James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (3.5)

I'm more concerned about the mid-card right now rather than anything else on the show. Well, I don't know if I care that much about the mid-card. Why invest thoughts in characters who WWE is going to bury anyways?

So, Triple H returns, destroys everyone, and officially puts an end to Randy Orton once again. Now what? WWE blew the big return in one big TV-concluding moment. If they're going to get any heat back on Orton to make anyone buy him as a threat to Hunter, they have to make a giant swing back in the opposite direction to where the only thing Orton can do is kill Hunter. I say that half-way facetiously, but that's where WWE has gone with this. WWE's desperation to boost ratings and interest in a terrible Raw brand has clouded sound judgment on Hunter's reintroduction. Teasing what Hunter would do once he gets his hands on Orton again would have been the way to go if they want to make money off Hunter destroying Orton. Now, they've given it away. Why spend money to see a match between the two where the only thing left of interest would be the fate of the WWE Title?

Speaking of the title, Batista apparently still has it, but WWE didn't bother to announce a result to the farce of a title match in the main event. They managed to bury Orton and make the title belt an orphan cast aside into the cool Louisiana night. The only thing left to sell Hunter vs. Orton on was the WWE Title on the line again, assuming they get it off Batista, yet the belt was deemed a complete afterthought.

The Miz was the star of the show, in my estimation. His surprise chair-shot attack on Big Show was great. It was surprising and emphatic and helped shift the focus back on him where it should be. I liked WWE teasing the Cena vs. Miz match to see how a live "focus group" audience would react and they were definitely into the potential match-up. WWE is wise to save it for PPV, which should lead to Miz winning by nefarious means to set up a re-match when Miz really, really, really has Cena's attention.

Mid-card was torn up on the show. MVP vs. Matt Hardy receives ZERO pre-match hype. This is for two potential main eventers, including MVP, who the audience wants to see in a position to become a legit main eventer. ... Kendrick and Chavo and Noble are apparently fortunate to have TV time and jobs right now. ... No one cared about the tag team "main event" since WWE didn't bother to hype it to the live or TV audience. ... Edge was fine in his role blasting Vickie, but the whole segment was WWE at its worst with such hatred written into Edge's promo.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

I don't know how Shawn can say this was a forgettable show (see below) when three major stories happened: Batista's injury, Vickie resigning and Triple H returning. I must have taken my crazy pills yesterday, because I thought this show was rather OK. Maybe I've become immune to the two major complaints of last night, that being Edge verbally running down Vickie (what else is new? Everyone does that) and Triple H destroying people (what else is new?).

I'll tell you what I did like: Batista's opening promo- he had a very conversational to it, unlike John Cena, who sounds like he's preaching every time he cuts a promo. Kofi vs. Regal was good while it lasted and like complaining about the tag division, it's pointless to continue to complain about match length on Raw- it's just the way it is folks, take it or leave it. The six-man tag was the kind of corny comedy WWE likes, but at least it was relatively short. The Miz vs. John Cena angle continues to be good, even with Big Show mixed in. I hope we don't get another Show vs. Cena match though.

The Vickie quitting thing felt very rushed and really last-minute, but I guess it had to be since she gave notice. The tag match was fine and a good win for Team Priceless, who haven't picked up enough victories lately. Triple H's attack on Orton and Legacy was another predictable beat-down, but at least Trips is credible enough to pull it off, and it wasn't Shane McMahon running through the group. And yeah, HHH seems to have gotten his revenge on Orton and personally, I'm not looking for another feud between the two, but I'm sure Orton will get back at The Game soon enough.

Shawn Valentino, PWTorch.com Contributor (3.0)

This was another lame, forgettable show. Legacy continues its course on being one of the weakest factions in the history of wrestling. This year they were nearly beaten up one on three, not once, but twice in one show. To their credit, they were able to overcome Batista and send him away on an injury angle. Unfortunately, any hope of seeing a more complex, vulnerable Triple H was thrown out the window yesterday as he ran through Orton, DiBiase and Rhodes like a wrecking crew. This should set up some more cookie-cutter programming that is no different from what we have seen the last five years. Orton's character has been absolutely destroyed to the point where I do not even want to see him on television.

The rest of the show was not just awful again. MVP continues to be an embarrassment on the eyes with this dorky smiling babyface character. The segment between Edge and Vicki was absolutely atrocious. I am not one who is offended easily so that did not bother me so much as the fact that it was just terribly done. I am glad Vickie is gone from television because her character is really derailed the last few months. At least finally it was established what should have been hinted at and played off of more the last few years that Edge was using her the whole time. The sight of Vickie crying was one that makes you be embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.

The only real highlights of the show for me were Miz and Maryse. They had a nice little interaction backstage. Miz finally did what I felt WWE should have been doing for years and that was create an anti-Cena shirt. Maryse seems to be one of the few people out there having fun with her character. If you pay attention, she has some type of arrogant gesture nearly every second she is on screen. It really says something when a mid-card act and a Diva are the highlight of your main show.

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