By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: I had a few problems with the opening segment, but on the whole it was a Hit. Shaquille O'Neal played his part well as the guest host setting up the Beat the Clock challenge to determine a #1 contender for Randy Orton's WWE Title. Shaq always talks a good game. Chris Jericho was his usual great self when he came out and was disrespected by another guest host. The look on his face after Shaq kissed his forehead was awesome. What was even better was after the Big Show's long excuse for not fighting Shaq when Jericho stepped in and said that he wasn't going to fight Shaq either. The verbal exchange was well done. The opening segment set up the Beat the Clock challenge as well as what would turn out to be the main event, Cryme Tyme vs. Show & Jericho with Shaq as the guest enforcer. My problem is that it was a little too convenient that Shaq just happened to have hired Cryme Tyme for the night just in case he was interrupted by Jericho & Show and just in case Show wouldn't fight him.

Shaq and Santino Play Scrabble: I don't care if this was a rip off of an ESPN commercial as it was really funny. One of the joys of the guest host gimmick is seeing how Santino Marella will interact with the guest host. It won't always be good (see ZZ Top last week), but sometimes it will be like it was this week with Shaq. I laughed out loud when Santino asked him how he has so many Qs? It was hilarious. The rap thing he did after Cryme Tyme came in wasn't as funny but he rhymed Dikembe Mutombo with the Royal Rumble which was quite impressive.

Swagger vs. Bourne: This match might have only been about 3 1/2 minutes long, but it was good while it lasted. Also, it fit in well at that length with the Beat the Clock format. Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne have so much talent and potential. The match featured good wrestling action and a nice surprise upset finish with Bourne getting the win on an inside cradle. Swagger's expressions after losing were very good. I hope this sets up a Swagger vs. Bourne feud which would be a lot of fun, even if we did see these two face on ECW in the past.

Shaq - Big Show: The main event tag match was ok. Cryme Tyme actually looked good in the ring. It was a nice set up to a possible tag team title match on Smackdown in the future. But, the real story was what happened afterwards between Shaq and the Big Show. The image of Shaq and Show with the double choke was very memorable. It was good to see that Shaq could stand tall at the end and get a media friendly moment for WWE, without hurting Show's credibility. Shaq did knock him out of the ring, but only after Cryme Tyme came to his aid. That was a nice touch.

RAW MISSES

Wasting Beth Phoenix: The six Divas tag match was fine. It was better than many of the similar matches on Raw have been lately. Alicia Fox continues to show that she has potential. Rosa Mendez didn't look sloppy as usual. Gail Kim and Mickie James were their usual good selves. They even threw in a bit of a wrinkle at the end as Kim tagged herself in to get the win. It was a bit of a subtle planting of seeds for a Kim vs. James feud which would be great. All of that was good, but the match left me with the overwhelming sense that Beth Phoenix is totally being wasted. She and her team didn't get a ring entrance. She had the least amount of time in the ring for her team. She was totally lost in the shuffle as she has been for quite some time. With Maryse out of the picture for the time being, Phoenix should be elevated.

End of Triple H vs. Rhodes: I was actually enjoying this for most of it. We have to just accept the fact that Cody Rhodes can't compete with Triple H in a fair fight. Looking past that, it was good to see Rhodes take it to Triple H like he did, taking advantage of the pre-match attack on the Game's knee by Ted DiBiase. In fact, until DiBiase showed up, the match was well booked. Then, it got ridiculous. The announcers said that Triple H couldn't hit DiBiase or he might run the risk of getting disqualified. What? That made no sense whatsoever. Triple H just came off looking like a total fool for not blasting DiBiase off the ring apron. He had to waste so much time to let the clock run out that it looked really bad. I don't get that booking at all.

Cena vs. Miz: I never expected to see Mark Henry win the Beat the Clock challenge and I'm not sure anyone would pay to see him face Randy Orton at SummserSlam. However, I would have liked to see Miz cost Cena in this case to actually get something resembling a push. Forgetting about the outcome for a moment, there was one really lame part of this match when Cena sold being knocked out during a ten count, only to magically hop to his feet and into the ring at the nine count. He oversold the beating for an eight count, then undersold it for the nine count. He should have shown some signs of life two counts before he did. That would have been more believable. And if he was going to win, it would have been nice to see Miz last another 2 minutes or so.

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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