By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Jericho's Opening Promo: Raw got off to a good start with the excellent promo from Chris Jericho. WWE has to be careful when having such a long solo promo. That is a long time for one wrestler to be talking without any type of interruption. Luckily, Jericho is on a short list of talent that can pull it off, and he did it here. It was a different way to start the show with him at the souvenir stand, then making his way through the crowd. That is a bit of a role reversal, as those types of entrances are usually done by babyfaces, not heels. It was effective. After taking such a huge beating last week, he needed to deliver to get his heat back, and he did. It was also a nice reminder that his problems with John Cena go back over three years.

Punk & Kingston vs. Priceless: This was a good solid tag team match. It was nice to finally see the Tag Team Champions on camera together for the first time since winning the belts (seriously, am I forgetting a time when they've been shown together as Champs before this match?). It was also nice to see Kofi Kingston getting to look as good as he did. That is a first since winning the Titles as well. He actually hit his finisher and got the pin. The match had good action. It was a bit formulaic with the long beating on CM Punk, but if you had to predict whether Punk or Kingston would take the beating, you would likely have bet on Kingston, so that was something unexpected. Priceless looked good despite taking the loss.

Jericho's Recruiting Attempts: I enjoyed Jericho's attempts to recruit Kane and Randy Orton to help him take out Cena. The scene with Kane was strong. Kane has been playing an interesting character since his feud with Rey Mysterio. This was a little like his backstage scene with John Bradshaw Layfield before Survivor Series where JBL was the clear heel, but Kane was a bit of a tweener. That was the case here. He was a bit delusional saying that he loves the fans and they love him, but that works for him. Jericho's attempt to recruit Orton by comparing how Cena has been treated upon his return to how Orton has been treated was very good as well.

Glamarella: I won't go as far as Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix by saying that they will sweep the slammy awards next week, but I do agree that they should easily win Couple of the Year. How many times have they been in the Hit column? Their guest commentary during Jillian Hall vs. Melina was great. The match itself was solid, and it is definitely good to have Melina (or is it Melanie?) back. The post-match with Santino trying to do Melina's ring entrance was hilarious, from his attempt at her sexy twists, to his attempt to do the splits on the apron, to his convulsing afterwards, to Phoenix's lament at where Santino had injured himself. It was great.

End of the Show: This was a pretty good Raw, as it started off well, and it also had a good ending. Kane vs. Cena wasn't anything special, but the post-match attack was what will be remembered. It was interesting to see Cody Rhodes and Manu come to Jericho's aid in fighting Cena by the entrance ramp. The running knee from Orton seemed to come out of nowhere. This was a nice follow up on Orton's meeting with Priceless earlier in the show when he said they should meet to discuss a proposal, as well as Orton's meeting with Jericho. The four-on-one beating was well done. Orton's DDT on Cena was sick. So was the Walls of Jericho as Jericho really wrenched Cena's neck with the hold. His screaming at Cena while in the hold as the show ended was also very effective. Is this a sign that Orton and Priceless are working together? Will they also be working with Jericho? What will Cena do to get revenge next week? It should be fun to learn those answers.

RAW MISSES

JBL's Offer: This was mostly an uncomfortable segment to watch. It isn't a huge deal that they didn't deliver the promised street fight between JBL and Shawn Michaels, since they didn't advertise it at all ahead of time. But, I still would have rather seen that than this. When this feud started I had high hopes for it. Now, I am not so sure. The whole thing about broken down wrestlers still having to wrestle into their 50s to scratch out a living is just too real. It is an unfortunate part of this business and I don't want to be reminded of it while trying to enjoy the show. Also, the whole thing about Michaels' finances seemed to come out of nowhere. I know the economy is bad right now, but Michaels has made way too much money over the years to be in a bad financial situation. It doesn't make him enviable when there are people who have never made anywhere close to the amount of money that he makes who have lost their jobs and their homes. Am I supposed to feel sorry for him? It just didn't work.

Ziggler's Debut: For having his "debut" match against Batista, Dolph Ziggler had as good a showing as one could possibly expect. However, he still lost his debut match. He looked strong and had more offense than I was expecting, but this is the first time we've "seen" him in the ring. He had a decent build with his backstage introductions, but then he went away for a month and had barely come back when he debuted against Batista. He can bounce back, but WWE has to have him easily win a match next week to get the momentum back from this loss. It doesn't make sense to debut a wrestler you want taken seriously against a star the size of Batista.

Next Week's Show: I have no problem in general with the idea of the Slammy Awards. I remember fondly the Two Time Slammy Award Winner Owen the King of Hearts Hart. But, do we really need another 3 Hour Raw? Didn't we just have one a few weeks back? The Awards themselves have potential to be entertaining, but also to really drag after the first few. Also, why are they giving away those huge matches? Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho is enough of a Main Event as the two challengers for each brands top Title wrestling each other should be a huge hook. Beyond that, it is a mistake to give away a Champion vs. Champion match like Edge vs. Cena. Batista vs. Triple H is a former WrestleMania Main Event. They want us to pay to see these types of huge matches, but they are giving away three of them for free less than a week before the PPV. It makes no sense.

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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