By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: This is a marginal Hit. It wasn’t great and it went on too long, but it was still a good start to the show. I am a little surprised that Vince McMahon’s appearance was so brief, but that is partly why I liked this segment. Vince could have made himself the center of the show, but he didn’t. He came out and gave William Regal an endorsement which worked well, and that was it. Regal played his part well. Mr. Kennedy had a nice appearance also. I am enjoying the early stages of the Regal vs. Kennedy feud. Triple H’s appearance wasn’t great, but it did plant the seeds for a Triple H vs. Regal feud down the line. It set up the Main Event, but that wasn’t exactly a match to get people excited to stay tuned for.

Jericho & Michaels: The Shawn Michaels & Chris Jericho storyline advanced nicely. Jericho was good in his early scene with William Regal, setting up his tag match with Michaels against John Morrison & The Miz. Jericho and Michaels had a nice segment in the back, but the highlight of their night was the match itself. Really, the match wasn’t a good match. It was too short to amount to much and it was a bad use of the WWE Tag Team Champions. But, it did advance the storyline. Michaels was great in his surprise Super Kick on Morrison leading to Jericho getting the pin after a Lionsault. Michaels is very convincing in either playing that he has a knee injury, or playing that he is pretending to have a knee injury. What sold this angle was Jericho’s reaction afterwards. He looked legitimately confused as to whether or not Michaels is faking the injury. His doubt about his previous proclamation made the whole thing work.

Piper: Carlito’s Cabana went on too long and faded at the end with the appearances by Cody Rhodes and Cryme Tyme, so I can’t give it a Hit. But, I can give Roddy Piper’s involvement in the segment a Hit. He looked good and he sounded good too. I worry about how coherent Piper is going to be when asked to handle the mic for a significant amount of time, but he delivered here. I loved his lines about not doing the conventional thing his entire career. His interaction with Carlito and Santino Marella was very good. His appearance was treated as a bigger deal than last week. I look forward to more verbal jousting between Piper and Santino.

JBL: This was possibly my favorite week for John Bradshaw Layfield since his return to the ring. I loved how he brought the viewers in for a ride in his limo on the way to the ring. That was just totally different than anything I can remember WWE doing. JBL was great in his promo, putting himself over as a huge success, while also focusing on his upcoming match against John Cena at Judgment Day. The visuals out the window of the limo worked well. His pre-match promo against D.H. Smith was strong as well, as was his squash and subsequent post-match beat down. JBL looked more like a legit wrestling star here than he has in a long time.

Orton’s Surprise RKO: The only thing that saved the end of the show from being a total disaster (more later on the Main Event), was the surprise RKO on Triple H after the lights came back on. While I don’t agree with turning out the lights during a big match, Regal’s use of turning out the lights earlier in the show did help set up this moment. The fans should have been expecting Regal to come out as the one responsible for turning the lights out on Triple H, not Randy Orton standing in the ring. I know I was surprised, and happily so. I have said before that his surprise RKOs have become a great mainstay on Raw, and this was no different.

RAW MISSES

Use of Ademle: I don’t think there is a good use for Mike Ademle on WWE t.v., but I am sure if there is one, this isn’t it. It reminds me of Maria’s early days as an interviewer when she constantly made mistakes. After awhile, WWE started scripting her to make mistakes and those scripted mistakes were way too forced. It is the same with Ademle. He is bad enough when asked to do legit play-by-play announcing, but when asked to do it while getting in over scripted analogies and mistakes, he is even worse. WWE finds it necessary to not ignore how bad he is as a wrestling announcer, while keeping him around. I disagree with that position.

In Ring Action: This was not a good night for wrestling on Raw. Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix would have been a good match without the Lumberjack stipulation. Once again, WWE is pushing the Divas as a whole instead of focusing on the top Diva feud. Why were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler surprised by the actions of the lumberjacks? This is how all Lumberjack matches have gone for the past several years, so don’t act shocked when they do more than just put the wrestlers back in the ring. Paul Burchill & Katie Lea vs. John Cutler was not good. It was merely a backdrop for Ademle’s bad announcing. I am intrigued by the notion of Katie Lea being in her brother’s matches, but WWE has to do a better job making me care about them as a duo. Plus, Burchill struggled to do the Curb Stomp. In his first few matches, didn’t he do it different by yanking back on both of his opponent’s arms before stomping him to the mat? That looked more natural and devastating than how he is doing it now. I mentioned how Michaels & Jericho vs. Miz & Morrison wasn’t a good match, so I won’t add more now. CM Punk vs. Randy Orton started out well before Regal put a stop to it. WWE has to be careful in trying to get Regal heat, if it results in heat for WWE itself. Why should I get emotionally invested in a match, particularly one featuring stars the level of Punk and Orton, if there is a good chance the match isn’t going to happen? JBL vs. Smith was a squash that worked well, but unfortunately it occurred on a night with no good matches. When handled well like this, squashes are fine if surrounded by better quality matches. That only leaves the...

Main Event: This was just a bad Raw Main Event. The use of the 14 man ECW roster was ridiculous. Why would someone like Tommy Dreamer go along with this? Or Kofi Kingston? The fans certainly didn’t care at all. It is stupid to expect the entire roster to act as a unit, which they did for the most part. Triple H and Kennedy lost the match, but looked way too strong in doing so. I don’t see how this helps get viewers for ECW (coupled with the Tag Champs losing easily earlier in the night and Punk’s match going dark and you don’t get a great endorsement for the ECW roster).

Unprotected Chair Shot: After the bad Main Event, things quickly got worse with the post-match brawl. The ECW roster seemed confused as to who was supposed to be fighting whom. It then got worse with the multiple chair shots from Triple H, showing his dominance over an entire roster of wrestlers. What made it even worse was that CM Punk took his chair shot totally unprotected. It looked like the others got their arms up to protect their heads from the chair, which is good. I don’t know how much that protects them, but I have to assume it does, as their arms should soften the blow. But, Punk took his chair shot totally clean, which should not happen. If everyone played by the same rules and protected themselves, then the chair shots would all look equally devastating. But, Punk made his roster look bad as they protected themselves, but he was so tough that he didn’t protect himself. His chair shot looked more devastating than the others, in a dangerous way. The whole roster should be instructed to protect their heads, and if someone like Punk doesn’t, then he should be fined.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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