Monday Night RAW came to us live (to tape) tonight from jolly ol’ England. And coming into this week we have a lot of questions surrounding returning talent and departing talent. Everyone knows that all three of the WWE brands have been thin on main eventers with the recent injuries to Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Edge and Rey Mysterio. Thus far, all but one has returned but we’ve also seen non-injury related departures as well in Booker T and Ric Flair. Toss in the devastating injury to John Cena that will sideline him for up to a year and we still have a set of rosters that aren’t quite up to snuff.

At no point in recent memory has it been as evident as the past two Monday nights. Last week we had Triple H wrestling in three matches – that’s three times the Triple H. And for people who don’t care much for Triple H, that’ll make for a long night. Let’s face it, I’m not jumping out of my seat for a non-gimmick Triple H vs. Umaga match any day of the week. This week, we have Randy Orton in three matches. Three times the Randy Orton. I get it, he’s the champ, but it defies logic to put your heel champ in a situation where he is fighting the odds. Shouldn’t the good guy be getting screwed?

Read more of my RAW thoughts after the jump and check out the latest on the SAVE_US.222 videos.

More glaring proof of the WWE’s lack of roster depth is the re-installment of Val Venis as a mid-carder. Are you kidding me? The only match I cared less about tonight was Cody Rhodes vs. Hardcore Holly (right before the main event I might add), but I’ll save that for later. Under no circumstances should Val Venis be feuding with any wrestler on WWE TV. I understand that the guy is good with the young talent, he tows the company line – I get it. But what do you think Val is doing for ratings? Granted, I love Santino Marella – I think he’s funny, and he brings a (non-DX style) humor to RAW that has been missing for some time. I just don’t care to watch him wrestle.

The only humor that has even come close is, surprisingly, the Hornswoggle/Coach angle. But WWE snuffed out that spark with the pathetic special effects used when Hornswoggle “blew up” the underside of the ring. Coach rubbed on some soot and crawled out looked “blowed up.” Awful.

As for Rhodes and Holly – are you f’n kidding me? The next-to-main event? I mean, I can almost understand if Rhodes were going to finally squeak out a win (it would have to be clean though), but to have him lose in such a snoozer was a terrible way to lead into a main event that ended up being a non-event as well. Cody Rhodes leaves a lot to be desired – the WWE snuffed out his heat early vs. Orton – but Holly joins Venis in that “not the attitude era anymore” category. Stick to training, Holly.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the way the WWF used to groom guys to be the next big thing. As we all know, the Intercontinental title was the breeding grounds for the next WWF champ. Almost every IC champ of the early ’90s went on to become the top dog (or hugely popular), but not anymore. Who were the last several IC champs? Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, Ric Flair, RVD, Johnny Nitro, Santino Marella, Umaga and Jeff Hardy. Let’s take out the fact that RVD and Nitro were ECW champions and look at how many of these guys went on to really become any kind of main event draw. RVD was given the WWE championship before he squandered it for some pot – but where is the WWE’s next big thing among these men? Do any of them even have the potential to draw?

With that in mind, let’s look at Jeff Hardy being saddled into this WWE title match at Cyber Sunday. Here is our IC champion jobbing to Orton before he even gets the chance to make it to the pay-per-view. What’s worse, you have Mr. Kennedy, by far one of the most charismatic guys on the roster (and one of the more exciting wrestlers) laying down for Orton too. We are talking about a guy who was poised to spend nearly a year holding the Money in the Bank contract and going to WrestleMania 24. And now he’s been tossed into a championship match that the company knows he won’t be voted into. Fans are not going to vote for Kennedy over Michaels! How is this pushing a guy of Kennedy’s caliber? He is the type of guy who should have the IC title. A guy with a chance to get to the top. And after finding out that his injury wasn’t as serious as first thought, Kennedy should have been given his WrestleMania shot again, in one form or another.

Speaking of someone else I’m impressed with. I freakin’ love Candice Michelle. Did you see her tonight vs. Jillian Hall? What I love about Candice is the same thing I loved about Trish Stratus. Candice came to the WWE as nothing – NOTHING – but eye candy. An ok face, and a hot body – that’s it. But what Candice has done is put in a very, very, very respectable amount of effort into becoming a good wrestler. Candice Michelle is fun to watch in the ring. And seeing some of the combinations she turns out and the way she sells her opponent’s moves really impresses me. I recently saw Michelle McCool wrestle live and thought very similar things about her. I rather watch Candice, McCool and Trish wrestle over Chyna, Lita or Beth Phoenix any day.

Another set of young guys I got to thinking about tonight were Brian Kendrick and Paul London. A lot of people liken them to The Rockers. And it’s funny that when you think about The Rockers you would have never in a million years have guessed that Shawn Michaels would be the legendary superstar he is today. Could London or Kendrick be the next HBK? You wouldn’t think it now – but did you ever think it of Shawn as a Rocker? Think about it. I think Kendrick and London are being squandered, losing tonight to The Highlanders. The ‘Landers did nothing as faces, I get it, but I’ll take the high-flying Kendrick and London in the ring vs. Cade and Murdoch over four lack-luster heavyweights butting heads.

I expect after tonight that Michaels will no doubt be the man in the ring vs. Orton at Cyber Sunday. Michaels once again got the upper hand on the WWE champ tonight on RAW, but I worry about the timing of Michaels’ return and this Championship bout. Consider the fact that WWE is very unlikely to take the belt off Orton so soon. This means that Michaels will (obviously) lose the match. Whether it is by DQ or not, why kill the Michaels’ momentum thus far? Why not put someone else in the third slot and continue to build Orton and Michaels for Survivor Series? God knows it isn’t that far away from the Cyber Sunday PPV. Then again, we face another problem – who would fill the third slot? Hell if I know. But it would be the perfect time to try and build a new main eventer.

And finally, one can’t help but wonder if the “second coming” truly is “upon us.” The SAVE_US.222 video appeared again tonight, and again incorporated all the other incarnations of the binary-coded message. This was the first week that JR and the King acknowledged its presence which means we are getting closer to finding out what it’s all about. I’m giving WWE this one last chance to not disappoint me with a storyline. Vince’s death – disappointment. Vince’ illegitimate son – disappointment. SAVE_US.222 – please save us Y2J. If this teaser is indeed Chris Jericho, this could be the main eventer needed to save RAW from further weeks of wrestlers pulling double or triple duty in matches.

We’ve ruled out Michaels with his return. And given the release of Teddy Hart earlier this week, we can effectively rule out The New Hart Foundation. I suppose that only leaves one option. The only question that remains is “when?”