By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Triple H & Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga & Snitsky: This was a solid tag team match. It wasn’t great, but it was a nice way to get the crowd into the show. I have to admit that part of this Hit is for the fact that Raw actually started with a match, instead of a long talking only segment. It was a nice change of pace. The match was nothing special, but the fans enjoyed seeing Hardy and Triple H hit their signature moves.

Flair, McMahon, Orton: This was a great segment, one of the best in recent memory. Ric Flair was at his best here, going from the somber mood of a man announcing his retirement, to the jubilant Nature Boy announcing that he will never retire. That was a singularly outstanding moment. Vince McMahon was good as well. He got the funny line in about Flair not sucking. He then set up a great storyline that Flair will have to retire the next time he loses. Clearly, this is too early to set up a specific opponent for his retirement match (presumably at WrestleMania - it is particularly too early if my plan of Sting is going to be a reality, since Sting is not in WWE at the moment). This sets up a great storyline for Flair over the next few months of having to win or retire. Orton gave a nice performance during his challenge to Flair. The segment not only set up Flair’s storyline, but the Main Event and the theme for the show.

Mr. Kennedy Promo: WWE keeps finding interesting ways to plug dvds. First it was Santino Marella bashing “The Condemned”. Then it was Jesse & Festus plugging John Cena’s dvd on Smackdown. Now it was Mr. Kennedy plugging Shawn Michaels’ new dvd by covering everything negative about Michaels’ career. This was a well written and well delivered promo. The more Kennedy bad mouths Michaels, the more the fans want to see Michaels get his hands on Kennedy. Kennedy also delivered in his post match promo later in the show.

Jericho and Santino: As you might expect, when WWE put Chris Jericho and Santino Marella in the ring with mics in their hands, something good happened. Their exchange was very funny. They are hilarious when separate, and they were very funny together. Santino gets me every time he has a ridiculous mispronunciation of a name. Calling Jericho “KYJ” was laugh out loud funny. Their back and forth exchange of Jericho (the king of mispronouncing names) getting Santino’s name wrong was great. The build to the match, including Santino’s warm ups and his attack on Jerry Lawler was very good. The match itself was solid. It was nothing special, but it was the first chance to see Jericho wrestle in two years. It was a good way to let him have a match in order to help shake the ring rust, without giving away too much. Jericho was also good on his own, both before Santino interrupted, with his simplified challenge to Orton with the visual aids, to after the match, with his commentary during Lawler’s beat down of Santino.

Main Event: Ric Flair cannot deliver in the ring the way he once did. That is a fact of life, as people age they slow down. But, Flair still has a vast knowledge of how to put a match together, how to tell a story in the ring, and sell drama to the crowd. All of that was on display here. This match won’t be remembered because of the great athleticism of the wrestlers, or the great back and forth action. It will be remembered, because of the drama, because of the story, and because the way the crowd responded as Flair slapped on the Figure 4. Jericho’s distraction was predictable, but well executed. I love that not only did Flair use a low blow, but he also hooked the tights. That is classic Flair. Obviously, being in Flair’s hometown, coming off the big announcement earlier in the show, and being a win it or retire situation helped the drama of the match. This was a great night for Flair, and a great way to start the build to his retirement.

RAW MISSES

Regal’s Announcement: I have no problem with having Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy at Armageddon. My problem is that the announcement of the match by William Regal came out of nowhere. Regal’s character as the General Manager has been poorly defined. His motivation for making this match was nonexistent. Triple H and Hardy haven’t been teaming together long enough to care about the end of their team. A better build to the announcement, including motivation for Regal would have made this seem more important.

8 Man Tag Match: What was the point of this? Don’t the Tag Team Champions deserve something better than this? How does this advance the Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes storyline? Who thinks pushing Super Crazy & Hacksaw Jim Duggan as a team is a good idea? Why aren’t London & Kendrick getting the push they deserve instead? Is Paul London hurt? Couldn’t WWE creative think of a better way to waste 3 minutes of air time than this stupid match? Clearly, I have many questions about this match, and no answers. And, to make matters worse, afterwards, Lawler called it a great win for “those four young men.” Young men? Duggan is ancient, Holly has been around forever, and Super Crazy was in the original ECW years ago. Only Rhodes can be considered a young man.

Wrestling or a Cartoon?: This was the worst WWE segment of the year. I get frustrated when WWE breaks from reality with point of view shots, or when the audience hears what is happening inside a character’s mind. This went beyond those silly WWE conventions. It started out o.k., with Hornswoggle and McMahon, but the segment went downhill as soon as McMahon spoke into the walkie-talkie. It was still o.k. when Hornswoggle entered the room with Carlito. But, at first there was only one camera in the room, but there were more than one camera angles, which was distracting. Then the show came to a screeching halt as reality was totally broken by the Scooby Do antics of Hornswoggle painting a door on the wall to escape through. This was horrible television. It was supposed to be funny, but it was so outlandish, that I didn’t care about the punch line. Definitely the worst segment of the year.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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