Sam Weiss of San Diego, Calif. (8.0) Best match: none stood out, but the long tag team match was pretty decent. Worst match: Gauntlet main event. The problem with the main event is that the heel champ had to face three strong heels and it became clear to me that it just didn't feel right for Regal and Henry to lose so easily to Y2J. Rather, I would have preferred a straight triple threat match between Y2J, Batista, and Regal (who I believe is one of the better wrestlers on Raw). Y2J is gold for the WWE, and does an outstanding job on the mic, but this was not a good way to use him. As for the other matches, I enjoyed the opening diva match more than I would have anticipated. I did like that tonight's show was mostly in-ring and less behind the scenes. I just wish the main event would have been better. Tonight's show did not motivate me to buy the PPV for this weekend.

Kevin Wang, Torch VIP member of Dallas, Tex. (4.5) Best Match: Miz & Morrison vs. Punk & Kingston. Worst Match: JBL vs. Stone Cold Steve Haastin. While the brand split no longer seems sacred, I do appreciate that they have been careful the past several weeks to make sure that ECW wrestlers have their ECW graphic onscreen and that Lillian announces them as "representing ECW." However, they gloss over the reasons for wrestlers hopping shows, and therein lies the bigger problem: the lack of booking logic on Raw continues to take center stage and detract from the wrestlers's efforts in the ring. Also, whether it was coincidence or having
the weekend off, there seemed to be quite a bit of sloppiness in the ring tonight? There were three blown spots in the Mysterio vs. Snitsky match alone, including Snitsky almost injuring his privates and toppling headfirst over the rope in one motion. How about Santino's hard way blood, too? Getting back to the booking problems, why does Charlie Haas continue to get matches against JBL and get squashed? There is seemingly no point to his wrestler "homages" in the long-term aside from the erosion of Haas's credibility. Longtime WWE viewers also got a big hint that Jericho will retain at Cyber Sunday, as Batista finished the go-home Raw standing tall.
I'm fine with the result, as fans will continue to buy into his title chase. It demonstrates a small measure of looking ahead, something that is conspicuous by its absence on WWE programming lately.

Mike Carrier of Anchorage, Alaska. (4.5) Best Match: Miz/Morrison vs. Punk/Kingston. Worst
Match: Gauntlet crap. It was not a real strong Raw leading into the PPV by any stretch of the
imagination. Jericho is still the best heel in the biz right now, and gets strong crowd response no matter what he does, but the lines all seemed too safe; too contrived to be real between Batista and Jericho. It still should be a good match, however, at Cyber Sunday. Batista, though I have been a critic of him in the past, has looked much stronger recently, but burying Regal, Henry, and Kane in such little time was a little too unbelievable. The standouts on the show were Miz and Morrison... again! These guys can really do no wrong, and are showing the rest of the WWE what real tag teams are made of, using proper in ring psychology and physicality. It's old
school, but it's still so cool! If we could get more tag teams like these guys, we may have a revival in this division. Punk was awesome again tonight and looked real stiff out there. (That's a good thing, as his moves all look authentic) Kofi Kingston is building momentum every night. He is one of my new favorites, and the one to watch in the next few years for signs of true
greatness. Santino was hilarious tonight, but I am waiting to see the real wrestler come out from him eventually. Comedy is his strength, but that will wear thin after a while. Overall, a decent show, but it lost momentum towards the end.

We still welcome your 0-10 score and comments. To contribute your thoughts on Raw, email to pwtorch@gmail.com. Please keep your thoughts to around 10-15 lines if possible to increase your odds of being published.

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