By Jason Powell

WWE Raw Hits

John Laurinaitis and Jim Ross: I'm not an advocate of WWE using Laurinaitis as the Raw general manager even on a short term basis. His overall performances could be a weekly fixture in the "Miss" section if it wasn't so obvious. His voice and lousy promo ability make me instinctively reach for my remote control. That said, I did laugh when the Laurinaitis character forced a big hug on an unsuspecting Jim Ross, and then put his arm around Ross as if they were long lost friends. Laurinaitis can be entertaining in small doses, but his stumbling promo is further proof that he should never be asked to deliver lengthy promos.

Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, and Christian vs. Randy Orton, Sheamus, and John Morrison: This was the best pay-per-view hype of the night. They focussed on Orton vs. Rhodes, and Christian vs. Sheamus, and still make Henry look like the heel monster champion via his awesome World's Strongest Slam on Morrison.

Dolph Ziggler: A good performance on the mic. He showed good poise and delivered his lines in a witty manner. This is the key to him breaking out of the mid-card and into the main event picture. If he gets more opportunities on the mic and proves that he can deliver consistently strong promos, then he could finally make the transition into the main event picture.

Brodus Clay video package: It's good to see WWE using vignettes to reintroduce the Brodus Clay character. It will be interesting to see if they can push him in a manner that doesn't make him look like a Mark Henry clone.

WWE Raw Misses

Overall show: This would have been an acceptable filler edition of Raw, but it failed miserably as a go-home show for Sunday's pay-per-view. It would have taken a hell of an effort to get people buzzing about Vengeance, and this show was not up for the challenge, as I'm not any more excited about the event than I was going in to Raw. The show running in Mexico City for the first time did not feel special. Granted, this was better than last week's train wreck, but that's not saying much considering that last week's Raw was the worst of 2011.

John Cena and Jim Ross vs. Alberto Del Rio and Michael Cole: WWE has to know that the fans who tuned out from Raw last week didn't want to see Ross return as a wrestler. The fans want to listen to him call the shows, and lord knows he's needed given the sad state of the WWE broadcast team. It's time for Vince McMahon to stop trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to his vision for broadcast teams and get back to the traditional approach that utilizes Ross as the asset that he should be to this company. By the way, why would they focus so heavily on the American broadcast team on a show in Mexico?

All of that aside, this really felt out of place on a go-home show. Granted, they tried to make it relevant as far as the Cena and Del Rio match is concerned, but it wasn't enough. Call me crazy, but perhaps Cena actually giving some indication that losing the WWE Championship bothered him might make his fans want to see him regain it. He's been the same happy go lucky Cena since he dropped the title belt, and the addition of the Last Man Standing stipulation is not a big pay-per-view hook.

Title Matches: Can someone explain how Eve and the team of Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler earned title matches? Eve was the fall girl for Kelly Kelly, and her predictable win over Natalya after the title match was already advertised wasn't enough. Meanwhile, Swagger and Ziggler rarely win tag matches and just dropped another to the team of Kofi Kingston and Zack Ryder on Friday's Smackdown. I don't think it's asking too much to come up with a reason for the challengers to earn their title matches rather than having it come off like creative is just throwing title matches together to fill out the pay-per-view cards.

The Miz and R-Truth: The reintroduction of these characters was so flat last week and watching the two of them beat outsmarted by C.M. Punk in a two-on-one situation didn't help matters. They feel like inferior mid-card wrestlers compared to Punk and the almighty Triple H heading into Sunday's pay-per-view. WWE had a chance to add an edge to their character after their attack at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but the followup hasn't done them any favors.

Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger: It's bad enough that there's no real reason that Swagger and Ziggler have a title match, now they have Swagger lose to undercard comedy act Ryder in 35 seconds? I know Ryder has his fans, but the timing of this was really odd as you'd think they'd want the challengers to the tag belts look good going into the pay-per-view, especially when the guy who beat Swagger isn't even advertised for Sunday.

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