By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: This is a marginal Hit. I liked the cold opening as it was different and a nice way to catch the audience's attention right at the start of the show. However, the announcers need to do a better job in a short amount of time of catching up the viewers on to exactly what transpired before the show to lead to that cold opening. The action between Edge and Evan Bourne was good while it lasted. It was nice to see Bourne getting some offense in against Edge. Edge's promo was solid. Randy Orton's appearance was good, but I cringed at the RKO. He is hurt. I'm sure he won't do anything he can't do without doing more damage to his arm, but it made me worry a bit when he did it, which took away some of the enjoyment of the show. On the whole, it was a good start to Raw.

Hart - McMahon: Not that I was hoping to see vince McMahon return to Raw, but I have to admit to enjoying this interchange. It was good to hear McMahon address the big question from last week, which is "why would McMahon hire Bret Hart as the Raw GM?" He didn't answer that question, and he didn't need to. He raised it which is the important thing so that we don't think WWE is ignoring such a huge question. I like the fact that he teased a few possible reasons for hiring Hart. I like that they brought up their WrestleMania match, but didn't dwell on it. The ending was particularly strong with McMahon telling Hart that he hopes his time as GM has a happy ending.

Bryan vs. The Miz: I have mixed feelings about how this match came about and how quickly WWE gave it away for free with little advanced hype. But, there is something to be said for jump starting the program which has played out on a very lowly rated NXT by having this match on the highly rated (at least in comparison at this point) Raw. This isn't over. Daniel Bryan got the nice surprise win over The Miz. The match was short, but good while it lasted, a bit of a tease for what they could potentially do in a longer match on a bigger stage. It was good to see this feud transition to Raw. Plus, the end with Bryan throwing Miz into Michael Cole was awesome (just like the Miz).

The Usos: I was impressed with the mic work from Jimmy and Jules Uso, plus Tamina. They handled themselves on the mic very well given the fact that they were asked to talk for a pretty lengthy amount of time and they were introducing themselves to the WWE Universe. I shouldn't have to be, but I am thrilled with the fact that they aren't playing typical WWE Samoans. I found it amusing that they even called attention to that fact with their statement that they have a fashion sense and got college scholarships. The physicality between them and The Hart Dynasty was also well done. I'm not sure which Uso it was who slipped on the ropes last week, but one of them looked a bit off balance this week and seemed to jump early so he didn't slip on the simultaneous triple splash. I hope he (or they) gets it together, because that could be a very impressive move.

Cena & Bourne vs. Edge & Sheamus: This was a good tag team main event. It had good wrestling action and went a decent amount of time at 11 minutes. There was a lot of energy in this match as Bourne helped to elevate the level of athleticism from what we often see in Raw main events. The format of the match was predictable with Bourne getting beat down leading to the hot tag to John Cena, but that was fine as it worked well. I particularly liked how Bourne played an important part in the end of the match, kicking Sheamus in the corner, setting up Cena to hit him with the Attitude Adjuster, setting up Bourne to hit the Air Bourne for the win. As good as the match was, the real story here was the elevation of Evan Bourne.

Bourne: Speaking of the elevation of Evan Bourne, I am a bit skeptical that WWE is actually going to continue with any type of push for Bourne beyond this week. I hope that this was a sign that WWE is getting behind building a new star. They put Bourne in the opening segment, and in the main event teaming with WWE Champion John Cena. He got to rub shoulders with Cena, Edge and Sheamus. He looked like he belonged in the ring with established main eventers of that caliber. I'm not expecting him to be a top level guy, but he certainly could be. The fans in attendance seemed to accept him in that spot light. WWE needs to create new stars and hopefully this was the first step in doing so with Bourne.

RAW MISSES

Ashton Kutcher: Really, Kutcher was fine in his performance, but the guest host role has to go away. This was bad as it was clear that Kutcher wasn't even in the building. Why was the camera quality so different? I didn't care to hear him complain about what wrestlers have tweeted about him. I don't want to see feuds start on Twitter. I wasn't a fan of the scene where he started to cuss but Eve Torres had to stop him to remind him that they are PG. It is bad enough that they are PG in the first place, but reminding the audience about it is a mistake. It is too insider for my tastes and you are reminding adult viewers that you can't even say "ass" on the air. I will say that Kutcher suggesting the Viewer's Choice for next week to Bret Hart (more later) was the type of interaction that can work between a guest host and the general manager. But, the hosts aren't necessary. The entire angle with Kutcher putting a hit out on Zack Ryder was so bad I should really give it a Miss. I'm not, because I was happy to see Ryder getting so much air time on Raw. But, the scene where the identity of the hit person was revealed to be Alicia Fox after strange teases from Jerry Lawler, The Great Khali and Goldust was terrible.

Marella - Kozlov: Santino Marella is usually comedy gold. This week his promo once again trying to convince Vladimir Kozlov to join him wasn't good. I don't want to see the two of them as a team, so I was happy a few week ago on Superstars when the idea seemed to be put to bed. I wasn't happy this week when it was back. Marella was very funny in his early "offense" on William Regal, but that wasn't enough to save this. And what exactly was up with Maryse leaving with Kozlov after he attacked Regal? I was confused.

Next Week's Raw: I am not a fan of the 3 hour Raws. There have been some exceptions to the following rule, but usually there is a good hour of content that could easily be edited out of these shows. I don't like the idea that Bret Hart and Teddy Long would just get together to have a special show with stars from both brands. It was a very flimsy excuse to have a 3 hour Raw. I don't want to see an ongoing feud between the brands, but some tension would be good. At the very least, they shouldn't be working together like this. Hart's announcement that he was going to take suggestions for the show from fans and wrestlers in the back was odd. I'm also not thrilled with the Viewer's Choice format. There is potential to be sure, but WWE's track record with these things (see Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday for all the evidence you need) isn't very good as the choices are usually really lame. I hope I am wrong, but I am not looking forward to the show at this point.

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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