PWTORCH.COM
VIP SIGN-UP JUMP TO VIP
CONTACT US VISIT MMA TORCH




Select Next Article by Category





TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU!

PWTORCH IPHONE APP
Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here
Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.


Torch Feedback
WWE Raw Reax #1: "Congratulations WWE, you've earned my viewership for at least one more week."
Sep 3, 2007 - 11:09:00 PM


Sanjiv Shukla of Clearwater, Fla. (5.0) - Best match: London/Kendrick vs. Haas/Benjamin. Worst match: Triple H's lack of long-term selling. Quarters one through six were some of the best we have seen from Raw all summer. Orton showed great intensity and an edge that has been sorely lacking from his "Legend Killer" character until recently; could have done without the extreme close-up though. While I initially wasn't buying John Cena's beatdown of William Regal, Cena eventually sold the conflicted and slightly deranged character well. The no. 1 contender tag match was great for those of us who crave wrestling on Monday nights - imagine what they could do with 15 minutes on a pay-per-view. I don't understand why Cody Rhodes has earned the right to have Haas & Benjamin job to him, and worse, how he got the privilege of teaming with Mickie James. I was hoping Mickie would give him a huracanrana when he hoisted her up on his shoulders. Speaking of nepotism, just so I'm clear, Triple H received Carlito's finisher, a vicious kick from Umaga, and a joint beatdown, yet two minutes later he is standing over a bloodied Umaga, sledgehammer in hand? Wellness suspension or not, I don't like the associated insult to my intelligence. The last segment with Vince (which I expected to open the show, thereby burying the show's score before it could ever surface) was actually not terrible. It felt like Kennedy was Darth Vader trying to convince Vince (Luke) to join the Dark Side. Although turbulent, the segment set up a nice cliffhanger heading into next week. Congratulations WWE, you've earned my viewership for at least one more week.

Michael Cardillo of Long Island, N.Y. (6.0): Best Match, Worst Matc...does it really matter? This was a compelling two hours in that reality and entertainment were colliding center ring. The levels to which ''punishment'' was handed out was quite interesting, ranging from doing the normal job (Haas) to being completely decimated (Umaga). The Cena STFU on Regal was a little too much. I was surprised to find myself being that sensitive to seeing one wrestler choke out another. This next month will be so intriguing because those who have been entertaining the last 30 days (Umaga, Regal, Kennedy) most likely will be MIA the next 30 and there will need to be those who will need to step up on that side of the coin. Perhaps by Halloween we'll have a full two hours of entertaining characters. Lastly, I will reveal the McMahon bastard son... Hornswoggle - "Things are looking up" and he's Irish!

Adam J. Grammas of Westchester, Ill. (2.0): Worst: Bastard storyline. Best-10:07 p.m. CST. "Things are looking up"? That can only mean one thing - Triple H. How many weeks did they tell people to look up before they dumped green gook or feces on them? So rather than elevate a guy like Kennedy like they did with Hunter during the Stephanie-Test wedding, they're going to go back to Triple H in a sick storyline. They'll probably do up a baby with a fake third eye since there is "blood" between Steph and Hunter. Shelton dies his hair, Carlito cuts his hair, and Murdoch cuts his hair - too much change in one week for me!

A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. (8.0): Best match: Sledgehammer vs. Umaga. Worst match: Suspensions vs. Storylines. So they suspend ten wrestlers and need to explain it away. At this rate, the only title changes we're ever going to see are not going to be on PPVs. They're going to be when there's a draft and someone transfers shows (Bobby Lashley) or a champ gets injured (Undertaker, Edge). Not a bad show, but I am greatly disappointed with the release of Cryme Tyme. Given the choice between Cade & Murdoch or Cryme Tyme, think about which team fans would rather see, but get stuck watching more than we'd want. It isn't because they're heels, it's because they're unoriginal and stale. Finally, why is Randy Orton free from being suspended, or so I hear? This is not just punishment across the board, from what I've seen, and I just might not tune in next week from annoyance. It's football season, baby.

Want your voice to be heard inside of WWE headquarters tomorrow morning? Or in TNA headquarters? This is the independent site many people in both groups read to gauge fan feedback. We still welcome your 1-10 score and comments. To contribute your thoughts on Raw, click here. Please keep your thoughts to around 10-15 lines if possible to increase your odds of being published.

PWTORCH FORMAT CONVENTIONS

For the sake of clarity to our readers (and to save us time editing these same things over and over), please follow these simple conventions when writing Torch Reax:

-Wrestlers teaming together should be connected with "&" symbol (e.g. Hunter & Michaels, Devon & Ray) or with a "/" (e.g. Animal/Hawk, Harris/Storm), but not dashes and not the word "and."

-To designate wrestlers who are fighting, feuding, or wrestling each other, put a dash (-) between them (e.g. Michaels-McMahon, Jarrett-Sting, Hogan-Andre) or use "vs."

-The word versus should always be abbreviated this way: "vs." with a period afterward (not "v." or "v/s" or "VS" or "VS." or any other way).

-Plus, it's just our policy, but we don't indulge wrestling promotions' strange spelling fetishes where they spell Raw, Smackdown, Heat, Impact, etc. with the haphazard capitalization of various leTTeRz. It seems very "junior high," so no Raw (it's Raw), no iMPACT (it's Impact), etc.

-Please try to avoid overuse of dot-dot-dots. If you have a thought that's "trailing off," you can use for effect, but otherwise, just use periods, commas, and our personal favorite, semicolons if you dare. We have always had a policy of only one exclamation point and no ALL CAPS. Let your words convey the meaning of your point. There's many to choose from out there.


Comment on this Article Below

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)

ALSO DISCUSS MORE SUBJECTS IN OUR PWTORCH FREE FORUM

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET


For UFC NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO


MORE "Torch Feedback" ARTICLES
Smackdown TV Reax #1: "Fresh match-ups, superstars, and storylines just create great TV"
Thursday Night TV Reax - SS/Impact: "X Division, we hardly knew ya after Abyss beat up the only two representatives who showed up"
ECW TV Reax #2: "Yoshi is already on the road to being the next Funaki at this point"
ECW TV Reax #1: "I think Abraham Washington has some charisma, but dear Lord, that was the most pointless segment in pro wrestling history"
WWE Raw Reax #4: "I'm not sure how WWE could have made it any clearer that MVP isn't in Triple H's league"
WWE Raw Reax #3: "I like the ECW influx, but I fear for what may happen to Bourne and Swagger"
WWE Raw Reax #2: "Henry's move to Raw was a bit of a surprise; his apparent face turn was a bigger surprise"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "I find it ironic the flagship had to be bailed out by Smackdown and ECW"
WWE The Bash PPV Reax #2: "For all this Miz-Cena buildup, the match was simply an unmitigated squash"
WWE The Bash PPV Reax #1: "I'll quite happily pay for another match between Rey and Jericho"
WWE Superstars/Smackdown Reax #1: "There is a sweet fork in the road with Punk and either possibility is a good one"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "How bad is the show when the MVP is a bucket of chicken?"
TNA Impact Reax #1: "Nothing jumps out as something that will be (or is allowed to be) the Slammiversary PPV draw"
WWE Raw/ECW TV Reax: "Let's just pray that we can make it through this Trump storyline in one piece"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "The Trump announcement was just... garbage, like a vacuum, sucking out any sort of energy or believability."
ECW/Smackdown Reax #1: "The door was open to turn C.M. Punk heel, but something key was missing..."
WWE Superstars Reax #1: "Jericho deserves credit for his interactions lately with R-Truth, Dirk Ziggler, Morrison, Rey, etc."
TORCH READERS WRITE BACK: Why was Kozlov smiling on the ECW TV broadcast?
WWE Raw Reax #4: "I was excited for Miz-Cena - I like the way they're building this feud and I don't want it messed up"
WWE Raw Reax #3: "The burial of Orton and Legacy was sealed with an exclamation point"

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.

QUICK CLICK REFERENCE LISTING
-CLICK TO FOLLOW PWTORCH ON TWITTER!
-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PWTORCH IPHONE APP

-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PODCAST (#1 in iTunes!)
-CLICK TO GET INFO ON BECOMING A VIP MEMBER
-CLICK TO VISIT MMATORCH.COM
-CLICK TO VISIT PROWRESTLING.NET

-CLICK TO EMAIL PWTORCH EDITORS


PWTORCH READER POLL

TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
Name a replacement partner for Chris Jericho
Vacate the titles and book a tournament
Vacate the titles and book a battle royal
Vacate the titles and book a different "multi-team" match
Have Chris Jericho defend by himself in handicap matches
Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio for the IC and Tag Titles
  

VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS


ARE YOU VIP? SIGN UP NOW FOR $7.50 A MONTH FOR INSTANT ACCESS TO AD-FREE, BENEFIT-PACKED VIP VERSION OF PWTORCH.COM (see screen capture)
PWTORCH VIP HOME PAGE

INFO ON SUBSCRIPTION TO AD-FREE VIP SITE

INCREDIBLE BENEFITS!
Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...

SIGN ME UP NOW!

Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?

AND NEW FOR 2009!
Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?

SIGN ME UP NOW!


UPCOMING EVENTS LISTING

Articles Grouped by Category
Torch Today
FOURTH OF JULY: Fun facts from the Great American Bash 10 & 20 years ago
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 2 of 2)
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 1 of 2)
WWE News
WWE News: Quarterly WWE Raw TV ratings report - Comparing January-March to April-June "WM25 + KFC gimmick" season
WWE News: John Cena says where he will be in ten years, talks about "feud" against The Rock
WWE News: Tommy Dreamer interview, Hacksaw Jim Duggan working on a book, Breaking Point PPV update
TNA News
TNA News: Latest episode of the Spin Cycle with Sting, Jarrett, Cornette, Foley greatness (w/VIDEO)
TNA News: TNA video game franchise without a home after Midway Games bought out; Analysis of interesting domino effect involving WWE
TNA News: Sting talks Shockmaster with Jeff Jarrett, Jim Cornette (w/VIDEOS)
ROH News
ROH News: Lance Storm's first match out of retirement announced, details on second match against Chris Hero
ROH News: Notes on Toronto Gauntlet match, Nigel McGuinness below-average performances into storyline, ROH selling PWG DVDs
TOP FIVE STORIES - Weekend edition: Three WWE PPV title changes, WWE announcer leaving, Lashley blasts Sapp, Jerry Lawler's son arrested, "State of TNA" address
Other News
Other News: Torch Talk All-Star Lanny Poffo Video interview, great poem on taking out Hulk Hogan
Other News: Brian Blair denies hitting his children in Father's Day Fight; local news runs 911 call leading to arrest (w/VIDEO)
Other News: New clip of Rob Van Dam doing a stunt for his upcoming movie (w/VIDEO)
PPV Reports
THE BASH PPV COVERAGE: Listing of the Torch's WWE PPV coverage - Title changes, Jericho writes on Rey match, Miz on Cena match
RADICAN'S WWE THE BASH PPV BLOG 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Hunter PPV
CALDWELL'S WWE THE BASH PPV REPORT 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Triple H, Punk vs. Hardy
TV Reports
WWE VINTAGE COLLECTION TV REPORT 7/5: Awesome show - Tiger Mask '82, Randy Savage vs. Dynamite Kid, Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio
TNA EPICS TV REPORT 7/4: Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss, Infamous Sabu vs. Abyss "Barbed Wire Massacre" match
7/2 TNA Impact Recap by Wilkenfeld: The oddly-invincible Jeff Jarrett
Arena Reports
7/3 WWE in San Diego, Calif.: First-hand report on Edge's apparent injury, Punk vs. Rey Mysterio, Ricky Steamboat in action
6/27 ROH in Chicago: Austin Aries vs. Nigel McGuinness, KENTA vs. Black, Petey Williams looks odd, Crowd eats up Flair's generic promo
6/28 PWG in California: Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher, Davey Richards vs. Young Buck, Michael Jackson entrance themes
MMA / UFC Coverage
UFC News: Kimbo Slice, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans plus rest of cast of TUF 10 to be revealed...
UFC - ENNIS COLUMN: The Lay of the Lane - A look at MMA's top heavyweights from Brock to Mir to Carwin to Fedor to...
MMA: Plan a week of UFC and other MMA viewing with the Torch's viewer's guide including Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
KELLER'S TAKE
KELLER: How bookers, like Jeff Jarrett last night, show that they're the toughest SOBs in the world
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT TAKE 7/2: Thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
KELLER'S ECW ON SCI-FI REPORT 6/30: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
MITCHELL'S TAKE
MITCHELL SHORT: WWE Proving Once Again That Life is Easy...
MOJO MITCHELL'S 6/29 Raw Stream Of Randy Orton Faces ECW and Loses and That's The Main Event
Mitchell Short: Your Thank-You Note to WWE
MCNEILL'S TAKE
The Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Buyrates: McNEILL Previews WWE Bash 2009!
Redemption: McNEILL previews TNA Slammiversary 7!
MCNEILL BLOG: A Modest Proposal For Monday Night Trump
CALDWELL'S TAKE
CALDWELL: Analysis of WWE's roster shuffle from the 15-person trade - who benefited, which brand needs help
CALDWELL: Instant Reaction to key storylines on Raw and post-PPV developments
CALDWELL: WWE Smackdown/The Bash PPV analysis - Don't Mess with C.M. Punk's dynamic character
RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN: Torch readers sounds off on Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw (w/Radican Reax)
RADICAN: Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw leaves a bad smell in the room
RADICAN: A follow up on the Death Before Dishonor audio with Feinstein with notes on Special K angle, Punk-Raven feud, where's Misawa now?
The Specialists
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.7 - Matt Hardy vs. ROH fans
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's moneyball, Eric Young wins a match, SuperJJ thinks he's Triple H, Matches too short (as usual)
Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: Historical perspective on Austin Aries's ROH Title victory - his journey from main event to mid-card back to main event
EDITORIAL: TNA needs to K.I.S.S. the King of the Mountain match to make it more appealing to TNA viewers
EDITORIAL: How WWE could have better handled the Vickie-Edge segment on Raw and caught up with the year 2009
Torch Feedback
Smackdown TV Reax #1: "Fresh match-ups, superstars, and storylines just create great TV"
Thursday Night TV Reax - SS/Impact: "X Division, we hardly knew ya after Abyss beat up the only two representatives who showed up"
ECW TV Reax #2: "Yoshi is already on the road to being the next Funaki at this point"
Ask the Editor
Ask the Editor: Wouldn't incorporating MMA-style holds into pro wrestling matches just be trying to be something it's not?
ASK THE EDITOR: Have the Michaels-Batista promos crossed a line with use of insider terms, references to "jobs"?
ASK THE EDITOR: Why do wrestlers in WWE refer to wrestling as "the business" and not "the sport"?
DVDs - VGames - Books
RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES: 2/7 "Proving Ground: Night 2" (Danielson-Generico, Steen-Richards)
RADICAN'S TORCH DVD REVIEW SERIES: YouShoot with Sabu: Sabu opens up about working in WWE, incident with Kurt Angle, negotions with TNA, more...
RADICAN'S PWTorch DVD review: The Best of RVD TV Vol. 1: RVD trains MMA with a UFC fighter, talks the power of the mind with The Ultimate Warrior, discusses love on a beach with Samoa Joe
Torch Flashbacks
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT REPORT (5 Yrs. Ago): Eric Young headlines, Jerry Lynn, R-Truth, Dusty Rhodes, Sabu, A.J. Styles, Jarrett, D-Ray 3000!
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Bruce Mitchell Feature Column - The Fluke Death of Owen Hart - May 23, 1999
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Torch Newsletter #550 cover story on Owen Hart's death (PART TWO) - May 23, 1999
VIP Exclusive Features
7/5 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Cena says he wants to be doing same thing in ten years, but can he last? Plus Duggan, Dreamer, Raw, Submissions PPV (12 min.)
7/4 Bruce Mitchell Audio Show, part two: The Vickie Guerrero Injustice, Torrie Disrespect, Jericho Laments Schedule, Wrestler Twitters Going Too Far, Punk's Surprising Hardy Comment, TNA's Ho-Hum Kidnapping of Lauren (76 min.)
7/4 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Edge Injured, Jeff Hardy's Uncertain Future, WWE PPV Strategy, Wrestling on FX? (19 min.)
Torch Trivia
TORCH TRIVIA 2/28: Which wrestler backed out of a WWA PPV in February 2002?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/27: Who said this quote about Hulk Hogan's athleticism 11 years ago?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/25: What said this quote about WWE's mid-1990s drug testing policy?
Torch Instant Polls
TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
FOURTH OF JULY POLL: What's your favorite July 4th "gimmick" in pro wrestling?
7/3 SMACKDOWN MICROSCOPE POLL: What related topic from tonight's Smackdown do you want to see analyzed Under the Microscope?
PWTorch Free Podcast
6/23 Nostalgia Audio with Brian Hoops: Former WCW rapmaster PN News joins Brian Hoops to preview upcoming Midwest shows (10 min.)
FREE AUDIO: Keller & Mitchell Discuss Randy Savage's Place in WWE History, Elizabeth's Strengths and Weaknesses
FREE FOR ALL TODAY - 5/31 Keller Hotline: Tons of info on Kennedy situation, immediate future, plus what top star's days in TNA are numbered, what's working against Kennedy getting big push in TNA, much more
Annual Obituaries
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 1999 - Muchnick, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, Renegade...
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2000 - Solie, Albright, Duncum, Tsuruta, Blue Demon, Al Costello
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2001: Johnny Valentine, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, Bertha Faye, Helen Hart