2/16 WWE Raw Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.5): Best: Piper promo; Michaels promo. Worst: Mania build still nowhere in sight. The outgoing show carried over the same high energy that showed up on Sunday. It showed up in all the promos. I got a kick out of Edge and his "wrong, wrong, wrong" spiel, and so did that one kid at ringside. Piper's promo was focused, impassioned, and well-delivered. Jericho's beatdown on Piper added to the heat Jericho lost big time being pushed aside for the Orton-McMahon feud. Funny thing, the Edge-Cena promo was also pushed aside from the Orton-McMahon build. I'd like to think it was a simple case of miscommunication, but the Orton-McMahon story is everywhere and treated more importantly than the title. What was Santino thinking? Was Santino thinking? The Unibrow is gone in favor of...whatever this
new look is. After several months of dramatic emotional promos, hot damn it was nice to hear Shawn Michaels tee off on JBL. With JBL closing the chapter to the main feud by not protesting Rebecca's involvement, the original feud is done. Or is it? Last year at this time, Money in the Bank was beginning to take shape, No Way Out finalized the main title opponents, and most of the non-title feuds were set. At this point, fans are going to need a flow chart to even attempt to guess where things are headed going into WrestleMania. Triple H's potential opponents: Undertaker, Orton, and Edge. Undertaker's potential opponent: Michaels, JBL, Triple H (my money's on the non-Texan holding the Smackdown title belt). Swagger's potential opponent: depends on where and how Christian moves along. Jericho's opponent: Mickey Rourke or TBA (potentially Michaels). One thing about the Orton-McMahon feud that jumped out: the IED pinpoints which McMahon will be allied with Orton. Shane clearly isn't, as Orton's behavior doesn't radically change after his assaults of him. But it did with both Vince and Stephanie. Vince may be a wild card, but Stephanie will be an ally. With Triple H being a non-generational wrestler, the cahoots may be making him a target next. If nothing else, at least Triple H and Stephanie can now co-exist without too many questions.

Alex Roberts in the U.K. (7.0): Best Match: Mysterio vs. Knox. Worst Match: Kane squashes Noble. Apparently the WWE has finally remembered that WrestleMania is just around the corner and decided to start booking some WrestleMania feuds. Remember when that used to start at Survivor Series, if not earlier? The opening Edge-Cena exchange was very good and while I don't love the explanation for Edge's title win at No Way Out, it makes sense and I can live with it. The JBL-Michaels exchange did what it needed to. I can't say I was blown away by it, but it looks like it's going to get us to Michaels vs. Taker at WrestleMania, so I'll go with it. The other and probably best promo exchange of the night between Jericho and Piper was excellent. Although, I'll praise just about anything that gets Piper on my TV, but I still have absolutely no idea where the WWE is going with any of this. That's not a complaint either. It's refreshing to have no real clue where WWE's heading with an angle. I just hope the eventual pay-off can live up to what has so far been excellent hype. The show-closing Orton-McMahon segment was the mixed bag of booking that I've come to expect from this angle, although for a moment I thought WWE was finally just going to have Orton destroy Shane, which is long over due at this point. I don't know why or how I'm supposed to take Orton seriously as a credible threat to Triple H when he can't beat down Shane McMahon by himself, especially when 24-hours previously, Shane McMahon was apparently taken to hospital. Shane's Superman booking was just ridiculous, so ridiculous that I'm half expecting him back on television next week despite receiving The Punt of Death from Orton. Speaking of which, that Punt was excellent. Triple H's late arrival to set up a Mania title defense against Orton was fine and it'll be interesting to see how or if the WWE acknowledges that Triple H and Stephanie are storyline divorced. I suspect they'll just ignore it, which is probably for the best. Away from the Mania set up, nothing much happened on Raw. The little wrestling was weak, except for another excellent Mysterio performance. I seriously hope WWE has something up their sleeves for Mysterio heading into WrestleMania to get him back on track because he's been excellent as of late. I would have preferred some longer and better matches, however it's not as if WWE wasted time on long, meaningless segments this week. Everything was good and had a point heading into WrestleMania, so I can live with this on the condition things become a little more even next 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.

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