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Last week was a poor week for WWE tv on the whole. Raw was bad with the exception of the Kofi Kingston - Randy Orton feud. ECW had a great main event, but the rest of the show was poor. Superstars was solid as usual. But, Smackdown was also bad. It was good to see Raw start the week off on a better note. It wasn't a great show, but it was a good show particularly the first half while the second half floundered until the main event.
RAW HITS
Opening Segment: This is a marginal Hit as it was far from great. However, it did achieve the main goal of setting up several matches for later in the show. Sharon Osbourne was very annoying, especially in her battle of "reallys" with the Miz. I prefer more focused openings than ones like this where several random wrestlers come out to make a statement, or in this case a complaint. But, they all made sense given what happened to each last week. The wrestlers all played their parts well. I laughed when Big Show demanded an apology for what happened last week and Ozzy Osbourne apologized. I liked the idea that DX would whisper into their ears the matches to make. It was also amusing how Triple H hijacked Big Show's attempt at doing the same. And as I said, it set up three big matches for later in the show which was good.
Miz vs. Bourne: This was a short match especially for the US Title, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. Evan Bourne clearly deserves a bigger push. It won't come, but at least here he had some time in the match to show what he can do other than just the shooting star press. His offense is incredible. He makes leverage pins seem like the most exciting thing ever in his unique variations. The crowd really bought into everything he did in the match. Miz looked good too. The ending sequence was great with Bourne landing on his feet after Miz moved, only to be hip tossed into the corner setting up the Skull Crushing Finale.
Shaemus Beats Down Noble: I'm not a fan of moving Shaemus to Raw, but at least this week he had a very memorable appearance. His beat down of Jamie Noble was very well done. And as I said, it was memorable which is the key. People should remember this for a long time, especially the brutal power bomb on the outside. WWE did a great job of selling the beating with the initial replays as well as the fact that Noble had to be stretchered out of the arena. After the commercial, they showed more replays. Then later in the show, they did again and gave an update on Noble and said they would have another update next week. That final revisit of the situation is a little short moment that helped sell the angle.
Kofi - Orton: This is a multiple segment Hit. Kofi Kingston gave a good pre-match interview about not being bullied by Randy Orton. I thought it was odd to go to a match between the two so soon, but it turned into a very nice tease. The match was good while it lasted, showing what a PPV match between these two could be. The Legacy interference turned it into a 6 man tag which was the right way to go in order to not give away too much of Kingston vs. Orton. The tag match itself was good. It wasn't anything special, but it allowed Kingston to spoil Orton's fun as he tried to RKO Mark Henry allowing Henry to ultimately get the win for his team. A good week of progress for this feud.
Cena vs. Jericho vs. Show: I liked the main event triple threat match. It was a good way to hype the two triple threats at Survivor Series. John Cena, Chris Jericho and Big Show all looked good in the ring. While I am tired of DX, I have to admit to finding much of their antics on guest commentary to be funny. They put over how hard the announcing job is, while also making fun of the announcers which was nice. They also did a good job of talking about the triple threat match with Cena at the PPV. The match itself was well booked to keep the Tag Champions strong while working together, but hinting at dissension at times as they both wanted to get the pin (foreshadowing Survivor Series). I liked the ending with Show knocking Cena out, but Jericho getting the win. The quick and sudden beat down of DX afterwards was also very well done. It was good to see Raw end with JeriShow on the same page and standing tall.
RAW MISSES
Raw's Got Talent: It is segments like this that make me hope the guest host deal is going to come to an end soon. We saw something similar with the Price is Raw when Bob Barker hosted. It wasn't entertaining and didn't advance anything. There were a few funny moments. I liked Santino Marella's impression of Ozzy Osbourne, but the humor wasn't up to Santino's standards. Chris Masters' peck dancing was actually the most impressive and entertaining thing he has ever done in WWE, which is probably not a good thing. I'm sick and tired of Chavo Guerrero's never ending feud with the guest hosts. I don't ever want to see the Great Khali on my tv. The concept was lame as there were buzzers for each judge to use, but they never seemed to use them as Jerry Lawler buzzed each one. He apparently didn't pay attention to the script as he acted surprised that the judged enjoyed Masters' performance. It was a waste of time.
Divas Battle Royale: WWE has to stop doing Divas Battle Royales for at least 6 months. I honestly have no idea when the last one was, but it seems like they do them at least every 2 months. Even if that isn't the case, that is the perception. I don't need to see another for a long time. I hate that the Divas can be thrown under the bottom rope and still be eliminated. That is so weak. Also, all Battle Royales should have at least ten wrestlers in them. Six isn't enough. Considering that there was only one heel in the match, it was fairly predictable that Alicia Fox was going to win. At least there seemed to be some tension between Gail Kim (who was eliminated too early) and Kelly Kelly. Maybe a heel turn is in the works for Kim which would at least give her a chance to do something on Raw.
DX - Hornswoggle - Cena: This was stupid. I'm not into the DX - Hornswoggle storyline. The attempts at humor were bad like John Cena talking about hanging leprechauns from hooks. I thought they were going to go somewhere serious with the scene to save it as Triple H and Shawn Michaels recalled beating Cena in the past, only Cena went cartoonish and over the top in his monologue about how they all have beaten each other numerous times for a lame homoerotic joke. He could have gone serious by talking about defeating each on the biggest stage of them all, WrestleMania. That would have given heat to the moment, but that would have meant upstaging DX and turning a silly scene serious. I would have preferred it, but WWE went the other route.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars 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. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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