By Lee Stevens, Torch specialist

Thank you for joining me as put Raw "Under The Microscope." As a reminder, this is not a complete recap of the show. Instead, this is a closer, sometimes offbeat, look at specific items from the broadcast.

That didn't take long

I usually have a few minutes to get comfortable before jotting down notes in reference to a mistake on-air, but Monday night did not start out well for Jerry Lawler. "The King" started the show in mid-ring to introduce this week's guest host and it quickly went downhill from there as Lawler boasted that "he is a 15-time NBA MVP!"

In a word-no. Shaquille O'Neal is a 15-time NBA All-Star and he has won the MVP award so it was an easy mistake to make. He also has four NBA Championships, he was the Rookie of the Year, a three-time NBA Finals MVP, and a three-time NBA All-Star Game MVP.

Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the all-time record with six NBA MVP awards. Just like O'Neal, Abdul-Jabbar played for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bill Russell and Michael Jordan each have five MVP trophies.

I'll take that

A certain sign lasted about as long as Lawler's perfect streak to start the show. As O'Neal walked to the ring, he took the time to grab a sign, rip it in half and toss it to the ground. If you were looking closely, you saw that the sign read "All Hail King Kobe." If you're unsure why O'Neal took offense to the sign, you weren't paying attention to the NBA during the last few years.

Kobe Bryant and O'Neal combined to win three straight NBA titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002, but the two feuded privately and publicly eventually leading the Lakers to trade O'Neal to Miami. The Heat would win a title with O'Neal while the Lakers began to struggle. During this time, O'Neal would continue to take shots at Bryant including answering a reporter's question by wondering, "I'm sorry, who?"

The feud continued as O'Neal shared a freestyle rap which mentioned his former teammate in less than flattering words, including the Hallmark card-worthy line, "Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes." Eventually the two would, at least publicly, put their bitterness behind them and Bryant went on to win a title without O'Neal this past season.

This background gives even more credibility to one of Chris Jericho's opening jabs, "When I heard that the most dominant player in NBA history was hosting Raw, I automatically assumed it was Kobe Bryant. Instead, it's you?"

...and the winner is

Another sign that lasted a bit longer was the one that promoted "Kazzaam 4 Oscar," a surprising vote of confidence for an early Shaq movie. O'Neal portrayed a genie which appears from a magic boom box and grants wishes. From that description you may be surprised to learn that it did not get any Oscar nominations.

The film was directed by Paul Michael Glaser, who is best known as Detective Starsky on "Starsky and Hutch."

Nothing is free

The Big Show didn't spare Shaq's feelings as he insisted "you have a better chance of making two free throws in a row than intimidating me." Although O'Neal is generally thought of as one of the best players of the last ten years, he's also known as one of the worst free throw shooters. His high mark for a season came in 2002 when he made 62 percent. The low point came in the 2006-2007 season with Miami when his success rate dropped to 42 percent.

For the record, The Big Show did play basketball at Wichita State and Southern Illinois-Evansville.

Are you Finnish? No, I'm just getting started.

There wasn't much creativity to the sign with two simple words on it, "Ludvig Borga,, but it did give me a trip back to 1993 as I remembered the Finnish fighter who spent roughly a year in the WWF. If you're not familiar with Borga, he had the look of Vladimir Kozlov, but the personality of Vladimir Kozlov. His biggest accomplishment in the WWF was probably ending Tatanka's nearly two-year unbeaten streak.

To his credit, he has also boxed, fought in MMA, went on to perform on Finland's version of American Gladiators, and served in the Finnish Parliament.

Take a number

Kelly Kelly was saluting Washington's Caron Butler with her #3 Wizards jersey. Since it was a custom jersey, I'm sure it was expensive, so perhaps that's why she didn't see much action.

In the audience, although not as attractive for my personal tastes, was a man wearing a #47 Redskins jersey in honor of tight end Chris Cooley. Cooley was not one of the Redskins featured in the front row and referred to by The Miz later in the show.

Sign my yearbook

Apparently Shaq and Hornswoggle are "best friends forever" as O'Neal surprised everyone by claiming that "we went to high school together." O'Neal actually graduated from Robert G. Cole H.S. in Texas, while Hornswoggle grew up (in a loose usage of the phrase) in Wisconsin.

Stand up, Nate. Oh, sorry.

O'Neal further encouraged Hornswoggle with a "C'mon Nate Robinson" line, something that non-basketball fans may have missed. Robinson is currently a free agent, but most recently played with the Knicks. He is listed as 5'7", but is a former winner of the NBA slam dunk contest.

Robinson adopted the nickname "Krypto-Nate" as a response to squaring off against Dwight Howard, who performed a dunk in Superman gear. O'Neal is also a big fan of the superhero and sports a Superman "S" tattoo.

Triple Word Score

Shaq continued his liberal use of tiles in Scrabble as he played against Santino Marella. O'Neal's Scrabble mastery started in a series of commercials for the NBA on ESPN. Some of the words played on the board Monday night included Shaqfu and Boomshaqalaka. Although Michael Cole was teased about it, his "Shaqalicious" would have fit perfectly with O'Neal's playing style.

I see

O'Neal forcing Chavo Guerrero to fight blindfolded may have reminded many viewers of past wrestling stipulations, but for me it brought back an NBA memory. Perhaps Shaq used another past dunk champion as inspiration. In 1992, Cedric Ceballos won the crown in part because of a dunk while blindfolded. (Caldwell's Note: I still have CC's Phoenix Suns jersey in my sports closet. Willing to sell to the highest bidder.)

Woof

Triple H shared his strategy for attacking Randy Orton and Legacy and used a rather harsh example. He explained that "if you cut the tail off the dog...the dog dies."

While I appreciate the visual, it's not entirely accurate as several breeds are known for having their tails cut. The technical term is 'docking' and cocker spaniels are well-known for having their tails cut and surviving.

I'm confused

Just as Jerry Lawler became an honorary member of ZZ Top by overstepping his authority and making a match last week, apparently Triple H is now an NBA center promoting his new TV show. Before the end of the night, he had set up a match for next week's show featuring him taking on Legacy.

I look forward to the match as match as I look forward to seeing Triple H in the lane next winter for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Between LeBron James spilling powder all over the scorer's table and Triple H spitting water into the stands, I feel badly for the clean-up crew. Good luck. We're all counting on you.

The People Have Spoken!

Thanks to everyone who voted in this week's Raw Microscope Poll. By a narrow margin, "looking good, Big Show" defeated Happy Birthday wishes to solid group of wrestling-related names. Before we take a big, bad closer look, Happy Happy to Triple H, Matt Osborne (the man who debuted the Doink character), Shannon Moore, Nick Nemeth, and it's also the day of birth for Karloff Lagarde, a former lucha libre wrestler who died in 2007.

Also, James "You called poorly, but I" Caldwell celebrates the anniversary of his birth on July 27. I'm not saying anyone else does, but he's pretty happy about it.

As for the newly appointed Unified Tag Team Champion, The Big Show debuted his new look on Monday nights as he trimmed the facial hair and went shopping at the Big and Tall shop. At first, the changes seem minor, but you wouldn't know it by reactions from some of the readers.

The facial hair was rarely mentioned, but several people questioned whether or not Show borrowed something from the John Tenta estate, specifically from "The Shark" era.

Taking a closer look, I'm not going to give Big Show any fashion advice, however I am going to give him credit for adjusting his look to coincide with a major program adjustment. Granted, his character hasn't changed, but jumping into a tag team situation, especially immediately moving into a title role, warranted some alterations.

When he walked out for the first time, he wore a three-piece suit which looked very similar to the style usually worn by his new partner Chris Jericho. If you remember back to when Jericho moved from fan favorite to one of the best bad guys of the last five years, one of the subtle changes was wardrobe. I'm certainly not pretending that Show will reach that level, but he looked the part.

The only change I would still like to see is Big Show's music. If they are a tag team, I would like to hear one song. Make it a combination of the two songs if you must, or make a choice about a singular tune.

As for his in-ring wardrobe, I'm not sure what to do with a 400 pound physique. He is typically known for the Andre The Giant special, but he's traded in the black singlet for his current gear. The additional colors are a nice change and although it's not the most flattering piece of clothing, that probably has more to do with the word "Big" than "Show."

Does he have many other options? Big men such as Haystacks Calhoun and Uncle Elmer chose the fashionable overalls, while King Kong Bundy wore something more along the lines of Show's current choice. Yokozuna wore a modified sumo outfit and he was kind enough to defer to the side of full coverage. Rikishi was less modest and chose to share a bit more of his "personality."

One Man Gang went with a full wardrobe of biker gear before converting into a traditional African outfit after changing his name to Akeem. Since both were part of very specific characters, we can't really take much from him.

As for Show's hair, it continues an ongoing process for him as he debuted in WCW with long hair and a full beard. Over time, he cut his hair shorter and would later shave it completely. The beard was downsized to what is commonly misrepresented as a goatee, but is actually a Van Dyck. It was named after 17th century artist Sir Anthony Van Dyck, who styled his facial hair in that matter. Now, Big Show looks in the mirror to see what is known in the follicle world as a goatee, which is the facial hair on the chin without the mustache, often resembling a goat.

And isn't that what we're all shooting for?

Lee Stevens examines Raw and Smackdown with "Under The Microscope." He misses the comments section. E-mail him at GLStevens.Torch@gmail.com

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