By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Jericho vs. Kingston: While I didn't like the Elimination Chamber debate as a whole (more later), I did like the fact that Kofi Kingston made a case for being over looked as a possible winner. That, along with a strong showing in his opening match against Chris Jericho at least positions him as more of a threat to win the match than he was last week, so that is positive. The match was too short to really amount to much at under 6 minutes. However, I enjoyed it enough while it lasted to want to see more and to give it a Hit. Kingston looked strong despite taking the slightly cheap loss after a thumb to the eye by Jericho. The two work well together in the ring and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a longer match between the two in the future.

Orton vs. Big Show: At under 8 minutes and with a commercial interruption, we didn't get to see a lot of this match between Randy Orton and The Big Show. However, there were some really good moments during this match, that despite a botched ending, I can give it a minor Hit. This is the type of match that I like to see with Big Show. Orton is very credible as an opponent, so you believe he would be able to hang with such a bigger opponent. His offense looked like it would actually hurt Show which isn't always the case. This is a case where a simple drop kick, knocking Show off his feet was a huge spot. I also liked the involvement of Daniel Bryan watching at ring side. It didn't distract from the match as it could have as you expected him to get involved at some point. Instead, I was looking forward to seeing what he would do. That spiked DDT was just sick. The botched ending would not have been as bad with better announcing (more later). The actual ending after that was a nice recovery with the RKO and then the run in from Bryan.

Michaels - Triple H: Another minor Hit. There were parts of this verbal encounter between Shawn Michaels and Triple H that were very good. I liked how it set up the idea of the suit Triple H vs. the wrestler (or even the man) Triple H. I liked how Michaels questioned Triple H becoming one of them. Instead of just saying "you became one of them," it would have been stronger if he had said "you became a McMahon." But, it was still a good line. Michaels' voice cracking constantly was annoying, but not too bad. I don't mind Triple H calling him, Michaels and Undertaker the last three of a bygone era. It was interesting to acknowledge that of the three, Undertaker is really the only one left and for business reasons, Triple H wants Undertaker to continue as a brand. What I didn't like was that Triple H should have listed a few other wrestlers who were part of that era, like Steve Austin and Mick Foley for instance to give more weight to the statement that that era is over. I also don't like the fact that Triple H degraded the current era by saying that the previous era left it all in the ring every night, suggesting that the current era doesn't. I'm also still not a fan of the Undertaker videos as I just don't see him making videos at this point. It seems totally out of character for him to work with a camera crew and an editor to make fancy videos to show Triple H. However, there was definitely more good than bad here. In the end, everyone expected Michaels to be the one to get Triple H to accept Undertaker's challenge, but he didn't (at least not yet), which further hooks the audience to want to know who or what will if Michaels couldn't.

Kane - Cena - Eve - Ryder Saga: Another minor Hit. There were parts of this that I liked. The fans seemed to be buying into the storyline as they genuinely felt bad for Zack Ryder. I'm hopeful that part of the end result of this will be a more serious Ryder. I don't want him to go away from his goofy personality totally, but a toned down slightly serious version of the character could work and vault him higher on the card. If he can ever walk again after that sick bump off the ramp. That looked more dangerous than I'm comfortable with on a wrestling show. I'm not a fan of Eve's acting, though there was an audible sigh from the fans when she told Ryder she just wanted to be friends. You got a feel sorry for a guy who tried to score a touchdown, but instead of ending up in the end zone, he ended up in the friend zone. I wasn't a huge fan of Cena's promo. He doesn't need to hate the fans who have booed him for six years, but shouldn't he hate Kane? The jump from the ambulance just in time and kiss Cena routine makes me think that Eve and Kane are working together and that would certainly help to shift Ryder's anger away from Cena and back on to Kane for a possible WrestleMania match if he will be healthy by then.

RAW MISSES

Elimination Chamber Debate: This was not a good way to start off the show. I like the idea of giving the six Raw Elimination Chamber competitors a chance to talk on the final Raw before the PPV, but this was not the way to go. Giving each a staged 45 seconds to talk was silly. The bickering between them wasn't very good. Don't get me wrong. There were some good moments during the debate. There were some good lines. There were also some really bad lines and the attempts at humor (while sometimes funny) got in the way of what the point of the segment should have been. So in the end, I don't think any of them really had the time to make a good claim for themselves as the likely winner of the Chamber.

Laurinaitis - Otunga: I don't want to see John Laurinaitis continue as a regular on Raw. He has grown on me and is doing a better job as a performer than he was when he first started last year. However, I am sick and tired of the heel authority figure. So, I wasn't thrilled to see David Otunga suggest that he has a plan to get Laurinaitis to become the new GM of Smackdown as well as the permanent GM of Raw. I don't want to see storylines involving power struggles. I don't find them entertaining. I don't think there is much money (if any) in them at this point. I don't want to see him on both shows. I don't like where this might be going.

Cole During Orton vs. Show: On the one hand, I like a heel announcer kissing a wrestler's ass when that wrestler is within earshot, only to rip him when he is out of earshot. That is essentially what Michael Cole did while Daniel Bryan was sitting ring side during Orton vs. Show. But, that is what a heel announcer should do to a babyface wrestler, not another heel. That is what a heel color commentator should do, not a play-by-play announcer. This goes to illustrate how messed up the announcing situation is at the moment (and by "moment" I mean for the last year and a half). We don't like Michael Cole. So, we should like the wrestlers that he hates. He hates Bryan, therefor we should like Bryan. But, we are supposed to hate him (since he doesn't eat meat and drives a Prius - BOOOOO!). It doesn't work. Another issue with the announcing during this match was at the end. There was clearly a botched spot when Orton attempted an RKO on Big Show who slipped. It didn't look right and Orton looked upset. It was a bad situation made worse by Cole (and Jerry Lawler too) acting like Orton hit the move on Show. They should have said that Orton was attempting to hit the RKO, but wasn't able to fully execute the move. Use Show's size as the excuse why it was difficult to execute the RKO. They could have and should have covered but they didn't.

Punk vs. Miz: Was it just me, or did this match seem to be going in slow motion? CM Punk and The Miz just didn't seem to click in the ring. For being the main event and the final sell for the Elimination Chamber (the match, not the event), this wasn't long enough to amount to much. Miz didn't get a rub from being able to hang with the WWE Champion in a long competitive match. Plus, he is a former WWE Champion himself who shouldn't need that type of rub. He should be believable as a potential Chamber winner, but he is not. The match was not good and it did nothing for Miz heading into the PPV.

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.

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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