NEW YORK – Cody Rhodes continued to impress our fans and to make legendary papa proud in his Madison Square Garden debut Monday night on Raw. Competing in his first match ever at The Garden, where his father Dusty Rhodes had many classic battles, Cody took down one-half of The Self-Proclaimed World’s Greatest Tag Team, Charlie Haas.

It seems Jonathan Coachman’s threat three weeks ago to kick Cody off of Raw if he failed to win has lit a fire under the young gun. As Haas’ partner, Shelton Benjamin, watched from ringside, Rhodes showed glimpses of his father’s greatness as he was able to escape multiple near pinfalls. After getting caught in Haas’ grasp again with seemingly little hope of escape, Rhodes executed a flawless Reverse Cradle that flipped a stunned Haas onto his back for the three-count. After Cody’s victory, Haas’s tag-team partner Benjamin shot into the ring to exact a measure of revenge. However, young Rhodes thought better of tangling against the two and wisely shot through the ring ropes to fight another day.  The future continues to look bright for the son of the son of a plumber.

Also on Raw, the night started off promising enough for Mr. McMahon despite the ongoing controversy raging over the paternity suit alleging that he sired an illegitimate child. He entered the ring surrounded by the seemingly warm glow of dozens of WWE Superstars, apparently there to show their support for the Chairman.

Unfortunately for Mr. McMahon’s his Kumbaya moment was short-lived. After thanking his Superstars for their encouragement, his daughter Stephanie climbed into the ring and brought family dysfunction to a new level. She announced the shocking revelation that her father’s illegitimate child is actually, that’s right, a WWE Superstar!

Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman immediately went into detective mode, quizzing Mr. McMahon about the dates and locations of his sexual indiscretions over the years in an attempt to narrow the field of potential offspring. Coachman assured the Chairman that he would use all the juicy details to uncover which Superstar was most likely the illegitimate child in time for Saturday Night’s Main Event. The answer couldn’t come soon enough. As Coachman scribbled notes, Mr. McMahon waxed nostalgic about his decades of sexual conquests. Unfortunately for the Chairman, his wife Linda walked up behind him as he unwittingly began to recount one sordid tale involving two “smokin’ hot” flight attendants. After Mr. McMahon turned to find his wife glaring at him, the Missus shook her head and promptly informed him that he no longer had a home. Ouch!

In other developments, WWE Champion John Cena was forced to share a corner with unlikely tag team partner Umaga to face off against the brash twosome of Randy Orton & Carlito. The WWE Champion, who will face Orton at SummerSlam, charged into the ring despite the numerous land mines that awaited him. With the Samoan Bulldozer (and frequent rival) as his partner, Cena knew that things could turn 3-on-1 ugly, and fast. But he managed to battle Orton and the Caribbean Stud for most of the match before just barely reaching Umaga for the tag. That’s when the Samoan terror entered the ring for maximum impact, manhandling both of his opponents by repeatedly slapping them down to the mat, eventually forcing Carlito into the crushing arms of the WWE Champion, who took glee in slamming the apple-spewing Superstar with an FU to end the match.

And in what was supposed to be King Booker’s crowning achievement, the night of his Royal Coronation, the egotistical monarch found himself cut down to size. After having defeated Jerry “The King” Lawler last week, Booker expected to have Lawler rest a crown atop his head. But it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, Lawler informed his bewildered opponent, and his equally confused wife, Queen Sharmell that Raw General Manager William Regal had arranged a match at SummerSlam between King Booker and the King of Kings, the returning Triple H. World Champion took his considerable anger out on Lawler, pummeling the Memphis legend with a television monitor and leaving him crumpled on the floor to be attended to by medics.

In other Raw skirmishes, the oh-so-proud-of-himself Mr. Kennedy entered the ring and latched onto his trademark microphone to announce his arrival in his match against Sandman only to be stopped in mid-syllable by the strains of the ECW Original’s music. Sandman tested Kennedy, but had his hands full with the Green Bay, Wis. Grappler. Kennedy, brimming with confidence since sidelining the mighty Bobby Lashley, rattled Sandman’s jaw with a swift kick to the face, and ultimately rolled his opponent over for the three-count and the victory.

World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch took on their upstart rivals Cryme Tyme in a non-title match. The entrepreneurial duo from Brooklyn pumped up the hometown crowd, even auctioning off Lilian Garcia’s seat for $1,000. The two teams were equally matched until JTG and Shad were disqualified for grabbing the chair they had auctioned off to wield against their opponents in the ring to combat illegal double-teaming by the rednecks.

Meanwhile, Regal continued his love affair with television game shows, this week donning a tight, black shirt in honor of fellow Brit, Simon Cowell. Regal staged a version of WWE Idol, complete with guest judges Maria and the melodious Mick Foley. In honor of their location near Broadway, Diva Jillian Hall showered the capacity crowd with her cringe-worthy version of the classic “Memories.”

Then, WWE Hall of Famers Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik threw their respective hats in the ring with Volkoff crooning his native Russia’s national anthem. WWE announcer Lilian Garcia, whose new album debuts this fall, graced the audience with her rendition of hometown favorite “New York, New York” until she was interrupted by Santino Marella. The lovelorn Italian cut off Garcia so that he might serenade his lovely Maria with a butchered version of “That’s Amore.” It didn’t take long for Ron Simmons to strut onto the stage to silence Marella the hard way. This earned Simmons such gratitude from Regal that he was automatically named the winner of WWE Idol.

Snitsky, who made quick work of the Highlanders’ Rory McAllister last week, didn’t play any favorites on Monday night. The unpredictable giant disposed Rory’s cousin Robbie just as decisively in well under a minute. The yellow-toothed ogre has looked indestructible for months, and his victories over the formidable Highlanders only shows he is a true force to be reckoned with.