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#1023 - May 3, 2008
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ECW Reax #1: "Carlito locked in a three minute rest hold in the middle of the match and all you could hear were pindrops."
Mar 26, 2008 - 5:12:09 AM |
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Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Chavo-Dreamer-Delaney promo; Solie goes to the HOF Worst: Knox/Layla vs. Richards/Kelly; too much Show-Mayweather. ECW's effort going into WrestleMania was a bit flat but still solid, ironically speaking. The 24 man tag match was a busy signature spotfest but not much else besides exposure. For the record, Brian Kendrick was on the heel side but didn't fit there at all. No followup on his apparent turn on Paul London just makes me believe the turn was brief to be on the heel side of this match. I really like Tommy Dreamer's line to Chavo Guerrero about Colin Delaney having more passion and whatnot for the business in his little finger than Chavo having in his whole body - a quick but nice expose as to why Dreamer has become a mentor figure. Carlito vs. Shelton had the crowd at the end, but almost didn't as they lost them early. WWE crowds need to understand that while the MITB match has high expectations for high-risk spots; a regular match between its competitors should not have those same expectations. The Knox-Richards and Kelly-Layla feuds have nowhere to go but down at this point as their tag match was just filler - and not real good at that. Richards is miles above this in the ring. The 24 guys got another piece of exposure during the short main event as well as a beatdown, which all but tells us that it won't matter who wins the battle royal because Chavo will retain. At this point my enjoyment of the Show-Mayweather is now inversely proportional to the amount of exposure it's being given. It's the "The Condemned" of WrestleMania. Just watched the opening salvo on my brand spanking new copy of No Way Out on DVD, and that whole story never really found its way after this.
Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (4.0): Best Match: Hall of Fame Video Package. Worst Match: Chavo vs. Dreamer. Everything felt exhausted tonight. According to WWE, fans can watch the 24 man battle royal on wwe.com, while Kane or whoever vs. Chavo will be on the PPV. I was more exicited actually with seeing the battle royal than seeing the ECW Title match. I always thought that mini Royal Rumbles are a sure-fire bet. I think Shelton Benjamin looked better than Carlito during their match. It was weird, because Carlito locked in a three minute rest hold in the middle of the match and all you could hear were pindrops. Ever since Carlito ran into the wall after Hornswoggle, he gives off the impression that he'd rather do anything else other than wrestle with painfully obvious set ups and mannerisms. I know that most, if not all, of WWE matches are scripted beforehand, but near silence during a match is not a good thing. It did have nice spots at the end, but it was pretty much a mess. Fast-forwared the Knox match and main event because they were awfully short and not much to these matches. Best moment of the night was the Hall of Fame video package. There is a wealth of fascinating info layered into the history of wrestling, and things like these I always like. This works for both new and old fans. That's the thing about this Mania, in that they are so many matches where the wrestlers really have to step it up, because there's no Hogan vs. Vince or HBK vs. Stone Cold with Tyson as "Special Enforcer." If it wasn't for HBK vs. Flair, this would be a regular old PPV. I think if the focus was on putting out great matches for each one, I think it might be as good as WM 17, for example, in that there are no obvious silly throwaway matches (for a good dose of that, see WM 16). The focus really shouldn't be on advancing storylines, since I think that this Mania can't fall back on celebrity star power or grandose spectacle matches. It might be a big letdown or a big night, so I am questioning if I should order it.
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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| WWE News |
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| WWE News: WWE reports first quarter earnings with $31 million generated from WrestleMania 24 |
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| TNA News |
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| ROH News |
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| 4/18 ROH in Detroit, Mich.: Jigsaw vs. Joey Matthews, Necro vs. Delirious, Albright & Hero vs. Evans & Ruckus |
| 4/12 ROH in Edison, N.J.: Briscoes vs. Richards & Romero for ROh Tag Titles, Nigel vs. Steen |
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| Other News |
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| PPV Reports |
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| KELLER'S WWE BACKLASH PPV REPORT 4/27: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV event |
| CALDWELL'S WWE BACKLASH REPORT 4/27: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of PPV |
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| TV Reports |
| CALDWELL'S WWE RAW REPORT 5/12: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live Raw |
| 5/9 WWE SMACKDOWN: Parks's Ongoing "Real-Time" Coverage of the show, including what happens with the World Title |
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| Arena Reports |
| 5/2 WWE Raw in Montreal: Triple H vs. Orton in a cage, Jericho vs. Snitsky, Regal vs. Crazy |
| 4/22 WWE in Greensboro: Detailed complete report from SD taping, ECW taping, Dark Matches |
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| MMA / UFC Coverage |
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| UFC and MMA News: Big twist in next Ultimate Fighter casting, new Liddell opponent, new podcast |
| UFC 82 COVERAGE: Check out the redesigned MMATorch.com tonight for live fight coverage, plus Brock Lesnar's opponent named during PPV |
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| KELLER'S TAKE |
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| A KELLER SHORT: Should Mr. Kennedy be a babyface; coffee shop eavesdropping |
| A KELLER SHORT: A look ahead to tonight's Raw - Random thoughts on Triple H, King of Ring, JBL, Vince, Kennedy, Michaels |
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| MITCHELL'S TAKE |
| MITCHELL: WWE, Bush, Barack, Hillrod, and Big John McCain |
| A MITCHELL SHORT: Samoa Joe's Contract and TNA's Big Title Match |
| MITCHELL: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair - The Echoes |
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| MCNEILL'S TAKE |
| Cross The Line: McNEILL previews TNA Sacrifice! |
| VIP - MCNEILL FACTOR: Stripped: Russo's rich history of vacating titles (#1024) |
| McNEILL's "Who's Hot, Who's Not" for Week of 5/6: Orton, Coachman, Ashley, MachineGuns |
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| CALDWELL'S TAKE |
| CORNER CUBE TUESDAY 5/13 - WWE brings out the heavy hitters and sells a PPV |
| CORNER CUBE MONDAY 5/12 - TNA's product mix generating lukewarm response |
| CORNER CUBE FRIDAY 5/9 - The significance of June 24 - WWE and Benoit |
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| RADICAN'S TAKE |
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| RADICAN: FIP hits the reset button - Strong-Stevens tears down the house |
| RADICAN: Trapped inside the beast - Sullivan books WCW |
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| The Specialists |
| Nostalgia News: An interview with Larry Nelson, former AWA announcer |
| TNA Sacrifice Review By Wilkenfeld: Steiner steps it up, LAX regain their spots, and Roxxi steals the show |
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| Guest Editorials |
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| EDITORIAL: Space-Time Continuum Spoiler Alert: Scott Steiner Solves for Pi. Off-air Notes From a Fictional, Future Impact! |
| EDITORIAL: Could new King of the Ring William Regal become WWE's breakout star in 2008? |
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| Torch Feedback |
| ECW Reax #1: "The quality of ECW is taking a horrendous nosedive and WWE seems oblivious." |
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| Ask the Editor |
| 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"? |
| ASK THE EDITOR: Why didn't Curt Hennig get a run with the WWE World Title? |
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| DVDs - VGames - Books |
| Rapid-fire booking with Raven - Nash & Hall in ECW instead of WCW |
| RADICAN: FIP hits the reset button - Strong-Stevens tears down the house |
| RADICAN'S DVD REVIEW: TNA Turning Point 2007 |
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| Torch Flashbacks |
| KELLER'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 5 YRS. AGO: Vince McMahon on Piper's Pit, Kendrick calls out Cena, Rhino, Benoit, Guerreros |
| KELLER'S TNA REPORT 5 YRS. AGO (4-30-08): West calls it "most anticipated night in TNA history." |
| KELLER: Compare today's WWE Smackdown roster to Torch annual Smackdown roster rankings from Fall of 2006 |
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| Torch Trivia |
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| Torch Instant Polls |
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| POLL: If you didn't see the event, why? If you did, pick the best match and score it |
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| Annual Obituaries |
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