Art "Bucky" Blarr of Buffalo, N.Y. (5.0): Best Match: Diva Battle Royale. Worst Match: Manu vs. Hardy. This was a horrible way of closing the book on "Raw 2008." The main event was too predictable, and I really think the HBK/JBL angle brings the whole show down. The diva battle royale was predictable, the Legacy angle sucks, and Michael Cole sucks. Even though it was predictable that Melina would win the divas match, I liked that it went down to Mickie and her for the final two. The finish of the match looked good and the aftermath with Rosa getting involved should make for a decent upcoming angle. The Punk vs. Rhodes match was okay and Sim Snuka vs. "Super Haas" was okay as a comedy segment, but Manu has to go. The ten-man tag match was fine, although I would've rather seen someone other than Knox get pinned. All I have to say is: "Thank God there's a Smackdown!"

Alex Roberts in the U.K. (6.5): Best Match: the Main Event. Worst Match: Divas match. Some people will question this, but I thought the opening segment was one of the best things WWE has produced over the past month. It did a fantastic job of truly establishing Michaels's split personality within the JBL angle. The Cena save was a little off balance, but I can live with the top babyface on the show saving someone from a beat down. In fact, WWE flooded tonight with some excellent segments to advance angles and characters. Orton's address to the Legacy group was good and set up the group dynamic well. Orton's segment with Kelly was also a nice little touch. Where it fits into the Kane/Kelly angle is potentially interesting. The John Cena/Stephanie McMahon segment was another hit and miss segment from Cena. It truly amazes me how utterly random the writing is for Cena one week where they get it spot-on, then the next week it will be all over the place. It's worrying that the writing team doesn't have a firm grasp on writing for the company's top star. Jericho's promo was good but he desperately needs some kind of direction now. A feud with Mysterio would be the obvious answer if WWE wasn't running that awful Knox angle. The ten-man tag was a good little match that managed to showcase everyone involved pretty nicely. I really enjoyed the main event. The ending stretch was particularly brilliant with Michaels once again proving why he's still one of, if not the best the WWE has right now. I can't say I'm at all excited about JBL vs. Cena at the Rumble. All in all, a solid offering that did everything it needed to this week.

Terrie Neilson, Las Vegas, Nev. (8.5): Best: ten-man tag; Shawn Michaels. Worst: Sim vs. Charlie. Considering there is still time to get to the Royal Rumble PPV, there was time to flesh out more stories tonight. Orton didn't win the four-way match, which leaves room for Manu to state his case. Snuka had the cleanest, yet ugliest win (clean win, ugly match). Cody had an okay match with a protected finish for Punk. Manu took a clean loss, but did make the best showing (including a nice lionsault attempt for a big guy). Someone in the headlines asked about the Legacy match booking, and I have no trouble making the Steph-to-Orton connection. Randy and Stephanie are multi-generational, and the Steph-Jericho relationship seems to have soured. The crowd was pretty quiet for most matches tonight, except for the ten-man tag match, which was a fun little match to put something on for the Rey-Knox feud. Shawn Michaels was indisputably the MVP tonight. For all this talk about him turning heel, he's clearly not one, and it showed all over his face through every segment. There was the willingness make right by Rey, the conflict with JBL as boss to take it back, and helplessness when Knox attacked Rey. During the match there were flashes of the old competitive Showstopper tempered yet again by JBL. The match climax showed that while JBL got what he wanted, Shawn still had some semblance of control in how it was done. I couldn't make out everything they were saying in the ring, but the power struggle was there, and Lawler did well to surmise the chatter when the audio went silent. The story faltered last week, but hit a nice chord this week.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "WWE 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