Shore's WWE Raw Hitlist: HBK and Undertaker face off, Mr. McMahon screws John Cena, Sheamus challenges Triple H, the last MITB qualifier, and Legacy vs. Randy Orton

WWE Raw Hits

Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: I wondered what Vince’s opening salvo was going to be, and it was huge. These two guys sold thousands of PPVs with this segment. It was nice to see HBK break away from the crazy obsessed guy he had been, and Taker showed concern without looking weak. It was masterful mic work from both men, and to be honest, towards the end I got into it and forgot I was covering the show. It was that damn good. If you don’t get to watch the show and only read the recaps, you need to find this segment online to full appreciate how good it was.

John Morrison and R-Truth beat down Show Miz: This looked like a throwaway tag match that mostly served to allow these four guys to have a Wrestlemania moment. After this attack, I am really looking forward to it. Morrison and Truth showed some much needed backbone, and it’s not often you see Big Show laid out like that. I especially hope this spins off into a Morrison vs. Miz feud after the draft.

Batista’s promo: This was the best mic work I have ever seen from Batista. It was short, simple, and effective. He didn’t try to come off as a bad ass. He didn’t try to come across as being unstoppable. He gave the perfectly arrogant response to Josh Matthews question and then went back to watching the show. Fantastic promo that pushed me closer to wanting to see Batista vs. Cena.

Legacy vs. Randy Orton: This played out really well, and the live crowd got behind Orton big time. And in a show devoid of wrestling, it was a nice long match, albeit with two commercial breaks. My only concern is where do they go from here? How does this morph into a Wrestlemania match? I am afraid that it will be a rematch of this, with Cody turning on Ted and aligning with Orton. But with Orton getting the cheers, this could backfire big time. Of course I could be wrong, but I just don’t see what other options are available at this point.

Evan Bourne qualifying for MITB: I like Bourne in the match. Who wouldn’t? The guy can fly, and the AirBourne off the ladder will be epic. And it’s also nice to see him in a match that has some actual purpose instead of Superstars matches against random people. His match with Regal was a complete miss, but I like his win.

Criss Angel: He was one of the more entertaining hosts in that he didn’t try to do too much with the wrestlers, he just did his thing. I could have done without him pulling a string out of his eye, but the rest of his tricks were OK (even if a little old). He gets a hit more for not sucking than for anything he did.

Overall Show: There were some problems (see below), but overall it was a good show that advanced storylines and sold the hell out of Wrestlemania. I walk away wondering how much would have been there had TNA not decided to go to Mondays this week.

WWE Raw Misses

Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, and Gail Kim vs. Maryse, Katie Lea, and Alicia Fox: This match was so bad. Just about everyone botched a move at some point, and it was chaotic as hell. The one thing I hope WWE learns from TNA is how to use the women. TNA has fallen off recently, but nowhere near the level of WWE. The women are grossly misused on both brands and it breaks my heart every time.

No disqualification, handicap, gauntlet match: The match itself gets the miss. Who came up with this? Look, we all knew McMahon was going to screw Cena somehow. We figured it would be Batista, and ultimately we were right. But the garbage before Batista came out was ridiculous. Cena kicked out of all kinds of moves and finishers. To be honest, I expected him to kick out of the Batista Bomb. The whole thing was a fiasco that hurt all the good Batista’s promo did.

Sheamus challenges Hunter: The challenge itself is not the miss as much as the way it played out. I give Hunter credit for trying very hard to set the stage. But nobody cares about Sheamus anymore. He lost the title and was off TV for a week and the crowd just doesn’t seem to care. This match seems like an afterthought, even with Hunter’s hype, and I am afraid it will never rise above that.

Lack of wrestling: I have accepted that the days of wrestling shows are over. But running up to the longest PPV of the year, WWE should showcase more of the in ring work that we will see at Mania. It doesn’t have to be an hour, though that would rock. But two 10 minute matches and three throwaway short matches do not get it done.