By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Naomi Heel Turn: Naomi has been basically playing the same character for her entire WWE career, so doing something different has potential. She is good in the ring and is very athletic in general. Yet, she is just sort of stale. I am hoping that her heel turn leads to something good for her. The beating she gave Paige after the Divas battle royal was well done. I liked her interview from later in the show. She did sound a bit too much like a babyface at times during it, but on the whole it was a strong presentation and I'm curious to see where they go from here.

Reigns - Big Show: This was some of Roman Reigns' best mic work to date, especially when you compare it to his other in ring mic work as opposed to his stronger sit down back stage interviews of the past. He came across as being less scripted than usual. His reactions to the fans in the arena was pretty good. His response to the "suplex city" chant was a bit awkward, but he got better with his interactions after that. I liked how he actually admitted to the fact that The Big Show screwed him last week. He didn't just accept it. Big Show is a good foil for Reigns right now. I don't look forward to seeing their match, but they play off of each other well and he is going to help to get Reigns a more positive reaction. The beating that followed was also very well done. I'm curious to hear the reactions to Reigns moving forward.

Kane Storyline: Kane played his part very well. As I said last week, I am not looking forward to another Kane turn, but at least they are doing a good job with it. Kane and Seth Rollins play well off of each other. The supporting players - Jamie Noble, Daniel Bryan and Big Show all played their parts well in the saga. Kane was great in being conflicted over being a man and doing what's best for business. The crowd popped huge when he ultimately choke slammed Rollins and then started to signal for the Tombstone. Then they were very disappointed when he didn't follow through and allowed Rollins to win the match. Despite my reservations about another turn for Kane, if they continue to execute it as well as they have so far, I will definitely be on board.

Ziggler vs. Neville: Neville had a chance to show off his great wrestling skill in this match against Dolph Ziggler and he delivered. The match went 9 minutes and I would have loved to see more of it. That 360 splash that he gave to Ziggler from the security barrier on the floor was awesome. The super kick for a near fall from Ziggler was very well done. The match had tons of energy and was fun to watch. My only complaint is that Neville lost again so soon after losing to Rollins. This was not a match that had to have a clean finish. With Sheamus attacking Ziggler and Neville afterwards, why didn't he just do that before the end of the match? WWE does non-finishes all the time and this seemed like the perfect time to do it. Sheamus' actions made sense given his new character, but it would have made even more sense for him to ruin this match between two wrestlers who he sees as not being real men.

RAW MISSES

Barrett vs. Cena: I suspect I'm in the small minority (or maybe totally alone) of fans who isn't going to praise this match. I will praise the effort put out by Wade Barrett and John Cena. I will say that in another context, this match would have been a Hit. But, this Miss is all about context. I said last week when Cena wrestled Stardust that Cena does not need to be kicking out of his opponent's finishing move at this point in his career. In order to get a pop for a near fall, WWE is undercutting that finishing move. The Bull Hammer elbow has been very well protected, so why throw that away for an opening unadvertised match on Raw? If he hits it on Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules, the fans will expect Bryan to kick out since Cena did. WWE has gone way too far with wrestlers kicking out of finishers. Once in a while in a big match (like at WrestleMania), I am ok with it. But it seems like someone is kicking out of a finisher at least once a week. You build up Barrett by having him kick out of the AA, but why should I expect an AA to beat Rusev at Extreme Rules? I said last week that Cena should not use the STF in these weekly open challenges if he isn't going to get the tap out win. He did it again this week. Put this match on PPV, build to it over several weeks, and give the wrestlers another 5 minutes or so to add to what they did here and you have a great match.

Extreme Rules Stipulations: The theme of this week's Raw was setting up the stipulations for the Extreme Rules main event WWE World Championship match. And it was a muddied mess. Even the announcers were confused about the idea that possibly both Randy Orton and Seth Rollins would be able to name a stipulation for their match. I'm not a fan of this gimmick where a wrestler can name his stipulation, because I and probably every other fan watching can think of better stipulations than what ultimately happens. Why not make the stipulation that you only need a two count to get the win while your opponent needs a 5 count? Banning the RKO does make some sense, but it doesn't seem nearly sinister enough for Rollins. Having a way to keep The Authority from getting involved makes sense, but considering they can just climb into the cage, I'm not sure a steel cage match was a great idea. Couldn't he have said that if The Authority interferes, he wins the Title? While there was some nice development in the Rollins - Kane story, most of this was a mess.

Orton Beats the Tag Champs: I wish WWE had given us a nice long match between Orton and Cesaro. That would have been better than the poorly executed disqualification ending leading to Kane turning it into a handicap match. Orton vs. Cesaro could have been a really good 10-12 minute match which wouldn't have ended with Orton burying the Tag Team Champions. The Tag Team Champions shouldn't lose a handicap match against any wrestler, even one of the caliber of Orton.

Miz vs. Mizdow: WWE has largely dropped the ball on the follow up to Damian Mizdow breaking away from The Miz. I was curious for a long time about what WWE would do with Mizdow once he broke away from Miz. I assumed he would no longer be doing his Miz imitation which means he wouldn't be doing the one thing that got him over with the fans. So, I understand why WWE would have him continue to mimic Miz. But, how long can this last? I understand that Summer Rae is in Miz's new movie, but she doesn't add anything to this feud or to Mizdow's act. She is a much more natural heel, so I don't get partnering her with a babyface. I appreciated the fact that Michael Cole pointed out that Miz won last week by cheating (it was very nice to hear Cole instead of Byron Saxton!), but then Booker T, the babyface announcer justified it on Miz's behalf. Why should I boo Miz cheating if it is ok to cheat? This is basic wrestling 101 and hardly anyone in WWE understands it. It is crazy. They went to this match too quickly last week, and the matches are so short that it doesn't do much good for either of these guys. I am very disappointed in how this angle has proceeded since WrestleMania.

Prime Time Players: These vignettes where The Prime Time Players make fun of the other tag teams in WWE have not been good. Pointing out the foibles of everyone in the division doesn't make sense. You are basically telling the fans that the division is super weak right now. The division does stink, but why point it out? And they aren't pointing it out in an entertaining way. They haven't been funny. This week's was too insider with the wink-wink reference about Darren Young being gay and then exposing the fact that Los Matadores are Puerto Rican and not Mexican. What good does that do?

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.

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