Mic Time for Hardy: I was surprised during Vince McMahon’s in ring breakdown, when Jeff Hardy came out first. I wasn’t happy with the McMahon breakdown (more later), but I was happy to see Hardy getting some mic time. That has held him back (along with his size), but at the moment WWE seems to be overlooking his size. If that is indeed the case, then strong work on the mic when given a chance to talk is a way that Hardy can help his status at the top of the card. Do I expect him to beat Randy Orton? Do I think he is going to stay at the top of the card for a long period of time? The answer to both questions is “no.” However, it is good to see WWE giving him a chance to talk, and good to see him deliver a strong, albeit short promo.
Flair Promo: As I have said before, at his age, Ric Flair cannot deliver in the ring like he once could. That doesn’t mean that he can’t still deliver, just not at the level that he did in his prime. However, he certainly can still deliver on the mic. His pre-match promo was very good. It reminded the fans about the win or retire stipulation that McMahon gave to him a few weeks back. Flair’s delivery was great and the crowd was clearly hot for his speech. I am a little worried that he is going to give a similar speech before each of his remaining matches as each one could be his last, and that could get tedious after awhile. That being said, the promo was very passionate and very well delivered.
Y2J and JBL: The verbal exchange between Chris Jericho and John Bradshaw Layfield was very good. Jericho seems to be finding a better mix between humor and an edgier persona. He clearly was angry at JBL and wanted revenge, but true to his personality, he still threw in plenty of humorous lines. JBL was excellent here. He gave as good as he got. The best part of the segment was the climax as Jericho did a great job of insulting JBL leading to the ultimate insult of him becoming irrelevant. JBL’s reactions during that speech were incredibly good, as was his ultimate declaration that he would be on Raw next week. I was weary of this feud when I first heard the rumors about it a few weeks back, but so far it is off to a good start.
Santino & Carlito: I don’t fully understand why Santino Marella is teaming up with Carlito, but I am glad they are. This was a good start for their new team. The opening moments of their match vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick were funny as they had miscommunications over who was going to start the match. The match itself was short, but solid. I wish London & Kendrick were getting the push that Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly are getting, but that is unfortunately not in the cards at the moment. The best part of the introduction of the new team came after the match, first when Santino mislabeled Carlito as being Colombian, and then when he misquoted Carlito’s catch phrase and said that he loves to “swap spit with men who won’t want to be cool.” There is a lot of potential for this new team and I am looking forward to seeing where WWE goes with it.
Main Event: This was a very good tag match of Jeff Hardy & Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. Kennedy & Randy Orton. On a show with no other stand out matches (although they were all solid enough to stay away from the Miss column), it was good to see WWE put on a very good Main Event. There was great action that never dragged. The two on one beat down on Shawn Michaels was formulaic, but they kept it very interesting. Kennedy’s clothesline on Michaels that turned him figuratively inside out was a very memorable move. Michaels did his usual stellar job of selling for his opponents. Hardy has really stepped up and elevated his game. He looks better in the ring than I can ever remember before. The final sequence of the match was very strong with the hot tag to Hardy, Hardy cleaning house, Michaels reentering the ring to take out Kennedy, and the final reversal sequence leading to the Twist of Fate and Swantan Bomb.
RAW MISSES
Vince Breaks Down: It is too bad that a show that had so much to like, started out with something bad that seemed to go on forever. There was only one Miss on Raw this week, but that Miss took up the first quarter of the show. I had many problems with Vince’s apparent breakdown. For one, it was too much of a reminder of the horrible Vince is dead storyline from earlier this year. That was uncomfortable to watch even before Vince’s limo blew up. This was uncomfortable to watch as well. It just wasn’t fun to watch. Hardy was good as I mentioned above, and Triple H was decent in his attempts to get Vince to leave the ring. But, it went on forever. If I wasn’t a die hard fan, I would have turned off the show during the second segment. And, a William Regal & Jonathan Coachman vs. Triple H handicap match announced for segment #3 would not have given me a reason to stick around after the second commercial. Ultimately, this Miss is because I didn’t enjoy Vince during his various appearances this week, and the signs are pointing to the strong possibility that he will be heavily featured in the upcoming weeks in a similar role. I am not looking forward to that.
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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