By Jason Powell

Dot Net Members are listening to my 43-minute audio review of Monday's Raw, and the 81-minute audio review of WWE Night of Champions that Chris Shore and I recorded. You can join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

WWE Raw Hits

Triple H fires The Miz and R-Truth: I like the hook they delivered early in the show by having Hunter tease that someone would be fired by the end of the night. The firing of Miz and R-Truth leads me to believe more than ever that we're getting some type of NWO faction with fired wrestlers Kevin Nash, Miz, and Truth joining forces. I'd add Big Show to the mix given his ties to the early version of the faction. I don't know if WWE is ready to pull the trigger on a John Cena heel turn, but it would be interesting to see him side into the Hulk Hogan role by revealing himself to be the new NWO mystery man during the Survivor Series match. Yeah, I'm getting a little ahead of myself with that one, but I can dream.

Mark Henry, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler angle: I must say upfront that the "Hit" is based strictly on entertainment value. With Lawler suffering an injury, WWE has to reexamine whether the risk of putting aging wrestlers or former wrestlers in physical situations is worth it. Having said that, the angle itself was strong. The fans don't react to injury angles involving wrestlers like they once did. Ross and Lawler are beloved figures, and the fans definitely react to them being roughed up by a monster heel. Henry is delivering the best work of his career and I'm praying that WWE doesn't drop the ball by having him drop the strap to Randy Orton at Hell in a Cell.

John Cena and C.M. Punk vs. The Miz and R-Truth: A good television main event with the right guy going over. It was good to see Punk take the hot tag from Cena and then getting the win for his team, as he needed the spotlight more than Cena. I hope they tone down the friendliness between Cena and Punk, as it feels a little too soon, but perhaps they feel that it's more important to have Cena endorse Punk in hopes of broadening his appeal.

Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison: This is exactly what Del Rio needed after being established as a chickenshit champion and then dropping the strap at Night of Champions. Obviously, it's not good news for Morrison, who means less right now than he has in a long time.

Hugh Jackman: I normally roll my eyes at the celebrity guest stars, but Jackman did a nice job. He took his role seriously and appeared to be having a great time. I still don't want to see guest stars on a regular basis, yet if we must get the guest hosts, then one can only hope that they'll be as good as Jackman was.

Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler: It now looks like Ziggler will be turning babyface and I think he has the charisma to pull it off. I wish WWE would have followed up Ziggler's impressive outing with Randy Orton in a more meaningful manner, but it looks like they have something in mind for Ziggler going forward.

Air Boom, Sheamus, and Justin Gabriel vs. Christian, Wade Barrett, David Otunga, and Michael McGillicutty: It was odd to see Barrett team with his former Nexus partners despite their rocky breakup, but the match itself was a quality first television match. The face team worked in plenty of crowd pleasing high spots, and Sheamus looked like a badass as he hit his finisher on Otunga while glaring at Christian. I just hope WWE has Sheamus tone down all the smiling and babyface antics. The fans will react to him if he continues to be the no nonsense badass character he played as a heel.

Overall show: A good night for WWE. I was really down on the product after Night of Champions and I still have issues with some of the booking decisions that were made on that show, but the followup was well done in most cases.

WWE Raw Misses

Kelly Kelly and Eve vs. Beth Phoenix and Natalya: Beth and Natalya were fun because they were portrayed as the dominant Divas. Beth lost clean to Kelly twice on pay-per-view, and then Natalya was pinned clean by Eve. I assume it's leading somewhere, but right now it looks like creative is hellbent on taking the dominant portrayal away from Beth and Natalya. I just can't buy Kelly having competitive matches with these two. Having her eek out a win doesn't bother me, but watching her trade offense evenly is impossible for this viewer to take seriously.

Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara: The live crowd looked confused and/or uninterested in the drama between the two Sin Cara characters. It's probably easier to follow on television, but I hope they get to the part where the impostor starts wearing different gear so that fans know which wrestler to root for. I'm still hoping we get a better explanation regarding how the impostor was able to wrestle as Sin Cara so long. Yes, I know the original Sin Cara was supposedly injured at Money in the Bank, but did he lose his ability to make a phone call when someone stole his identity? By the way, where the hell did Cody Rhodes go?

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