-- 8/17 WWE Raw Reax

Lance of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (8.5): Best match: Jericho and Big Slow vs. Cenanuff and Orton (thanks mostly to Jericho), Cole "Vintage" Sign. Worst Match: MVP vs. Swagger and Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Part XXXXVII. What happened ... did Raw kidnap the Smackdown writers? Something happened tonight to make Raw VERY watchable and consequently the best Raw in months. It's called booking along with a few twists and turns. I realize that they did not have much time to push Summerslam, but wow. Surprises included an attack on a Hollywood 'star,' Legacy actually posing a threat for once with a beat down on DX, face lumberjacks, and fantastic mid-card workers (i.e. Kofi, Bourne, the Miz, Carlito) being allowed to work matches longer than a minute! I am surely missing something here but what a turnaround from recent weeks ... seriously, were Smackdown writers involved here?! On the slight downside, it's beyond me why they had a throwaway match between two talented workers, Swagger and MVP, who has been neutered and ruined since his face turn and "The View" cross-promotion. Chavo must have done something unthinkable to a McMahon because nobody can be that petty about Aunt Vickie, not even a McMahon. HBK has been my favorite performer for many, many years, but I fear that a DX reunion will once again make him the bumping damsel in distress only to be saved by talent-less Cripple H's punches/kicks/spinebuster/Pedigree to victory. Ugh. Maybe HBK will have the 'honor' of being retired by a turned Triple H at WM26, but I digress ... Keep up the good work. I may be generous after soooo many bad Raws, but this seemed damn solid.

Jesse Thomas of Chesapeake, Va., Torch reader: The show started off funny although I believe Santino is a waste of payroll. Orton keeps on attacking WWE officials and dignitaries. They need to bring Shane o' Mac back and have him feud with Orton like the Vince-Austin feud back in the day. Keep throwing challengers at him to try and make him lose the title with Shane as the face and Orton as the evil heel that will not go down and they supposedly can't fire him. Not a bad U.S. Title match between Kofi and Carlito. The Miz vs. Air Bourne match was okay. ... Are You Ready? Kick to Santino, big pop, the universe as it should be, DX reunited. These guys have always complimented each other whether they are feuding or partners. Then, the roaches try to ruin it all. Can't wait for Legacy to get steamrolled at Summerslam. Divas match was not bad. I think one of these gals is turning heel. Chavo vs. Lil' Horny again. The crowd is the quietest it's been all night. Kind of had flashbacks to the WCW days when Chavo did the Here Uncle Eddie bits. Macaulay Culkin - Where did they dig him up from? Thanks King for reminding us that it's only been a year and a half since we last saw Orton vs. Cena one-on-one for the WWE championship. Now for the main event that left me unfulfilled. What do ya know, a clean victory, then the viper attacks and it turns into an all-out brawl. They try to make Cena look good six days before Summerslam. Some parts were okay, but mostly bad like a twisted 3 Stooges episode.

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