-- 1/4 WWE Raw and TNA Impact Reax

John of Cocoa Beach, Fla., Writer (9.5 Raw & Impact): Best match: Styles vs. Angle Worst match: Abyss vs. Samoa Joe. What a way to kick off the New Year of 1998! I know it's 2010, but it just seemed like it was 12 years ago. Favorite parts of Raw included the Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels reconciliation. Seeing that made me think anything is possible considering all the bad blood that's happened since Montreal and between former WWE talents. I guess Sable and Chyna will be back next week along with Brock Lesnar. Everything just seemed so surreal on both shows with a mix of the past, Hart on Raw, and Hogan and crew on TNA. The new stars on WWE Raw, such as Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, and Sheamus, along with the original TNA talents are who I'm concerned are going to get the short end of the stick. I base that on the fact the Machineguns, Beer Money, and Rhino were victims of a mystery man who could be Sting. Seeing Ric Flair, Nasty Boys, and Jeff Hardy felt like the MLB All-Star game. Potentially, I'm seeing an old-style New Blood/TNA originals vs. Old Blood of former NWO and WCW guys with HollyHulk Hogan caught in the middle. As far as WWE, it looks for sure there will be a Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart confrontation of some sorts at WrestleMania. TNA brought out all the big guns possible, while WWE booking John Cena at the Fiesta Bowl was the biggest mistake WWE made in booking talent since the Denver Debacle. WWE should have brought out all their big guns from Raw and an appearance by Undertaker and Batista from Smackdown. Finally, seeing Eric Bischoff in TNA made me do a double-take, but I would have done a triple-take if it had been none other than Shane McMahon.

A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla. Best: Bret Hart returns. Worst: Fiesta Bowl. There really was too much great television happening Monday night to be able to tune into everything. Unfortunately, my DVR can only record one show, so I only saw Raw in its entirety while I flipped between TNA, the Fiesta Bowl, and a local college basketball game here. It seemed like every time I flipped to TNA, I saw a face I recognized. First came Jeff Hardy, although I'm not sure I like his new hair. Then, Hulk Hogan. Then, NWO. Later, Mick Foley. For those of us that didn't watch the entire TNA show, they gave us reason to keep checking. This DVR'ed Raw was the first one I really didn't fast-forward through, except commercials. It was easily the best Raw show since Donald Trump started the guest host gimmick in Green Bay. The loser of the night was definitely the boring Fiesta Bowl.

Justin James of Columbia, S.C., IT professional/author (9.0 Raw): Best Match: Bourne-Sheamus. Worst Match: Bella Twins-Maryse. This episode of Raw explains why the rest have been so bad - the writers had been spending all of their time on this one. I started watching wrestling in 2008, so none of the old Hart controversy affected me. I had no nostalgia, etc. That being said, WWE did a great job over the last few weeks helping me understand who was who, what happened in the past, both sides of the story, etc. The Hart-HBK interaction was sheer perfection. I liked that they came clean about Melina's injury, and that the Divas title is important enough to have a tournament. Maryse showed her amazing charisma and mastery of her character once more. The match itself was awful, mostly due to the Bella Twins and it's hard to think of Maryse as a heel when she won clean and her opponents cheated multiple times in a two-minute match. Evan Bourne’s pre-match promo was great and I loved his first minute offense. Sheamus did his job well by squashing the smaller fan-favorite like a bug. The Kingston-Orton match was a bit bland. That feud peaked too early with the MSG brawl. But the Legacy interaction was great; Rhodes and DiBiase did a good job at turning the tables on Orton and giving him a taste of his own medicine. It really elevated them to have them finally taking control of Legacy. The McMahon- Hart interaction was good as well, and Hart sold torn emotions so well at the end (especially when Vince took his microphone, like he wanted to get it away from Bret before Bret decided to shoot on him), that I almost thought that Vince’s kick at the end was legit. I look forward to seeing more of Bret in the near future, and I hope that this spells the end of DX as HBK works with Bret against Vince and Triple H. Overall, very good show, despite the lack of top-flight wrestling. Cena was not missed.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "TNA TV 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 Impact, click here.

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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