By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Segment: Smackdown got off to a good start with the in ring promo from Edge. This was a nice follow up to the events from last week with his calling off the wedding. I liked what he had to say about all the people who think he was only World Heavyweight Champion because of Vickie Guerrero. It was a good promo. Vickie was good in her role as well. She announced Edge vs. Big Show which had potential to be a good Main Event. It was also kept pretty short. Sometimes these talking segments go on forever (see Raw), but this one was a good length to accomplish everything that it needed to, while not overstaying its welcome.

Hardy vs. Benjamin: This was a good 5 minute match. I would have liked to see it go longer, but WWE was more interested in the number of matches (8!) than in giving those matches more time. Matt Hardy and Shelton Benjamin worked hard to put on a good match. It had good back and forth action. Hardy and Benjamin worked well together and are starting to build some nice chemistry together. The story of the match was Benjamin constantly being able to come up with different counters to the Twist of Fate. That worked well because Hardy has been so successful hitting his finisher as of late. This made Benjamin look strong for being able to avoid it when so many others haven’t. I was surprised by the ending. It looks like a feud between these two is in the works, and that is fine with me.

MVP: I wish WWE had done a better job (or a job) of explaining why Montel Vontavious Porter was doing guest commentary during Kennedy vs. Domino. But, I was happy to have him out there. He did a good job as you would expect. I was really glad that it was Jim Ross on commentary instead of Michael Cole, as Cole always is way over the top in his combative attitude towards heel guest commentators. Ross was much better. The interaction between MVP and Mick Foley was good also. Foley seemed to be leaning a bit to the heel side all night long, but not too much or in an over the top way, which was good. I like the tease of an MVP vs. Kennedy feud. I was intrigued by Umaga’s presence as well. I still think this was just too random and something more concrete could have been used to lay the foundation of a feud, but I am looking forward to seeing where this goes from here. I guess we’ll call it a marginal Hit.

Natalya: Natalya looked very good in her dominating role in destroying Cherry in their tag team match and afterwards for attacking Michelle McCool. She has looked good in the ring so far, and with continued improvement she has the chance to be a very good Diva. She showed a viscous side on Smackdown this week which works well for her. I like how she worked on Cherry’s knee to set up the Sharpshooter. Cherry did a good job of selling the knee injury as well. The fact that she tapped out so quickly helped to sell the move as a devastating submission finisher. I hope she wins the Divas Championship (which is hideous by the way) and not Michelle McCool.

Main Event: I mentioned above that Edge vs. Big Show had the potential to be a good Main Event, and it lived up to that potential. It was good that Vickie announced ahead of time that nobody from La Familia could interfere (although how could she fire Chavo Guerrero or Bam Neely if they are technically ECW wrestlers?). That gave a good indication that the match would go on without interference which it did. It was good to see Edge hold his own in such a strong way against the Big Show. It helps keeps him strong when he can hang with him physically and not just have to be a weasel in order to escape. The match had good action and some really nice sequences. They did a good job of playing into the No DQ stipulation without going overboard with weapons. The fact that Vickie put an end to the match worked well as it really seemed unplanned. I was expecting a swerve eventually, but this came much quicker than expected, and technically isn’t a swerve. There was too much of Edge and Vickie (and the rest of La Familia for that matter - more later), but the Main Event was a good match.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Too Much La Familia: While I enjoyed the opening segment, it was the start of a night that would feature La Familia way too often. There were several scenes in the back with various and sometimes all the members. Zach Ryder & Curt Hawkins tried to get on Vickie’s good side and asked for a match vs. Jesse & Festus. Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely tried to console Edge, and Chavo promised to talk to Vickie for him. Then Chavo tried to kiss up to Vickie who didn’t fall for it, and booked him vs. Triple H. Of course, we then got that match, and Ryder & Hawkins vs. Jesse & Festus. Then came the very crowded scene with Edge, Chavo, Bam, Ryder and Hawkins all arguing in the back only to be interrupted by another Vickie appearance. The Main Event featured Edge with Vickie watching from ringside. Plus, the show ended with Vickie and Edge reuniting after one whole week of being apart. Jim Ross commented at one point about finding himself in the middle of a soap opera and that was definitely true. I don’t mind some soap opera elements on the show, in fact they can be very entertaining, but this was too much in one show. Instead of focusing on new beginnings and new superstars and storylines like Raw has (at least in week 1 after the draft), Smackdown is featured on La Familia and isn’t feeling nearly as fresh as it could.

Miz & Morrison vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle: I wasn’t happy watching ECW when it became clear that this feud was going to continue, and I was less happy watching Smackdown when I saw it continue. John Morrison & The Miz have been a great tag team. It was painful to watch them lose to Finlay & Hornswoggle. It is not believable that Hornswoggle would be able to have so much success in the ring. His enziguri to Morrison didn’t look like it would kill a fly, yet Morrison had to sell it like it was a very painful move. That was stupid. Miz & Morrison gain nothing by beating on Hornswoggle during the match, and they lose tons of credibility when they get no offense on Finlay and even have to take moves from Hornswoggle as well. Then, the referee showed TNA-like incompetence at the end getting himself distracted for no reason. It wasn’t a good match, had the wrong ending, and isn’t helping the two wrestlers involved who should be treated like bigger stars.

Use of Big Show: Big Show has been wasted on WWE t.v. in recent weeks. It was good to see him in a Smackdown Main Event, but it was too random. Where has he been the last few weeks? He wasn’t on at all last week. He has too much value to be used in the Great Khali’s role. As I said above, I enjoyed his match vs. Edge, but he deserves better than to just be thrown out there like that. Why isn’t he being used? Where is his current storyline? He looked weak for walking away so easily when Vickie ordered him to stop beating on Edge. The crowd didn’t respond as strongly to him as they would have in the same situation two months ago. Hopefully this will be a sign of better things to come, but WWE is really missing out if this is the only thing they can think of to do with him.

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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