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Hits & Misses
3/12 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Rap/Rock Concert, Undertaker - Michaels, Jericho - Punk

Mar 13, 2012 - 4:10:20 PM
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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Sheamus vs. Ziggler: In the middle of this opening match, there was a botched spot with Sheamus struggling to do a power move on Dolph Ziggler out of a crucifix pin attempt. That was ugly, but didn't really take away from the otherwise good match. Sheamus is on a roll right now and is the #1 contender for the World Championship at WrestleMania. For that reason, Ziggler doesn't really lose anything despite taking the loss, and actually looked pretty strong in the effort. It was a good match that went back and forth nicely. That shot to Sheamus' back into the announce table was brutal. It had the one clunky spot in the middle, but was well executed otherwise to give Sheamus another strong win heading into WM. Daniel Bryan interviewed up in the sky box was a nice touch as well.
Undertaker_TB120tall.jpg

Undertaker - Michaels: This wasn't as good as Shawn Michaels and Triple H were last week, but it was still good. Last week, we were left with the impression that Michaels wanted Triple H to lose. This week was meant to make it seem like he wanted Undertaker to lose and they accomplished that. It was interesting to hear Undertaker call out Michaels in terms of his ego getting in the way of doing the right thing as special guest referee. I particularly liked when Michaels talked about how he still can be the one to end the streak. A little too much is being put on the guest referee in this case, but hopefully the seeds have been planted that Michaels has issues with both of them, and they can move on to focus more on just Undertaker and Triple H at this point. The ending was strong in how Michaels backed up in Superkick position after being threatened by Undertaker. He continued the mock pat on the shoulder routine that has been going on since the start of this angle. The appearance and crotch chop from Triple H worked as a sign of solidarity between the DX members. But are the on the same page?

RAW MISSES

Rap / Rock Concert: I don't want to dwell too much on the specifics of what John Cena rapped about and what The Rock sang about, but concentrate more on the overall effect of the two segments. There were some funny moments in both. It was sort of a nice nostalgic trip to watch Cena rap again. Cena did get over once upon a time doing this stuff. The Rock was funny in his Rock Concert. Last week, I liked what they did apart from each other, but not what they did face to face, so I was a bit relieved when they didn't go face to face this week (there will be time for that in the next two weeks). I don't think a lot of it was appropriate for children. If you are going to claim to be PG and focus on marketing to kids, then don't go there. If you want to be TV14 and want to market to teens and adults, then do it. Moving on, Michael Cole killed any cool factor that might have been picked up by Cena during the opening rap when he kept referring to it as "attitudinal" throughout the night. I nearly vomited each time he said it. But, the real problem here is that none of this made me want to see them fight. It seemed childish. It may have been entertaining in the moment, but it didn't help sell the PPV as far as I'm concerned. Did it address why they want to fight? Did it do anything to make this feel like Tyson vs. Ali? Where did that talk go? The biggest star of this era vs. the biggest star of the last era. And, those two stars hate each other and want to defeat each other. That's what this should be about.

I would love to see Rock say to Cena, "you are the biggest star of this era, but the only reason you've been the top star... the ONLY reason, is that I left. If I hadn't left, you'd be a footnote in WWE history. You wouldn't have won all those Championships, I would have. You wouldn't have won the Royal Rumble, because I would have tossed your candy ass out of the ring. You wouldn't have headlined those WrestleManias, because I would have. If I had never left, this match wouldn't even be happening because I would be the top star in WWE and you would just be an Emenem wannabe." Now, that might be continuing the bad direction WWE has gone in in terms of tearing each other down, but at least it would give Rock his balls back and would make Cena want to prove Rock is wrong by beating him at WM.

On another side note, while I've never seen the movie and would assume that it sucks, "The Tooth Fairy" grossed over $112 million worldwide (plus $22 million in domestic dvd sales). How much will WM gross? Cena's movies have grossed a grand total worldwide of $40 million. So, you might want to lay off a little considering how well the movie did given that it was one of his least successful films.

12 Man Tag Announcement: We knew something like this was coming, though I think most of us weren't expecting it to be such a large "everyone is invited to participate" tag match (I was thinking 8 man). The problem here is that for a few weeks, we've been led to believe that Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis have been doing their best to impress the board of directors to choose one of them to run both Raw and Smackdown, without really a hint that the board was considering having only one GM for both shows. Clearly, they were just wasting their time as the board wasn't trying to be impressed to make a decision; they just want the two to pick teams to wrestle one match to determine who runs both shows. What a terrible business decision. It makes no sense if you look at it as if it were a real situation. 12 men in one tag match is too many for any of them to really stand out. Last year, there was an 8 man tag that nobody remembers. This one has ramifications, but something could have been done to use these wrestlers in a better way. 8 of them could have been put in Money in the Bank. It appears that WWE's plan is to make Laurinaitis' team look unbeatable which it has effectively done so far. Long needs all the help he can get at this point. Without much babyface star power to turn to, did the reemergence of Brodus Clay this week point to him being part of the team? Will The Miz, left off of Team Laurinaitis, try to be on Team Long?

Divas: I understand the real life situation with Kharma has gotten in the way of what WWE was likely planning on doing with the Divas after The Royal Rumble. A build towards her vs. Beth Phoenix for the Divas Title would have been good and could have made for a meaningful match at WM. Instead, we are getting Plan B which has been this heel turn for Eve (which has been Hit or Miss), and Phoenix has been left out. This week, she finally reappears on Raw in this bad backstage segment with her and Eve talking about playing Zack Ryder. They had been building towards Eve vs. Kelly Kelly, but that was nowhere to be seen this week. I don't know where they are going with the division, and I'm not sure they know either.

Jericho - Punk: I have liked a lot of what WWE has done with Chris Jericho and CM Punk. I like the idea that they are trying to prove that each is the best in the world by wrestling over the WWE Title. I have felt that something more personal could be added to the mix to make it a little more meaningful, but this was not the direction I would have gone in. The whole talk of Punk's father being an alcoholic made me uncomfortable. The idea that Jericho is trying to make Punk an alcoholic makes me uneasy. Punk has lost the WWE Title in the past and it hasn't made him drink, so I'm not sure why this would make him. I do like seeing Punk acting more serious and not just being his usual snarky sarcastic self. The fact that Jericho "went there" will make fans want to see Punk kick his ass, so that's good. I will call it therefore a marginal Miss, as I think something else could have gotten the same effect without the uncomfortable feeling this has.

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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