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-- 6/28 WWE The Bash PPV Reax

Mike Omansky (5.0): Best match: Punk-Hardy. Worst match: Cena-Miz. There were some good matches, but not as entertaining as last week's free Raw. The tag team adjustment was interesting. Punk is first rate in his role. They're creating a real star. I'm sick of seeing Triple H vs. Orton whether it be free or on PPV. Can we move on to something else? Outside interference in multiple matches on a PPV is not acceptable -- people are paying for this. Miz was semi-buried in what was presented as a mis-match.

Phil Sanchez (7.0): Best Match: Rey vs. Jericho. Worst Match: Khali vs. Ziggler. Rey and Jericho brought this from an average show to a good one. Match of the year contender for sure. The scramble was pretty good. Tommy has a little more time with the belt I guess. But probably not much. How long has Kane been gone? His return didn't seem fresh at all. But it is good to see Ziggler go over. I wish I could say the same for Miz. The pecking order was pretty clear in his match with Cena. There might not be the glass ceiling on ECW and Smackdown, but once you make it to Raw you run right into it. The women worked hard and had a pretty good match. Punk and Hardy was disappointing as a match. But pretty damn good as an angle furthering Punk's heel turn. I liked Teddy putting Edge and Jericho in the Tag match. If it means Edge and Jericho on every brand, it's a victory for all of us. Hunter vs. Orton was good and they built some intrigue by teasing the Legacy breakup. But it's time for each man to move into a new feud. Let's hope something happens on Raw tomorrow to move things forward.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Jericho vs. Rey. Worst: Cena vs. Miz. For the most part, even with the twists and turns, I wasn't surprised much by the PPV. ECW yet again gets the opener, but did a respectable job. I like the idea of the last-dash scrum for the final pin (hard to see a submission as final win). I'm sure the arena crowds would like a less cluttered view of the final moments, but there is the mystery of "what's going on?" that they can play along with that works. I hate the idea of a Kane vs. Khali match, but at least it looks like Dolph vs. Khali is over. Hopefully Dolph can now move on to provide movement in a match with someone equal in the ring to him. As for Teddy Long's actions, we've probably seen plenty of people let go just short of their landmark time (ex: a week before retirement, so the company doesn't pay full benefits). Long's seemingly heelish actions (adding in Edge/Jericho to the tag title match and staying out of the Punk-Hardy chaos) give Long the motive of job desperation. I'm half-expecting a fairly younger person being brought to further tease Long's job peril. While the divas match was okay, I still stand by my opinion that Mickie James had more rights to the double-title distinction. On Smackdown, I saw some really good potential in the fork in the road that Punk could travel down in terms of his character. Tonight, the whole intrigue went down the lazy path. They skipped from exploring Punk's subtly altering state to just plain turning him heel, and the results was just lousy. From about five minutes into the match, Punk suddenly had the demeanor of "screw it, I'm a heel" and just went with it. Bad call, really bad call. For all this Miz-Cena buildup, the match was simply an unmitigated squash. Unless Miz pissed someone off, there was no excuse for this. Even a Cena fan I know thought the match was too short. The Hunter-Orton match wasn't the Three Stages From Hell. It was only one stage with two warm-ups. The quick move from the regular match ending to the Falls Count Anywhere ending made sense with the chair being involved, but it killed the idea of doing another Three Stages match any time soon. The mishaps with the runaway stretcher were pretty sweet. Nothing like seeing combatants nearly getting run over. The stretcher-aided DDT was pretty sick, but one has to wonder how the sledgehammer conveniently made its way under the stage setup without someone seeing it being put there. And then there is the whole thing with Ted DiBiase. First a face turn is teased, then it seems retracted (though a tad bit delayed). I don't believe WWE isn't on a good creative roll right now (see also: Punk, C.M.), so as much as I'd like to say I'm curious, I don't want to hold my breath on this.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "WWE PPV 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 the PPV, click here.

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