Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

---

FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST

---

ELIMINATE ADS AT PWTORCH.COM - GO VIP - CLICK FOR DETAILS

5/11 WWE Raw Reax

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (3.75): Best: VIP Lounge; Miz pre-match promo. Worst: wrestling in general; Carlito vs. Kendrick. In the past, WWE has taken crappy build and still managed to make reasonably good PPV efforts. This one is going to be a real challenge, and not necessarily because of the absence of some (Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Triple H). The wrestling wasn't very good all night. Kofi/MVP vs. Regal/Hardy was the best of the bunch even with the sloppiness, though it did have an "out" of being randomly booked. The VIP Lounge segment leading into it tied everyone involved together in a neat little knot that looks to lead into a combined U.S. Title storyline that could go nicely all summer. Miz got a declared forfeit victory against John Cena the first go round. He's claiming two more that aren't really official. There seems to be potential with the whole Cena-Miz thing, and maybe we'll know where it's really going after Sunday. I heard more than a few distinct boos during the Glamarella debacle. Can no one see the black elastic band holding Santina's wig on? This falls under the whole "cameraperson as observer" umbrella because even the camera operator isn't questioning it. Randy, Randy, Randy...I wish I knew what the deal was here. He's smart one minute, dumb the next. He tells Cody they need to stick together after DiBiase is taken out, then sends Cody to look for Batista. Excuse me? And there is the matter of the PPV itself. Where every title changed hands at Backlash, everything leading up to Sunday so far says everyone with a belt keeps it. Unless (and maybe even if) Miz gets involved, Cena will have some miraculous victory over Big Show. And Punk vs. Umaga shouldn't even be happening until we have a reason to care. If it wasn't for the fact I'd be seeing my friends at Sam's Town, I'd probably be sitting out Judgment Day.

Goiter Kalnoky, 3rd Wave Poet, of Keasbey, N.J. (7.0): Best: Cena vs. Miz, Batista losing it; Worst: Divas. I thought this was a better edition of Raw than in recent weeks. The wrestling was not great, but the storyline progression was really good, with solid mic work throughout. While I was initially disappointed with Batista as the choice for Legacy to take out next, I think he is fitting nicely into the role, and I like the twist of him losing his cool and pushing the character to the "raging animal." This will serve nicely when they decide to turn him heel (or somewhere in the between) later down the road. Although, when DiBiase went down to a mystery attack, I shuttered for a second thinking it was Triple H making his standard Superman-like return. Thankfully that wasn't the case. The Divas were not just lame tonight, even their wrestling was bad, and I mean REAL bad. The missed spots and bad acting ALMOST overshadowed the hotness factor. WWE is teetering dangerously close to that. The bottom line is Mickie, Melina, and Glamazon are the best in-ring workers they have, and the rest are absolute garbage. The drop off is colossal. This is the one thing that TNA has over the WWE - women that can actually wrestle. The mid-card stuff was just m'eh tonight (oh snap, did I just agree with Caldwell? **gasp**). MVP and Kofi had a good showing. They would actually be a good tag team if WWE cared about the tag division. Kendrick over Carlito was good short match for what it was. I love Kendrick's flamboyant character and hope they develop it with a good partner (please please please not Ezekiel). This ("Step 1" if you will) sets up a feud with the Colons pretty nicely. The best part of the show in my opinion was The Miz-Cena-Show piece. Unlike the recent (and laughable) Cena-Show-Edge three-way angle recently, The Miz delivers as more than just as the third wheel here; he comes through in a huge way on the mic and in the ring. Dare I say that here The Miz IS the angle and should be incorporated somehow at Judgment Day. Cena and Show deserve credit here as well, they were each superb tonight.

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.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA...
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTorch VIP:
DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO (rates now as low as $2.99/month)

More Recent Torch Feedback Articles

Monday Night Reax #4: "One word summarizes this week's Raw: focus"

Monday Night Reax #3: "I don't need to see The Nasty Boys or Jimmy Hart wrestling in 2010"

Monday Night Reax #2: "I want to be entertained and I want TNA to succeed, but this was bad"

WWE Raw Reax #1: "Austin showed more charisma than the rest of the roster combined before even opening his mouth"

WWE NXT Reax #2: "Slater & Christian could one day re-create the magic of Edge & Christian"

Monday Night Reax #6: "There is so much potential in TNA with RVD, Hardy, and Styles"

WWE NXT Reax #1: "All of the rookies were outstanding in their roles on the show tonight"

Monday Night Reax #5: "Raw was good, but it felt like nothing much really happened"

Monday Night Reax #4: "I'm hoping TNA pairs Beer Money with A.J. Styles & Flair to re-create the Horsemen"

Monday Night Reax #3: "Fans switching over to Impact discovered TNA has blood - grotesque buckets of it"

Monday Night Reax #2: "TNA had WWE beat, then TNA went for the knockout with...Brooke Hogan"

Monday Night Reax #1: "I believe Ric Flair is going wrestle all the way until the day he dies"

TNA Impact Reax #2: "TNA got it backwards with Ric Flair and A.J. Styles"

Thursday Night TV Reax #1: "Flair-Hogan is more intriguing to me than Hart-McMahon"

NXT Reax #2: "There are so many questions to be answered, but we wouldn't be asking them if we didn't care"

NXT Reax #1: "With Jericho, Punk, and Regal on the same hour, WWE has effectively put their best actors on one show"

WWE Raw Reax #4: "I continue to be appalled by the Bret-Vince build-up, but for different reasons than most would think"

WWE Raw Reax #3: "For some reason, this Bret-Vince can't-miss historic angle is missing the mark"

WWE Raw Reax #2: "I don't understand the positive feedback for the Batista and Cena exchange"

WWE Raw Reax #1: "Everything was a Home Run or a wildly-flailing strikeout with almost nothing in between"

(c) 1999-2010 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.