-- 8/31 WWE Raw Reax

Sergio H. (8.0): Best: U.S. championship four-way. Worst: Kool Aid Man vs. Grimace (Henry vs. Show). If you throw out poor Chavo's month of shame and the gals botching moves and timing all night long, tonight's show was genuinely entertaining. If WWE had shows seven days a week, Jericho would be on all of them. His presentation, ability, and working style will make him a sure fire Hall of Famer. Reaching for the ropes with his leg to tease a "cheat" finish was great and walking out with a win and a busted nose is even better. If you subtract the Chavo program (I will not even dignify it), than the worst in show medal goes to the Kool Aid Man and Grimace from McDonald's advertising fame. How the WWE gets away with such blatant copyright infringement is beyond me. Big punches and elbows get boring real fast and it looked like Henry saw Show expose the turnbuckle strait on. The best part of the four-way match was that the pace was great and everybody came out looking strong. Even when the timing was off (when "Koko" springboarded on to the turned back of Carlito), it still looked painful and believable. Miz is working so stiff that it will do wonders for his character or he will kill someone in the ring. The writers tried something new and wrote jokes that were funny this week. Poking fun at Shawn's past and Dusty's old writing was hilarious for us informed fans but probably had kids around the nation asking their dads who Dusty Rhodes is. Finally, we have our long awaited heel host swerve that was long overdue and it was done perfectly. I'm honestly beginning to think Orton is pure evil. He has no soul. He would RKO his own grandmother. Cody sold the anguish well and we're set up for another (sigh) six-man tag next week.

Adam of Edmonton, Alb. (3.0): Best Match: U.S. Title Fatal Four-way. Worst Match: Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero. You know, the more I watch WWE programming, the more I realize that there problems are much more than lack of creativity from the writing staff. Watching this week's episode of Raw showed me one thing. The talent doesn't care anymore and it's obvious. The show once again had a decent opening that was just absolutely killed by the in-ring action. The Divas battle royal was terrible, except for Beth Phoenix getting a push again. And her match with Mickie wasn't half bad either. I know a lot of people have given Gail Kim some flack for her in-ring work since her return to WWE, but I've seen Kim wrestle in good matches. The problem with her right now is the people working with her - women who aren't wrestlers trying to act like wrestlers. Her exchanges with Jillian were creative, but it shows the lack of skill to execute the moves with fluidity. For some reason, even though Vince calls his company World Wrestling Entertainment, he is very apprehensive about letting his talent entertain us with wrestling. Case and point: DX. And did I mention you can buy this DVD?!!! WWE brought Shawn Michaels back to sell merchandise? He was almost better off being a chef. Santino was another scratch on this episode. Honestly, even Chris Jericho looked a little off during his match with MVP (at least at the start – it got a lot better as it went on). The Dusty swerve was almost expected, but the RKO wasn't. It was nice (for a change) to see John Cena and DX get beat down and STAY down. It was also nice to see the U.S. Title match have some kind of story and a surprisingly good flow. I'd love to see them hone these four men for feuds down the road. You add guys like Evan Bourne and Santino to the mix and you almost have a respectable mid-card. In my opinion, Big Show and Mark Henry didn't disappoint us…because they've always disappointed us. They're big, they're slow, and they aren't really that over. Vince's love for big men in this sport really kills shows sometime. However, I'll be less critical of this particular effort and I'll give them a B- for their effort. And finally, we come to Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero once again. Now, at least we can revel in the fact that Chavo Guerrero will hopefully be working with Evan Bourne and no longer with Hornswoggle. This week however, the creative team hit a new low. I wonder how Vince McMahon can sit in these meetings and with a straight face give the thumbs up to a wrestler (not even Chavo necessarily) dressing in a cow outfit and getting lassoed by a midget wrestler. I have been watching Raw for almost ten years now, and I have NEVER felt like the WWE has insulted my intelligence as a viewer like I did tonight. Thank goodness for Friday nights.

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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