-- 8/23 WWE Raw Reax

Richard H. of Wilmington, Ohio: As with most of the taped Raw episodes, it was edited much better and flowed more smoothly as they had time to tweak the bad spots - like Scruffy Morrison's dive into a barely executed RKO. The effort was there, but the execution was off, as Orton was only able to synch up with Morrison's dive at the very end. And, what, pray tell, was the maneuver that Jo-Mo was trying to execute? The "I have to dive into my opponent's finisher hold" move? ... Melina and Jillian had a decent match, but Melina is still rusty and Jillian is saddled with her character. (Jillian is actually fairly good in the ring, but is overlooked because of her atrocious karaoke character and poor push.) The women's divisions need to be unified and the posers future endeavored. ... Wade Barrett being fed to Team WWE 2.0 was very satisfying, but set up the Six Pack Challenge to be at least partially an extended beat down of the solo Nexus leader. As for the comedy segments, while occasionally very funny, they are eating up more worthwhile performers's ring time. The coming Santino/Tamina faux-mance to replace the Marella/Kozlov bro-mance is just wasting air time. What is with WWE writers pairing Santino up with amazons? Overall, an entertaining, if uneven, episode of TV. Orton and Cena carried the show, although Barrett and The Miz helped.

Johnny Meant of Dallas, Tex., tower crane operator (9.0): Best: Miz vs. Cena. Worst: tag match. I really enjoyed the whole show, as it was a really entertaining two hours of TV. I'm going to go on the record saying I'm officially on the Sheamus bandwagon. He did an awesome job yesterday. I really got a kick out of his facial expressions when his match was about to start and he looked at Ryder like saying, "I'm about to kick your ass." But, the promo after was even better when he mocked the crowd by saying, "Another great successful title defense" and talked about going back to Ireland to see the family. That was just classic stuff. Kudos to WWE for getting behind Sheamus. TNA needs to pay attention because that's what you do with young talent, not feed them to 40-year-old veterans.

Mark Zigarovich of Greensburg, Pa.: I thought this was a crappy episode of Raw. I am completely tired of the whole Mystery GM emails. First off, it is plainly apparent that Cole is not reading an email. Nevermind the fact that you can at times see the piece of paper in front of him that he is using as "talking points." He makes these in "announcement form" that are not written in the way an email would be written. Second, why do the lights flicker when the email comes in? Is a computer receiving an email really enough of a power surge that it's going to cause the lights to dim in a large arena? Lastly, skipping right to the end, it would have been cool if the Raw Superstars just beat up Wade Barrett and left it at that. I'll admit, I thought it was a clever way to get all of Sheamus's opponents in the ring to set up the Night of Champions match, and then have all those Superstars turn on Wade Barrett, similar to a Nexus beat downs. They should have just left it at that, but after Jericho hit the Codebreaker on Sheamus, anyone could tell what was coming next. Is Cena really that stupid that he couldn't see Orton's RKO coming? Just another example of overbooking. ... Don't even get me started on how ridiculous Sheamus's decision was. The idea that he had to pick an opponent from the stars that wrestled, and then to have him pick Zack Ryder was insane! How is that logical? Never mind the fact that he invoked the mythical "30-day" rule regarding a title defense. Does that rule even matter in a day and age when the Raw GM can make any match on a whim?

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.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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