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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Finlay - McMahon: I am a proponent of using less Vince McMahon, not more. So, you might find it odd that I would like to see more of him on Smackdown. His presence lends credibility to the brand that is the obvious B show (a brand that he has largely ignored over the years - other than the early days of the brand extension when he ran it). When involved in a Smackdown storyline, I would propose he should be on Raw less. McMahon should be involved in one storyline at a time, so he doesn’t get overexposed. His involvement on Smackdown at least has been focused on one storyline, his deal with Finlay, and his tough love for Hornswoggle. Having him in just one short segment helps with the credibility, while not having his presence grind on the audience. Plus, this has been an intriguing storyline. It progressed nicely this week as McMahon seemed genuinely concerned for Hornswoggle and upset at what happened at the hands of The Great Khali. I continue to look forward to seeing where they go from here.

VIP Lounge: This was my favorite segment of the show. When Montel Vontavious Porter first announced his intention to end Ric Flair’s career, I was looking forward more to a Flair appearance in the VIP Lounge than I was to seeing MVP vs. Flair (not that I don’t look forward to that as well). This is what happens when you put two guys who the fans respond to (one who they love to cheer, one who they love to boo), who can both deliver very well on the mic, and who both have a great desire to defeat the other, in a ring and let them go at it with great verbal exchanges. Both were very good in this segment. It was great to see them acknowledge MVP’s victory over Flair last year. I loved that Flair called that loss a blemish on his record that he wanted to fix. This is a fairly easy match to sell. MVP wants to end Flair’s career, and Flair wants to keep wrestling. But, when you throw in details like Flair wanting to get revenge for losing to MVP several months ago, you go the extra step to make the feud bigger than it was before. The idea of MVP being a young Flair is interesting also. MVP has to look strong next week to put some doubt in the fans’ minds about Flair’s chances at the PPV.

Main Event: Mysterio & Punk vs. Edge & Guerrero was a good tag team Main Event. It suffered from the traditional WWE tag team formula, but it still delivered plenty of good action. The beginning was very fun to watch, leading to the double dive to the outside of the ring by Rey Mysterio and CM Punk. After the commercial, it dragged with the prolonged beat down of Punk by Chavo Guerrero and Edge. But, it never got boring. They did enough during that stretch to keep things interesting. Punk was good in selling his shoulder injury, and trying to fight back to get the tag to Mysterio. My favorite spot in the match was when Edge knocked Mysterio off the ring apron so Punk couldn’t get the tag, only to turn around and take Punk’s running knee to the face. Edge sold that move very well. It is fun to see Mysterio flying around the ring after a hot tag. The match ended with a disqualification which was a bit of a disappointment. The post-match beat down was well done. WWE is booking Mysterio as the underdog going into The Royal Rumble, as opposed to Jeff Hardy on Raw who is being booked as having more momentum than Champion Randy Orton. It will be interesting to see in the final hard sells of both shows if their fortunes are switched.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Edge - Chavo Agreement: I guess it is good that Edge and Chavo reached an agreement to work together. That gives some explanation as to why they are willing to team up together for the Main Event just a week after Chavo questioned Edge’s relationship with Vickie Guerrero. But, I had been intrigued by Chavo’s tweener character. I was curious to see where they were going with him. Having him ultimately side with Edge and Vickie is o.k., but it happened way too quickly. That takes the intrigue away. Also, it happened for no real reason. Chavo didn’t give a legitimate explanation as to why he was willing to change his mind so quickly. It looks like Vickie is going to end up with her own stable of wrestlers, which is fine, but this still happened too quickly and illogically.

Coach: When Coach was introduced as the new color commentator on Smackdown, I was likely the only person who would give that a Hit. I acknowledged my groaned when he first came out, but I still gave him a Hit. My reason for giving him a Hit was largely based on the fact that I was, “sick and tired of Coach’s role on Raw.” I was happy to seem him doing something different than argue with William Regal and kiss Vince McMahon’s ass. Also, I was worried that he would be his usual over the top and super annoying self, which would grow stale after about half a broadcast. Instead, I was surprised that he toned it down. He wasn’t the normal irrational heel commentator which is a position that has grown stale. The problem is that he has gone too far the other direction. Instead of being too over the top and annoying, he has been watered down and boring. He adds nothing to the broadcast. Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Tazz all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all brought a sense of humor to the job. There is no humor from Coach. He is bland. I don’t want to hear him constantly bicker with Michael Cole, but he has to at least be insightful, amusing, and interesting. He isn’t any of the above. Lawler plays a tweener role, but he still gives Jim Ross a hard time. Tazz is more of a heel than Lawler at this point, but not to the point of being like the traditional heel commentators of old. He also finds fun ways to give Joey Styles a hard time. You don’t have to be annoying and over the top to add to the broadcast and create chemistry your partner. Coach doesn’t seem fit to do that. When I have suggested that TNA get rid of their announce team, I have always concentrated more on Don West than Mike Tenay simply for the fact that it is much easier to find a good color commentator than a good play by play guy. If that is the case as I believe it to be, then there is no excuse for WWE not putting more effort into finding a better choice.

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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