By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: It seemed odd that WWE would have the contract signing between Brock Lesnar and John Cena start off the first hour of a three hour Raw. So, it was no surprise that Lesnar didn't show up. This was a way to create buzz for that first hour which doesn't usually draw that well, without disappointing the fans. Nobody was going to be disappointed for the Lesnar bait-and-switch because of the surprise appearance of Edge. Edge was great in his promo. He was more effective in selling Lesnar vs. Cena than anyone else in WWE so far. He perfectly encapsulated why Lesnar is a heel with the talk about how he doesn't really care about pro wrestling or the fans the way that he and Cena and others like Shawn Michaels do. This was a good step in the Cena storyline with his recent losses and possible lack of confidence. WWE does a nice job from time to time of using retired wrestlers like this to sell an angle.

Jericho vs. Kingston: Shouldn't Kofi Kingston be getting more of a push? His character has never developed, but is that really his fault? He continues to put on good matches when given the opportunity like in this match against Chris Jericho. The two worked well together and were given a good amount of time to put on a good match, which they did. Kingston looked strong for taking the #1 contender to the limit, but Jericho got the win to keep momentum going into his WWE Title match at Extreme Rules.

Lesnar Videos: WWE is doing a good job of reminding the fans of how special Lesnar is. The videos throughout the show of Lesnar's first run in WWE were very well done to show some of his career highlights like his first match and his WrestleMania main event. As I said before, not all current WWE fans are that familiar with his time in the company before leaving.

Kane - Orton: This is a marginal Hit as I liked the promo from Kane to start things off, comparing Randy Orton to a child crying for his dad to save him from the monsters in his nightmares. That was actually quite poetic on Kane's part. I was happy to see Paul Bearer. I thought Edge had killed him a few years ago, so I guess I'm relieved that he is alive. I also liked Kane's line about not caring to save his dad, since his real dad is the devil himself. There was some good mic work there, but the scene was too cheesy with Orton locking Bearer in the freezer (I think it was supposed to be a freezer), and you got Orton getting too much revenge on Kane before their PPV match.

Daniel Bryan: Yes! Yes! Yes! Okay, I had to get that out of the way. Bryan was great as the guest referee for Sheamus vs. Mark Henry. He played his part to perfection trying to get Sheamus to snap and attack him since as a referee for the match, that would get Sheamus fired. Michael Cole had done a nice job bringing that stipulation up earlier in the show in regards to Lesnar's attack on Josh Mathews in terms of what type of punishment would he get after Sheamus' fine and probation following his attack on an ref. They played into that storyline well during this match. I also liked seeing Bryan get the better physically of Sheamus in the end. My only problem is that it didn't make sense to have Bryan do a fast count to end the match early. Who cares if Sheamus loses? Shouldn't he want the match to go long? That would give Mark Henry more chances to injure Sheamus before the World Title match at the PPV, and would give Bryan himself more chances to antagonize Sheamus as the referee to possibly get him fired.

RAW MISSES

Lesnar Interview Replays: Part of the problem with 3 hour Raws is filling time. I enjoyed the interview with Lesnar last week, but I didn't need to see it again in its entirety. And, I certainly didn't need to see it twice. With the tease at the beginning, the nice history videos throughout the show, the reminders that Lesnar would show up eventually, his backstage attack on Josh Mathews, the replays of that attack, plus the two replays of the interview from last week, I was getting Lesnar burn out before the contract signing, which isn't a good thing.

Eve: I don't like this storyline with John Laurinaitis. I'm so sick of the heel authority figure. It is stale. It is played out. I don't think that adding a large administration around the general manager will help things out, so I didn't like seeing Eve added as Laurinaitis' executive administrator. He already has David Otunga as his lawyer and advisor, and Teddy Long as a reluctant assistant. Did he need another member of his administration? WWE should be putting more focus on the wrestlers and less on the general manager and his administration.

Tensai vs. Truth: I've seen enough of Lord Tensai now to know that I don't need to see more of him. I am just not impressed with his work, either in the ring or on the mic.

Khali & Show vs. Rhodes & Del Rio: I am not a fan of the team of The Great Khali and The Big Show. It is not good with Show is the worker of the team. This was slow and not fun to watch. Cody Rhodes and Alberto Del Rio did their best to create movement, but the story of the match featured them slowing the pace down to work on Show's knee. Show and Khali certainly aren't going to pick up the pace. This did nothing for me and took up too much time.

Punk's Sobriety Test: CM Punk did a nice job of pretending to be drunk, but this was too predictable and stretched out too long. Jericho was also good in playing his obnoxious character, but it took too long to get to Punk turning the tables on Jericho with the attack at the end. I don't buy the fact that Punk was setting up Jericho. He had to assume that Alex Riley would tell Jericho he was drinking. He had to assume Jericho would see him. He had to assume that Jericho would tell Laurinaitis. He had to assume that Laurinaitis would order the sobriety test. He had to assume that Teddy Long would be administrating it (because Laurinaitis would have been much quicker on the draw to strip him of the WWE Title than Long would be). It just seems that too many assumptions had to be made to get the joke over on Jericho. What if Long hadn't given him one more chance? With the WWE Title on the line, would you take any chance? Also, it became clear he was faking so early in his second chance, that Jericho looked like a total fool for standing there while Punk played to the crowd for so long before attacking him.

Clay & Hornswoggle vs. Ziggler & Swagger: What a waste of talent, and I'm not talking about Hornswoggle. It is sad that two very talented workers like Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger have been relegated to this mid-card at best comedy crap with Brodus Clay and now Hornswoggle. These are two potential main event heels who are being treated as jokes. We had to sit through more lame dinosaur humor from Cole which we will keep getting with the lame Funkasaurus gimmick. Hornswoggle should never wrestle. Vickie Guerrero was funny in doing Clay's dance at the end, but I wasn't a fan of Hornswoggle biting her on her ass to conclude the segment. I guess WWE should be happy if the goal was to make Ziggler & Swagger out to be the biggest jokes in the company. Mission accomplished.

Contract Signing: There were parts of the final segment of Raw that I liked, but not enough. I liked the idea of Brock Lesnar holding Laurinaitis hostage to make demands. WWE's goal of the night seemed to be cementing Lesnar as a heel and that was done well. This fit in with Edge's promo in showing Lesnar as not caring about the company and only being in it for himself. I liked the demands. I liked that they have a reason why he won't be punished for attacking Mathews. It painted Laurinaitis as a spineless weasel. But, Lesnar's performance was poor. He was very shaky on the mic. He seemed more confident in his improvised line responding to the "You Suck!" chants from the crowd than delivering any of his scripted lines. This was another segment that went on too long. It got uncomfortable to watch as Lesnar didn't have it on the mic. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was bad mic work. Laurinaitis isn't going to help. I liked the script, just not the execution. He was better once Cena came out. His taunts to Cena were strong. I appreciate that WWE saved more physicality between them. I appreciate that WWE is trying to do something different with Cena. However, by having him silent, it left the final segment flat. It wasn't a good hard sell for the PPV. Edge told Cena to "Wake up!" WWE is saving Cena waking up, perhaps for the PPV, perhaps even longer. It is tricky, since they might be going somewhere special with this angle, but there are going to be bumps in the road to that destination, and this was one of them. This didn't make me want to see Cena vs. Lesnar.

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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