This week, fans were treated to a below-average showing of RAW with no real major changes or swerves on the menu heading into Cyber Sunday. There were lots of new, second generation stars put over and several segments that ate up a nice chunk of time. And it ;ooks like Jericho will probably make his appearance at Cyber Sunday and not on RAW, as it had been teased for several weeks now. Way to throw the fans a frickin' bone here. In other news, it looks like Candice Michelle was legitimately injured (fo' realz, yo!) after taking a sick looking fall in her match against Beth Phoenix

The show starts with Mr. Kennedy already in the ring in a pitch-black arena when he calls for the microphone. Kennedy has an odd facial tan going on. His forehead is a man-tan shade of Hulk Hogan brown, but a large patch across his eyes, nose, and chin are considerably lighter. Kennedy cuts a pretty good promo deriding his competition for a shot at Orton at Cyber Sunday, making like Janet Jackson and asking what Shawn Michaels has done for him lately and compares Jeff Hardy to Hilary Clinton on the basis of their pretty blonde hair. I'm not sure where Hardy stands on universal healthcare and the war in Iraq, though.

Jeff Hardy calls to Kennedy from the crowd and without the camera on him, I could have sworn it was the Honky Tonk Man. I actually wondered out loud to myself, "Honky!? What the hell is Lawler's cousin doing on the show?!" Turns out, it was just Jeff Hardy.

Kennedy continues with promo goodness before he and Hardy go at it in the middle of the ring. Orton runs in and Hardy begins pummeling him. Kennedy holds Hardy down as Orton reins down heavy blows to his head. Shawn Michaels makes a run-in wearing the most hideous pair of tights ever that makes it looks like he's wearing Depends over his assless chaps and lays the beat down on Orton before Orton flees. Hardy and Kennedy face off and stare one another down before the first commercial break of the night.

6-Person Mixed Tag Team Match
London & Kendrick w/ Mickie James vs. Cade & Murdoch w/ Melina
London and Cade start off. London takes over Cade with a huge armdrag before Kendrick is tagged in. Kendrick climbs the top rope as London holds Murdoch's arm. Mickie climbs to the top rope and comes down before mixing it up with Melina. Mickie delivers a swift boot to Melina taking her down.

Cade works over Kendrick before tagging in Murdoch who gains a nearfall. Cade is tagged in and Kendrick gets a shot in before Cade brings him back down. Kendrick battles back with a vicious kick to the back of Cade's head. Murdoch, who looks like he's been dropping a good weight and hitting the gym, gets nailed with a spinning heel kick courtesy of London. Mickie and Melina go at it. Mickie runs interference for her team, however, Murdoch, in an unexpected moment of chivalry pushes Mickie out of the way of a clothesline headed right for her by Lance Cade. Murdoch eats Cade-flavored boot and hits the canvas as London & Kendrick capitalize with a pin. A stunned Mickie thanks Murdoch from the Titan Tron ramp.

This match was a bit of a disappointment for me. It seemed somewhat rushed and not what it could have been. It seems like its sole purpose is to set up yet another "Beauty and the Beast" angle with Mickie James and Trevor Murdoch. It could be interesting seeing as though Mickie hasn't been given a well-deserved push for some time and Murdoch has been growing on me and also is probably going to be rewarded for really improving his physical appearance with a storyline. This might be good. However, the match, in spite of my madd love for London/Kendrick (Bill & Ted), wasn't all it could have been.

Then we're whisked away to the magical backstage area where all the dirt happens. Shawn Michaels is talking with his tag team partner in tonight's main event, Jeff Hardy. Turns out, it's going to be Michaels and Hardy vs. Orton and Kennedy. Immediately, there's dissention in the ranks as Michaels states why he should be on the Cyber Sunday card and Hardy says he wouldn't do anything Shawn wouldn't do to get on it and get a shot at the belt.

Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes, that polite, young gentleman, is reading the new edition of WWE Magazine while Charlie Haas and his newly-talkative partner, "The Natural" Shelton Benjamin bag on the Littlest Rhodes, harping on his many losses to Hardcore Holly and insinuating Benjamin will beat Rhodes ass in the ring tonight. (Benjamin has gotten much better with his promos. Looks like quality time with Mama did him some good!) Rhodes shoots back, telling Benjamin that unlike Hardcore Holly, Holly doesn't look like a tool as a blonde and that he actually respects Holly. Benjamin delivers a brutal blow, saying that after he beats him tonight, he can dye his hair blonde and become "Thinner, less, attractive, certainly less talented version of your old man." In a painful display of whiteness, Haas gets in Rhodes' face and drops the bomb…"Aww, snap!" Can we have a telethon to buy Charlie Haas some soul? Please?

Elsewhere backstage, Coach tries to get Hornswoggle killed by persuading Regal into booking a match pitting Mini McMahon against Umaga. (Umanga?) This could either be really good (purely for comedic reasons) or really terrible and borderline depressing. Kind of like my paycheck.

Cody Rhodes vs. Shelton Benjamin
Shelton Benjamin starts off with a brutal kick to Rhodes ribs. He works over Rhodes leg on the canvas with a corkscrew circle around Rhodes leg and knee applying pressure on the limb. He lifts him up again wishboning his leg behind him and dropping Rhodes' knee against his own. Ouch. Rhodes gets it together enough to counter Shelton and hits a bulldog on Benjamin. Haas tries to get Rhodes attention and Benjamin capitalizes. Rhodes manages to take down Benjamin on a botched roll-up and scores the pinfall.

As Haas and Benjamin knock the snot out of Rhodes in the middle of the ring, Hardcore Holly (with a black eye) comes in to help out L'il Dusty. After chasing off Haas and Benjamin, in a scene straight out of Bambi, the old buck nods his approval at the little deer before Hardcore Holly heads to the back of the forest…errr…locker room.

This was a pretty decent match. Rhodes is improving and shows a lot of promise and a lot of mannerisms of his father. He still needs some work on his promos before he's in the same ballpark as Dusty and Goldust, but not bad. Shelton Benjamin, as always, is so underrated it isn't even funny. As much as I like Rhodes, it pains me to see Benjamin jobbing out to everyone he faces in singles competition.

In a weird way, I'm kind of liking the grizzled Hardcore Holly softening up and taking Bambi Rhodes under his wing. His run-in got probably one of the biggest pops from the crowd I've ever heard from Holly, so this might end up win-win for everyone involved.

D. H. Smith vs. Carlito
Up next, the son of the late British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith, D.H Smith dedicates his first match tonight to his father, squaring off against another second generation wrestler, Carlito. On a night where established stars are jobbing out to newcomer, second-gen wrestlers, you kind of know where this is headed right out of the bag.

Smith delivers some strong power moves, snapping Carlito backwards in a pinfall attempt. Carlito nails him with a springboard dropkick followed by some heavy duty chest chops. Scoop slam by Carlito. Smith eats boot and clothesline by Carlito with another near pinfall. Smith connects with several dropkicks before executing a Northern Lights Suplex on Carlito for a nearfall. Carlito lands the elbow and goes for another nearfall. Smith executes a nicely-done running powerslam a la Bulldog and a scores pin and his first win on Carlito.

You could have seen this finish a block away, particularly with an emotionally charged angle like Smith having to win it for his Dad. Jim Ross really played that aspect of the match up when calling the bout. Carlito looked better than usual out there, but there wasn't anything utterly fabulous about the match, more so, it was to protect an up-and-comer who is still likely a little green.

Up next is an uncomfortable promo between Candice Michelle and the Glamazon Beth Phoenix that features the two women staring down kind of like the touching moment between Heidenreich and Snitsky oh-so-long ago.

Following the commercial break are fond memories of Hornswoggle Hijinx, culminating in last week's Wile E. Coyote-ing of Coach with some Acme brand explosives.

Which brings us to the next match….Umaga vs. Hornswoggle
Umaga has new facepaint and he's rockin' a slightly new hairstyle with his braids undone. Lillian Garcia announces Umaga's wee opponent with a grimace in her voice, anticipating the thumping to come. Hornswoggle nearly hesitantly from underneath the ring. He runs from the ring to the back as Triple H (and his brand new t-shirt!) enters to a tremendous pop from the crowd.

HHH and Umaga trade blows. Umaga shoves the ref out of the way and The H takes him down to the canvas. It takes four refs to pry the men apart, just barely. Umaga runs at Hunter as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Mike Rotundo, Tony Garrea, and a few other old school guys try to break it up several more times before HHH leaps off the ring stairs and clobbers Umaga. There's about 15 men between the two of them and they're still wailing away on one another. I could have sworn I saw Barry Wyndham in the mix, too.

Umaga is tearing it up backstage with his facepaint melted off and surrounded by a ton of referees. He's pissed. And so was I after seeing how much time that relatively pointless segment ate up. That was quality time I could have spent in the bathroom.

Diva Search Drek
The crowd begins booing as Todd Grisham hypes the three remaining Diva Search contestants. He announces the remaining contestants, one of which is to be eliminated tonight. There's Broke, a token blonde who is almost wearing pants! Eve is the requisite brunette who dances like she just hopped off the pole. Lena, our resident Asian or Polynesian chick, pulls her leg behind her head in a feeble attempt to entertain the crowd. Grish announces that Lena is headed home, for those of you who actually care.

More time is wasted with the two remaining girls giving 30 second promos (which was still too long a time to relinquish a microphone to these girls). Brooke's promo is the verbal equivalent of a colonoscopy with high-pitched rambling, garbling and stumbling over her words as she says that if the fans vote for her, she'll wear cute outfits and entertain them "All for you! All for the fans" An image of the nanny from the Omen snapped into my head, screeching "It's all for you, Damian! It's all for you!" They should find the nanny from that film and bring her on as a Diva contestant instead considering Brooke gave the Worst. Promo. Ever. Eve's promo doesn't suck as hard as Brooke's but it comes close. She's at least got some hot stripper moves to save her can and will probably win next week. Ugh. To bum a phrase from Ludacris, "You hoes are horrible! Horrendous! On taxes, y'all writin' off hoes as the business!" And I can't believe I wrote that much about the Diva Search. This really must have been a slow night.

Elsewhere, Orton and Kennedy share a tender moment backstage preparing their psychology. Kennedy's in it to win it, but he's down with helping Orton tonight. Aww.

Santino Marella vs. Ron Simmons
Santino Marella with Maria comes out pimping the 500th Issue of WWE Magazine. Jilted because Marvelous Marella is not mentioned in the ish although Mantaur is (on page 24), before Maria can flip to the page, the Y2J "Save Us" promo reel is shown on the Titan Tron. Marella thinks it's Stone Cold behind the promo and tells him that he will open the can of whoop ass on Austin. Marella, while sub-par as a wrestler, is still pure comic gold.

Ron Simmons makes his entrance and Marella kicks him in the leg like five times. Simmons wings Marella to the ropes. Santino takes the former Farooq down and wails him down. Santino makes with the Randy Orton 5-Minute Chinlock. Simmons gains to his feet and Santino boots him in his **ahem** Acolytes, ending the match via DQ.

That wasn't even a match. Simmons still picked up the win, however, I think this one was just meant as fodder to throw Santino out there to entertain on the mike.

2 out of 3 Falls Diva Match for the Women's Title
Candice Michelle vs. Women's Champion Beth Phoenix
The two women lock up and Phoenix backs Candice into the corner where the Champ works her over with a powerful forearm. Candice hops the ropes and turns the tide with a top rope hurracurrana. Phoenix chokeslams Candice to the canvas before pinning her in the first fall.

After the commercial break, Phoenix has Candice's legs in a vice hold after locking in her legs in a Boston crab from the top rope earlier on. Candice gets out of it and the two women trade punches. Flying clotheslines from Candice are followed by a dropkick and a nearfall. Candice's inside cradle doesn't do the job, so instead, she climbs to the top rope and Phoenix shakes the rope and Candice does one hell of a face plant that looks really painful, and apparently knocks her out cold. The fall did not look good. Phoenix then drags Candice to the center of the ring like a ragdoll and pins her, winning 2 out of 3 falls before heading to the back.

As the camera shows a shot of a "Randy Orton is a filthy cheater" sign in the crowd, Candice eventually sits up after the refs and doctor come down and she moves around a little from a seated position. She lays back down so the EMTs can immobilize her and take her out on a stretcher as a precaution.

As it turns out, Candice really did break her clavicle and will be out of action for 4 to 6 weeks. I'm sure Beth Phoenix dragging her right after the fall by both of her arms didn't help matters, either. Sheesh. Not too smart a move, even if it was to finish the match.

Up next is a commercial for the Money In the Bank Ladder Match Playset! Now at Toys R' Us! I think I'll ask for that for Christmas. No. Really. I really will. I'm a dork like that.

And finally, in the main event,
Shawn Michaels & (I.C. Champ) Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton (WWE Champ) & Mr. Kennedy
Shawn Michaels comes out with his awful tights to a strong reaction from the crowd. He makes the DX sign from the top of the ropes. Jeff Hardy skips out to his music. King wonders aloud why it sounds like a rock concert whenever Hardy comes out. Hmmm… Rock concert? The Rockers? I wonder if there's some connection here?

Kennedy instantly wails away on HBK before Shawn and his partner work him over. Hardy dives with an elbow from the ropes onto Kennedy before running at him in the corner. Kennedy dodges and Jeff sails right into the turnbuckle. Orton is tagged in and delivers hard blows to Hardy's head. Jeff flies over Orton's head at the turnbuckles and Orton clotheslines him backward. Kennedy is tagged in again, as is Michaels who executes an inverted atomic drop on Kennedy. Orton distracts Shawn and Kennedy regains control. He locks HBK in an armbar before Shawn battles back, only to be met with two hardcore backbreakers in succession. Michaels kicks out.

Orton is tagged back in with Michaels seemingly softened up. Kennedy tags himself in again and tackles HBK with a series of powerful blows. Randy Orton's patented 5-Minute Headlock ensues before he then takes one of Michaels' Insiguri kicks the head. Hardy makes with his own kicks, landing a Mule Kick on Kennedy before Orton breaks it up. HBK dives off the top rope and onto Orton. Hardy goes to the top rope for the Whisper in the Wind to Kennedy. Afterward, Hardy dicks around and takes his shirt off which enables Kennedy to go in for the attack. Hardy manages to climb to the top and lands the Senton Bomb, taking out Kennedy with a clean pin and scoring the win for his team.

Orton sneaks up behind Hardy and HBK comes in at the nick of time and nails Orton in the face with the Superkick for the third time in 3 weeks. Orton is down on the mat as the credits roll and Shawn talks trash Stone Cold-style to a floored Orton.

It wasn't a bad match and I liked seeing Michaels and Hardy team up together. In some ways, Jeff Hardy's style has evolved towards something of a young Shawn Michaels. It also looks like the Hardy Boy is due for a push, great considering he's put on consistently good matches for sometime and is fairly over with the crowd. It's refreshing to see some new faces enter the title race. Kennedy and Orton teamed well together, however, Orton seemed to be M.I.A. during the match.

Overall, this wasn't too hot of an episode of RAW. Generally, shows leading up to a Sunday PPV usually aren't. Nevertheless, considering the declining ratings, I would have expected more. Most of the matches were too quick and lackluster with not enough meat on their bones. At least they were an attempt at forwarding or generating new storylines.

Next week, we'll see what happens in the aftermath of Cyber Sunday.