James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (6.0)

I had some major issues with this week's show, but I thought the end result was a step in the right direction for the show building to the Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania 26. The biggest of the main issues I had with the show was how the qualifying matches were booked. WWE didn't give the guest host the storyline nod for booking the qualifying matches, which created a scenario where either WWE drew names out of a hat or Hornswoggle grunted and a monkey in the back scribbled down names. Seriously, there was no explanation for why John Cena got an easy match against Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton got a tough match against Shawn Michaels. It's a frustrating element of WWE booking to the masses and trying to simplify things for ten-year-old kids while under-estimating their intelligence factor.

The show-closing angle with Bret Hart, Vince McMahon, and Batista was really strong TV. The sum of the parts made up for the individual parts, as Hart seemed shaky at times on the mic and the physical exchange between Hart and McMahon was pretty rough. WWE planted the seed for John Cena's involvement in the angle, which was a good move to set up an avenue for Cena to be cheered as a babyface at WrestleMania.

Shawn Michaels continues to perform at a high level similar to the Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, and JBL programs from the last two years. WWE continuing to build upon Michaels's "tormented soul" should lead to some good TV the next several weeks with Triple H being a strong player to help create even more internal turmoil with HBK's character. WWE is presenting Hunter the right way to make him seem more fresh compared to doing the DX comedy or playing an over-bearing heel. Next week's tag title match has an obvious conclusion of HBK screwing up and costing DX the tag titles, but the TV that should come along with the predictable result should be good. I'm more positive on the outlook going forward than the overall show itself this week.

Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (8.0)

I'm going to cut to the chase: This was a pretty damn good edition of Raw. From the guest host, to the in-ring action, to the promos, it all seemed to click. With the exception of the final Elimination Chamber qualifier, every match last night was solid, at worst. John Cena and Cody Rhodes left a little more to be desired, but no major complaints. The same could be said with the finish to Ted DiBiase and Mark Henry, but the right guy won and it should be interesting to see where they go from here with Legacy's apparent fallout. I'm also curious to see where Big Show goes from here based on his DQ. Is this something that will be built upon or forgotten next week?

As for William Shatner, he was damn entertaining in his limited role. WWE took my advice (yes, I'm taking credit for it) and has limited the roles of the non-wrestling related hosts in recent weeks and it has paid off. Shatner was funny in his small doses and was also effective. His version of the WWE entrance themes might have been the funniest spot from a guest host to date. Unfortunately, most younger fans probably don't understand why this was so funny, but it was still humorous, nonetheless. As far as Shawn Michaels goes, I can't wait to see where this goes from here. Will Hunter eventually get tired of Shawn's obsession and turn on him? Will Shawn turn on Triple H for not understanding his point of view? A heel turn for either one right now could be very interesting. Next weeks Unified Tag Title match could be telling.

Finally, having the show book-ended by Canadian wrestlers is something I'm totally in favor of. Being from Pittsburgh, that makes total sense...okay, not really, but I'm a big fan of most Canadian wrestlers! Edge got a good reaction and is still being seen as a heel by some. Having Sheamus interrupt his big moment did help with that though. Edge did come across with some heel tendencies in his promo but I think time will turn him into more of a face. If not, he's always great as a heel, so no worries there. For those that weren't thrilled with Bret Hart's promo work last month, then this appearance was for you. I had no problem with last months appearance but this month's was much more polished, in my opinion. It appears as though we may get some type of tag match at WrestleMania with Vince and Batista vs. Bret and a wrestler to be named later. I guess the easy money is that it will be John Cena (he did run down after the cameras turned off) but a swerve here could be nice (maybe the Hart Dynasty or at least one of them to give them a bit of a push?). Overall, this was a very solid post-Rumble show that helped kick off the road to WrestleMania.

Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (6.5)

Every match on the show had a purpose, and I don't know that I can say that very often about ANY wrestling show. That's a step in the right direction, even if the matches and match-ups themselves were flawed. Jack Swagger vs. Triple H was the one requisite good match on the night. I'm surprised they let Swagger hang in there with Triple H. I liked the finish to the Orton vs. Michaels match in that it played into the Rise and Fall of Shawn Michaels. I wonder why they booked Kingston as the only one to back-door his way into the Chamber match.

The backstage repartee with the Divas was interesting and I'm wondering where they're going with Maryse playing nice. William Shatner was fine as guest host, but I was shocked they didn't at least make one Star Trek joke. WWE classed it up with the Jack Brisco video package; too bad they pick and choose who gets one. The final segment was strong, especially Vince McMahon's performance. He did a hell of a job on the mic, and Bret wasn't bad either. It still feels like he's trying to find his footing sometimes. Adding Batista to things will take some explaining, but it's probably smart they don't go for Vince vs. Bret at Wrestlemania at this point.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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