Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

This was a pretty solid showing for Raw, minus the guest host stuff which I won't even bother to touch on. The only thing I will say is that I hope this was the last week for the guest host. The rest of Raw was pretty good, but not great. The failure to really put over the steel cage match for the WWE Title on Sunday was a bit of a downer. I'm guessing that Vince McMahon is hoping that the PPV concept will sell itself...and it may, but it's still a risk to take. I was thrilled, however, to see that John Cena was not too strong in his 6 on 1 match with the Nexus. Had he came out of the match looking too strong, it could have really derailed the who angle. I also liked the beat-down of the wrestlers backstage that have opposed the Nexus. It's a nice touch that helps further the angle. I also get the feeling, at this point, that Sheamus is the behind the scenes leader of the Nexus. Let's keep in mind, he still hasn't been touched once by the Nexus.

As for the Raw ladder match, Mark Henry being inserted at the 8th guy was a big disappointment. I was hoping for a bigger name or at least a Nexus member to get that final spot. Maybe a bigger name would've been too much to ask for since there really aren't many left on the Raw roster that don't have spots on the PPV already. Edge and Randy Orton put on a decent match that saw it's best moment after the match ended really. Orton's RKO on Evan Bourne while he was already mid shooting star press was nothing short of amazing. The timing by both of those guys to pull that off was awesome. On the other side of the participants in that match, I think we could see a really good feud come out of John Morrison and Ted DiBiase after Sunday. I'd like to see Morrison take a more serious approach though, I think that he'd thrive that way.

As for the mid-card lead in to the Money in the Bank PPV, I was happy to see The Hart Dynasty and Usos along with Tamina get some time to put on a decent match to hype their match for Sunday. I still hope that this feud will be elevated some as I think these two teams could put on some solid matches in the coming months. Moving on to the Divas Title, we will get a rematch of last weeks Raw between Eve Torres and Alicia Fox. I hate to be so pessimistic, but I don't think anyone cared and I know this match won't add any real value to the PPV. That's not so much a knock on Fox or Torres as it is the Raw writers that don't give the division any reason for anyone to care.

Overall, the show was solid but failed to deliver much hype for Sunday other than the Raw ladder match. The funny part is, these type of matches normally do sell themselves, but more hype was put into this match than the company's match for the "flagship title." Maybe I'm wrong and the buyrate will show otherwise.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (3.5)

Raw had a terrible first half. The second half was better, but not enough to give the show a good grade. It started off poorly with bad humor from John Cena with lame one liners and references to children's cereal. I continue to be annoyed by the anonymous GM and the flickering lights, computer noise and Michael Cole's stupid interruptions. The mystery of the identity of the GM is being outweighed by the annoyance I feel every time the GM makes a ruling.

In addition to the lame humor from Cena, there was plenty more where that came from. John Morrison had a chance for good comedy with his translation of what Maryse said in French. Unfortunately, he had a bad script which wasn't funny. The Brady Bunch stuff started in the first half of the show, but carried on to the second (part of why the second half wasn't good enough to save the show). This wasn't funny in any way. There was so much wrong with this, from the waste of William Regal, to the stupid laugh track, to the random appearance by Doink the Clown. There have been two recent Raws without guest hosts, and I can't imagine anyone missed them. Do away with them please. The other problem with the first half of the show was the poor job Eve Torres did on guest commentary during Alicia Fox vs. Gail Kim. With performances like that, WWE needs to reconsider making her the top babyface Diva on Raw.

The quality of the program did go up at the start of the second hour with the good two-segment match between Randy Orton and Edge. These two work well together and know how to put on a good match (in this case, one with a particularly strong ending). The fight afterward involving Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne was also well done to continue the hype for Raw's Money in the Bank match at the PPV. Orton's RKO on Bourne in midair was amazing. I also liked Miz's serious promo, following up on what he did to R-Truth last week and threatening to do even worse to the other MIB participants at the PPV. However, I wasn't thrilled with Mark Henry replacing Truth in MIB as the excitement level for the match just went down.

The ending was strong, but not great. The six-on-one handicap match, Nexus vs. Cena was good. Cena looked strong, without looking like Superman in his comeback attempts, and Nexus won clean in the end. Sheamus' save made sense given what happened earlier in the show, but the focus should have been on Cena vs. Sheamus for the WWE Title, not Sheamus & Cena vs Nexus.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (6.0)

The nice thing about the opening segment, and the mystery GM stuff, is that it at least comes off as newsworthy. John Cena's reactions to the GM's rulings continue to be cheesy and over-the-top, however. Fox vs. Gail Kim was way too rushed. I hate when they try to fit a 5-8 minute match into 1:30, with the comeback and the rest hold and everything. Eve vs. Fox should be an okay match on the PPV. They could do worse.

The six-person tag seemed a little too close to giving away too much for their match at the PPV, even though the match didn't even last three minutes. The backstage attacks by Nexus were a nice touch and put some reality behind the statements made by Michael Cole that the locker room was pretty much afraid of Nexus. Ted DiBiase and Maryse looked like they were ready for prom, and John Morrison's promo fell flat, but it got the point across.

Edge vs. Orton had a strong finish and Orton's RKO on Bourne should be replayed for years to come. I failed to mention Mark Henry as a possible replacement for R-Truth on the Livecast yesterday, partly because I was just plain hoping it wouldn't be him. There are so many more deserving wrestlers that could use that spot. Nexus vs. Cena told a good story, with Cena trying to cut off the ring at first. A bit surprising Justin Gabriel got the pin. The ending of the show setting up PPV main event opponents on the same side was odd, but it also seems WWE is making no secret that Nexus will get involved in that match.

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