By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Anonymous GM: I am intrigued by the possibilities of this new anonymous general manager. For one thing, it is something different. For another, this hopefully points to a reduced role for the GM which is a good thing. We don't need a GM to take up a lot of tv time on Raw. I hope that most of the GM's decisions will come setting up Raw and that we will only get one or two announcements from him a week. It also sets up a mystery as to the identity of this new GM. Who could it be? Speculation can be fun. I was disappointed that Bret Hart was fired. He did a solid job, but wasn't around very long. I would have liked to see him around longer than he was. Also, the ping from the computer was really silly. They need to rethink that aspect. The rest of the opening segment was just okay.

Bourne vs. Jericho: The summer months seem to do Chris Jericho good. It was about this time two years ago when his epic feud against Shawn Michaels was starting to go strong. It was summer of last year when he had a very good feud (with several good to great matches) against Rey Mysterio on Smackdown over the Intercontinental Championship. Now as summer is here again, he finds himself in this feud with the up and coming star Evan Bourne. I still believe something more could have been made of their match last week. It clearly set up the PPV rematch and this third match of the series, but last week felt like filler. They could have made it seem like a bigger deal last week while still setting up the rematches. That being said, I'm glad we got another rematch on Raw as this was easily the best match of the night. These two really work well together. They have a ton of chemistry in the ring. There were too many good moments to single any out, but I can say that I enjoyed the match from start to finish. Jericho got the needed win. The pie-face afterwards worked well too.

DiBiase & Maryse: I was not happy to see Ted DiBiase follow in his father's footsteps when he hired Virgil a few weeks back. I am glad to see WWE going in a different direction at this point with DiBiase firing Virgil and aligning himself with Maryse instead. He needed something different for his gimmick and WWE seemed to recognize that fact. Time will tell if Maryse is the answer, but at least it is an attempt to go in a different direction.

The Miz: I have recently talked about the fact that if The Miz is ever to be taken seriously as a main event caliber wrestlers, he needs to stop talking about being entertaining, and start talking about beating people up and winning the WWE Title. That is what he did here when he interrupted Randy Orton. He was entertaining, but (unlike on NXT two weeks ago) he wasn't talking about how he is entertaining. He didn't say he deserves a Title shot because he is more charismatic than Orton. He said Orton had his chances, and now it is his turn. He then attacked Orton. He didn't just give some clever one-liners. He attacked Orton. It didn't work out for him in the end, but it appeared to be the start of a high-profile feud, and that was good. I wasn't happy about Edge's appearance at the end of the segment. That pointed to the fact that WWE is going to keep the Edge vs. Orton feud going, but what about Miz? Perhaps they were just planting the seeds for a possible future feud between Miz and Orton. Or, perhaps they were planting the seeds for Miz to be a top Money in the Bank contender. Or, perhaps he will continue to feud with Orton at the same time as Edge. Time will tell.

NXT Rebels: I have a ton of mixed feelings about how this angle has proceeded to week #3. Their apology was ok. It gave them each a chance to get a little mic work, and Michael Cole was able to introduce each by name to the Raw viewers who might not have followed them on NXT. It was interesting to hear them try to be babyfaces and explain themselves. I was confused at the end. Vince McMahon took some credit for the group, but didn't explain what that meant. Was he helping them gain entrance to the arenas? If so, why? Was this just part of a plot to fire Bret Hart? If so, why hire him in the first place? Why would he leave himself open to a law suit from say the time keeper, or Justin Roberts by helping the rookies attack Raw? McMahon's endorsement of the group didn't make much sense and wasn't good. But, if I can accept that part of the angle, I liked how the show ended with the group turning on McMahon and beating the crap out of him. It showed that nobody is safe from them. It also backed up what they have said that they are angry at WWE management, and McMahon is the head of WWE management. It also leaves open some questions to be answered going forward about the identity of the new anonymous GM and why he would hire the NXTers. I'm curious to see what the ramifications of their actions this week will be. So, this is a marginal Hit.

No Guest Host: I will keep this short and sweet. Did you miss a guest host on Raw this week? Neither did I.

RAW MISSES

Starship Pain: I said last week that John Morrison needed to work on his aim for Starship Pain. He must not have read my Hits & Misses. I have never been a big fan of his finisher as it often looks like he barely hits the move on his opponent. That was the case last week when he almost over shot his opponent entirely (while he didn't get the win, the move was what finished off R-Truth for The Miz to get the win). This week, he landed on Zack Ryder's legs. If he had been working on the leg the entire match, that would have been one thing. But, taking a move like that to your legs shouldn't be enough to finish you off. Slips happen. Sometimes a move is poorly executed. But, this is a move that lends itself to poor execution. It reminds me of when Billy Kidman did the Shooting Star Press. It might look good while he's in the air, but he often landed it poorly (unlike Evan Bourne).

Khali & Eve vs. Primo & Fox: Last week in my Superstars Hits & Misses, I complained about The Great Khali getting involved in what could have been the start of a feud between Primo Colon and Yoshi Tatsu. I would have much rather seen Tatsu as Eve Torres' partner in this match against Primo & Alicia Fox. I just groan when Khali appears on my tv. I want to change the channel. The match worked ok to follow up on Fox becoming the new Divas Champion at the PPV and Torres wanting revenge, but in the end the focus was on Khali and his stupid dancing. A feud between Tatsu and Primo could bring some much-needed energy into the lower card on Raw. Khali does not bring energy to anything.

Sheamus vs. Cena: I didn't enjoy this match before the NXT rebels interrupted. I will say that it did pick up nicely towards the end and I liked how vicious Sheamus got with his use of the steps, and how he sold frustration over not being able to put Cena away. But, the first 10 minutes or so of the match didn't click for me. It was pretty slow and methodical. There just seemed to be something off between Sheamus and Cena, so that I never really bought into the action in the match. A large part of the problem was that WWE conditioned the fans to know that something funny was going to happen in the match, otherwise Vince McMahon would not have been the special enforcer referee. NXT's involvement was pretty predictable. So, the match felt inconsequential as you waited for McMahon's role to be established or for the NXT Rebels to show up. A WWE Title match shouldn't feel inconsequential like this. The bookers didn't help, but Cena and Sheamus didn't help much either in not putting on a very good match.

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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