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WWE Raw Reax #1: "This match would not have looked out of place on a WrestleMania card." Feb 12, 2008 - 1:03:48 AM
Brett Sullivan of Sydney, Australia (8.5): Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Hardy. Worst Match: Vince vs. Hornswoggle. Getting the bad out of the way first just like they did on Raw Hornswoggle-Vince stuff was done early and quickly so I can live with that. JBL-Jericho and Umaga's post-match beatdown did what it had to in selling the Elimination Chamber match so no complaints there - and as a bonus it was a pretty decent match. I'm going to wait and see where they take this incest gimmick, but it's not too offensive yet. Cena didn't close out the show, which surprised me; like the earlier Jericho match, this segment did its job in building to No Way Out. Any time I see Melina and Maria it's a good day; if only Mickie was there to complete the picture. Then we got to the main event in every sense of the term. This match would not have looked out of place on a WrestleMania card. Fantastic effort by both men in the match. Hardy's push isn't as dead as I thought it was after the Rumble now with clean wins over Triple H and Shawn Michaels within two months. Easily a four-star match; some points taken off for Hardy not selling his legs when he climbed the ropes to hit the Swanton, but that's only a minor complaint to what should make the "Match of the Year" finals.
Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (7.5): Best Match: Main Event: Worst Match: Women's. I'm thinking Finlay vs. Vince for custody of Hornswoggle at Mania. Having experienced the "overhypingdistractingtoomuchinfo" Impact announcers and the "stumbling... and... and bumbling" Smackdown announcers, Raw showed why they have the best announcers in the business in J.R. and King. Jericho vs. JBL: They made you care about the match when the match itself was average. They hyped the PPV in the right spots while not taking away from the current matches. Impact last week was pretty much a glorified commerical for their PPV. The most talked about segment is going to be the "No 'Roids" video package. Pros: WWE is addressing the concerns we have about Cena and gets kudos for listening to fans, media, etc. Cons: Where was this before? Why does it usually take a horrible event or media scrutiny to bring about change in wrestling? I don't know whether to applaud WWE or say that they are hypocrites. It did take guts to mention steroids in a wrestling program. But will the issue of steroids be discussed on WWE programing after Washington loses interest? Paul Burchhill has the body of a young Triple H and the face of Phil Collins. Mr. Collins, your finish sucks, but curb stomps look brutal. Kendrick is proving to be a good worker. The best moment of the night was the Kennedy-Flair meeting. Both looked to be moved during the segment (Kennedy with his mouth), proving that some wrestlers actually do care about their craft and not just merely reguritating lines. Flair showed intentsity and they made their PPV match something to look forward too. They have been pushing Hardy non-stop and although a lot of fans feel it will be Triple H vs. Cena at Mania, I will give a lot of credit to WWE if Hardy does win on Sunday. They have barely mentioned Triple H (albeit a video package) in this upcoming match. All in all, a solid performance.
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