Post-Segment 1: Big Show gets drafted over, and Kane gives him a dirty look when he pops out of the back. Michael Cole mentions that RAW also has MVP, so I definitely haven't missed much.
 
Segment 2: Vickie Guerrero is in the office with Chavo Guerrero, and the former is celebrating her rise to ascension as the new permanent GM of RAW. Randy Orton busts in and rants about Vickie making a stipulation tonight where if Triple H wins his match (whatever it is) tonight, then next week on RAW the title won't be on the line (I guess Orton and Trips are facing each other next week too?)
 
Vickie tells him to chillax, especially when Orton says that even though she had tons of power on SmackDown, she so totally doesn't have the same amount of power here. Orton gives no logical backing to this argument, but Vickie goes ahead and adds a random stipulation to "be fair" anyway: if Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase win their match tonight (against whom I'm not so sure yet), the loser of that match has to face all of Generation Douche next week.
 
Um... what? Even if I had seen the show from the beginning, I can guarantee this wouldn't make one damn bit of sense. We're getting outside the realm of even remotely believable stipulations here.
 
For his part, Orton looks confused as well, but then turns and walks away as his (and my) brain fries.
 
Segment 3: John Cena is in the back, and Jack Swagger appears. He preens that he's so totally gonna beat Cena tonight. Cena smiles and shakes his hand since they've never met before, and they go back and forth because Cena calls him "an All-American," but Swagger calls himself "an All-American American." Cena gets it, but says that ridiculous because it would be like him saying "The champ is here here!" or "You can't see me me!" Wait, let me get this straight... Cena is mocking someone else for stupid catchphrases? Glass house, meet stones!

Anyway, Cena then calls Swagger "all-American jackass" for no reason, and which is finally enough to upset Swagger. Cena drops the stupid silliness, says that he has seen that Swagger is good but that he is better. "And tonight you'll get a lesson in respect... respect." Ugh.

Segment 4 [6-Diva Tag Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Michelle McCool, Maryse, & Natalya defeat Mickie James, My Melina, & Kelly Kelly, and SmackDown gets the next pick. Only Michelle and Mickie did anything in this entirely short match. It ended when Mickie tried a top rope, uh, axe handle? Whatever it meant to be, Michelle kicked her out of the air (not even a dropkick, just a straight forward kick to the ribs), and that was it.
 
Post-Segment 4: My Melina has been drafted to SmackDown! Hmm... now they can play on the Melina/Maryse feud they started a few weeks ago (which I forgot even existed until I was reminded by the commentators during the match). And now? My Melina/Gail Kim goodness on a weekly basis! I better liquid-proof my keyboard.
 
Of course, this also means that, currently, both women's champions are on the same show. If this results in unifying the titles, I'm sure as hell not going to complain. Though, I doubt we can be that lucky... we've still got two hours left anyway.
 
Segment 5 [Singles Match, winning brand gets two draft picks]: John Cena defeats Jack Swagger by submission, and RAW gets the next two picks. Match was decent, though Swagger did most of the work. Cena basically did his signature comeback spots, hitting the FU and the SSTF in succession after Swagger tried a running springboard splash in the corner.
 
Post-Segment 5: RAW picks up both Matt Hardy and... wait for it... wait for it...
 
Mr. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. While Cena eyed Matt with a kind of quiet amusement, he and Trips eyed each other with a whole different look of respect or daydreaming or something.
 
And then Cena got jumped by Edge. While Edge scored a few hits. Cena fought him off all right, and Edge scurried to the back.
 
Post-Post-Segment 5: Okay, tonight's main event (I assume) is Batista, Shane McMahon, and Trips vs. Rhodes and DiBiase. If any of the faces win, the one who makes the pinfall will face Randy Orton one-on-one in a non-title match next week on RAW. If either of the heels win, then whichever face was pinned (or submitted) has to face all three members of Generation Douche in a 3-on-1 handicap match next week on RAW.
 
Yeah, that one's a real head-scratcher.
 
Segment 6: Orton is in the locker room, and the rest of GD files in to ask what's on the former's mind aside from fruited beer. Orton just wants to know what the boys' strategy is for tonight, as he doesn't want to fight any of the faces one-on-one next week. The guys basically say, "The faces hate each other, and will get DQed. Oh, and that's what'll happen in the idiotic tag match at Backlash!" And Orton, moron that he is, thinks that's the best strategy ever.
 
Only a fool depends on his enemies losing rather than himself winning. Randy Orton, ladies and gentlemen!
 
Pre-Segment 7: Next match up has draft implications, and it's Santino vs. Khali. Before we get under way, Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendez pop out of the back. Beth says that she discussed this match with Vickie, and now there's more on the line than just a draft pick: if Santino loses, then Santina will be required to be a guest on the Khali Kiss Cam. Poor Santino.
 
Segment 7 [Singles Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Khali (w/ Translator) squashes Santino Marella by pin, and SmackDown gets a pick. See Segment #1.
 
Post-Segment 7: SmackDown picks up CM Punk. So far, Rick's ideas are panning out!
 
Segment 8 [Singles Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Kofi Kingston defeats Miz (w/ John Morrison) by disqualification, and RAW gets a pick. Match was damn good, plenty of drama with good chain wrestling. Most of the drama revolved around Kofi attempting one of his signature moves, and Miz either dodging or countering it. But at each point where you "knew" Kofi was done in, he'd kick out. They even did two teases where Kofi successfully did something, but during the pin, Miz rolled him over and did a pin counter (and once, Kofi re-rolled him over for a counter-counter pin!). It was pretty cool, and it really speaks something of management's impression of Kofi if they're allowing him to do that chain-wrestling, end game-teasing psychology!
 
At the end, after like the third or fourth roll-over pin attempt, Morrison hopped up on the apron and shoved Kofi off. Ref saw this however, which brought the DQ.
 
Post-Segment 8: Miz and Morrison argue as it's announced that the former gets drafted to RAW. Hm, looks like Rick's ideas still are coming true, even though this one isn't for the better. Morrison looks sad, shakes Miz's hand, they hug.
 
Then Miz kicks Morrison in the stomach, does a rising knee lift, and hits his finisher. For some reason, he gets cheered for this. Well, I guess there would be no reason to boo him, huh?
 
Segment 9 [15-Man (3 teams of 5) Battle Royal, winning brand gets two draft picks]: Edge outlasts Big Show et al, and SmackDown gets two picks. Match was all right for a battle royal, with the final three being Show, Edge, and Mark Henry. There was actually a split-second of drama with Show and Mark, with Show actually picking him up and bringing him over the top rope, though Mark held onto the top rope as he balanced on the apron. Still, he fell victim to the knockout punch, sending him to the floor.
 
The final matchup, then, was Edge and Show, which had the storyline backing it... although that matchup lasted all of five seconds, when Show charged Edge and Edge just dropped to the mat, taking the top rope with him, making Show eliminate himself.
 
Post-Segment 9: Kane and Chris Jericho are drafted over to SD. The commentators mention that Jericho and Edge are friends, and they also mention that they're both Canadian, making me think of Rick's idea of a Canadian stable. Either way, having two of the best mic workers in the business together has all kinds of fun ideas... and I'm stoked to see Jericho on SD, as he basically hit a storyline wall over on RAW.
 
Segment 10 [Singles Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Christian defeats Shelton Benjamin by pin, and ECW gets a pick. Let me start by saying that this match makes me extremely bias. There is no secret I love the workrate of both these guys, and I feel they're both undervalued by WWE.
 
That said, this match was good... not great, because it was a bit short. But I would seriously wet my pants if they ever went at each other for 20 minutes at a PPV, because everything these guys did in these few minutes was absolutely silky smooth. Like Kofi/Miz, there was plenty of drama just in the counter and re-counter nature of practically every spot.
 
The end game especially was slick... It started with Christian trying the Impaler DDT, and SB countering it into an Electric Chair attempt. Christian jumped off that and ate a backbreaker, then kicked out of a pin at two. As both got up, SB tried shoving Christian in the corner. Christian countered and pushed SB into the corner. Christian then tried a monkey flip, but SB landed on his feet. Christian charged, SB elbowed him back into the corner. SB charged, Christian dodged, then successfully hit the Impaler. Damn fine finish to a damn fine match. God I hope these two fight more in the future.
 
Post-Segment 10: Vladimir Kozlov goes to ECW. Huh. Matt Striker: "His favorite drink is a Molotov cocktail!" Bwa ha ha ha!
 
Segment 11: Trips is in the locker room, and Shane walks in. Small talk quickly turns to Trips telling Shane to stand down to make sure he makes a pin to face Orton one-on-one next week. Batista appears and Trips, essentially, gives the same warning. Bats and Shane file out, giving Trips a bit of a stink eye yet agreeing to his request.
 
Segment 12 [Singles Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Matt Hardy defeats CM Punk by disqualification, and RAW gets a pick. Holy crap, what's with the good matches tonight? Aside from one spot, nothing was exceptionally special here, but everything was even silkier than Christian/SB. Plus, these two had their speeds up a notch, and their spots were just a tad stiffer to me. Very cool.
 
Early on was a simple, inventive spot that looked like it could hurt like hell. Matt whipped Punk to the corner, where Punk grabbed the top rope in an effort to reverse-leap frog a charging Matt. Matt scouted it though, and grabbed Punk's legs as he held onto the top rope. This is nothing new: we've seen this happen to Rey Mysterio time and time again, when Rey then does a headscissors to setup a 619. But rather than that happening, Matt jerked Punk back and intentionally dropped to his ass. This had the effect of giving Punk a rather stiff sit-down facebuster, one where it looked like Punk's body folded in half the wrong the way. After a pin, the ref held up the Single Fist of Relative Healthiness, but good lord did that look like it would sting.
 
At the end, Matt managed to do a triple-reversey spot to hit the Side Effect. This summoned Jeff Hardy from the back, who pummeled Matt and climbed the top rope. Matt powdered out before Jeff could even attempt his Swanton Bomb, much to the boos of the crowd. Either way, the assault earned Matt a DQ win, and RAW gets the pick.
 
Post-Segment 12: It's Maryse! Well, that certainly solves the women's title issue, doesn't it? 
 
Segment 13 [Singles Match, winning brand gets a draft pick]: Chris Jericho defeats Tommy Dreamer by pin, and SmackDown gets a pick. Another good match, with more back-and-forth goodness. Match ended when Dreamer tried a middle rope axe handle or something, which Jericho countered into a Codebreaker.
 
Post-Segment 13: Proving once again that WWE reads Online Onslaught every day, Rey Mysterio (sans the ice blue contacts for once) heads over to SD.
 
Segment 14 [3-on-2 Handicap Match, Tag Rules, with match implications for next week]: Triple H, Batista, & Shane McMahon defeat Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes by pin; Trips will face Randy Orton one-on-one next week but not for the title. Match was all right but less exciting than the others tonight. Trips was FIP, Bats was the Savior. But craziness ensued, with the faces breaking up each other's pins. Shane broke up Bats's pin, and Bats countered by shoving him into the corner. Trips at this point tagged himself back in, and hit the Pedigree on DiBiase. Shane attacked Bats in retribution for the shove, and they tumbled out of the ring. Cody was down at this point, and Trips covered up DiBiase before Shane could get in and break it up. It was unique, that's for damn sure.
 
Post-Segment 14: After the match, the faces gathered in the ring, apparently with no hard feelings. Orton then appears on the stage, and spends the rest of the show's air time staring at Triple H, who stares back. Compelling television there, buddy.
 
Draft Summary
 
RAW gains: MVP (and the US Championship), Big Show, Matt Hardy, Triple H (and the WWE Championship), Miz, and Maryse (and the Divas' Championship).
 
SmackDown gains: Melina (and the Women's Championship), CM Punk, Kane, Chris Jericho, and Rey Mysterio (and the Intercontinental Championship).
 
ECW gains: Vladimir Kozlov.
 
Recommendation: Must-watch. While the matches were certainly not keepers, I can't remember the last time the majority of matches on RAW were actually interesting. Even Dreamer/Jericho, a match that had a rather foregone conclusion, turned out to be somewhat dramatic. Kofi/Miz showed some magic, and Christian/SB (two guys who could make anyone look like a frickin' all star) showed some awesome potential. Definitely worth a watch.
 
I really like what they've done with the women's titles, and that's not my biological urges talking. While there is no doubt that Mickie James can actually wrestle, it's better for the whole women's division to make Gail Kim an actual, you know, competitor. While I would have preferred to see Gail move to RAW, moving the only women's title that has any credibility whatsoever to SmackDown essentially has the same net effect. The only regret I've got is that Gail has apparently abandoned her submission-happy offense that I absolutely loved back before her TNA days, and I think with Melina's obvious flexibility, it would have made Gail look like a complete technical badass like she did against Stacy Keibler. Regardless, I hope this gives the crowd reason to give a shit about the women again aside from T&A.
 
The rest of the draft movements, well, Rick already gave his analysis on them with his column yesterday, so I won't bother repeating that. Suffice to say, the roster shifts are compelling, and we'll hopefully see some decent stories come about soon. If Rick or Firewoman doesn't beat me to it, I'll also report the supplemental draft picks on my next recap. Till then, guys!