Christian and Benjamin could steal the show

When Shawn Michaels mentioned on Monday that the TLC pay-per-view would include "a tables match," "a ladder match," and a "chair match," many people scoffed at the notion.

Now, we know that John Cena will defend the WWE Championship against Sheamus at TLC in a tables match. I don't know what the chair match will be, nor do I know what a chair match is, but we now know that the ladder match will be ECW Champion Christian against Shelton Benjamin, after Benjamin's win over Zack Ryder.

This is absolutely the right choice for that gimmick match. Before Sunday's Survivor Series, the ECW championship and Benjamin both hadn't been on PPV in a long while. They mentioned wanting to steal the show and I believe that they can, if given sufficient time. Both of these guys probably belong on a brand with a little more exposure than ECW, but you have to play with the hand you're dealt. I have a good feeling Christian and Benjamin will.

• Vance Archer beat some dude. Again. This is getting old. He should probably wrestle a superstar soon.

• Boy, they really built off that Hurricane win over Paul Burchill. Helms was nowhere in sight on ECW.

• Speaking of nowhere in sight, apparently ECW ring announcer Lauren Mayhew is already gone from the company, to focus more on her singing and acting careers. She wasn't bad in the month or so she announced, but certainly not long enough to gain any familiarity with her work.

I'll say what I said when Lilian Garcia gave her notice: Bring back Howard Finkel.

For now, our ring announcers are Justin Roberts on Raw and Tony Chimel on both ECW and SmackDown.

• The Abraham Washington Show continues to be shut-off-the-tv quality. At least Tony Atlas' laugh is there.

• Surprising to see Ezekiel Jackson leaving William Regal and Vladimir Kozlov already, after Regal lost to Yoshi Tatsu. I don't see much potential in Zeke as a solo face, but it's not like he or Kozlov were really going places as a tandem anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. To quote the legendary Dusty Rhodes, "What I'm thankful for Thanksgiving? For my polka dots!" or better Roddy Piper's from the 89 Survivor Series, "I'm thankful because I ain't Ricky Rude."

They listened to the fans

Monday's three-hour Raw showed more promise that new guys might soon be pushed than many recent episodes have shown.

Most three-hour Raws tend to bore me, but this one held my attention for the full three hours.

Let's look at it from the beginning.

• They teased Jesse "The Body" Ventura coming out to the ring, but instead gave us Randy Orton. Basically, this served to put Ventura in storylines and slowly establish where he fits in to the grand scheme of WWE. Essentially, Ventura — who has always been a heel in WWE — told Orton he likes his style and respects him, but that he wanted to give the fans of WWE a title contender who was fresh.

He said there would be qualifying matches (or preliminary matches, as he called them at one point) for a "Breakthrough" battle royal, the winner getting a title shot. The catch was that none of the guys in the qualifiers have won the World or WWE title.

It's about time WWE realized they have been giving us the same combinations for ages and actually took a step away from that. Orton seemed flustered, but that was a theme of the night: That Ventura, who knows Orton's dad, likes Orton, but can't give him another title match because he wants to give someone else a chance.

• First, we had Kofi Kingston going over Dolph Ziggler. It was important for WWE to keep Kingston strong and they did. I see a lot of potential in Ziggler here, but I guess it made sense for WWE not to give away the finish of the match by putting someone below Ziggler in there.

• Surprisingly, The Miz was not in a qualifier, but just cut a Thanksgiving heel promo

• Next, we had a hard-hitting fight between Sheamus and Finlay with Sheamus coming out on top. They are pushing this guy hard. Jerry Lawler even mentioned, after coming face to face with him this week, he wasn't going to play the hero and was going to let someone else try to stop him.

• I see WWE doesn't really consider Eric Escobar much. He has been off TV for the past few weeks and is just now starting to show up, as Vickie Guerrero's boyfriend/lackey.

• Ventura, when confronted by Orton, again reiterated that he loves what Orton does, retiring the old legends. He said when he retired, he stuck to it. Orton was persistent about wanting in the battle royal, but it was a unique dynamic with Orton and Ventura.

• John Cena vs. CM Punk was a very good match and one we haven't seen before. The fans were really into it and it was so refreshing to see Cena with a new opponent. This might be a worthwhile program down the line for WWE.

• Really interesting that Vince McMahon allowed Jesse Ventura to say all those things about Vince Sr. not having any faith in him and making him only the announcer. Vince and Jesse's adversarial banter was a real highlight of a lot of WWE programming in the 1980s and they clearly haven't lost anything there. Putting Vince and Jesse back in the broadcast booth for one match only was a really nice touch.

• They had a qualifying match of R-Truth, Mark Henry and MVP defeating Jack Swagger, Chris Masters and Chavo Guerrero. First off, I was surprised that Swagger, who seemingly has tons of potential, was not in the battle royal. Also, he is a former ECW champion (so are Henry and Guerrero), but I guess that is not really a world title anymore. At least Swagger did not get pinned.

• It was a little disappointing to not see any rift in D-Generation X whatsoever. Instead, we get Hornswoggle suing DX. Anyone else wonder why Finlay wasn't in the least bit upset that his son got pedigreed?

Also, it was nice to see indepedent wrestler Short Sleeve Sampson, who just appeared in Poughkeepsie at Collector's Realm during the Dusty Rhodes/Ken Kennedy signing, as the process server to DX. I got the chance to talk to Sampson for a bit at that signing. He has been around the wrestling business for a long time and it is good to see him getting a chance at some TV time.

• I guess it made sense for Orton to slowly grow on Jesse, as he changed the rules and after Orton attacked Primo, he took his spot in the qualifying matches and promptly crushed Evan Bourne. I, like most fans at this point, figured it would be Orton getting the shot.

• I am happy for Ted DiBiase that he is starring in "The Marine 2," but I have no desire to see that movie whatsoever. Then again, I never saw the first one.

• The Indians vs. Pilgrims divas match was short and was what it was. I loved Michelle McCool and Layla getting so annoyed at the concept of the match that they walked out. That was classic. Having Maryse, as the Gobbledy Gooker, attack Melina, was a lot of fun. Great way to return. I didn't see it coming. Maryse taking off the Gooker costume to do her hair toss was terrific as well.

Also, the Indians coming out to Tatanka's music was amusing.

• DX beating the Hart Dynasty was fun while it lasted. They probably could have done better, mentioning Shawn Michaels' history with the Hart family, considering that Shawn and Hunter have both faced David Hart Smith's father and Natalya's father.

Out of this, we got Chris Jericho and Big Show defending the unified tag belts against DX in a TLC match at TLC. That should be pretty fun.

• Batista and Kane faced off about disrespect and Big Dave being a heel, basically. Fun segment and it felt new, despite the fact that Batista and Kane have faced each other hundreds of times.

• Legacy beating Cryme Time was the right choice and at this point, I thought DiBiase was definitely going to win the battle royal.

• Vince and Jesse calling the battle royal was great. Vince came out in the 80s tuxedo to "Obsession" by Animotion, the old Saturday Night's Main Event theme, was very cool. Those two can still call a match. That was great. It was like I was 8 years old again.

As battle royals go, it was exciting. I thought I knew the direction they were going in and that's not where they went. They kept the Kofi Kingston-Randy Orton issue hot, but Sheamus won the battle royal and the tables match title shot at TLC.

After the match, Ventura — who looked like he was having the time of his life — presided over the Cena-Sheamus contract signing. Cena gave his speech of having been here before and faced many No. 1 contenders with better credentials than Sheamus and criticized him for attacking smaller wrestlers viciously (Jamie Noble) Hall of Fame announcers (Jerry Lawler) and timekeepers (Mark Yeaton). Sheamus basically said he would crush Cena.

This is where Jesse Ventura, who played somewhat of a heel-leaning guest host, came in. He mentioned that he thought there was a conspiracy to keep Cena as champion because he was the pretty boy who did movies and smiled. He mentioned that guys like him never got title shots and now Sheamus would. His distraction led to Sheamus laying out Cena.

The push is clearly for Sheamus now. Is he deserving? I have no idea. I can think of about 10-15 guys I'd put ahead of Sheamus in terms of being PPV-main event ready. But at least it is a new face. They did a fantastic job pushing new blood on this show. It felt fresh and it felt fun.

Great show, WWE.

Moving up and more of the same at Survivor Series

Sunday's just-completed Survivor Series featured a lot of wrestlers who should be pushed being moved up by looking really good in the traditional Survivor Series matches.

• First, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus looked really good in surviving their match on Team Miz, with team captain The Miz. McIntyre pinned Matt Hardy and Evan Bourne. Sheamus pinned Finlay (with an assist from the Miz) and also pinned John Morrison.

So, in the end, it seemed like Sheamus and McIntyre are poised for better pushes...if that's something WWE actually commits to doing.

The worst spot in this match was definitely when Sheamus' errant knee struck referee Scott Armstrong in the back of the head. They replaced him quickly with Noah Wilson, but Armstrong did suffer a concussion.

• The other traditional Survivor Series match was the next step up for Kofi Kingston. The former Intercontinental and US champion pinned CM Punk and Randy Orton in a matter of seconds to be the sole survivor on his team.

Between last week's chaotic brawl with Orton at Madison Square Garden and tonight, it again seems like WWE is pushing the button on a Kofi push. The crowds are sure eating it up. The next step in this push could be fairly pivotal. Kofi pinned two legitimate former champions. He needs more key wins and moments — and preferably in singles matches — to really move forward.

• I wasn't really surprised that The Undertaker retained the World Heavyweight Championship, although I had a feeling they might go with Chris Jericho. The finish, with 'Taker reversing Big Show's chokeslam into the "Hell's Gate" gogoplata was nice. At least Jericho didn't get pinned by Undertaker, because that issue stays fresh, if they want to hold that singles rivalry for WrestleMania.

• Batista's ref-stoppage win over Rey Mysterio established Batista as a jerk, and a dominant jerk at that. It appears that Mysterio is going to be undergoing knee surgery soon, so this was the angle to explain that absence. I guess WWE could go to Undertaker vs. Batista next. I guess they could even explain it by having Batista and the new SmackDown consultant, Vickie Guerrero, reconciling.

• The divas 5-on-5 match seemed like all the better-working women got eliminated first. A lot's been said about Mickie James and the way WWE has treated her weight gain. The bottom line is this, Mickie's not the only WWE superstar the company mocks because of their size. Right or not (and I don't think it is right), she isn't the only one. More importantly than that, Mickie's work has been poor for the past few months. I don't know what it is, but her and Melina, in particular, have seemed sub-par in the ring for the last few months.

And in wrestling, if you don't have a look and you don't have your work, I guess you still have your personality. But in WWE women's angles, you really don't get that much talking anyway, so that gets somewhat eliminated for better or for worse.

That said, of course, Melina and Mickie, who have not looked good at all lately, won. Go figure.

• I liked the beginning of the Shawn Michaels-Triple H-John Cena, with HBK and HHH coming out together before Michaels superkicked Hunter out of the ring. That was a nice touch. The crowd was pretty much into every moment of the match. Possible scenarios that could have shaken things up a little in WWE were Michaels winning the belt, Michaels turning heel and winning, Hunter turning heel and winning.

So of course, in the end, we got John Cena retaining. Hopefully, his next opponent is not Triple H, Randy Orton or Big Show.

• The three-man crew of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker did a nice job overall. I don't really think Todd Grisham has been bad lately, but Striker has been good, so that made sense.

• And as if I wasn't far enough behind on wrestling (I was covering the state soccer tournament this weekend), we have a THREE-hour Raw on Monday night with guest host Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Next four Raw guest hosts announced: Troyer, Cuban added

Nov. 23 in Hershey, Penn. for Thanksgiving Raw: Gov. Jesse Ventura
Nov. 30 in Baltimore: Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer
Dec. 7 in Dallas: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban
Dec. 14 in Corpus Christi for the Slammy Awards: Dennis Miller.

And then ECW returned to Philly

Sure, it wasn't really anything like the ECW they were used to or anything. Not that anyone expected that.

Hey, from what's been reported Tommy Dreamer even got squashed in the dark match before the show.

Thoughts on the show.

• I enjoyed Rosa Mendes' shopping and ditzy non sequiturs. Her and Zack Ryder may have something there. I don't know, however, why their segment with Shelton Benjamin was deemed important enough to open ECW.

• Decent match to blow off the Paul Burchill-Hurricane feud. I sure hope Paul and Katie Lea land on their feet out of all this. Paul Burchill has had one of the most difficult years a wrestler could have (he lost his brother, Sean Birchall, who died in combat in Afghanistan). Paul has had one of the best stretches of his career, work-wise, in the meantime. Hurricane, though, has looked a step off and lethargic since coming back. Burchill should land on either Raw or SmackDown, if all is even.

• Vance Archer beat a guy. That is all.

• The main event with CM Punk & William Regal defeating Christian & R-Truth was solid and did a good job of building the Team Kofi vs. Team Orton match at Survivor Series on Sunday. I remember a time when Survivor Series teams would actually do interviews together before the big show. I guess those times have really passed us by.

Can't help but feel nostalgic

The last couple of days in WWE made it very hard not to be a little nostalgic.

One thing WWE does do occasionally and very, very effectively is market nostalgia and make you feel good to be a fan.

I'd say the things that struck those chords for me last night was the very fun "Rowdy" Roddy Piper promo and subsequent interaction with Vince McMahon, which felt the way an old-time Piper segment should — very unpredictable.

The second thing was the wonderful montage video of WWE in Madison Square Garden set to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind." WWE's video staff always do a top-notch job, but this one, I felt, was especially cool. Growing up in New York (or at least the suburbs, like I did), it's easy to get attached to WWE because it was always there when you were growing up.

When I was growing up, my family didn't like to travel into the city, so I had two options regarding local wrestling, a. wait for the sporadic show to come to Nassau Coliseum or b. thumb through the TV listings to try to find out when the Garden shows would air on MSG.

Granted, my interest in the Garden shows was well after the Garden shows were the really important things.

The last few weeks, TNA has made boastful claims that "Hulk Hogan built MSG" and that they couldn't believe, there they were, TNA, in MSG.

News flash, TNA. You weren't in MSG, you were in the rotunda. No one was there. Or at least not many people. You have a long way to go before you can even think about claiming an arena like MSG as home.

As for WWE, a lot of people might not have understood why WWE was "kissing New York's butt," but for WWE, MSG is home.

MSG is Antonino Rocca & Miguel Perez lighting up the tag team scene in the 50s and 60s with the Golden Grahams — Dr. Jerry and Eddie. MSG is Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund and the rogues' gallery of villains that would challenge their title reigns and their stance as the heroes. MSG is the Three Wise Men of the East — the late Capt. Lou Albano, the Grand Wizard and Classy Freddie Blassie — and their never-ending crusade to win that title. MSG is even Baron Mikel Scicluna and the Unpredictable Johnny Rodz, the Valiants, the Moondogs, Domenic DeNucci, Chief Jay Strongbow, Ivan Putski and Gorilla Monsoon.

MSG is Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes. MSG is Hulk Hogan vs. the Iron Sheik. MSG is Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper and whomever got in his way because he just didn't care.

More recently, MSG is Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Curt Hennig, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle. Chris Benoit, the way I'd love to remember him, but probably never can.

MSG is Jess, Vince Sr., Vince, Shane, Stephanie, Linda. MSG is McMahon. MSG is Capitol Sports, Titan Sports, WWFE, WWWF, WWF, WWE.

There's an old saying in the wrestling business. The Garden will always be The Garden. Thank goodness for that. There's probably not a better place on Earth to watch professional wrestling.

Live Raw chat tonight

We're going to try something new tonight.

I am not at Madison Square Garden for Raw, but I figured an MSG show would be as good a time as any to give a shot to a live chat here on "Under the Ring."

Join me at 8:45 p.m. to join in. Hope you can make it.