By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Lesnar Interview: I didn't like everything about the Brock Lesnar pretaped interview, but it was still good enough to get a Hit. WWE doesn't do these types of interviews often, so it gave it a special feel. This was a good way to get Lesnar on the show without having him in the arena. He was good in his delivery. I liked a lot of the script as well. It focused on his history, to catch up some of the fans who don't really know who he is (like younger fans who didn't see his first run in WWE and don't follow UFC). I liked that it showed him beating The Rock to become the WWE Champion. It was good to hear him talk about why he came back to WWE and how it isn't for the fans. He also said what I pointed out Rock should have said in the run up to WrestleMania, which was that if he hadn't left, John Cena would have been carrying his bags the last 8 years. That was a good line in a good heel promo. My problem with it was the talk about not being fake. I don't like the implication that everything else is fake. Why even go there? It was also odd how he was self censuring at times. He was bleeped for using bad words, but at other times he seemed to be holding back a curse word to stay PG (like saying bullcrap instead of bullshit). Those few moments didn't sound natural to me, but that is a minor complaint.

Cena's Promo: WWE is rushing things with Cena vs. Lesnar. This is evidence why WWE should skip an April PPV after WM. They should take more time, especially building up new feuds. WM should be the end of the season, yet we get too many WM rematches at Extreme Rules (Punk vs. Jericho, Bryan vs. Sheamus, and presumably Orton vs. Kane at least), and the non-rematches like Cena vs. Lesnar don't have the time to properly build. Then you get forced gimmicks because of the PPV theme. If this weren't being rushed, I would enjoy things like Cena's promo even better. Now, given the circumstances of what WWE is doing, I am giving that promo a Hit. It was well written and well delivered. As I have said before, Cena is at his best when he is serious and intense like he was here. His ending mantra with the repeated verse that he will fight was strong. Would it be better if it wasn't rushed? Yes. Was it still good? Yes.

Bryan vs. Kingston: This was the best match on the show, the only Hit-worthy match on Raw. It is always nice to see Daniel Bryan getting 10 minutes of ring time, even if we only saw 7. He and Kofi Kingston put on a good match. There were a few off spots, but it was otherwise enjoyable to watch from start to finish with Bryan getting a strong clean win with the Yes Lock. This was sort of the opposite of a Cena match. We are used to hearing boos for the babyface Cena, but now we are getting cheers for the heel Bryan. I'm curious to see where WWE goes long term with Bryan in the future.

RAW MISSES

WWE Title Match Starts Show: I have said recently that I do not like it when WWE Title matches are not the main events of Raw. This has now happened three weeks in a row. That of course points to a larger problem of having three WWE Title matches in a row on Raw, but that is another matter. The problem here is that they are continuing to define down the top Championship in the company as being not that important. You have a battle between Cena and Lesnar over who is the face of the company, when the face of the company should be the Champ. I understand that Cena vs. Lesnar is going to be higher on the card at Extreme Rules, but in the mean time, you could have the WWE Title match as the main event of Raw, especially in a week where Lesnar isn't even in the arena. At some point, WWE is going to want people to pay to see a WWE Title match, which will require some damage control. The actual match between Mark Henry and CM Punk was solid. It wasn't as good as their match two weeks ago, and not quite good enough to get a Hit. It was not a Miss either, as it was decent. I'm not a big fan of the alcoholism storyline with Chris Jericho either, but it has been executed pretty well so far.

Santino vs. Otunga: The only good thing about this match was that at 2 minutes, it was short. Both Santino Marella and David Otunga have some skills that help to become a WWE Superstar, but long matches isn't one of them. So, I was glad this was kept short. However, it was still long enough to expose Otunga's lack of in ring skills. He looked bad on the hip toss. Worse than that was how he looked lost in figuring out how to pin Santino the right way so that Santino could get his foot on the rope. It was rather a basic spot which any rookie should get right, but Otunga got wrong. Maybe John Laurinaitis was onto something later on when he told Otunga to put as much effort into his in ring career as he does being his assistant. In other words, maybe if he put as much effort into his wrestling ability as he does working on his physique, he could actually pull off something simple like knowing which leg to hook on a pin attempt.

Contract Signing Announcement: How am I supposed to take a contract signing serious when it comes practically in the same sentence as an announcement that Cena will have an Extreme Rules match against a mystery opponent later in the show? Why does Cena have to sign a contract to fight Lesnar, but not to fight his mystery opponent? Why do some matches have contracts, but not others? When I have made this argument in the past, I have had readers point out that I am just supposed to assume that all matches have contracts, even though only a few of them are shown on tv. To those readers I ask, did Cena actually sign a contract to face a mystery opponent? Wouldn't Lord Tensai's name have to be on that contract? I'm sorry if I am thinking too logically for some of you, but I am a logical person and I refuse believe that WWE can't be logical too.

Cena vs. Tensai: I gave Tensai's debut a few weeks ago a marginal Hit, as I was happy to hear WWE acknowledge his past in the company, I was intrigued to see if he had improved in his time in Japan, and I liked the storyline of him leaving WWE and going to Japan to hone his craft before returning to America. But, I haven't been impressed. He doesn't look like he has improved in the ring. His gimmick is boring. I'm not impressed with his Japanese mannerisms. His main event match against John Cena was not good. It had no flow. It was clunky and not fun to watch. It was over booked to give Tensai the win which I understand, but it had too much interference as it turned into a three on one match. The crowds have rejected Tensai. I can't blame them.

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 Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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