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A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. (5.0): Best Match: HBK vs. Orton; Worst Match: Fan expectations vs. talent bookings. We all expect and want Santino and Ric Flair for once (imagine saying that a few months ago), but you give us Coach, Carlito, and a TNA squish, instead. You give us a Jeff Hardy match, but only if we agree to watch Snitsky as well (too gross, I'll pass). You give us the APA back, but only for a few minutes. The TNA squish... eh. I was actually expecting Bret Hart to appear until I saw they were all fakes. Too much talking, not enough action... and when did a match end in something besides a DQ? Right, the Snitsky thing that is too gross to watch and the women's match that lasted two minutes tops. You just got some fans back these past two weeks. You really aren't making your case that you want to keep them this time around.

Jake Barnett of St. Paul, Minn. (3.0): Best Match: Orton vs. Michaels. Worst Match: Women's Match. WWE is a heat vacuum right now. Kennedy-Michaels deflated any heat they had going into Armageddon with their ridiculous fake wrestler segment, which stopped being funny shortly after the Billionaire Ted skits got purged from my memory. The main event was good while it lasted, but it was a predictable finish due to both competitors being busy this month. Randy Orton and Chris Jericho is about as blah as a feud can get, and I don't think it's the fault of either wrestler, it's just bad writing. Jericho's motivation for a title shot is ridiculous and other than being slightly irritated by Jericho's attempts at comedy, Orton has no reason to give him a title match. Jericho would be better served coming after Armageddon and winning the Rumble Match rather than get shoveled into a feud that is obviously filler while the writing staff figures out what they want to do with the title. I don't think anyone was given a reason to beleive that Jericho was a legitimate threat to Orton's title. WWE has fallen into the same trap they did the last time Jericho was in the organization; rather than letting him be a serious contender for the title with his mat skills and athleticism, they try to make him a comedy bit due to his size. I hope he realizes that himself. The women's match made no sense if they are trying to rebuild the women's division as competitive, and the undercard was as usual glossed over. At this point the undercard must feel like some kind of cruel joke. I can see why Carlito is bailing. I agree with Wade, the whole show felt like it lacked emotion, although I don't agree with James that the crowd doesn't buy into Jericho as a main event talent. I think people believe in the character when he is serious, as seen during the opening promo and the closing moments of the show, but his attempts at camp comedy have fallen flat. They writing team and Jericho himself have to find a better balance for his character for it to succeed, a little subtlety would go a long way.

Michael Moore of Casper, Wy. (2.0): Best match: None. Worst match: Hardy vs. Snitsky. Wow, that was bad. I've been a fan of wrestling since 1985, but I rarely watch Raw anymore because I can't stay awake during it. I decided to watch tonight; what an awful show. Randy Orton is the perfect WWE Champion at this point, because he's the embodiment of mediocrity. His match with Shawn Michaels was absolutely no better than Eric Young vs. James Storm at last night's TNA PPV, and that in itself was a boring throwaway match. Nice job of recycling the spot of HBK kicking the timekeeper from 11 years ago. Jericho's been a flop since coming back. They'll job him out to Orton at Armageddon, and he'll be right back in the mid-card role he was in from 2002-'05. Everyone in WWE should be forced to sit down and watch the World Class Championship Wrestling DVD that's coming out next week, especially the Von Erichs vs. Freedbirds feud. THAT is how you build a feud, not what they've done with Jericho and Orton. What exactly IS their issue anyway? This show was just a snoozefest.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (3.0): Best: Jericho opener; Randy vs. Shawn (minus commentary); Michaels-Kennedy early segment. Worst: Seeing the early strong build for Armageddon go to pot. The build for Armageddon got off to a really great start two weeks ago; it suffered from ADD tonight. Jericho becoming more serious and focused toward Randy about his want for the title evolved nicely. I also like that after acknowledging their past conquests that Jericho followed up, but saying that it means nothing in the present. The Jericho-Umaga match was good while it lasted, but Randy's expected interference (though I expected his a lot less than Kennedy interfering in the Orton-Michaels match) made Umaga look like an oversight. The RKO on Jericho looked impressive as there was some serious hangtime before the drop. Hardy vs. Snitsky wasn't much, but the post match with Triple H saving then staring down Jeff was nicely done. Still has flags saying "heel turn coming," but hopefully all it means is that he'll be working as more a heel in the match at Armageddon to create the story there. Anything involving Vince was just plain bad. Nothing seemed to click, and it looks to me as if the crowd in the arena likely saw the Vince-Steph segment post-show if at all. Michaels vs. Orton was a nice old-school match that came across fine. Shawn said in his book that what's nice about wrestling is that once something's brought in (due to character or or storyline development), it's yours to keep. He did what I would call an outside ankle lock as the foot was turned outward (Shamrock and Angle do an inside one). Personally I like Shawn's better as he, the giver, was actually selling like he was trying to put a hurt on Randy, whereas Kurt always seemed to just stand there demanding his opponent to tap (the selling was the near sole responsibility of the receiver). Kennedy's interference was expected and done well; saves the possibility of going back to Orton-Michaels later while reminding of Michaels-Kennedy for now. The in-ring build for Michaels-Kennedy has been good; the mic build has been abysmal, and I had high hopes for what could have been. The been-there-seen-that impostors' segment was a fantastic illustration of how disappointed I am of this feud - this coming from an HBK mark. Meanwhile, Shawn was selling the post-concussion angle and yet not a word was spoken of it by the announcers. All this talk about who's coming by Vince, and not word one about his issues with Ric Flair. Saying in such a subdued way that Triple H-Hardy is a contenders match at Armageddon meant it fell to Triple H and Hardy to make it important. Any comments from Hardy about it? It was just sloppy all around.

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