By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

VIP Lounge: Recently, my brother told me that he is hoping Chris Jericho is moved to Smackdown for a feud with Montel Vontavious Porter. I liked the idea and even thought beyond that to a possible Jericho vs. Edge feud. If there is a Jericho vs. MVP feud in the future, we got a taste of how good it can be when Jericho joined MVP in the VIP Lounge. I haven’t done the math, but I assume if I were to look back on the last 6 months worth of Smackdown Hits & Misses, I would find MVP involved in more Hits than any other wrestler, from matches, to VIP Lounges, to various interactions with Matt Hardy. Smackdown was pretty boring this week, especially the first half of the show when nothing exciting happened. So, when the second half opened with the VIP Lounge, I was very happy. MVP delivered in his opening promo. Jericho was very good as well. I liked that MVP interrupted Jericho to run down his various nick names and accolades from over the years. It was good that Jericho returned the favor. His alternate names for MVP reminded me of some of the classic Y2J humor from years gone by. These were just o.k., not great but fairly amusing. The segment had a strong ending with Jericho tipping the ladder over knocking MVP to the ground. It was a nice tease for Money in the Bank, an entertaining segment in it’s own right, and set up a big match for next week’s Smackdown.

Jesse & Festus vs. Miz & Morrison: This was a fun Tag Team Championship match. Jesse & Festus’ matches are all very formulaic, although the same can be said for almost every WWE tag team match. It was good to see them tweak the formula a bit this week (not much, but some is better than none). Festus actually started the match for a change. After tagging out to Jesse it became the usual formula, but Miz & Morrison did some nice moves to keep the match interesting during the two-on-one beating. The crowd was into the action which helped, particularly when Festus finally got the hot tag. It was also good to see Miz & Morrison able to out think their opponents and pick up the win. They won clean, which was surprising and helped land the match in the Hit column. Perhaps my low expectations helped as well.

End of the Show: Smackdown had a strong ending. Chavo Guerrero vs. The Undertaker was a decent Main Event, that fit in perfectly with the storyline. It was helped by the presence at ring side of Edge and his Edge Guys. Undertaker looked strong in taking on not only Guerrero, but the others as well. The real strength of the segment came after the match when Edge Plus Two ganged up on the Dead Man with steel chairs. Edge promised something vile for the end of the show, and he certainly delivered. The chair beating looked very good. I could be wrong, but it definitely looked like Undertaker protected his head when he got hit. If I am wrong, then you can add one more needless unprotected chair shot to the head to a long list this week. If I am right, then WWE should take note that nothing was lost because he protected himself. I don’t know about the Conchairto. It seems like there is little actual chair to head contact. Again, I could be wrong. Either way, it was good to see Edge stand strong once again. His screaming at Undertaker about ending his WrestleMania streak was great. There has to be doubt in the minds of the fans going into WrestleMania, and this helped to create that doubt.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Two Handicap Matches: I am not a fan of handicap matches. I understand using them as a way to get over just how dominant someone can be, but we see it too often in WWE with so many monsters. We’ve seen them many times with guys like Big Daddy V, Mark Henry and the Great Khali. Last week, we saw one with the Big Show. I can begrudgingly accept those handicap matches, but do we really need two on one show? I am not a fan of Deuce & Domino so I’m not concerned about Batista burying them the way that Big Show buried Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore last week. It was also good that Big Show took on three jobbers instead of members of the Smackdown roster (although I was surprised to see the former Naturals among the three getting destroyed). But in a show that also featured Edge squashing Funaki, I did not need to see two handicap matches.

Dull First Half: Both handicap matches, along with the Edge squash occurred during the first half of the show, a first half that was very dull. Nothing good happened, apart from Edge’s solid promo promising to show what he is capable of doing. The show started with the boring Batista vs. Deuce & Domino. There was another boring Diva Competition. Seriously, I can’t wait for a few weeks when the competition is over (are they going to announce the winner at WrestleMania? I hope not. I am paying too much money to see that). We saw a replay of two Floyd Mayweather videos from Raw. There was the Big Show three-on-one match. Then it was the Edge squash. The first half of Smackdown was so dull. There wasn’t much specific to complain about, but the overall effect of the show was to make me very uninterested in the show. Things picked up nicely in the second half, although the rest of the show wasn’t totally free from dull moments. Chuck Palumbo vs. Kane fits into that category as well, especially with the walk-ins by Khali and Henry. I will say that Henry’s slam of Khali was impressive, but still not much to get excited about. On the whole, a boring Smackdown, particularly the first half.

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 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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