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WWE Raw Reax #1: "The worst thing about tonight was the Rhodes/DiBiase defeat at the hands of Cena." Aug 19, 2008 - 12:43:28 AM
Jon Gargis of Cartersville, Ga. (7.5). Best match: Punk vs. Jericho. Worst match: John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase. I hate that I missed SummerSlam last night, but at least tonight's show kept a lot of last night's drama going. How great is the Jericho-HBK feud? I think most fans can't wait to see Chris Jericho get his comeuppance, but I don't think they need to rush it. Why not have Shawn Michaels come out and tell Jericho that he will be back, but he won't know where or when, and have him make a surprise return a few PPVs down the road? That would make his return more of a big deal. I think it's "Bye bye, Burchill" after seeing him squashed without his storyline sister in his corner. Jamie Noble is Val Venis 2008. I could've sworn it was said that Shane and Stephanie McMahon would be making a big announcement during the show, but they were nowhere to be found. By the way, when is Vince coming back? Do we have to forget about his silly injury angle before he'll return? Adamle needs his own entrance music, perhaps a popular song from his NFL-playing days. Heck, even the Coach had his own entrance. It's always awesome to see Triple H, er, DX, I mean, Cena, get the best of the tag team champs. GlaMarella is pure gold. Somebody must've remembered that C.M. Punk was Raw's top champion, as he actually appeared in the show's second hour, got some time on the mic, and wrestled in the main event. The upcoming Championship Scramble will be interesting, but how does Adamle know the match will have even one pinfall? Couldn't Punk break up every pin/submission over the 20 minutes and retain? But like many Triple Threat and Fatal Four-Way matches, I see that match taking the belt off Punk without having him lose.
Adam Riemer of New York, N.Y. (3.0): Best match: Chris Jericho (promo and match vs C.M. Punk). Worst: The squash fest. To quote my very good friend Chris Luther "How does it help to have Cena, JBL, and Batista squash the best mid-card talent in the WWE." I could not agree more! What a waste tonight was. There was no way you could tell the second biggest PPV of the year was the night before. The WWE had no right to squash Burchill or Noble. For one, Burchill was a good mid-card IC Title wrestler, and two, well, Noble and Regal could have had a great program. Tonight they decided to kill that and have JBL squash him. Why do you get rid of people like the Highlanders who were good "squash" guys and then sacrifice a wrestler like Jamie Noble who is entertaining and has something great with William Regal and Layla? It is like the WWE has different writers every week. Santino and Beth was okay this week. Why do I still care about D-Lo Brown? I didn't care about that guy in 1999, I really don't care about him in 2008. Kane's music is a lot better, but still that angle is so far-fetched it is ridiculous. Rey shuld have stayed on Smackdown, Kane could have used his mask again, this angle cannot end up good. Rey will be fine in two weeks and everyone will stop caring in three. The worst thing about tonight was the Rhodes/DiBiase defeat at the hands of Cena. These two are some of the best wrestlers and characters in wrestling. At least in TNA they wouldn't get beat by Cena (maybe something just as dumb but not beat by the guy who lost to Batista the night before). Jericho was the best thing tonight. His promo and match with C.M. Punk was awesome. HBK and Jericho should fight about everything abd the WWE Title, at least it would be more interesting that C.M. Punk's PG rating. I really wish TNA would capitalize on the WWE shortcomings and use their talent to their full potential.
Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (6.5): Best: Main Event. Worst: D-Lo/Santino match. I think WWE needs to stop it with the "Did You Know?" ads. They seem like they're a little too pushy and desparate, and probably not helping the company any. The ref stopped JBL's squash way too late. He had already counted to one, so how was he saving Noble by ending the match their? Cryme Tyme couldn't even beat the Olsen twins, so they resort to stealing the tag belts? Stupid gimmick, but it might actually give some light to the tag division. I kind of liked Kane's segment because it was something different. I'm assuming Batista came out because he's known to be Rey's friend, but if someone didn't know that the segment could be awful confusing. Main event was a solid match. I don't have much of a problem with the finish, but because of Jericho's hot-as-hell feud right now, he could have lost clean to Punk and continued right on with HBK without missing a beat, and then Punk could've gotten put over more. But seeing how Jericho did win, the announcers did a terrible job of putting it over. He just beat the champ; if he can do that, he should be able to win the belt, and that should be a big deal. Overall kind of a "blah" show, not terrible by any means but nothing too special.
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