-- WWE Raw Reax 2/20

Jerry Roth, PWTorch reader: Best Match: None. Worst Match: There were matches on this show? The opening segment of Raw offended my wife, who vowed to never watch wrestling with me again after the segment with Cena kissing Eve, which meant Cena hates Eve and called her a "hoeski." Overall, I thought this was the most boring Raw I have seen. The Hunter-Undertaker Hell in a Cell announcement would have been better had it been about five minutes instead of 15. A friend of mine fell asleep during it. I thought the Divas match pointless, as well as Bryan vs. Santino. WWE badly needs to make new stars and the battle royal shows it. On an aside, how many people were uninjured from that battle royal? Barrett got hurt, Dolph is probably hurting, and Cody looked to be hurting.

Paul of Lansing, Mich., college student (1.0): Best Match: None. Worst Match: None. It was ALL average, at best. (I'm not going to crap on the Divas when they get no time.) I turned the sound off when the show started with an Eve "heel turn." And, I only turned the sound on when Undertaker came out and even that segment was too long. Mark Henry is doing enhancement matches now? Seriously?! Overall, an un-entertaining show that made me question if I'm even going to watch next week.

Steve N. of Coon Rapids, Minn. (9.0): Best: Battle Royal / Taker-Hunter segment. Worst: Divas match and Eve's acting. I thought Raw was really good and it was my third wrestling event in the past two years. The crowd was hot for Santino, Undertaker, and C.M. Punk. I never thought Cena could get the crowd to chant anything except for "Cena Sucks," but everyone was chanting "Hoeski." Seated behind the announce table, I could see medical staff was called out for Ziggler and not Barrett during the main event (there seemed to be confusion on who was injured). But, true sportsmanship from Y2J after the match to walk over and see if Wade Barrett was okay. What a great show live and I can't wait for WWE to return to Minneapolis.

Richard H. of Wilmington, Ohio: Raw had something I haven't enjoyed for months - what I thought was a well-done, well-executed, completely riveting promo by none other than John Cena. Tapping into Vinny Mac's bag of tricks, Cena - and, to a lesser extent, Trips and Taker - used the nugget of truth to base their words on. Rock is a part-time wrestler, won't be back after WrestleMania, and is loved more for his promos and extra-curricular activities than his actual wrestling. Cena makes bad movies, but is there every day giving it everything he has. It might be cheesy and it might be overkill, but that is John Cena. Only his over-the-top ripping of Eve was bad. As for the show itself, it was fairly well done with some good matches, decent promos, and only a horrid Divas tag team match weighed it down... Wade's apparent injury and the way the final elimination almost took out the medics was also distracting. I liked the Punk thrift store jacket (we shop at the same place!) and his commentary... As for the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that is The Streak, making Taker-Hunter a HIAC match fits the strengths of the participants at this stage of their careers and probably makes it the co-main event with Cena-Rock. It's sad, though, that the top titles will not be in main events, capturing that the titles don't mean that much anymore. As for Taker and Hunter being close to retirement, they are young by normal standards and, generally, in good health with a long and fruitful life ahead of them. But, the wrestling business does not favor veterans. It limits performers as they age and as they lose their edge, and generally chews up and swallows most of the athletes who commit to pro wrestling - sorry, Vince- sports entertainment.

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

WWE Raw Reax #2: More positives or negatives to Hunter-Heyman segment?, Big Show Over the Limit Theory, frustration with current product

WWE Raw Reax #1: How did Heyman-Triple H & tag matches balance against the John Laurinaitis show?

Smackdown Reax #1: D-Bryan becomes even more contemptible, Cesaro needs new theme music, mixed reaction to four-way PPV hype

WWE Raw Reax #2: "Can anyone say off-season?"

WWE Raw Reax #1: Laurinaitis over-kill, Heyman's return & other roles for Heyman, actual organic build-up to a Fatal Four-way?

WWE Raw Reax #2: Has WWE lost all momentum from Lesnar's destruction?, argument in favor of Laurinaitis-Cena

WWE Raw Reax #1: "Shifting focus so quickly from one story to the next really created a letdown"

WWE PPV Reax #4: Live perspective on Cena winning over the crowd, Sheamus-Bryan finally gets a spotlight, frustration with Ziggler's place

WWE PPV Reax #3: Bryan-Sheamus delivers, who's next for Punk?, mixed reaction to Cena-Lesnar finish

WWE PPV Reax #2: Did WWE perfectly book Cena-Lesnar at Extreme Rules?, an outline of Lesnar's WWE return mirroring his UFC run