James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (6.5)

The final segment was very strong to entice viewers to order TLC on Sunday. Most of the rest of the show I'd rather soon forgot other than Mark Cuban's enthusiastic, seemingly knowledgeable involvement. WWE did everything in their power to make believe Sheamus is a threat to win the WWE Title from John Cena on Sunday. After all, the deck is stacked. All Sheamus needs to do is put Cena through a table, Sheamus has been invincible on Raw, and Cena has been under-estimating Sheamus every step of the way in the storylines. WWE has the "regret" factor in-play, as viewers will have a sense of regret if Sheamus wins the title and they didn't order the PPV to see it. It's a good motivator to want to be part of history.

DX fooling around with Hornswoggle was expected. Instead of Little People's Court, we got more of Shawn Michaels playing a lackey and Hunter tongue-in-cheek mocking their scripted backstage promos. Meanwhile, Chris Jericho and Big Show stood tall over DX to close out their TLC PPV build-up and give viewers a sense of paying money to watch DX give Jericho and Show their comeuppance on Sunday. The likely result is DX beats the tar out of JeriShow, but JeriShow retains the titles. However, Smackdown is desperate for star power, so DX winning the belts and spending time on Friday night TV isn't beyond the realm of possibilities.

Kofi Kingston's cheap win over Randy Orton was fine to set up their rubber match at the PPV. It's a fine storyline that's lost a bit of steam since Kofi-Orton peaked in MSG with the brawl and boom drop. A long-form match with potential to steal the show could get the feud back on track. Mark Cuban associating with Kofi and getting his payback on Orton was fine. It didn't hurt the storyline.

Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.5)

Obviously, this wasn't a great edition of Raw. However, the promotion of Sunday's TLC PPV wasn't bad. The promotion of the WWE Title match, the Unified Tag Title match, and the Kofi-Orton match was strong. Funny enough, it was a meat and potatoes type formula that worked for the promotion of those three matches. The showdown with Sheamus and John Cena was strong, with Sheamus getting to shine on the mic, which was needed in a big way. I still don't believe that he will beat Cena on Sunday, but he looks really strong going in. JeriShow and DX in the ring was another strong way to make Sunday's match look more important. As for DX's backstage antics, it was what it was and it wasn't that amusing.

Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston continue to entertain and are a "must see" every time that those two are in the ring together. If these two had been feuding for most of 2009, they could have made a push for feud of the year, in my opinion. The only other marginally interesting part of Raw was The Miz getting a clean win over Mark Henry. It has been refreshing lately to see WWE let some of their heels get clean wins and this was no exception. The rest of Raw, including a lot of the segments with Mark Cuban, was boring filler. The major parts of the show did deliver in a good way, but the rest of the show just dragged Raw down. The reason I give Raw a 5.5 instead of a 5 or 4.5 is mainly because the show did do it's job of putting over that there is a PPV this Sunday and it promoted the Raw matches on the card. Other than that, it was a sub-par show.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.0)

Aside from Mark Cuban's involvement, and the final, show-closing angle, there wasn't a lot to like about this show. The matches were short and inconsequential, even the U.S. Title match. Miz winning cleanly was the right move; he certainly has more long-term potential than Mark Henry. I didn't have a problem with them giving away another Orton vs. Kofi match, since the finish was screwy with Cuban's fast count. WWE is counting on fans to see the PPV match as the "real thing" with no shenanigans.

I could get behind an Evan Bourne/Primo tag team, if they were used decently. The Mixed Tag Match had something somewhat worthwhile come of it, that being the unexpected "Masterlock" chants from the fans. That's the best thing I can say that has come out of this Chavo vs. Hornswoggle feud thus far. And the show-closing angle melded WWE's desire for a media-grabbing moment, while also hyping the PPV and putting Sheamus over. Much better than when they just seek attention with the guest hosts for the sake of attention.

We suggest these recent related articles...

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Roman Reigns & Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman

METZGER'S ROH TV REPORT 10/4 & 10/7: IWGP World champ Okada vs. Roderick Strong main event, plus Briscoes vs. Time Splitters, more from "Field of Honor," Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/7: TNA Title Series kicks off, Bound for Glory fall-out, more; Overall Reax