By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

UNDER CARD HITS

Swagger vs. Hardy: This was a good start for the PPV. It went back and forth, with plenty of good wrestling action. Jack Swagger's work on Matt Hardy's arm looked better than it had in their first match. Swagger keeps looking more like a star. He carried himself well in his first PPV match. It was good to see that the work the did on Hardy's arm helped lead to the win, after he threw him into the ring post to set up the gut wrench power bomb.

Phoenix Pretzels Melina: Perhaps the most memorable moment of the show (from a visual stand point) was when Beth Phoenix pretzeled Melina into that position where she bashed Melina's head with her own foot. It reminded me of Awesome Kong doing a similar move with her opponent on her shoulders. The match itself was decent, but it had that one great moment.

Hardy vs. Edge: This was the best match of the night. There was too much gimmickry for it to be a great match. But, it was a very good one. Edge and Jeff Hardy worked hard to put on a good match. There were plenty of high energy and high flying moments. Hardy's dive from the top of a ladder through Chavo Guerrero was amazing. There was more to like in than to dislike, particularly when it was just Edge vs. Hardy one on one. They work well together. Hardy's Twist of Fate on Edge breaking up an attempted spear was a great move. The end was disappointing (more later), but it was still a very good match.

UNDER CARD MISSES

Phoenix Loses the Title: I don't like the decision to take the Women's Championship off of Phoenix. She has been a strong Champ for five months. The build for this feud was good, but nothing to get me excited to see Melina get the victory. I like Melina and am fine with her as the Champ, but not now. This did nothing to further the tension in Glamarella, or advance Rosie Mendez's storyline.

Michaels - JBL: I didn't like this chapter in the Shawn Michaels and John Bradshaw Layfield saga. It started off well with JBL's proclamation that if he won the World Title, he would pay Michaels everything, and let him be in the Royal Rumble (which called into question how JBL had that power). Then came the appearance of the Undertaker. I liked the initial surprise of seeing him in Michaels' face, but whatever he said to Michaels was too cryptic. Then came JBL vs. John Cena which was was ok. It was nothing special, but it was decent. Michaels' acting at ringside was strong. Then came the predictable moment when the referee got knocked out, setting up Michaels having to choose a side. Super Kicking JBL, then predictably Super Kicking Cena was too wishy washy. He did the wrong thing in the end, he put JBL on top of Cena. It didn't work. Cena still won. This wasn't good storyline advancement. Michaels won't get paid, but he still did the wrong thing. As I said, it was too wishy washy on his part.

Matt Bashes Jeff: Who didn't see this coming as soon as Matt Hardy came out during his brother's match? It was too predictable. It was also too harsh of an unprotected chair shot to the head. A Hardy vs. Hardy feud has potential, but I keep thinking about the first time WWE tried to put these two against each other, and nobody cared. I doubt people want to see this brother vs. brother feud. Time will tell if I'm wrong. With the rumors about Christian's return, there has been speculation that he will face Jeff at WrestleMania 25. I was hoping for Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys, although it wasn't likely. I'm not as thrilled about Hardy vs. Hardy as I was about those other possibilities. I did predict Matt would be the culprit of the attack on Jeff back on December 12th in my Smackdown Hits & Misses. I wish I was wrong.

Too Predictable: With the exception of Melina defeating Phoenix, the other three under card matches were too predictable. We knew Swagger would retain the ECW Title. It was the right move, but it was predictable. We knew Cena would retain the World Title. Michaels actions weren't predictable going into the match, but as soon as he kicked JBL, we knew he would do the same to Cena. We knew that someone was going to cost Jeff the WWE Title. Going into the match we didn't know who, but as I said, once Matt came out, we knew it was going to be him.

ROYAL RUMBLE HITS

Skinning the Cats: Never before in a Royal Rumble have so many wrestlers been thrown over the top rope, only to hang on and pull themselves in. It is a testament to the athleticism of the wrestlers today. I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem like many of the WWF wrestlers of the early Rumbles from the 80s and early 90s could have done it. Here, it is special that so many can do it, and it really built up to the point where the Big Show did it, which was a cool moment.

Multiple RKO's: There was a point during the Rumble when Randy Orton cleaned house by hitting several wrestlers in a row with the RKO. This is not unusual for a Rumble. Every year this happens with one guy hitting his finisher several times. But, the sequence of RKOs was very strong, leading up to the great spot when Orton caught a leaping Rey Mysterio with an RKO.

RVD's Surprise Appearance: The most exciting thing that WWE had on its PPV was an appearance by a former wrestler. It sounded like Rob Van Dam got the biggest pop of the night. Unfortunately, from what I've read, it was a one night only deal. He looked great. He got a great reaction. And, watching him briefly wrestle CM Punk made me think that those two could have a great match together. Even though it was for one night only, it was fun to see RVD back.

Orton Wins: It was predictable that Orton was going to win, adding to the predictability that I talked about above. However, it was the right move. Orton has been doing his best work since returning from injury. He is getting great responses from the crowds. He has the hot angle after punting Vince McMahon. If they go the way I assume, Orton vs. Cena feels like a WrestleMania 25 main event.

ROYAL RUMBLE MISSES

MVP's Quick Elimination: A big disappointment in the Rumble was how little time Montel Vontavious Porter got in the ring. After finally winning a match two weeks ago on Smackdown, WWE had a chance to start rebuilding him by giving him a strong showing in the Rumble. Instead he only lasted a few minutes which was bad.

Overcrowded Ring: One of the themes of this year's Rumble was the overcrowded ring. There were 12 - 13 wrestlers in the ring at the same time for most of the match. There were times when there were 14 or 15 in the ring. It don't mind having that many in the ring for a short bit of time. I kept expecting someone to thin out the ranks by quickly eliminating 5 guys, but it didn't happen. The ring was too crowded for much of the match.

Missed Eliminations: Multiple eliminations were missed during the match. It is not unusual for eliminations to be missed, but it seemed to happen more this year than in past years. At one point, Mark Henry was on the outside. It took the announcers awhile to realize he had been eliminated before a replay showed what happened. Mysterio and Mike Knox were eliminated together, but the cameras missed it. It is a shame since Mysterio was #1 and lasted so long that his elimination didn't mean more as it was off camera.

Undertaker vs. Big Show: WWE tried to pop the crowd with stare downs between The Big Show and The Undertaker, but it didn't work. WWE set up a feud between these two, but I'm not looking forward to it. We saw it last year, and it wasn't good. Do we need to see it again so soon? Perhaps they weren't setting up a feud, but playing off the old one. That is ok, but they wasted an opportunity to set up something new for either wrestler.

Final Eliminations: The Rumble built nicely to the final six wrestlers, Legacy, Triple H, Big Show and Undertaker. But, I didn't like how it came down to Triple H vs. Legacy. I hoped that Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes would be eliminated before it got down to them and Triple H. If they had saved Orton from elimination, sacrificing themselves in the process, they would have provided Orton with help, while (after Undertaker and Big Show eliminated each other) leaving Orton vs. Triple H. Having Orton (who will main event WrestleMania) get a stronger elimination of Triple H than dumping him out from behind would be better.

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 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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