By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Michaels - Triple H: I didn't love Raw while I was watching it live, so it surprised me when I listed my Hits & Misses and found five Hits, but only two Misses. But the fact of the matter is that those two Misses are pretty big complaints about the show (one of which revolves around four different segments), while some of my Hits are only marginal. This is the case with my first Hit for the start of the show and the verbal encounter between Shawn Michaels and Triple H. I liked a lot of it. I liked how it started with Michaels' promo talking about how none of his peers believe he can end Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania. I like that Triple H came out to answer Michaels' call. My problem with the scene is that it seemed forced with Triple H's huge praise of Michaels. It did a nice job of setting up the main event for the show. But, after all Michaels has been through the past month or so, I didn't buy into him being excited at the end for the Tag Title shot. It wasn't believable to me.

Orton vs. DiBiase: This is another marginal Hit. I enjoyed the match between Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase. I see DiBiase as a star on the rise and I hope that his inclusion in the Elimination Chamber and this feud with Orton will help to elevate him. He showed his promise once again in delivering well in this match. Orton is basically doing exactly what he used to do as a heel, but now he is being positioned as a babyface. I'm not sure if last week's snap on Legacy counts as a face turn or not. I'm also not sure about having the babyface veteran Orton easily handle the heel tag team. It doesn't seem like a good idea to me. There has been speculation for a Legacy triple threat match at WrestleMania, but at this point that seems unlikely considering that Rhodes & DiBiase are on the same page. There is still time to set up something though. A tag match seems like a possibility, but Orton doesn't appear to need a partner at this point (and who would he get? I can only think of his previous nemesis Kofi Kingston which wouldn't make any sense, and I have to assume Kingston will be in Money in the Bank). With the rest of Mania's card taking shape, I am fine with WWE dragging this out for a few weeks before we know what is going to happen. That being said, Orton should not be able to handle Rhodes & DiBiase like he did, which is what is keeping this as just a marginal Hit.

Cena - Batista: This was the segment of the night. I don't know if Batista vs. John Cena will be a good match or not. I suspect it will be good, but not great. However, I also suspect that if the build continues to be this good, it will at least feel like an epic encounter. Both Cena and Batista were great on the mic. This was probably Batista's best mic work ever. I loved it when he said that he is in this business to make money and win titles. He did a great job of setting up the parallels in their careers as they started around the same time, won Titles at WrestleMania 21, and have gone on to become the biggest stars of this era. That type of talk is what is going to make this feel like an epic match. I also loved how he interrupted Cena towards the end just when you thought Cena was going to get the last word. Cena was left speechless which doesn't happen often.

McMahon - Hart: This is another one of those marginal Hits. I liked how Vince McMahon came out first to introduce Bret Hart. He had some good lines, like when he said that if he is going to be a liar, he might as well be a world class liar. McMahon was good in taunting Hart, trying to get him to accept a match at WrestleMania despite the broken leg. Hart was just ok here. He wasn't as good as he's been since returning (not that his mic work has ever been that strong, but it has been better than this). I did like the "Cool Hand Luke" inspired shots of McMahon reflected in Hart's sunglasses. I'm not thrilled with the match itself. It makes sense from a marketing stand point, but not from a quality stand point. A month ago or so, there was speculation about it being a tag match which would be better. Someone (I think it was Wade Keller, but I can't recall for sure) suggested that Batista vs. Cena (before Batista became WWE Champion) would have the stipulation that if Cena won, Hart would get 5 minutes in the ring with McMahon, but if Batista won, Hart would leave WWE forever or have to join the Kiss My Ass Club. I like those ideas better than a one-on-one match. I also wasn't thrilled with the end of the scene as McMahon announced that next week he will be wrestling Cena.

End of Raw: Again, a marginal Hit. I was relieved that there wasn't a turn for DX (I was fearing Michaels would Superkick Triple H). The match itself was too short, but good while it lasted. Michaels seemed rejuvenated for the first time in a few weeks until Undertaker showed up on screen. I am fine with Taker costing them the match, but just showing up on the Titan Tron was cheesy. Despite a criticism against Taker from Smackdown a few weeks ago, I believe one of his trademark moments with the lights going out would have been better here. But, it was fine. I think having Sheamus cost DX the match would have been better, but again it was fine. If he had cost them the match, they could have waited a week for a beat down and stretched things out. This seemed rushed, but it accomplished what it needed to accomplish. I do find it funny that after hardly being in the final Raw segment as the WWE Champion, Sheamus gets to end the show without the Title since he is working a program against Triple H.

RAW MISSES

Tripping On Lucky Charms: This is a major complaint about Raw. Regular readers of my Hits & Misses know that I hate these types of segments. I hate it when WWE takes the viewer out of reality with things like POV shots, or when we hear what is going on inside a wrestler's mind, etc. Here we had three backstage scenes involving the guest hosts, Cheech & Chong where Chong at first, then Cheech were tripping on Lucky Charms. They had to do a joke like this, and it was slightly amusing when it was revealed that Tommy Chong is diabetic and can have funny reactions to eating too much sugar. However, the music and the twisting camera and the hallucinations that we saw/heard were ridiculous. It was bad enough to have a scene like this early in the show, but they continued. I will give the Divas credit for actually doing wrestling moves in their Pajama Pillow Fight, but that was a stupid scene too with Jerry Lawler trying to trip off of the cereal. That doesn't seem to send a great message to the kids watching. I didn't like anything that the hosts were involved in. It makes me happy that the concept appears to be coming to an end in two weeks with Stone Cold Steve Austin (especially since I will be going to Raw the next week and don't need to see crap like this on the final Raw before WrestleMania).

Two MIB Squashes: Obviously, Jack Swagger should be in Money in the Bank ahead of Santino Marella. I am perfectly fine with him getting the win, and to make him look strong for a change, I am actually perfectly fine with him getting a squash win in their qualifying match. What I am not ok with is Zack Ryder being squashed by Montel Vontavious Porter in under a minute. I am a fan of MVP and at this point, it makes more sense to put him into MIB than Ryder. But, did MVP need to dominate the match the same way that Swagger needed to? My answer would be "no." Ryder is new to Raw and has a lot of talent. He should have had a better showing here so that the announcers (who did not have a great night by the way, and Lawler should know that Marella's move is the Cobra, not the Scorpion) can have something more to say about him than just talking about his pants. On a show with very very very little actual wrestling, giving away a nice 5 or 6 minute match that helped to further introduce Ryder to Raw fans who didn't watch ECW would have been a good idea.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, 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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