By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Hart's Farewell Promo: Bret Hart gave a good promo thanking the fans for welcoming him back and saying farewell after not getting what he wanted from Vince McMahon. He did a nice job of putting the entire angle into perspective and expressing his disappointment at not being able to at first make peace and at second have a match with McMahon. It was clearly setting up something to happen as you knew he wasn't actually leaving for good. It worked well as a nice set up for what happened next.

Cena vs. Triple H: This was a good main event to a pretty bad show. This was the only hit-worthy match of the night (although the others were all ok). It went about 12 minutes and was a good match. John Cena and Triple H have been in the ring together enough times that they can go through the motions and still deliver which is how I felt about this match. There wasn't anything on the line (other than the vague concept of momentum ). They wrestled like nothing was on the line. There was no urgency. However, it still featured good wrestling action. So, we'll call it a marginal Hit.

Sheamus Stands Tall: I liked seeing Sheamus standing tall at the end of Raw. He isn't focused on enough as the WWE Champion. He had been taken out by an RKO from Randy Orton earlier in the show, but it was good to see him ending the night on a much higher note after destroying both Cena and Triple H. Often, WWE has the Champion look strong in this case to set him up to lose the Title at the PPV. Time will tell if that is the case here, but I somehow doubt it. It makes little sense to me to keep him as the Champion this long only to lose now. If he loses, it has to be to Triple H (it won't be Kofki Kingston or Ted DiBiase as neither will become WWE Champion any time soon. John Cena will be involved at WrestleMania in a match against Batista, probably partnering with Bret Hart against McMahon, so he won't be Champion. Orton is likely to be in some sort of match against DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, in which case it makes no sense for him to be Champ either.). That means Triple H wins or Sheamus retains. If Triple H retains, who does he defend the Title against at WM? None of the others in the Chamber. Shawn Michaels? They still have to be going for him vs. Undertaker. That leaves Sheamus getting a rematch. If the match is Triple H vs. Sheamus, it makes more sense to have Triple H the challenger at WM than the Champion.

RAW MISSES

Car Crash: There was a nice set up for this scene as I mentioned above. However, I just wasn't a fan of this scene. I understand the point was to create speculation as to whether or not this was an accident, and if it wasn't an accident, then who was behind it? However, it just came across as lame to me. Much of my problem wasn't he idea, but the execution. John Cena way over acted in yelling at the woman who "accidentally" ran into Hart's lime (after all, Cena would have no reason to believe it was anything but an accident at that point). It was too cartoonish to be taken seriously. The announcers didn't help much later on when being over dramatic talking about it being the worst day in Hart's life. What about Montreal? What about Owen's death? What about his stroke? Give me a break. He hurt his leg. This wasn't that big of a deal, but they acted like it was the end of the world. And after watching multiple replays of it (after a replay of what happened last week), I am sick of seeing it already with three more replays this week to come and more next week too.

ShowMiz Loses: WWE has issues from time to time with not knowing how to build up Title contenders for the lesser Titles like the Tag Team Championship. They fall into the pattern of having a random challenger defeat the Champion in a non-title match, only to earn a future title match. That was the case here as Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry defeated ShowMiz. In addition to lazy writing, the problem here is that ShowMiz is a relatively new team and just won the Titles last week. How are we supposed to take them seriously as Champions when they won the Titles because of DX's miscommunication and they lose a non-title match one week later? They should be built up for awhile after winning the belts.

The Jerry Springer: I'm not totally sure what to say about this segment. It wasn't all bad. I thought there were a few (emphasis on "few") funny moments, like when Jerry Springer said that Jerry Lawler usually picks up his women at recess. I liked that Santino Marella got in a reference to Grand Master Sexay. This was a good spoof of a typical Jerry Springer Show. And, in the end it was all a big joke. However, it was also a total waste of time. Most of it was very lame. I don't understand how you can say you are aiming your show at kids and then have something like this. Don't get me wrong. I'm fine with more adult themes and language in general (depending of course on the circumstances). But don't say you are kid friendly and have Kelly Kelly acting like a slut and talking about having sex with multiple men in the same night. If you want to go that route, then go that route and do away with all the kiddie stuff. I can't believe that I agree with The Great Khali that this was a waste of time. It was stupid and lame.

HBK Follow-Up: Was it just me, or was there a glaring omission from this week's Raw? What happened to Shawn Michaels? Last week he Superkicked Teddy Long and told Triple H that his career is over. That wasn't even mentioned this week. I can understand not having HBK on to draw out the idea that he walked away from WWE last week. However, if that is the case, then a huge deal should have been made about it this week. Michaels walking out on WWE should be a major focus. Instead, it wasn't even mentioned which makes no sense. The only time Michaels was mentioned was when the announcers talked about Triple H being in more tag team matches than singles matches lately. On a show where they showed replays of Hart - McMahon, Cena - Batista, multiple replays of the car crash, an Elimination Chamber video, and that incomprehensibly long waste of a time Springer segment, I find it hard to believe that they couldn't even find a few minutes to address what happened with Michaels last week.

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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