By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Finlay vs. Jeff Hardy: This was a good opening match. I tend to worry about Finlay when he is facing high flyers, as his matches against Rey Mysterio in the past have been Hit or Miss. But, he and Jeff Hardy worked a good match. It only went 6 minutes, but it was a good 6 minutes. The announcers did a good job of playing up a possible head and spine injury that Hardy suffered on ECW. The wrestlers did a good job of playing up the injury as well. This wasn’t great, but it was good, and a nice tease for Survivor Series.

Destruction of Hardy’s Knee: I have mixed feelings about how everything between Matt Hardy and MVP went down on Smackdown, from the VIP Lounge, to the back to back matches, to the ultimate end of the relationship. But, the destruction of Hardy’s knee was very well done. The Miz and John Morrison did a good job of working on the knee in different ways during both matches. MVP turning on him was very predictable, but turns often are. The real Hit here is for how MVP went about putting the finishing touches on the knee. His kick to the knee followed by his whipping it with the U.S. Title belt was standard stuff. It got really good when he started using the ring side steps. It looked viscous when he jammed Hardy’s leg into the steps and gave them a running kick. Dropping him knee first onto the steps in the ring was viscous too. Hardy did a great job selling the whole time to really drive home the attack.

Kennedy vs. Mysterio: This was the match of the night. It was 14 minutes and had very good action. Like in the first match, the announcers and wrestlers did a good job of playing up Rey Mysterio’s injured ribs. Kennedy did a good job of focusing on those ribs with a series of submission holds. It got a bit tedious from time to time, but not too bad. They worked well together, and had a nice chemistry in the ring. The high paced comeback from Mysterio was fun to watch. He hit some great moves starting with the spinning DDT. It was good that Kennedy cut off the comeback with the tilt-a-whirl back breaker as that made Rey have to fight on even harder than before. I loved that they played with the typical Mysterio formula after he hit the 619. It was interesting to see him have to go into the ring to continue the onslaught on Kennedy instead of going right to the West Coast Pop or Dropping the Dime. The ending sequence was very strong as well, although Kennedy somewhat overdid the bump from the hurricanrana.

Hell in a Cell Moments: The Hell in a Cell videos showing Undertaker destroying Shawn Michaels, Mankind, Rikishi, and Randy Orton were a nice way to build up the Main Event for Survivor Series. With Undertaker’s limited talking ability due to his character, his promo wasn’t particularly interesting. But these videos underscored his promo, and were a great way to remind the audience what the Dead Man is capable of. They gave Undertaker fans a reason to want to see another Hell in a Cell, and gave Batista fans something to worry about.

Batista Makes a Statement: After having heard Undertaker’s promo earlier in the night, and after possibly watching those videos highlighting Undertaker’s path of destruction through multiple Hell in a Cells, it seems that Batista got ticked off. By the time the Main Event came around, a statement had been made that Undertaker would have the advantage at Survivor Series, so Batista made a statement himself. He destroyed Mark Henry in a very convincing fashion, both during the match and afterwards. He showed a ruthlessness that we aren’t used to seeing from him very often. This was a great way for him to end the last Smackdown before the PPV. Both he and Undertaker look very strong heading into Hell in a Cell.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

End of Hardy and MVP: I am disappointed that the relationship between Matt Hardy and MVP came to an end for two reasons. The first is that I have loved their interaction over the last few months. It has been one of the main reasons to watch Smackdown lately. Not that a straight up feud won’t be fun to watch, because it should be, but their “friendship” gave a lot of great moments. The second is that it seemed too rushed. The relationship probably had reached its full potential and pulling the plug does make sense. But if this was going to be the week to do it, they should have planted more seeds in the last few weeks. I know that they always have tension, but no more so than in the past. The idea that Matt was upset after what happened to Jeff on ECW makes sense, but it still seemed rushed. This is a minor complaint as it was handled well and as I said, the relationship had to come to an end at some point.

Weigh In: The weigh in for Hornswoggle vs. The Great Khali was a total waste of time. What was the point? That Khali is much bigger than Hornswoggle? Yeah, we didn’t realize that before. Yes, it created a good visual, but it was boring. There was no entertainment value in it. Hornswoggle did a good job of acting scared, but that won’t make anyone want to buy the PPV any more than they already did. Nobody is looking forward to this “match” and this didn’t help. Like I said before, it was a waste of time.

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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