WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (7/17): Rousey-Baszler, Owens & Sami vs. Dominik & Priest, Samantha Irvin’s ring announcing, Miz TV, Nakamura’s shift

Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with Cody Rhodes calling out Brock Lesnar. Rhodes was good on the mic here and his hometown fans were definitely behind him. The attack by Lesnar, with the exclamation mark coming right in front of Cody’s mother was very well done. We got the big moment at the end when Lesnar accepted Rhodes’ challenge for a rematch at SummerSlam. It was simple and straightforward and well executed. Now, will there be a stipulation added to the match?

Gunther vs. Riddle – HIT: I liked this match better than their Intercontinental Title match at the last PLE. It was hard hitting and didn’t have the injury angle baked into it like their first match. Gunther continues to dominate, this time without the help of Imperium. His IC Title match against Drew McIntyre at SS should be very good. But, where does Matt Riddle go from here? He isn’t looking very strong right now.

Samantha Irvin – MISS: I thought Samantha Irvin did a good job when she first started. But over time, she is getting more and more cartoonish with her ring announcing. The way she over enunciates for Imperium is one thing. It was kind of neat at first, but seems to have gotten bigger and bigger as she realized that a lot of fans liked how she did it. But, now it is too over the top to me. But, what lands her in the Miss column is the goofy way she’s been saying Chelsea Green’s name lately. I don’t know if she’s doing this on her own, or taking direction. Did Green ask her to pronounce her name this way? Either way, it is terrible. A little pizzazz from the ring announcer is good. But, like Justin Roberts on Dynamite (can he possibly over enunciate Jeeeeeeeoooooooooooon Moooooooooooooxley any more?), she’s taking it too far.

Judgement Day – Owens & Zayn – HIT: This was a good segment with Judgement Day talking about their Championship aspirations, which was part of a good build towards Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins (more later), while continuing to hint at potential problems between Balor and Damian Priest as Señior Money in the Bank. It also hyped Dominik Mysterio’s North American Championship match against Wes Lee on NXT. The interruption from the Tag Team Champions was fun. I like the fact that for once, Sami Zayn was fully on board and even encouraging Kevin Owens’ hot headed response to turn the main event into a Tag Team Championship match.

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Rollins – Balor – HIT: WWE is doing a nice job of building to the rematch between Balor and Rollins for the World Title. They did well with the build to the first match which was underwhelming (good, but not great). How do you build to a rematch when the heel challenger lost? Why does he get another shot? WWE has not done a good job with that aspect of it, but they have with the character aspect and the feud between these two. I loved the performances by both Rollins and Balor here. Rollins presented himself as the most human, least cartoon character version of himself that he has in a long time which is great. Balor was strong too. The attack at the end worked well, and set up Rollins to get revenge on Balor during the main event.

Viking Raiders vs. Alpha Academy – HIT: I wasn’t expecting to give this match a Hit, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The wooden shields and Viking boat facade at the edge of the ring actually made for a more physical match, than the cartoonish one I was expecting. That was so much better than the Trick or Street fights or the Music City Mayhem matches. Getting your head shoved through a wooden shield hurts. Plus, these are two talented teams who put on a good match. The involvement from Valhalla and Maxine Dupree was fine for what it was, and kept to a minimum.

Rousey – Baszler – MISS: This whole storyline isn’t working as neither of these women come across as a babyface. This week, it seemed that Shayna Baszler is supposed to be the face, but she’s the one who attacked Ronda Rousey from behind to start the feud which is 100% a heel move. The bigger problem is that the performances aren’t good. I can’t focus on the content of what Rousey is saying when she’s delivering her lines almost as fast as Excalibur on Dynamite when he’s announcing 19 things for the next two weeks of tv.

Miz TV – HIT: I certainly hope Becky Lynch beats Zoey Stark next week, as it would be a shame if she has to get a “Thank You Trish” tattoo on her chest. The segment leading up to that challenge worked well with solid to good performances from The Miz (are they setting up a match between him and Pat McAfee for SS?), Lynch, Stark and Trish Stratus.

Nakamura – HIT: I can’t give Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed a Hit based on the lame DQ ending with Tommaso Ciampa’s interference. It was a good match otherwise, so I won’t give it a Miss either. But, I am intrigued by Nakamura’s post-match interview where he showed some edge. I don’t want to see him turn heel, but a more serious edgy babyface Nakamura has a lot of potential.

Men’s Tag Title Match – HIT: The main event was better than last week, with most of the same wrestlers involved. As mentioned earlier, the rising tension between Balor and Rollins would come into play here, as Rollins got involved. But, he was taking out someone who wasn’t in the match, so it wasn’t part of a cheap finish. After a nice long tag match with lots of good to very good wrestling action, the Tag Team Champions got the win in the end to successfully defend their Title. SS is a stacked card, so it doesn’t seem like they will have Owens & Zayn on the show. That’s ok, but they are big stars and it is a shame that WWE isn’t doing much to build up a series of challengers for them.

(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 Jon on Twitter @JonMezzera.)

NOW CHECK THIS OUT… NXT HITS & MISSES 7/18: W. Lee vs. Dirty Dom, Los Lotharios vs. D. Lee & Frazer, Dolan vs. James, Price & Nima vs. Axiom & Scrypts, more

OR CHECK OUT JASON POWELL’S RAW HITLIST: Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Lesnar attacks Cody, Owens & Sami vs. Priest & Dominik, Gunther vs. Riddle