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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

New Color Commentator: My initial reaction to Jonathan Coachman being named the new color commentator for Smackdown was a loud groan. After all, he can be so over the top with his obnoxiousness that it goes beyond annoying. An annoying character can be good, but when it is too over the top to the point where you want to change the channel, it can be very bad. Also, I was hoping for a try out period where multiple guys, including Coach, get a chance to win the job. However, as the night went on, I got more and more happy with the choice. I was sick and tired of Coach’s role on Raw, so this will hopefully keep him off of Monday nights. Also, Coach did a good job. He was not over the top. There was one line that was traditional for a heel commentator, when he claimed that Matt Striker would be an honest referee. Otherwise, he did not go for the total heel role, which was a nice surprise. I was starting to get tired of the bickering between Michael Cole and John Bradshaw Layfield, and I assumed Coach would mean more of the same. But at least on the first show, they didn’t bicker much, which was also a nice surprise. Time will tell if Coach makes a good commentator or not. It is doubtful we will look back on his run as fondly as we will JBL’s, but that would be true about anyone who takes the job.

Finlay vs. MVP: I enjoyed this match on a certain level which is why I am giving it a Hit. I did not enjoy it on a different level, but I will discuss that later. For now, I will stick with the positives. For one, as Montel Vontavious Porter continues to develop, he needs to continue to work with guys who can help him elevate his game, and Finlay is one of those guys. It was a new match up, one that I would like to see more of in the future. There were some interesting sequences, like when MVP was attempting to leverage pin Finlay. His use of Finlay’s straps to pick him up and slam him to the match was a clever spot. Finlay had some interesting mat holds as well. It was a good mat based match, with a nice finishing sequence. MVP’s running kick to the face in the corner looked devastating. Hornswoggle’s interference was good as it helps MVP save face as the U.S. Champion. And as I have said multiple times, I am still glad to see Finlay keeping his character despite becoming a babyface.

Polumbo Turning Heel: Chuck Polumbo was not working as a babyface. He got decent reactions when he came out on his motorcycle, but not much in the ring. A heel turn has clearly been in the works as he keeps getting more and more frustrated over his losing streak. Turning on Michelle McCool and leaving her in the ring was a nice further step in the heel turn.

MVP Challenges Flair: It was good to see MVP get some heat back after his loss to Finlay during his phone conversation when he vowed to end Ric Flair’s career. Flair is another great veteran who can help MVP’s continued improvement. Flair vs. MVP has potential to be a very good match. I hope that match happens on Smackdown, not on Raw, and that it happens in two weeks. I would love to see some face to face interaction next week between the two, possibly in the VIP lounge, to set up their match the following week.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Beat the Clock: Do not take the fact that I have only one Miss to the four Hits above as a sign that I thought this was a great Smackdown. This one Miss is a big Miss that covers the theme for the entire show and multiple segments in that show. Last year at this same time, I gave the Beat the Clock Sprint a Hit, as it was an intriguing idea, played out over two weeks, and was executed very well. When it was first announced this year, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt that last year’s was very good, so this year’s should be as well. On the other hand, I thought it was a bit odd to do the same exact thing as last year to determine the challenger for the World Title at the Royale Rumble. I like the idea behind Beat the Clock, but I don’t want to see it happen on Smackdown every January. Plsu, this year’s was executed worse than last year’s.

Finlay vs. MVP was a good match under other circumstances. But with the Beat the Clock format, neither Finlay nor MVP wrestled with a sense of urgency. Coach did a good job talking about how the format worked against Finlay’s in ring style, but that didn’t change the fact that both guys used too many rest holds and didn’t try to win the match as quickly as possible.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Funaki was a solid match, but neither has been on t.v. much lately and it doesn’t make much sense why either would be getting this opportunity. Yes, they covered Chavo because of Vickie Guerrero, but that doesn’t explain why Funaki was in it. Last year, with two weeks of matches (twice as many matches as this year), it made more sense to have guys like Chavo in it. But this year, most of the participants were legit World Title contenders, other than Chavo and Funaki.

The final three matches were all hindered by Vickie’s heel character. Three of the five Beat the Clock matches featured her stacking the deck against the babyface wrestlers. And in two of those three, the match was booked totally wrong under the circumstances. Batista in a handicap match was the only one that played out logically, but it wasn’t a good match. Undertaker vs. Mark Henry was o.k., but Matt Striker was booked terribly as the guest referee. It was predictable that he wouldn’t let Undertaker win, but a slow count as time expired would have been so much better than just refusing to count to three. And, that is not my real complaint about how he was booked. My real complaint is that he had a chance to do a fast count and help his man get a title shot against Edge. But, he didn’t do that. He should have helped get Mark Henry the title shot, instead of just trying to keep Undertaker from getting it. Edge vs. Rey Mysterio also had logic flaws. Why would Edge be afraid of Mysterio? I understand wanting to avoid Undertaker and Batista, but not Mysterio. Instead of stalling, Edge should have been trying to beat Mysterio quickly to win Beat the Clock. If he won his match in the quickest time, then nobody else would have won Beat the Clock, and there would not have been a challenger for him at Royal Rumble. That would have made much more sense than to just try to stall to keep Mysterio from winning.

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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