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Mike Roe, Torch Specialist

Raw Hits

Randy Orton's contribution to this show: He's becoming a great heel champion. In his backstage segment with JBL, he gavea fun acknowledgment of a wrestling stereotype, with Orton talking about the old "we may not like each other, but we need to work together!" speech. You got the same point across in a fun way, with Orton getting back some of the credibility he lost to Triple H in that opening promo. His other high point was when he was backstage with Regal and held up that title belt. He's got a certain old school appeal to him, where he's direct, no nonsense. He's also crisp in the ring and has moved beyond using quite as many chinlocks as he used to.

Highlight Reel with Michaels and Batista: Just fascinating. Starts out with Michaels seeming like a heel, blaming what happened on Flair and getting in Jericho's face. Jericho did an awesome job needling both men, particularly Michaels. Michaels and Batista showed awesome fire and passion. Money match! Batista's sly "I already have" at the end was like one of those great movie villain reveals, and it kept the intrigue going. Big thumbs up overall, though I must ask, were Batista and Jericho trying to out-fashion one another? At least we can always rely on Shawn Michaels to come out wearing a goofy cowboy hat.

John Cena versus Triple H and JBL: Not great, but it told its story relatively well. John Cena is also good as the babyface in peril, and he comes off as humble enough most of the time that the fact that he's a Superman who can overcome two men doesn't seem as overbearing as when Triple H is the one doing it. Orton screwing things up for everyone via RKO was a nice touch as well.

Ric Flair retirement music video: I'm pretty sure I'd be happy with two hours of Flair tribute videos.

Raw Misses

Triple H's contribution to this show: So the show opening promo was slowly building. Out comes Triple H, and we all wait to watch the chemistry between these three men. So what happens? He uses the opportunity to bury both of his opponents. He pointed out that Orton couldn't really beat anyone and that JBL had been retired and then beat up a midget. Nice job reverse selling me on the pay-per-view, Triple H! I must also add that it's hard to take someone seriously as a badass when he uses the word "frickin'." He went on to beat the top two heels by himself. Then he made JBL look like a geek once again, right after JBL had just delivered some strong dialogue, listening to his iPod and then throwing out a couple awesomely generic insults.

John Cena masturbation jokes: Wow. I was all ready to like this segment, but then Cena had to pull out gags about Orton (decrease in classiness warning) jacking off JBL and JR. Classy stuff, John. Remember everyone, sign up for WWE Kids magazine!

Umaga versus Val Venis: It should not take Umaga this long to kill Val Venis.

Beth Phoenix versus Maria: Another match where one of these individuals needs to be squashed, but ends up getting in too much offense. This was actually a fairly competitive match. I think what works about Beth is just having her as a dominant champ, and when she's having competitive matches with the Playboy girl, that falls apart. Maria did slap the taste out of Beth's mouth, so I guess they realized how great that was against Santino last week. I'm totally fine with that being Maria's new signature spot, much like, for my video gaming compatriots, Stephanie McMahon had the big slap as her finisher in one of the older Smackdown games. I think Beth's reach also exceeded her grasp during this match in a couple spots, particularly when she went for that submission hold that she had so much trouble properly applying.

Women's tag match: Well, this happened. As James Caldwell mentioned in his Raw report, it was nice to see Mickie back in a strong position on television, but I don't know that I have the faith in WWE to do anything with it. And as long as I'm plugging other reports, Torch editor-in-chief Wade Keller pointed out a quote that I also caught. JR on Ashley and Mickie hugging after they won their match: "It's nice to see partners hug. We should hug more."

Cryme Tyme back to selling stuff: This was the worst part of their act before, and it's still awful. These guys have charisma coming out the wazoo, particularly JTG, and they still can't make this stuff work.

No pre or post-match promo from Santino: That's just not right. This means that we had to just watch him wrestle. Not good times. Although, the idea of Santino potentially winning a title once again does excite me. Carlito really doesn't seem to care anymore, though, so maybe it's time for him to get that release he keeps talking about wanting. He threw a kick that may have been one of the worst I've ever seen in the midst of all this. Not that Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes made this work either, though.

Mike Roe is PWTorch.com's fill-in guy, providing his point of view on Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact until Hits & Misses Specialist Jon Mezzera gets home and kicks him to the curb for the inevitable walk of shame. He loves to hear from the readers, so e-mail him with your feedback at mikeroe@gmail.com!

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