By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Wyatt vs. Bryan: I didn't like the fact that a 16 minute match had two commercial breaks. After a 20 minute talking segment to start the show (more later), it was ridiculous to interrupt this match twice with commercials. But, I did like what we saw of the match just enough to give it a Hit. We've seen good matches between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt in the past. Maybe I'm just overly glad to see Bryan back in the ring, but it is really fun to watch him wrestle again. I don't mind the ending as it sells the fact that Bryan is in danger of losing to Kane at Smackdown, thus losing his spot in the Royal Rumble.

Royal Rumble Video: Every year, WWE does a similar video on the Royal Rumble and every year I give it a Hit. I really do enjoy it. They tweak it every year and come up with some new stats to focus on like the total time in the Rumble match. This helps sell the Rumble by focusing on some of the smaller stories. Will someone last longer than Rey Mysterio? Will someone be eliminated right away like Santino Marella? Will someone break Roman Reigns' record for most eliminations in one Rumble? It is a fun trip down memory lane while focusing on some actual stats which I appreciate.

NWO Segment: I didn't love this segment, but I liked it. It was a nice nostalgia trip with Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac reprising their roles from the New World Order. Given what The Ascension has said comparing themselves to tag teams of the past, it made sense that they would come out to interrupt to make a statement. The way that John Bradshaw Layfield has had issues with The Ascension's claims, it made sense that he would also get involved at that point with his old APA teammate Ron Simmons. He is a heel, so this is inconsistent with his character, but it was okay. The New Age Outlaws were a nice surprise. Under other circumstances, I might have an issue with these retired wrestlers beating up a new team trying to establish themselves. However, I was never impressed with The Ascension in NXT and I don't see them as the second coming of The Road Warriors, let along The Powers of Pain. They aren't very good. But, I see potential in having them in this role where they talk big, but don't back it up.

Final Segment: This is another case where I had some issues with a Hit. I was hoping that John Cena's three-on-one handicap match would be the chance for the rest of the babyface roster to step up and come to Cena's defense to help get Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan their jobs back. Instead, it was Sting who helped Cena get the victory. Sting's first appearance in WWE felt like a pretty big deal even though it was 10 years too late. But, WWE undercut that moment and the work that Sting did getting The Authority out of power just a month or so later, so that appearance didn't mean much. So, why am I supposed to feel like Sting's first ever Raw appearance is a big deal? It was a nice moment and it sets up some possible WrestleMania matches (Sting vs. Rollins, Sting vs. Triple H, or even Cena & Sting vs. Rollins & Triple H as someone on the Torch Livecast suggested). I just wish the rest of the babyfaces would stand up to The Authority. Cena did a great job of celebrating the big win with the fans while Triple H did a great job of throwing a fit towards Sting. Brock Lesnar coming out to get his hands on Rollins made sense in the current storyline (more later on my reservations about presenting Lesnar as a babyface like this). I question the storyline, but the execution was well done.

RAW MISSES

Opening Segment: That was a 20 minute long talking segment. It went on and on and on. I question positioning Lesnar as a babyface. If the plan is to have Lesnar defend the WWE Championship against a babyface Rumble winner at WrestleMania, then I don't get having him act like a babyface here. Plus, the conquerer of The Streak shouldn't be a face. Lesnar can play a good face, but he needs to say "baby" less. The dynamic between Lesnar and Paul Heyman was good. But after Triple H and then Stephanie McMahon came out and then Seth Rollins interrupted from the big screen and then John Cena came out, it was really starting to drag. This all led up to Triple H setting up Cena to have a match to win back the fired wrestlers' jobs where he has to put his Title match on the line. I like the idea of giving Cena the choice, so I didn't like having the fan voting at all. It was confusing as to whether the fans were making the decision or just giving their opinions. To me, the poll took away from Cena choosing to do what was right.

Kliq Reunion: This was one of several examples that make it look like WWE creative doesn't understand some basic principles of professional wrestling. Triple H is the top heel in the company. The fans are supposed to hate him (and he does a good job for the most part in that role). So, why undercut that just to get a few laughs showing him hanging out with his old buddies? There were some funny lines in the scene. Triple H's line to Shawn Michaels saying that he doesn't go to Shawn's work place and tell him not to kill defenseless animals was funny. But, he shouldn't be doing funny. Under other situations, having Damian Sandow doing an X-Pac imitation would be funny, but here it was a set up for Triple H to hang his head in embarrassment at the show that he runs in front of his friends. I don't think this is the way Triple H should be presented as the top heel authority.

Legends Panel: The last time WWE had this same Legends Panel with Michaels, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, it was not a very good segment and was the start of undoing the great job WWE had done at SummerSlam with Lesnar's dominating performance over Cena. So, I wasn't looking forward to this segment. And it didn't deliver. It wasn't all bad. I did chuckle at the interaction between Michaels and Hogan, but I would have liked to see more tension between the legends. I liked the picks that they gave as to who would win the Rumble, though I would have liked to see more discussion and reasons as to why they picked who they picked. Having Big Show interrupt was fine. Big Show is doing good work as a heel. He gave a good performance here leading to him knocking out Ric Flair. Roman Reigns coming out to make the save made sense. But, I don't understand having Reigns throw Show over the top rope. That was a huge mistake. WWE should be trying to make it look like several wrestlers have a legit chance to win the Rumble. Show's claim to being a likely winner is that he is hard to eliminate. WWE should have played that up. But, they undercut it entirely by having Reigns do it fairly easily. Reigns should have gotten the better of Show, but failed to throw him over the top rope. He should have tried, failed, and then hit a spear and have Show roll out of the ring. You build Show up as being impossible to eliminate, so that in the Rumble when someone (presumably Reigns) eliminates him, it is a big accomplishment. But, we've seen it. Again, this is a case where I don't have faith in WWE understanding how to present their product in a way that makes any sense.

Ambrose vs. Barrett: This match was ok, but an 8 minute match with a commercial break means that we only saw about 4 minutes or so of the match. A match between Dean Ambrose and Wade Barrett should mean more than this. We should see more of it. I guess I should stop complaining about the Intercontinental Championship being treated like crap, but it still bothers me. Barrett has now lost two of the three tv matches he's had since winning the Title. What good does that do? I also think that there should have been more squash matches on the final Raw before the Rumble. Ambrose got the rub of Ric Flair picking him to win the Rumble. Why not give Barrett some rub by having him win a squash match here to look strong? Instead, he continues to look weak.

New Day: So, Xavier Woods explained why New Day is always smiling. They smile because if they don't smile their rage would come out and everyone would go to the hospital. Why should I cheer for that mentality? I get that babyfaces shouldn't be trying to injure their opponents. But, he was basically saying that it is more important for them to smile than to actually try to win wrestling matches. This group is so annoying to begin with and the crowd is pretty silent when they come out. Having Woods make statements like this isn't going to help.

Truth vs. Rusev: I am fine with R-Truth doing a pre-match promo where he talks about how all the Americans are going to be gunning for Rusev during the Royal Rumble. That sets up a mid card storyline for the Rumble which is needed. I am also fine with Rusev squashing Truth in under a minute. That keeps him looking strong. Rusev could be a dark horse Rumble winner, and I would have liked to see Shawn Michaels pick Rusev as his winner instead of Wyatt. He could have said that he hates to say it, but nobody has been able to stop Rusev, so he doesn't want him to win, but he thinks he will. That would have given the rub to Rusev instead of Wyatt (who already had a good night with the win over Bryan), and given Hogan as the Real American more of a reason to be upset over Michaels' predictions. I think that would have been better. Getting back to this match, another way to make Rusev look like a possible Rumble winner would be to NOT have Truth put Rusev over the top rope. This is the same as Big Show earlier. Make Rusev look like he would be impossible to eliminate. I don't understand having Truth of all people (and it shouldn't have happened with anyone) get a visual elimination of Rusev.

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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