By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

Thanks to James Caldwell for filling in for me last week while I was on vacation.

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: The post-Night of Champions Raw got off to a pretty good start with the in ring verbal confrontation between the new WWE Champion Randy Orton, and the former Champion Sheamus. The mic work from both was strong. With Hell in a Cell only two weeks away, WWE has backed themselves into a corner where they had to start the hype right away. This did feel a bit rushed, but given the circumstances they did a good job. I particularly loved the line about Orton RKOing his own grandmother and Sheamus' too in order to keep the WWE Title. I like that he hasn't changed that much as a babyface. He admitted to not being an honorable person. The physicality at the end worked well too, however Orton has been so strong lately, that next week they have to do something to make him look vulnerable going into the next PPV.

Edge - Ryder: I have enjoyed these locker room scenes the last few weeks between Edge and Zack Ryder. They have been entertaining and have allowed for Ryder to get some face time with a big star (he has a lot of untapped talent) which hopefully will point to more of a role in the future. It also gives Edge someone to work with in terms of getting mic time without having to be interviewed by Josh Mathews. This week's scene with Daniel Bryan was amusing and was a nice set up for Brayn vs. Edge.

Jericho vs. Morrison: This is another very good match between Chris Jericho and John Morrison. I would have liked a better explanation as to why Jericho didn't quit after the PPV loss (more later), but I'm glad he was on Raw this week to have this good match. This is the third straight good week for Morrison after languishing on Raw for most of the year. He and Jericho had a good match two weeks ago, followed by his good falls count anywhere match against Sheamus last week, followed by another good match against Jericho this week. He is once again starting to look like a major star on the rise as he was on Smackdown throughout much of 2009. Hopefully he will keep it up and continue to give performances like this.

Miz - Bryan: WWE continues to do a really nice job with this feud. The fans have gotten behind Bryan and The Miz continues to get great heat. His promo before Bryan vs. Edge was a solid heel promo blaming an injury for the loss and refusing to admit to actually tapping out. Miz did well on guest commentary during the match. The match itself was too short to amount to much, but under these circumstances it made sense. It was really just a set up for further frustration on the part of Edge towards the anonymous General Manager and the post-match beat down of Alex Riley and The Miz on Daniel Bryan. That all worked well. The beat down was very memorable and will make the fans want to see Bryan get his revenge.

RAW MISSES

Hell in a Cell in Two Weeks: This Miss isn't really for Raw, but for WWE's scheduling a PPV two weeks after the last. This spring and summer were better than last year in terms of the spacing of the PPVs, but unfortunately WWE still has work to do in this area when they have this quick a turn around to hype Hell in a Cell. It makes no sense at all.

Tag Title Situation: I wasn't a fan of anything to do with the Tag Team Championships this week. In fact, it goes back to last week's Smackdown with Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes beating The Hart Dynasty in a non-Title match, then the Tag Team Turmoil bs at the PPV, and McIntyre & Rhodes becoming the new Tag Champs. I have mentioned in the past that Smackdown's mid card is too heel heavy, so I suppose taking two of those heels out of singles competition (where they have no real competition at the moment) and making them a tag team makes some sense. But, I'm still not a big fan of it, when they could actually do something with one of the two real tag teams on Smackdown instead (both of whom have good potential). Now that brings us to Raw and this Miss. The Hart Dynasty were pretty bad on guest commentary. Michael Cole was telling the truth when he said they were boring. Trying to not be boring by doing a McIntyre imitation didn't work. They did a poor job. The match itself of McIntyre & Rhodes vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov was also boring. Tyson Kidd's announcement that they have a Title rematch next week failed to get me excited at this point.

Explanation for Jericho Still on Raw: That's not the most poetic Miss title I've ever come up with, but it will do. Chris Jericho vowed to quit WWE if he failed to become the new WWE Champion at Night of Champions. He failed to do so, but he didn't quit. I'm fine with that. It wasn't like an official match stipulation. But, if you are going to have him back out of it, he has to address the situation. Just having the announcers say that Jericho claimed to never make that vow wasn't enough. This is a clear case where Jericho needed mic time to explain why he is still on Raw. I like where they are going with Jericho's frustration and confusion over his losing, and his quest to reveal the identity of the Raw GM. I'm also curious to know what the long term future is for Jericho. There is a lot of intrigue here which is why it is so disappointing that they skipped a step in the storyline.

Women's Title Situation: If WWE can't give a Women's Championship PPV rematch more than 2 minutes, then I'm not going to spend more time writing this sentence.

Cena vs. Nexus: This feud has just slowly fizzled recently as Nexus is no longer presented as much of a threat to John Cena, aka Superman. Sure, Nexus cost Cena the chance to become the WWE Champion at the PPV, but Wade Barrett lost too. I groaned when I saw that Cena would face Barrett in the main event as that should be saved for a PPV. As it turns out, that is what WWE is doing, which is good, but I wasn't a fan of how they got there. What gives Barrett the right to force Cena to run the gauntlet? Where was the GM's email to put a stop to it? I did like how Barrett loomed over each section of the gauntlet by standing on the announce table the entire time. That was a great visual. However, this just further castrated the non- Barrett members of Nexus who fell pretty quickly to Cena one after another. I can see why Barrett wants Cena in the group considering how week the other members looked. Speaking of that, I have talked in the past about not liking these types of stipulations where a wrestler can lose a match and be forced to join a faction. We just saw it fairly recently with Rey Mysterio possibly having to join the Straight Edge Society. Doing the same gimmick twice in one year is lame. Plus, it is a lame gimmick to begin with. If Cena joins Nexus, will he have to follow every order from Barrett? If he refuses to do so, what will the consequences be? So far, when Nexus has been unhappy with an individual member, they have kicked him out, so that doesn't seem like it would be a punishment for someone who didn't want to be there in the first place. Also, I'm curious as to whether or not there are membership dues. Anyway, I haven't been a fan of this feud lately, and Raw reinforced my misgivings about it.

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.

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

We suggest these recent related articles...

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt

9/7 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Paige vs. Banks, Rollins vs. Ryback, Orton vs. Sheamus, Cena & PTPs vs. Rollins & New Day

8/24 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Opening Segment, New Day, Dudleys return, Stewart, Sting