By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

MVP to Raw: Montel Vontavious Porter has been a main stay on Smackdown since his debut a few years ago, so it makes sense to put him on Raw now. His time on Smackdown had run its course, and it will be interesting to see what he does on the new show. Thinking about Raw mid carders, a program between MVP and William Regal has some potential.

Big Show to Raw: WWE stopped the love triangle storyline, yet despite not being a fan of it, I hope that they return to it just to get closure on it. With Edge thankfully staying on Smackdown, it is good to move Big Show to Raw. They don't need a heel vs. heel feud. Hopefully Edge can move on from Vickie Guerrero, and if WWE wants, it has Big Show's relationship with her as a go to angle right away.

Hardy to Raw: This was a pretty predictable pick. Matt Hardy's feud with Jeff seemed to be over (not that they won't continue it even if they are on different brands). He has a hard task going forward, to have a heel run while not feuding with his brother. It makes the task easier to be on a different show, where he can concentrate on a new feud. He can have good matches with guys like Kofi Kingston. I wouldn't mind seeing him get a big push, capitalizing on his two wins over his brother, and his cocky new attitude and get a feud with Shawn Michaels. That would be something totally different.

Punk to Smackdown: I think CM Punk could have stayed on Raw and it would have been totally fine. However, having John Cena and now Triple H, plus Batista and Michaels all on the same show, shifting Punk to Smackdown just makes sense. He will be one of the top babyfaces on Smackdown now along with Jeff Hardy, the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio. With both big Titles on Raw right now, WWE will have to do something to bring a Title to Smackdown. The most obvious idea would be for Edge to beat John Cena and bring the World Title to Friday nights. However, with Punk holding Money in the Bank, that is another possibility. He beat Edge for the Title last year, but they were separated by the brand split. A Championship feud between those two could be a lot of fun.

Jericho to Smackdown: Losing Chris Jericho is a big blow for Raw. Other than Randy Orton, who is going to be the top heel on a show with so many top babyfaces? A Batista heel turn seems like a strong possibility. But, that is for another day. For now I will just say that I am looking forward to seeing Jericho interact with Edge on Smcackdown. They are a better one-two heel punch than Edge and Big Show were. I could definitely see a feud with Jeff Hardy.

Mysterio to Smackdown: Things just never worked out for Rey Mysterio on Raw. He had a very good home on Smackdown, and I am hoping that his second run there will be successful too. I would love to see The Brian Kendrick get a push and feud with Mysterio over the Intercontinental Championship. Also, Smackdown is looking better in my eyes after the draft. They picked up the very talented Mysterio, Jericho and Punk. I can take or leave Kane coming over. They lost Matt Hardy, which hurts, but is made up for with the three good pick ups. They aren't losing match quality with the Big Show leaving. They are helped by losing Vladimir Kozlov. And it was probably a good idea to separate Michelle McCool and Maryse.

Batista, Triple H, McMahon vs. Legacy Hype: WWE did a good job of hyping the Backslash main event. It started with the solid opening segment. Batista was good on the mic, but I am a bit tired of his "it's great to be back..." speeches. It set up the dynamic of just how much he and Triple H and Shane McMahon want to get their hands on Randy Orton. The main event handicap tag that Vickie Guerrero announced had some intriguing stipulations. It was interesting to see how the match played out with the babyfaces wanting to actually score the pin, instead of just wanting the team to do so. It wasn't perfect. The idea that Legacy would have a strategy session on camera was lame. But, the actual strategy made sense. I would have also held Batista out of the ring until Backlash.

Cena vs. Swagger: I was distracted during the backstage encounter between John Cena and Jack Swagger, so I can't comment on it, but I did enjoy the match. It was clearly the best match of the night. Is this possibly a WrestleMania main event in the future? Not next year, but maybe the year after. Who knows? For now, I will say that this was a very good match. It featured plenty of good wrestling action. Jack Swagger looked like he belonged in the ring (from both a talent and a storyline view) with a top star like John Cena. He got plenty of offense in and it was a good showcase for the top star of ECW. I was expecting Edge to interfere and cost Cena the match, but the clean finish was fine.

Kingston vs. Miz: This was a good 8 minute match. I really enjoy watching Kofi Kingston in the ring. He has a lot of talent and potential to be a big star in the future. The Miz continues to show that when given the chance to be in longer singles matches, he can deliver as well. The ending was a bit silly with John Morrison accidentally costing Miz the match, and it was very predictable at that point that Miz was getting drafted. However, the match on the whole was still good despite the less-than-great ending.

RAW MISSES

Draft Format: I complain about this every draft, but I am just not a fan of the format of the draft. I don't like the cheesy graphics. I don't like the fact that WWE doesn't do enough to explain why a wrestler wants to win a draft pick for his brand. Isn't a win going to bring a possible competitor that you might now want on your brand? Who is making the matches? Who decides how many matches ECW gets to compete in? When someone changes brands in the show, then wrestles for the new brand later, were they scheduled for that match already? In which case, were they scheduled to compete for their previous brand? They also always do the 15 man battle royale for two picks each year. I just want something different. Even if I didn't dislike the format the way I do, I would get tired of the same thing every year. I don't understand how just by coincidence only pretty big stars get drafted during Raw, and only lower card wrestlers get drafted in the supplemental draft. Also, things always turn predictable like when the US Champ gets drafted that the IC Champ will too, or when one woman Champ gets drafted, the other will to.

Miz to Raw: This was one of two picks that I didn't like (there were a few that weren't good, but not bad either). I suspected that Miz & Morrison were going to be broken up in the draft. I suspect that I was far from alone in that presumption. However, I didn't want it to happen. They are a great team. Sure, John Morrison has a ton of potential to be a breakout star on his own, but if WWE got behind the tag teams, they could be huge stars if they stayed together. It also seems short sighted to take a very well established team and break them up this way without a feud or angle. I would be fine with it if they continued as a team doing The Dirt Sheet. There is nothing about even a clear brand split that wouldn't allow them to have a web show together. They could reunite occasionally at PPVs, or whatever. But, they fought. Miz attacked Morrison. If you are going to break up the team like that, then doing it in the draft takes away that possible feud and PPV match down the line. If they are going to be singles wrestlers, I would have rather seen Morrison drafted to one of the big shows, and kept Miz on ECW. That would have benefitted both guys better than this.

Kozlov to ECW: My other disappointing pick was the one pick up for ECW, Vladimir Kozlov. ECW only has two babyfaces to get really excited about, Christian and Evan Bourne. I was sort of expecting both to be drafted. I don't particularly want to see either of them vs. Kozlov. ECW really didn't change much. The supplemental draft is yet to come, so I am holding out judgment for ECW as a whole and Christian in particular until I see what happens. But, I guess I can't be too disappointed that Christian hasn't yet moved, when the only person who came to ECW is Kozlov. I wanted to see Christian move, but I also want to see quality wrestlers on ECW.

Khali - Santino: From reading what others had to say last week, I seem to be in the minority of fans who didn't enjoy Santina Marella's appearance. Despite being in the minority, I am sticking with my original opinion and saying that it just isn't funny. Throwing The Great Khali into the storyline isn't helping. Why is he still around? Having a 7 + foot giant comedy routine doesn't make much sense to me. I don't look forward at all to seeing Santina on the Khali Kiss Cam next week.

Short Time for Mysterio vs. Bourne: This was a very fun 4 minutes of wrestling action, but it should have been a fun 8 minutes of wrestling action. This isn't a match that is going to be on PPV. There is no reason to save it. If you want to build Evan Bourne, then it should take Rey Mysterio longer than 4 minutes to beat him.

Short Time for Christian vs. Benjamin: This was another good 4 minute match, but these two are capable of going longer and delivering a very good match. WWE wants fans to buy PPVs to see these types of matches, but it makes no sense when two guys who have been built up as successful wrestlers have short matches against each other. Why would it take longer for Christian to beat Shelton Benjamin at a PPV than it did for him to win on Raw?

Still No Michaels: Once again, there was no sign of Shawn Michaels. I am hoping that they have something up their sleeves that will capitalize on his outstanding match with Undertaker from WrestleMania, but they still haven't done nearly enough to make that match feel as special as it was. Just make a big deal out of the fact that Michaels hasn't been seen since then. His mere absence should be focused on.

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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