James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (4.0)

The Raw brand needs to find itself. Without the four big anchors of John Cena (in a major role), Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, and Triple H, the show hasn't found an identity two weeks into the official brand split. Randy Orton is the star and leader of the show, but having to sell for SuperShane McMahon just hurts his credibility immensely. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase aren't being helped by this program, either. They're presented as Orton's clones and they look like chumps selling for the non-wrestler Shane. No one is benefiting from this program.

MVP was the star of last week's show, but he was limited to a run-in and a count-out loss to start a program with William Regal on this week's show. Matt Hardy seemed to have something going with the "loaded cast" gimmick last week, but he lost in a clunky match to Kofi Kingston this week. The Brian Kendrick had a decent showing last week, but this week, he was relegated to a quick squash to turn him into the Raw brand's next Jamie Noble.

At least The Miz had another outstanding promo against John Cena, but he suddenly disappeared once Big Show appeared on the scene. Show doing his best impression of a Smackdown TV match by doing "one move, then walking around, then doing another move, then walking around" ended with a thud. I don't think too much people are excited for a down-and-out-and-lifeless Cena vs. Show match at Judgment Day. Cena inspires people to pay money to watch his matches with his energy and resolve. I like the two-week selling of the injuries from Backlash, but Big Show doesn't make up for Cena's current lack of energy while he's long-term selling.

The show needs a spark or a clear theme. Right now, the Raw brand writers are trying to fit the pieces together after the Draft, but a segment that starts with Festus singing and ends with Big Show walking around the ring epitomizes the lack of focus or direction on the brand right now.

Bruce Mitchell, Torch Columnist (5.0)

I like all the heat on Randy Orton and Legacy, but WWE better hope a little Triple H absence will make WWE fans hearts grow fonder or this may be a long year for WWE. I know they had to get MVP out of the way to focus on Batista at Judgment Day, but it was disappointing to see what seemed to be him thrown back to William Regal's level. Maybe Regal will just be used to job for Sherri Shepherd. I think The Miz is in for even worse treatment than MVP, since he doesn't have a women's talk show host in his corner. That's got to be the first that particular sentence, or anything close, has been written in a wrestling publication.

Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Contributor (4.5)

Not a terrible show, but if you compare it to last Friday's Smackdown show, this was a poor show. Show was heavy built around Shane McMahon/Batista against Legacy. The build was fine if Shane was going to become the next young, babyface superstar as he was the heavy underdog going against the odds all night, but Shane is not a full time wrestler and is nearly 40 years old. Where Smackdown focused on building fresh feuds, logical storylines, good matches and a World Title that meant something, Raw was focused on putting over a McMahon that will never be a full time main event talent. The final segment was a strong way to end the show, but getting to that point was a slow two hours.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (3.0)

Being there live certainly did not help this show. It started off well, but went downhill all night, crashing down in the main event with Shane vs. Legacy match. I haven’t watched the tape of it yet, but I’m guessing it didn’t come off any better on TV. There were no standout matches, with most being too short to amount to anything. And Shane McMahon’s wrestling fantasy camp continues. What a shame.

The opening segment was promising in that it set up some intriguing matches for the rest of the night. Batista vs. Dibiase was good on Superstars a few weeks back, so I was hoping we’d get something similar. And MVP vs. Rhodes would be intriguing. But in the end, lame finishes and too-short matches resulted in both being downright disappointing. Matt Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston was fine, and I expected Hardy to win to continue his use of the cast to gain victories. But it was nice to see Kofi get the pinfall, as he could use it. Santino’s backstage verbal assault on Chavo was funny.....for some reason, making fun of Vickie is funnier coming from him rather than Triple H.

It seems like all of William Regal’s feuds start with him interfering from the commentary position. I don’t have high hopes for his feud over the US Title with MVP, thanks in part to his previous feud with CM Punk, which was terribly underbooked. Festus beating Jillian in a singing contest was good for a cheap laugh, and a nice call-back to Miz beating up Festus again. But then, like MVP last week, he took the backseat to another boring Big Show beat-down on John Cena. Hopefully, they don’t forget about the Cena vs. Miz feud.

Mickie vs. Maryse was a little below-average live, but they may have been able to cover it up with camera angles and cuts on TV. Batista vs. Dibiase was fine while it lasted. Carlito vs. Kendrick was pointless and a waste of both men. This show just seemed thrown together with no focus. And what can I say about Shane McMahon getting 80% of the offense in the main event? I can keep writing about how stupid it is, but WWE will keep running him out there. I’m hoping those days are over now that Legacy took out his ankle (or more accurately, his foot), but I’m not so sure with Super Shane. Just think of all the TV time he’s getting that they could be using to build the mid-card or undercard to be valuable for the next time a top star goes out with an injury or there’s a Draft Lottery.

Shawn Valentino, PWTorch.com Contributor (2.0)

This was a bad show on many levels that was not quite saved by one bright spot. The best part of the program was again The Miz who has surprised many with his strong promo work the last two weeks. He has gone solo and immediately called out the top act in the company with biting remarks that should win him some fans amongst the adult male demographic. Thankfully, somebody up in the company understands the staleness of Cena's pandering act enough to let Miz attack him about it.

Unfortunately, his impassioned promo led nowhere as he bizarrely disappeared from the ring when Cena actually did come out and Big Show followed. Can anybody explain that? Certainly not the atrocious commentary team of Cole and Lawler, who seem to get worse every week. If WWE is going to mess with any announcers, these should be the two, and I feel that they should both be ousted and replaced by fresher voices who actually care about what is going on.

All of the matches on the show were weak. We still have no reason to care about characters like Kofi Kingston, Dibiase Jr., Carlito, etc. MVP as face just does not click at all for me, and trying to make him look like a ladies man just does not fit this awkward character. And speaking of ladies, just the mere mention of The View immediately brings this show down to a failure level. Cole should be terminated from the wrestling business for claiming to "watch the show all the time."

Worst of all was Shane O'Mac continuing his ridiculous superhuman badass routine. Watching this graying, dorky looking middle-aged dad who looks like he should be selling insurance hold his own against three of the supposedly top young stars in the company is just absurd. Hopefully, he is off of television for a long time, and if he never comes back it would be too soon. This entire McMahon family versus Legacy storyline has been a disaster, as was this show, other than a few good moments.

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