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Wade Keller, Torch Editor (4.0)

They accomplished a lot in terms of setting up Bragging Rights, but it felt like an off-week for the show. They even seemed to realize it with the teaser of the Cena opponent announcement at the end of the main event. The stuff with Legacy pinning each other was more confusing than compelling. The guest hosts didn't add to the show. Maria Menounos wrestling was disrespectful to the craft and training that Divas go through in WWE. Nancy O'Dell was sometimes okay, other times patronizing. The speakerphone bit with Michaels was kind of amusing and so was Jillian's win and quick loss. A good Miz promo and some good in-ring action with Bourne vs. Kingston and MVP vs. Swagger kept this from being below mediocre, but it still doesn't amount to more than a 4.0.

James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (4.5)

This was a frustrating episode of Raw with some "hope for the future" elements from Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, and Randy Orton that are worth drawing attention to. I didn't feel this show was in the category of a "worst episode of all-time," as Raw delivered some truly bad shows this summer. This one held my interest throughout, delivered enough news-worthy elements, and each match had some semblance of purpose even if the foundation for some of the matches was illogical or head-scratching.

The opening segment was really bad TV. I don't know how far in advance WWE knew Shawn Michaels was going to be off the show this week, so I don't want to come down too harshly on Triple H if he was asked to save the segment on short notice. However, considering they had time to create a Shawn Michaels ringtone, I have a hunch they had enough time to figure out a re-write that would have been far better than the masturbatory Triple H monologue that started the show. It's amazing how wrestlers are continually sucked into the Triple H web and come out looking far worse than when they walked in. For example, Big Show being cut out at the knees at the expense of Hunter reminding everyone how cool and smarmy he is.

It's a broken record, but the lack of attention on Raw's mid-card is unbelievably frustrating. Jack Swagger vs. MVP was thrown out there for less than three minutes without even a replay of the finish. They were given so little time that WWE was able to fit ring intros, the match, a backstage segment, and ring intros for the next mid-card match of Kofi vs. Bourne in the same segment. That takes some serious skill to run off Swagger and MVP like that.

Bruce Mitchell, Torch Senior Columnist (3.0)

Look, you don't book one tag team dissension angle, then book the exact same thing in the second hour. You also don't book a new gimmick without explaining why it's important, or even giving it a reason to be important. Why not just let them all split a million dollars? Hell, Vince gave that away to some no-account fans once. "Raw" isn't a team, it's barely a brand. No one much bragged about their team affiliation before, so why should they (or we) care now? Triple H was so laid back without Shawn Michaels there he was just about asleep. Nancy O'Dell seems like too nice a person to be hanging around with this lot.

I like this "John Cena wrestles every hour on the hour" stuff, though. How about just have him wrestle in every match on every show? How sophisticated is that? Hell, Bruce Springsteen & E Street go three hours straight, why not Cena?

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (2.0)

The first 45 minutes of Raw was the worst 45 minutes of a wrestling show I've ever seen. Between Chris Jericho botching his lines, stupid DX comedy, Triple H as the ultimate smart wrestler, Jillian winning non-sensically, then botching the finish with Melina....did anything go right? We've got dissension now in the Jericho and Big Show team, as well as Legacy.

The second hour was better, but I didn't like them teasing two good matches (Swagger vs. MVP and Bourne vs. Kingston), only to give them a combined five minutes of ring time. What is this, Impact? I had no issues with Nancy and Maria as co-hosts, and Maria actually did a respectable job in the ring. She's already better than Rosa. The main event again raised more questions than answers, and not the good kind.


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