Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (7.0): Best: Opening Exchange. Worst: Women's match. Opening segment was pretty good. Randy Orton, in one segment, went from a cheered babyface character to a heel with a lot of heat. I love it and can't wait for his return. Punk looked good and uncharacteristically pissed off at Orton; nice to see a little fire from him. Shane-O-Mac was fun to see, but it didn't explain why he'd just be there, and then happen to overturn a ruling. I'm glad they didn't get way into the Jericho-Michaels feud this week like they have been. As good as this feud has been, I feel sometimes like they shove it down our throats since it's the best thing Raw's got going. Santino's comedy again stole the show. I have never ever enjoyed watching a character's comedy acts overshadow their wrestling, but this is the exception, because the guy is guaranteed laughs every night. Imagine Lance Cade's surprise when he showed up to the arena and was told he had to wrestle tonight! They totally bombed any push for him by hiding him in Jericho's shadow, but nice to see him get the pin tonight. I cannot fathom why Shawn keeps calling for the Sweet Chin Music, and I can't believe fans keep going crazy for it, when every time he does it the other guy finds a way to avoid it. Decent main event match. A good but not great show. Nothing was too terribly exciting, but it was somewhat entertaining. Not as good as last week's, but an improvement over the trend they had been setting.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: "Dirt Sheet"-"Word Up" video duel and match; Michaels/Batista vs. Jericho/Cade/JBL Worst: Santino vs. Deuce. Compared to last week's near utter meltdown, this was much improved. The opening segment's parts were fine, but the transition from one to the other was lousy at best. Randy Orton is in a surreal place right now: He's a strong face among the heels, an equally strong heel among the faces, but a conundrum for the fans. Being a lightning rod is a pretty good position for Orton to be in. Adamle is being played as a naive GM really learning on the job (shown by the lack of knowledge of the Kane-McMahon history). I can deal with that. He buffers the current face-heel imbalance, and there is a serious imbalance on Raw. When Adamle realizes he's been had (say, when Jericho however talked his way into the Championship Scramble, and tonight got Cade added into the main event) he has reacted and rectified the situation. He does also interpret things a little more black-and-white, as evidenced by his suspension of Punk for lashing at Orton. Adamle rigidly followed the letter of his own edict. Shane is doing well as being a trainer of sorts for Adamle. He's imparting his experience, and showing by example that leeway can be had while still being firm with the rules. Shane is being the ideal supervisor: he overrode Adamle's call in a way that didn't come across as insulting or undercutting, and then followed up so that supervisor and supervised are working on same page. Punk-Rhodes had some new interesting moves, but they were relegated to having happened during commercial break. Kane-Evan this week was much better than Kane-Rey last week. The crowd just wasn't with it after it became obvious that Evan stopped standing a chance. Main event's biggest flaw was a complete lack of explaining how Shawn and Batista are anywhere on the same page from where they were back in April and May. Slightly insulted by that lack of continuity. But FINALLY Lance Cade gets to contribute something that resembles importance. Shawn and Lance trade the most intriguing stare in their first encounter in the match. Plus Cade gets the win over Shawn when it had every appearance that Lance was going to be the jobber. Very nicely surprised by that. But after so long as being window dressing for the Michaels-Jericho feud, I cannot trust that WWE will follow this up and elevate Cade further.

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.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.