By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Flair - Jericho: A rather so-so Raw got off to a good start with the verbal exchange between Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. It was good to see Flair back and doing something more important than just helping Vince McMahon dial a phone. Both he and Jericho were very good on the mic as you would expect. Jericho was more focused this week than in some of his promos about Mickey Rourke which was good. Obviously, he kept "The Wrestler" as part of the focus (plus they later showed a video of Rourke winning the BAFTA award), so I wouldn't rule out Rourke vs. Jericho at WrestleMania. I am like many others in hoping that Flair doesn't return to the ring. With Flair's endorsement of Shawn Michaels, and Michaels' program with John Bradshaw Layfield probably coming to an end at No Way Out, Michaels vs. Jericho at WM is another possibility. I am definitely curious to see where they go from here.

JBL - Michaels: This has not been a good storyline. It got off to a bad start, but has had its ups and downs since. At least this was an up going into what should be the final chapter at No Way Out. I think the fans are really wanting to see Michaels get his hands on JBL. This was probably the best hype for the PPV on Raw. JBL was very strong in his promo following Michaels getting disqualified in his match against Mark Henry. He reminded everyone of the stakes of the match, and made things even more personal with his mention of Michaels' wife. Michaels plaid his silent role very well also. With a good match at the PPV, and a satisfying conclusion to this angle, JBL vs. HBK will at least not have been a total failure of a feud.

6 Man Tag: This was the highlight of the in ring action which isn't saying much. It was a good, but far from great tag team match. John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Mike Knox, Kane, and Chris Jericho worked hard in the match. We got to see about 7 minutes of action, which is solid, but not very good considering there were six wrestlers in the match. I did like how the commercial break came before the match, meaning less of the match was actually cut off, and we got to see the bulk of it intact. That is better than say 3 minutes of action, followed by a commercial, followed by 3 more minutes of action. There were some strong sequences. I wouldn't have made Knox look this weak by taking the FU (sorry, my Hits & Misses aren't PG) and being visually pinned by Cena. But, I still enjoyed the match. It had a strong ending with the action breaking down, leading to Jericho hitting a cool looking Code Breaker on a leaping Kingston.

RAW MISSES

Length of Punk vs. Regal: CM Punk's Intercontinental Title defense against William Regal was a shade under 3 minutes. There was very little hype for the match, which makes sense given how short it was. But, WWE had been doing a good job of reestablishing the IC Title as being prestigious. Regal did a good job as Champ, and Punk did a good job in winning the opportunity for the Title and ultimately, the Title itself. Since then, things have gone down hill as we've seen Punk lose a few times, and now the rematch which could have been a PPV match, was a throwaway Raw match instead. It was very disappointing. The short match was very good while it lasted. I can only imagine what a 10 minute PPV match between the two would be like. Too bad we won't ever know. The IC Title match was not the only short match this week. Melina & Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall was enjoyable to watch for all 3 minutes of it. Cryme Tyme vs. Priceless was looking good after 3 minutes, but then it was over too. Henry vs. Michaels wasn't really even a match, but that worked perfectly well given the circumstances. Other than that, I'm not sure what the short matches accomplish. The two tag matches didn't set up anything at the PPV. Priceless vs. Cryme Tyme didn't set up much of anything. They could have skipped that match, shuffled some of the video packages around, and given at least 3 more minutes to Punk vs. Regal.

End of the Show: The end of Raw failed to get me excited to see No Way Out. Undertaker vs. Randy Orton was solid. At 9 minutes with a little less than 6 of those seen on tv. the match just wasn't long enough. Also, it predictably ended with a DQ with the interference from Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. I didn't mind that. I wasn't expecting a clean finish, and what happened made sense. But, I wasn't into the save from Shane McMahon. At least he had help from Undertaker in taking apart Priceless. I guess WWE wanted to sell the idea of Orton being in jeopardy at the PPV, otherwise they could have had Legacy destroy Undertaker making Shane the ultimate underdog. The problem is that I don't buy the notion that Orton is in real jeopardy. There was a time when I enjoyed seeing Shane do crazy things in the ring. His signature coast-to-coast dropkick into the trash can used to look good. It looked fine on the initial video, but the replay showed how short he can and how little he actually hit the trash can. How can a director use that replay when it looked that bad? It looked like Shane hit the canvass first, then kicked the can, only collapsing half of it. Is that supposed to make me think Orton is in trouble? It didn't.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt