Welcome to WWI's ongoing coverage of Monday Night Raw. This week Raw is live from the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington, and will be the first Raw from Seattle in nearly two years.

Welcome to Mike Rickard who will be tag-teaming with me this evening!

Out first was Chris Jericho, looking dapper in a three-piece suit and a fat lip from last night's battle for the title. He'd obviously been to hell and back to keep the title, and the crowd told him he sucked. How rude!

Jericho said he was filling in for Mike Adamle, the General Manager, who'd been called away by Shane and Steph for a meeting. Of all the times during the week to meet with the GM, why meet during the show? Just asking.

Jericho got back to the topic of Shawn Michaels, and Jericho opened his mouth to show the tooth that HBK had knocked out last night.

Jericho said he was through with HBK and had nothing left to prove to him. If HBK wanted action tonight, it would be a no DQ match with Lance Cade.

Batista's music started and the crowd went nuts. He'd earned the right to be the Number One Contender last night at No Mercy. Batista congratulated Jericho, then told him to "pick the number." Jericho was puzzled, and Batista explained that he was asking him to pick the number of days til he gets his title shot.

Jericho ordered Batista to get out of his ring. "Mess with the bull, you get the horn," Batista demonstrated by giving the acting GM a spinebuster.

(Commercial break)

During the break, acting GM Jericho had arranged for Batista to re-earn his Number One Contendership in a match with JBL, with Jericho as special guest referee. That puts me in mind of a theme song: "No Chance in Hell."

Seated at ringside on his throne was King William Regal with his Lady Leyla.

Santino said that in an effort to become more Americanized, he'd adopted a new favorite NBA team, the Oklahoma Thunder. Michael Cole explained the significance of the NBA pick, saying that the team had been Seattle's until they'd packed up in the dark of night and moved to Oklahoma.

On a side note, while I was waiting for Raw to come on, I dialed by "Dancing with the Stars," and one of the judges (whose name I didn't catch) was doing a perfect Santino Marella imitation. Or maybe that's the way he really talks.

Good action, which resulted in a win for Glamorella when the ref wasn't looking. That angered Noble, who came after Santino. Before all was said the done, it also involved a ballistic King William.

Todd Grisham asked HBK about the match the acting GM had made for Michaels vs. Lance Cade. Needless to say, he didn't like it much.

(Commercial break)

Just when things were looking lopsided for Kofi, his buddy CM Punk came out to lend some moral support to Kingston.

Russian Leg Sweep by Teddy to take the win. Even with CM Punk to watch Kofi's back, it was no match for all the heels at ringside.

(Commercial break)

Jericho was in his temporary office speaking with Randy Orton. Jericho recalled how great Orton once was and shared a plan for tonight.

John Cena Injury Update: Batista recalled his SummerSlam match with John Cena and how Cena had injured his neck. Even with the injury, however, he'd kicked out. Since then, Cena had had surgery and the surgeon expects nerve damage to be minimal and a return in 3-4 months.

Dolph Ziggler introduced himself to Kane and Mark Henry as they headed to the ring. Their return greeting was chilly, to say the least.

(Commercial break)

Hardy and Mysterio worked beautifully together to take on their over-sized opponents.

(Commercial break)

During the break, Rey and Matt continued to work over Henry's leg, which had been injured last night.

Kane tagged in and began to destroy Rey, his favorite pass time. Hot tag to Matt Hardy and although it looked like Rey and Matt had the upper hand, Kane choke slammed Hardy and pinned him for the win. Kane and Rey exchanged menacing looks after the match. Their feud is already on the road to the next pay-per-view.

(Commercial break)

Tonight's 24/7 Classic Moment was from 1998 when Kane (with long, shaggy hair and a his mask) tombstoned Pete Rose. Ah, those were the days.

Cade started out with a big clothesline to his former mentor, then he went under the ring for a table. Cade set up the table while HBK tired to stand up. Nonetheless, Cade sent him through the table (which sounded like it was made of cardboard). When Cade picked up a folding chair, HBK began to waffle him with it. After about a dozen chair shots, HBK easily pinned Cade for the win.

HBK's music played, but he stood over Cade, imagining him to be Jericho, whereupon he picked up the chair and began to pound Cade with it some more.

(Commercial break)

Last week's debut of Smackdown on MyNetworkTV was the highest rated show in the history of that network. (Although that's not saying much.)

Jerry Lawler was in the ring, begging fans to use their cell phones to pick Santino Marella's oppoent at Cyber Sunday: Roddy Piper, Golddust (What?), or the Honky Tonk Man.

Lillian was in the ring to introduce the next match. Suddenly the Great Khali came out, upset about something that was said on the Johnny Knoxville Show. Is that one of the shows Smackdown beat on MyNetworkTV?

Khali had a message for Knoxville: MbbbbbllllMbbbbbllllMbbbbbllll.

Knoxville had wanted to know the size of Khali's, err, Little Khali. If Khali pulls Knoxville limb from limb, it will be his own fault. Jackass.

Khali's mouthpiece translated. It seems that Khali had invited Knoxville to Raw next week. And to show that Khali had a "sense of fun," Khali hosted the Kiss Kam, with Kahli giving a terrified Lillian a kiss. "He'll call you," Khali's translator said. The music accompanying the Kiss Kam was a wee bit sleazy, to set the mood, I guess.

(Commercial break)

Miz and Morrison had joined Lawler and Cole at the announce table.

Gillian Hall was "singing" but was interrupted by Kelly Kelly. Thank goodness.

Cryme Tyme followed Kelly Kelly out, and took seats at the announce table, as well.

There was a match in the ring, although nobody was paying any attention to it. M&M and Cryme Tyme bickered non-stop at the top of their lungs, with one even telling another that he needed a mansiere. At least Miz and Morrison have dropped their stupid "impersonations" of Cryme Tyme's fathers.

Kelly Kelly got the win, although I'm not sure anyone noticed.

(Commercial break)

More coverage of Cena's surgery: On the day of his surgery, he'd left the hospital with a couple of band aids on his neck and showed up at the arena to say hello to the guys. No one could believe his superpowers.

JBL came out for his match with Batista. As Lillian started to announce the participants for the match, Jericho kept interrupting her with special guest this-and-thats. Regal would be the special guest time keeper and Orton would be the special guest commentator.

(Commercial break)

The deck is certainly stacked against Batista. Maybe he shouldn't have leveled the acting GM earlier in the show.

Batista had JBL in a Figure Four that was overruled by Jericho the ref. Fast counts by the "ref" when JBL looked like a potential winner. In other words, it was fixed.

While Jericho admonished JBL on the outside, timekeeper Regal dashed to the ring to beat on Batista like he was the ring bell.

Double spear by Batista on both JBL and Jericho. That presented a problem, as there was no one to make the count. All looked lost, but Mike Adamle returned in the nick of time with a replacement referee, who counted 1-2-3 for Batista's pin on JBL.

Adamle said he'd been urged by Shane and Steph to shake things up, so at Cyber Sunday it will be Jericho vs. Batista, and the WWE Universe will decide who will be the special guest ref: Orton, HBK, or Stone Cold Steve Austin. (Hmmmm, let's see…Austin?)

Well, it looks like we're well on our way to Cyber Sunday.

Thanks for reading and see ya next week.