Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

This was an above average edition of Raw. However, I had a chip on my shoulder throughout the show. The very large chip that killed my usual optimistic and light-hearted mood toward Raw is/was the Bryan Danielson firing. I know a few days have passed but I sat and watched the opening segment of Raw with contempt for WWE and its PG policies. Choking has been involved in wrestling for as long as I remember watching it and if this is truly why Danielson got "future endeavored," then this is a huge turning point for how I will continue my pro wrestling viewing habits. If this all does turn out to be one of the biggest works in modern wrestling history, then I will admit that I was bamboozled and apologize to Vince McMahon (not that he'd care I'm sure, but I'm a man of my word and would still do so).

As for the follow up to the NXT angle, it was decent but not as strong as its start. I was glad to see them get the "last word" in and figured that they would. Was there a logic gap in Bret Hart leaving himself vulnerable to a beat-down (by not staying on the stage with the rest of the roster)? Sure. But, this is pro wrestling (well...kind of when we speak of WWE) and there are going to be logic gaps sometimes. With that said, the attack was believable and was a nice way to further the angle. Lastly, did anyone else notice that Chris Jericho wasn't on the stage with the rest of the roster?

The rest of the show was up and down, as usual. Having a four-way match right before a PPV that features four-way matches was sort of ridiculous. I was happy to see The Miz regain the US Title though as he seems to carry it around like it means something to him. I do have to agree with Rich Twilling over at ProWrestling.net though when he wondered why R-Truth would invoke his rematch clause in a four-way match. If we're going to discuss logic gaps, that's the one to discuss. It was nice to see Zack Ryder get put into a match that wasn't a throwaway though.

The rest of the matches on Raw aren't really worth breaking down. I know I mentioned Jericho before but is there any guy that gives more for the business and gets buried more than he does? Sure, he headlined WrestleMania but he has been buried since. I know there's rumored backstage heat on Jericho for taking the role to host a show on ABC, but this is ridiculous. My last major complaint is the fact that we saw the guest host, Mark Feuerstein, get a match while The Hart Dynasty and the Uso's were kept on the sidelines. This is a feud worth building but instead we get a match involving a guy that has never wrestled in his life. Also worth noting is that Ted DiBiase is now also the flavor of the season for butting heads with the guest host. Not exactly a good way to build up young talent. This was not the best lead in show for a PPV that will probably end up being the weakest one in 2010 in both sales and quality.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

This was a much better Raw that last week, which isn't necessarily saying much. It got off to a good start with the opening segment featuring Wade Barrett and the other NXT Rebels and Bret Hart. There was more logic presented in this follow-up to the invasion angle from last week than I expected. Hart stumbled over some of his words and I was disappointed that the Rebels would just leave during the first commercial break, but it was still a strong opening.

The wrestling quality was up and down and up. The opening match was a good Fatal Four-Way for the United States Championship with R-Truth losing the Title to The Miz which was predictable, but it was still a good match also featuring John Morrison and Zack Ryder. The quality of the wrestling went down in the mid-card matches. None of them were bad, but they weren't good either. With the exception of the big brawl which was well done, the rest of the show until the main event just felt like filler. There were filler matches that really meant nothing as we waited for the main event and the next part of the NXT angle.

The main event was a good tag match, particularly the second half of the match as the quality really picked up as it proceeded. John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge & Sheamus was a good match and a nice tease for their main event at the PPV on Sunday. The non-finish was fine considering the show ending angle. I liked a lot of what WWE did with the NXT follow-up, but thought that they rushed through too much content with three appearances on one show. They tried too hard to advance the storyline too quickly in order to get enough of it in before the PPV. That was one drawback, but it was still a vastly improved show over last week despite its flaws.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (7.0)

I liked the opening segment as it pertains to the NXT crew. I'm surprised how many people didn't like it. It gave each NXT member a chance to speak on the mic, but wisely kept short because of their inexperience. I also didn't mind the mid-show brawl and WWE running them out of the arena; some people don't seem to be happy that the WWE crew got the advantage, but you can't just let the NXT guys one-up WWE at every avenue; it's not realistic, either, that eight rookies would be able to constantly out-do WWE's roster.

The show closing segment was a bit hokey, and WWE has involved Bret Hart in one too many car-related angles. But overall, a mild thumbs up for the follow-up to the NXT angle, and I even liked how they wrote out Daniel Bryan; he's now got a ready-made angle waiting for him up on his return (which is hopefully sooner rather than later). The Fatal Four-Way U.S. Title match was very high-energy and the title change seemed only to emphasize how easy it can be for champions to lose their belt in such matches.

The guest host stuff was relatively harmless. Jericho vs. Bourne was a nice, albeit short, match. Not sure where they're going with Jericho losing all the time. They did enough in the women's tag match to make it passable. The main event was a solid 17+ minute match, but seemed to water down the title match at the PPV, considering we got to see all four of the guys in the ring together, for free, less than a week before the PPV.

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