By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Ziggler vs. Del Rio: After a poor first hour of Raw, the show started to get better with this good match between Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio. Ziggler and Del Rio do have good chemistry in the ring together. We have seen a lot of Ziggler, Del Rio and Jack Swagger against each other in various matches over the past month or so, so there is a concern of these match ups getting stale before Extreme Rules. But, if they can find a way to hype that match from here on without these three facing each other in any type of match, then it will be fine. As far as this match goes, Ziggler and Del Rio worked well together and the match got particularly good after the commercial break. Zeb Coulter added to the match doing guest commentary. Even though Ziggler looked close to losing, it was better to have the match end the way it did than for him to actually tap out to Del Rio again. It was also interesting to see Swagger standing tall after effectively using the ladder as a weapon to beat up both Ziggler and Del Rio.

Antonio Cesaro: I wish WWE hadn't dropped Antonio Cesaro's gimmick of loving America but hating Americans. I wish they hadn't given him the yodeling gimmick. I wish they were treating him better and giving him more of a push and keeping him stronger in the ring as he has looked weak lately. I am giving him a Hit this week for not yodeling and for getting a squash victory. I also like his post match promo. It was good in an isolated way, but didn't really ring true given his circumstances. He just lost to Kofi Kingston on Main Event last week, so it didn't make much sense for him to complain about the lack of competition. But, I am still giving it a minor Hit in the hopes that this is going to lead somewhere good for him.

Lesnar Crashes WWE Headquarters: I enjoyed the actual video of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar crashing WWE Headquarters and destroying Triple H's office. Heyman and Lesnar played their parts well. I loved the part on the elevator with that poor guy being glared at by Lesnar. Heyman's line about the receptionist being prettier than Stephanie McMahon made me laugh. It was also interesting to see as Heyman complained about the lack of a Lesnar poster being on display, that Lesnar stopped right in front of a poster of The Rock. I should have rewatched it, but I'm pretty sure that Heyman bumped into Lesnar's back right as they walked into Triple H's office, which I think was a cut in the otherwise uncut video to allow them to walk from the real receptionist area into a set of a fake Triple H office (for movie buffs, the same technique that Alfred Hitchcock used in "Rope" to make it look like the entire movie is one uncut shot). If I'm right, that was a clever technique. It was a bit cheesy how obviously old all of the technology was in Triple H's office for Lesnar to destroy, but it still worked well. I also like the fact that the COO of a major corporation has a sledgehammer hanging on the wall in his office.

Mark Henry: I loved Mark Henry's promo about Sheamus. It was great how he turned the "what?!" chant around on the fans. His delivery was very strong. He is playing his part so well right now and he is very believable. I also liked his brief stint on guest commentary during Sheamus' match against Wade Barrett. I would have liked to see Sheamus' victory come over someone other than the Intercontinental Champion. That sucked for Barrett. One thing that I appreciated is how the presumed stipulation of some sort of strap match for Henry vs. Sheamus at Extreme Rules was set up in an organic way here as Henry a belt as a weapon to get revenge on Sheamus for his antics over the past week. The whipping was very memorable and Henry was great at yelling at Sheamus while beating him.

Closing Segment: This is a minor Hit for how WWE presented the very end of the show after a lackluster main event (not Miss worthy, but certainly not Hit worthy either). I liked seeing Daniel Bryan come to the ring to try to protect Kane from The Shield. It made sense that Ryback would bail and that John Cena would come out also. WWE built nicely on previous similar situations with Ryback actually getting back in the ring with a chair to help chase off The Shield, only to show that his real reason for doing so was to attack Cena for himself. It was a strong way to end the show with the WWE Champion looking vulnerable and the challenger looking strong.

RAW MISSES

Opening Segment: Raw did not get off to a good start with the promo from John Cena. I am not a fan of Cena taking Daniel Bryan's bit. It was lame. The jokes were not funny. Vickie Guerrero's interruption was fine. I'm ok with the idea that she would take input from Cena and Ryback as to the stipulation for the WWE Title match at Extreme Rules. Vickie seems to be more of a middle of the road authority figure lately, not just a straight heel like she had been for so long. She was doing something nice for Cena in seeking his input, but he ended up looking like a jerk for making fun of her. Then we got Ryback choosing the stipulation of Last Man Standing and all I could think about was when Cena faced Batista at Extreme Rules a few years ago in a Last Man Standing match and he won with duct tape. That bad memory didn't make me want to see another Last Man Standing match involving Cena.

Sandow's Song: I have enjoyed much of Damian Sandow's work since his debut last year. I enjoyed his team with Cody Rhodes. I think more can be done with them as a team, but also would be fine seeing Sandow getting a big singles push. Some of his goofiness of his character might hold him down, but I was never as concerned with things like his post-match celebratory cartwheel as others in terms of not being "main event worthy." While I understood comparisons to Leaping Lanny Poffo, I didn't feel as strongly about those comparisons until Sandow started signing about Randy Orton on Raw this week. After a go nowhere feud against Tons of Funk, Sandow is just going nowhere himself and cheesy songs and multiple losses to Orton aren't going to help. The match itself was solid, but not particularly good.

Use of Jericho: Chris Jericho should be more important than working with Tons of Funk in a silly bit pretending to be dance judges to make fun of Fandango. I think Jericho needs one more run as either WWE or World Champion at this point in his career. Even if he is going to be on and off in his time in WWE, then give him a major Title victory, so that those on again appearances would seem more important. They can talk about his legacy all they want and the fact that he beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the same night to become the first undisputed champion, and how many Intercontinental Championships he has won, but what has he done lately? He is a novelty, not a big deal. These segments don't help. He would be more useful in putting over a new talent like Fandango if he was treated in a more serious manner.

The Shield vs. Usos & Kingston: The wrestling action in this match was fine. The problem is that The Shield doesn't need squash matches at this point after what they have been able to accomplish in matches involving stars like Cena, Ryback, Bryan, Kane, Orton, Sheamus, Big Show and The Undertaker. So, they don't need to face lighter competition. I would rather save their matches for bigger events. While this was mostly a squash, The Usos and Kingston got more offense in than they should have, even given Kingston's position as the United States Champion. So, I don't think this match should have happened, and if it was going to happen, it should have been half as long and The Shield should have gotten almost all of the offense.

Lesnar / Heyman / Triple H Saga: While I enjoyed the footage of Heyman and Lesnar destroying Triple H's office, I wasn't a fan of everything else that happened in this storyline. The constant hype throughout the show got overdone over time. I understand wanting to make this feel like a huge deal, but I was tired of the hype by the time we actually saw the video. Then afterwards, I liked how Heyman talked about how he is no longer going to try to control Lesnar, but will be encouraging his violence from now on. However, I didn't like Triple H's interruption. His words about his extreme background just didn't ring true to me. He continues to no sell Lesnar as a threat which doesn't make sense. The entire segment also just took way too long and I was bored with it after all the hype and the long video and then the long promo.

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 Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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