By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Million Dollar Man: Last week's Raw was better than it has been lately, but that isn't saying much. It was an improvement over recent episodes, but wasn't good. This week's Raw was also an improvement and was actually a good episode. It started off with the solid opening with the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase with the team formerly knows as Priceless. I enjoyed DiBiase Sr.'s work as the guest host. There are still problems with the logic of the guest host concept, but he did a good job. I enjoyed his interaction with his son and Cody Rhodes throughout the night. I like how he was pushing DiBiase Jr., while sticking it to Rhodes. He did a good job of stirring the pot and creating tension in Legacy. I particularly liked his scene with Rhodes when Cody tried to bribe him. I agree with DiBiase. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

Gail Kim: I can't give the Divas tag match a Hit. It was fine, but wasn't quite good enough. However, I was very impressed with Gail Kim's performance in the ring. When she came out as Mickie James' partner, I was hesitant. I thought of her role on Smackdown as she often appeared as Melina's partner in matches against Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox. She was secondary to Melina in those matches, and often took the fall. Here, she came out as James' partner against Maryse and Fox, and I was expecting her to play a similar role. I was happy to see her treated as a bigger deal and have more time to show her great skills (still not a lot of time) and actually get the win. I question having her pin Maryse so soon. It would be fine if this were after Night of Champions, but why cloud things up between James and Maryse before then? But, that is a minor complaint as I was happy to see her look so strong on her Raw debut.

Orton vs. DiBiase: This was a good match focusing on ring psychology and telling a story which worked well in this case. Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase told the story of DiBiase trying to prove himself to Orton, while Orton reluctantly had to put his pupil down. Orton did a good job of being a bit conflicted in his attack. DiBiase was good in showing his frustration at not being able to quite pull of the victory. The moment that really stood out was when Orton had DiBiase set up for the horizontal DDT and hesitated. There was actually a brief moment where I questioned whether or not Orton would go through with the move. That is a testament to the drama of the match. I liked seeing DiBiase in this position. I see him as having more of an upside than Rhodes at this point.

VIP Lounge: Now that Jack Swagger is on Raw, he needs an opponent. Now that Montel Vontavious Porter lost to a one-legged Triple H in the tournament last week, he needs one also. I certainly won't complain about WWE putting these two together for a feud. I like that Swagger was not just a random guest on the VIP Lounge. It was good that MVP wanted him as a guest to question what Swagger did when he let Orton beat him last week. This was a good follow up to that angle, and it was a nice set up to this feud. Swagger and MVP showed that they each can deliver on the mic in this segment. They did a nice job playing up the differences between them. MVP vs. Swagger has potential to be a very good match.

Triple H vs. Cena: My initial thought for this match last week was that the Miz would interfere to cost John Cena allowing their program to continue. However, as this week's show progressed, I realized that Cena vs. Miz can't happen at Night of Champions and that Cena and Triple H both have to be booked for the PPV, therefore it had to be some sort of draw to get a Triple Threat match. I was not looking forward to Triple H vs. Orton again, and I haven't decided yet how I feel about Cena's involvement and whether it will help or hurt the match. But, this particular Raw main event was very good. There was little technical wrestling involved, but Triple H and Cena showed that they know how to work together to put on a good match in their styles. There was a lot of punching, but each punch meant something to the crowd. The fans were definitely into the match. I could have done without the two sleeper spots, but they were ok. It was a simple formula; two top stars trying to beat each other to get a Title match. The fans bought into that and it worked well.

RAW MISSES

Carlito Snaps on Primo: Carlito's beating on Primo was well done and very physical. It was also inevitable. You knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but later would have been better. There was one week of teased tension between them, and then Carlito snapped. It seemed to come out of nowhere. If there had been hints of some tension while they were still Unified Tag Team Champions it would have been better. It makes sense to do this as there aren't any other tag teams on Raw. But, they still could have worked together while the tension built before Carlito finally snapped. This was rushed. It was like the writers said, "well, they aren't tag champs any more, we better split them up right away." This is not a huge deal. I just wish they would take more time to let a story like this develop.

Kingston - Bourne - Big Show: This didn't do anything for me, at least nothing good. I was intrigued when I saw Evan Bourne come out as Kofi Kingston's opponent. Figuring that there was only one more match after this, I thought WWE might give these two a decent amount of time (say 6 minutes) to show what they can do. Instead, they only got 3 minutes. Those 3 minutes were fine, but the ending came out of nowhere. I guess you can look at it as a good strong statement of Bourne's ability, but it also made Kingston, the US Champion, look weak for being defeated so quickly. And, anything that Bourne may have gained from the victory was soon forgotten about as Big Show destroyed him with little effort. Kingston looked even worse. I'm guessing they are setting up a triple threat for the US Title at Night of Champions, but I am not looking forward to that match.

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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