Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (8.0): Best Match: Punk vs. Morrison. Worst Match: Opening. Punk vs. Morrison just works so well. They both make each other look good. Finally, the Edge-Undertaker feud is played out to the hilt, and fans got news that the Mayweather-Big Show will be no-DQ. A very good show with no obvious weak points. I'm starting to come around for the Mayweather-Big Show match, as it might (keyword: might) be a WrestleMania moment. Match I am not looking forward to: Batistia vs. Umaga.
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: MVP vs. Jericho; Taker-Edge build. Worst: Opening big man match; Batista vs. Snitsky. The last go-home to WrestleMania and it lacked a little. The opening match was a buzz killer, and with the the six-man tag, not much importance is being given to the ECW battle royal and subsequent title match. Snitsky isn't very good in the ring, but even he didn't deserve a complete squashing burial. Batista needed to look strong, but giving Snitsky no chance didn't help. The build for Batista-Umaga has been horrible on the Smackdown side (though Raw didn't do much better). Thankfully, the exposure of the Show-Mayweather was kept to one segment. Punk-Morrison wasn't as good as previous matches; the stalls in the action kept it form being elevated. MVP-Jericho was a very good TV match; considering the time and attention these two were given, we're likely looking at your top contenders in an otherwise wide-open field. Who best benefits from Hardy's schadenfreude? The Edge-Taker feud got a huge final sell at the end, now putting some doubt on both sides, making this matchup a little less predictable. I still think The Streak continues, but at least it doesn't look so obvious. Across all brands, this WrestleMania is a duel-edged sword: great talent with less-than-stellar cumulative stories. I'm checking it out at Sam's Town where I don't eat the cost. Would I have bought into it based on the talent on the card? Yes. The final sell? Not likely.
SUPER-BONUS 3/25 ECW REAX
Erik of Miami, Fla. (7.0): Best: Shelton vs Carlito. Worst: Chavo vs Dreamer. The show was alright. The battle royal was a pretty much a joke and some of the big players stood out in the big guys, but Snitsky getting the pin? The guy that stands no chance? Pitiful. The Chavo/Dreamer promo wasn't bad at all. Dreamer was very bland in his execution, but he always has been. Layla was hot and she was all that mattered in that little mixed team match. The real reason I wrote is that Keller got a little too critical for my tastes during that heel vs heel match of Shelton vs. Carlito. He didn't credit the crowd getting behind Shelton more as the match went on and that Shelton played his part perfectly. Now Carlito? He was pretty lazy with his multiple chinlock breaks in the match instead of actually getting to work but once Shelton got working, the crowd oddly got behind the ECW heel. I heard children chanting "Shelton" and even clapping for him to fight out of that horrid chinlock sequence. The match started off slow and got better easily in the last four minutes. So if you feel need to criticize, blame the proper party in Carlito and not the guy doing the REAL work in the match like Shelton. That little comment of the WWE stalling pushes on them is more political than of any true merit. The fans have outright REJECTED the top face in John Cena at every event you can think of at this point, yet he's pushed to being the most unbeatable force in the WWE. His matches have LONG been past predictable and yet you give his matches high ratings even though they always end in that same horrible ass Superman comeback formula that you and all of us are familiar with at this point. One can say the same with Orton. That guy couldn't even get heel heat against Hulk Hogan in 2006 and he had to become Edge's bitch and get ANOTHER huge push in 2007 where he looked unbeatable before he got going again. Do what's right. Give credit to the underrated and calm down on praising the overrated.
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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LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1045 (20 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller on Jake Roberts's indy show meltdown... Keller's BBL looks at WWE's decision to put all three World Champs in a Triple Threat on the MyNetwork debut of Smackdown... Page 2 Buzz with Jason Powell features tons of insider news items from WWE and TNA... Part three of the "Torch Talk" with Lanny Poffo... Pat McNeill's "At the Bar for Unforgiven" column... In-depth coverage of the TNA No Surrender PPV including the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews from Keller, Mitchell, and McNeill... Plus WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire, Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week... PDF EXCLUSIVE features include the Greg Parks's review of the new Mr. Perfect DVD and Brian Hoops looks at pro wrestlers with Olympic backgrounds........
