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Wayne Maye of Richmond, Va. - PSR 2 for Wachovia Bank. (8.0): Best Match: John Cena vs. Umaga. Worst Match: There really was no worst match. We begin with the great opening segment between Triple H and Cena. I liked the ovation for Cena when he got to the ring. May be the first time I've ever heard that for him. Cena's match with Umaga was the best of the night, bar none. Cena continues one of WWE's best performers. Congrats to the winner of the $125,000. The Divas summertime blowout was a time wasting event, so let's move on shall we. Congrats to the winner of the $100,000 and the $50,000. After a pause in the wrestling, we come to Jeff Hardy vs. Carlito, which was a good match. Hardy continues to remain over, and Carlito (shakes head) continues to be buried. I seriously hope that he gets pushed in some form, not necessarily main event status (it'll take a LONG time for him to reach that plateau), but something other than jobbing each and every week. I do not want to see this guy end up in TNA. Congrats to the winner of the $175,000. The Jericho segment was ok for what it was. I was surprised to see Ric Flair return, but the resulting angle didn't do me any favors. They bring back Flair just for that?? And why wasn't Triple H a little upset for McMahon throwing Flair out the building? Some questions are best left unanswered. I'm going to skip the next "match," because there was no match, as Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly defeat Cryme Tyme in about six seconds with a rollup. Congrats to the winner of the $16. Wow. Mickie & Kennedy vs. Lea & Burchill was oayk, as the win by the heels guarantees this feud will continue. Congrats to the winner of the $174,984, $75,000, and $300,000. And the main event, with Triple H and Jericho was okay for what it was. I was expecting Triple H to win clean here like all the other times he's faced Jericho, but the ending was a little surprising. Guess we'll have to see where they go with Cade on this one. Overall, a thumbs up show, totally better than last week's show, as they seemed to get it right with the money segments. I'm still not anticipating the "draft" all that much, but this week leading into next week's Raw should provide some can't miss moments.
Leonard Tripodi of Kenilworth, N.J. (5.5): Best: Jericho vs. Triple H. Worst: Million Dollar Mania. This show would have been fine without McMahon's Million Dollar Borefest. And I'm sick and tired of Vince referring to himself as a Billionaire. We know, Vince... enough already! The whole thing just kills the momentum of the show along with any crowd heat generated during the matches and segments. Speaking of which, it's not like the impromptu bikini contest with Charlie Haas impersonating The Miz's gimmick from the Diva Search fared any better, but at least we got to see a couple of hotties parading around in skimpy bikini's while imitating strippers. I must be missing a lot of WWE programming, because I didn't instantly recognize a couple of the Diva's, but I liked what I saw out there. Having Vince give away money before and after every single segment or match is just too much of a distraction from what the show is supposed to be all about... the wrestling, which was very good throughout the show, less the Cryme Tyme debacle. I actually enjoyed the mixed tag with Kennedy & Mickie vs. Burchill & Katie Lea. That was some intense and high impact stuff, especially from the women. The crowd was really hot for Mickie, which will definitely help Katie as a heel in their feud for the Women's Title. I thought Jericho's promo was strong, but when Flair's music interrupted, the crowd popped big and the entire segment really benefited from his appearance. They could have gone a couple of directions after Flair's initial confrontation with Jericho, but using Flair to segue Jericho into a feud with Triple H was very well executed. The main even was solid, and the DQ decision thanks to Lance Cade's interference was a complete surprise. It's nice to see WWE trying to elevate a few different people in recent weeks, most notably Burchill, Katie Lea, and now Cade. If not for the intended and desperate ratings ploy of the Million Dollar Mania nonsense, then Raw would have easily been a solid 8-9 effort in my opinion. I guess next week's Draft will tell us a lot about the direction of things going forward..
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (5.0): Best: Y2J-HBK package; Jericho promo Worst: Holly/Rhodes vs. Cryme Tyme Second verse, same as the first. Matches weren't allowed to be what they were meant to be, the build toward the PPV is suffering because the of the McMillions. Can't they just call the winners right before Vince segments and announces the winners in his segments? (They should have waited untill after the PPV and the draft for this.) I lived in a town bigger than the Hardy/Rhodes-Cryme Tyme match. I didn't even see the pin. Why bother with this when a promo would have been more worth it? Speaking of promos, Jericho's was well done and fed more into his turn, although it felt like it lacked a little conviction (the kind of conviction like Randy Orton's this time last year) where he feels comfortable with this character. Shawn Michaels's injury storylines in the past have covered concussions, his knees, his back, a crushed larynx, but to the best of my memory never his eyesight. It gets ridiculous when there is this obvious sense of being fed a thought that doesn't mesh. The idea is sympathy for the face, but leave what's in the moment there and not toss in backstory that isn't there unless you plan on further developing it. Unless Shawn is legitimately having vision problems (and I don't think so), I don't see it happening as WWE can't keep any of its stories straight. And I was nicely surprised by the Ric Flair cameo, which obviously was intended for feud and not ratings purposes. It did also set up for the show's finish and sets up for next week's show. The curious question - why Cade showed up. If there is a good reason (like something related to Shawn, who trained him), then it's fine. If he's just to serve as jobber, and Trevor Murdoch doesn't figure into that match, then it was all pointless.
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