By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: The final two hour Raw (they will be missed) got off to a good start with the in ring verbal encounter between WWE Champion CM Punk and The Big Show. WWE effectively caught up viewers who hadn't seen Money in the Bank that Punk retained the Title against Daniel Bryan and that John Cena became Mr. Money in the Bank. The verbal sparring between Show and Punk was solid. It wasn't great, but it was good enough. The main purpose was to catch the audience up which it did, and to give a hook for the rest of the show which it did. I don't know how many fans were excited about a Punk vs. Show main event, but the hook was whether or not Cena would cash in his MITB briefcase afterwards and the announcers did a nice job of selling that notion at that point and throughout the rest of the show.

Mysterio Returns: WWE has been hurting for star power as of late, so the return of Rey Mysterio should be a big plus. A feud with Alberto Del Rio, though nothing new, will at least feel fresh as it has been a year since Del Rio "injured" Mysterio. This allows Del Rio to focus on Mysterio for awhile including a presumptive match at SummerSlam, while allowing Sheamus to move on to someone new to defend his World Title against. Now, let's just hope that Mysterio stays clean as we don't want to see him get fired.

Swagger - Ryback: I appreciate the fact that WWE is making a big deal about Jack Swagger's losing streak. That suggests they have something in mind for him and are at least treating his losses as big deals. I don't know that Ryback has the skill to do more than squash jobbers, but at some point we need to find out. I like seeing something different with him as Swagger attacked him before the match started. It was good to see an aggressive side of Swagger and to see Ryback have to fight back a little. The match never happened which gives Swagger an out for not taking another loss, while making Ryback look strong for fighting off the cheap attack.

Ziggler - Jericho: This segment stood out to me for a number of reasons. For one, it was a good way to inform fans that Dolph Ziggler won the World Title MITB match and it allowed him to reinforce the fact that every MITB cash in has been successful. For another, this was some of Ziggler's best mic work in his career. His promo on Chris Jericho might have been his very best (can't recall any better). He did a great job. For another, it was interesting to see Jericho in a segment where he doesn't say anything (after his silent return, he has been very vocal as you would expect). Is this a start of a babyface turn? If so, pointing out that he never wins isn't a great way to rally fans behind him. I'm not sure where WWE is going to go with this as they are both heels who have a lot of fans. But, I'm intrigued to see what is coming next.

Punk vs. Show: C.M. Punk and The Big Show put on a good main event. It was nice to see even a nine-minute match go uninterrupted on Raw. The ending was predictable, but the right move to keep Show strong and allow him to physically dominate Punk without giving Punk a loss. They worked well together as it looked believable that someone as small as Punk could physically hang with someone the size of Show. Punk's striking offense looked like it hurt. I loved the sequence of kicks to Show's head leading to the three consecutive running knees to the head. That all worked very well to make Show look in jeopardy. There was the nice near fall after the choke slam and the tease of the WMD. It was a good match.

Hyping Raw 1,000: This is a marginal Hit. It was important for WWE to hype next week's 1,000th episode of Raw and to focus on the early start time and the three-hour length. They did that in a big way. They hyped the hell out of the show with plenty of reminders about the early start time with the emphasis that DX will start the show at 8:00 p.m. They hyped appearances by The Rock and Brock Lesnar, and have promised to name the new permanent Raw GM on the show (though the search for a new GM could have been stronger over the past month). They also announced that Christian will defend the Intercontinental Championship, that Daniel Bryan and A.J. will get married and that Cena will cash in his MITB briefcase to face Punk for the WWE Title. WWE gave plenty of reasons to tune in next week, and fans who have even been paying only slight attention to the product would have to be idiots not to know that it starts an hour early. All of that is good. The reason I'm calling it a marginal Hit is that next week's episode does seem a little too stacked for me. If it was a one and done in terms of 3 hour Raws then I might feel differently. But, this seems like they are throwing every single thing into next week's show to get as many viewers as possible, but where will that leave them for episode #1,001? Rock, Lesnar, HBK won't be on. There won't be (hopefully) another WWE Title match. There won't be a wedding. There won't be a new GM to introduce. The wedding and the WWE Title match definitely seem to be coming too soon (more later).

RAW MISSES

AW and The Prime Time Players: I'm not sure what to think about this act. I do not believe that Titus O'Niel and Daren Young have the talent to be in WWE. The act itself has some potential to get over as being obnoxious and annoying, but then they have to wrestle and they are not very good. AW is good at being annoying, so that is a plus, but he has been introduced to the WWE Universe as a terrible manager whose gimmick is to distract his own team so that they lose. That doesn't seem like a sustainable gimmick to me. In the right situation with better writing, AW could work as a manager who gets under the skins of the fans who hate his annoying manner and the way he commentates during a match, but I would rather see it with wrestlers whom I want to see in the ring.

Tout: It is only Week 1 of WWE's partnership/investment in Tout, but I am already sick of it. I understand why they are doing it. I get how it can be a useful way to further connect and interact with their audience. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing in and of itself. But, I don't want to see Touts from WWE Superstars and members of the WWE Universe during Raw or Smackdown. That is not why I tune in to WWE tv each week. I don't care what random fans have to say. Even if I did, like on Twitter, I could follow wrestlers on Tout, or (I'm assuming as I haven't actually checked Tout out) join in the conversation so to speak and see what fans are saying about their favorite Raw moment in 15-second clips. As annoying as WWE's obsession has been with Twitter, I am fearing how overboard they are going to go with a company that they actually have a financial stake in at this point.

Bryan & A.J.: I have been a fan of the storyline surrounding Bryan, A.J., and Punk, including Kane's involvement as well. However, I wasn't high on what happened on Raw. I understand the need to have Punk move on to something else at some point, but I'm not sure that this was the point. I'm fine with the feud between Punk and Bryan being over for now, but after everything that has happened between him and A.J., a brief mention of her confused state during his opening segment promo doesn't seem like a strong enough conclusion to their storyline together. Moving past that, I wasn't happy with The Miz's return to Raw. If this is how his return went, I doubt there are good things on the horizon for him. Perhaps he will get involved in the wedding next week, but if this was all they had planned for him otherwise, then why not use someone like David Otunga as Eve's partner? If they are building to something, then okay, but if not then this was a waste of Miz's return. Getting back to the main point, this has been a fun long angle, and it just seems like WWE is rushing towards the end of it by getting Punk out of the way, having Daniel Bryan tell A.J. he loves her, having him propose to her, having her say yes, and having them announce the wedding is next week all in the same episode. This could have been stretched out some more and I don't think fans would have minded.

Clay vs. JTG: It is becoming clear that Brodus Clay's non-squash matches are boring. Maybe his squash matches are too, but they are short enough not to notice. This was a boring match, and if you want Clay to ever get over, you need to move him on to something better than this (what happened to his feud against Otunga?). Having him sell for JTG shows that he isn't that good considering how low on the ladder JTG is. I could have done without this match at all, especially given Rikishi's appearance earlier in the show. Did we need two matches on Raw that ended with the victor and his entourage dancing? Clay could have been somehow utilized with Rikishi instead if they wanted him on at all, but this seems like a time to give him the week off.

Cena's Announcement: I can't imagine too many in the know fans actually thought that Cena would cash in his Title shot against Punk on the spot this week. I think most of us were assuming it would be at SummerSlam (that's at least what I thought). As I said above, they seem to be putting too much into Raw 1,000. Cena vs. Punk would be a great SummerSlam main event. It would mean that the WWE Title match would actually be the main event of a PPV for the first time in 2012. Now, nothing is saying that won't happen. There might be a rematch, but that would mean either Punk loses next week and gets his rematch at SummerSlam (I'm not a fan of that scenario) or that there is some sort of funny business leading to a non-finish, which would be disappointing for a MITB cash in. I am also worried about Big Show's possible involvement. Also, the announcement itself wasn't executed very well. Punk was hurt, but not so hurt that a cash in would have been an automatic win for Cena (there wasn't a KO punch). Show's interruption was clunky. It wasn't well scripted. The whole thing left me a little cold.

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

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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