CONTACTABOUTFACEBOOKTWITTERPODCAST IPHONE APPANDROID APPAMAZON APPRSS
Pro Wrestling Torch
Pro Wrestling Torch Reaches The Most Wrestling Fans Every Week: #1 in iTunes • #1 on iPhone and iPad • #1 on Android • #1 on Kindle
GOT THE PWTORCH APP YET?
iPhone & iPad
Android
Amazon Kindle
Windows Phone
PWTorch Phone App
Hits & Misses
HITS & MISSES - 2/24 WWE Raw: Hogan, Cena's Knee Injury, Batista - Orton, Kane vs. Bryan, Lesnar - Undertaker

Feb 26, 2014 - 4:11:46 PM
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO BOOKMARK US & VISIT US DAILY


HoganHulk_Wide_GG_5.png



By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Hulk Hogan: This was a pretty good way to start Raw on the first day of the WWE Network. I'm glad that the returning Hulk Hogan will not be wrestling. WWE has found a good role for him as the host of WrestleMania the way that The Rock hosted a few years ago. Hogan wasn't asked to do much here other than hype the Network and WrestleMania which was fine. It was kept short which was good. He did his job well and hasn't yet overstayed his welcome.

Batista - Orton: I am giving this post-match verbal encounter a minor Hit. I'm glad that WWE isn't ignoring the boos. Before his match against Alberto Del Rio (the match was ok, not a Hit or a Miss, though that one botched kick spot was pretty bad), Batista even pointed out a "Boo-Tista" sign. It would be stupid to ignore the chants and the boos so it was good that WWE acknowledged them. I have no idea where WWE is going to go with him and Randy Orton, but this made me at least feel like WWE has a plan which I wasn't sure they had before this. Orton's a heel who has been emasculated and has more go away heat than legit heel heat at this point. Batista is a babyface who gets far more boos than cheers. Nobody wants to see either of these guys is the WWE Title match at the PPV. So, the idea of having them in that match is a Miss. But, once that decision is final they need to do something and I think Batista's promo was strong and hopefully the start of something good. I'm reaching here aren't I?

Sheamus vs. Christian: I liked this match on Smackdown. I thought that they might be setting up a rematch for WrestleMania, but instead we got it on Raw. I liked the rematch too, though it wasn't quite as good as their Smackdown match. The crowd got a little restless during the match with their "Go Pack Go" chant, but now I'm putting very little stock into these chants. There is a portion of each crowd that is showing up with a checklist of chants that they want to do during the show and no matter what happens on the show, or in terms of the quality of the show, they are going to get in their "J-B-L" or "CM Punk" or "Under-Taker" or "Randy Savage" or in this case "Go Pack Go" chants. Later on, this crowd even got in a "Husky Harris" chant which we haven't heard at all recently. Getting back to the match, Sheamus and Christian work well together. They have put on back to back good matches. I don't know what WWE has in mind for either at WrestleMania. I don't really want to see another rematch between them at this point, but I'm not sure what they could possibly be doing.

Bryan vs. Kane: This was a good match. I'm not surprised. It was easily the best match of the night. I'm not really a fan of Corporate Kane's ring gear, but I guess it fits his new character. The match went nearly 16 minutes and was fun to watch from start to finish. They did a nice job of focusing on Bryan's injured shoulder. The nearfall after Kane choke slammed Bryan was very well done. That was so close and well executed that it got a great pop from the crowd. The ending worked well with Kane twice escaping attempts at the Yes! Lock only to have Bryan get the win a moment later with the knee smash. The only problem I had with this match was the constant bickering about The Authority vs. Daniel Bryan among the announcers. It is getting so old and tiresome. I want to see a top to bottom change in the approach with which WWE presents the announcers. But, that's a topic for another day. This also seemed like a match that could have been announced for a week in advance and really hyped up as next week's Raw main event. That is just one poor booking decision among many (much more later). Daniel Bryan was also good after the match in his challenge to Triple H for a match at WrestleMania. If that match happens, it is the best choice to end WrestleMania as far as I'm concerned.

Lesnar - Taker: I am far from sold on this match up for The Undertake's Streak at WM. Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker doesn't sound great to me at this point. They faced off many years ago, but a lot has changed since then. Lesnar isn't exactly coming off a streak of great matches since his return to WWE. WWE insists on booking him in brawls with lots of weapons instead of regular wrestling matches which I remember him having many good ones in his 2 year run in WWE 10 years ago. I was disappointed when Lesnar vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam was made no DQ. It was a good match, I think Lesnar's best this time around, but it didn't need to be no DQ. I am worried that this will be more of the same. My wife started watching WWE when we started dating about five months after Lesnar left. She doesn't see why Lesnar is so highly regarded. She didn't see his WrestleMania 19 match against Kurt Angle. She didn't see his series of good to great matches against Chris Benoit. She didn't see his very good WWE Title loss to Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out in 2004 (which I had the pleasure of seeing in person at the Cow Palace). To her, he is just a big guy who bashes people with chairs and has slow plodding matches. Are newer fans who don't care about UFC thinking the same thing? That is my concern. He doesn't seem to get as strong a reaction as he did when he first came back.

That is a lot of negativity in a Hit. But the Hit is for the segment on Raw which was very well done even if it was predictable. Paul Heyman was great in his promo about Brock conquering history and being upset that The Authority is refusing to give Brock more history to conquer at WM. The Undertaker's entrance still feels special even after all these years. I liked the face off between Lesnar and Taker, especially after Lesnar signed the contract and stuck the pen in Taker's chest with Heyman laughing in the background. I liked the emphatic statement from Undertaker when he stabbed Lesnar's hand with the pen and then choke slammed him. This was far from Triple H challenging Taker a few years ago, but I like it better than the start to Taker vs. Punk from last year. Hopefully the match will be better than I think it will be.

RAW MISSES

Booking Decisions: This is a Miss that encompasses multiple moments during Raw. The first is having a rematch of Batista vs. Del Rio. I just don't like having a PPV rematch (even a mid card match) the next night on Raw. PPVs should feel like special events and rematches the next night take away from that feeling.

I also question putting an up and coming babyface like Big E whom WWE is trying to build up and get big cheers from the fans in a match with a popular heel like Cesaro. The match itself was solid, but the fans didn't get into it for the most part. The Cesaro Swing is one of the most over moves in WWE, but you set up Big E to get booed by kicking Cesaro away on the attempt. Why not just keep him from getting booed and have Cesaro hit the Swing on the first attempt? And I continue to get the feeling that Jack Swagger will be dumped by Cesaro and Zeb Colter which should make him a babyface, but of the two, Cesaro is the one who should be a face. By the way, if you want to turn Cesaro face, have Colter slap Swagger a few more times to motivate him and have it work, but make Swagger look weak in the process. Then have Cesaro mess up once and cost Swagger a match. Then have Colter slap Cesaro, and have Cesaro snap back. He doesn't take it the way Swagger did. He gets in Colter's face and then have Swagger come to Colter's aid and the fight between Cesaro and Swagger is on.

I also question the booking of The New Age Outlaws vs. The Usos. Again, it was a rematch from the PPV. But, why? It wasn't for the Tag Team Championship, but did the Usos really deserve another match against the Champions? Of course, the bigger issue was how the match went down. If the Outlaws are supposed to be heels, then they have to stop doing their prematch ritual. Didn't the Usos, or some agent or member of creative know that they would get booed for interrupting Road Dogg's introduction? It boggles my mind. Why do they want to get a babyface team booed? They had to know that was going to happen. They need to start having the Outlaws actually be heels. It would be really easy of them to have Road Dogg start to do the introduction, but then stop and say Green Bay isn't worth it. There you go, instant heel heat. It isn't that difficult.

Cena's Knee Injury: I give John Cena credit for the way that he sold his knee injury. If the goal was to make the injury look legit and make the fans think that it wasn't scripted, then he did a great job of pulling that off. However, that is a really stupid goal. Everything in pro wrestling should be presented as if it were real. This made it look like his knee injury was a fluke. It didn't make The Wyatt Family look strong for injuring him. It was an accident. Then they backed off when he was hurt. Why would they back off? If it was a real injury, they would have to and you just take the fact that they look weak, because you have no choice. But, they had a choice here. It is crazy to me to try to get real injury buzz on a fake injury at the expense of making the Wyatt Family look strong, especially in a way that made them look so weak.

Wyatt vs. Reigns: This was not a good match. There were some good spots to it, but it didn't add up to much at all. Roman Reigns has been getting strong reactions, and has had good performances, but mostly in the Shield tag matches, but not as strong as far as I'm concerned in his singles matches. That was the case here. Reigns isn't ready for a prime time singles push yet. The Shield is still a great act as a trio even with the tension in the group. I liked that they stood tall here, so maybe WWE won't rush to break them up, but I assume they will pretty soon. The match was slow. At one point there was a boring chant, which Bray Wyatt responded to with a headlock. You have to be able to respond to the fans and go with the flow. Responding to a boring chant with a headlock doesn't get the job done. As much as the fans wanted to see The Wyatts vs. The Shield, they had no desire to see this match. I also question the booking of continuing this feud when they want to move on to Wyatt vs. Cena. They need to start to move The Shield away from The Wyatts and on to whatever they are going to have them do at WrestleMania.

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]


We suggest these recent related articles...
9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt
9/7 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Paige vs. Banks, Rollins vs. Ryback, Orton vs. Sheamus, Cena & PTPs vs. Rollins & New Day
8/24 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Opening Segment, New Day, Dudleys return, Stewart, Sting
prowrestling.net
CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE PW.NET HEADLINES


CLICK TO EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING

NEW! SIGN UP FOR FREE PWTORCH BREAKING NEWS EMAIL ALERTS
BECOME A PWTORCH VIP MEMBER
-FORMER MEMBERS LOGIN HERE TO RENEW
-NEW MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
SELECT BY ARTICLES CATEGORY
SEARCH PWTORCH.COM



CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF UPCOMING PRO WRESTLING EVENTS
MORE HEADLINES AT AFFILIATE SITES
MMATorch
LATEST HEADLINES - CLICK TO READ CLICK HERE FOR MORE MMATORCH HEADLINES


PWTORCH POLL - VOTE NOW!
RAW POLL 10/12: Vote on Monday's show
 
pollcode.com free polls


RAW POLL 10/12: What was the Best Match on Raw?
 
pollcode.com free polls
MCNEILL LIVECAST POLL: TNA will have a 32-person tournament to determine a new Hvt. champion - your thoughts?
 
pollcode.com free polls
CENA POLL: If John Cena takes a year-end break, who should win the U.S. Title from Cena?
 
pollcode.com free polls
VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS



LATEST HEADLINES - CLICK TO READ CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE INC HEADLINES

_
LATEST FREE AUDIO SHOWS - CLICK TO LISTEN VIEW MORE PWTORCH LIVECAST EPISODES
DOWNLOAD PWTORCH LIVECAST APP
SUBSCRIBE TO PWTORCH LIVECAST IN ITUNES


ABOUT US

THE TORCH REACHES MORE COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT FANS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

PWTorch editor Wade Keller has covered pro wrestling full time since 1987 starting with the Pro Wrestling Torch print newsletter. PWTorch.com launched in 1999 and the PWTorch Apps launched in 2008.

He has conducted "Torch Talk" insider interviews with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jesse Ventura, Lou Thesz, Jerry Lawler, Mick Foley, Jim Ross, Paul Heyman, Bruno Sammartino, Goldberg, more.

He has interviewed big-name players in person incluiding Vince McMahon (at WWE Headquarters), Dana White (in Las Vegas), Eric Bischoff (at the first Nitro at Mall of America), Brock Lesnar (after his first UFC win).

He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)


REACHING 1 MILLION+ UNIQUE USERS PER MONTH
500 MILLION CLICKS & LISTENS PER YEAR
MILLIONS OF PWTORCH NEWSLETTERS SOLD
PWTORCH STAFF

EDITORS:
Wade Keller, editor
(kellerwade@gmail.com)

James Caldwell, assistant editor
(pwtorch@gmail.com)

STAFF COLUMNISTS:
Bruce Mitchell (since 1990)
Pat McNeill (since 2001)
Greg Parks (since 2007)
Sean Radican (since 2003)

We also have a great team of
TV Reporters
and Specialists and Artists.

PWTORCH VIP MEMBERSHIP

PWTorch offers a VIP membership for $10 a month (or less with an annual sub). It includes nearly 25 years worth of archives from our coverage of pro wrestling dating back to PWTorch Newsletters from the late-'80s filled with insider secrets from every era that are available to VIPers in digital PDF format and Keller's radio show from the early 1990s.

Also, new exclusive top-shelf content every day including a new VIP-exclusive weekly 16 page digital magazine-style (PC and iPad compatible) PDF newsletter packed with exclusive articles and news.

The following features come with a VIP membership which tens of thousands of fans worldwide have enjoyed for many years...

-New Digital PWTorch Newsletter every week
-3 New Digital PDF Back Issues from 5, 10, 20 years ago
-Over 60 new VIP Audio Shows each week
-Ad-free access to all PWTorch.com free articles
-VIP Forum access with daily interaction with PWTorch staff and well-informed fellow wrestling fans
-Tons of archived audio and text articles
-Decades of Torch Talk insider interviews in transcript and audio formats with big name stars.


**SIGN UP FOR VIP ACCESS HERE**

CONTACTABOUTFACEBOOKTWITTERPODCASTIPHONE APPANDROID APPAMAZON APPRSS
VIP SIGN-UP
VIP LOGIN
THE TORCH: #1 IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE | © 1999-2013 TDH Communications Inc. • All rights reserved -- PRIVACY POLICY