By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Draft Fully into Effect Next Week: Well, it is a week too late, but I am glad that WWE announced on Raw that the draft is going into full effect next Monday night. If WWE had said last Monday that the draft would go into full effect starting with the Raw after Backlash, I would have been fine with that. It would have made sense. I wouldn't have complained about the lack of a brand split on Smackdown. But, they did it now so that is a good thing.

Glamarella: I laughed more at this week's Santino-Santina Marella segment than last, so I am giving it a Hit. I liked Santino's line about how some people believe that he and his sister are the same person. I liked the picture of Italy behind Santina, featuring both the Vatican and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That was a nice touch. Santino's line about his sister loving the Red Bull after the tape sped up was funny, although the tape speeding up was cheesy and predictable in the first place. I also liked how you could see Santina continue to react in the background to Santino's poem, long after he had stopped reading it. It had a few flaws, and I still don't care about the Khali Kiss Cam (don't need to pay $40 to see that), but it was still a fun scene.

Cena vs. Jericho: This was the best match of the night. We've seen John Cena and Chris Jericho have really good matches in the past, and this was no different. They have good chemistry together and I always enjoy watching them wrestle. The interference from Edge was predictable and made sense given the storyline. It was also nice that it came after 16 minutes of very good wrestling action. It was fun to watch Cena attempt the Attitude Adjuster (lame) multiple times and to see Jericho able to counter each time in a different way. The counter when he landed on his feet and hit a surprise Code Breaker was the spot of the match. The dueling submission holds worked well. There wasn't a bad moment in the match. It built nicely with several near falls and reversals at the end, until Edge's interference.

Edge: Edge was very good in his short appearance on Raw. I love his facial expressions like when he was waiting to spear Cena. The one man conchairto is a good way to have a chair shot to the head that looks devastating, but in reality isn't since Edge just hits the other chair. It is a reminder that there are ways to make something look dangerous without it actually being dangerous. His ten count at the end was a great way to underscore the last man standing stipulation for their World Title match at the PPV. I have a suspicion that CM Punk will cash in Money in the Bank on whoever survives that brutal match. It could set up a great feud with Edge, or turn Punk heel if he does it on Cena (although many fans watching in the arena will cheer it). I could be wrong. In fact, if I were Punk, I would have cashed it in on Cena right then and there after the conchairto, right in front of the Ultimate Opportunist.

Triple H vs. Orton: This wasn't quite as good as Cena vs. Jericho, but it was still a very good main event. I am in the minority of fans who didn't hate their WrestleMania main event and stand by the fact that if the match had been earlier on the card and if the PPV had ended with Michaels vs. Undertaker that the reactions to it wouldn't have been so negative. But, that is a conversation for another time. I definitely liked this match better. They used the no DQ gimmick well. It was a good brawl with plenty of back and forth action. It never dragged. The run ins from the rest of their Backlash teams were predictable but worked well. It was a good way to continue to build the theme of Triple H's team not being on the same page heading into the PPV. It was also good that they cleared themselves out of the way so that the match could come down to Orton and Triple H, with Orton hitting that great RKO for the win.

RAW MISSES

Opening Segment: I went back and forth as to whether or not to include the opening segment as a Miss. There were good things in it. Chris Jericho's opening promo was strong as usual from him. But, the whole idea that the fans will miss him on Raw is lame, since the same fans would go to the taping if it were Smackdown. They're the same fans, and the idea that Jericho ignored that took away from the otherwise good promo. Ricky Steamboat came out next which was nice, but his promo skills did not put him into the Hall of Fame. He stumbled over some of his words. I do like the set up for their match at Backlash, which has a chance to actually get some "on the fence" fans to buy the PPV. But, the mic work just wasn't strong. I also wasn't thrilled with John Cena's appearance. Now, it did set up his match with Jericho, but when he first came out, it just seemed like he was nosing in on someone else's business. Also, the whole thing seemed to drag and go on a bit too long.

Short Time for Kane vs. Punk: I was disappointed that Kane vs. CM Punk was only 2 minutes long. I enjoyed the 2 minutes, but it is ridiculous that a match between stars of that caliber would be so short, especially when they played up the fact that Kane was trying to get revenge after coming up just a bit short in Money in the Bank when Punk won. I give them credit for Punk winning in a surprise fashion. That could happen at any time, which makes this short match a bit more bearable than most. But, after a week of disappointingly short matches last week, here was another. If they didn't do this so often, I would have been fine with it as an example that "anything can happen." But, the way so many matches are presented, it is just par for the course.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars 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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