By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

NXT HITS

Miz - Bryan: The relationship between Miz and his rookie Daniel Bryan continues to be the top reason to tune into NXT each week. I liked how Miz did some "coaching" to Bryan before the match, threatening to get him kicked off the show if he takes another loss (which did beg the question as to whether or not Miz has that power, or what power does he have? WWE needs to address exactly how this competition is going to work going forward). Their tag match against R-Truth & David Otunga was pretty good. There was solid wrestling action, plus the further tension between Miz and Bryan as Miz tagged himself in when Bryan appeared to have the match won with a submission hold on Otunga, costing them the match in the mean time. The verbal confrontations between them right away and then after the commercial break were well done too.

Chris Jericho: Jericho is the man. He is so great on the mic right now. I enjoyed his brief scene in the back with his rookie Wade Barrett (that's B-A-double R-E-double T) interrupting Matt Hardy's pep talk to his rookie Justin Gabriel. The scene was strong from start to finish, but it was particularly good once Jericho showed up. As we have seen many times before, Jericho's awesomeness was apparent during the main event of Barrett vs. Gabriel as he yelled at the announcers telling them to talk more about how great his coaching of Barrett has been. His attack on Hardy and Gabriel afterwards was good too, and it will be interesting to see how Hardy responds on Smackdown this week.

NXT MISSES

Michael Tarver: After three episodes of NXT, Tarver has gotten the least amount of an introduction. This Miss isn't for Tarver himself, but for the fact that WWE hasn't done anything to introduce us to him other than this vague notion that he can knock someone out in 1.9 seconds. He wasn't able to do that in taking a loss in the first week. The second week he wasn't on. The third week he was only on in Carlito's corner for his (solid) match against Heath Slater. Bryan has been the center piece, but they have also done a good job of introducing us to the rest of the crew with the exception of Tarver. Maybe he is the weakest link and they know it which is why they haven't given him much time so far. But, the show is supposed to highlight these eight rookies equally to have the coaches judge them, and that hasn't happened thus far.

Gabriel = Bourne: So far, about all we know about Justin Gabriel is that he can do a really cool high flying finishing move, the 450 splash. Last week in a tag match, we saw some of him in the ring, but Matt Hardy was in for most of the match for their team, before tagging out to Gabriel who only did the splash at that point for the win. This week, Gabriel was dominated for most of his match against Barrett before blocking a superplex type move and hitting the splash for the win. It really reminded me of Evan Bourne's last two matches, both against William Regal (one on last week's Superstars, one on Raw this week). Each match was dominated by Regal until Bourne hit one move to set up the Air Bourne. I know Bourne can do so many more incredible moves, plus just work a match. But unfortunately, WWE often treats him as a one move superstar. We haven't seen enough of Gabriel to know more about him, but I have a feeling that he has more to offer in a match than selling and hitting one great looking move.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt