WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 1/31: Lesnar thriving on the microphone, Bliss therapy laughable, Rousey misses babyface tone, more

Opening Segment – HIT: I thoroughly enjoyed the start of Raw with the encounter between Brock Lesnar and the new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley. Lesnar is proving that he doesn’t need Paul Heyman to talk for him. He was great here. Lashley was good too. I liked how MVP had to keep Lashley from accepting the challenge for a WWE Title rematch right then and there. They all played their parts well leading up to Adam Pearce announcing that Lesnar would be part of the Elimination Chamber WWE Title match. Right now, I’m not seeing a likely scenario that doesn’t end up with Lesnar winning, but we shall see.

Ripley vs. Cross – HIT: This was a relatively short match at 8 minutes considering half of that took place on the commercial break. But, what we saw was good and it was the strong convincing win for Rhea Ripley that it needed to be. I hope that this puts to bed her feud against Nikki Cross.

Alexa Bliss Therapy – MISS: This continues to be crap. Although I did laugh at the therapist for plugging WWE’s shop website.

Miz vs. Dominic – MISS: I wonder if the plan is for The Miz to be an antagonist getting into Dominic Mysterio’s mind to eventually lead to him to split apart from his father. I’m just so bored with Miz that I feel he brings down anything that he’s involved in. Whatever the long term plan is for Dominic and Rey Mysterio, I hope Miz isn’t part of it. If this was just an opportunity to get a win after losing the mixed tag team match at The Royal Rumble, then I guess its better.

KO Show – HIT: I continue to enjoy the friendship between Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, so I liked this edition of the KO Show with Rollins as the special guest. It was news worthy in that Rollins was named an EC participant without having to win a qualifying match. Owens was great in trying to get Rollins to help him get a spot too. It seems like Owens vs. Rollins might be in line for WrestleMania if this was the first hint at a break in their friendship. But, at some point they need to do some tweaking to Rollins’ character if he’s going to be a babyface. Maybe that’s a big if?

Owens vs. Theory – HIT: This was a very good match. Austin Theory’s stock continues to grow as he got the win over Owens here and will be featured in the EC. Since he lost, Owens’ request to Rollins to help get him a spot in the EC is even bigger. I’m very intrigued to see where they go with that next week. Getting back to the match, Theory looks like he belongs in the ring with the upper card on Raw. If his relationship with Vince McMahon continues, I hope most weeks are like this where we hear about it more than see it as Vince isn’t good at this point.

Otis vs. Riddle – HIT: I have to admit to being reasonably entertained by the scooter race between Matt Riddle and Chad Gable. I won’t give it a Hit, but I won’t give it a Miss either. The follow up match between Riddle and Otis was quite good. It didn’t make a lot of sense for Adam Pearce to make it an EC qualifier. And I’m curious where Randy Orton was and what he’ll say to Riddle being in the EC when he isn’t. Regardless, Riddle and Otis put on a good match. It was nice to see a 7 minute match not interrupted by a commercial break. Otis looked strong despite taking the loss. The ending sequence worked well to give Riddle the win.

Bel Air vs. Carmella – HIT: Corey Graves’ obnoxiousness is off the charts if Carmella is involved, but it is honestly not that much higher than the rest of the show. I don’t like Byron Saxton, but at some point if he ever just told Graves to shut the hell up, he’d become my favorite announcer ever. Grow a freakin backbone. It is hard to enjoy anything involving Carmella because of Graves, but this was a good match against Bianca Bel Air. If the plan is for Bel Air to finally get her rematch against Becky Lynch at WM, she needs to be kept strong. I’d love to see her get a win like this every week on Raw without a feud. Feuds in WWE tend to lead to 50-50 booking. I don’t need to see Carmella getting her heat back next week. Just keep giving Bel Air wins in good matches like this (even stronger wins in shorter matches would be welcome) and have her earn that Women’s Title match.

Styles vs. Mysterio – HIT: This was a good episode of Raw with plenty of good wrestling action. The main event continued that streak with AJ Styles beating Rey Mysterio to earn the final spot in the EC. This was a very good match. The announcers oversold it as a PLE main even worthy match which doesn’t ring true considering neither of them has been treated like a top star in awhile. But, otherwise I won’t complain about this very good main event. It isn’t surprising considering the talent of Styles and Mysterio even if both are past their prime in terms of their in ring athleticism. They are both still so good.

Ronda Rousey – MISS: That was just bad. Was Ronda Rousey’s promo scripted? If so, the writer needs to be fired. If she came up with that promo on her own, she needs a writer. It was poorly written and poorly delivered. If she’s going to be facing Charlotte Flair at WM which seems very likely, she should be the babyface in that match. But, she certainly wasn’t acting like a babyface here. She wasn’t likable at all. Becky Lynch was fine in her interruption, but again she comes across so much better as a heel than the supposed babyface despite her attempts at cheap heat. They want us to boo Becky (and Charlotte), so they need to do something with Ronda to make her actually come across like a babyface. Lita’s appearance at the end worked well and gave a boost to this closing segment. I like her as a challenger for Becky at the next PLE. I’m curious to see how much Lita is used going forward.

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@yahoo.com.

CATCH-UP: 1/31 WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW RESULTS: Keller’s report on Lesnar declaring WM opponent, Ronda Rousey’s return to WWE TV, Lashley celebrates his WWE Title win