By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

RAW HITS

Sheamus & RVD vs. Cesaro & Barrett: This was a good tag match involving the United States and Intercontinental Champions. With all the talk from last week's Smackdown about which title has the better legacy, it really made me think that a unification match is in the works. WWE has positioned these two mid-card Title feuds together, particularly in this match and created tension between Antonio Cesaro and Wade Barrett. It made me feel like a fatal fourway or a mini tournament might be coming. That's just my speculation. As for the match, it went 13 minutes and was fun to watch from start to finish. These four were in pretty good Title matches at Payback, and put on good performances in this tag match on Raw.

Stephanie - Cena: This is a Minor Hit. I liked the mic work from Stephanie McMahon. I don't want to see more of the heel authority figures, but she plays her part well. I appreciate the fact that there is now an end game announced for the WWE World Title in regards to Daniel Bryan's injury. We will have a fighting Champion after Money in the Bank one way or the other. I was intrigued by John Cena coming out to interrupt. After ending his feud against Bray Wyatt with their excellent Last Man Sanding Match (so much better than their first two PPV matches), Cena needed something new and at least a short term feud against Kane appears to be the direction WWE is going. Some of Cena's mic work was good, but some of it was bad. I liked the fact that he said you have to prove yourself in the ring, more so than just getting cheers. But, I have never been a big fan of Cena playing Daniel Bryan's cheerleader. The segment was also too long. However, my real problem is that Stephanie does seem too reasonable here. I like the fact that Cena tried to give a reason why Bryan is resistant to give up the Title the way he had when he was injured, but it was pretty flimsy. It was still strong enough to get a Hit, but barely.

The Wyatts vs. The Usos: I mentioned above liking Wyatt vs. Cena at Payback. The final week of hype with the Wyatt Family trying to attack Jerry 'the King' Lawler and the way that WWE clearly presented them as heels in a better way than they had before was very strong. The match was arguably Bray Wyatt's best in WWE so far. Now we have to see where WWE goes from here with him and the rest of the Family. I liked seeing Luke Harper stepping up to sort of fill in for Bray while Bray is absent. I like that WWE is continuing on with the Wyatt vs. Usos part of the feud while Cena moves on to something else. It is a good feud that is just now getting going. This was a good match. It went 17 minutes and had good action throughout. This will put The Wyatts in line for a tag team title match which would be a good addition to the Money in the Bank PPV (assuming WWE doesn't rush into it next week).

RAW MISSES

Opening Segment: I would have preferred in the moment to see The Shield as the victors from Payback than Evolution as the losers starting out Raw. This pointed to the fact that the feud which should have ended at the PPV was going to continue. It pointed to the fact that we are getting more Triple H than I really want to see. The part with Batista quitting was ok. We knew it was coming at some point so he could take the summer off to promote "Guardians of the Galaxy." But, this just didn't feel like a great way to follow up on the PPV or to transition into Raw. It did set up a predictable ending that someone new would join Evolution, though the specifics of who that person would be wasn't as predictable.

Damian Sandow: It saddens me how far Damian Sandow has fallen from a little less than a year ago when he won Money in the Bank. Now each week he comes out dressed as a different person with a regional connection. This was very bad with him dressing as Indiana Pacer Lance Stephenson. This is how WWE brought The Big Show back? To knock out Sandow / Stephenson? It was a waste of time and a waste of Sandow's talent.

Bo Dallas: I like Bo Dallas. I like the gimmick as being someone who thinks he is a babyface, but he is a heel. I'm hopeful that he has a good run in WWE and that the character works well on the big stage. I have liked what he has done on Raw and Smackdown and at the PPV, until this week's Raw. I don't understand having him make fun of the Pacers in the very next segment after Sandow did the exact same thing. That was poor writing. It didn't work. He also looked sloppy in the ring, especially delivering his finishing move. I like how he celebrated afterwards, but this was an off night for Dallas.

Rusev Ceremony: This segment with Lana introducing Rusev and talking about how great Russia is and how bad the United States is and the medal of honor (or whatever it was) being presented to Rusev was ridiculously long. It just kept going and going and going. I kept waiting for someone to come out and interrupt and it never happened. It was change the channel heat as far as I'm concerned.

Rollins' Turn: As I said above, I felt it was predictable that Evolution would introduce a new member to replace Batista by the end of the night. I think it was too soon for Triple H to have that Plan B when he had no idea that Batista was going to quit when the show started. I would have liked to see a week go by before adding anyone. I didn't know who would be added and the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like any of the names that popped into my head as possible new Evolution members. I did think of one of the Evolution members being a possibility, and like most people, I would have guessed it would be Dean Ambrose if anyone. However, I did not want to see any of them quit The Shield to join Evolution. Over the past year and a half or so, The Shield and Daniel Bryan have been the best parts of WWE. Considering the bad writing for Bryan this time last year as the weak link in Team Hell No and the bad writing last Fall with his feud against Randy Orton, and given his current neck injury, The Shield have arguably been the best part of WWE for a long time. I was worried that they would split them up earlier this year, but that turned into a good story of them coming back together and turning babyface which I felt worked well. And now they have broken up.

I don't like the idea that Triple H as the heel boss always wins. I lost interest in the nWo vs. WCW feud because it always seemed like no matter what happened, the nWo behind Eric Bischoff would always win. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it was my perception at the time as it seemed like whenever WCW got a victory like Lex Luger beating Hulk Hogan for the World Title and washing the spray paint off of it, Hogan would win it back a week later. One of the reasons I liked the Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin feud was that no matter what McMahon did to Austin, I always had the feeling that Austin would come out ahead in the end. And the babyface should win in the end, so the fans could always rally behind Austin. Now, I have the feeling that no matter what happens, Triple H, the heel, will always win in the end. Remember, the long term plan was to have Daniel Bryan as part of The Wyatt Family. Triple H won over Bryan last year. Even after quitting the Wyatts, the long term plan was not to have Bryan get the better of Triple H, as it was supposed to be Triple H vs. CM Punk at WrestleMania. I have to assume Triple H was scheduled to come out ahead in that feud too. So here, instead of having The Shield have a moment to gloat about beating Triple H and Evolution, Triple H wins again.

Also, the final like 30 minutes of Raw had zero wrestling in it. There was far too much talking and not enough wrestling on this week's Raw.

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.

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