Brian Jaffe of Iowa City, Iopwa (5.0): Best Match: Punk vs. Jericho. Worst Match: Divas. This was a good Raw that was absolutely ruined by a dead crowd. It honestly made me uncomfortable to watch at times, because the crowd was just silent throughout the whole night. Punk vs. Jericho was a really good cage match, and did its purpose of making Jericho look lucky again. Candice's ring rust is showing, but at least it's not as bad as it was last week. Why does Tommy Dreamer still have a job? The segment with Orton/JBL/Batista/Santino/Beth was fun, but again, the crowd didn't seem to care. The Priceless Generation are absolutely incredible week in and week out. Charlie Haas is also becoming a highlight of Raw, as he is absolutely hilarious in his new gimmick. Paul Burchill had a nice fierce look tonight, but we didn't get to see much of it, as Noble made him tap so quick. I assume that we will soon be wishing Burchill the best in his future endeavors. Kane vs. Mysterio could have been really fun, but it never got out of first gear, I think because the crowd just sat on their hands the whole match. Evan Bourne making the save is cool. It's awesome to see WWE putting a lot of faith into him. The HBK-Jericho in a ladder match will be fun, but I just couldn't get excited about it. Again, this Raw would have been much better in front of a crowd that would have actually cared, instead of the silent audience we had tonight.

Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (9.0): Best: Orton (again). Worst: JBL Squash. I wasn't sure about seeing a steel cage championship match (which normally would be a main event at a PPV) at the beginning of Raw, but the match was pretty good. It had some good spots, and the bookers made a great move by having a clean finish. Punk actually looked stronger in the end because a beat-up Jericho sort of accidentally won. The in-ring segment with Orton, JBL, Glamorella, and Batista was very good. Usually getting that many people involved waters down a segment, but they all played their parts extremely well. JBL sometimes gets stale but he looked great firing back at Orton tonight. Orton has been my MVP the last three weeks. He is totally believable as the cocky former champ calling out everyone before his return. Batista's promos aren't usually very solid but he did well tonight. Whoever is writing Santino's jokes is so good, WWE should be worried that he or she will leave for a different show, like Saturday Night Live. In my opinion, it's that funny. The Noble vs. Regal feud continues. Good to see some more thought put into the undercard. I like that they're involving Evan Bourne with major players already. I just hope they don't screw up his development. When Adamle announced that HBK would face Jericho, I thought they should've put off that rematch for a few months, but after they announced it would be a ladder match, I could easily see this feud of the year putting on a Match of the Year candidate. I thought Raw pulled a good show out of nowhere tonight. They haven't really put on any noteworthy shows lately, but this Raw was pretty entertaining from start to finish. Everthing had a purpose, and further episodes and PPVs were set up.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE PPV REAX #1: "I wanted the biggest event of the summer to end with an exclamation point; it ended with a semicolon and a question"

WWE PPV REAX #1: Battleground finish generates mixed reactions...

WWE PPV REAX #2: In-Person Battleground Report on overall show, reactions, more