By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Maryse & Hall vs. James & Kelly: This was a good short tag team match. It went 4 minutes which is actually longer than most Divas matches have been lately. I liked Maryse's possible new catch phrase before the match, "If I wasn't Maryse, I would want to be." The wrestling action was good while it lasted other than the bad timing of Jillian Hall and Kelly Kelly as Jillian was late diving at Kelly and looked bad for diving right through the ropes. But, it was good to see a focus on the division in the ring. Maryse is entertaining to watch with her mannerisms and facial expressions. The feud between her and Mickie James has potential. But, at some point the women need to be given more than just 3 or 4 minutes.

Kendrick: I am still bugged by how ridiculously short The Brian Kendrick vs. Carlito was last week, and again this week. However, it was nice to see Kendrick getting the win and the fact that apparently, WWE has something in mind for him. He deserves a push, and if he isn't going to get one as a singles star, he might as well form a new tag team. He was good on the mic afterwards. I particularly liked how he enunciated the s at the end of Championssssss. I am intrigued to find out who his partner will be.

The Miz: Last week, multiple readers took me to task for not including The Miz as a Hit. I explained that while I liked what he did, I was too distracted by what surrounded him, the poor booking of John Cena and Big Show, and the fact that Miz just disappeared to give him a Hit. This week is a similar situation. But, I will say that I did enjoy Miz enough to give him a Hit, last week (though I skipped it) and this week. He has been very good on the mic in taunting Cena. I liked how he expanded it beyond "12 Rounds" to his rap album this week. He is the Miz, and he is awesome!

VIP Lounge and Tag Match: I enjoyed the VIP Lounge and the tag match that followed. It was a bit cheesy that Montel Vontavious Porter would be dressed to wrestle, just in case it turned into a match. William Regal came out also dressed to wrestle, but he clearly had the intentions of fighting MVP, so that worked. Their verbal exchange was very good. I was pleasantly surprised when Matt Hardy interrupted to shake things up a bit. I was also happy that he wasn't dressed to wrestle. He has been good on the mic in his whinny character. It was good to see Kofi Kingston involved to get some retribution from last week. It was predictable that it would turn into a tag match, but the match was fun. It was nice to see Regal back in the ring. It seems like it has been a long time.

RAW MISSES

Legacy vs. Batista: Despite the fact that there are an equal number of Hits and Misses, I really did not like this show. The problem is that despite those four Hits, there was one really big Miss, and that was the feud between Batista and Legacy. I did not like the opening segment. There was a bit of intrigue with Randy Orton offering Batista a spot in Legacy (Ted DiBiase's short promo trying to sell the idea was the best part), but the intrigue quickly went away when Batista turned him down. The idea that Vickie Guerrero would institute a no physicality rule, then over turn that rule the same night was laughable. Just like last week, she set up a match the outcome of which would determine the participants in the main event. She was trying to not be predictable, but it didn't work. It was lame that Batista would be DQd for having a chair but not using it. We see referees take chairs away from wrestlers all the time and not DQ them. It also turns out that Orton is an idiot. He sends Ted DiBiase off alone, then finds Cody Rhodes and tells him that they have to watch each other's backs. Why didn't he want to watch DiBiase's back? Then, he failed to learn from history, so he was forced to repeat it. He told Rhodes that they had to have each other's backs, but then he sent him off alone to take out Batista. That makes sense, how? It was interesting to see Batista try to do to Orton what Orton did to Shane McMahon last week, but he was booked too strong too. I said last week that even John Cena shouldn't be booked that strong against Legacy, but this week they did the same thing with Batista. I know they want the fans to think that Batista will win the Title on Sunday, but he looked too dominant. Orton looked weak and like a fool. I haven't enjoyed what WWE is selling in regards to the top storyline on Raw for the last few months.

PPV Run Down: This is a minor complaint. The idea of having the announcers in the ring to go over the upcoming PPV card is an attempt to make the PPV seem more important than when they just do it from the announce table. However, it seemed really odd to me. It was jarring. I thought something really important was about to happen, and was disappointed when it was just the Judgment Day run down. Also, would it actually kill them to list the ECW Championship match in the run down? How long does it take for them to say, "and ECW Champion Christian will defend his Title against the former Champ, Jack Swagger."?

Cena - Big Show: I continue to not care about this feud. The whole exhibition match idea was convoluted and confusing. I did like how they continued the theme from last week of Chavo Guerrero giving ideas to Vickie, but the idea was stupid and she was stupid for agreeing with it. If John Cena isn't medically cleared to wrestle, then how can she force him to wrestle, even in an exhibition match, whatever that means? I was confused when Vickie Guerrero stopped the match and said that there was no way Cena could defeat Show. Wasn't the point to find out if he was physically able to compete? I thought so. So, if he wasn't able to beat Show, does that mean he isn't able to compete? It almost sounded like she was calling off the match. It was stupid. I didn't like Cena's interview with Josh Mathews either. It was lame.

Phoenix vs. Santina: I am so tired of this. There were a few funny moments during the back stage encounter between Santina Marella, the Guerreros, Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes. But, the funny moments were ruined by the horrible forced laughter of Michael Cole and Jerry "the King" Lawler. It is too bad that WWE didn't drop the issue there. It wasn't bad enough to get a Miss, but when you add in the match later, it definitely became one. Just rip his wig off if you want to prove he is a man. Phoenix had him down on the mat and punched him several times, so she easily could have taken the wig off. It is just stupid, although I did chuckle at Santina's marching band celebration, just like her twin brother.

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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