Raw makes its annual spring visit to England this week. No theme music. We jump right into the arena with Shane McMahon, who's dressed for action. Shane plays the tape of last week's Umaga-Santino Marella match, then dismisses the new IC champ as an afterthought. Hmmmm. Shane tried to work the crowd looking for an opponent for a No-DQ match as a warmup for Backlash. No takers, but Shane expected that. Well, give him credit, he is a little smarter than his father. He scoured England looking for the toughest fighter. And he found.....Robbie Brookside?

Shane McMahon vs. Robbie Brookside (No-DQ).
Total squash, which would be a recurring theme in the first half of the show. Brookside spent a few months in WCW back around 1999-2000, if memory serves, and rarely won a match. Well, some things never change. His luck on American television is still bad. Brookside's offense consisted of one head-scissor, which Shane slipped out of. Shane busted out the MacTerminator, and you'd think that would be the end, but no! He calls out Umaga to continue the torture, then summons Chairman Wackjob, wearing a suit and a derby, to collect the pinfall. It won't be that simple vs. Bobby Lashley on Sunday, and in my opinion, Team Wackjob just shot its wad. Winner: Shane McMahon (& Umaga & Vince McMahon).

Matt Hardy vs. Trevor Murdoch. Last week, Lance Cade defeated Jeff Hardy. Could Matt restore some family pride here? Good match, and the best singles effort I've seen from Trevor the Cable Guy in quite a long time. Matt hit the Side Effect for 2, and his middle rope legdrop looked more like Rey Mysterio's Dropping a Dime move. That also got 2. Murdoch, in a surprise, hit the Canadian Destroyer, which looked more like a flipped powerbomb than a piledriver here, to pick up the clean pin. Winner: Trevor Murdoch.

Melina vs. Maria (non-title). Almost another squash. Maria got in a couple of clotheslines, but Melina cut off any chance of a comeback with a helicopter facejam. Winner: Melina.

Carlito vs. Great Khali. Khali is already in the ring as we're back from break. Usually, that's not a good sign. Khali, though, is not most people. He no-sold Carlito's offense, and put him down with a chop to the head, then the tree slam (which JR called for once). Winner: Great Khali.

Flair came down post-match to attend to Carlito, but Carlito yelled at him in Spanish, essentially asking Ric to leave him alone. So Ric left. Compounding things is the fact that Torrie Wilson, who'd been Carlito's valet of late, wasn't with him this time.

John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (non-title). The match started shortly after 10 (EDT), and was padded out with 5 commercial breaks. One fall to a finish. It had a title match atmosphere, which makes one wish they didn't have the 4-way on Sunday. And what a match it was. Cena went for the STFU early and often, perhaps way too early. Tons of near falls on both sides. Both men went for aggressive, heelish tactics during the match. After the final break, the match spilled over to the announce table, and Cena was yapping at ref Mike Chioda. Michaels, who'd kicked out of the FU earlier, hit a superkick for a near fall as Cena forced a rope break. Cena went for the FU again, but Michaels squirmed out and hit a 2nd superkick to win it. Winner: Shawn Michaels. Shawn posed briefly with the belt, then laid it on Cena's chest and did 4 DX crotch chops to end the show.