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A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. (9.0): Best Match: HBK vs. Y2J. Worst Match: Anything JBL touches turns to boring. Is WWE programming really in such a desperate situation that they need to give away $1 million to get viewers to tune in? Really, that's my only thought after Raw. Should I be worried, as a fan, that my program's going under? Isn't giving away money what desperate reality shows do to meet their ratings quotas?

Shane McKinley of Danville, Calif. (6.5): Best Match: Y2J vs. HBK. Worst Match: Vince's "Money" Proposal. Awesome interaction between Orton and Triple H. That is a sort of thing that you rewind it and watch again because it's impressive. Great execution and great thought plugged into it. This along with the video package sold me on their match. I have problems with people on a run that we have never heard of (London-Kendrick, Carlito). If there's no visual proof, then you might as well be lying. Ted "Mastercard" DiBase Jr. teaming up with D.H. Smith? London/Kendrick sure get no love. Amusing stuff with Piper. Nice touch with the lucador masks with DX. Maybe they fought El Gato and Super Porky from AAA? Solid tag match with John Cena. At least no more Paul Burchill squashes. Can't you picture Kennedy in the ring with the biggest American flag you have ever seen talking about how "if you don't love this country, you're a piece of garbage"? There's nothing wrong with xenophobia in wrestling (it is something that works), but one cannot deny that it is sort of a cheap way to ellicit emotion for a particular feud. Y2J vs. HBK was another fine match with a bad ending. The last thing fans want out of Batistia vs. HBK on their PPV is seeing Y2J stick his nose in there. Their match might be the show-stealer or it could be the biggest downer of the night. All in all a good night, but the last 15 minutes of the show sure weren't good signs. The biggest failure of the show: buying people off. I was exicited that the WWE draft is coming back. But then Vince makes this "Money" proposal, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this is wrong. Somehow honoring those who have served our country and then ending the show saying that "we appreciate our fans so much we're going to give away money" just stinks. No thanks, Vince. I already have money. WWE should do a smarter thing and contribute such money to charities like Make-A-Wish or to the families of dead wrestlers, instead of Average Joe. You know what you could do to show appreciation for the fans? Stop lumping us altogether and treating us like trained monkeys, willing to foam at the mouth to receive money to blow it all on wweshop.com. Perhaps WWE is sweating a possible Celtics vs. Lakers, but there's a reason why I don't watch some shows, because some shows are shameless in the way they try to get ratings. Around this time last year the "dead chairman" angle was beginning, which was one of the most moronic angles. I won't disagree that this is somewhat interesting, but you could take one look at the audience and know that this wasn't right. The feeling from this isn't "oh boy I might win some money", it's "this is sleasy, reeks of desperation, and is insulting." But that's why they call it wrestling. Oops, I mean sports-entertainment.

Leonard Tripodi of Kenilworth, N.J. (5.5): Best: Jericho-Michaels. Worst: Vince’s show ending promo. This Memorial Day edition of Raw was just so-so for me. WWE is sort of teetering on the brink lately; the show is either very entertaining with a couple of solid matches or completely forgettable with four minute matches. The inconsistency and direction of the company is what’s bothering me. I am a loyal fan and forgiving to a certain degree, but there are times when I have to question what is keeping me interested and still watching this stuff. Yeah, Vince’s early build up to what turned out to be a letdown of an announcement shouldn’t have anybody fooled. He’s been doing this kind of overhype for years, only to keep us in suspense throughout the show and then he fails to deliver. Since Vince mentioned a million dollars every week, my guess is either Shane McMahon, which would be cool for about two weeks, or Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, which would be okay in a legends tribute, but not for a long period of time. I really don’t want to see either of them as G.M. or better yet, at all. Shane was great during the Attitude Era, though. In any case, the announcement was a letdown and failed to keep me intrigued. And why in the hell did he waste a typically strong overrun slot for that disappointing promo? Melina-Beth has a some potential, but I’m sure it will fall short of expectations. As much as I want to like Melina, she just doesn’t have the “it” factor like so many other wrestlers and divas to put her over. The constant insinuation that Mickie is hooking up with Cena is a storyline with worlds of potential, but they will probably forget about it altogether. Jericho-Michaels can headline Raw and PPV’s for a year, but how does another good match between those two build towards a Michaels-Batista match at ONS? The Triple H-Orton promo was solid, but went a little too long. I like all of the past references to Evolution and such, but they need to move beyond that now and stick with the current history between them. I really don’t care much about Cena-JBL, simply because I have no reason to. JBL is not the best opponent for Cena, since his character has always been about an arrogant heel who does more trash talking and doesn’t back it up with great wrestling. I will not be ordering ONS for the obvious reasons which everyone has already stated, including myself. They have been hitting us with too many PPVs in such a short time while rehashing too many of the same feuds and matches. Also, after WWE took over ECW and most of its established stars, ONS was the brainstorm of Paul Heyman and initially used as an ECW heavy show. It included many of the old ECW legends and every match was contested under extreme rules. Real Extreme Rules! But now it’s just Vince’s watered down version and doesn’t set itself apart from any other monthly PPV. Not for me!

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