James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (5.5)

What dragged down my rating of this show was not only a lack of urgency on a taped show, but the "Tribute to the Troops" voice-overs from Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole that were utterly annoying. The Raw announce team can be rough live, but listening to the "canned voice-overs" from Cole and Lawler trying to re-create fake energy throughout the show irks me.

In any event, the inclusion of MDM Ted DiBiase onto the show was a great touch. He showed tremendous range throughout the multiple segments he was involved in and helped advance the eventual Legacy break-up by trying to get in his son's head. DiBiase, Jr. had a great showing against Randy Orton, who helped a younger star look good before pulling out a pinfall for the second week in a row.

John Cena vs. Triple H was a very nice TV main event. WWE gave bare bones hype for the match building up to the main event, most likely because they didn't want a huge sense of disappointment based on the No Contest finish. Instead, heat was on Orton, DiBiase, and Rhodes for ruining a good match, rather than heat on WWE for over-promising and under-delivering on the finish. Line-up for the three-way seems pretty clear: Hunter - face, Cena - tweener, Orton - heel.

The beginning of the MVP vs. Jack Swagger program was well done. I'm not a huge fan of the Booker T school of thought to dip into a criminal past to show redemption, but it gives Swagger plenty of talking points and material to work with. I'd like to see what kind of chemistry they have in the ring together. Great first night going back and forth.

Lee Stevens had a great point in his Microscope review that if the weekly "Guest Host" of Raw has unlimited power, then why can't he book title matches...and why wouldn't next week's Guest Host undo the "no title matches" stipulation if he/she has unlimited power? Does Vince McMahon have veto power to over-rule Congressional rulings? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? It's a messy, messy storyline. Welcome to the Raw brand.

Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

This was the most entertaining Raw in quite some time (I know, that's not really saying much). But, it was still a solid show, regardless. The tease of Ted DiBiase splitting away from Legacy, while I think it is too soon, has been done very well. Ted proved last night that he can be a main event guy, sooner if not later, and has the in-ring skills to have good (if not great) matches. Randy Orton giving his nod of approval afterward and Ted's slap to his father will put the split and main event push on hold indefinitely, but the seeds have definitely been planted. I wish I could say the same for Cody Rhods at this point, but I can't.

Jack Swagger and MVP in the VIP Lounge was a highlight of the show. The back and forth between these two was great. Both of these guys can deliver on the mic and in the ring and this should be a great mid-card feud.

The VIP Lounge segment along with the US Title picture and Colon breakup was promising for the establishment of a mid-card now on Raw. Here's hoping they let these guys run with the ball some and incorporate some srtong secondary storylines on Raw.

Gail Kim got to pin the Divas Champion? A pleasant and refreshing surprise since I think Kim is one of the top three female wrestlers in the WWE and it's nice to see her finally featured in a match since her WWE return. But, I thought this feud was between Mickie James and Maryse? Like I said, don't get me wrong, I love Gail Kim's work, but the booking seemed just a little off here. I guess this isn't a complaint as much as it was a head scratcher.

Do I really want to see a Triple Threat for the WWE Title at Night of Champions? No, not really. However, this at least adds a wrinkle to the Triple H-Orton feud. Triple H and John Cena actually had a very strong match last night. After all these months, it makes me wonder if maybe Triple H and Orton can't have a strong singles match with each other unless there is a big stipulation to give it some excitement. Something about the two is just boring in a basic one on one matchup. I wasn't expecting much from Triple H and Cena last night but was pleasantly surprised with a good match. The back and forth was great and did have me on the edge of my seat wondering who would win (as I don't read the spoilers).

I wasn't surprised with the ending though, as much I didn't want to see a Triple Threat at Night of Champions. Here's hoping Raw can keep 'righting the ship" in the coming weeks as the past show or two has definitely been a step in the right direction...even if Michael Cole's lack of excitement and passion doesn't show even when Raw puts on strong matches (especially Orton vs. DiBiase).

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)

I was excited about this edition of Raw, as I've always been a big Ted DiBiase fan. While his first promo in the ring didn't "feel" like a traditional DiBiase promo, the rest of the time he seemed really "on." I especially liked his backstage segment with the son of the son of a plumber. The opening tag match was very bland, but hard to blame them, having to wrestle the same guys twice in one night. They seemed to expedite Carlito's turn on Primo, as it feels like they could've drawn that out a little more. Still, it seemed to get over with the live crowd.

The Divas tag bout was pretty good, not surprising considering the four they had in this match. I was surprised they had Gail pin Maryse, but anything to make Kim a serious threat; she was lost in the shuffle not long after returning on Smackdown. I liked Cody walking out on the match with Henry; it leaves him with some credibility and was a fine way to present the newly-turned face Henry in week two. He's not someone you can overuse week after week.

Orton vs. DiBiase made Teddy look quite credible, which was the result I was looking for. MVP and Jack Swagger had a good back-and-forth; I'm sure some fans will be disappointed Swagger is being thrown into a mid-card feud instead of being right in the main event upon his move to Raw, but those people probably haven't paid attention to WWE's history of pushing younger guys. I didn't like Big Show destroying Bourne and Kingston; Put the most unathletic, boring veteran wrestler on the roster on the show and have him destroy the two youngest and most exciting guys they have. Is that supposed to make Show more of a heel or is that just more of WWE’s stupid booking?

Cena vs. Triple H was your usual match between the two, hard to get excited about because we've seen it a thousand times before, but nothing technically wrong with it and actually pretty good in some segments.

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