By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

VIP Lounge: This is a marginal Hit. It was a solid way to start the show. I enjoyed how Montel Vontavious Porter and Chris Jericho tried to one up each other in introducing Al Sharpton as the guest host. It was a bit out of character for Jericho, but I think he was trying to kiss up and get on the host's good side. The best was when he blurted out Sharpton's name before MVP had the chance. The crowd's reaction to Sharpton was interesting and very negative. However, he handled the adversity well. His performance was ok, although he seemed to jump ahead in the script once. This was a good set up for the Tag Title match that Sharpton made on the spot. It wasn't great, but just good enough.

JeriShow vs. MVP & Henry: I enjoyed this match. It was a good way to bring some closure to this feud as Big Show and Chris Jericho can now move on to focus on Batista and Rey Mysterio. The match itself was entertaining. I loved when Jericho crawled over to Show to tag out and be comforted. He is so great in his role right now. The Show - Mark Henry show down was well done. There were a few sloppy spots here and there, but on the whole the wrestling action was good. There were a lot of nice spots like when Show caught Jericho before the break. The action really picked up nicely at the end leading to the very close nearfall as MVP rolled up Jericho and almost won. The ending was strong as there was a bit of cheating involved as Show hit MVP from the outside, but it was still the Code Breaker from Jericho that go the pin.

Legacy - DX: This was a good promo exchange between Legacy and DX. I would say that Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes out performed Shawn Michaels and Triple H on the mic in this one to land it in the Hit column. I liked what both DiBiase and Rhodes had to say. Their lines about ending DX at the PPV were strong. I loved the line about Triple H getting his corner office job ready after what Legacy was going to do to him. I also liked (and I'm showing my geekiness with this one) Rhodes' Rorschach-like line about how DX would be locked in the cell with them, not the other way around (don't know if the writers are "Watchmen" fans or not, but that's what it made me think of). DX wasn't as good, but they were fine. I laughed at their Statler and Waldorf heckle (another pop culture reference). Their own comic book reference was amusing at first, but got kind of awkward as it went, dragging the quality down some. The ending was strong though, as DX reminded Legacy that they won't be able to run at Hell in a Cell.

Swagger vs. Bourne: I want to say that this match was disappointingly short, but that would suggest that I actually thought it would go longer. I hoped it would go longer, but I knew it wouldn't. That being said, I have to give Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne a Hit for their performance in the 3 minutes they were given. This was very good while it lasted. Bourne deserves better than this, but he got to show off some of his moves, and I understand wanting to have Swagger look strong going into the US Title match at the PPV. I also enjoyed the promo from Swagger afterwards, as well as Miz's interruption.

Chavo Saves Hornswoggle: I'm only giving this a Hit for two reasons. The first is that it I have come to accept the fact that the Chavo Guerrero - Hornswoggle storyline will never end and this was at least the start of moving the angle into a new and different direction. The second is that my wife predicted that Chavo would come to Hornswoggle's rescue during the match, so I have to give her props for that.

Gauntlet (the good): There was good and bad in the Gauntlet with John Cena taking on Jericho, Big Show and Randy Orton. The good out weighed the bad, so I will focus on the good for now, but the bad deserves mentioning also which will come later. The Gauntlet got off to a good start with Jericho vs. Cena. These two work well together and have had some very good matches in the past. Jericho was trying to punish Cena, not win the match. The prolonged Walls of Jericho leading to the DQ and some serious punishment on Cena was very well done. The second segment with Show vs. Cena was ok. It was slow and methodical. It also ended in a DQ which was a bit disappointing. It was too much super Cena for my taste that after all the beating on his back, he would still be able to lift Show for the Attitude Adjustment. However, Jericho was great as usual with his yelling and facial expressions at ringside. Then came some bad stuff. Then, the final image of the show with Cena standing over Orton's body on top of the cell, particularly the shot from below, was a very strong conclusion to the show.

RAW MISSES

Al Sharpton: While I liked the opening segment and thought Sharpton was fine in his performance, the other scenes he was in were pretty bad. So, this is more a Miss for the writing than for him. The crazy scene in his office with Primo, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Santino Marella and Hornswoggle was really bad. It was like the writers didn't know what to write for Sharpton, so they simply had him stand there and witness the crazy antics of some WWE Superstars. That's called lazy writing. Then came him thanking the fans and ultimately singing and dancing to some James Brown. That was just strange.

James vs. Mendes: This was an ugly match. I can almost use the term "ugly" to describe any match involving Rosa Mendes. She is just not a good worker. There were some very sloppy moments in the match, particularly early on. Mickie James is a good worker but she had nothing to work with in this case. The match got a bit better at the end, but not good enough to save it from the Miss column.

Gauntlet (the bad): I already mentioned some of the bad in the Gauntlet, like the slow pace and the unbelievable Super Cena. What really bothered me though was when Cena magically healed himself and had the Cell come down to trap Orton. Orton still should have had the advantage and should have loved having a weakened Cena locked in the cage with him. I hate the fact that he cowered at the very thought of the cage coming down and tried to run. That was pathetic for the top heel. I know heels in general are supposed to be chickens, but do they all have to be? Can't the top heel have a little more back bone than to run from Cena who had been destroyed by JeriShow at that point? I liked the final moments as Orton escaped an AA attempt and climbed the cage and the final shots as I mentioned above. But, getting there was really bad.

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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