not.
• Hell of a lot of punishment by the Dynasty on DX, before the sudden ending. Looked like Shawn Superkicked Hunter in the arse until I realised it was on Harry.
• A chair match? The winner straps his opponent into a high chair?
• That was hilarious - "I'm sick of your catchphrases.......I'm the best in the world at what I do." I wonder how intentional that was.
• Batista should have come out with a lucha mask on.
• You can tell that very few people remember Vince as a commentator. Muted response. I want to hear "The cover, the count, yes he got him! Wait, no he didn't."
• Mini Me as guest host - surely a face-off with Hornswoggle.
• Sheamus v Cena then, in a tables match. I see three major problems here.
• One is that Sheamus may not quite be ready to step up and put on a great match with Cena. He might, but it's a lot to ask of both men.
• The second is that his push would work much better as a slow burn over a reasonable amount of time. He would be better off beating some midcarders dominantly before stepping up. Loads of great superstars spent years building their character by battering people to build their aura
• And there lies the third issue. Do you beat Sheamus on his first major PPV singles match, and retain the SuperCena aura? Or do you give an inexperienced guy (in WWE terms - Sheamus has paid dues elsewhere) a World Title within two months of hitting Raw?