-- 3/8 WWE Raw Reax

Steve Berger of Beachwood, Ohio, attorney (7.0): Best: HBK-Undertaker promos. Worst Match: Divas six-person tag. Raw was a good outing overall, but it felt like nothing much really happened and they just decided to do the regular show instead of worrying about Impact. The HBK-Undertaker segment started slow, but built up incredibly well to the point that I really want to see the match. Undertaker seemed to drop most of his character and show more emotion than usual, which was a nice touch. As good as this was, putting it up front for 15 minutes seemed like a mistake. The Divas match was a joke and they need to improve their ring work. The Orton vs. Legacy stuff was okay, but I have problems with Orton as a face; he is unsympathetic and we have been given no reason to root for him, other then DiBiase and Rhodes turned on him before he turned on them. Orton's ring work is adequate when he is on offense, but as soon as he has to sell, it all breaks down since he is either nearly unconscious or unaffected with no in between. The Chris Angel stuff fell flat because it's hard to take the bits seriously when you have wrestlers acting as participants. The Cena-McMahon gauntlet match made no sense and made McMahon look stupid for not keeping some of the guys out there until they were pinned. With the final line-up set for the Money in the Bank match, the match should be exciting, but who has a real chance being a credible champ other than Christian? It seems this year could be when someone cashes in the contract and doesn't win a championship.

-- 3/8 Raw & Impact Reax

Steve Wilton, Torch reader (8.0 TNA & 5.0 Raw): Last night was easily the best wrestling night of the year. TNA was on one screen and WWE on the other; sadly, WWE stayed on mute most of the time. HBK-Taker is just hot right now and the best thing they have going on the show. Awesome opening segment and the best they've had in a long time. I really wanted to see McMahon vs. Cena and it was obvious egomania was going to call the shots as McMahon and Hogan went head to head as I expected. The rest of Raw was a virtual throwaway for me in comparison to what TNA had on offer. Had TNA not been on, Raw probably would have satisfied my wrestling fix, but it didn't last night. Do I want to see Mark Henry walk to the ring when Hulk Hogan's wrestling his first match in years on the other side? No. Meanwhile, Triple H isn't the big time anymore and his angle bored me. He doesn't have that legendary status in my book to be main event anymore and his monotone voice just annoys me like an angry ex who won't stop calling. I thank WWE for the kiddie skits backstage, though, as it just gave me more time to check out what TNA was doing. ... TNA started off hot, new stars were put over, and I don't think Hogan stole the show. He didn't dominate the tag match and he put Sting over big time. I'm expecting a Hogan vs. Sting match down the line, but it's obvious from Hogan's condition the big man can't pull it out very often. The only misses on the show, for me, were RVD's intro and Hardy's "kind-of-there and not-there at the same time" reintroduction. Unless there's a plan in place, why use him to spark a rating then let down the fans?

A.A. Norman of Tulsa, Okla.: I switched back and forth between the shows, so I only caught bits and pieces of each. I was only interested in TNA when I could see faces I recognized from WWE, so it was smart for them to start off with Hulk and Flair, even if it ended with some ugly blading. Nothing against HBK and Taker - and I'm sure their promo was enjoyable - but since I've seen them trade verbal spars before and there was more action on the other show, I stayed with TNA for the opening segment. The next thing I remember about TNA was seeing RVD getting his butt kicked with a baseball bat. That was a real turnoff. The next time I switched over, I saw Kurt Angle allowing Mr. Kennedy/Anderson to let some soldiers beat him up. That was fun. Then, the last time I peeked at TNA, ex-WWE old guy Ric Flair was covered in blood. Then, a short-haired Jeff Hardy was about to hit his finisher when they ended the broadcast! Nothing really stood out to me with Raw, except getting to see Evan Bourne's Shooting Star Press and a few magic tricks. Other than Bourne, not a very good Raw at all. As for TNA, what a tease getting us all hyped up for RVD's return and getting Jeff on the top rope for a Swanton.

-- 3/8 TNA Impact Reax

Joe Gutowski of Lyndhurst, Ohio, College Administrator (7.5): Best Match: X Division Three-Way. Worst Match: Knockouts Tag Title match. I had to go through the entire show again to figure out what my rating is. Turning Sting heel is a great and fresh idea; at least we know for certain he's supposed to be a heel unlike his WCW "turn" back in the day. But bookending the show with Abyss/Hogan vs. Flair/AJ wasn't necessarily the best means to an end, in my opinion. Clearly, Sting has a motivation for turning heel and one can only assume it's going to tie back to Hogan (because these days, in TNA, there's very little that doesn't). What I DIDN'T like about the turn was the way that he was put right into a match by Dixie Carter (who "wasn't going to be involved in matchmaking") and he was jobbed out to RVD in ten seconds. The RVD return was phenomenal and the beatdown afterwards was necessary to put Sting over as a monster heel, but it sort of cheapened RVD's arrival. ... The X Division match was great for delivering quality wrestling, which we haven't seen a lot of recently on Impact. The only negative to that was the Shannon Moore return after the match; I'm not a big fan of his and this just seemed like a cheap excuse to put together the match with he and Williams at the PPV. I'm as much of an Outsiders fan from back in the day, but can we PLEASE end this angle with Hall/Pac? They really contribute nothing to the show, except the "Hey Yo." I'm praying the tag match at Destination X isn't another swerve. The Angle-Anderson segment could've been saved for another time, although I did like seeing Anderson get his comeuppance. And boy did Kurt ever get his dogtags back. If Mr. Anderson (Anderson) comes out next week with those tags, then Kurt Angle is my early candidate for dumbest wrestler of the year. If someone could explain to me the direction of the Jarrett-Foley-Bischoff angle, I'd really appreciate it. I'm still feeling the slooooooow burn toward a Foley heel turn and a Foley-Jarrett match somewhere down the line. At the end of the day, not a bad show. I don't have things completely figured out as to the direction of some of the angles but there is certainly some more potential out there for good things to happen in TNA (Sting's heel turn, the arrival of RVD, and a renewed focus on the X Division). This show hooked me better than Raw did, that's for sure. Let's see if they can keep this momentum going.

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 Raw and Impact, click here.

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