By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Batista vs. MVP: Smackdown got off to a good start with a good two segment match. This was one of Batista’s better recent in ring efforts. The match was slow, but it had good action. It also told a story as Batista worked on MVP’s knee, and MVP worked on Batista’s shoulder. The announcers did a good job of discussing how Batista was using his mentor Ric Flair’s tactics in working on the knee, including using the Figure 4. I would have liked to see MVP sell the knee injury more later in the match. Once he took control of the match, it was like his knee was 100%. As he continues to develop as an in ring performer, little things like that will need to improve. But, that is a minor complaint about a good match where both guys worked hard to entertain the fans for 16 minutes.

8 Man Tag: This was a very short match, which is too bad because it was fun while it lasted. There is a lot of energy in the ring whenever Yang & Moore are involved, and having the hyper active Jesse is going to add to that. Come to think of it, Festus brings energy too. The match was really too short to amount to much, but I am giving it a Hit because it was fun while it lasted, and because of what happened afterwards. This was one of the first times that WWE has played around with Festus’ character. I loved that he just stood by and watched passively after the match since the bell had rung. His cleaning house after Jesse rang the bell was fun to watch. My only complaint is that he shouldn’t have saved them. The beating should have happened this week. Then they should have a rematch next week, with a similar post-match beat down where Jesse would ring the bell after having already gone through the same thing this week. That would have worked better, but it still worked well.

Elimination Chamber Hype: WWE did a good job of hyping the Elimination Chamber(s) throughout Smackdown. In addition to showing the good video package on past Elimination Chambers that they’ve been using, it was good to hear the announcers talk about it multiple times. Obviously, there were three singles matches with the participants which helped hype the match. But, what I particularly liked was that the announcers talked about the logistics of the match itself. It was the first time that anyone has really addressed the rules of the match. They talked about the luck of the draw for the first time, as the first two in the match have a disadvantage. That hasn’t been played up until this point. They reinforced the rules. WWE could and should have done a much better job of this on both Smackdown and Raw, but it was a good effort on their final sell of No Way Out.

Final Segment: I am not thrilled with the Edge - Vickie Guerrero romance. I’m not offended by it or anything like that. I just don’t find it particularly entertaining, and I feel that it is a poor rehash of the McMahon-Helmsley era. I was really hoping that Edge’s question would not be a proposal, so I was disappointed that it was. But, other than that disappointment, I really enjoyed the scene itself. Edge was very funny in his lame attempt to serenade Vickie. Rey Mysterio had a nice appearance cutting a solid promo. His brief physical encounter with Edge worked well. His dive onto Vickie was predictable, but I laughed when it happened. I really liked how Rey showed no remorse. His “whatever” reaction and facial expressions were very strong.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

McCool vs. Victoria: I like the idea that Chuck Palumbo’s motorcycle engine would distract Michelle McCool during this match. Unfortunately, it looked like it really distracted the performer, not just the character. McCool has been decent in the ring, but she looked bad this week. It appears that she was supposed to, but she still needed to be crisp in her moves, and she was not. I liked the post-match angle with Palumbo bullying her in the ring. The storyline aspect of this match was good, but the actual execution was bad.

Great Khali vs. Finlay: I am getting tired of seeing this match. I have been tired of seeing The Great Khali for a long time, and whatever fun I was getting watching his feud with Finlay is over. The match was boring. Hornswoggle’s involvement was o.k., but not particularly special in any way. We’ve seen this same ending between these two too many times.

Too Many Videos: There was too much time on Smackdown devoted to videos of old footage. Replays, Slams of the Nights, etc., are par for the course. So, I can accept the short videos replaying angles from last week like Jesse revealing the “new” Festus and Palumbo beating up Jamie Noble. I mentioned that the video package on the Elimination Chamber helped to hype the match, but I also mentioned that it is the same video that we’ve seen multiple times now. Watching that video was like watching a rerun. Too much of Smackdown had that feeling. That had to be the longest Raw Rebound in WWE history. It just kept going. Most of it wasn’t even from Raw. It was really a very long video on the Randy Orton - John Cena feud. I guess it makes sense to hype that match, but I would like to see more original Smackdown content. The video that really got me was the one on the history of the Vince McMahon, Hornswoggle, and Finlay storyline. That one was long and so out of place interrupting the beginning of Finlay vs. Khali. Smackdown’s pre-tape feel has never been more evident.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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