By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Randy Orton: Randy Orton’s appearance was a nice surprise. He gave a very good promo. It was short and to the point. He played up his injury, and threatened both Triple H and John Cena. It was the type of well written and well delivered promo that he was giving before his injury which helped him become such a hated heel. His presence on Raw is definitely missed. It was good that WWE took the opportunity of the draft to have him address the fans. It makes more sense in the context of him having to be there for the draft, then to just have him make a surprise random appearance some night. This keeps him in the fans’ minds and at the least makes me really want to see his return.

Chris Jericho: Once again, the Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels feud was the best thing going on Raw. Jericho gave a great promo about Michaels. Jericho is brilliant in getting the fans to start “H-B-K” chants. He is playing his part to perfection. It was good to see Lance Cade getting a chance to explain his actions, and bring up his past as one of Michael’s students. Cade wasn’t great on the mic, but decent. After the brief brawl between Michaels and Jericho, when Michaels screamed in pain after being thrown eye first into the corner of the announce table, Jericho showed his greatness once more. At first, he looked concerned. He acted the same way as he did when he thought about bashing Michaels with a chair awhile back. But then, the concern turned into glee as he smiled at what he had done. That smile was a great moment and shows why people are loving this storyline.

Battle Royale: This was a good Battle Royale. It started out slow, but picked up nicely at the end. There were some nice moments like when Edge speared about half the guys in the ring. Big Show looked strong which was a good idea. The Matt and Jeff Hardy situation was well done. I don’t understand why MVP tried to eliminate his own teammate, but that is one of my few complaints about the match. Tazz’s rooting for ECW and his anguish at his own brand’s plight helped this match. There were some nice moments involving guys who will be facing at Night of Champions (I said the password, where’s my money?) like the double spear by Edge and Batista (ouch!), the attempted chokeslams of Big Show and Kane, and the eventual turn of Cena dumping out his own partner Triple H. It wasn’t great, but it was good.

Stage Blows Up: This is a marginal Hit for me. I like the idea behind it for a number of reasons. For one, this seems to be putting an end to the Money Mania giveaway, which would be a good thing if it is true. For another, it was a total shock. I can’t imagine anyone watching expecting that to happen. For another, this gives a chance for a good mystery which can go across all three brands. I am hoping that after the draft, the brands are totally separated for awhile. But, that isn’t likely to happen. But, if the only thing connecting the brands for the next few months is the mystery of who tried to take out Vince McMahon, then that will be much better than having more inter-brand wrestling matches. I like a good mystery and this is a good start. The reason that this is only a marginal Hit is in part from the timing. We have the ramifications of the draft to focus on, and a PPV on Sunday to think about. Now, those will be taking a back seat to what happened at the end of Raw. Also, McMahon was over acting which hurt the product. I am also not thrilled with the fact that he couldn’t feel his legs. I really hope that was just him selling the shock of the moment, and not a sign that they are going for some sort of paralysis angle. At least he didn’t blow up like he did around this time last year.

RAW MISSES

Draft Format: This was the same lame format that WWE used for last year’s draft. I didn’t like it then, and I still don’t like it now. I’m not thrilled with the idea that a wrestler has to win a match to get a draft pick for his brand. WWE hasn’t done enough to build up the division in the brands, let alone brand loyalty among the wrestlers. There isn’t much invested in winning a pick for your team. You could win, and end up gaining a wrestler who is a threat to your position on your brand. But, if you had lost you could have lost a wrestler who was already a threat. So, why do you want to win? Edge had the biggest reason to want to win his match, so that neither he nor Vickie Guerrero would be drafted, yet he walked out on his match which didn’t make any sense. The big board with the random pictures (the same pictures repeating during each pick!) was cheesy last year and I can’t believe they brought it back this year. They have to be able to find something better next year.

Draft Itself: It seems as if WWE went more for shock value (“I can’t believe Triple H got drafted to Smackdown”) than for the value of improving all three brands. That isn’t to say that all the picks were bad. Some of them were very good. But, on the whole I feel that the draft didn’t help the brands as much as it could have. Raw’s biggest problem was the lack of heels without Orton. Before the draft, Jericho was the top heel, then John Bradshaw Layfield and Umaga. Umaga was drafted away, and everyone Raw picked up are babyfaces. Yes, they also lost some babyfaces, but even once Orton returns, there will still be a gap between the babyfaces and the heels (hopefully someone like Kane will turn). ECW’s problem is the lack of talent to get fans to actually tune in on Tuesday nights. Kane isn’t a big draw, but losing him and CM Punk, while only gaining Matt Hardy (who has never been a top star) hurts the show. Smackdown needed some fresh faces at the top and were clearly helped the most. Another problem with the draft was that despite WWE going for shock value, in the end many of the picks were predictable at the moment they were made. There was no doubt in my mind that Jeff Hardy was going to get drafted. The same can be said of Punk. Once Jeff was drafted to Smackdown, you knew Matt Hardy would be drafted away from Smackdown, and you knew it had to happen after their match vs. Miz & Morrison. Once Jim Ross got drafted to Smackdown, it was predictable that Michael Cole would be drafted to Raw. That was just too much of a coincidence. I knew Batista would get drafted to Raw and I knew even before he came out to attack Edge that it would be after that match. Triple H was a surprise. I like some of the picks, but Jeff Hardy had a chance to be the star of Smackdown until Triple H got drafted. Punk can now be more of a star away from ECW, but will he jump over Cena, Michaels and Batista to be on top of Raw? Doubtful. Mick Foley was just starting to develop a good chemistry with Michael Cole, but that is over. Cole sucks, and doesn’t deserve to be on the A show. So on the whole, a disappointing draft.

Money Mania: After a few improvements in the giveaway last week, this week it regressed and was worse than last week. For the first caller, Vince McMahon forgot his own password and looked like an idiot. The second person McMahon called seemed to forget his name. It was very odd and not good television. Last week, I was one of the few who liked how Ric Flair was used. I liked that he was a total surprise, giving Raw that “anything can happen” feel. Not everything has to be announced ahead of time to be beneficial. But for the draft, Flair was totally wasted. His presence added nothing to the show. His appearances should all be special, and this one wasn’t. The third giveaway, with The Great Khali dialing the wrong number, and then the right guy having McMahoh hold on was the only funny moment of the giveaway this week. Even given that, it made Khali look like he didn’t know what a telephone was, because you know, if you are from another country you aren’t as smart or sophisticated as an American. In the end, Money Mania isn’t good t.v., and I am glad that it appears to be over.

Wrestling Action: Other than the Main Event, the wrestling action wasn’t good on Raw this week. Triple H vs. Mark Henry wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Santino Marella & Carlito was short and there wasn’t much to it. I don’t like having Hornswoggle so involved in actual wrestling matches. It is not a good idea. Once again, we see Santino wrestling but don’t hear him talking which is always disappointing. Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes had another very short match (when is it going to end?). It was good to see them win to keep strong going into Night of Champions (I said it again, where’s my money?), but the match was too short. The Hardys vs. Miz & Morrison was one of the better matches of the night. It went a good length and had solid action, but really wasn’t that good. These two teams are capable of having a much better match, but the isolation on Jeff was too much in this match, which brought down the excitement level. The women’s tag match was another very short match. I don’t know if Melina’s injury was real or not, but it was clear that some sort of double disqualification was in the works with the double switch afterwards. Either way, the ending was totally stupid. What did either team do to get disqualified? Edge vs. Cena was o.k. It was a good idea to not give too much of this match away, but it still wasn’t enough to actually be a good match. MVP vs. Tommy Dreamer was a bad match, thankfully kept short. The only good that came out of it was when Umaga destroyed Colin Delaney afterwards. Kofi Kingston vs. JBL was o.k., but not good. On a show with this many matches, it is unfortunate that the wrestling action was so ordinary. Most of the matches were too short. None of them featured great wrestling action. It wasn’t a good night for in ring action.

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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