And the guest hosts keep on coming to Monday Night Raw. With every passing week, part of me enjoys the concept, yet part of me wishes that Raw had a General Manager back in position, to keep a keen eye on how things progress on a week-to-week basis.

Let me take a look at last night's guest host: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Popular choice to a point for the local folks in Wilkes-Barre, PA, although there was a fair amount of Philadelphia Eagles fans in attendance as well. Big name athlete on a national scale, and from what I gather, a huge WWE fan. And he really blended in quite well with the proceedings.

He started out nicely for our audience, showcasing WWE's Divas in a "Diva Bowl" contest. What a great way to start out the evening for everyone. Then later on, The Miz came in and asked for a chance to wrest the United States Championship from Kofi Kingston, which Big Ben granted, with the condition that Miz had to say that he was awful if he had lost the match. Fair enough. Later, here came the Unified Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and Big Show. A little jaw jacking led to Big Ben's Steeler offensive line entering the scene, followed in turn by Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The bottom line was that after all was said and done, Big Ben booked a match between "Jerri-Show" and DX.

But here is where I scratched my head. Making the tag match was a spur of the moment thing for Big Ben to do, but why did he not put the icing on the cake and make it a championship match right then and there? Talk about scoring major points! I did not understand his logic, especially after granting Miz a US Championship match earlier in the program. And even though the match was very competitive and exciting, can you imagine the impact DX could have made by winning the Unified Tag Team Championship, especially after coming off of their grueling match against Legacy the night before at Hell in a Cell? What a story that would have been! More on the guest hosts later.

Back to the Miz. Congrats for defeating Kofi Kingston and winning the United States Championship last night. All I will say here is that I think that the embarrassment of possibly saying that he was awful weighed on his mind, and he used it to his mental advantage. Not that Kofi was off his game, Miz was more than on his. So now you have Miz as United States Champion on Raw, and John Morrison as the Intercontinental Champion on SmackDown. So the former associates respectively hold the second most important Championships on their brands. Who would have predicted that on to happen? I'd love to see a one-on-one confrontation between these two at Bragging Rights!

I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to seeing John Cena face Randy Orton in an Iron Man match at the Bragging Rights pay per view event on October 25. Yes, these two have met numerous times through the years, and it seemed to me that last night there was some sort of professional respect between the two being emitted. I have seen my share of Iron Man matches, but this one I view as the rubber match. Orton "quit" at Point, giving Cena the WWE Championship; Orton regained last Sunday night at Hell in a Cell. So come October 25, both of these gladiators are on a one hour clock to score the most decisions. This will be their Game 7 (per se) of an intense pay per view rivalry that stands at five victories each. I can't wait to see it!!!

Odds and Ends: So Jack Swagger says that he is not going to lose another match in 2009. I say we'll see what we will see, and whether his stock rises because of it. He looked pretty good against Primo last night, yet I'd like to see the Oklahoman take on more of the best that Raw has to offer in the upcoming weeks. If he keeps his vow in tact, then I feel that Swagger will go into 2010 as a major player on the Raw landscape........When was the last time we saw Santino Marella in a singles match on Raw???......I know that Hornswoggle is fun loving and a happy go lucky individual, but I could not understand why he would not shake hands with Chavo Guerrero last night. I believe that since telling Hornswoggle he won the battle, Chavo is sincere in wanting to bury the hatchet with the little fellow.  We'll have to see what transpires going forward.....

And now, my question to my readers is this: Are you happy with the guest host concept on Raw, or would you prefer to see a permanent General Manager at the helm? I would love to get your views, event to the point of suggestions on both topics. Feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for reading, and remember, you can follow me on Twitter at:

www.twitter.com/howardfinkel

Whenever I have the opportunity to do my Raw Ramblings blog, I never want to follow in general terms the trend of saying "that was a good match; I enjoyed this a lot", etc. I try and look at things through glasses with a different tint that emits from my eyes things that I see totally different than from what we all saw on the show. And after the events of last night, I was "blinded" by the various issues that came forth.

I want to first of all talk about what I thought were some questionable decisions made by a few of our WWE referees last night. I have always maintained that WWE referees have a thankless job, and that they do as much as they possibly can to be fair and impartial to both the match itself and the superstars involved in it. But last night in three specific instances, I was left shaking my head.

In the very first match last night, it was Triple H doing battle against Cody Rhodes, with both Shawn Michaels and Ted DiBiase accompanying their charges to the ring. Things got to the point to where HBK was leveled on the outside by Legacy. From there, Triple H eventually secured the Pedigree on Rhodes, in what would have spelled a certain defeat. But from out of nowhere DiBiase came into the ring with a chair, leveled Hunter with it, which led to Rhodes' prompt disqualification. After that, it became a Legacy 2-on-1 mauling of The Game, while HBK was slowing regaining his wits about him outside the ring. Now where was the referee? Out of the ring, tending to Michaels, and verbally attempting to stop the muggingthat was going on in the ring. Should he not have perhaps signaled for his fellow referees to come to ringside and help him out in that situation???

Next: Diva's Champion Mickie James-vs- Beth Phoenix. # 1 contender Alicia Fox took a seat at ringside to watch the match. Beth emerged victorious after a distraction outside the ring that involved Fox. After the victory, Beth left the ring, while the referee tended to Mickie. Meanwhile, Alicia had James' Diva's Championship, came into the ring, and delivered a scissor kick to the already fallen Champion. If you noticed, just as soon as Alicia entered the ring with the title, the referee got out!! Why?? And then after the damage was done, he did not immediately get back in to at least admonish Alicia for what she just did!! Amazing!!! By the way, do you think that Beth now has a case to plead as to putting herself back into the Diva's Championship picture?

Now they say that three's a charm? Well it was last night! Jack Swagger had a United States Championship match against Kofi Kingston. About a minute into the match, out popped the Miz, whose only motive was to steal the US Title again, like he did last week. Swagger saw that, jumped out of the ring, forgot about Kofi, physically assaulted Miz, then took the title and walked out of the arena. Um, why would the referee not begin to count Swagger out of the ring? Because he was tending to Kingston in the ring. Can you believe that??? And the poor referee in this match ALSO officiated the Triple H-Cody Rhodes opening contest!! Not a good night at the office (per se) for him!

Pursuant to that, what in the world was Jack Swagger thinking about? The match had just begun, he had the clear cut advantage over Kofi in the early going, and he could have quite possibly been well on his way to becoming the new United States Champion!! So he saw Miz take the US Title, ditched his match against Kof, got to Miz, and walked out with United States Championship belt in tow. Another theft. Swagger has really impressed so many in such a short period of time, but I felt that last night that Jack Swagger defeated Jack Swagger with a move called ineptitude.

Folks, Kofi Kingston is still the United States Champion; no one has defeated him for it. On the other side of the coin, as I said before, the WWE referees have a thankless job, and are in my opinion, underappreciated. But you can't appreciate the shoddy work that was put forth in these three aforementioned  matches.

Bottom line: When you don't have a consistent, day in and day out General Manager as the captain of your ship, then that ship could quite possibly veer off course. The guest hosts have been great and have certainly leant to the overall presentation of the television product. But in my humble opinion, Raw needs a steady authority force to get things back on the straight and narrow!

John Cena and Randy Orton have really turned things up a few notches. It was great to see a contract signing last night with no physicality for a change (by mandate), just the signatures, then words between two storied rivals that have a date with destiny on October 4 at Hell in a Cell. That is if Cena can run the gauntlet next Monday night, getting by the aforementioned Orton, Chris Jericho, and the Big Show.....

Odds and Ends: A comment about Lilian Garcia: Last night was her final night in WWE. She was a "Diva for a Decade", and did her job as Raw's ring announcer during that time frame. I've had my professional differences with her (remember the tuxedo -vs- evening gown match in 2002?), and have taken her to task when she had made a mistake in a ring announcement, because when it's live TV, nothing can go wrong. But from a personal standpoint, we're only human. She is a sweetheart, and I wish her absolutely nothing but the best in whatever the future may bring for her. Now as to who the new ring announcer for Raw will be, all I can is that as I type this I have no idea... but stay tuned!!!.......Who was that masked man with Cedric the Entertainer and Hornswoggle last night??? Any ideas???.... And can someone from Raw make a deal with ECW to re-acquire the services of the Bella Twins please? At least they work so well with the guest hosts, speaking of which the Reverend Al Sharpton tops that particular bill on Raw next week from Albany, New York. Should be an interesting evening, to say the least......I have a busy week on the books. This Thursday I will be down in Tampa, Florida visiting Florida Championship Wrestling, taking a look at tomorrow's stars, and the operation itself. Then, I am going to be a part of SignMania V taking place this Saturday, September 26, at the Bucks County Tech School in Fairless Hills, PA. I will be appearing from 11 AM-2 PM at the RF table. I look forward to meeting and saying hello to those of you who plan on attending...

As always, I appreciate all of you who take the time out of your busy day to read Raw Ramblings. And please leave a comment if you'd like; makes for interesting further thoughts and views from you, the WWE Universe.

Take care, everyone!!!

It's an absolutely beautiful last weekend of summer here in Connecticut, and I was just pondering a few things over a cup of coffee that I'd like to share with you (no, not the coffee!)

Great to work with The Miz and Eve last Wednesday in San Francisco as we unveiled the roster for SmackDown -vs- Raw 2010. This is another must have video game for your collection. It's available on October 20. Run, don't walk to get it!!.......

I am really enjoying the new Pearl Jam release, Backspacer. It's out on Monday. They have gone back to their early days in my view, and deliver a solid package. Force of Nature and Amongst the Waves are great tracks! Nice job from Eddie Vedder and band!

Congrats to Zack Ryder on becoming the # 1 contender for the ECW Championship. Right time, right place to win the Battle Royal to gain the honor. But with this self-confidence exuding from him since that win, you'd think that he's got the title in the bag already! If you defeat Christian for the title, then I say talk all you want. And from this person's perspective, you just might have done your own version of the "Sports Illustrated Jinx" with that photo on your latest blog.

I wonder where The Undertaker drove SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long to in that limousine. Last time I checked, there weren't any hotels listed in Death Valley!!!

I'm headed down to Florida Championship Wrestling in the upcoming week. This is WWE's developmental territory, and I am looking forward to looking at the operation, seeing tomorrow's superstars in action, and perhaps imparting a few words of wisdom in the process.

Next Saturday, September 26, I will be making an appearance as part of the SignmaniaV Convention at the Bucks County Tech School in Fairless Hills, PA from 11AM-2 PM. I look forward to saying hello to all of you who are going to be there!

Nice return to SmackDown for Batista with a victory over Chris Jericho. But I still ask these questions: His contract expired? He was a free agent? How could anyone on the Raw side of things let that slip through the cracks? Wait! There is no General Manager with Raw. Oh well, Raw's loss is SmackDown's gain, big time!!!

Has this year gone by fast, or is it me???

One week into the NFL season, and a big game already? The New England Patriots and the New York Jets. 1-0 -vs- 1-0. I am gonna root my tail off for Mark Sanchez and Gang Green..J-E-T-S....JETS!! JETS!! JETS!!

Just finished my coffee. Perfect timing. Thanks for taking the time out of your day / night to read this, and leave a comment if you'd like.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and see you on Monday night at 8:30 PM ET in the Raw Live Chat!!

I guess if you are a part of the Raw roster you can just pick up and go elsewhere to ply your trade. Sure sounded that way to me last night, as Batista returned to WWE television, and in a matter of factly tone announced that he would be switching brands immediately and is heading to SmackDown.  And although the emphasis was on The Animal's farewell Raw no holds barred match against Randy Orton, once again I want to take a look at how it seems to be so easy for a superstar to go anywhere; in this case, Batista. He asked last night's guest hostess Trish Stratus for that match against Orton, and got it. But did he even talk to her about his ultimate decision last night to switch brands?

Since the departure of Vickie Guerrero, Raw has been without a General Manager, and has incorporated Guest Hosts to oversee the operation of the weekly telecast. The mix of WWE Legends/Hall of Famers and celebrities has been intriguingly successful, to say the least. And for the two hours that they are in that position, they have complete control of Raw, and can do what they see fit for the betterment of the show and the group in general. Some have been pedal to the metal hands on, while one guest host arrived to the show nearly an hour late. In the case of Ms. Stratus, as hostess last night, she also took it upon herself in her hometown of Toronto to make a match the Batista-Orton no holds barred match, annonuce a contest between new WWE Champion John Cena and Orton for Hell In a Cell, the next PPV event on October 4, and after some goading from both Chris Jericho and Beth Phoenix, decided to make a tag team match, which involved her, MVP, and ultimately included Mark Henry and The Big Show; this turned out to be a very interesting bout. But here was Batista announcing last night that he was going to SmackDown. And the way that the Animal performed last night against the Viper, SmackDown is getting themselves a major acquisition for their roster. Seems to me that he hasn't missed a beat since being on the shelf!!!

But what does Raw get in return? Evidently nada, nothing, zip, zilch, zero. Nearly eight months ago I chastised then ECW General Manager Theodore Long for making a poor move by letting Matt Hardy walk from the Land of Extreme to SmackDown, and receiving nary a superstar in exchange. Well, Mr. Long, who currently is mired in a serious controversy as SmackDown GM involving The Undertaker and CM Punk, sure looks like Albert Einstein today, getting Batista to join his brand, and apparently not trading anyone over to Raw.

Remember a few weeks back I thought that the inmates were running the asylum on Raw? In some cases I really believe they still are. And as much as I believe this guest host concept has worked, perhaps the time has come anew to get someone back into an administrative position on Raw, overseeing things like what happened last night, and trying to receive value for value. To lose someone like Batista and not get something in return begs the question: Do you  think that it might have been a "Raw" deal for the Monday night contingent???

A hearty salute goes from me to Chavo Guerrero for the five words that he said last night..."I give up...you win". If you read into those five words, you will see that the self-proclaimed Mexican Warrior has finally smelled the coffee and wants to move on with his Raw exploits. Week after week after week, Chavo has been wallowing in his own personal and professional mire of competing in some form or fashion against Hornswoggle. And although it was a somewhat entertaining series of encounters through the weeks, I believe that a combination of frustration, stagnation, and embarrassment was getting the best of Chavo. This individual is a very talented performer, and for him to come to the arena week after week and see on the line-up that he was going to see Hornswoggle in the opposite corner of the ring, it had to have taken its toll on him in a progressive nature. Here's hoping that Chavo next week can begin a new chapter of his WWE career, hopefully against Evan Bourne. There's nowhere to go but up for Chavo, and Evan I'm sure will take him there, literally!

I am really enjoying the DX-Legacy scenario that continues to develop. For Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to gain a victory over one of WWE's legendary teams last Sunday at Breaking Point, that was a huge feather in their cap. Are you ready? They sure were. And I must give major props to Shawn Michaels. To go into singles competition last night against DiBiase in the condition that he was in from Breaking Point was most admirable. There's no doubt that no one has given DX a run for their money like Legacy has over these past weeks, and I am keenly interested for their Hell in a Cell encounter on October 4. I would go so far as to say that if Legacy emerges victorious that evening, it might spell the end of DX, as we know it today. I hope not.

Odds and Ends: If the Miz thought that he made a statement by walking off with Kofi Kingston's United States Championship last night, I'm pretty sure that the enigmatic Jamaican will respond in kind by offering him a championship match. Miz always seems to want to keep that spotlight on himself, but Kofi will have something to say about it sooner than later...If the Gail Kim -vs- Alicia Fox match to determine the # 1 contender for the Diva's Championship was to have been a Triple Threat Match (as was announced), who do you think the third contestant might have been?.......It was great to have Brie and Nikki Bella on our Raw live chat last night. The Bella Twins were quick witted in their responses, and made a big impression on our WWE Universe that were with us. Corey Clayton and yours truly hold court every Monday night; join us one week and have some fun.

I'm done rambling for another week about Raw. If you'd like to leave a comment, feel free to do so; they're always appreciated. And you can also follow me on Twitter at:  

www.twitter.com/howardfinkel

Thanks, and California, here I come!!!

Folks, this is going to be a special edition of Raw Ramblings, albeit a tad late. But I wanted to reflect a little bit on this past Monday night,as it became one of the most special nights that I have ever been involved in with this company.

I got the word late last week that my services were going to be needed in Chicago for Monday Night Raw; I was stoked! At the time, I was told that I would be involved in some capacity with the guest host of the evening, Bob Barker; I was even more stoked! And it then became clear to me last weekend that I was going to be announcing and working closely with Mr. Barker.

When I arrived at the Allstate Arena last Monday afternoon, my role was explained to me. I had a number of announcements to make in conjunction with the theme of the evening, namely "The Price Is Raw". And later that afternoon, I got to meet Bob Barker for the first time. Now through the years, I have met any number of individuals from many walks of life. But in this case, this introduction was going to be a thrill for me. I, as well as many of you reading this blog have had the pleasure of watching Bob Barker through the years. He is a broadcasting legend, and in my eyes, represents a huge slice of Americana. He is more than a household name, he is an institution! We exchanged pleasantries, and I told him how much of an honor it was going to be for me to work with him on the show. And he in turn said "well, I'm looking forward to working with you, Howard". Now if that didn't spike my enthusiasm over the top, nothing would!

Wearing the "Rod Roddy" jacket was also a cool touch as well. Heck, back in the day I used to wear ruffled tuxedo shirts, but a sequined jacket??? Sweet!!! And what an ovation it was for Mr. Barker! There were no applause signs flashing folks. It was just a pure, unadulterated ovation from the ever avid and passionate Chicago WWE fans; they are among the best fans that you could ask for!

The show itself was a fast moving two hours of action and entertainment. It was our last Raw show to promote our WWE Breaking Point pay per view this Sunday, and that also had to have a prominent point throughout the show, which I felt that it did. Things aligned quite nicely, in my view.

And I can not begin to tell you how good it felt to be back on Raw! I was having a blast with my role of the evening, and was on a natural high. If I may digress, I also wanted to let you know how fantastic it was to say hello to the WWE Raw Superstars that were there, in addition to renewing acquaintances with the unsung heroes of any TV day, the hard working folks behind the scenes. From the cameramen to the sound, lighting, and pyro folks, from the seamstresses to the production staff, it was like old home week for me!

However, the most special part of the night happened after we were finished with our responsibilities. I went to thank Mr. Barker for the pleasure of working with him. He was so gracious in taking a photo with me, and then he gave me a copy of his book, Priceless Memories. I did not expect that, and was pleasantly surprised. And after we parted company, I opened up the book, and there was a note in it that Mr. Barker had penned:

"To Howard-One Great Voice!"   Bob Barker

Wow! I froze. Four+ decades of announcing for this great organization were all delicately placed aside for what was a very special moment for me. To get such a compliment from Bob Barker, one of the most iconic figures in the broadcasting and entertainment industry instantly became a "priceless memory" for me that I will never forget!!

Thanks for reading!