5/11 WWE Raw Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (3.75): Best: VIP Lounge; Miz pre-match promo. Worst: wrestling in general; Carlito vs. Kendrick. In the past, WWE has taken crappy build and still managed to make reasonably good PPV efforts. This one is going to be a real challenge, and not necessarily because of the absence of some (Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Triple H). The wrestling wasn't very good all night. Kofi/MVP vs. Regal/Hardy was the best of the bunch even with the sloppiness, though it did have an "out" of being randomly booked. The VIP Lounge segment leading into it tied everyone involved together in a neat little knot that looks to lead into a combined U.S. Title storyline that could go nicely all summer. Miz got a declared forfeit victory against John Cena the first go round. He's claiming two more that aren't really official. There seems to be potential with the whole Cena-Miz thing, and maybe we'll know where it's really going after Sunday. I heard more than a few distinct boos during the Glamarella debacle. Can no one see the black elastic band holding Santina's wig on? This falls under the whole "cameraperson as observer" umbrella because even the camera operator isn't questioning it. Randy, Randy, Randy...I wish I knew what the deal was here. He's smart one minute, dumb the next. He tells Cody they need to stick together after DiBiase is taken out, then sends Cody to look for Batista. Excuse me? And there is the matter of the PPV itself. Where every title changed hands at Backlash, everything leading up to Sunday so far says everyone with a belt keeps it. Unless (and maybe even if) Miz gets involved, Cena will have some miraculous victory over Big Show. And Punk vs. Umaga shouldn't even be happening until we have a reason to care. If it wasn't for the fact I'd be seeing my friends at Sam's Town, I'd probably be sitting out Judgment Day.

Goiter Kalnoky, 3rd Wave Poet, of Keasbey, N.J. (7.0): Best: Cena vs. Miz, Batista losing it; Worst: Divas. I thought this was a better edition of Raw than in recent weeks. The wrestling was not great, but the storyline progression was really good, with solid mic work throughout. While I was initially disappointed with Batista as the choice for Legacy to take out next, I think he is fitting nicely into the role, and I like the twist of him losing his cool and pushing the character to the "raging animal." This will serve nicely when they decide to turn him heel (or somewhere in the between) later down the road. Although, when DiBiase went down to a mystery attack, I shuttered for a second thinking it was Triple H making his standard Superman-like return. Thankfully that wasn't the case. The Divas were not just lame tonight, even their wrestling was bad, and I mean REAL bad. The missed spots and bad acting ALMOST overshadowed the hotness factor. WWE is teetering dangerously close to that. The bottom line is Mickie, Melina, and Glamazon are the best in-ring workers they have, and the rest are absolute garbage. The drop off is colossal. This is the one thing that TNA has over the WWE - women that can actually wrestle. The mid-card stuff was just m'eh tonight (oh snap, did I just agree with Caldwell? **gasp**). MVP and Kofi had a good showing. They would actually be a good tag team if WWE cared about the tag division. Kendrick over Carlito was good short match for what it was. I love Kendrick's flamboyant character and hope they develop it with a good partner (please please please not Ezekiel). This ("Step 1" if you will) sets up a feud with the Colons pretty nicely. The best part of the show in my opinion was The Miz-Cena-Show piece. Unlike the recent (and laughable) Cena-Show-Edge three-way angle recently, The Miz delivers as more than just as the third wheel here; he comes through in a huge way on the mic and in the ring. Dare I say that here The Miz IS the angle and should be incorporated somehow at Judgment Day. Cena and Show deserve credit here as well, they were each superb tonight.

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