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Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (5.0): Best Match: Cena vs. Orton. Worst Match: Kennedy vs. Val Venis. If No Way Out was the rocking party, Raw was the nursing of the hangover. Triple H was smiling since he found amusement in Orton strug-a-ling through his promo and it was his night essentially. Cena, there is corruption in boxing as well. Opening segment was off. I was half expecting HBK to challenge Flair. Flair: One of the tremedous heels and workers. They should put out a DVD for him. Like the reasoning that wrestlers have to qualify for the Money in the Bank match, but they were essentially ho-hum squashes. Good Money in the Bank video package. Used to be that you could just wrestle. Now most times you get saddled with a gimmick that is nothing more than a anchor. This ridicolous Paul Burchhill "brother/sister" is utter nonsense. Triple H's "mindgames" promo was good. Big Show-Mayweather bit was a whole lot of nothing, but understandable in laying it out. We protect our boys (and girls). Kennedy's new AC/DC song... eh. These matches... you can't do very much in the span of three minutes. Handcuffing a babyface while the heel beats on a buddy... it's classic in wrestling. Recently we saw it when Orton handcuffed Cena while he beat up Cena's father. Heavy things for a kid angle. This match kicked it into overdrive and now we are dealing with raw hate and payback, which can be debated if this feud really needed such things. Didn't Santino and Carlito have a tag team title shot? This was a real stinker of a show. A lot of groundwork was laid down. Not at all watchable again. I don't understand how people are rating this show as a 8.0 or 9.0.

Leonard Tripodi of Kenilworth, N.J. (5.5): Best: Cena-Orton, Hornswoggle beat down. Worst: Burchill-Crazy. This episode of Raw was a mixed bag for me. While there seemed to be some furthering of the important storylines and feuds, there was a lot of predictable stuff on this show I saw coming a mile away; Flair being introduced as the first HOF inductee, both Hardy and Kennedy qualifying for MITB, three-way triangle for the WWE championship, Cena's victory over Orton, Triple H going one up on both men, and plenty of hype after the Mayweather-Show confrontation at NWO. Aside from most of that, Raw also succeeded on many levels, including JBL's vicious beat down of Hornswoggle, Maria's sneaky pinfall victory over Beth, advancement of the solid Mayweather-Show angle and pending match at Mania, the anticipation of who will be the next HOF inductee, and why JBL got so involved in the Hornswoggle cage debacle. The predictability is still bothering me, though, as the Raw portion of the Mania card is pretty much set already. Now they will to have to find creative ways of delivering entertaining and intriguing episodes leading to Mania, otherwise most of the angles and feuds will become tedious and stale by then. Burchill does have potential, but they probably won't give him enough time to develop or get over. I'm still bothered as to why Mickie is being pushed aside in exchange for Candice and Maria. I can understand Maria's Playboy push, but they really need to keep Beth looking strong in order for the Women's Division to remain credible. Triple H is already starting to wear thin after NWO and only one episode of Raw. I loved everyone's swagger tonight, especially Orton and Triple H, as they really seemed to be in their element. Cena is going to take his lumps from Triple H now, but they better be careful as to how they handle it. I was hoping for a Flair appearance and promo, but there is more than enough time for him respond and react to his induction by HBK. Speaking of which, everyone is anticipating a Flair-Michaels match at Mania, and I would enjoy seeing that myself. The Mania card is shaping up nicely, even if the balance of the card is heavily in favor of Raw once again.

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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