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SMACKDOWN HITS

Vince and Finlay: It was nice to finally see a meeting between Hornswoggle’s two father figures. It was a very short scene and we didn’t get much out of the conversation, but obviously they wanted the fans to try to guess what they talked about, so it worked. I had been wondering how Finlay would fit into the storyline and even though we don’t know yet, at least they have taken the first step in having him talk to Vince McMahon about the little bastard. And while I don’t agree with stripping him of the Cruiserweight Title (more later) it was intriguing as we don’t know whether Vince told Vickie Guerrero to do it, or if she did it on her own.

VIP Lounge: As usual, Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter were entertaining. They were not as good as in some of their recent work, but still good. I like the atmosphere that MVP had for his VIP Lounge celebrating his one year anniversary on Smackdown. The highlight package that Hardy presented was predictable but fun. The interplay between them is really the strength of these segments. The fact that MVP continued to be so gullible was amusing. This storyline has been good because it has walked a thin line between having them work together enough to stay a team, while arguing enough to keep the tension. MVP could easily become a fan favorite while teaming with Hardy due to his charisma and how entertaining he is, but WWE has done a good job of reminding the fans why they hate MVP at the right moments.

MVP vs. Kane: This was clearly the match of the night, but that is not necessarily saying much. It was a nice long match, about 15 minutes, with good action and it told a story. It was interesting to hear the announcers discuss this as a test of how far MVP has progressed since debuting since it was against Kane that he got his earliest high profile matches. With MVP’s heart condition taking him out of action for a few weeks, and with him appearing in mostly tag matches the last month or so, it has been awhile since we got to see him in a long singles match where he can show just how much he has improved. We definitely got that opportunity here.

Save Us 222: When this weird number and letter filled jumble of a video appeared on Raw, I was intrigued, but was so utterly disappointed in Raw to that point that I didn’t pay it much attention. But now it has my attention. My first thought was that it had something to do with Chris Jericho returning, and certainly the rumors would back that up. But from a casual viewer’s point of view, this short video is very interesting. It happened so quickly that if you blink, you might miss it. At the very least, viewers should see it and say “wait, what was that?” which is the reaction that WWE is hoping for. Hopefully this leads to something good.

JBL and Mysterio: As with last week, I enjoyed the interplay between John Bradshaw Layfield and Rey Mysterio. Their verbal exchange was strong, and it is good that it hasn’t been made clear whether or not JBL hired Finlay to attack Mysterio. But a little un-clarity can go a long way, and before too long, and explanation as to why Finlay keeps attacking Mysterio needs to be given. But for now, the interview was good, and the brief physical encounter was as well.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Mystery Woman: I have no problem with they way that WWE introduced this mystery woman. It is a standard introduction for a new wrestler to come in and attack another wrestler and have a mystery as to who this person is and why they attacked the other wrestler. My entire problem with this introduction is that it was on Smackdown. This new woman looks to be a real wrestler. If that is the case, then she should be on Raw, the home of the Women’s Championship. Unless they are going to move the Title to Smackdown with all the women who can actually wrestle (which is what I would do), then she should be on Raw. Every talented in ring worker should be on the brand with the Title. This seems like common sense to me.

Punjabi Prison Match: Somehow I forgot to mention last week how disappointed I was in the announcement that Batista vs. Great Khali at No Mercy was going to be in a Punjabi Prison Match. And apparently Khali was the one to book the match, which makes no sense. It was good that they actually explained the rules this week and showed shots of the bamboo structure, because last year when they introduced the match, they never gave rules until the PPV during the debut. But having been reminded of the rules, all I could think about was how stupid the rules are. And it is silly to call this Khali’s signature match when he wasn’t even in the only other one in history (it was Big Show vs. Undertaker). Khali can’t climb, can he? I assume not since he seems to have trouble walking. So how is this type match an advantage for him?

Vickie Strips Cruiserweight Title: While I am intrigued as to what Vickie’s motives are, I am not a fan of stripping someone of the title. Having Hornswoggle as the Cruiserweight Champion was a mistake, and it is good to get it off of him so that he can move on with his McMahon storyline and they can get the Title onto a real wrestler. But there should have been a better way to do it than this.

Main Event: The action of Undertaker vs Mark Henry was pretty solid. But how can WWE justify a Main Event that was announced last week, and heavily hyped throughout the show this week only going 3 minutes and 30 seconds? That was how long the Main Event lasted. Undertaker’s ring entrance lasted about the same amount of time (I’m not kidding, I timed them both). With a PPV next week, where do they go from here? Undertaker has no program going. They effectively have killed of Henry. I guess they wanted to put this feud to bed on Smackdown and not a PPV, which is fine, and it was good to do it here and not next week on the last Smackdown before the PPV. But still, 3 minutes and 30 seconds? That is way too short for such a heavily hyped match.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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