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

|

-- 9/29 ECW TV Reax

Justin James of Columbia, S.C., IT professional/author (7.0): Best Match: eight-man tag. Worst Match: Abraham Washington Show. This episode of ECW was absolutely crippled by the endless hype for the Hell in a Cell PPV. There must have been 20 minutes of airtime devoted to the HIAC hype if you include the Abraham Washington Show. The opening sequence was good. I liked the look Regal had on his face as they cut to commercial, as well as the follow-up making it an eight-man tag team match. The interaction with Ryder was spot on. Why were John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler on ECW? That made no sense to me. Why was John dressed in street clothes and Dolph in wrestling gear? Again, made no sense. ... I really like how they have managed to continually turn up the heat on the Benjamin-Sheamus feud without them ever setting foot in the ring. Good work on that. The match with Paul Burchill was decent enough. For a change, not only did Burchill's holds actually look painful, but they were not boring due to the story being told. They are finally turning Benjamin face properly, which is good to see. Amazing to hear people actively cheering for him. I am hoping that this leads to either him or Sheamus going for the title in a few months. Christian's pre-main event "review of the troops" was well done until the sudden return of Goldust's Turret's Syndrome. That took a lot away from the moment. Yoshi Tatsu is the quickest English learner in history. It makes me laugh because every student in Japan is taught English anyways, so it's not like he didn't actually know it to begin with. I also liked the "Thank You" battle between Christian and Tatsu; it was right in line with emphasizing Tatsu's Japanese culture. The final tag match was very, very well done. Usually, these kinds of things suffer from a "too many cooks in the kitchen" problem, but it was good to see that the action didn't break down until the end. Giving Yoshi Tatsu the win made sense, and it was great to see the post-match celebration from the babyface team. It really elevated Tatsu even more. He has a bright future ahead of him, so long as he doesn't end up on Raw like Miz, Jack Swagger, or Evan Bourne.

-- 9/28 WWE Raw Reax

M.D. Swindley of Kingston, Ont., Canada, Lawyer (3.5): My observations - (1) I assumed the reason that Jericho and Big Show were booked in a near 20-minute match was to "tire" them out for the gauntlet match with John Cena. I have no problem with booking Cena to look strong going into the PPV, but do it a believable way. Have Cena run through a fatigued Jericho and Show. This would accomplish three things: first, it makes Cena look credible, second, it justifies Orton's "fear" of facing Cena after he just tore through the Unified Tag Champs; and thirdly, Jericho/Show wouldn't lose face at all for losing their second matches of the evening to a fresh WWE Champion. (2) A Chavo face-turn could breathe wonders into his character. Given the recent loss of Batista to Smackdown, Raw needs more face talent who can cut a decent promo to carry the ball. Chavo is blessed with great talent on the mic and in the ring (almost as much as his late uncle) and the WWE should take advantage of that. However, if Chavo is booked to team up with his old nemesis Hornswoggle, especially if lacking any believable reasons for doing so, it will be just another example of the WWE wasting talent that should be on the cusp of main-event stardom. (3) Chris Masters is the 2009 version of Paul Roma. And he does look and sound (and wrestle) like a cave man. (4) I'd like to see Jack Swagger take the U.S. Title on Sunday, just to see him feud with Evan Bourne. Their three minute match was some of the best wrestling WWE has seen since Michaels/Taker at WM25. Great chain wrestling and the finish was incredible (with Swagger's counter into the Gutwrench Powerbomb). Imagine what these two could do with a 20+ minute PPV match?

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on these shows for a "TV 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 ECW and 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

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.