4/13 WWE Raw Reax

Jake Calenda of Conroe, Tex. (7.5): Best Match: Cena vs. Swagger. Worst Match: Khali vs. Santino. Going into the show, I had already made my predictions on who was going where, etc. However I wanted to be at least maybe a little surprised. Triple H going to Raw and Rey Mysterio going to Smackdown were the two obvious moves. The Morrison/Miz split was pretty inevitable. Draft-wise, the show was bland. I had every pick correct besides the Kane and Matt Hardy moves. Match-wise, though, this was a pretty good show besides the two squash matches and the Divas tag match. Seeing Swagger-Cena for the first time was an unexpected treat. Props to the WWE for having Swagger control the majority of the match. Even with Cena winning, it pushed Swagger up the ladder even more. Miz vs. Kofi was also a good match in my opinion and even the Jericho-Dreamer match had some nice ups. The codebreaker Jericho hit was very nice. Punk-Hardy was just used to set-up a re-match between the brothers. Punk had a sick spill early on, but at least he was okay. WWE would have had a worry-fit if their MITB holder was seriously injured. Finally, the six-man tag angle leading into Backlash was as good as its possibly going to get. I still just think Batista or Shane will turn at Backlash causing Orton to win the title. It's a shame, though, that WWE didn't have Orton win the title on the grandest stage of them all. WrestleMania to Backlash is like the Super Bowl to the Pro Bowl. Also it appears we may see Jericho-Mysterio at Backlash with the two being new Smackdown draftees and with both men eyeing each other once Mysterio was drafted. That could be a storyline that branches out a few months at least.

Kevin Wang, Torch VIP of McKinney, Tex. (3.0): Best Match: John Cena vs. Jack Swagger. Worst Match: Divas tag match. The highlight of the show was the Draft, of course. They did fine with that, no big surprises, no notably head-scratching moments. I suppose we'll see more of the same on Wednesday in the supplemental draft. If it were just the Draft, I would have rated the show higher, maybe a 6.5. My low rating is based on booking logic. I haven't seen anything written about it yet, but I thought the way the main event was booked really detracted from the show. Why have Triple H fight for an opportunity to get Orton in a one-on-one match? Didn't they just have one eight days ago (as they reminded us at the beginning of the show), and didn't he already get his hands on Orton before that? If this is all to give Batista and/or Shane a reasonable "out" if they turn on Triple H, it sure is the most cumbersome, illogical way to get there. Also, on a show where everything else was done in support of the Draft, why was this match exempt? We saw that one brand is highly important with all of the just re-branded wrestlers fighting hard for their new shows in the battle royal. C.M. Punk was livid over being cheated out of a Smackdown draft pick and Miz saw moving to Raw to be enough reason to attack his loyal tag partner.

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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