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Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (9.0). Best: Main Event. Worst: Ortiz vs. Spears. My overall score reflects a run-of-the-mill show brought up by a great main event. We all know anyone with the last name of Hardy can work a great match, but it's becoming time to give some credit to the in-ring efforts of Mark Henry. I could not stand Henry before, but he has worked hard and evolved great as a champ. For a man of his size he really moved around the ring tonight. The match was well-booked; Henry gets a clean win, but we all know Hardy had it locked in but was pulled away by Atlas. It's booking like that that reminds me that there are some good minds in the back. What a great match to finish off the show; both men deserve a lot of credit for some great TV. In my opinion, this match was way above and beyond the standard main event on WWE's third-rate show.
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: Henry vs. Hardy Worst: Ortiz vs. Spears Raw was flaky and flighty last night; ECW was pretty solid tonight. The opening six-man was pretty much a spotfest to put over Bourne's flaying capabilities. As impressive as the way-high moonsault to the outside was, I was even more impressed with the standing Frankensteiner to Miz on the second rope. Bourne's vertical leap is rival to Benjamin's and Kingston's. Ortiz-Spears displayed all kinds of greenery as it looked like they could have used a fully choreographed match instead of trying to work their own. But Ortiz did get a clen singles win to further his "undefeted" (noted on a sign) streak. I would also more believe that the rally towels were catching on if they were more random in the arena as opposed to clumped in one section. The Finlay-Knox feud got a nice break with a promo "match" leading to a brawl. Of all the previous times when ECW would be post-PPV highlight crazy, only one highlight played: the Michaels-Jericho feud continuing. My biggest qualm had always been that feuds were too self-contained and any major consequences weren't far-reaching. This feud has been made extremely important by both Punk taking a stand to use his match with Jericho to get some retribution by proxy, and Striker and Grisham acknowledging their shock and disgust over Jericho's actions. I'm also cool with accepting the "unconfirmed" about Rebecca's condition here as opposed to "has-to-be" assumed condition of Shawn's eye after GAB. I'm guessing the Hardy-Henry match was more than likely scratched for time reasons. The seemingly crappy finish led to a pretty decent match tonight. Had this match taken place at the PPV, what other match would have been effected (don't think they would have touched Michaels-Jericho)? I'm definitely on the Striker bandwagon. He's coming across as someone who does his homework in the bits of trivia work. He even goes so far as saying he did some research. This trivia work also did something for Gavin Spears that just wasn't done for Primo Colon: gave you some idea who he is. Being someone's sibling isn't enough.
Shane Bennett of Frankfort, Ky. - Legislative Assistant (8.0): Best Match: Main Event/Six Man Tag Worst Match: WWE's disregard for all things ECW. Another great episode from what I consider to be the most consistent brand in the WWE Universe. Maybe Raw should be cut back to an hour so that they have to utilize time better than they do. I thought the six man tag match was a great way to start the show. I could see this being a cop-out by the writers who wanted to jam as many stars into a match as possible, without working out the why, but I enjoyed it. It gave Tommy, Miz, Morrison, and Super Crazy something to do. I would like to see a feud between Tommy/Super Crazy-Miz and Morrison. Since the fans are really buying into the fact that Tommy is old school ECW and Super Crazy is somewhat of an ECW legend (who else is there?) then the two tag teams could have a successful run. The feud could bring back some Extreme Rules matches and prove how ruthless Miz and Morrison can be. Hey, they made a feud with Hornswaggle look ok for like 8 months. Matt Striker continues to be right on the money with his commentary. He makes me care so much more about the matches and the athletes due to his simple and effective commentary. Todd Grisham must feel the same way because I think he is starting to settle in nicely. He is still a little “sugary” for my tastes but I can't complain that much. I am having a love affair with this new Ricky Ortiz character. I don't think he is super talented, or gifted athletically, but his persona is just dumb enough to get over big time. Those towels in the audience were an obvious plant, but I bet they won't be for long. Characters with delusions of grandeur are always fun to watch. He is 4-0 but acts like a world champ. Reminds me of the Kurt Angle that debuted. I didn't mind the Raw Rebound (so to speak) with the Jericho-Shawn Michaels feud. Partly because it was focused on one thing, and partly because the emotion of that feud is so perfect. It gets better every week. Speaking of emotion and getting better, Finlay-Mike Knox is developing right on target. I like that Mike again refused to get in the ring with Finlay (typical heel move) but when jumped, he brought the fight to Finlay as well. He wasn't squashed. This gives fans a choice. Maybe Mike wasn't afraid of Finlay, maybe he wanted to beat him up at another time, like he said. A coward would have ran away, Mike stood his ground and went toe to toe. This is a great mid-card feud, simple but effective. And finally the main event. This was a tremendous TV title match. Tremendous because it featured Mark Henry and it wasn't slow and boring. I actually got a little annoyed at Matt Hardy instead. Until his end flurry, it seemed like all he could do was go for his twist-of-fate. Henry blocked it like six times. However, I thought of this match in terms of storytelling and I decided that it was ok for him to continuously try his finisher. Mark Henry has been built wonderfully as an unbeatable giant. Hardy would have needed the finisher to even start to wear down Henry. Hardy went for it so much because he needed anything that would combat the force of Mark Henry. The ending worked for me because Hardy put up the best fight to Henry thus far and lost no momentum in the loss. I also hope this leads to Hardy-Henry in a steel cage! Shame on the WWE for not putting this match on to SummerSlam. This is so disrespectful to the fans that it makes me sick. This match was at least as good as Triple H-Khali, so why not give them ten minutes to do their thing? What can it hurt to treat the ECW brand with even a little respect? I know why, because it is a better show than your two money makers and that makes you jealous, doesn't it Vince? Wrestling and old school storytelling is making the ECW brand better than the spectacle and flash of your two main brands. Keep your scrambles, and two minute IC Title Matches, and your Super Cena, and we WRESTLING FANS will keep chanting ECW even if, especially if, you hate it! ECW, ECW, ECW, ECW!
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