Raw Reax: Nov. 2, 2009

You know you're in trouble when the most amusing part of a show is Chris Masters flexing his pectoral muscles to Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train."

I exaggerate a bit. We saw some nice development between Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton. We also got a pretty neat insight into Big Show and Chris Jericho at the end of the show. And a fairly decent match between Evan Bourne and The Miz at the beginning.

It wasn't the most stellar of Raws, but it wasn't a total waste of time. I'd have thought with going up against the World Series, we'd have gotten something more substantial, but what can one do.

I do have two notes to get off my chest.

When WWE decided to make John Cena champion for the seventh time, did they give any thought to his first major feud? Yes, he's booked in a Triple Threat match with D-Generation X at Survivor Series, but Shawn Michaels and Triple H seem more interested in Jerishow than they do Cena.

If you take those four players out of the mix, who, but Randy Orton, is a credible threat to the champ? I bring this up because it seems like the creators wanted Cena to finally come out on top after his long program with Orton, and then said "oops, what do we do now?:

And as far as guest hosts go, does anyone think the concept needs a bit of tweaking. Now, I understand that WWE wants to get as many high-profile celebrities as possible on the show, so they're probably giving guests a wide berth and the ability to do as much or as little as they'd like.

Ozzy Osbourne's been a muttering fool, but a lovable one, for some time so I guess he gets a pass. But with other guests it's not altogether clear what their role is. Are they general manager or not? Do they get involved backstage or don't they?

In a perfect world, I'd like to see some consistency with the role, but if this is indeed a long-term change, I guess we're in the early stages and its developing.

With that said, Ozzy Osbourne's appearance last night was pretty disappointing. No musical performance, barely any involvement in the show, and a lame talent segment, where even Santino bombed.

And finally, I wonder if WWE has gotten used to only having three weeks to promote a pay-per-view and the extra week before Survivor Series has thrown creative for a loop. Just an observation.

Next week we get Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton as guest host. At the risk of alienating both boxing fans and British readers, this is the first guest hosts of whom I have no idea who he is. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.