By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Big Show Promo: It was good to see Big Show back wrestling, even in a handicap squash. That was basic stuff, although his brief boxing exhibition was fun. The real highlight of his night was his post-match promo. He has always been a good talker and he showed that here. His discussion of Floyd Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya was very good. I liked the threat that he would make sure Mayweather will not be able to face De La Hoya in September. He put over the $20 million price tag that Mayweather is getting for the fight. The end of the promo when he said that the money would not be worth it was very strong.

Palumbo vs. Noble: This was the best match in a night with very little quality wrestling. There were seven matches in all, but this was the only one that was Hit worthy (two were Miss worthy as you will see, the others just o.k.). This match worked because it had good action, went a decent length without overstaying its welcome, and told a story. It also fit in with a feud that has been very entertaining over the last several weeks. Jamie Noble got in a good amount of offense, much more than the last time he faced Chuck Palumbo. Noble did a good job of focusing on Palumbo’s arm, while Palumbo did a nice job of selling the arm injury. It showed how speed and strategy can help against superior strength. With two straight losses to Palumbo, I don’t know where WWE will go with Noble, or where Palumbo goes from here either. Either way, this has been a good feud and it was a good match.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Batista vs. Umaga Announcement: I was intrigued on Raw when William Regal read the letter from Vickie Guerrero challenging him to a Raw vs. Smackdown match at WrestleMania. Once he said that he would chose Umaga as his champion, it was fairly obvious that Batista would be Smackdown’s. I was very curious to see how that decision would be made by Vickie Guerrero. Would she ask Batista? If so, would he say “yes” right away? Would she set up a match to pick the champion that Batista would win? Regal and Guerrero are both heels, so there has to be a good reason why a babyface would be picked by Guerrero. I thought there were some interesting possibilities. Instead, Batista walked into her office, said he wanted to be the Smackdown representative, and she said “yes.” That was it. It was very anticlimactic, and the segment cut to commercial so quickly it seemed odd, as if something else happened that then got edited out. The build to this announcement could have been great, but instead it just sort of happened and I just sort of didn’t care. I still have questions. Who did Vickie have in mind when she made the challenge to Regal in the first place? Why would Batista volunteer? Shouldn’t he want to be in Money in the Bank to win a future Title shot? The way it happened was lame.

Batista & Kane vs. Khali & MVP: This match went on too long and overstayed its welcome. It was pretty boring with the long two-on-one beat down of Kane. The Great Khali is never going to be exciting. Montel Vontavious Porter, Kane and Batista can all be exciting, but none of them were here. This is one case when I would have been fine with a much shorter match. I don’t see that this match accomplished anything but to fill 17 minutes of Smackdown, and that 17 minutes was very boring.

Miz & Morrison Lose Again: WWE seemed to be getting away from the pattern of making their WWE Tag Team Champions look weak by losing non-title matches over and over again. Unfortunately, WWE was back to that trap this week as Miz & Morrison lost clean on both ECW and on Smackdown. We know that they will be facing Dreamer & Delaney again on ECW next week, and that has been the focus of their current storyline. Things were diluted this week with this loss to Jesse & Festus. I assume WWE is going to try to build to a triple threat match at WrestleMania (maybe even a fatal four way with Yang & Moore?). I would be o.k. with that (as long as it is elimination), but there are better ways of doing it than making the Champs look bad by losing twice in one week.

Big Daddy V vs. Mahoney: This was a stupid match to have in the first place. I understand that there is a talent exchange agreement between Smackdown and ECW, but that doesn’t mean that two random ECW guys (one of whom hasn’t been on in weeks) should be on Smackdown for a random match. Clearly, WWE just wanted two guys out there for Undertaker to destroy, but there has to be a real reason for every match on every show, not just a behind the scenes reason. So, why were these two ECW wrestlers facing on Smackdown this week? The match itself was just another typical Big Daddy V squash until Undertaker interrupted. I don’t need to see those again. Undertaker looked strong enough at the end of the show that he didn’t have to interrupt this match. This match (or any other for that matter) didn’t need to happen at that point.

No Money in the Bank Qualifier: Why was there no Money in the Bank qualifier this week? Raw has had three of them so far, but Smackdown only one (and that one included an ECW wrestler). Why has William Regal made three of them, but Vickie Guerrero only one? Does she want someone from Smackdown in the match? I said the first week of these on Raw that the qualifiers are stupid, and WWE proves me right when they are so inconsistent with how they happen. WWE seemed to be in a hurry to get the participants named when they had two qualifiers on that first Raw, but I guess they aren’t in that big of a hurry. At this point, who from Smackdown is going to be in Money in the Bank? MVP? If so, he won’t be qualified next week either. Matt Hardy? Well, he needs to return before he can do that. Finlay? Doubtful considering he will likely be facing JBL. MVP and Hardy make the most sense, but they better get a move on at some point.

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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