By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Michaels - Undertaker: I enjoyed this more than the promo from The Undertaker on Smackdown. Shawn Michaels started it off the with a good promo about his WrestleMania credentials. It was nice that he cleared up that he had his video played on Smackdown, which wasn't clear at the time. Undertaker's nice video package aired. It is the same we've seen each of the last few years, plus one, but it was fun to watch. It was good to see Michaels not afraid of the Undertaker's appearance. Their verbal exchange set up the issues for the match. Much of Michaels' career has been built on his ability to steal the show at WrestleMania, and he plans to do it again. This goes against what much of Undertaker's career has been built on, his undefeated streak. It was also good to hear Michaels acknowledge that Undertaker has never defeated him.

JBL vs. Punk: This was a good. CM Punk and John Bradshaw Layfield have different styles, and you never know how they will mesh, but it worked well. Both got in plenty of offense. It went back and forth and built nicely as Punk made a comeback to nearly retain his Intercontinental Championship, only to lose after JBL escaped the Go To Sleep and hit the Clothesline from Hell. My one complaint was that the announcers tried too hard to complain about JBL raking Punk's eyes behind the referee's back. They were trying to have Punk save face, but wrestlers rake each other's eyes all the time in front of the ref and never get disqualified. To suggest that JBL wouldn't have won if the ref had seen him rake Punk's eyes is stupid.

JBL as IC Champ: I have mixed feelings about JBL becoming the new IC Champ. In the end, the good outweighs the bad. My problem is that the Title changes hands too often. WWE was doing a good job building William Regal as a credible Champ and Punk as a credible challenger, but their feud, and Regal's Title reign were too short. Punk's reign was short too, and he was never treated well as the Champ. He lost several non-Title matches. Perhaps JBL can bring more credibility to the Title. Also, I have complained about the fact that the IC Title would not be defended at WrestleMania. Maybe I was wrong. I am curious about what JBL agreed to do for Vickie Guerrero. Hopefully this will be the start of something good for JBL going into WrestleMania. If the historic thing that he keeps promising for the show is just defending the IC Title, that will be good enough considering it hasn't been defended at WrestleMania in so long.

Kingston - Jericho - Flair: This Hit is for the quality of Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho, the surprise appearance by Ric Flair, Kingston qualifying for Money in the Bank, and the advancement in the Jericho vs. legends angle. The match was a fun back and forth match with good athleticism and wrestling action. I was expecting them to fight close to the announce table and to get a pie face from Jericho to Jerry "the King" Lawler to set up Lawler distracting him long enough to get beat by Kingston. Flair's appearance was a surprise. But, if Lawler is going to face Jericho at WrestleMania, they should have gone the other route. I have been hoping for Kingston in MIB, so this was good. He should have been brought back to get some revenge on Edge for taking him out of the Elimination Chamber. That is probably worthy of a Miss. But, at least he will be in a high profile match at the biggest PPV of the year. I liked that Jericho challenged Flair to a match next week, as it should raise interest in the show. However, I hope Flair doesn't wrestle, but that this is another step in whatever eventually comes out of the storyline.

Finally Showing Christian on Raw: This is the marginalist of Hits, as WWE finally acknowledged on Raw outside of commercials that Christian is back in the company. He wasn't treated as a big deal. His six man tag was very fun to watch while it lasted, but it only lasted about 3 minutes. I would think that hyping him more would increase ECW's ratings (I could be wrong), but instead he was barely featured. However, it is still a tiny Hit as it is about time Captain Charisma showed up on one of the two big WWE shows.

RAW MISSES

Build for JBL vs. Punk: I don't get treating the IC Title like this. A Title match should mean enough to get some build. The first time we hear about it shouldn't be when the challenger comes to the ring. The announcers said that JBL had bothered Vickie Guerrero for this match so she finally gave in, but that isn't enough. How about before the match, JBL gives a promo saying he has a plan for a historic appearance at WrestleMania 25, and that the plan starts tonight when he wins the IC Title. He has been given this chance by Vickie Guerrero and he thanks her for it. Then have the announcers say that they've heard JBL has been bothering Vickie the last few weeks for it. That isn't much, but at least gives a bit of a set up for the match.

Wasting Champion vs. Champion: Having not heard the rumors about the 25 Divas battle royale last week, I assumed WWE was setting the stage for a Champion vs. Champion, Melina vs. Maryse match at WrestleMania. I read about the battle royale the next day and was curious about Melina vs. Maryse and whether it would also happen at the PPV. Instead, we got it this week on Raw, with no announcement. And, it went 2 minutes which is ridiculous. Why have a women's division? With the family friendly attitude, WWE has done away with much of the T&A, which can be good if they treat the Divas with more respect, the way TNA first used the Knockouts. But, having the two top women wrestlers face off in a 2 minute match is a joke.

Contract Signing: It made no sense to have Vickie Guerrero announce the 25 Divas battle royale considering the audience was likely to boo anything she says. It sounded great to hear the audience boo what WWE presumably considers a selling point for the PPV. It got better with the promo from Edge about how he and the Big Show would put on an epic match against each other. The real problem started with John Cena. The announcement that he would be in the Title match too was anticlimactic. The "I love Vickie Guerrero" thing was silly. Then, Cena revealed the information that he held over Vickie's head, the security camera footage of her and Big Show kissing. If he blackmailed her with that info to get into the match, why reveal it? He went back on his word, and she should take him out of the match at this point. I guess you could argue that he signed the contract, but she could suspend him or something. Besides, revealing the affair at this point is rushed. It would make more sense to keep the secret longer (after the PPV, once Cena had what he wanted, a Title shot, perhaps as revenge for Vickie costing him the Title).

New Hall of Famer: I hate to give this a Miss, because it will sound disrespectful to Koko B. Ware. I was a fan of the Bird Man as a kid. He was fun to watch and had a high flying offense that was unusual for late 80s WWF. However, I was always disappointed when he lost every big match. Sure, he would beat a nobody (as I called them then) on Superstars, but he never defeated a somebody. That is why I don't understand putting him in the Hall of Fame. Obviously, the WWF never thought highly of him to move him out of the mid card. He never won a Title, and I don't even remember him getting many Title opportunities. Honky Tonk Man will induct him, yet he seems more of a Hall of Famer as the longest reigning IC Champ ever.

Triple H Attacks Orton: This angle could have worked, but it didn't. It started out fine, with the appearances by Randy Orton via satellite, and the no show of Triple H for the main event against Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Orton played his part well when he realized who was at the front door telling his wife to not open it. That worked. Then it got cartoonish. The random people running around the house was laugh out loud funny, but I don't think it was supposed to be. Triple H terrorizing Orton's family doesn't garner him sympathy. I was glad that most of the scene played out with one camera following Hunter as he looked for Orton. But, it was so silly one moment with a girl running scared, and so tense the next moment as Triple H threatened Orton's wife as she called the police. I was worried that it would cut to another camera upstairs when the Game was heading that direction, and relieved when it didn't happen. The fight between Orton and Triple H was ok. Then, they ruined the idea that it was one camera by having a second camera outside of the house just in time to catch Orton flying through the window. That was cheesy, as were the multiple edits that followed. They had been doing a good job with one camera making it more realistic, but ruined it. Also, Orton would have been arrested for attacking Triple H in handcuffs. So what had some promise, didn't work in the end.

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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