WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (7/10): Judgement Day, Ricochet-Logan Paul exchange, Cody’s cheesy promo, Alpha Academy Graduation Ceremony, CIampa-Miz

Judgement Day – HIT: Raw didn’t get off to a great start, but it was a solid opening segment as Finn Balor started out talking about the issues in Judgment Day lately, followed by Rhea Ripley and Dirty Dominik Mysterio. This set up the theme for the show which was how the faction would respond to the tension between Balor and Damian Priest. We would see that play out throughout the rest of the show with a good backstage encounter and ultimately a big win in the main event where they finally seemed to be on the same page.

McIntyre & Riddle vs. Imperium – HIT: This was a good tag match as Drew McIntyre teamed with Matt Riddle to take on Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser. On a show without a lot of good wrestling, this was the best match of the night. WWE is doing a nice job of building to the inevitable McIntyre vs. Gunther Intercontinental Championship match at SummerSlam. This match ended with Gunther and Kaiser looking very disappointed at Vinci for taking the loss. It is far too soon to think about breaking up this group. What will happen next week when Riddle takes on Gunther without McIntyre there to back him up?

Ricochet – Paul – HIT: There were some rough patches here as there tend to be with Ricochet at Logan Paul on the mic. Paul is certainly good, but he can stumble some too. Ricochet isn’t a good talker, and I was shocked at how much WWE let him talk here. He was fine, a little better than I expected him to be. Paul was good in his role. It was interesting how he talked about Ricochet being more interested in making sure Paul lost Money in the Bank than winning the match himself. The Paul vs. Ricochet SummerSlam match should be a lot of fun, giving Paul a chance to actually get a big win.

Lynch vs. Stark – HIT: Zoey Stark had a very good week. Sure, she got some help from Trish Stratus to beat Becky Lynch, but she still got the big win. Plus, she performed well in this good match. This continued the story between Lynch and Stratus well. Will Lynch get a partner to even out the odds? That doesn’t seem like The Man’s style.

Graduation Ceremony – MISS: There is some humor value in what Alpha Academy is doing lately. But, it is getting tiresome. I’m not as into the Maxine Dupree development as the live fans seem to be. Their story against the Viking Raiders is dragging. These are two talented teams, who could mean something in the tag division on Raw with some tinkering. But, the purposefully goofy act going up against the accidentally goofy act isn’t working.

Baszler – MISS: I’m not sure how WWE wants us to feel about Shayna Baszler. She was acting like her usual heel self. Emma is a babyface (I think), but she was acting annoying and could certainly be seen as the heel in this situation. I like Baszler getting a squash win over Emma, but are we supposed to get behind her? Ronda Rousey certainly came across as a heel last week, but she seemed more like a babyface here. She got the better physically of Baszler, which is to be expected given WWE’s 50-50 booking. I hope that Baszler is positioned as a strong heel coming out of their feud, but I don’t have faith based on what WWE has done so far.

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Cody’s Promo – MISS: There were parts of Cody Rhodes’s promo about Brock Lesnar that worked. It started well and I liked the end when he said you can’t stay a prince forever. But, the middle was a weird rip off of one of Steve Martin’s monologues from “Three Amigos.” The whole part about how everyone has a Brock Lesnar in their life – anxiety, student debt, a bad boos, etc. where as his Lesnar is actually Lesnar – perfectly mirrored the bit from the movie where Martin’s character talks about how everyone has an El Guapo to face – shyness, a lack of education, or the actual El Guapo. You can’t steal from a silly movie and expect to be taken seriously. It took me out of the promo and, while he got me back a bit at the end, I am still giving this a Miss. I haven’t seen anyone else make this comparison, so maybe its just me? But, to me the comparison is so direct, I have trouble believing that it wasn’t at least a subconscious rip off.

Ciampa vs. Miz – HIT: This is a marginal Hit for the good action in this no DQ match of Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Miz. I want to see an end to the Miz vs. Ciampa feud, and I’m hoping that Bronson Reed’s interference in the end will move things on to a Reed vs. Ciampa feud. Hopefully, Miz and Reed don’t become a team, but I fear that they will. Of course, if it leads to a reunion of DIY, then maybe it will be worth it in the end. By the way, what happened to the Reed/Ricochet/Nakamura feud?

Green & Deville vs. Carter & Chance – MISS: This was a short match at 2 minutes, and thankfully so. That was a bad 2 minutes of wrestling. I know these aren’t the best teams, but I expect more from them than this sloppy mess. Also, Kayden Carter & Katana Chance can be a strong tag team in the women’s division. It is ok for them to lose to the #1 contenders here, but to lose in 2 minutes defines them down. There were other thrown together teams from last week’s turmoil match who could have lost to Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville here.

Main Event – MISS: There is no way that I was expecting to give a six man tag match with this much talent a Miss. We are talking about Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Damian Priest and even Dominik Mysterio. This should have been a slam dunk Hit. But, there were some very sloppy spots where the wrestlers didn’t seem to know what their opponents were trying for. There was an awkward attempt at a sling blade from Balor on Rollins, and a more awkward attempt at a Blue Thunder bomb from Zayn on Balor. There was a near fall where it looked like Zayn was supposed to break up the pin fall but he was 3 seconds late. Luckily, Rollins realized it and kicked out. I appreciate the fact that Judgment Day stood tall in the end. But, I’m not sure how this all shakes out for SummerSlam. Balor already got a World Title match against Rollins. Does he get another? Priest & Dom vs. Owens & Zayn? I’m not sure.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonMezzera)

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ALSO CHECK OUT JASON POWELL’S RAW HITLIST AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List (7/10): Logan Paul and Ricochet, Dom & Balor & Priest vs. KO & Sami & Seth

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