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WWE Raw Hits

Batista and John Cena: Batista was terrific during this segment. He's found his groove as a heel character and the verbiage was spot on in the sense that they made him out to be jealous heel. This would not have worked as well if Cena had gone into preacher mode and gotten the last word. Cena will fire back and go into great detail about how hard he works and why he's so deserving, but for the sake of this particular angle they made the right move by having Batista close the promo. If nothing else, this promo was effective in making this viewer care about their WrestleMania 26 match for the first time.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels: A strong opening segment. Shawn's open invite for anyone in the locker room to come out and tell him that he couldn't beat Taker followed by Hunter's music playing was terrific. Hunter's pep talk was also well done and built even more anticipation for the Shawn vs. Taker rematch. I also liked the setup they provided for the tag title match, but it would have been nice to hear The Miz hype the match for him and Big Show.

WWE Raw Misses

Overall show: I don't mind talk-heavy shows, but this was ridiculous. Perhaps it would have worked if all the talking segments had been as strong as the two listed in the "Hits" section. How sad is it that the Divas pillow fight went two minutes and still lasted longer than the two Money in the Bank qualifying matches combined? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Jack Swagger squashing the Santino Marella comedy character, but why not scrap some of the comedy and book Swagger in a more competitive match that might give viewers a reason to take him as a serious threat in the Money in the Bank match.

Bret Hart and Vince McMahon: A lousy followup to the awkward car accident angle. Bret yelled all of his lines and Vince went way too over the top with his delivery. This match doesn't feel like a major attraction at WrestleMania. It will be fun to see Bret make his entrance in his gear one more time, but this feels like a WrestleMania undercard match rather than the hot match that it should. By the way, why in the hell haven't they worked The Hart Dynasty into this saga somehow?

Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase: We're only a few weeks away from WrestleMania and I have no clue what they're doing with Randy Orton. All indications are that he'll be doing something with Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, but the buildup has been lousy. Most of the fans sat on their hands during this match because they haven't been given a reason to cheer from either wrestler. The fans are looking for a reason to root for Randy, but the company has done such a lousy job of building up Ted and Cody that he's stuck working with weak heels. By the way, I wonder what Orton was thinking backstage when Batista delivered the line about him and Cena being the top stars of the post-Attitude Era.

MVP vs. Zack Ryder: This is the big introduction for the fun Ryder character to Raw? The d-bag character has a lot of potential. He doesn't need a girlfriend, though, because the guys who pop their collars or wear the Ed Hardy shirts while hanging out at the club all night are looking to score, not to have long-term girlfriends. It looks like Ryder is just the latest young wrestler with potential to be buried on Raw. I guess the silver lining is that the WWE Draft is right around the corner.

Divas Pillow Fight: The announcers didn't know the rules of the match and I had no clue that it wasn't a six-Diva tag until after, well, someone was announced as the winner. Sure, I could look it up, but does it really matter?

Cheech and Chong: A sugar trip from Lucky Charms? I dig the old Cheech and Chong movies as much as the next guy, but the lighthearted humor with the guest hosts just feels out of place with WrestleMania approaching.

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