By Lee Stevens, Torch specialist

Thank you for joining me again as we put Raw "Under The Microscope." Please remember that this is not a complete recap of the show, rather it's a closer look at the broadcast.

The new style

WWE at least made it seem as if the draft was an important event as they showcased most of the Raw picks on Monday's show, whether it was MVP opening the show by interrupted new champ Randy Orton or Big Show and Batista closing the show in a match to determine the #1 contender. The graphics reminding people of who actually switched brands helped too, but most people agree that the key will be how the split is handled after this week.

With MVP already visiting Smackdown this week, the lines may have been drawn, but apparently they can be easily erased. The show also featured Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. on the microphone more than in recent weeks. They didn't say anything particularly historic or groundbreaking, but at least they were given the opportunity to speak.

The name is Porter. Montell Porter

The opening segment also featured a strong Raw debut for MVP. We have seen champion vs. champion matches as recently as The Colons vs. The Miz and John Morrison, but it was still enjoyable to see the reigning U.S. Champion insist that he doesn't have to answer to Orton or anyone else. That brief moment gives an extra dose of credibility to the belt.

He also provided one of the quotes of the night by arguing "I don't have a couple of Abercrombie & Fitch models to do my talking," referring to Rhodes and DiBiase. The store is known for many things including male models in their advertisements who rarely wear shirts. I will gladly let others decide whether or not The Legacy qualifies in the looks department, but the shirtless part? Check.

Abercrombie & Fitch was started by David Abercrombie in 1892. He was joined by Ezra Fitch in 1900 and the name was changed from simply Abercrombie Co. to its current title. In 1999, the group LFO had a hit single with "Summer Girls" which included the line "I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch, I'd take her if I had one wish, but she's been gone since that summer."

Actually...

Brian Kendrick debuted with a correction, his name isn't Brian Kendrick, it's THE Brian Kendrick. If you go to www.anywho.com and type in Brian Kendrick, you would actually see that there are Brian Kendricks in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina and that's only on the first two pages of results. The website actually listed 73 Brian Kendricks. I understand the point he's trying to get across with his added emphasis, but since he's the only one who lost a match that night, perhaps another one of the Kendricks can hold the definite article until he's ready to use it.

Special search

The Miz jumped into the mix by calling out John Cena and distancing himself from the fans in the process. He insisted that you have Google'd his name, you would see more results for him than anyone else in the stands. Considering he's on TV, that makes sense. He also went on to ask what Lauren Conrad, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff and Hayley Duff had in common. While many of you possibly went in a different direction with that question, he revealed that he had all of their phone numbers. I was curious about what would happen if you looked even closer. Sure, he had more results than Joe Wrestling Fan in Section 413, but what about the other names he mentioned?

-- Mike Mizanin produced 75,800 results
-- Lauren Conrad claims 8,180,000 stories
-- Paris Hilton has 54,900,000 and allegedly some of her entries have fun videos too
-- Hilary Duff gives us 1,960,000
-- Hayley comes in at 16,000

"Pointless research which delayed this week's Microscope" --surprisingly no results.

Ouch

Credit to Matt Hardy for playing hurt on Monday as he sported a new cast courtesy of his "I Quit" match with his brother Jeff. Using the cast as a finishing move carries on a nice tradition of wrestlers taking an injury, both real and fictional, and using it in the ring. Lex Luger had a motorcycle accident which the WWF used to insist that a steel plate had been inserted into his forearm. Luger, then known as "The Narcissist," frequently used the loaded forearm to knock out his opponent.

My personal favorite was Iron Mike Sharpe who consistently wore a black brace on his forearm. He didn't always use that as a weapon, but frequently used that brace as his preferred hiding spot for a foreign object. Another obvious choice brings us back to the opening segment again as Randy Orton's father, Bob, wrestled much of his WWF career with a cast on his arm, supposedly from a match with Jimmy Snuka. This led to an interesting showdown as one of his opponents decided to fight plaster with plaster. In 1986, Paul Orndorff began wearing a similar cast to equal Orton, but eventually both men were ordered to remove the extra gear.

Where were we?

Even though I'm constantly looking for small details, I've started to tune out the start of the entire Randy Orton vs. the McMahons family feud simply because there have been so many other events since then. Watching the video again tonight, I had forgotten that all of this started as Vince McMahon was just seconds away from firing Orton. Instead, Orton dropped the CEO and eventually punted him in the skull. I completely understand why Shane, Stephanie, and Triple H would want to extract physical revenge on Orton for his acts against the family, but at some point, couldn't we just go back to that first altercation?

If McMahon could have fired him then, why can't he do it now? I'm certainly not criticizing because I've enjoyed many of the twists and turns with this battle and logic often kills an angle before it even gets started, but couldn't Vince come back and say, "Enough is enough. You've hurt my son and made him sweat. A great deal. Seriously, that's a lot of sweat. You've hurt my daughter and you even took care of my son-in-law. Plus, Shane is sweating again. You proved your point, but in light of everything, you're..." If Randy starts winding up the RKO or anything else, Linda could fire him. Obviously he doesn't leave the WWE, The Microscope still has a bit of sanity around here somewhere, but I think it would be a nice bookend bridging from the start to the finish.

Finally

Or we could just rewind the tape and watch Shane trip up the steps in the audience again.

Lee Stevens examines Smackdown and Raw with "Under The Microscope." You can leave comments below or e-mail him at GLStevens.Torch@gmail.com

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