By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: Raw got off to a good start with CM Punk's opening promo. I liked his line about how it is hard to referee a match with two broken arms which was a good threat to John Laurinaitis. I still don't like the fact that the focus is on Punk and the special referee for his WWE Title match at The Royal Rumble, as opposed to Punk's opponent Dolph Ziggler. However, the promo was strong. I was not expecting to see John Cena out there. I like the fact that despite both being babyfaces at this point, they still don't like each other. The fact that each took a dig at each other was a nice touch. I think this was Laurinaitis' best delivery as the interim general manager. He did a very good job here in acting like he regretted what he did last week, only to say that he didn't. It was a good way to set up Kane vs. Zack Ryder for later in the show and kick off Raw with a strong tag match with Cena and Punk teaming up to take on Ziggler and Jack Swagger. The match itself was solid and led to Punk challenging Laurinaitis to a match later in the show.

Highlight Reel: Another good week for Chris Jericho. I liked that the announcers talked early on about Jericho's behavior since returning to WWE. They were hopeful to get an explanation as were many fans I assume. Jericho added another layer to his "playing to the crowd" persona when he left the ring and went and got a t-shirt gun. That was laugh out loud funny to me. I loved that the fans who were starting to boo Jericho due to their impatience when he kept stalling before talking started cheering to get a t-shirt. I have to assume that was the exact reaction Jericho wanted to get. I also like the fact that he never shot a t-shirt. The brief incredibly fast paced montage of his career was also very well done. Then he spoke. I was a bit surprised to hear him speak. But, it makes sense as a way to hype the PPV. Jericho gave a simple one line promo that should help sell the PPV to see what he is going to do that will be the end of the world as we know it.

Closing Segment: I didn't love the ending to Raw, but liked it enough to give it a Hit. This is one bait-and-switch that I won't complain about as I had zero interest in seeing Laurinaitis wrestle. Plus, all the fans really wanted to see was him get a GTS from Punk which he did, so nobody should be complaining that the advertised main event didn't happen. The fax from the board of directors was interesting. It was a nice hook for next week's Raw beyond just tuning in to see who won the Rumble. It gave fans some hope that Laurinaitis will actually be a fair referee in the WWE title match (by the way, any chance that Laurinaitis gets knocked out during the match and Mick Foley in a striped shirt comes out and takes over?). Punk stumbled over a few of his lines, but Laurinaitis continued his good night with his apologies to everyone. I like how he was trying to act like he would be fair to Punk while at the same time setting up Punk for the blind side from David Otunga. I also liked how Dolph Ziggler stood tall in the end to finally put a little bit of emphasis on him going into the PPV.

RAW MISSES

Ryder's Broken Back: This all just seemed too over the top to me. I didn't enjoy the falls count anywhere match between Kane and Ryder. It wasn't bad, but went on too long for what was really a glorified squash. The gimmick with the chokeslam through the stage was a pretty good visual (much better than when Kane chokeslammed Ryder off the loading dock and you could see Ryder's head bounding up off the padding). However, the show just got very heavy handed at that point. I didn't like Eve blaming Cena for what happened when it is clearly Laurinaitis' fault. Cena did not do a very good job acting either at the scene of the crime or at the ambulance afterwards. I got an uneasy feeling as the announcers said that Ryder has a broken back. It felt like the announcements that have been made over a wrestler's death. A broken back is obviously a severe injury that can come with paralysis so I understand that if this were real that it would be a very serious situation. But, it still felt awkward to me. Also, a broken back in reality would require (even without paralysis) months of rehab before being able to wrestle again, so I am concerned that either Ryder won't be on for several months (and I would miss him being a fan) or that he will be back in like 6 weeks which wouldn't make any medical sense to me. I get that this was supposed to hint that Cena might embrace his hate more, but I just didn't like how they did it.

Sheamus vs. Mahal: And the feud that just won't end kept going with yet another match between Sheamus and Jinder Mahal. After all the ass kickings that Sheamus has delivered to Mahal, I don't get why Mahal keeps wanting matches with him. I guess I can admire his guts, but he is an idiot. I just don't need to see Sheamus squash Mahal every week on my tv. Wade Barrett was good on guest commentary for the match and it was nice to hear him and Sheamus afterwards talk about how they are going to win the Rumble (something not enough wrestlers have done). But, I still didn't need to see this match. A face off in the ring would have served the purpose better (yes, I am advocating for less wrestling and more talking in this instance). One thing that really annoyed me was when Barrett was walking away from the announce table and Michael Cole said a perfectly reasonable thing that Barrett was his pick to win the Rumble and Jerry Lawler said "what?" as if Cole had said the stupidest thing in the world. Barrett has been built up enough that someone picking him to win should not have registered that type of disbelief from Lawler. It isn't like Cole picked Heath Slater.

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