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The week or so after WrestleMania is an eventful one seemingly every year. Even if it isn’t, it is an important one. This is because it is so vital for WWE to capitalize on the momentum that they have gained leading up to the biggest pay-per-view of the year. Furthermore, those more casual fans that don’t purchase the big dance tend to tune in the night after because they know that they will most likely get a highlights package or 3 to show them most of the big occurrences.

It has sort of got to the point where wrestling fans practically demand eventful happenings in the week following WrestleMania. In the late 1990’s, the promotion would not only plan months in advance for their biggest pay-per-view of the year, but also for the night after. They almost set the bar too high in fact as many fans have been left disappointed of the quality of the Raw the night after WrestleMania of late. Even with Ric Flair’s big farewell this year, it has appeared to have occurred once more in 2008.

Personally, I was rather pleased with all the goings on over the past week or so. While none of the 3 shows last week stood out as exceptional, they all had a splattering of this, that & the other which made for good entertainment. And it began from the get-go on Raw with a nice little surprise from Matt Hardy attacking WWE Champion Randy Orton. This was totally unexpected, yet logical. I liked the booking of it and it eventually resulted in a pretty good pseudo main-event. Throw in the surprising return of Cryme Tyme early on and I was entertained.

Of course, the highlight of the night was indeed Ric Flair’s farewell and it didn’t let anyone down. This big strong man was under the thumb at the time and forced to peel some onions. Those darn things get your eyes watering every time. Anyway, it was a fitting farewell for Flair and definitely held my attention in between onions!

ECW didn’t include anything nearly as memorable as Raw, but I thought it was a good solid show overall. I liked the opening promo involving Kane, Punk, Chavo & Shelton, while also feeling their eventual main-event match was solid as well. SmackDown was probably the most disappointing of the 3 shows actually, but it was sufficiently solid, while containing a very good face to face segment between Batista & Shawn Michaels. There was a 10 second hint of what was to come backstage at Raw on the Monday night, but that was just a pre-cursor to this terrific segment.

It’s actually quite amazing how bad Batista can be on the mic some weeks and then how good he can be at other times. I presume it may have to do with how scripted his promo is, but it could just be whether or not he feels natural with what he is talking about. Either way, he is clearly at his best when he has the intensity about him, which was clearly apparent here. It is an interesting little feud as well and could very well lead to anything, with a potential heel turn for either man on the cards.

And a week of wrestling cannot pass without a couple of amazing things occurring. Those happenings which leave you shaking your head whether it is in a good or bad way. To me, the first occurred Monday night on Raw where my ears may have deceived me, but I could swear I heard a “Lets Go London” chant. Then again, Paul London was wrestling Hardcore Holly, so maybe it was a chant by default! But then, I almost fell out of my chair while watching the opening promo on SmackDown. It wasn’t anything Edge said, it was what he was wearing; A Chavo Guerrero t-shirt! Seriously, who in their right minds would purchase a Chavo Guerrero t-shirt. Even if you are one of those people who believe Chavo can get it done in the ring, I am certain you would admit that a merchandise seller, he is not! Mind-boggling!