By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Jericho - Edge: This was all predictable, but still well done. Chris Jericho is so great on the mic. I loved his fairly brief promo basking in the glory of being the new World Champion and focusing on how he is going to WrestleMania. Jericho has been too good the last few years to not get a chance to headline another WrestleMania (it remains to be seen, but I suspect that if either of the big Title matches actually ends the show instead of Undertaker vs. Michaels, that Cena vs. Batista is more likely than Jericho vs. Edge, meaning that this might end up being third to last on the card). Edge's "surprise" appearance and spear on Jericho was fun. It seemed a bit short at the time, but that was just because John Cena was about to come out during the opening segment too. With Jericho, Edge, Cena, and Vince McMahon all in the opening segment, and with the announced Cena vs. Batista main event, I was thinking "is it March 8 already?"

Legacy: I liked the backstage scene with Randy Orton talking to Cody Rhodes. Rhodes continued to do a nice job of putting the blame for everything on Ted DiBiase (just like we've seen the reverse from DiBiase in previous weeks). Orton was quite good in his role of blaming himself for the rift in Legacy and for not doing enough as the group's leader. It was a nice moment as you couldn't really tell if either Rhodes or Orton was being sincere. I wasn't thrilled with how the segment ended as it became clear that Rhodes and DiBiase are working against Orton. It was one of those typical WWE moments where heels admit to something on camera that they don't want a babyface to know. However, it was still a good and intriguing scene on the whole. This all led to their six man tag match against Yoshi Tatsu, Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston. All three acted well during the match. I loved when Orton was in the ring and the other two were in the corner whispering to each other. Orton snapping on Rhodes with the horizontal DDT was great, as was his RKO a few moments later on DiBiase. But, that has to be it. They can't still be a team after that like they've been after their previous problems.

Michaels - Undertaker Video: This was one of WWE's best videos in recent memory. It was very well produced to perfectly encapsulate the storyline progression from Shawn Michaels and Undertaker's historic match at WrestleMania 25, through Michaels' challenge for a rematch, through his attempts to get that rematch, to his walking out on WWE, to his attack on Undertaker at The Elimination Chamber. I loved how some of the footage rolled backwards, rewinding itself as it appeared his dream of getting a rematch was being taken away from him. That was quite cinematic. I look forward to seeing an updated version of this video at WrestleMania right before their match.

Michaels - Undertaker Encounter: Following up on that great video, WWE had a very good verbal encounter between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. I was a bit surprised at first that Undertaker said yes right away. After stretching this angle out so far, and with several weeks left before WrestleMania, I expected them to stretch it out another week or so. But, the stipulation that Undertaker added made his acceptance make sense right away. Undertaker wants to end Michaels' career, just as Michaels wants to end the streak. There was speculation awhile ago that Michaels was going to lose to Undertaker, and take time off. When he came back he would try to get a rematch again, putting his career on the line at next year's Mania. Looks like WWE is going that route this year. I'm curious to see how this plays out. Is Michaels retiring?

MIB Qualifier: This Hit is for the fact that there was a Money in the Bank qualifying match at all, not so much for the match itself. With the recent report that this summer there will be a Money in the Bank PPV, it appeared that there might not be a Money in the Bank match at WrestleMania which was a big disappointment for me. So, I was very happy to see this qualifier. However, I am confused. Will this be the last MIB at WrestleMania? Or, will they do two a year? That would be terrible. I guess time will tell, but at least it is on for his year's Mania.

Cena vs. Batista: Batista's heel turn has turned out to be exactly what he needed. He is so good in the role right now. The writing for him the last few weeks has been outstanding too. I love how he really made Cena wait before finally coming out and finally getting in the ring before their "match." It was very well done, as was his early stalling techniques. I was very glad that the match didn't actually happen. The DQ finish was the right way to go here, and the announcers did a nice job of selling confusion over Batista's motivation which fits in perfectly with his character lately (as there was confusion over his involvement with Bret Hart and Cena a few weeks ago, and how he walked out on his Elimination Chamber qualifier against CM Punk). The beat down that followed was very good too.

RAW MISSES

McMahon's Announcement: I have to give this a Miss for how I felt about it in the moment when it happened. In retrospect, they did not give anything away with the main event. However, when McMahon announced that Cena had to face Batista in order to earn his WWE Title opportunity at WrestleMania I felt it was a mistake. It made no sense to me at the time why they would give away that match for free and then expect us to pay for it a month later. That isn't how it played out which is a good thing. But, at the time it felt like a stupid idea, and I was confused why it wasn't just a #1 contenders match of Cena vs. Sheamus. They later explained that Sheamus (and Triple H) were not there due to injuries. I have no idea if that was a work or not, but either way it was a good idea to keep some wrestlers from the Elimination Chamber match off of Raw as a way of selling the effects of the Chamber.

Maryse vs. Kim: After WWE stretched out the Divas Championship tournament forever, this was how it ended? Instead of on a PPV where Maryse and Gail Kim might have a decent amount of time to have a good match, they were given the typical 3 minutes on Raw. Unfortunately for these Divas, I can't even say that I wish this match had gone longer, as it was not good while it lasted. They did not have any chemistry in the ring together. They seemed to be off and struggling to work together to put on a good match. The ending was strong, but everything else before that was poor. At one point, Kim did a cross body attempt on Maryse who had moved about 30 seconds earlier which Kim should have realized before jumping off the turnbuckle. That was the worst, but not the only bad spot in the match.

Bull Riding: Once again, Raw featured an overly long and pointless segment without any entertainment value. I just didn't enjoy this "bullriding contest" between the Divas. It dragged. It was the same thing over and over again. The guest hosts did a decent job with what they had to work with, but they just were an afterthought. This really didn't do much to help out the credibility of ShowMiz. Big Show has a sense of humor and can do comedy, but that isn't where he should be right now as a character. It just wasn't good.

ShowMiz's Music: I didn't initially comment on this when ShowMiz's new combined music debuted a few weeks ago as I was hoping that WWE would realize how bad it sounds and change it. However, it is still the same. The mix up worked with Show and Jerico's music, but it doesn't work with Show and The Miz's music. It sounds horrible.

Guest Host Concept: To expand on what I started to say in my above Miss for the bullriding segment, I have to say that the guest host concept is wearing thin these days. WWE seems to be aware of it as they are moving the hosts away from controlling that week's show (with a few exceptions), and more towards just special guests who host one particular segment. William Shatner made one match for the following week's show and talked to Vince McMahon and introduced Bret Hart. Jerry Springer made no matches, hosted one segment and appeared in a brief backstage scene. Jewell and her husband hosted one segment, made one match, and appeared in one brief backstage scene. With ECW wrestlers signing with Raw, it begs the question as to who they are negotiating with? I'm not the first to ask this question, but I doubt WWE has put much thought into the answer. How can Vickie Guerrero change a Raw PPV match into an interbrand tag match? Who is running the show? I can only assume that Cheech & Chong are not going to be next week's authority figures. Either dump the concept, or put more thought into choosing hosts and making them actually in charge of each show as it was early on when the concept started. And at least address who is in charge of signing wrestlers to the brand.

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.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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