By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

RAW HITS

Opening Segment: There were far too many talking segments on this show including the opening segment. Some of them were good, including the opening segment. Seth Rollins is doing great work on the mic. I really appreciate how he is trying to just be a 100% booed heel. He isn't trying to be a cool heel that gets cheers from some of the fans like many who were at this Raw. He is very good at what he does. Roman Reigns isn't very good at what he does, but I felt like he was better this week than usual. He was far from where he needs to be to be the top star in the company, but he was better. This opening set up the main event and reminded the audience of Jon Stewart's eventual appearance to keep fans interested, so it was well done.

AxelMania: I have to admit that I am enjoying Curtis Axel's ridiculous AxelMania routine. I liked on Smackdown when he had the running clock of how long he's been in the Royal Rumble. I laugh at the fact that he doesn't seem to be able to actually tell time. I swear this week when he was listing his time in the Rumble that after the days he said 26 hours. He made a gaff on Smackdown which I think was a real gaff. I'm wondering if they capitalized on that and scripted a gaff on Raw. Either way, he is playing the part well. I like the way he added a Hulk Hogan take off this week with ripping his shirt off and some of Hogan's mannerisms.

The Daily Show: I was worried about this. I am a big fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. I know that Stewart is a legit WWE fan. However, I was worried that he would play his role too tongue in cheek and too winky winky. But he didn't. There was a little bit of that, but not too much. Rollins was once again good in his role as was Stewart. To me, Stewart's promo about how Rollins hasn't earned anything and how he doesn't have the full faith of The Authority was one of the best babyface promos on Raw in months (name a better). The best promos lately have been from the heels Rollins and Paul Heyman. I loved how Steward called Rollins on not earning his spot like other greats of the past had. It was interesting to hear him talk about how Rollins isn't in the WrestleMania main event. The low blow after the distraction from Randy Orton was fine to get some publicity. This just worked better than I ever thought it would.

Paul Heyman: Damn there was a lot of talking on this show. How many long talking segments were there? Yes, some of them were Hits for being good individual segments (though some were Misses too), but even if they had all been good, they would add up to way too much talking in one show. Yes, talking is important. It helps to advance storylines, define characters, and help wrestlers connect with the audience. By the time Paul Heyman came out for his promo, we had already heard so much talking from Rollins, Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, Triple H, Stewart, etc. that it was hard for me to look forward to hearing from Heyman despite how much I enjoy his mic work. Now again, Heyman was good. He wasn't great. I don't see the need to bring up the rumors about Brock Lesnar. Such a small portion of the audience knows that Lesnar walked out on Raw last week, that bringing up rumors about him gets other fans asking what he is talking about. It wasn't needed. But, the rest of the promo was very strong following up on what he said to Reigns last week. He has the unenviable task of having to make Reigns seem like a huge star while saying that Lesnar will easily win. He has been good at that task.

Reigns vs. Rollins: This was a solid match. It probably isn't really Hit worthy, but on a show with so much talking and so little wrestling, it was nice to see a match go 15 minutes at the end. And since one of the major criticisms of Reigns is that he doesn't do enough wrestling moves, let's give him credit for doing some moves like an atomic drop and a reverse atomic drop that he hasn't done before. That roll up into the power up sit down powerbomb was very impressive too. Like all Rollins matches, there was too much interference from The Authority with J&J Security, Kane, The Big Show and Randy Orton all getting involved. But, it was a wrestling match, so that's something.

RAW MISSES

Randy Orton: I hated what WWE did with Orton last week when he rejoined The Authority. It seemed that he was setting up Rollins, but in their main event tag match against Reigns and Daniel Bryan, Orton was clearly wrestling as Rollins' partner. It was only when Rollins did something to upset him that Orton left. That made Orton look bad for considering rejoining The Authority when he didn't have a master plan. This week, it all seems like a master plan with Orton playing mind games against Rollins. But, I'm confused. Was this his plan all along? Or did he come up with this plan after Rollins' blind tagged himself into the match last week? It seems that WWE panicked when they realized they had several weeks to fill between Fastlane and WrestleMania. They didn't know how to fill those weeks if Orton was constantly trying to get his hands on Rollins, so they have come up with an overly complicated storyline to fill in the time. This was and should have remained a straightforward story with Orton wanting revenge on Rollins. It has become too convoluted and has made Orton look bad. This week was better than last, but it still involved Orton cheating to make it look like he is a team player.

IC Title: I am looking forward to the Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WM. It looks like it will be Wade Barrett defending the Title against Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, R-Truth, Luke Harper and Daniel Bryan. I'll take that. I hope they keep it to those 6 guys. I would rather see them in that match than in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (I would rather see some of them like Bryan in a singles match, but I'll take this). However, I am not a fan of how WWE is getting to this match. The way they are ping-ponging possession of the Title belt is silly. It doesn't make babyfaces look good when they can't win a Title so they steal the belt instead. The idea is that everyone is grabbing the belt from each other, so they have to grab the belt at WM from on top of a ladder to win the Title. But, they look bad in the build up. They could have reached the same match without the belt stealing. You had Ambrose and Truth with claims to a Title shot coming out of Fastlane. Ziggler beat Barrett last Monday and Bryan did last Thursday to get their claims. You could have had Harper get wins this week over Truth and one of the others to put in his claim without beating Barrett (as in, Truth beat Barrett and I beat Truth so I deserve a Title shot). This could have been done without all the silliness.

Miz and Mizdow: This was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't. I give WWE credit for trying to give the fans a reason to cheer for Damian Mizdow after he breaks up with The Miz other than for mimicking Miz. I said all along that he can't keep doing what was getting him cheers once he breaks away, so they have to find something else to get the fans behind him. Having him play a beaten down employee who is constantly embarrassed by his boss is a solid idea. But, you can't drag it out too long. It is a fine line between Mizdow being sympathetic and pathetic and when you get slapped and still apologize, you look pathetic. Their angle is already starting to drag and with three more Raws and four more Smackdowns before WM, I worry that this will really drag out too much to the detriment of Mizdow's post-Miz reactions.

Cena - Stephanie: I wish John Cena were actually angry at Rusev and Lana for cheating to win at Fastlane. But, I guess he can't come across as whiney. But if he isn't upset about the cheating, then I don't see why I should be either. He moved on way too quickly from wanting a rematch against Rusev, so I didn't like the start of this segment. Didn't Cena enter himself into last year's Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal before his match with Bray Wyatt was set up? I seem to recall him being the first to enter the match, only to end up not in the match. If I'm right, then they did the same thing this year. The Battle Royal itself has not ever come across to me as something actually important, so it seems like a consolation prize to me like you don't deserve a match at WM, but here's a consolation prize to be in this meaningless Battle Royal.

Stephanie McMahon came out to drag this out further. It went on too long. She gave a good performance, but I don't like the script. I did like how when she said that you can't just name yourself as a participant in the match that Cena shot back that everyone else who has entered the match including Adam Rose did exactly that. I'm glad they didn't ignore the obvious and it made Stephanie's motivations clear here in wanting to screw Cena out of a WM opportunity. But I am so tired of heel authority figures dressing down talent like this. Stars should be treated like stars. You shouldn't be telling the audience that Cena isn't important. I know the excuse is that she is a heel, but she is a real representative of behind the scenes power and it blurs the lines.

After Axel came out, we had a commercial break and then after all that talking, we finally got a match between Axel and Cena that only lasted 2 minutes. Now a squash was the right way to go here, but it still felt like a let down that we had had so much talking to that point in Raw and so little wrestling. While I liked Rusev's performance at that point when he came out to once again turn down Cena's challenge for a rematch, it was still more talking.

Triple H: Man do The Authority like to hear themselves talk. After so much talking and so little wrestling up until this point, it was disappointing to have another long talking segment. We already saw a member of The Authority on this show acting like a bully and talking down to a wrestler. So now we got another member of The Authority acting like a bully and talking down to an announcer. I guess WWE needs someone to talk on Sting's behalf if he isn't going to talk or even be on very often. They used Ric Flair a few weeks ago and used Booker T here. Booker wasn't good. I'm just saying. He was rambling at times. I'm just saying. He said that Sting couldn't be controlled by anyone, not Hogan, not Flair, not the nWo, not Eric Bischoff. But, then he said that Triple H controlled him by keeping him out of the company. I'm just saying. Triple H pretends to fire Booker T to underscore that he is an asshole. Ok. Didn't we already know that? This didn't do anything for me.

Paige vs. Nikki Bella: This Miss is for the length of this match at under 7 minutes and the fact that half of it was on the commercial break. I wish all Divas matches were treated better than they are, but a Divas Title match definitely should be. I would be ok with a 6 minute match if it all aired. After so much talking on this show, the match started and cut to commercial like a minute in (if that!). Why do they take commercials during matches, but not when someone is talking? The effort from Paige and Nikki Bella was fine, but it is a joke that this is what counts as Giving the Divas a Chance. It was nice to see AJ Lee return and I was glad that they acknowledged her history with Paige and didn't just ignore or gloss over it. But, so much more could be done with the Divas in a meaningful way.

Harper vs. Bryan: Once again, after more and more talking, we finally get another match which cut to a commercial break less than a minute into the match. We got another 6 minute match half of which was on the commercial break. Yes, I know that if you are watching live and have the app you get to see the whole match. But still. Give me a break. Luke Harper deserves better than to lose so quickly to anyone, even Daniel Bryan. The match wasn't treated as a big deal. It wasn't announced ahead of time and the IC Title silliness afterwards was more of the focus than the match itself.

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.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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