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James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (6.0)

Since I missed the first hour of the show thanks to a Texas-sized storm, I'll analyze the booking of the first hour and give thoughts on what I saw the second hour. The premise of Vince McMahon being forced to go through with this made-up 15-person trade was as lame as TNA's explanation for Samoa Joe turning heel, but I'll gladly over-look the means to the end if the end helps the Raw brand. The addition of Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne has potential written all over it, while Mark Henry's sudden face turn will require some time to digest. Did I really just see that to conclude Raw? Hasn't sunk in yet.

Meanwhile, Randy Orton continues to be booked like the lamest duck champion in recent memory. Not even C.M. Punk was booked to look this weak as champion one year ago. Also, WWE missed an opportunity to push a second tier star into a main event opportunity by going with a repeat of Triple H vs. John Cena. WWE, desperate to keep ratings up, went with star power over building up star power. MVP lost relatively quickly, while Miz had a better showing than at The Bash, but the same finish of showing zero resistance to the Cena Formula Finishing Sequence. Frustrating.

Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.0)

So the ending was pretty cool. I guess that's all that can really be said about Monday night's show. The Vince-Trump angle continues to defy logic in a million ways, so I'm adopting a policy of just throwing up my hands and going with it. Anyway, the 15-superstar exchange went down, and three of ECW's best wrestlers are on Raw. I'm interested to see where they go with Henry, because they made Henry look like a complete beast. Not really enthused with a Orton-Henry feud, but I'll take it over HHH-Orton vol. 20.

The rest of the show was kind of a farce. Miz looked really good in his loss to Cena, but two in two days seems to pretty much illustrate where Miz's stock lies at the moment. MVP got it even worse, as his post-Draft push is pretty much toast after his four-minute clean lose to HHH. So now we get Cena-Hunter next week. Again. I swear, there's absolutely nothing resembling a midcard here. It's reminding me more and more every week of WWE around 2001, 2002 when the Attitude Era was winding down and HHH was champion for nearly an entire year. That's the closest I've ever come to stopping watching, and I can't say last night changed my take a whole lot.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.5)

A so-so show, with my score partially based on what we saw in the last segment; I'm not sure pillaging ECW is the right way to go, nor seeing Mark Henry main event Raw. But time will tell. I'm not sure why Mr. McMahon couldn't veto the Trump trade or the guest G.M. policy now that he's back in charge. I was excited to see some fresh match-ups with MVP and The Miz inserted amongst the top guys, but of course, we go right back to Triple H vs. Cena. Don't know why they didn't let Miz get some mic time to get his heat back from the night before.

The unified tag title match was solid and they actually had me thinking the Colons might win the belts back. The Divas Fatal Four-Way got a lot of time for once, but it sure was bowling-shoe ugly in spots. Big Show vs. Kofi was filler and the main event was interesting- I couldn't believe Mark Henry got the pin over Orton. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of Tony Atlas, though.

Lee Stevens, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)

Monday's show was the summer BBQ which had the burgers and the beer, but your favorite friend who always does something crazy couldn't make it this year. It was still a good time, but on the drive home, you just felt like something was missing and the night could have been so much better.

I enjoyed seeing MVP and The Miz in the championship mix at least for a few minutes, but the actual results left me a bit cold. The Miz had a much better showing than during the previous night's pay-per-view, but in the end John Cena still takes one step forward, while another opponent takes two steps back.

Chris Jericho & Edge made me care about The Colons again and hopefully will give even more credibility to the tag belts. I also enjoyed the three new additions to Raw and I liked the twist with Jack Swagger taking the 10 count and Mark Henry teasing that he would do the same.

What ruined the BBQ for me was simply that there were too many unanswered questions. Why would Vince McMahon blindly accept decisions made by Donald Trump if he didn't agree with them? Why would McMahon feel obligated to acknowledge the trade if he didn't support it? Why would Batista be the first one he would put in charge? Why wouldn't Batista be more adamant about getting revenge on Legacy for injuring him and costing him his title? Why does my Uncle always have to work the grill? Who puts olives in potato salad? How did my friend Brian lose his pants...again?

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