There was more Randy Orton than you could shake a broken clavicle at on last night's Raw.  They were in his hometown of St. Louis so it made sense to have him appear on the broadcast, especially since he should be back in action within the next two months.  But for them to make him such an integral part of the show as they headed into Sunday's PPV it certainly came across to me as if they were acting as if he was back now and reestablishing him as a top guy.  It almost made me wonder if there was something to the speculation as to whether he really had the motorcycle accident.  After all, it wouldn't shock me a bit if this was WWE's way of trying to "work the smart fans".  I guess we will know in the next week or two.  In any case, him appearing last night, and in as many segments as he did, certainly made him at least as important on the show as the push for Sunday's PPV.  How good of an idea that is probably depends on how much you like Orton.

As for the rest of the show, there were a lot of good, short matches and one fantastic angle between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels to end the evening.  Given some of the recent efforts, that makes it a solid evening for me. 

The Angles:

• As I mentioned above, Randy Orton returned to Raw in the opening segment.  Unfortunately, he hasn't gone out of his way to work on being charismatic while he was gone but I will freely admit that I am not the most impartial of reviewers where he is concerned.  To be fair, he delivers his promos just fine.  The problem is, they bore me.  With them having a guy with a gimpy arm come out and talk crap on the champ, it tells me that as soon as he's ready he will be back in a program on top.  Oh lucky us.  After Randy left, they pushed Sunday's PPV.  Batista was fun in letting his actions do the talking.  JBL and Kane, not so much.  
• On a related now, first it was John Cena making the tag champs look like the tag chumps.  It was bad enough that a healthy wrestler could make two men look bad but last night we got to see a guy with one arm slap one of them and not get his ass kicked ass kicked for doing so because the other guy held him back.  Uh, Ted DiBiase should have not only let his partner go, he should have joined him in doing a beatdown on Orton's shoulder.  Memo to WWE creative (in name only at least): When one man goes after another man and that man doesn't come back at him, well he looks like a wimp and a coward.  Great job guys.
• Speaking of wimps and cowards, having Mike Adamle say that he and ECW could put together a Labor Day tradition like Jerry Lewis "without the sick kids" was one of the most offensive things that was ever blurted out of a pie hole on WWE TV.  Hey Vince, you are a true classless a hole for OKing that line.  
• I liked that the tag champs finally laid out Cryme Tyme.  I didn't like that it took magical words from Randy Orton, which were not answered directly on him, to have them do so.  It scares me that it looks like the long talked about second generation group is about to come to fruition, but to be fair it's only because Orton's promos bores me and I don't think he is ready to be the leader of a faction yet.
• The show ended on a high note with yet another great installment in the Shawn Michaels-Chris Jericho angle.  Those guys knocked it out of the park again.  It was clear that Shawn hurt his triceps when he landed awkwardly on the floor.  Hopefully, it won't be that bad of an injury.

The Matches:

• Aside from the bizarre " stealing someone else's gimmick" deal, Charlie Haas vs. Kofi Kingston was a good, short match.  It doesn't bode well for Charlie that all creative can think of to do with him is rip someone else off.  Rent, don't buy, Charlie.
• The ECW Battle Royal was a good, fun match.   It was too short to be more that.  It was nice to see the ECW guys on Raw though.  They deserve the exposure.  
• Willie Regal and Jamie Noble had a good, short match.  I liked that Jamie got the roll up and thus won Layla.  Those two have been fun together and now the storyline gets to go into a new place.  It's also nice to see Layla back after a rough time.  I hope being back at work helps her through. 
• As usual, the Divas match had good energy.  Candice Michelle got to make a triumphant return, one for which she seemed to be legitimately emotional about.  The divas division has been very strong of late.
• Santino Marella vs. D. Lo Brown continued the run of short matches.  It was fine for the time that they gave it, Well unless you were Brown and did the quick job to a comedy performer at least.  Then, it was probably not exactly what you were looking for.  The Honk-A-Meter was an instant classic.
• The Raw Battle Royal was another good, short match.  I liked that they had Batista go out first, since it was a surprise and he didn't need to gain the victory.  It would have been nice for Punk to win but since Kane had the least amount of heat of the four, I was OK with the finish.  Plus, it led to the cool angle with Rey Mysterio returning, so it all worked.

What to watch if you DVR'd the show:

• Definitely watch the closing angle.  It was good stuff.  If you like Orton, you can watch him too.  The matches were all short but solid so you can check them out as well. 

Rhetorical and Unanswered Questions: 

• Did you notice the " US Open is on CNBC" trailer at the bottom of the Raw open?
• Honestly, if you were THAT into the tournament, wouldn't you already know where it was airing?
• Shouldn't WWE.com know that Randy Orton would be on Raw since the show was taped the prior day?
• Did anyone else laugh when DirecTV cut to a company promo when Orton came out?
• And, did they do so to give us something interesting to watch?
• Why didn't Orton be honest and say that the state of Raw was no better when HE was the champion?
• Does Orton feel like a dope, knowing he could be wrestling if he would have picked up a less dangerous hobby, like being a snake charmer or cleaning up toxic waste spills?
• As lean as Orton looked, did you wonder if Vince would come out and say that his neck looked like a stack of dimes?
• If Orton couldn't actually challenge Punk, shouldn't he have shut his mouth and not come out and bragged like he was something important?
• Doesn't it suck for Punk to have a headache since he can't take an Advil?
• How cool was it for Punk to point out what an imbecile Orton was to take up the new hobby of motorcycle riding while he was mending a broken bone?
• Is JBL the right guy to be talking about fairy tales not coming true when he went from being an Acolyte to a champion?
• Wasn't it cool that Batista chose to let his violence do the talking?
• Shouldn't more people, especially those who are boring, do the same thing?
• Isn't there something hot about Mickie James in Roller Derby gear?
• Again, does Charlie Haas know that ripping off someone else gimmick is the last step before the infamous "creative has nothing for you" becomes reality?
• Uh, why would DiBiase hold Rhodes back after Orton slapped him? 
• Did Kane really wonder why Adamle would lie after he made such a tasteless about sick kids?
• Did creative book the ECW guys on Raw because they are better than anything that the company currently has on Monday nights?
• Was Miz the only one who didn't see Chavo screwing him over?
• When Lawler said he hadn't seen legs like Henry's since the Brontasaurus died out, was I the only one who believed that the King could have actually been alive that long to speak from first hand experience?
• Given how imposing Regal's music is, shouldn't he be, well, more of a bad ass?
• When Cole said that Willie has been on a role, shouldn't he have added, "When he is actually able to show up to work"?
• Did you notice that right after calling Katie Lea her rival, Cole said that Mickie James' goal was to win back the Women's Title?
• Shouldn't that make Beth Phoenix her rival?
• How cool was the Honk-A-Meter?
• And, isn't it an added plus that it probably tweaks Honky that they are doing it?
• Wow, what does it say about the state of Raw when The Miz has to work twice?
• Why would the tag champs give a rat's ass what Randy Orton thought?
• How can you argue with Batista's "game plan"?
• Why did Rey wait until after the match ended to return?
• Oh yeah, because it made sense to not work a battle royal if he didn't have to, right?
• Don't Adamle's words sound better when someone else, like Lawler, says them?
• Isn't it amazing how most guys in WWE Superstar "security" look like indy wrestlers?
• Did you notice how much gray was in the beards of both Michaels and Jericho?
• Didn't it add to the realism when Shawn breathed heavily into the mic after he got worked up?
• Man, wasn't the crowd LIVE?