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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Punk vs. Jericho: Raw definitely got off to a good start this week with the Steel Cage match between CM Punk and Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. It was a very good match that featured several nice innovative cage spots. I particularly liked when Jericho had Punk in the Walls of Jericho as Punk tried to crawl out of the move and the cage at the same time. There were some nice high spots like the electric chair from the top rope. Punk and Jericho worked hard to put on a good match. It did suffer a bit from the odd rules of a WWE Steel Cage match. Having someone win by falling down is a bit of a let down, but played into Jericho's character well. I liked the visual as Punk and Jericho tried multiple times in a row to crawl over each other to get to the door, but then I'm thinking about the fact that here are two World Champions crawling to win a Title. But, it was still a very enjoyable match.

JBL, Orton, Glamarella, Batista: If you had told me before Raw that there would be a long talking segment in the ring with five wrestlers, I would not have predicted that those five wrestlers would be John Bradshaw Layfield, Randy Orton, Santino Marella, Beth Phoenix, and Batista. That is part of why I am giving this segment a Hit. It was unexpected, and I liked seeing the unusual mix of talent. I liked seeing Glamarella mixed up with three of the top stars on Raw. There was a lot of nice mic work. Batista was better than usual on the mic. Santino said some of his usual hilarious lines. Orton gave another solid effort while still sidelined with his injury. The segment did go on a bit long and dragged at times. While I liked the odd mix of characters, it also led to a bizarre feeling of confusion as to what WWE is doing. I didn't like the fact that only JBL and Batista had a claim to the #1 contender's spot. Santino could have at least claimed it for himself as Intercontinental Champ. I had a few problems with it, but it was still entertaining.

End of the Show: Raw started well, and ended well also. Chris Jericho gave a good promo about his idea for defending the World Title at No Mercy. Mike Ademle then showed up and stumbled through his lines. It was one of his worst performances as General Manager. It definitely brought the segment down. But, the segment as a whole was still good as it played into the theme of the show, building anticipation for who will be named #1 contender for Jericho's Title. That worked well. There was some nice anticipation as they drew out the pause before Shawn Michaels came out as the challenger. It seems a bit rushed though. I guess it makes sense to capitalize on the feud of the year and have Jericho's first PPV Title defense be against the man he has been feuding with for several months. But, it still seems rushed. However, who isn't excited about the possibility of Michaels vs. Jericho in a ladder match? The end of the show also set up Batista vs. JBL, so two big No Mercy matches were established here.

RAW MISSES

No Mic Time For Punk: While I did enjoy Punk vs. Jericho, I wish Punk had gotten some mic time. He wasn't on last week, and wasn't given a chance to talk before the match as it started the show. He should have been given an opportunity to cut a promo about losing the Title and his chance to win it back. He could have even given a promo after losing to Jericho at the start of the show, but he was never heard from again. He could have still claimed to be the #1 Contender along with JBL and Batista, but nope.

Hall vs. Michelle: Candice Michelle just seems totally off since her return. She hasn't had the same "it" that she seemed to have before. She was off in the ring this week. The fans really grew restless during her match against Jillian Hall. The match was sloppy and boring. Michelle didn't get a great reaction from the live crowd. She did her best to get the fans into it when she made her come back, but it didn't work very well. It was a bad match.

ECW Talent Exchange: This is going to quickly fall into the category of something that I complain about too much. There is no reason to even have different brands if wrestlers from one brand are constantly featured on another. If there is going to be a talent exchange between Raw and ECW, there should be a very good reason each week why one wrestler from ECW is on Raw. Just having Evan Bourne show up in the middle of a Kane promo is a mistake. Did he get permission from Teddy Long or Mike Ademle to be there? Was he hanging out, just in case Kane gave a speech? I like his team with Mysterio, but at what cost? Tommy Dreamer was also on to job to JBL. The purpose of the talent exchange shouldn't be to give Raw more jobbers at the expense of the ECW roster.

Show as a Whole: While there are an equal number of things from Raw that stand out as Hits and Misses, the show as a whole really wasn't good. There wasn't an explanation for why Mike Ademle would start Raw off with the Main Event. They had to set up the idea of someone trying to become the new #1 contender, but that is a behind the scenes explanation, not a storyline explanation. Kane's promo was o.k., but did nothing to get the fans behind his feud with Rey Mysterio. I already complained about Evan Bourne's inclusion in that feud. Kane vs. Mysterio wasn't a good match, but it wasn't bad enough to get a Miss. However, I'm just not into this feud at all. None of the wrestling action other than the Cage match was any good. There was the one bad women's match, the JBL squash, the Noble squash (whoever thought that would happen?), and the 6 man tag. That match was fun and was nice for the hometown fans of Jerry "the King" Lawler, but it was hardly a great match. It was too short to really feature any of Team Priceless who are supposed to be showing off what they can do in the ring. Charlie Haas didn't do a very good Jim Ross impression, but I liked the idea behind it. Even my Hits weren't that strong. The Steel Cage match had its distractions and suffered from the lack of mic time for Punk. The fun in ring segment wasn't great. Even the strong ending seemed rushed and suffered from Ademle's presence.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact 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.

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