Bruce Mitchell, Torch Columnist (5.5)

I thought the booking and performances for the Randy Orton-Triple H angle was solid this week. They figured out logical reasons why Orton wouldn't press charges for assault and why Triple H wouldn't try to kill Orton before their match at WrestleMania. Chris Jericho's Parade of Mid-Atlantic Champions wasn't quite what it was the last three weeks, but he got everything there was to get out of Jimmy Snuka. Shawn Michaels did all right with Vladimir Kozlov.

The problem with the show was Creative lost control of the Edge-John Cena angle. It's one thing for Cena to have to slay some dragons on the pay-per-views before WrestleMania, but now is not the time to leave fans with the impression that Big Show is facing his buddy for the World Title at WrestleMania instead of the number one favorite in the company, John Cena.

Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)

This was another strong Monday Night Raw. WWE is focused on building matches for WrestleMania and the renewed focus is producing good, entertaining TV. I liked the opening segment as they recapped the Orton/Triple H angle. The opening segment was very good with Jericho and Snuka on Piper's pit. Jericho again was an awesome heel in this role and Snuka was also good. Jericho made another reference to Mikey Rourke, indicating Rourke will somehow be involved in WrestleMania.

I thought Randy Orton and Triple H also had a good in ring confrontation, using their verbal skills to build to their match at WrestleMania. I thought Orton stood out in his confrontation with Hunter. Shawn Michaels was able to do something that no one else has been able to do; get a decent match out of Koslov. Nice look at the newest HOF inductee, Cowboy Bill Watts. I was surprised they gave away a Cena-Edge match on free TV, but it now appears they are building a Cena-Edge-Big Show program for WrestleMania. I thought Cena and Edge had a very good TV main event match.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)

"Focus" was the key word to describe this show: There was no fluff, and every segment had a purpose. That purpose was building toward Wrestlemania, and if I had to guess, from here on out, we'll see more four-match Raws that will focus on advancing angles rather than in-ring action.

The Jericho segment with Snuka was fine, hampered only by the fact that Snuka didn't get any mic time (which is not necessarily a bad thing). I would've kept picking legends who could go toe-to-toe with Jericho on the mic. I'm hoping this lead to Jerich-Lawler at 'Mania as I think that would be as good a match as any other legend you could scrape up out there, plus Lawler can hold his own on the mic against Jericho. I'm not keen on seeing Kane in the MITB match again, and I would've picked Rey or Knox over him. Hopefully, they have something in mind for Rey for the big show.

The women's tag match was just to set up Melina vs. Maryse. Again, Melina wouldn't be my first choice to have represent Raw divas. Another big brawl ensued with the ladies, so I'm thinking we get a Lumberjill match or something at the PPV. The Orton-Triple H segment was long, but it was the money segment WWE was looking for to sell that match. I thought it worked well, even though we just saw the "he can't touch me" provision with Michaels-JBL. Orton should be good in the next few weeks trying to egg on HHH.

Michaels WAS able to carry Kozlov to a decent match, and I'm guessing Kozlov gets a MITB shot at 'Mania, because I don't see how he fits in anywhere else. Edge vs. Cena was very good and I don't think we'll see Big Show vs. Edge in a singles match at 'Mania. I think Cena will make it a triple-threat match eventually; that allows Cena to overcome even bigger odds, and we know that's what WWE likes to do with him.

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