* * *

Be sure to check back after Raw for a very special edition of James Guttman's "Raw Insanity." This one is ripped right from the headlines.

* * *

First, I'd like to thank Mike Rickard, Aaron Wood and the Canadian Bulldog for filling in for me for the past few Monday nights. Thanks so much, guys!!! :-)

* * *

Welcome to WWI's ongoing coverage of Raw, live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Hopefully WWE will display better manners than they did during the recent Monday Night Raw from Calgary. After all, it's not always necessary to insult a host country.

Tonight's Guest Host will be Toronto's own Trish Stratus, one of WWE's favorite and most talented divas -- seven-time Women's Champ and Diva of the Decade.

And Dave Batista will be on hand to make a "career-altering" announcement. (Maybe they'll make him Raw's permanent General Manager while he's convalescing.)

* * *

The show opened with clips of last night's "Breaking Point" match between Randy Orton and John Cena. As luck would have it, Randy Orton was the one who reached his "breaking point" and submitted.

Lillian then introduced Batista, who got into the ring and thanked everyone at the arena and the fans watching at home. He said it had been a rough year for him with several injuries, and with that, he retired.

While the audience was still digesting that bit of news, Randy Orton came out and took credit for the retirement. Figures.

That response amused Batista and he began to chuckle. Batista said he liked the predictability of Orton, plus he knew something Orton didn't know. Batista had suckered Orton down to the ring, then made short work of him.  Revenge is sweet.

Batista explained that he wasn't retiring after all. He was going to Smackdown. Guest host Trish had graciously granted Batista a last match on Raw tonight -- with Orton, no holds barred.

(Commercial break)

Lillian introduced Guest Host Trish Stratus, now a brunette. She said she thought she'd make a pretty good host tonight since she was in her element and had already made the Batista/Orton match. At the next PPV, she thought Orton vs. Cena in a Hell in a Cell Rematch would be a good idea. The crowd agreed.

Primo and The Miz started things off, but not before Miz knocked Kofi off the apron. Swagger tagged in and seemed to be trying to pull Primo's arms out of their sockets. Kofi tagged in and nearly pinned Swagger. Meanwhile, The Miz disappeared up the ramp with Kofi's U.S. Championship Belt.

(Commercial break)

Mickie James, Diva Champ, joined the announcers on commentary.

These ladies weren't messing around--their moves looked like they hurt. Gail took an especially awkward landing on her back from the top rope, giving Alicia a chance to make the winning pin.

(Commercial break)

Trish was in her office lighting decorative candles when Beth Phoenix barged in and wanted to know why she hadn't been included among the contenders for the Diva Title. Chris Jericho soon joined them and complained that Trish had made a comment about him and recent guest host, Bob Barker. Trish observed that there seemed to be a bit of a flirtation between Jericho and the Bethazon. Hmmm. Beth taunted Trish about retiring when new competition came along, and Jericho added that he would take on Bob Barker any time, any place.

Trish made another match for tonight--a tag team match between Jericho/Phoenix and Trish and a partner to be named later.

(Commercial break)

Legacy came out and Cody did a very good imitation of the "are you ready" DX palaver. He said it was the dawning of a new era and reminded the crowd that Legacy had made DX tap out last night at the PPV, something no one else had been able to do. Teddy said they will not stop until they have run DX out of Raw. Also, Cody clarified that Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase are now known as the fathers of Legacy, rather than calling Cody and Teddy the sons of those legends.

DiBiase jumped right in with a flurry of punches to Michaels, eventually dumping him out of the ring. Returning to the ring, DiBiase was in control and looked very good, until Michaels put him in a Figure Four. Teddy escaped and began to work on Michaels' injured eye from last night. Triple H was chomping his gum at ringside and looking concerned. That distracted Teddy, who got a couple of inverted atomic drops from Michaels. A wobbly Michaels came off the top rope and connected with DiBiase. HBK began to tune up for a super kick, when a brawl broke out among Legacy and DX. The action spilled into the crowd. Triple H began pummel Rhodes, and DiBiase and HBK continued their battle into the crowd.

(Commercial break)

The match ended in a DQ, but the battle raged on. However, since the brawl managed to destroy the camera, cameraman and the monitors, the show was conveniently "off the air" during the commercial.

Los Borrequas 2009 came down to the ring and seemed to think they were going to have an easy time with little Hornswoggle, but he spit green (of course) apple in the face Chavo. Not much to this match, except to put over a Leprechaun. Borne looked fabulous, as always.

As Hornswoggle and Borne headed up the ramp, Chavo told Hornswoggle that he gave up and Hornswoggle had the win.  (I hope that means this feud is over.)

(Commercial break)

Josh Matthews welcomed the new WWE Champion, John Cena, who seemed to get a mixed reaction from the crowd. He had promised not to quit at Breaking Point and pointed out that Orton had quit, even though he said he never would. Words are cheap. At their Hell in a Cell rematch, fans would see a more intense side of Cena and Orton will consider himself lucky to get out of the Cell alive.

(Commercial break)

As the match got started, it looked like Trish might have a bit of ring rust. Guess wrestling is like riding a bike, though, since it all seemed to come back rather quickly as Trish lit into the Bethazon. It was a short, short match, which was won via DQ by Trish and MVP, per the announcer.

But Trish wasn't having any of that, and wanted to continue since it was her show and her country. And since Mark Henry and Big Show had come down to the ring, she wanted to add them to the match.

(Commercial break)

Beth was in a snit and picked a fight with MVP, who resisted the urge to pie face her. MVP and Jericho squared off and in the commotion, Beth tried to pin Trish. Not gonna happen. It was Trish who gave Beth a dose of Stratusfaction and took the win. Trish celebrated with Mark Henry and MVP in the ring as the crowd enjoyed the win by a fan favorite.

(Commercial break)

Cedric the Entertainer will be next week's Guest Host. Okey, dokey.

It's awesome having Batista back in the ring. The crowd seemed to think so, too, as he got a huge pop.

Orton went right for a folding chair. Of course. Orton began to work over Batista, but Batista made a comeback and slammed Orton into the announce booth, the ring post, the stairs…you get the picture. Randy decided that discretion was the better part of valor and headed up the ramp. Then came the first notes of Cena's theme, and he directed Orton back to the ring. Batista was after vengeance and pinned Randy Orton following a Batista Bomb.

Wow, this show was better than your average bear--very enjoyable.

That said, there seemed to be an extraordinary number of commercials tonight.  Maybe it's time to try another one of those commercial-free versions of Raw.