WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (8/1): Lesnar-Cody angle, Rousey and Baszler videos, Gunther vs. Gable, Dupree vs. Valhalla, more

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Logan Paul – Ricochet – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with the final build for Logan Paul vs. Ricochet at SummerSlam. They did a nice job of bringing back their first encounter at the Royal Rumble which was a super fun moment. Paul was very good here. Ricochet continues to do the best mic work in his WWE career. The physicality worked well with Paul finally getting the better of Ricochet in the end. The match should be a lot of fun on Saturday.

Matt Riddle vs. Ludwig Kaiser – HIT: This was a good match. I wasn’t sure who would win, so the outcome was a mystery. I’ve been wanting Ludwig Kaiser & Giovani Vinci to be presented in a stronger way, so I was cool with Kaiser getting the win over Matt Riddle. Riddle is clearly not part of any important plans for WWE.

Maxxine Dupree vs. Valhalla – MISS: Building a character around being able to do an arm drag probably isn’t the best way to present a wrestler. There have been some fun moments with the presentation of Maxxine Dupree, but she shouldn’t be learning to wrestle on Raw. She isn’t good. She isn’t ready. Valhalla is a solid worker, but she can’t carry someone so green to a passable match, let alone a good one. Plus, this Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders feud is really dragging. The Viking boat match should have ended it.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tommaso Ciampa – MISS: This was a disappointing match. It wasn’t bad, but not nearly as good as it should have been. Shinsuke Nakamura and Tommaso Ciampa have a much better match in them. Here, they felt like they were going through the motions. The pace was slow. It never clicked. This didn’t make me want to see more of their feud with Bronson Reed. WWE also seems to be leaning into a heel Nakamura in how he hooked the tights. I was hoping for more of a serious, intense babyface version of his character instead.

Brock Lesnar – Cody Rhodes – HIT: The only Miss part of this presentation is that the video package which retold the history of this feud reminded the audience that they never gave a reason for why Brock Lesnar attacked Cody Rhodes in the first place. The video was well done as WWE is great at that type of presentation. The feud has been good since that start. But, I still wish they would have had some type of reason from Lesnar for that initial attack. Moving on to the new and Hit worthy content from this week’s show, I loved Lesnar on the mic. He did a good job of getting right to the point. His lines about getting paid to kick Cody’s ass while Cody was going to get paid to get his ass kicked were great. The physicality was strong. They obviously want to make Cody the big underdog going into their match at SummerSlam.

Gunther vs. Chad Gable – MISS: This is probably going to be controversial as I assume most people really liked this match. I will say that the wrestling quality was certainly Hit worthy. The problem for me was the presentation. The whole idea of the 5 minute challenge was a Miss. Chad Gable is great in the ring, but as character, he is a joke doing silly bits with Otis and Maxxine. If you are going to give Gunther a 5 minute challenge, against an opponent who is presented like Gable, they should have him win in under 5 minutes. The way the match was restarted didn’t make any sense. If this had just been a regular match from the start, it would have been better, but I would still question using Gunther in this way going into a big IC Title match against Drew McIntyre at the PLE. Under other circumstances, including Gable being presented as someone to be taken seriously, then this would have been an easy Hit.

Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch – MISS: I thought WWE was building to Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch at SS. It is a SS-worthy match. I don’t want to complain about it too much, as the show has the potential to be far too long. But, I’d rather see this match than some random meaningless get everyone on the card battle royal. So, this was a bit of a let down. The performances were good. If it isn’t going to be at the PLE, then this worked to build some anticipation for the rematch in two weeks where Zoey Stark will be banned from ringside. So, I will call this a marginal Miss.

Rousey – Baszler Videos – HIT: Put wrestlers in positions to shine. Find ways to hide their deficiencies and highlight their skills. That is something that Paul Heyman excelled at in ECW, so it isn’t surprising to read that he had a hand along with Jeremy Borash in producing this excellent two-part video package. This was the best acting Ronda Rousey has done in WWE. Shayna Baszler was great too. They effectively covered their entire history as combat athletes and friends. I haven’t been sold on this story, because I haven’t been sold on either of these women as being clearly the babyface or clearly the heel. That continued here. They both came off as having good points and being sympathetic. I’m not sure who WWE wants us to cheer for. But, I was fully engaged in these videos in a way that I haven’t been with the feud so far. I feel like this type of presentation for Rousey would have kept her from getting so many negative reactions from the crowd over the years.

Rollins & Sami vs. Dominik & Priest – HIT: This was a good main event, but half of it took place on the commercial breaks which was disappointing. This Hit is for the quality of the match after the second commercial as it built to a good ending. I assumed that Judgement Day would get the win over Sami. The teased cash in was unexpected and worked well. The way Finn Balor momentarily hesitated to hand Damian Priest the briefcase, but ultimately gave it to him and encouraged him to cash it in worked perfectly. It continued to tease dissension between them over MITB, without going too far or hitting us over the head with it. But, that bit of hesitation cost Priest and allowed Sami and Seth Rollins to take advantage to get the win in the end.

(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.)

OR CHECK OUT JASON POWELL’S COLUMN AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn vs. Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest, IC Champion Gunther vs. Chad Gable in a non-title match