James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (7.0)

A whole lot of talking and not much bell-to-bell action on this week's Raw, which was actually fine. After so much brutality in the ring at the No Way Out PPV on Sunday, guys like Edge, John Cena, JBL, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Jericho needed the rest. As a result, WWE created some very intriguing talking segments featuring that group of men, but poor Rey Mysterio had to play ragdoll to Mike Knox. Rey deserves the nod for Wrestler of the Month right now and a pay raise. After practically killing himself at No Way Out to set up Edge's World Title victory in the main event, and then wrestling Knox for ten minutes on Raw, he should be in line for an important WrestleMania match. He deserves it for the effort put forth in February.

The Road to WrestleMania is still confusing, yet some things are becoming more clear. We have a good idea it will be Triple H defending the WWE Title against Randy Orton, who has a guaranteed title shot from winning the Royal Rumble. We have a good idea it will be John Cena challenging Edge for the World Title to cash in his re-match. After that, we assume it will be Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker. And we assume Chris Jericho will face one of several legends and/or Mickey Rourke once the Academy Awards goes down this Sunday. Perhaps JBL & Jericho vs. Rourke & Insert Legend in a WrestleMania tag match.

Roddy Piper's promo on Chris Jericho was dragged out, but in a very effective way. I was really impressed with Piper the minute he walked out on stage looking very focused and in the best shape he's been in some time making these random TV appearances. Piper was clear and effective, then Jericho went into ultra-heel mode by kicking Piper in the gut to make him crawl on his hands and knees like Piper said he would do for one more appearance in front of the crowd. Great segment.

Edge's show-opening rant-and-rave was classic Edge and so great for entertainment value. But, the key is that he wasn't just doing that to be entertaining, but to be a great heel to counter John Cena. Well done. ... Shawn Michaels, on the flip-side, was immensely entertaining returning to his roots as a babyface. But, he wasn't just entertaining for the sake of it, but to transition from the sad-faced, puppy-dog eyes Michaels into the legit Mr. WrestleMania. Great piece of drama to set up JBL vs. Michaels next week.

Bruce Mitchell, Torch Columnist (6.5)

Roddy Piper was tremendous talking about "The Wrestler" tonight with Chris Jericho. Triple H's late arrival may have saved the McMahon Family vs. Randy Orton & Legacy feud. Until he arrived, they had gone at least one day too far with that Shane stuff. JBL did a nice job setting up the Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker match, considering his program with Michaels could have lasted through WrestleMania easily. Steve Austin made the right decision in leaving people with the memories of him in his prime.

Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)

A solid show coming off the No Way Out PPV. Because they have been so short sighted in their booking, they have to quickly build the programs ahead of WrestleMania. As a result, this show was heavy on the mic and short in the ring, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It looks like we are going to see Cena-Edge for the title, Jericho against some legend, a three way with Shawn Michaels, JBL and the Undertaker at Mania and Triple H as a face trying to gain revenge for the McMahon family against Randy Orton.

This was two weeks in a row that Jericho has had an in ring confrontation with a legend and my guess is they have another legend stand up to Jericho at Mania with Mickey Rourke in their corner. A lot of the mic work was excellent, including Edge, Jericho, Michaels and Piper. Triple H was too over the top for me in his expressions to close the show. WWE would have been better off having Shane get laid out over the last several weeks to build sympathy for the McMahon family and make Orton stronger, then have Triple H try to gain revenge rather than make Shane out to be as strong or stronger than Orton.

Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)

As the Road To Wrestlemania kicks off, Raw puts in what I thought was actually a pretty good show. The whole twenty minutes of wrestling all night is kind of a bummer, but a bit more tolerable in light of some really strong promo work. I really enjoyed Edge and Cena's promo. It was appropriate for Cena to be at least somewhat gracious, because if they had him be Cena a night after he took three finishers in a row and lost his title, it would've been really forced. Cena-Edge will be a good match, because Edge is one of those guys (like Michaels) who brings the best out of Cena in the ring. I was a big fan of Piper's promo, and if you take the silliness of a feud predicated upon interpretations of a movie out of the picture, I think a Piper-Jericho feud (if they go that route) could lead to some jaw-dropping promo work from both.

The HHH-Orton setup worked well. As bent out of shape as so many are about Orton being killed, at the end of the day, that fateful night with the Shane punches pretty much sealed things. I'm doing my best to accept that they killed Orton's momentum and think they're doing a good job of getting some of it back so far. I think if HHH just straight up came out and talked about Orton messing with his family next week, that'd be great, because not only would it give an added level to this feud, but it's the one Hunter-McMahons card that hasn't been played yet, and when better to do it than heading into Mania?

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

I'll echo most everyone else's sentiments that while the show was short on in-ring action, the mic work more than made up for it. Especially the Roddy Piper-Chris Jericho segment, which left me with goosebumps. It was so unlike most other ranting and raving promos that we're used to from him. This just shows the range he still has.

Michaels-JBL was entertaining, though I had hoped JBL would've addressed the situation about Rebecca slapping him and how there was no DQ called. But having the happy-go-lucky Michaels back was fun, though I could see getting tired of it week-in and week-out. Cena and Edge had a good standoff to start the show and the explanation Vickie gave about putting Edge in the match was sufficient; I just wish they would've said something at the PPV about it. Cena got a little corny and scripted with his line readings near the end. The opening six-man match was well done.

Not sure the point of Noble vs. Kane, especially since they made a big deal two weeks ago of Noble being on ECW now. Mysterio vs. Knox was a good big-man vs. little man match, the type of match Rey has perfected at this point. I didn't mind Melina's fluke win over Beth as Beth got quite a bit of offense. The Shane vs. Orton non-match was ridiculous again in that Orton had to be saved by The Legacy. But I like how they set up HHH vs. Orton, even though I think the E could've gotten more mileage out of HHH vs. Edge and made that a key WM match.

Lee Stevens, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

For an episode so short on actual wrestling, I was pleasantly entertained. Most of the positives involved the microphone. Edge was over-the-top in a good way and John Cena calmly pushed us closer to WrestleMania. I'm not looking forward to another Shawn Michaels match with JBL, but HBK had the appropriate level of happiness with every finger poke after his No Way Out win. I have never been a big fan of Roddy Piper, yet I have already watched his segment three times. For me, it was the perfect tone, delivery and emotion. I'm just not sure where they can go from here and who will be the next veteran?

As for the negatives, there simply wasn't enough actual in-ring action, with the longest match coming from the unsanctioned match to close the show. Many mistakes were made on the way to Shane McMahon taking the kick to the head, but on Monday, the finish was correct. Shane took the punt and Stephanie took the RKO. Triple H's facial expressions were comical and reminded me of a cross between Hulk Hogan "Hulking up" and watching a Shar Pei dog sneeze in slow motion, however I'm willing to be patient and wait for follow-up next week.

It was a decent show and it moved us a bit closer to WrestleMania clarity. If you're a fan of classic mat action, I appreciate why you may not have enjoyed it, but those who held the microphone made solid use of my time. Next week, we need to see them back in the ring.

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