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WWE Unforgiven PPV Reax #1: "This was WWE's best PPV of the year. All three Championship Scramble matches delivered for various reasons." Sep 8, 2008 - 12:10:12 AM
Jon Gargis of Cartersville, Ga. (9.0): Best match: Jericho-Michaels. Worst match: None. This was WWE's best PPV of the year. All three Championship Scramble matches delivered for various reasons. ECW's saw Matt Hardy get a well-deserved and long-time-coming big title win, and with Mark Henry not getting pinned, it keeps the Henry-Hardy feud going. Smackdown's title match was exciting, with The Brian Kendrick surprising the crowd by winning a pinfall and Jeff Hardy narrowly missing what could have been the winning pinfall. Raw's scramble gets a thumbs up for Jericho's surprise appearance and out-of-nowhere victory. I don't know where Jericho's title win fits into his feud with Shawn Michaels (What a match theirs was!), nor where the title picture goes since C.M. Punk wasn't even in the title match and seemingly wasn't officially stripped of the title, but I'm anxious to find out. Is it just me, or did Jericho on top of Lance Cade on top of the table look a little too Brokeback? An Orton-Punk feud has potential, but I'm more interested in Orton's relationship with DiBiase, Rhodes and newcomer Manu - perhaps a new Evolution for Raw? The tag title and women's matches were decent. The only dim spot I saw tonight was the start of an Undertaker-Big Show feud, because it seems like we've seen it so many times before. But all in all, any WWE fan who missed this show should be kicking themselves right now.
Jay Cordingley of Leeds U.K. (7.5): Best Match: Jericho vs. Michaels. Worst Match: WWE Title scramble match. Overall, a really good PPV from WWE. Jericho vs Michaels is the most dramatic feud in years. It is great to see Chris Jericho take his place as the top heel in the company after the way they bungled his return. Every match on the show was decent. However, the ending to the WWE Title scramble was ridiculous! Did anyone else notice how weird it was that Jeff Hardy just stared at Triple H when he took the winning pinfall? Even worse was that Jeff Hardy then tried a pinfall as well! Two things wrong with that: One is that Hardy was going for a pin knowing full well Triple H already had one, and two was he was already the champion so why would he go for a pin? Add that to the Kane vs. Mysterio feud and that's too much suspension of disbeleif. On the whole, a decent show with Chris Jericho definitely the star of the night.
Alfonso Sanchez of Central Islip, N.Y. (8.0): Best Match: Michaels vs. Jericho. Worst Match: World Tag Title match. Jericho is the new World Heavyweight Champion. Did anyone think they'd be typing that at the end of tonight? Good show from start to finish with the Championship Scramble concept really coming through in helping establish some new stars in today's wrestling landscape. It's awesome to see WWE is taking more chances with "smaller" wrestlers; just look at the pushes Kendrick, Hardy, Punk, and Jericho have all received lately. I'm a huge Jerichoholic from childhood, and it's satisfying to see that his work's evolution of quality is being capitalized on. Jericho forced his way through whatever "glass-ceiling" that some have claimed to exist. Great to see that his return has made his legacy stronger than ever before. Monday night wrestling just got a lot more interesting.
We welcome your 1-10 score and comments on this show for a "PPV 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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