There were two things that got my attention on Raw last night, and neither of them was the "Triple Threat Takeover" among the Raw main event players at Wrestlemania.

For starters, there was a little bait & switch with the start of the Finlay-JBL feud. Rather than appear live in Indianapolis, John Layfield instead appeared on video from "an unnamed hospital", purportedly, at the bedside of Hornswoggle, whom he beat up 2 weeks ago. 'Swoggle would end up crying like a little child---or so they'd like you to believe---before this segment was over. To roll back a bit, Finlay admitted to Vince McMahon that 'Swoggle is actually "his son", not Vince's, and that Vince's family collaborated with Finlay on this scheme. The why wasn't revealed, but one can guess the origin.

Think back to last June, when McMahon decided to blow himself up on Draft Night. Forced to return in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit case, McMahon would reveal that he faked his death to see if anyone actually cared. Truth was, people had at that time grown tired of the "Mr. McMahon" character after nearly 10 years. Given the increasingly irrational behavior the character had exhibited for 5 years prior, perhaps Linda, Shane, & Stephanie had also gotten tired of his act, feeling that he was an embarassment to the company. Vince's promise to change his ways was in fact hollow, and everyone knew it. Remember, Vince was the only family member (excluding Triple H) that 'Swoggle interacted with on the air, save for the family portrait that didn't pan out so well. That they were able to make this scheme work for nearly 6 months is a miracle unto itself. The fans could see right through Vince's antics, starting with instructing his latest puppet, Vicki Guerrero, to strip 'Swoggle of the cruiser title "for his own protection" at the end of September. The title has been left vacant ever since, but then again, nearly all of the WWE's 2nd tier titles have been ignored by shabby writing the last few months.

Hornswoggle will probably be back in the ring in time for Wrestlemania, when Finlay faces JBL. After that, the rest of the story should be told, including the points of view of the rest of the McMahon family. There wasn't an illegitimate son after all, so all those theories about Ken Kennedy can be put aside, although I have to believe he may be hot-shotted right into a WWE title run, and plugged into an immediate feud with Triple H, assuming that the Cerebral Assassin's real-life marriage to Steph is finally brought out into the open on the air. It would be something fresh for the post-Mania house tours.

Meanwhile, there was the annual Playboy cover unveiling, this year featuring Maria Kanellis, whose on-air love Santino Marella tried to spoil the party. Unlike some of my colleagues, however, I am growing tired of Santino's Italian Norm Crosby act and that he hardly wrestles on TV anymore. Don't know if that's because of an injury or what, but his talents are starting to stagnate with this angle, and it won't be long before Maria leaves him altogether, probably before Mania.

In past years, they didn't need an elaborate angle to build to this spot, but because of Maria's character, clearly not the 2nd coming of Lucille Ball, they had to take this route. That's why the build was, in my opinion, so exasperating, and grating on the nerves. At Wrestlemania, Maria and past cover girl Candice Michelle will face Melina and women's champ Beth Phoenix. I'd not be surprised to find Santino screwing Maria out of the win, but the right move would be for Maria & Candice to go over, setting up Candice for another run vs. Beth.

But where to go for Maria post-Mania? Like Candice, she's shown some improvement in the ring, but is hardly a title contender at this point. Her days as a backstage reporter appear to be coming to a close, as she's getting fewer & fewer interviews to do. That will allow her to further her development as a future contender. Whatever plans they had for Santino & Carlito as tag champs appear to have been backburnered at the moment, so there might be mixed tags with Santino and either Beth or Melina vs. Maria and any male partner down the road.

Of course, it might be more fun seeing how the creative team screws this up.