By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: Raw got off to a good start. The opening segment of the first Raw after a PPV should accomplish three goals. The first is to recap the major angle from the PPV. The fans got to find out what happened at Judgment Day between Randy Orton, Batista and Ric Flair. Goal number one accomplished. The second is to set up what will happen on that particular episode, like all openings should. While the main event was not yet announced, after watching John Cena come to Flair and Batista's aid, you had to know that he and Batista would be facing Legacy in a handicap tag match. Goal number two accomplished. And the third is to possibly start shifting focus to the next PPV (which can be unfortunate, as it often feels crammed with too many PPVs happening too soon as is the case here). But, you don't have a lot of time to build to the next PPV, so announcing the Raw main event for Extreme Rules worked well. Goal number three accomplished. And, all three were accomplished in an entertaining way, with good mic work from Orton and Flair, and the surprise save by Cena.

Kelly Wins: I was happy to see WWE doing something less predictable than having Mickie James win the Divas Battle Royale and become the #1 contender for Maryse's Divas Title. It was stupid to have this match in the first place, considering James should have already earned the #1 contendership. However, I am all for stretching that feud out. Having Kelly win gives her a bit of a bump, and hopefully a chance to show what she can do in the ring. It keeps the James vs. Maryse feud going by interrupting it, and it will be fun to see how all this builds.

Santino vs. Chavo: This was a fun comedy match. I am enjoying Santino Marella's new babyface role. He is very funny and everything he did in this match made me laugh. I loved his silly speed walk as he tried to walk off a possible leg injury. His facial reactions were great. I like the idea of him being shocked at actually performing well in the ring. There is a whole world of potential with that new part of his gimmick. And, the crowd is responding very well to him.

Hardy vs. MVP: I was disappointed that this match only went 5 minutes, but on the other hand we've seen it many times before so it's not like we were missing out on much. The match itself was good for those 5 minutes. Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy really have worked well together over the years. This match showed their chemistry in the ring. Hardy once again did a good job of incorporating his cast into his matches.

Legacy vs. Batista & Cena: This was a good tag team main event. Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, John Cena and Batista all worked hard and put on a good match. I liked right before the commercial how Orton slithered out of the ring after trying to sneak up on Batista and Cena. He is playing his role well. The match featured plenty of intensity. It was interesting how it built to a hot tag to Cena, considering it is Batista who has been feuding with Orton. Of course, after the nice spot where Rhodes tagged out as he was being hit with the Attitude Adjuster, Cena was then triple teamed needing to make a hot tag himself. By the way, that moonsault Rhodes hit was sweet. The crowd was really into the action which built to the crazy (in a good way) ending with Big Show and Flair showing up.

RAW MISSES

Cena Backstage: This was not a good performance by Cena on the mic. I didn't like his interview with Josh Mathews. He didn't actually explain why he got involved in the opening segment. If he wants to wrestle the winner of Batista vs. Orton, then why help either one at this point? Things got worse with his following encounter with Vickie Guerrero. The over the top sarcastic John Cena has to go. Usually, I am a fan of someone quoting "Ghostbusters" but in this case it just didn't work.

Divas Battle Royale: The problem here is how short this match was. I was pleased that Kelly got the win, but she really gained nothing from it other than eliminating Beth Phoenix. I hate to sound sexist, but a women's battle royale is always going to look bad when they can roll each other under the bottom rope. That is weak. If they can't throw each other out over the top rope with consistency because of their size, at least make it over the middle rope. And, give them more that 3 minutes for a match that has seven Divas. What's the point? It also doesn't allow for much time for Maryse to talk on guest commentary (I did like how she corrected Michael Cole's pronunciation of her name). With those rules and that length, the match sucked.

Big Show vs. Cena Continues: I was hoping that Judgment Day would be the end of the Big Show vs. Cena feud. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. I don't want to see this feud continue. I didn't enjoy watching it play out on Raw over the last few weeks. Their matches are never going to be good. The idea of it being a submission match is good. After Cena failed to apply the STF during their PPV match, it is an interesting notion that he will have to find a new way to make Show submit to win the match. But, that notion isn't nearly interesting enough for me to actually want to watch the feud continue. By the way, Show's appearance followed The Miz, who was good, but not as good as he has been lately (thus no Hit, but no Miss either).

Ross on Raw: While I am always happy to hear Jim Ross on commentary, can someone explain to me why he was at the Raw taping to begin with? Is he always there just in case a wrestler beats up one of the announcers so he can fill in? Does Cole hang out backstage of Smackdown for the same reason? Josh Mathews was already there, so why not use him? I understand that Ross is the best announcer in the business. But, I still like logic.

Flair Talks About Wrestling: For the most part, I liked the backstage scene between Flair and Batista. Having Flair on as a character is great. The idea that he would call out Orton for a fight is fine. I liked how he was upset when it appeared that Batista doubted him. What I didn't like was his shoot comments about not choosing to retire and about being forced to retire. It was way too close to what he said in real interviews lately. I understand his desire to wrestle again, but that doesn't mean WWE should go along with it.

Santina vs. Vickie: This might be a case of too much of a good thing (if you think that Santino Marella's role has been good). As I said above, I enjoyed the comedy of Santino and Chavo Guerrero early in the show, but I did not enjoy the comedy of Santina and Vickie Guerrero later. They need to keep Santino's appearances down to one a week. The pig jokes have grown old. I did like how Santina had some toilet paper squares covering up nicks from shaving. That was a nice touch. But, on the whole it didn't work for me. I want to see William Regal feud with MVP. I don't want to see him feud with Santino, or becoming an enforcer for Vickie Guerrero.

Extreme Rules: This Miss isn't for Raw, but for the name of the upcoming PPV. I am not thrilled with the all extreme rules format. But, I am even less thrilled with the name of the PPV. WWE Extreme Rules. That just sounds so cheesy. It doesn't even sound like the name of an event, the way that Judgment Day does. WWE should have gone with the other name they were supposedly considering, Night of Extreme.

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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