James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (7.0)

I thought this was one of the better Raws since WrestleMania season died down, which isn't saying a lot because there have been some rough episodes, but this show recaptured that sense of urgency, purpose, and energy that Raw has been missing lately. When Raw is on, there's a certain energy on the show that comes through the TV and can usually cover for some errors on the show. I'll credit Batista for providing the energy this week thanks to his stellar show-opening performance playing a disillusioned, entitled star.

After Batista's performance, WWE delivered a meaningful Sheamus vs. Mark Henry match, a very good TV match between R-Truth and The Miz (although I thought it was terrible how flippantly they treated the U.S. Title being vacated and suddenly contested in a random match), and a main event of Cena vs. Jericho vs. Edge with high energy and a sense of urgency to the match to cover for some really sloppy spots and sequences.

The guest-hosting bit with Jon Lovitz killed all that energy momentarily. It was just a lame, horrible attempt at comedy that had no place on the show, especially on a show that was moving along at a brisk pace. Ten minutes of TV time could have been invested in establishing the personalities of Evan Bourne, John Morrison (even if he's injured), Yoshi Tatsu, and other mid-card stars who desperately need TV time to connect with the audience in light of WWE's dwindling roster. Ted DiBiase ended up looking silly - and not threatening - coming out of that segment and no one wants to see Khali and Ranjin Singh do their act. It was a completely inefficient use of TV time.

Wade Keller, Torch Editor (7.0)

Good opening segment, the qualifying matches (both of them) had a sense of purpose, and the outcome of the main event wasn't predictable, which was a bonus. Miz vs. R-Truth was the best match on the show, and the push of Truth is interesting and surprising. The women's match was annoying short, as usual. The tag team match was annoyingly short, also. The angle afterward with the new team introduced some hope of something fresh in the tag division. I don't know that Bret is a ratings draw, but he adds some legend star power and a long-term storyline possibility as he tries to "play it straight" as the man in charge. The Lovitz stuff was embarrassingly bad.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (6.5)

The opening segment accomplished a lot, and boy did Batista hit a home run in his final Raw appearance (for a while, anyway). Bret Hart as GM makes sense and he does add something to the show in that role. Sheamus vs. Mark Henry was about as good as you'd expect from those two, though there was no drama in the match. What exactly did Henry do to deserve a shot at qualifying for the Fatal Four-Way match, anyway? The Divas match was just a way for Maryse to get her heat back after her loss at the PPV.

R-Truth vs. Miz was a solid bout, and with WWE looking to push more African-American wrestlers, not a complete surprise that Truth won there. The Jon Lovitz in-ring segment was nearly saved by Lovitz himself, who did a nice job in his role. The rest was pretty awful, though. The debut of the Usos hopefully is good news for the tag division. I just hope they don't become the Dudebusters of Raw. The main event was a good way to end things to begin building toward Fatal Four-Way.

We suggest these recent related articles...

CALDWELL'S WWE RAW RESULTS 10/5: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live Raw - Lesnar returns, Cena's Open Challenge, more

CALDWELL'S WWE RAW RESULTS 9/28: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live Raw - John Cena's Open Challenge, Paul Heyman, Reigns vs. Wyatt main event, MizTV, more

CALDWELL'S WWE RAW RESULTS 9/21: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live Raw - Night of Champions fall-out, Cena vs. Rollins U.S. Title re-match, Bizzaro Kane, more