By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: This special three hour Ray Thanksgiving got off to a good start. Jesse Ventura was a good guest host throughout the show. Obviously, he has the WWE background and is very comfortable in front of large crowds. He fit in very well. His verbal confrontation with Randy Orton was well done. I like how he talked up Orton, but still had to deny his request to get a WWE Title shot. I also loved his concept for the Breakthrough Battle Royale. It got me excited to see the rest of the show with the promise of someone new in the Title picture. He also announced two big matches for later in the show, so it was a good opening.

Miz's Thanks: This was a good short promo from Miz, fitting in with the Thanksgiving theme, while also fitting in perfectly with his character. I loved how he started to be thankful for his greatness, but then said he expects greatness so he isn't thankful for it. I also loved how he ended by saying that the fans should be thankful for him.

Punk's Promo: I'm not a huge fan of CM Punk being a heel for telling people not to smoke or do drugs. It is the over the top moments from his promos that make the character work. That is why I liked this promo as it was over the top. He focused on over eating at Thanksgiving. It was amusing. It really played into America's problems with obesity. I loved his "three cheers for mediocrity" line. This was one of his better promos since turning heel.

Punk vs. Cena: After the good promo from Punk, he helped deliver a good match with John Cena. The match went about 12 minutes and was very enjoyable, especially towards the end. There were some very strong sequences. The one that stands out the most is when Punk flipped out of an attempted Attitude Adjuster, then attempted his own similar Go To Sleep, only to have Cena counter into an STF. Punk played it well in selling the pain of the move, but fighting to get to the ropes. There were several near falls for each wrestler leading to the big second rope AA for Cena to get the win.

Chris Jericho: You will read in a bit about my feelings towards DX this week. However, I really liked Jericho's exchange with them, particularly his promo at the end. He did a good job of announcing their match for the TLC PPV. It was nice to hear Shawn Michaels say that at the PPV there will be tables matches, ladder matches and chair matches. That makes more sense than multiple TLC matches in the same night. But as I said, what made the segment work was Jericho at the end when he kept things serious and talked about how DX has never won a Tag Team Championship. He was right on in his mic work this week.

Ventura - McMahon: I enjoyed the video package on some of the past moments between Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon. It was quite nostalgic. They were the announce team for WWF Superstars back in the day when I first started watching. I also enjoyed their announcing during the main event. It helped give the show a special feel and continued the good work for the guest host this week. As an aside, I remember when McMahon left the Raw announce team for Jim Ross to take over. Ross has been missed on this show.

Contract Signing: I know, I know. I always give contract signings Misses. But, I liked this one. For one thing, it was nice that it didn't involve Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista, etc., etc. Also, John Cena gave a good, serious, intense and passionate promo. Was he over the top a bit? Sure. But, not as bad as usual. And most importantly, he kept it serious. Shaemus delivered well in his few lines on the mic. We will need to hear more from him in the upcoming weeks. Ventura played his part well as he did throughout the night. The attack at the end was very well executed and I like the Tables stipulation. It is good to see WWE giving a guy like Shaemus this opportunity. Clearly they are expecting the gimmick nature of this PPV, along with the likely Batista vs. Undertaker match to sell the show.

RAW MISSES

Smackdown's Involvement: I know this is par for the course for all of 3 three hour Raws, but WWE has been doing too much inter brand stuff as of late. Plus, Smackdown was inconsequential. It made no sense that Smackdown wrestlers would be in the Breakthrough Battle Royale. Why would Teddy Long agree to let the Raw guest host possibly book his World Title match? And why bother having Smackdown wrestlers possibly in the Battle Royale if you are just going to include one? What's the point? I guess you needed more mid carders to feature in the qualifiers, but there is Carlito. There is Santino Marella. There is even Festus. I know two of them haven't been on in a while, but Primo hardly has been either. And what about The Miz? They could have used those guys and kept Smackdown out of it. Also, Smackdown looked pretty week for their wrestlers losing almost all of the matches that they were involved in.

Jack Swagger: I like Shaemus and am fine giving him a push this early in his career. However, personally I see Jack Swagger having more talent. They are both good and have bright futures in pro wrestling, but I would rather see Swagger getting this push instead. Even if he isn't going to be pushed as high or as fast as Shaemus, having him on the Raw jobber team with Chavo Guerrero and Chris Masters really defines him as a lower card wrestler, not even in the mid card. That is a shame.

DX: After the great Survivor Series moment with Shawn Michaels surprising everyone with a Super Kick on Triple H at the start of their triple threat match with Cena, I was disappointed on the follow up. Michaels was right back to where he was before playing Triple H's sidekick. They did an ok job of moving past any tension, but then came the law suit from Hornswoggle. I really thought that last week was the end of this storyline, but unfortunately it is going to go on for at least another week. That sucks. I like that they will be facing JeriShow for the Tag Titles in a TLC match at TLC, but are they going to focus on wanting to win the Titles, or just on Hornswoggle? Also, Big Show after knee surgery trying to climb a ladder?

Pilgrims vs. Indians: This was terrible. Forget about the costumes for a second and focus on the fact that this was yet another 6 Divas tag match on Raw that lasted under 3 minutes. That has happened so many times this year. It is unbelievable. This was even worse because they also had Smackdown talent to use and still this is all they gave them to do? And did we really need another appearance from the Gobbledy Gooker? Seriously? It was a nice surprise to have it be Maryse in disguise to take out Melina after the match. Maryse will be a welcome addition back to the Raw brand considering the lack of heel Divas on the show. However, WWE didn't seem to put much thought into the premise as it took her forever to get out of the costume which became unintentionally funny.

Batista - Kane Tease: This was well scripted and well delivered by Kane and Batista, but do we ever need to see this match again? Ever?

Predictable Matches: Pretty much every Raw match had a predictable outcome this week. Most of them were pretty bland too. You knew who was going to win, and with a few exceptions, the quality just wasn't there. Most of the matches were short and there wasn't anything to them. With such predictable outcomes, it would have been nice to see some of the Breakthrough qualifiers have better quality in ring action.

Breakthrough Battle Royale: This was a pretty boring match. You knew that Kofi Kingston was going to face Randy Orton at TLC, so neither was going to win. There was no chance for R-Truth, MVP, or Mark Henry. That meant that the only possible winners were Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase and Shaemus. The way that Legacy has been booked lately, the chances of either winning were very slim, meaning that Shaemus was the the only real possibility. This was another predictable and boring match. Plus, having Shaemus pick his spots to surprise opponents with eliminations might show him having good strategy, but it played up him being opportunistic, not being a strong badass heel which he should be.

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.

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