By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Orton & Sheamus vs. Del Rio & Jericho: This was a good match as you would expect with the four wrestlers involved. It was one of a few bright spots on an otherwise poor episode, and really the only bright spot in terms of in ring action. It was a pretty formulaic WWE tag match, but the formula was executed well by Randy Orton, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho. I would have liked a bit of a backstory as to why the match was happening. Even something simple like having it be a preview of the Over the Limit World Title match where they each got to pick a partner or something. I don't know. Other than that, the match itself was quite enjoyable to watch. There were some little nice touches that I appreciated. For instance, right before the commercial break, Sheamus knocked Del Rio off the ring apron hard, then Jericho threw him shoulder first into the corner and he fell out of the ring, only to be kicked by Del Rio. That was a little too quick for Del Rio to pop up and attack Sheamus after being knocked on the floor. But, after that, he was shown still recovering on his knees. It sold the idea that he got up to take advantage, but was still hurting from the knock down moments before. Little things like that help sell the moves as opposed to if Del Rio had stood tall. The ending worked well to give Jericho a claim to the World Title while also setting up tension between Orton and Sheamus. It could have been more clear that John Laurinaitis was changing the World Title match at the PPV instead of making one from scratch like it came across here.

Paul Heyman: I am curious to see where WWE is going with Paul Heyman now back as Brock Lesnar's legal representative. Lesnar quitting gives him more of a reason to be off tv for awhile, and it will be interesting to see how WWE gets him back on air at this point. It was a nice surprise to see Heyman back. There was some hope that he would return after Lesnar did, but nothing concrete seemed to suggest he would for sure. I always loved the way Heyman said Lesnar's name. That was good to hear again. Lesnar can be good on the mic in certain situations, but cutting long promos is not one of them. Assuming Heyman sticks around, once Lesnar is back it will be good to have him have someone to talk on his behalf. This might also give Heyman a chance to appear when Lesnar isn't on from time to time.

RAW MISSES

Opening Segment: There may have been some good things in the opening segment of Raw, but all I remember is John Laurinaitis talking for a long time and then announcing that the main event would be CM Punk vs. Lord Tensai. It is hard to imagine what could have happened in the middle of that which would have been so good as to save this opening segment from being a Miss. Lots of Laurinaitis talking and a terrible main event announcement make this a Miss. Punk wasn't particularly inspired either. It was odd to hear him out there sort of talking for John Cena. The whole thing was uninspired and not a great way to follow up on the happenings from last week's show, or to set up excitement over this week's.

Eve: Eve is not good in this role, and more TV time for Laurinaitis and his administration is a bad thing. I wasn't a fan of her forcing Big Show to apologize. I didn't like the angle, and I didn't like her acting. Her acting in this role is making me miss David Otunga, and I didn't think that was possible. To quote Jim Halpert, "Congratulations Universe. You win."

Cena's Interview: It was good to hear Michael Cole ask John Cena what he thought of the board of directors not disciplining Laurinaitis after his attack on Cena last week. However, I didn't really like Cena's admission that he told them not to discipline him. I mean, can't the board suspend Laurinaitis from his general manager duties and still force him to wrestle in the match he himself signed? If I were Cena, I would want him out of power and have a chance to kick his ass. I don't see why the two are mutually opposed. I also don't quite understand how the situation works with the doctors in WWE. They can at times hold someone out of competition for not being cleared to wrestle, yet when they say that Cena should not compete for a few months, they don't have the power to hold him out of a match. What am I missing? He has to have fluid drained out of his arm twice a day and the doctors say he should not wrestle for a few months, yet they are clearing him to wrestle in a few weeks? This is stupid.

Clay vs. Miz: First it was Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger, now it is The Miz getting beat by Brodus Clay. At least Miz got in the most offense against Clay since his debut, however this was not a good match. Clay just doesn't look that impressive in the ring and Miz isn't good enough to make up for it. This was a bit boring. The announcers could have done a better job of selling how well Miz was doing against Clay and how he had a chance to be the first to defeat the Funkasaurus, but while they mentioned it, they really didn't sell it. This was basically the typical Clay squash after taking a few minutes of punishment.

Punk vs. Tensai & Bryan: I just put my finger on something else that bothered me about the opening segment. Instead of focusing on Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, they were focusing on Punk vs. Laurinaitis, despite the fact that Laurinaitis is feuding with Cena (though he always is in a feud with Punk too). WWE's way of putting some focus on Bryan on this show was to add him to the main event as it turned into a handicap match. The problem is that there was still too much focus on Lord Tensai whom the crowd cares nothing about. This was an ugly match. It was not well executed. Tensai screwed up his set up choke slam type move before the claw finisher. The crowd is so indifferent to a wrestler whom the WWE is really trying to get behind as a major force. Bryan was fine afterwards with the Yes Lock and the Yes taunts at Punk, to set up Punk as vulnerable at the PPV and to set up Punk wanting revenge on Bryan, but with so few weeks to sell the PPV, shouldn't they have done more to focus on this match instead of muddying the waters with Laurinaitis and Tensai getting involved?

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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