By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Undertaker - Michaels: Raw got off to a good start with the verbal confrontation between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. It wasn't great, but it was good. I like that for this match WWE is letting the fans choose who to root for. In the other big matches, there are clear cut babyfaces and heels, so having one match with some ambiguity is a good thing. Some fans are going to cheer Undertaker, others Michaels. That was the case here. The good news for WWE, is that it seemed like every fan was into the promo exchange. They were making noise. The added no DQ/count out stipulation was ok. It certainly would clear they way for Wade Keller's Triple H scenario to play out.

Legacy vs. Orton: This was a good handicap match of Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Orton. I appreciate how WWE booked this match to keep Rhodes & DiBiase credible (as opposed to about this time last year when Shane McMahon kept beating them and Orton up). Orton got in plenty of his own offense to keep the crowd behind him, while Rhodes & DiBiase used their numbers advantage to ultimately get the win. The announcers did a nice job during the match of putting it in context as Legacy was trying to take what they had learned from Orton and use it against him (and that bit about Jerry Lawler saying his two keys to success was really funny, and Michael Cole did a good job at the end of emphasizing how DiBiase had cost Orton his opportunity to main event WrestleMania). The match had good wrestling action and a strong finish with DiBiase getting the pin. Where do they go from here? With Kofi Kingston not in Money in the Bank or any other match, my crazy prediction last week that he could end up teaming with Orton doesn't seem as crazy this week.

Hyping Next Week's Show: WWE did a very good job of hyping next week's show. They announced a few times that Stone Cold Steve Austin would be returning to Raw as the guest host. They also announced the theme for next week of WrestleMania rewind (which seems to have become a bit of a tradition) and three big matches which will hopefully be given some time. Nobody is going to skip WrestleMania just because they already saw both Michaels and Chris Jericho in a long match two week before the biggest PPV of the year. They also announced that Austin would officiate the contract signing between Vince McMahon and Bret Hart.

RAW MISSES

Triple H's Revisionist History: I liked how this segment started and ended. Triple H was good in his promo about respecting what Sheamus did to him last week. What didn't work for me was Triple H's history lesson that followed. The start was fine with him talking about challenging a big star at his first WM just as Sheamus is challenging him (WrestleMania 12 by the way against a returning Ultimate Warrior, where Hunter Hearst Helmsley had Sable in his corner - what a difference 14 years makes!). Then, Triple H started talking about how he had to climb his way to the top after that and how he became the guy everyone wants to face at WM to make a name for themselves. He specifically mentioned John Cena and Batista as the only two who have succeeded while everyone else faded into obscurity. I hate to be a WWE historian here, but I don't think Hunter has his facts in order on this one and it bothered me. He has enough history that he shouldn't have to lie at this point to get over with the fans. Lets take a look: At 13 he defeated Goldust, who is still around (which does amaze me). At 14 he defeated Owen Hart who is dead. At 15 he lost to Kane. At 16 he defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show in the main event. Foley "retired." Rock still had three years left at the top before retiring. Show is still a big star. That hardly seems to be fading into obscurity. At 17 he lost to Undertaker (who wasn't listed with Cena and Batista, and certainly was not trying to make a name for himself at Triple H's expense). At 18 he defeated Chris Jericho, the current World Champion (again, not in obscurity). At 19 he beat Booker T (who had a long WWE career including some World Title runs after that). At 20 he lost to Chris Benoit. The next two were the two that he mentioned. Then he was hurt. Then he lost to Randy Orton and last year defeated him. That was a long tangent, but I had to point out that what Triple H was saying was pure BS.

Another Short MIB Qualifier: Is it wrong to want to see some actual wrestling on a wrestling program? I understand that WWE is going to go light on in ring action as they are saving it up for WM. However, they can do that and still give the fans some quality wrestling. After two really short Money in the Bank qualifiers last week, WWE did it again with the final qualifier between Evan Bourne and William Regal which lasted less than 2 minutes. Raw fans can't be critical of the lack of wrestling on Impact with the way things have been going lately. On a side note, this year's MIB match is full of guys who can potentially do some amazing things in a ladder match (Christian, Bourne, Hardy, Benjamin), some intriguing new comers (Ziggler and Swagger), plus MVP and Kane. I believe that mix can put on a good match, however it seems light on World Title contenders (which could be a good thing for pushing someone new). If you had asked me before any of the qualifiers who I thought would win, the first two names to pop in my head would have been John Morrison and Kofi Kingston. Since neither of them are in the match, it will be interesting to see who the victory goes to (Christian might be the early favorite).

Gauntlet Handicap Match: This is a marginal Miss. Obviously, I would rather see something like this than a match between McMahon and John Cena. I would also rather see this than see a real gauntlet where Cena single handedly buries the entire Raw mid card (DX style). I give WWE credit for not having Cena pick up victories over guys like Drew McIntyre and Jack Swagger. Also, they never hit their finishers on Cena, so it isn't like he kicked out of their finishers which was also nice. However, the whole thing was pretty lame. There didn't seem to be any actual rules to the match. The announcers should have at least questioned why Vladimir Kozlov left right after tagging out to McMahon. He hadn't been eliminated. It was stupid. Kofi Kingston's attempt at a save seemed too random and forced. His music starting to play after he was in the ring was a bit of a miscue. The segment ended strong with McMahon getting the pin after more bad things happened to Cena while in the ring with Batista. But, it was poor before that point. Again, I liked some of what they did which is why I'm calling it just a marginal Miss.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, 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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