Last night the WWE arrived in Baltimore, Md and blew the doors off the 1st Mariner Arena with the 10th Annual “Backlash” PPV.

The game of “announce team shuffle” continued as we were introduce to WWE Legend Mick Foley as the new color commentator on the Smackdown brand. The night went quickly, barely using up 3 of the 4 scheduled hours for the event. Here are the results:

Matt Hardy defeated MVP to become the NEW WWE United States Champion

Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to retain his ECW Championship

Big Show defeated The Great Khali

Shawn Michaels defeated Batista (Chris Jericho played the role of Special Guest Referee)

Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian, Layla, Victoria & Natalya defeated WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James, Maria, Ashley, Michelle McCool, Cherry & Kelly Kelly

The Undertaker defeated Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship

Fatal Four Way elimination match for the WWE title: Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. JBL vs. John Cena.

What’s up with the name of Mariah Carey’s new album? “E=MC2″? is that supposed to make her look smart and thoughtful?

Who knows…anyway, Mariah graced the Idol stage with her plump album whoring bosom, and, you know, there was a lot of singing to be heard by all.

The Bottom Three tonight were Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White, and Syesha Mercado. Syesha was the first one back to safety and it came down to Kristy and Brooke.

Ultimately Kristy was given the boot, and then there were six.

You know, sometimes a show just has to be seen to be believed, and this is one of those episodes. From the chair smacking the customer in the back of the head, to Rosann actually holding back tickets from the kitchen, and ending with Corey’s incredibly stupid picks of who should be kicked off the show…it literally has to be seen to be believed, and you can do so, by watching the full episode below.

Enjoy.

Last night was the biggest event in sports entertainment. For wrestling fans there is no bigger night on television, and last nights PPV was over 4 hours long, and jam packed with content. Below is a quick rundown of the results.

Prior to the show’s official beginning, Kane won a battle royal, and earned the right to take on ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero for the title on tonight’s PPV.

John Legend sings “America The Beautiful” as a video package airs.

JBL defeated Finlay in a “Belfast Brawl” match

CM Punk defeated 6 other competitors to win the 2008 Money in the Bank match.

Batista defeated Umaga in a Smackdown vs. Raw match

Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW World Title in a matter of seconds in what could be the fastest win in Wrestlemania history

Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in one of the most spectacular matches in the history of Wrestlemania. Flair’s career was on the line, and with this defeat the 35 year wrestling veteran is officially retired.

WWE Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix & Melina defeated Maria & Ashley Massaro in a “BunnyMania” match

Randy Orton defeated John Cena & Triple H to retain the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match

Floyd Mayweather defeated Big Show in a match that saw the boxing superstar booed by 70,000 fans. It took 3 of Mayweather’s “handlers”, a steel chair, and brass knuckles to knock down the Big Show, and all of this was after Mayweather had already tried to walk away from the match. Surprisingly, this match delivered, and was one of the best of the night.

Undertaker defeated Edge to win the World Championship, and maintain his undefeated streak at Wrestlemania.

In addition to all this celebrities were abound at Wrestlemania. Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian, and Raven Symone all made appearances at the event, adding to the spectacle of the evening.

All in all, it was a pretty good Wrestlemania. The moments from the Mayweather/Big Show match, and the astonishingly great Ric Flair/Shawn Michaels match will certainly be on the highlight reels for years to come.

The 80s music was still in full swing again last night, and the performances of all the remaining girls were really strong.

If its one thing that American Idol teaches you its that “talent” is only one small fraction of success. Each one of these girls is talented enough to have a career - and WAY more talented than some of the people on the radio today. Still, that talent will not be enough, and most of these 8 singers will never make it to the big time…that’s kind of sad.

On that positive note…here’s a breakdown of what they sang…

Asia’h Epperson - “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” Whitney Houston

Kady Malloy - “Who Wants to Live Forever,” Queen

Amanda Overmyer - “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Carly Smithson - “I Drove All Night,” Roy Orbison

Kristy Lee Cook - “Faithfully,” Journey

Ramiele Malubay - “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” Phil Collins

Brooke White - “Love is a Battlefield,” Pat Benatar

Syesha Mercado - “Saving All My Love for You,” Marilyn McCoo

80s songs were the pick of the week last night, and the Top 8 boys brought the house down with some very interesting renditions. Here’s a run down of what everyone sang:

Luke Menard - “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” Wham!

David Archuleta - “Another Day in Paradise,” Phil Collins

Danny Noriega - “Tainted Love,” Gloria Jones (’80s hit by Soft Cell)

David Hernandez - “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” Pandora’s Box

Michael Johns - “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” Simple Minds

David Cook - “Hello,” Lionel Richie

Jason Castro - “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen

Chikezie - “All the Man That I Need,” Whitney Houston

Everyone, even the judges, seems a bit blow away by the results of the show last night - lets recap…

First, the non-elimination stuff. The Top 20 did the group song thing - and it was in no way memorable. Seacrest announced that on March 11th the contestants would be singing songs from The Beatles song book. I don’t know how I feel about that (big Beatles fan here) - but I’ll watch.

Idol Gives Back is also returning in April.

The four singers that were eliminated are:

Jason Yeager

Alexandrea Lushington

Alaina Whitaker

Robbie Carrico

I can’t say I was terribly surprised to see any of them go, although they might not have been my first choices.

What did you think?

The flu bug hit the girl’s dressing room on American Idol this week, and it showed in last night’s performances. That’s really unfortunate because it means that we didn’t really get to hear what these women can do to the fullest of their abilities, but 2 of them are still going to be sent home. I have to say that I didn’t come out of this with a personal favorite - primarily because there wasn’t one “OMG” moment in the entire show for me. Again, I think that the flu bug may be a contributing factor to that, and that’s really a shame.

Here’s a run down of the girls and what they sang:

Kristy Lee Cook (24, Selma, OR) - “Rescue Me,” Fontella Bass

Joanne Borgella (25, Hoboken, NJ) - “I Say a Little Prayer,” Dionne Warwick

Alaina Whitaker (16, Tulsa, OK) - “More Today Than Yesterday,” Spiral Starecase

Amanda Overmyer (23, Mulberry, IN) - “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” Big Joe Williams

Amy Davis (25, Lowell, IN) - “Where the Boys Are,” Connie Francis

Brooke White (24, Mesa, AZ) - “Happy Together,” The Turtles

Alexandrea Lushington (17, Douglasville, GA) - “Spinning Wheel,” David Clayton-Thomas Combine / Blood, Sweat & Tears

Kady Malloy (18, Houston, TX) - “A Groovy Kind of Love,” Diane & Annita

Asia’h Epperson (19, Joplin, MO) - “Piece of My Heart,” Erma Franklin

Ramiele Malubay (20, Miramar, FL) - “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” Dusty Springfield

Syesha Mercado (21, Sarasota, FL) - “Tobacco Road,” John D. Loudermilk

Carly Smithson (24, San Diego, CA) - “The Shadow of Your Smile,” Tony Bennett (The Sandpiper)

Thankfully, tonight some of the contestants who we haven’t really seen got a chance for us to get to know them a little better, including seeing some early audition footage of them. It may not be much, but it does give us a chance to head them sing a few different kinds of songs, and gives us the impression that they actually have a chance to be in this competition.

American Idol also started theme nights right off the bat this season, with tonight’s theme being “the 60’s”.

Tonight’s performances included:

David Hernandez (24, Glendale, AZ) - “In the Midnight Hour,” Wilson Pickett

Chikezie (22, Englewood, CA) - “More Today Than Yesterday,” Spiral Starecase

David Cook (25, Blue Springs, MO) - “Happy Together,” The Turtles

Jason Yeager (28, Grand Prairie, TX) - “Moon River,” Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Robbie Carrico (26, Melbourne, FL) - “One,” Harry Nilsson

David Archuleta (17, Murray, UT) - “Shop Around,” Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Danny Noriega (18, Azusa, CA) - “Jailhouse Rock,” Elvis Presley

Luke Menard (29, Crawfordsville, IN) - “Everybody’s Talkin’,” Harry Nilsson

Colton Berry (18, Staunton, VA) - “Suspicious Minds,” Elvis Presley

Garrett Haley (17. Elida, OH) - “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” Neil Sedaka

Jason Castro (20, Rockwall, TX) - “What a Day for a Daydream,” Lovin’ Spoonful

Michael Johns (29, Buckhead, GA) - “Light My Fire,” The Doors

For my money Michael Johns was the strongest performer of the night, but there were a lot of really great performances here.

The formula of this show is an odd mix of crazy visions and standard law show. I think the series wants to be a bit more whimsical than it is - but mixing Boston Legal with the sci-fi channel isn’t really working for me.

Plus, so far these cases have been kind of odd. The first episode was going after pharmaceutical companies for making inoculations, and this one seems to give off the message that its ok to lie to the government if you want to come home from the war.

Now, I’m not going to get off on a rant here about being either pro or anti war - that’s not what I’m talking about. The fact that there is a war is irrelevant to whether or not its ok to lie to the government (or anyone else for that matter) to get out of a commitment that you don’t want to be in any longer.

That’s an odd choice for a show that is supposed to have a lawyer/prophet guy as a the star. To me, it comes off as irresponsible writing from someone who I can only assume is against the idea of war, and thus thinks its ok to abandon your commitments when you don’t think you’re being treated fairly.

Like I said, I hate to get off into a rant on this thing, because I can see an argument from both sides - especially if your “commitment” is extended without your approval, and in a way that you were mislead from the start.

I get that - I just don’t care much for the way this show jumps so quickly into the solution. Honestly, I don’t care much for Eli Stone. I want to - I like the lead, and I would love to have another new show to watch, but this one is just not worth the time.