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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Cutting Edge: Smackdown started well with an opening segment that accomplished two goals. One, it announced the Main Event for this week’s show. Two, it announced the Main Event for next week’s show. It was nice to see that type of hype for next week, which is so simple to do, but for some reason not done nearly enough. Edge was great throughout. I loved his line that Vickie Guerrero is so hot when making matches. His introduction of Ric Flair was very good. It was great that he was able to hold Flair up on a pedestal while at the same time knocking him down. The interaction between Edge and Flair was good as well. I liked how Flair talked about the Undertaker. He did a good job of putting Taker over. In addition to the two matches that were announced during the segment, WWE also had good hype for two major matches at WrestleMania. While Edge was great, Vickie was not. She just isn’t very good. She has gotten better, but she may have peaked with her interaction with Rey Mysterio two weeks ago, as she has gotten worse since. I would not have had Flair focus on the Edge-Vickie relationship, but other than that, the Cutting Edge worked well.

Jamie Noble: Noble should be used as something more than just Big Show’s punching bag. He showed his verbal talent in his great scene with Michelle McCool. It didn’t make a lot of sense that McCool would want to be with Noble, other than their mutual hatred for Chuck Palumbo. So, I was glad that she was clearly not interested in having a relationship with him. Noble was hilarious in his lines about not being a one woman man. Noble was also good in his later scene with Vickie Guerrero, which recalled some of the great scenes between the two last year when Noble was first starting to get a push. Again, I would like to see him have a chance to shine in the ring, not just outside of it, and hopefully that will come.

MVP vs. Batista: I have enjoyed the series of matches between Montel Vontavious Porter and Batista. It was good to see one for the U.S. Title as it was about time MVP defended it. The match told an interesting story as Batista worked on MVP’s knee, and MVP countered by working on Batista’s knee. The selling from MVP has improved in each of the three matches. They are developing some chemistry in the ring. The match had good action, but had a bad ending. The count out finish was lame, because most of the time when a wrestler rolls into the ring during a 10 count, the referee stops the count. We see it all the time, and the announcers often commend a wrestler for breaking the 10 count. So, why didn’t MVP’s roll into the ring break the 10 count in this instance? WWE is too inconsistent with how count out rules work. I knew MVP wouldn’t lose the Championship, and was expecting an Umaga run-in. After they announced a no count out, no DQ rematch for next week, I have to assume they are saving the Umaga appearance for then. I also hope that next week will be the last match between these two for a long time. Their matches have been good, and this one was no exception, even with the lame finish. But after a fourth next week, I won’t need to see it again, and they have to move on from this to build Batista vs. Umaga, and move MVP on to whatever he will have at WrestleMania.

Edge Stands Tall: The Smackdown Main Event was nothing special. It was a decent match to show Undertaker’s ability to fend off a three on one attack. He dominated the match, and since that domination was mostly just on Kurt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, it served as a nice tease for Edge vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania. But, the real highlight was Edge pulling off a clean pin in the middle of the ring on Undertaker with a surprise spear. Undertaker has gotten the better of Edge the last few weeks, so it was good to see Edge on top this week. Also, the fact that Edge pinned the Dead Man will put some doubt into people’s minds about Undertaker’s chances. Edge will have great material going forward to brag about pinning the Undertaker. This sets up the next few weeks of hype for this match which is why it worked so well.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Bikini Contest: This was bad for so many reasons. Coach didn’t help as the lame MC. Eve and Maryse have barely been on t.v., so nobody cares about them at this point. I liked the idea that Cherry would be shy, but otherwise the “character development” was ridiculous. We’ve seen Victoria in these types of competition before, so trying to play her up as a spaz who can’t get her top off is stupid. Plus, she is the best wrestler on Smackdown, so I think she could climb the ropes without falling off. That sound during the video of the custom motorcycle maker who will be making the motorcycle for the winner of this multi-week Divas contest was the sound of a few million people not caring. One of the reasons this was so bad was that it is setting up several more weeks of this same crap.

Long Time, No Wrestling: There was a long stretch in the middle of Smackdown without any wrestling, and WWE could do a better job spreading the wrestling and non-wrestling segments throughout the show. After Batista vs. MVP, there was a long video recap of the McMahon-Finlay-JBL-Hornswoggle saga from the last two weeks, then a commercial, then the scene with Vickie and Noble, then the Mae Young Hall of Fame video, then another commercial, then the long bikini contest mentioned above, then another commercial, then finally another match. That is too long of a stretch without wrestling. A better balance could easily be found.

Again, No Money in the Bank: I thought for sure Smackdown would have a Money in the Bank Qualifier this week, but I was wrong. That is two weeks in a row, with Raw having one in between. Maybe WWE doesn’t know who the other participants will be yet. If MVP is going to be in it, he has to move on from his feud with Batista first, but you could have one in the mean time. If Kane is going to be in it, his match vs. Palumbo could have been one. If Matt Hardy is going to be in it, then he has to come back to establish himself before having one. At this point, I am expecting Umaga to interfere in Batista vs. MVP next week, and Hardy will make the save. But, that would suggest MVP vs. Hardy and neither will be in Money in the Bank. So, who from Smackdown will be?

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.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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