WWE Raw Hits

Shawn Michaels and JBL: I had a hard time suspending my disbelief for this storyline, but the backstage segment with Triple H filled in some storyline gaps and the performances of HBK and JBL have been strong. I really enjoyed the final moments of the show with Shawn struggling to lie down for JBL, and I liked the finish with him deciding to take the Clothesline From Hell, which is makes him much more sympathetic than just lying down and allowing himself to be pinned. My guess is that because Shawn has sold his soul to JBL, Undertaker will come to collect whatever is left at WrestleMania 25.

Randy Orton vs. JBL vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: In addition to the big finish, I was happy to see WWE deliver clean pinfalls to set up the JBL and HBK portion of the match. I hope the TNA creative staff is paying attention. Established stars like Randy Orton and Chris Jericho can be pinned and still come back just as strong the next week.

Matt Hardy vs. Manu: Solid match. It was nice to see Manu get some time to show off some of the power moves from his repertoire even though he lost the match. I am curious to see where they go from here given the storyline that he would lose his spot in The Legacy if he lost the match. At this point, I'd rather see Manu in the group than Sim Snuka.

John Cena: His appearance on the show was one of the few things that woke up the dead crowd. His promo backstage was a little over the top for my liking, but he got the crowd fired up and put on a solid show in the 10-man tag match. Other than last week's show in Toronto, Cena has been getting more cheers than boos since he returned. Whether you like his act or not, there's no denying that he is a hero to the younger fans and he plays his role very well.

WWE Raw Misses

Michael Cole: I praised Cole and Lawler last week, but Cole's performance on Monday night was dreadful. I'm not just talking about little things like claiming Dolph Ziggler was undefeated even though he lost his Raw debut match to Batista. That line was probably fed to him. Granted, he should pay attention to the product enough to shrug off those lines, but my real problem lies with his delivery. I spoke with a former WWE employee last week who acurately compared his delivery to that of a golf announcer. I know it can't be easy for Cole to call the matches with Vince McMahon screaming in his headsets, but he sounds just as neutered as Joey Styles did during his final months in ECW. Cole proved he's better than this when he worked with JBL. If he can't be more effective than this, then WWE should seriously consider making a play-by-play switch.

The Legacy: What a mess. Randy Orton is about as over as anyone in the company and WWE should be using him to get the rest of the faction over. Rather, they're treating the other members like lackeys. I would hope that the creative team doesn't think a countout win for Cody Rhodes, and Sim Snuka defeating Charlie Haas was going to help establish those wrestlers, but it failed miserably if that was the plan. Fans are excited to see another faction, but the execution has been lousy so far. Here's hoping that Phase Two of Orton's plan is more effective.

Mike Knox: They've done such a good job of making him look like a menacing badass only to have him get cleared from the ring by John Cena and then lose clean in the 10-man tag match. I had high hopes that Knox would eventually move on and become an upper-mid-card or even a main event player, but my fear that he would become the next Snitsky looked like it came true last night. I'm all for clean finishes as I mentioned earlier, but I don't like the idea of making the monster heel look so weak this early in his Raw run.

Overall show: This was a big step backward after last week's hot show. The live crowd in Toronto was fantastic, whereas the crowd in New Hampshire last night was lifeless from the start. That said, it's not like WWE gave them a lot to cheer about. By the way, is there a reason they didn't provide a followup on Trish Stratus appearing on the show last week? Shouldn't that have been a topic of discussion? Shouldn't the announcers or someone question whether it was a one-time appearance or if she is thinking about returning to the ring? WWE should ask themselves how something like that would be treated on a mainstream sports broadcast.

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