-- 1/25 WWE Raw Reax

Jason Stevens of Edgewood, Md. (7.0): Best: McMahon-Cena promo. Worst: Women's match - take your pick. They weren't horrible, but the women's matches have seemed sloppy to me for the last couple of years. Finlay needs to be involved again. In my opinion, his work with the women (e.g. Trish) has been more valuable to WWE than his in-ring contributions. But, I digress. To me, this was a very enjoyable Raw. Having Sheamus in the main event mix has helped Raw shake some of the staleness. It's been mentioned by Torch columnists how WWE gets behind their champions in a way TNA could learn from. Sheamus doesn't seem out of place at the top of the card and WWE is booking him in a way that really boosts his credibility. I think the pacing of the Bret storyline is close to perfect in that they are avoiding over-exposing him. As much as I hoped MVP would break through, Miz is phenomenal right now. Dule was fine in his role as guest host. He wasn't a particularly strong host, so WWE used him sparingly and it worked. Overall, thumbs up.

Matthew Robins of Chicago, Ill. (5.0): I want to take a quote I heard tonight and break it down just a little because I knew once I heard it, how foolish it sounded. The quote was concerning a Royal Rumble entrant and before I tell you which I am speaking of, let me just pass out a few facts. This WWE wrestler has participated in the Royal Rumble for seven straight years. This will be his eighth. He has never won, nor thrown someone over the top rope (by himself). The longest he has lasted is 22 minutes, and he has averaged a little over eight minutes in each event throughout his Rumble career. Another interesting tidbit is that no more than 70 entrants in the 22-year history of this PPV match have been eliminated in under one minute. In 21 of the 22 years, the Royal Rumble match has included 30 wrestlers, one year, the first, it had 20. Do the match, and that is 650 entrants. By the way, this wrestler has been eliminated twice in under one minute. This wrestler's average draw is has been 15.7. Not great, but nothing to complain or feel screwed about. So who is this mystery superstar? Well none other than our trusty, knowledgeable, veteran ring side announcer proclaimed to actually be someone that does "...well in Rumble matches in the past." Of course...Shelton Benjamin! Here is the entire quote: "ECW will be represented by the likes of Shelton Benjamin, who's done well in the Rumble matches in the past." - Michael Cole: Lead Play-by-Play Announcer on WWE's #1 rated and most important show. Here are Shelton's results:

2003: 1/2 Toss out with Charlie Haas and lasted 10 min
2004: 0 Toss oust and lasted 37 seconds
2005: 0 Toss outs and lasted 15 min.
2006: 0 Toss outs and lasted 6 min.
2007: 0 Toss outs and lasted 22 min.
2008: 0 Toss outs and lasted 18 seconds
2009: 0 Toss outs and lasted 4 min.

Vintage Michael Cole!

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.a

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