By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Glamarella: I was disappointed that Santino Marella lost the Intercontinental Title to William Regal. It is nothing against Regal as I have been a fan of his for a long time and he should make a good Champ. But, I am going to miss Marella saying stuff like he is the Champion of the Earth and that he will be the greatest Champion of all the times. I will also miss the Honk-A-Meter. But, I did enjoy the one and only appearance of his Honk-A-Perfect-Mountie Meter. He was his usual funny self before the match. His interaction with Beth Phoenix later was good too. I wasn't thrilled with her being afraid to face Mickie James. She shouldn't be worried about any competition. It worked well in the end, with their celebration after she beat James in what was a very poor match (more later).

Priceless (the good): I continue to enjoy the development of the relationship between Team Priceless and Randy Orton. This week wasn't all good, but I will deal with the bad later. For now, I will say that I liked the fact that they followed up on Orton punting Ted DiBiase last week and had him home selling a concussion (if only WWE were that careful about actual concussions). Cody Rhodes slapping Orton, followed by Manu's intensity as he held Orton back was very effective. It was also interesting to hear Orton call DiBiase the weak link in the group. There were some problems, but I still am liking this angle.

Jericho's Promo: It was good to see Chris Jericho deliver another great promo. He was able to put down Batista, hype his main event match with Shawn Michaels, and threaten his challenger at Survivor Series, John Cena. He accomplished much in an entertaining way. I like how he brought up what Michaels said in a joking way about his wife being punched last week. That actually made Michaels look better, as Jericho said that despite the joke, it was eating Michaels up inside. It was a good promo to continue Jericho's very good work this year.

Jericho vs. Michaels: This was a good t.v. main event. It wasn't great. These two have had better matches. But, it was good. It had plenty of good wrestling action. They did some creative things with the Last Man Standing format. I could have done without the cheesy slingshot into what looked to be a cardboard mail box. But, the Walls of Jericho on top of the cab was cool. The ten counts get tedious in these matches, and you knew it couldn't end without an appearance by John Bradshaw Layfield, both of which took away from the quality. However, there were some very good spots, like Michaels' flying elbow drop on Jericho through the table. Also, the ending sequence was very well done. I was disappointed that it looked to be over after the Title shot to the head, so I was happy when the better ending happened, as Michaels surprised Jericho with Sweet Chin Music, only to turn around and take a (protected) chair shot to the head from JBL. The timing was very good. It was a bit disappointing, considering what they can do, but it was still a Hit worthy match.

RAW MISSES

Fast IC Title Match: What is this, TNA Impact? A Title match in 1 minute. That blows. You can look at it as a strong decisive win for the new IC Champ William Regal. If you look at it like that, and if you weren't a fan of Marella as Champ, then this might be a good thing. But, I did like Marella as Champ, and I don't see a lot of value in such short matches. WWE hasn't done much with secondary Titles lately, so I don't have faith that the decisive win for Regal will actually lead to anything. If he just goes on to be any other IC Champ without elevating the Title, then they will have wasted a Title match.

Knox on Raw: Speaking of quick matches, Mike Knox vs. D-Lo Brown was another 1 minute match. It is not good when the first two wrestling matches on a wrestling show are so short. Knox has shown some potential, but why bring back Brown if this is how he is going to be used? Watching Knox in squashes is old. We've seen it too many times on ECW. I understand that many fans watch Raw but not ECW, so it might be new to them. But, it isn't new to me, and I'm the one writing this article. Also, 1 minute squashes aren't that effective. It makes him look very strong, but it doesn't give the audience enough time to really connect with him in the ring. Plus, this Miss is really about the fact that no explanation was given as to how Knox was able to come to Raw in the first place. He could already wrestle on Raw with the working agreement with ECW, so what is the point?

Priceless (the bad): While the storyline was advanced nicely, Batista made Rhodes and Manu look bad by destroying them. Sure, Rhodes got in some offense, but Batista defeated him fairly easily in another short match. He also easily fended off Manu, both in his attempt at interference and in his post-match attack. Are they supposed to be trying to impress Orton? Or are they trying to stick it to him? It wasn't clear what their motives were. On the whole, I liked the story, but I didn't like what happened in the match.

Phoenix vs. James: This was another disappointingly short Impact-like match. A Women's Championship match shouldn't be 2 minutes. It makes James look weak, and it makes Phoenix look bad too. She was worried about facing a woman whom she defeated in 2 minutes. That makes no sense. However, it was probably better that the match wasn't longer as Phoenix and James both looked to be suffering from major jet lag. That was a very sloppy 2 minutes of wrestling from two talented workers. They are better than what they showed. It is bad that they didn't show what they can actually do in the ring in order to get longer matches in the future.

Video Packages: There were too many long video packages on Raw. The show started with a video of what happened last week when Jericho defeated Batista to become the World Champion. Later, there was a long video of the ticket sale for WrestleMania 25. Shortly thereafter there was another in the long line of John Cena videos. Later, there was a long video of the history of the Michaels-Jericho feud. I understand the desire to show each of these videos. But, they took away from the show. There were four very short matches on the show, and four video packages, three of which (not the first) were very long. Michaels vs. Jericho speaks for itself. I didn't need a reminder of the feud of the year. I am already tired of the WrestleMania hype and the show isn't for another 5 months. Take these away and give more actual wrestling.

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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