WWE Raw Hitlist: The Miz vs. John Cena, Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. John Morrison, Edge vs. R-Truth, Chris Jericho vs. Great Khali, Michael Cole's heel commentary, Sheamus on the throne

By Jason Powell

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WWE Raw Hits

John Cena vs. The Miz: A nice showing for Miz, who has gone from someone that Cena used to squash to having competitive matches with him. It says a lot about Miz's current standing in the company that WWE booked a cheap finish rather than having Cena beat him clean. The run-in by Daniel Bryan was logical and keeps his feud with Miz moving forward. I'm looking forward to their likely match at Night of Champions. I just hope WWE doesn't feel the need to show us next week that Cena can beat The Miz.

Chris Jericho vs. Great Khali: Jericho worked really hard to make this an entertaining television match and he succeeded. I was surprised to see Khali tap out in a television match, but he didn't really lose anything since no one outside of India views him as a top contender, whereas Jericho needed a nice win to set up his role at Night of Champions. By the way, Jericho's promo left me wondering if his partnership with Edge is off again.

Randy Orton vs. John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase: A hit for Orton, but not so much for Morrison and DiBiase. Orton was downright dominant in this match and it felt like the other two were there to take his signature moves. Morrison and DiBiase are lost in the mid-card shuffle, which is frustrating because both wrestlers have the talent to contribute in a more meaningful manner. If the Raw brand is too crowded, then here's hoping Morrison and DiBiase are considered for moves to Smackdown when the show moves to Syfy on Oct. 1.

Sheamus: A good night for the WWE Champion. He showed off his range again by acting cocky at times, agitated by Randy Orton, and fearful of Nexus when Wade Barrett announced that the truce was over. His promo about giving Zack Ryder a chance was fun, and the quick big boot finish made him look dominant. That said, I still believe there's money in Ryder, but creative seems to view him as a WWE Superstars level performer.

Michael Cole: The heel version of the Cole character is fun. His cheerleading for Miz is especially strong, and he's slowly turning on babyfaces and rooting for more heels. He's been considered by many to be a candidate for the anonymous general manager spot from the beginning, so they could be planing seeds or giving us a red herring. Either way, Cole is far more entertaining now than he was before the heel cheering started. I actually find myself paying attention to the announcers rather than just zoning them out.

Overall show: A very minor hit. This was more of a middle of the road show. The pre-taped aspect put a damper on my viewing experience. Obviously, seeing the spoilers didn't help, but the live crowd was really flat because they sat through last week's Raw before this show was taped. The six-pack challenge should be entertaining, but I'm surprised WWE is going back to the multi-challenger concept so soon after the Fatal Four Way pay-per-view did such a lousy buyrate. The show-closing segment with the beatdown on Barrett and then the rapid fire finishers closed the show on a high note.

WWE Raw Misses

Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Uso Brothers: A frustrating match in that they put the focus on the comedic saga of Tamina's interest in Santino rather than building up The Uso Brothers. Couldn't they have accomplished the same thing with Santino and Tamina if The Uso Brothers had gone over? Will WWE ever deliver a meaningful tag title feud between two legit tag teams? Did they really bring back the story of a Diva liking Santino because of a similar and funnier storyline in "The Other Guys" movie?

Edge vs. R-Truth: The right wrestler won the match, but Truth just strikes me as a mid-card talent and nothing more. I just assume he'll lose whenever he gets in there with the big boys. Meanwhile, Edge needs a program he can sink his teeth into. It's cool that he's in the six-pack challenge, but he's just been hanging around as a sideshow act without a real program for far too long.

Melina vs. Jillian Hall: The match was fine, but did anyone take Jillian as a serious threat to Melina? The singing bit was a guilty pleasure of mine, but the thrill is gone. The post-match LayCool angle annoyed me more than anything. Of all the things to hype for the 900th edition of Raw, they went with Michelle McCool and Layla?