By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Dance Contest: I was not expecting to give the dance contest between Fandango and Chris Jericho a Hit. I am still only giving it a minor Hit. If wrestling were real, as I always believe it should be presented, would they ever actually have a dance contest? I somehow doubt it. They should not have been having one at all. I appreciate the fact that it turned into an ambush attack by Fandango on Jericho. The beating was well done. It gave a chance for them to establish Summer Rae as more than just a dance partner as she was part of the plan to dupe Jericho. Would I have rather seen something else start off Raw? Sure. But, I was just happy that they didn't actually have a dance contest in the end.

Triple H - Lesnar Recap: The videos shown throughout Raw of the history between Triple H and Brock Lesnar were a good way to recap their feud to build towards their face to face confrontation at the end of the show. This is a simple yet effective technique.

Mark Henry: Mark Henry continues to play his role very well, which isn't surprising, because that is what he does. WWE seems to be confused as to how to keep Henry a heel. His amazing show of strength on Smackdown seemed like a babyface move to me, especially after he appeared to be unable to drag the two trucks, but refused to give up, and ultimately found the strength to do it. Why is he a heel? Here, they had him playing the role of a bully to establish him as a heel, so that was smart. However, he was bullying Josh Mathews which just made me want to cheer him even more. I do like that he is not a typical cowardly heel. I like the fact that he challenged Sheamus to come out to the ring to fight. His performance was spot on and in the end, Sheamus got the better of him to give his fans hope that he will be able to whip Henry some more at Extreme Rules.

The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Cena: This Hit is for the quality of the match itself before the final few moments and the actual outcome of the match which will get a Miss later. For now I will say that I enjoyed most of this match. There was good wrestling throughout. I liked the booking of the first four eliminations. Having Kane snap and ultimately get himself disqualified fit in perfectly with his recent storyline considering what The Shield did to The Undertaker a few weeks ago. The Shield used their typical numbers game tactics to get Daniel Bryan eliminated despite a great showing from Bryan right before that. I didn't mind John Cena getting one elimination with an AA onto Seth Rollins. I didn't even mind Roman Reigns getting disqualified for pushing the referee away to spear Cena. But, that is where the Hit ends.

Jericho's Interview: After the opening segment, it was good to see some follow up in the form of an interview with Jericho. It was even better to see Jericho cutting a serious promo, putting all the silliness with dancing and judging Fandango and getting his name wrong behind him and vowing to beat Fandango at the PPV.

Triple H - Lesnar: This is another minor Hit. I had conflicting feelings about the show closing segment of Raw. I think Triple H, Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar all played their parts well. The mic work from The Game and Heyman was strong. I'm not sure that suggesting Lesnar has lost his mystique is a good idea. I did like the fact that Lesnar accepted Triple H's challenge to fight right then and there. He did it in a very protracted way to make the fans wonder if he would ever actually get into the cage. That was well done. The brief physical encounter was also. I don't really have a problem with Triple H getting the better of Lesnar as that was the happy ending that WWE likes to do, but it did reinforce the idea that Lesnar isn't special any more. If he isn't special, then why have him around? He is a special attraction so he should be special. If he beats Triple H and gets that mystique back at Extreme Rules then things will be different. I guess we will find out on Sunday.

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RAW MISSES

WWE App: First it was Twitter overload. Then it was Tout overload. And now WWE has officially gone to WWE App overload. The plugs for their app have been annoying before and sometimes comical, like when they plugged the app by saying that those who had it could have heard Antonio Cesaro yodeling during the commercial break. I know I downloaded it right away when I heard that. This week, though, the annoying plugs for the app went totally overboard. It is cool to continue to watch the matches while the commercials are going. If you are watching live, just keep the tv on USA (which should make the network happy) and continue watching the match on your phone or tablet. What upset me this week was the constant plugs for the app during the matches, showing other things happening like backstage interviews. The message they were sending was that the match and the announcers weren't important enough to give 100 percent of your attention to, so watch this interview that's happening instead of really paying attention to the match or listening to the announcers. I don't like that message and the plugs got very bothersome as the show progressed.

World Title Match Change: I will start with the obvious. Dolph Ziggler should not wrestle on Sunday. It is good that WWE is taking their time with him after his concussion last week. However, I don't like how they are handling the situation on tv. Both Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger had earned a shot at the World Title. Why should they now have to wrestle each other to earn a shot at the World Title? That doesn't make sense. WWE used to have a policy where champions have to defend their titles every 30 days. That has gone away and late last year, C.M. Punk went longer than that after his knee injury, though I'm not sure how long it actually was (but certainly over a month as he never defended the Title in December). They need to have a stated rule and follow it. I hate to see Ziggler stripped of the World Title, but that might have to happen if his symptoms continue. It is a tough situation, because you don't want to take the match away completely, so I understand why they made the #1 contender match, but I still say it doesn't seem fair. Even if I were okay with making the match, why change it from a ladder match? That is what they have been building to for a few weeks. Keep it a ladder match with the contract hanging above the ring. This last minute change to an I Quit match makes some sense given that Del Rio and Swagger both use submission finishers, but they haven't had time to establish that stipulation in the last week before the PPV.

First 5 Matches: There wasn't anything wrong individually with all of the first five matches on Raw (though with some of them), but as a whole the matches didn't do anything for me and took up the first half of the show in terms of the in ring portion of it. Ryback squashed Zack Ryder in a minute which was fine. That is what should have happened. The Prime Time Players beat Tons of Funk in less than two minutes. I'm not sure what the point of this was. On a PPV lead-in show, you really see why they are hurt by the three-hour format as they have too much filler which takes away from hyping the PPV. Tons of Funk seemed to have momentum whereas the Players hadn't won or even been on tv much lately, so why have them go over? Kofi Kingston defeated Damian Sandow in under three minutes. This was fine. Kingston needed a strong win as the U.S. Champion going into his Title defense on Sunday. I just wish we had some interaction between him and his challenger Dean Ambrose. Randy Orton beat Cesaro in three minutes. Again, I get wanting Orton to have a strong win before his PPV match, but why did it have to come at the expense of Cesaro after their much longer match last week? This made Cesaro look weak, a week after his promo about needing more competition. And they did nothing to make me want to see Orton vs. The Big Show. The fifth match was The Miz beating Heath Slater in four minutes. Again, this felt like too much filler with a wrestler who hasn't been on in a month returning on a go home show for a PPV that he isn't really a part of beyond a thrown together random meaningless match on the pre-show. These matches were short, the quality wasn't high, and for the most part they felt more like filler than focused go home content to sell a PPV.

Six-Man Tag Outcome: I was very disappointed in The Shield losing its undefeated streak so soon. It wasn't on a PPV. It wasn't even in the Raw main event. It wasn't in a match that was hyped a week in advance. And of course, it had to come at the hands of Super Cena. After Reigns got disqualified, Ambrose should have gotten the win with Cena selling the effects of Reigns's spear. They have done a nice job of establishing that as a finisher and this would have solidified it as one. Instead, Cena kicks out and despite all the punishment, he is able to get the STF on Ambrose causing the rest of the team to come back to Ambrose's aid to lose by disqualification. Why not have Ambrose get the win, to save their first loss for a much bigger match down the line? Then have him trash talk the defeated Cena, only to have Cena show fight by putting him in the STF at that point, and then have the team come back for the post-match beating, followed by the beating from Ryback.

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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