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Swirly Stephens of Keansburg N.J. (3.0): Best Segment: Y2J promo; Worst Segment: Six-man tag, main event, everything with JBL. This week felt like a rerun. Same angles and same matches. Y2J continues to deliver and they seem to be setting up the HBK revenge nicely. Lance Cade squashing Paul London was worthless and accomplished nothing. The Santino and Glam romance has my interest. Santino drops match after match, and yet I still want to see him every week. The six man tag was a repeat of last week... but to pull a positive from it, I have to say that JTG looks like he stepped up his game a bit; he took the heel beating and made it look really good; and that is saying something considering who he was working with. Cena has taken the role (formerly played by Triple H) of destroying the tag roster on a weekly basis. You know your main event isn't doing well when fans are chanting "bor-ring." C.M. Punk seemed to be wrestling off his game, trying for power moves and a slow pace, which is NOT his forte. Batista showed good offense, but his taking of Punk's offense still looks bad. And was there anyone who didn't expect a Kane or JBL run-in?

Mike Carrier of Anchorage, Ak. (6.5) Best Match: Cena's Double FU, D-Lo's Return.. Worst Match: Main Event. I don't know. I really like C.M. Punk and his character, but it seems like the fans would rather cheer for a dud like Batista. Some of his moves may look powerful, but he still is kind of a clunker in the ring. His shoulder blocks in the corner are weak looking as always, and his punches look so ineffective. I will give him credit, however; this new program seems to have given Batista a bit more passion in the ring. This has been lacking for a while for his in-ring work. Punk, on the other hand had only a one-two punch tonight. Kick, kick, and a few moves off the ropes. He is looking more and more like a weak champion. His mic work has been much better, but they really need to let his in ring work look powerful. Let him do what he does best, and that is the fancy moves and footwork he is known for. His run of champ needs to be believable in the eyes of the fans, who are seemingly turning away from him very rapidly because of how weak he is looking in the ring. Good to see D-Lo Brown back in the ring. Not much ring rust there, eh? Santino? Dang! Give this guy some effective ring work and give him the mic, and you have a major character here! Fans love this guy and will respond either way. JBL, love him or hate him, he ALWAYS gets the fan reaction. He's what people would pay good money for to see beat up every night. Good promo from Chris Jericho. Let's hope Shawn Michaels is okay and is able to get a major measure of revenge.

Rick Gardner of Manchester, England (7.0): Best match: Six man tag. Worst match: N/A. For the first time since the Monday Night War era, the WWE is successfully creating unpredictable television on a weekly basis. The C.M. Punk title reign is proving to be a revelation in that the Raw main event scene feels fresher than ever. His competitive matches with Batista have already elevated him to the point where he can be considered a legitimate main event player, but he needs a clean win to fully establish himself as champion. Meanwhile, Batista has benefited significantly from his move to Raw, and a feud with Cena brings with it yet another set of fresh matches. The Jericho-Michaels feud continued to be the most intriguing aspect of Raw, even without HBK's presence. Jericho is delivering the best promo work of his career, and he, along with Edge, should be used as an example to aspiring wrestlers of heels that successfully evoke heat without sacrificing character depth. It is a feud with plenty of mileage left, and will hopefully culminate in a ladder match as suggested by Pat McNeil last week in his Great American Bash preview. The follow up to last week's Jim Duggan angle was very good and adding Jerry Lawler to the mix will only help to raise the profile of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Santino Marella is consistently entertaining, and his line about not fighting people with fallopian tubes was funny. A storyline with Beth Phoenix has potential, and will allow him to do something other than get beat every week. D-Lo Brown looked strong in his return match, and was very over with the crowd. The WWE is spending more time developing the characters of its undercard talent and it is already paying dividends. All the segments serve a purpose, and the horrible comedy has been cut to a minimum. That's not to say this show was perfect, as aside from the six man tag there wasn't a decent match all night, and C.M. Punk vs. Batista was largely disappointing considering their showing at The Great American Bash. But the last few episodes of Raw have definitely been a massive improvement over the repetitive formulaic show it was pre-draft. Hopefully the comment about Shane and Stephanie looking for a new G.M. proves to be a swerve, as the sense of unpredictability and excitement surrounding Raw is something that WWE should strive to achieve every week. A thought on the Kane storyline; is he referring to Vince McMahon when he asks "is he alive or is he dead"?

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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