By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Edge - Sheamus: Raw got off to a good start with the opening segment with Edge and Sheamus. Edge was good on the mic in his first promo since returning from injury. He did a nice job explaining his mind set going into the Royal Rumble with what sparked his desire to defy the doctors and come back from as soon as possible. He played up his possible feud against Chris Jericho. He teased matches against both Sheamus and The Undertaker for WrestleMania's main event. I wish he had brought up Christian, but I guess ECW is never going to be on the radar for these situations. Sheamus was good in his performance as well. Edge got a mixed reaction at first with a lot of boos, but his physicality against Sheamus pushed him to a babyface reaction. It will be interesting to see going forward with his Cutting Edge on Smackdown with guest Undertaker how his character is presented. Will he be a babyface or heel? Or more of a tweener (which would get my vote at least for now)? And who will he challenge at WrestleMania? Also, I have to put out there a possibility that I haven't heard or read anyone else present, which is that like WrestleMania 20, Michaels somehow gets himself into the main event in a triple threat match of Undertaker vs. Edge vs. Michaels. I would rather see that than Undertaker vs. Michaels 2. After their epic last year, a disappointing follow-up is a possibility. Edge's presence would make for an exciting match, adding more athleticism. He, like Michaels has something to prove as he too lost in an attempt to end the streak. Also, the streak has never been on the line in a triple threat. WWE could play up the fact that the streak (and Undertaker's Title reign) could end without him actually being pinned. I'm just throwing it out there.

Swagger vs. Triple H: This was a good match. It was far from great as there were a few sloppy spots, but on the whole it was good. It was nice to see Jack Swagger in a qualifying match for the Elimination Chamber. Sure he predictably lost, but at least he got this match ahead of other Raw mid carders like Carlito or Chavo Guerrero (ok, so that isn't saying much). But, I did like the match. Swagger got in more offense then I expected. Towards the end, I thought Triple H was going to move as Swagger ran at him in the corner, but Swagger actually was able to hit several shoulder thrusts into The Game's gut. Also, I liked how the match was booked to have the less experienced Swagger lose focus and the veteran Triple H take advantage.

Shatner Sings: This made me laugh. It was a nice self-deprecating performance from William Shatner, poking fun at his "spoken word" type "singing" albums. It was amusing and I can totally see Joel McHale showing his rendition of "Sexy Boy" on "The Soup" this week.

Orton vs. Michaels: It was a bit disappointing that this match was as short as it was, but it makes some sense considering that this is a PPV quality match and you don't want to give too much of it away for free. The surprise ending was outstanding. It reinforced the fact that a match can end at any time (which helps sell near falls in the future). It was also an ending that played on many years of Shawn Michaels' matches. I don't think they've ever done that ending before. Michaels was good once again afterwards in selling his frustration like at the Rumble.

Jack Brisco Tribute: This was a nice tribute video honoring the memory of Jack Brisco. It gave newer fans who aren't familiar with his work a glimpse of why he was inducted into the Hall of Fame a few years ago. It was a classy moment from WWE.

Closing Segment: Once again, WWE delivered a good segment in the build up to an eventual match involving Bret Hart and Vince McMahon at WrestleMania. Hart was good in his role of putting aside his desire to put the past behind him and wanting to kick McMahon's ass. I loved his line playing off of McMahon's previous chewing gum analogy saying he had enough flavor to do just that. McMahon was good in his heel way of at first metaphorically spitting in Hart's face in putting down his contributions to WWE. The physicality at the end didn't look very good, but that should be expected. It would not be a good idea to put them in a match against each other one on one. As soon as Batista came out, you knew what the match would be. That set up McMahon to actually spit in Hart's face. WWE needs to do a good job soon (maybe as soon as Smackdown) of explaining why Batista was there. The crowd was hot wanting John Cena to come down, but WWE did the smart thing in holding that off. They need to build to the announcement of the tag match that is to come, not just jump right into it (after all, Cena has WWE Title aspirations in the Elimination Chamber and we have to assume Batista will be in the other Chamber match trying to become World Champ).

RAW MISSES

Henry vs. DiBiase: I like that Ted DiBiase is in the Elimination Chamber. That outcome was the only thing that I liked about this match. It was kept short which was good, but DiBiase didn't do enough to overcome Mark Henry's limitations in the ring. His offense was slow. It was fine in how he focused on Henry's arm, but it wasn't exciting to watch at any time. It was just a slow lumbering match.

Raw Match Negotiator: This was a pretty bad scene. I suppose we have to accept the fact that inbetween the Rumble and WrestleMania, the brand split will be gone. I am willing to accept that for now considering how well the brand split was defined after the draft for the second half of 2009. Assuming that these next two months are it for inter-brand mingling for the year (a big assumption), then I will not complain about it. However, I withhold the right to complain about it if it continues after WrestleMania. Back to this segment. I would have been totally fine with it as a way to set up a big triple threat Tag Team Title match for next week playing on Shatner's Priceline spokesman status. However, the graphic at the beginning took the scene totally out of the moment and wasn't needed in any way. Also, the joke at the end with Shatner trying to get a freeze frame was lame.

Kingston vs. Show: This was not a good match at all. I was assuming that Kofi Kingston and The Big Show would round out the field for the Elimination Chamber after the first four spots were taken up. I assumed that Kingston would defeat DiBiase and that Show would defeat Henry. WWE went the route of DiBiase instead of Show which is fine. But, getting Kingston in by defeating Show didn't work in this case. The match was ugly to watch. The Miz was good on guest commentary and his taunting of Kingston led to MVP chasing him away which was ok. The match itself though was bad. Kingston looked poor in slipping off the ropes and then eventually sort of hitting a move on Show from the top. The announcers did their best to cover, but it was ugly. What was even worse was the ending. That DQ finish was very lame. It made a heel in Show look sympathetic. It took any glory away from Kingston in getting a big win over Show. He wasn't even in the picture at the end and the announcers sold confusion as to whether or not he had qualified for the Chamber match. It was 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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