By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Orton vs. Ziggler: This was a good match. I don't get having the Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler keep losing these non-Title matches, especially to wrestlers like Randy Orton who aren't going to be in the Title picture. There was a bit too much going on around this match for my tastes with Cesaro doing guest commentary and then Seth Rollins coming out to watch (which feeds into the murkiness on the show discussed later). But, I can ignore all of that given the high quality of the match itself. Orton and Ziggler worked very well together to put on a very good match. The match went back and forth nicely building to that huge RKO for the finish. The match did feel inconsequential. Under other circumstances given the performance of the two wrestlers, this would have been a great match.

Swagger vs. Rollins: After a decent and long opening triple threat tag match and a very good long Orton vs. Ziggler match, we got another long match between Jack Swagger and Seth Rollins. Right now, Swagger is filling a roll of a babyface who can have good matches and put over a heel like Rollins. This match worked well to put over Rollins, giving him a win in a heelish manner by hooking the tights. It went 15 minutes and had good wrestling action from start to finish. At this point in the show, I was enjoying seeing these long matches instead of the crap filler we've been getting lately.

Prematch Interviews: Another example of good content that WWE can use to fill three hours instead of the crap they've been using is the prematch interviews that they used this week. We saw backstage interviews talking about upcoming matches from Dean Ambrose, The Big Show, Sheamus, and John Cena. This is a simple and effective way to fill some time while hyping a match, making the matches actually feel important.

Damian Mizdow: I continue to enjoy the work that Damian Sandow does as The Miz's stunt double. It is a case where a heel is getting popular and overshadowing babyfaces that Miz faces, but it is at least an example of WWE comedy that is actually funny. I love how he emulates everything Miz does during his matches, from pantomiming his offense to pretending to have the same injuries. For a mid 80s cartoon reference, Mizdow selling when Miz gets punched has a nice Tomax and Xamot feel to it. Down the line, this could lead to a babyface turn for Sandow once he's had enough of Miz though they need to keep them together for a good amount of time to really build to it.

Less Crap: I did not miss the bull, the mini-gator or the bunny. I am hopeful that WWE listened to the "this is stupid!" chants from last week's Raw and realized that they needed to make some changes this week. We got longer matches and the prematch interviews to fill out the three hours in a much more entertaining way than what we've been getting lately. There were still problems on this show. It is far from a great wrestling show and I still feel strongly that it would be better at just two hours. But, considering the high ratio of Misses to Hits recently, this felt like a much better show than we've been seeing as of late.

RAW MISSES

Murkiness: I had trouble coming up with a title for this Miss, but I think murkiness best describes how I feel about multiple segments of Raw. I don't have a problem with having some complex storylines in wrestling. However, there is a fine line between complex and overly complex. Murkiness can creep into these storylines and make them less enjoyable as it becomes overwhelming to follow. WWE has a main event storyline in place with Dean Ambrose and John Cena fighting each other since they both want to kick Seth Rollins' ass. Meanwhile, Rollins' Authority partner Randy Orton hates Rollins too. So, they took the whole situation between Cena and Ambrose and made it murkier in a match with Gold & Stardust and The Usos. Later on, they added the odd stipulation that whoever lost the Contract on a Poll match between Cena and Ambrose would face Orton at Hell in a Cell. There isn't a real hot issue currently between Orton and either Cena or Ambrose, which left the whole program feeling murky. With Orton's comments about Rollins and their acts one upping each other, I felt like seeing Orton vs. Rollins more than Ambrose vs. Rollins by the end of the show, and I don't think that's the reaction that WWE wants. The tension between Rollins vs. Orton and between Ambrose vs. Cena has been done better than the tension for the two matches we are actually getting at the PPV.

Main Event Announcement: The opening segment was ok. It was a decent set up for The Authority's "Trading Places" inspired standard bet joke, the punchline of which came after Ambrose and Cena were able to coexist in the decent opening tag match. The advantage that The Authority had given Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell was that his opponent, either Cena or Ambrose, would have already wrestled once. That is a big advantage for Rollins in the Cell. So, why would Triple H take that advantage away? Now, Ambrose will be just as fresh at the PPV as Rollins. I don't think WWE writers think about this stuff and how stupid it made The Authority look. I am happy that the contract match got out of the way before the PPV so that WWE can focus on the two big matches, but I wish they could have gotten there without having this odd change from Triple H.

Rusev vs. The Big Show: There were parts of this match that I liked, but unlike the good matches listed above, this is one that probably should not have been as long as it was. At 14 minutes, it just dragged. There was some good work from Rusev and The Big Show, but the long rest holds got very tedious to me. I was particularly bored by the headlock type hold that Rusev used on Big Show where half of Show's neck was open without Rusev's arm pressing across it. By hooking Show's arm into the headlock, it exposed how loosely Rusev had Show's head. Moving on, there were also problems with how this whole feud has been written. Other than insulting Americans, Rusev didn't do much to make him seem like a heel. Really, after the bell rang, what did Rusev do that made him a heel? Mark Henry cheated. I thought WWE was setting up a heel turn from Henry getting jealous of Big Show's success against Rusev, but instead they seemed to be going back to them as a strong team. I'd be ok with that, but what did Rusev do to deserve being double teamed after the match?

The Bellas: I don't understand after several months of building towards a big match between Brie and Nikki Bella why WWE would have them wrestle in a tag match in which Brie actually got the pin on Nikki. The first time Brie should have gotten her hands on Nikki was in a singles match at a PPV. And if she did get her hands briefly on Nikki in this type of tag match, I would be ok with it if it was just a tease for more with Nikki escaping to tag out to one of her partners. Instead, Brie hit Nikki with her finisher and pinned her. What made it worse was that this was a match involving random Total Divas cast members with a semi-celebrity reality star on the outside. That type of match should be beneath the Bellas given all the time WWE has put into their feud.

Ambrose vs. Cena: I literally fell asleep during this match. Now I was watching it on the dvr late at night, so I can't really say that the match was boring and put me to sleep. I only dozed off very briefly, missing only about 30 seconds of the match. So, while falling asleep had more to do with my circumstances than the quality of the match, the fact that I never bothered to rewind and go back and watch what I missed speaks to the fact that I didn't really care about this match. WWE has done a nice job of building the tension between Cena and Ambrose, but the contract on a poll stipulation coupled with the expected interference from The Authority made me care much less about this match. The whole consolation prize of the loser facing Orton didn't add to the match. Ultimately, I feel that the storyline coming out of Night of Champions hasn't been nearly as interesting as a build up towards a Hell in a Cell World Title match between Cena and Brock Lesnar would have been. The angle is a big consolation prize to the fans and it is falling very short.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at his NEW email address - jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

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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