-- 7/30 WWE Raw Reax

Tony of Portland, Ore. (7.0): The score is due to my good fortune of having a DVR. It might have scored considerably lower were I forced to sit through all of the replays of Triple H-Brock, the Tout stuff, and fire recaps... I believe A.J. is terrible in this role as GM. She was tedious at best before, but I have her the benefit considering she was beginning in viewers (or at least giving then a reason to stick around). Punk's gold, and it almost seems like they're keeping his character loose in terms of direction, probably in case they decide to go somewhere else with it. As it stands, I'd be happy to see heel Punk vs. face Rock (maybe even vice-versa)... I think AW was instructed from above to deliver that Kobe line. Maybe not. That said, had they removed all of the non-sense, this could have been a really good two-hour show. It might have even had time for a Divas match.

Sam Weiss of San Diego, Calif. (7.0): Best Match: Sheamus-Bryan. Worst Match: Kidd-Tensai (because of Tensai). Three hours is very long - very, very long, even when there are good matches. Three hours will become unbearably long if WWE doesn't deliver consistently good and substantial matches in the ring... I was impressed with the Sheamus-Bryan intensity. Kudos to Daniel Bryan for doing well his triple duty - hard match with Sheamus, the running gag over three hours, and the foil for Kane's appearance. Bryan works the crowd, which so many other WWE stars do poorly if at all. Props to A.J. Lee, too. If she continues to play the coquettish business women I think she could have a long run in this slot... People want to cheer for Chris Jericho, as they have since he came back. He wasted his time trying to be a heel these past few months, when playing the Legend face is what people want him to be, and he could prove to be a valuable opponent to the mid-level heels like Ziggler... People (over 12) also want to cheer for Punk - I want to cheer for Punk. It's hard for me to treat Punk as a heel when he's basically spot on the truth with his comments about Cena, The Rock, and WWE, and because he is so very good on the mic (at times), his talent in this case becomes a liability for his heel persona because most of the faces simply can't match him on the mic and thus sound clumsy compared to him. For example of this skill, Punk at the announce table made the (much overdone the past few years) Cena-Show match much more interesting than it would have been without him, but Lawler sounded slow... Final note - I hope WWE keeps increasing time available for Damien Sandow, who has great potential as a heel.

Basil of Chicago, Ill. (6.0): Best: Bryan vs. Sheamus Street Fight. Worst: Recaps, recaps, recaps! Wow, Raw does not need to be three hours! They had to spend at least one of those hours recapping the fire, Lesnar-Triple H, and Punk on the announce table. They killed A.J.'s character, as she's not even the same person with a GM role. She's a plain GM in a Stephanie McMahon suit... The Sheamus vs. Bryan Street Fight was good, but out of the three choices, they were pretty much the same match... I'm excited to see where this Ziggler-Jericho feud goes, Ziggler is finally getting a legit push... I don't think WWE even knows what to do with C.M. Punk's character, as everything seemed to be straightened out with his promo on Lawler, which was very good and spoke a lot of truth. But then, later in the night, he started to become a complainer and it just didn't make sense. Meanwhile, Cena in the main event = yawn... Overall, I think Raw would be ten times better if they spent less time on recaps and spent more time on longer, more important matches and featured more talent to appeal to as many fans as possible.

***

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 or email us at pwtorch@gmail.com.

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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