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WWE Raw Reax #3: " I am really enjoying this overbearing jerk that Regal is becoming."
May 19, 2008 - 2:38:32 PM


Steve Feinberg of Cleveland, Ohio - PWTorch subscriber (4.0): Best-: Glamazon-Melina beatdown, Worst: Cena-Regal opener. "THIS RAW SUCKED WIND, CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!" Okay, let's state the obvious - the opening ten minutes were virtually unwatchable. Just as William Regal had a nice little malevolent smolder going, out sauntered John Cena to suck the life out of the crowd and my television set."Vince McMahon is insane?" Who the hell penned that line? Dr Evil? Luckily, the undercard was pretty decent or this show could have been total disaster. Cade smacking Garth Murdoch in the mouth, Santino coming off as less comical but damn, downright dangerous in regards to Roddy Piper, and let's not forget Beth Phoenix. Watching Glamazonian blows and water jugs raining down on Melina's head was just awesome! So does Melina turn face now? I wonder if Triple H saw the show run down and knew to avoid this clunker until the last five minutes of the program?

Ron M. of Weehawken N.J. - Occupation: Editor (5.0): Best Match: Orton vs. Cena, the Regal stuff, Y2J-HBK segment. Worst Match: Tag Titles. Mediocre show leading into the PPV in my opinion. I gave it a 5.0 after they set the bar so low from last week. I mean, what did this show do that was exciting to further along these storylines? Tag division is dead with Holly & Rhodes as champs. They are boring and sloppy, and Carlito & Santino are comic relief as opposed to real contenders. The only other team I had a remote interest in was Cryme Tyme and they lose cleanly to Cade & Murdoch? Hated to see that only to advance the Cade-Murdoch split. I understand putting Jeff Hardy into a match to showcase his return, but to have him take the offense of Umaga only so Umaga misses a spot so Hardy can hit Whisper in the Wind for the pin requires a suspension of disbelief. A few pay-per-views ago Umaga took eight chairshots to the head to go down, and now he loses a match because Hardy basically falls on him? Huh? Umaga needs a new home because he's wasted on this show. Bump him to ECW and have him feud with Kane or something. The twist in the Mickie-Glamazon storyline, a clean Kennedy win, and the Santino line of "Michael J. Fox isn't going back in time to save a werewolf" made for a decent show (anything is better than last week), but still a little weak going into a PPV that features much of the same matches as the last PPV.

Adam Riemer of New York, N.Y. (5.5): Best: The Return of Jeff Hardy. Worst: Fan's cheering for HBK. This was an okay Raw going into Judgment Day - not amazing, but not terrible. Cena added some spark to the show, which was nice. You knew that Regal had something up his sleeve, and I am really enjoying this overbearing jerk that Regal is becoming. But why would the WWE not progress the Mr. Kennedy vs. William Regal? WWE was on to something with two of the best talkers and entertainers in the company and this week all we (the fans) saw was Kennedy beat Snitsky. It would have been better if Regal came out and told Kennedy that his opponent was one of Regal's choosing, like what he did to Jeff Hardy. The rest of Raw was at least interesting, such as Beth Phoenix attacking Melina, quite viciously I might say as well. WWE sometimes can make sense. It was strange that for weeks Beth was associating herself with all these woman who should be going after her title, so this was a logical progression with the former (and I am sure soon to be) Women's Champion walking alone. Cena vs. Orton part 200 was good for what it was. The problem with the main event picture on Raw, though, is that I as well as many WWE fans I know, could not care less about it. Orton vs. Triple H has been done so many times (a few years back and now once again) that it has lost a lot of it's appeal, and the WWE Title match is not nearly as compelling as the World Title match at Judgment Day. Hardy continues to get the biggest pop in the company, the guy did drugs, got busted, came back and the fans still love the guy. The most interesting and worst thing on the show though was HBK. The guy faked it, acted like a jerk, Jericho was right all a long, and the fans still cheer for him. If the WWE was testing waters for a HBK heel turn, they failed. I don't get why the fans would cheer a guy who fained an injury and then attacked the guy who called him out on it. HBK proves that no matter what, unless he is in Canada, he is a face.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (9.0): Best: Michaels-Jericho exchange; Melina-Beth exchange Worst: Kennedy vs. Snitsky; Hardy vs. Umaga; Orton's new music. The go-home show for Judgment Day was very strong despite the feeling I still get that this is a throwaway PPV. But I do believe that this year's will be much better than last year's, both on paper and execution. I'm liking Regal as G.M. heel even if it seems a rehash as his character draws natural heel heat without having to go over the top in performance like Vince does. So far Santino-Piper dates back to a slap as there was nothing tonight that really gave anything to the story. Kennedy-Snitsky was a comedy of errors, and Umaga-Hardy was a tragedy for all the great matches they've had. Melina and Murdoch seem to be traveling the face road, as Beth and Cade are evolving into bitch and prick respectively. And Cade's first shot was pretty stiff as Murdoch already looked to be developing a shiner from it. Orton-Cena was looking to be a decent little match (complete with dueling chants) until PPV building took over. The post-match angle did well to highlight the Raw main event as well as the Match with Nearly No Build. As for Michaels-Jericho, there is a match at Judgment Day? I would figure there was but like with Cena-JBL the build has awful. Tonight's segment actually left me angry at first. The fact that Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler couldn't keep the story straight on which knee Shawn was selling told me something was coming. I was wrong about what it was as I was looking more forward to Jericho testing the knee and fully turning heel (he's all but done that now with his demeanor). Shawn cops to lying and faking and seems to prove so with kicking Jericho. This should have turned Shawn heel, but the crowd wouldn't go for it at all. This left me conflicted until a moral of the story came to mind, something that hasn't happened since the second Michaels-Batista face-off: "You wouldn't listen when I was telling the truth; you wouldn't listen when I was telling a lie. I know who I am; what does this make you?" Quite the irony considering that about ten years ago, and with his rep, no one seemed to believe Shawn no matter what he was saying.

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.


Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

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MORE "Torch Feedback" ARTICLES
ECW TV Reax #1: "C.M. Punk scoring the pin in the main event made Smackdown seem more important than ECW"
WWE Raw Reax #3: "While WWE delivered an above-quality show, they still haven't given viewers a reason to order Survivor Series"
WWE Raw Reax #2: "This was NOT one of the best Raws of 2009, but one of the worst..."
WWE Raw Reax #1: "This was the best Raw in years and had a ton of great, emotional moments"
TNA Turning Point Reax #2: "I'm a college student who works hard for every dollar and it came down to Turning Point vs. Survivor Series..."
TNA Turning Point Reax #1: "It has been many years since I've seen someone actually wrestle on par with Kurt Angle"
WWE on Food Network and DGUSA PPV Reax: Evaluation of Santino & Miz, Davey Richards & Bryan Danielson on PPV
ECW TV Reax #1: "Where does Christian go from here? With Regal as champ, ECW would have received a good shake-up"
WWE Raw Reax #2: "Only a few short weeks after having Rev. Al on Raw as guest host, WWE is back to racially-insensitive storylines"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "DX playing buddy-buddy until the final Raw before Survivor Series is not going to entice viewers to buy the PPV"
WWE PPV Price Increase Reax #2: "I spent more money on Vince every year than anything else and he does not even care about me or the people like me!"
WWE PPV Price Increase Reax #1: Outrage expressed over WWE's latest PPV price raise - could the backlash cause WWE to second-guess decision?
TNA Impact Reax #3: "The build for the PPV matches somehow featured Hulk Hogan despite him yet to show up on TV"
TNA Impact Reax #2: "I'm tired of non-stop talking. This isn't a Broadway play; it's professional wrestling and the best stories are told in the ring"
Thursday Night TV Reax #1: "I feel anything TNA does right is inevitably drowned out by what they fail at"
ECW TV Reax #1: "William Regal has stepped up big time since coming to ECW and he deserves a World Title run"
WWE Raw Reax #2: "The major flaw of this show was the real lack of hype for Survivor Series"
WWE Raw Reax #1: "The main event commentary was hilarious with Triple H and HBK making fun of Vince, but DX has run its course..."
WWE Smackdown Reax #1: "Batista plays the perfect bully and Rey plays the perfect hero; this is a chance to make Batista the lead heel on Smackdown"
TNA Impact Reax #2: "Hogan, as great as he was, is 15 years beyond his prime and he signed with a company touting their so-called youth movement"

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