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It was unexpected and the kind of match most wrestling fans would give up their gold cufflinks to see. No, I’m not talking about the excellent Jericho vs. Orton match, or the somewhat less than stellar triple threat match between Batista (yawn), Undertaker and Edge.

No, this time I’m talking about the number one contenders match for the WWE title shot at the Royal Rumble next month, between Triple H and Jeff Hardy. On paper, it looked to be an big squash match to continue endlessly promoting Hunter as an unstoppable monster on his way toward regaining his title at the next WrestleMania. Right?

Wrong! WWE threw everyone a curveball by finally having Hunter give the rub to someone else in a match that mattered. For 19 glorious minutes, Jeff Hardy did what he does best, which is to put 110-percent of himself into his match against Hunter, and Hunter played along.

But when the dust cleared, it was Jeff Hardy who stood victorious over Triple H. What? That’s right! Jeffy Hardy, who nearly incurred the lifelong wrath of Vince McMahon by jumping to TNA a few years ago is not only back in WWE for a bit over a year now, but is back in a way he was featured in TNA, but never WWE: in the heavyweight title picture!

Hardy was champion at TNA briefly during his run there, but in WWE had never been featured as more than a tag champion with his brother, Matt. As a singles wrestler, Jeff was never featured higher than as a third-tier contender, wrestling well in gimmick matches but never in contention for a title shot.

That changed at Armageddon. With a win over Hunter, and his work ethic, Jeff Hardy is set to make the Royal Rumble something special this year, as he faces off against Randy Orton. Hardy may not win, but to even get this shot in the WWE is evidence that the old order is changing and a new set of contenders are being groomed for top spots in the company.

Way to go, Jeff! Congrats!

One of the popular rumors of recent weeks is that Carlito was set to exit WWE and make the jump over to TNA. Well, forget about that; after a long talk with Vince McMahon, Carlito signed a new contract with WWE and won’t be going anywhere, and you can bet your tonneau cover on your Ford F150 on that!

Now, TNA is still a decidedly small-time promotion. However, in the last year, TNA has made a splash by signing away WWE’s castoffs, including Kurt Angle (who WWE wanted to sign to an out-of-ring role due to Angle’s neck and health concerns), Booker T, and more. While the condition of the rivalry between WWE and TNA doesn’t approach anywhere near the old Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW, TNA could have gotten a lot of mileage out of signing Carlito so soon after snatching up Booker T.

So, in the end, while Vinnie Mac is probably not pleased with Carlito’s work ethic and development to date, he’s still too young and promising a talent to allow him to slip into a TNA role. For the foreseeable future, Carlito will still be spitting in the face of people who don’t want to be cool, rather than Vince McMahon’s face.

WWE Monday Night Raw turned 15 years old this past week, and it doesn’t take Doink the Clown dressed in a pair of golf shoes to point out what a watershed moment that marks. The 15th anniversary show had plenty of guest appearances for nostalgia’s sake, including Marty Jennetty, Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a 15-man battle royale involving a lot of lesser-name jobbers from the past decade and a half.

Of course, personally, I had a lot of favorite moments that I appreciated. It was fun seeing Chris Jericho confront Eric Bischoff so soon into Jericho’s return after a two year absence; Bischoff, in the storyline, fired Jericho when Y2J left WWE to pursue his music career. Having Jericho come back and get his revenge was a satisfying storyline moment for longtime fans.

I also enjoyed the Evolution reunion, especially the flashback when Evolution betrayed Orton. Back then, Orton was the babyface and Evolution were the heels; now those roles have changed and it was surprising how well the betrayal moments still worked.

The only two notable superstars missing on the night were Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Too bad.