By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Hart - Jericho: This was a much better Raw than last week's show. But, with so much content there was plenty of bad to go along with the good. It did start off on a pretty good foot with the verbal encounter between Bret Hart and Chris Jericho. It wasn't great, but it was good enough to be a Hit. It was nice to see Hart back in a WWE ring in Canada. I liked how he talked about not wanting to be another aging wrestler who hangs on too long. Then, Jericho came out and was his usual good self on the mic, calling the fans names and Hart a hypocrite. I liked how Hart brought up his past with Jericho going back to Jericho training in the Dungeon many years ago. I wasn't thrilled with the fact that Hart ultimately agreed to the match and could see pretty much everything playing out how it would end up playing out once the no DQ stipulation was announced. So I had a few problems with it, but over all it was a good start to the show.

Commercial Parodies: I wasn't a fan of all of the commercial parodies during Raw. The first one with The Great Khali and Hornswoggle was stupid. But, the others were pretty good especially the R-Truth video parody of the Mastercard priceless commercials, and the Santino Dos Equis parody. They made me laugh and were an interesting way to fill in some time with commercial parodies instead of actual commercials.

Edge vs. Christian: This was a good match. It's unfortunate that Christian will likely never be on a level high enough in WWE to have a meaningful feud with Edge leading to a big PPV match (at least a semi-main event). I accept that fact, so I don't mind seeing this match under these circumstances as I doubt WWE would be saving this match for a bigger use in the future. It was a really good match. It was the best match of the night. It went 12 minutes and it was a breath of fresh air to see a match go this long on Raw period, let alone commercial free like this. This was over twice as long as the longest match on Raw last week. And the quality wasn't just because of the length. It featured very good wrestling action. They played into the fact that they know each other so well with many counters of their signature spots. They ended up sometimes hitting those moves later in the match in slightly different ways that they usually do, which kept the match feeling fresh. It was a very good effort by both Edge and Christian.

Orton vs. Swagger: This was the beginning of what could be a very good match between Randy Orton and Jack Swagger. It lasted 7 minutes (again, longer than any Raw match last week) and was quite good while it lasted. I would have liked to see more of it, but I understand under the circumstances why it didn't go longer. I like that Swagger didn't get pinned by Orton to keep him strong going into his PPV Title match against Big Show on Sunday. The Edge interference made sense given the storyline and kept the match from having a clean finish which was the right way to go in this case.

Sheamus vs. Cena: This was another good start to what could be a good match if given more time. Sheamus and John Cena were given 9 minutes (again, very long for Raw lately) to put on a good match and they delivered. It was hard hitting and intense. This was a good tease for what these two can do if they end up feuding with each other after the PPV, which is where they appear to be heading. Like the previous match, the interference from Batista made sense. However, doing the same finish twice in the show was not a great idea.

Batista Makes Another Statement: Batista actually made two strong statements during this week's show. Like last week, he destroyed Mark Henry before their match even started. This week's beat down was done in a different manner than last week, with Batista doing a classic heel tactic of attacking Henry from behind. It was well done. I loved how he called for the spot light in the ring afterwards. Then, he got to stand tall at the end of the show after destroying Cena. I really hope he isn't leaving WWE after this Sunday. He is doing the best work of his career right now, and he just introduced this really painful looking submission hold which looks so much better than Cena's stupid STF.

RAW MISSES

Undertaker: Undertaker has now been on WWE tv twice since WrestleMania, both times on Raw and not Smackdown where he belongs. Neither appearance was advertised in advance. This one was a total waste of Undertaker. Why have him on and not announce it ahead of time? If his appearances are going to be so few and far between, they need to mean more than this when they occur. This meant nothing. He got to chokeslam Edge, Randy Orton got a good laugh out of it, and Christian got a little revenge for losing their match by throwing Edge into the ring to get chokeslammed. But, it was still a waste of the Undertaker.

Virgil: My problem is that I'm not thrilled with Ted DiBiase's character mimicking his father. I mentioned it before when he got his Million Dollar Championship belt and when he started looking for his own Virgil. Now the original Virgil shows up and it is more of the same. I'm all for Virgil getting some pay days, but this keeps DiBiase in the shadow of his father. He has a bright future, but I don't see him going anywhere until he forges his own identity. That isn't to say that there won't be entertaining moments along the way. I don't want to see him have his own Virgil, but if he has to have one, I like the idea floated last week that Michael Tarver could fit the bill. That possibility has potential. But, even if there are good moments for his character, how far can he really go? Maybe as far as he can go with the rest of the heel lineup stacked on Raw at the moment, but I don't see a future in this character. Do something new and original.

Hart Wins US Title: Bret Hart got to have a feel good moment in Canada which is a good thing. But, I have to believe he could have had a feel good moment that didn't involve him winning the United States Championship. This made a mockery out of what Hart said in the opening segment about not wanting to be remembered as a guy who stuck around too long. I am assuming he will now retire and forfeit the US Title (we can only hope). This "match" was a mess of outside interference. Obviously, it had to be. However, if you make a match where you have to over book it like this to make it passable, maybe you shouldn't have made it in the first place. Bret shouldn't be wrestling any more and hopefully this is it for him. Will there be a US Title tournament in our future? Wasn't there just an Intercontinental Title tournament on Smackdown that ended up a big disappointment? This is great planning by WWE.

Buzz Aldrin: Buzz Aldrin was ok in his first scene with Vickie Guerrero, although he had trouble coming out with "WWE" when talking about Vickie resigning last week. I was glad to see that the resignation is sticking and that WWE will be announcing a new Raw GM next week. Aldrin was terrible in his second scene. It was laughable when Michael Cole said he was doing a great job as the guest host. Aldrin seemed to be rambling about the space program, the president, and Canada. It was awkward to sit through. I can only imagine what it was like for the Canadian fans live. He looked really out of place. I am trying to think of another guest host who was more out of place than he was and I can't come up with one. He took forever to announce Zack Ryder & Alicia Fox's opponents, but at least give him credit for getting their names right in the end.

Brand Split: I know I gave some matches with Smackdown stars Hits, but those were for the fact that those wrestlers gave good performances in those matches. WWE did a very good job of keeping the brands separate after the draft in 2009. There was very little brand mingling from that point until early this year with The Royal Rumble and the road to WrestleMania. I don't mind the lack of a brand split for those few months, but after the draft, the brands need to be kept distinct and they haven't been. This was really bad. Christian, Undertaker, Layla, Michelle McCool, and Jack Swagger all had matches on Raw. That is five Smackdown wrestlers out of place. They sort of explained the appearances by three of them, but they didn't even try to explain what LayCool was doing there. It is common for 3 hour Raws to feature Smackdown wrestlers, but this wasn't one of those. WWE made a concerted effort to enforce the brand split 12 months ago. They aren't even trying to make an effort right now.

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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