Bill Matz of Philadelphia, Pa. (5.5): Best Match: Orton vs. Flair and the entire Flair angle Worst: Vince McMahon. Vince should not have said "I hope you don't die any time soon" to Ric Flair. I don't care if he was just being the cold-hearted Mr. McMahon character and reacting to Flair's earlier statements. No matter the actual meaning of his words, Vince should not be making light of stars on his roster dying. Especially not in the wake of Benoit, the CNN special, and the recently released article in MAXIM. The rest of the show was really good; the opening bout was strong as was the actual Flair angle and match against Orton. Jericho was entertaining as hell, and matching him against the entertaining-as-hell-heel Santino Morella worked for me. But one sentence by Vince McMahon in the second segment put a dark cloud over the rest of the show, "I hope you don't die any time soon" in that Mr. McMahon-sardonic tone. Sadly, Vince probably thinks that about a lot of his roster.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: Flair promo (before Vince showed up) and the respect as shown by Shawn Michaels, Triple H, et al; Flair vs. Orton Worst: Kennedy vs. Kendrick. The show opens with an acknowledged main event, which gave me all kinds of reason to worry that what was coming later wasn't going to be worth much, but for the most part my worries were alleviated. Save for some mind-benders, tonight was okay and did well to remind everyone that Armageddon is coming soon. The good was plenty: Flair was back in great form on the mic, and the respect shown him all night long as he was preparing for his match with Randy Orton was well done. Shawn Michaels is decent in the pep talk department and did put over Randy Orton as a credible opponent, both in confidence to Flair's face and concern as Flair left the room. Jericho was a little goofy on the mic, but plays to his character as I've remembered it well. The verbal and visual request for a title match from Randy Orton was cute. The match with Santino was a little basic and the crowd didn't get moving until the springboard dropkick, but Jericho looked all right out there in his first match back. The angle of Vince declaring Flair's career over on his next loss is intriguing. If this storyline goes all the way through to WrestleMania, and Flair's loss to end his career happens there, it may become a big deal and huge rub for the opponent going into it. With that, I didn't expect a totally clean finish from the Orton-Flair. It was a little cleaner than I expected in that in ended by pinfall (Vince did say a win was a win no matter how it came), but Orton was protected to a degree in that it took a distraction from Chris Jericho, a low blow, and pulled trunks to get the 1-2-3. Jericho's distraction also served the "me want title match" statement he made earlier. There were also missteps a plenty, too. Kennedy sarcastically plugged Shawn's new DVD with the same repetitive words as his "loser" promo the week before. The Michaels-Flair promo could have reciprocated in that Ric would have been aware of Shawn's issues with Kennedy and addressed them likewise. No penalty that it didn't, but other feuds were being tied together elsewhere. Also, the Kennedy-Kendrick match, not very good in the first place even for a squash, left out one thing that could have at least put forward movement. Instead of what Kennedy did say after the match, he should have said something along the lines of, "Not only is Shawn Michaels a loser who doesn't know when to quit, but his trainees are also losers." I'm really curious as to the booking of the Triple H-Hardy match for Armageddon. Regal booking it for seemingly random enjoyment just sounds lame, and it all the earmarks of Triple H turning heel, which shouldn't happen yet. But face-face matches are nearly non-existent in Triple H's career, so this could be interesting. Despite its oopses, not a bad show tonight.

A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. (9.0) Best Match: Hardy & Triple H vs. Umaga & Snitsky; Worst Match: Kendrick vs. Kennedy. It was a good show and they did a good job building to the end to keep their audience, which seems to be the recent goal. I like that goal, because that means a better show. I really didn't like to see several people suffer embarrassing squishes, and they were, in no particular order: Melina (by Mickie James), Brian Kendrick (by Mr. Kennedy), and Carlito (by a brick wall that Hornswaggle ran through). Perhaps they're being made examples of for reasons unknown (except for Carlito)? The starting match was wonderful - who ever thought Snitsky could be in a great match? I think they've finally found a happy medium between storyline and in-ring action, which is a blessing. Some of this is probably because their roster is no longer injured or suspended, but also, it's really great to have Ric Flair and Jericho back. Flair got a tremendous push and a main event match in his hometown against the champion. I hope this persuades him to "never retire" as he said he would. Woo!

We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "Raw Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on Raw, click here.

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