By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Miz & Morrison vs. Carlito & Primo: After a brief bit of talking from Big Show and Vickie Guerrero, setting up the main event casket match, it was nice to see Smackdown go to a match so early in the show. It was not a great idea to have Miz & Morrison take on the tag team champions just a few days before their big match with Degeneration X. They had to win to look strong heading into Raw, but that meant it had to come at the expense of the tag champs. Hopefully this will lead to a feud between these teams, as it was a good match and I wouldn't mind seeing more of it. It was nice to see Carlito & Primo get in so much offense. It wasn't as formulaic as typical WWE tag matches are where one of the babyfaces gets isolated for a long stretch of time. It was good that the tag champs got to act like it despite taking the loss in the end.

Yang vs. Kendrick: This was way too short of a match to really get a Hit. But, it was very fun for the 3 minutes that it lasted. I would have loved to see it go longer, and I am hopeful for a rematch next week. Jimmy Wang Yang did get the win (although the announcers could have done a better job of proclaiming that), so he could get a rematch. These two can do some very exciting moves in the ring. We got a little taste of what they could do given more time which I hope they get.

6 Man Tag: I didn't really understand why this match was happening or how guys from all three brands were able to be in the match (more later), but I enjoyed The Hardys & Rey Mysterio vs. Kane, Mark Henry & MVP. It featured plenty of good wrestling action, with some great athleticism form the Hardys and Mysterio. They did some nice three man moves. Montel Vontavious Porter seemed to be in the ring for most of the match, which was good as he can do more in the ring than Kane and Henry. The ending sequence was particularly strong with Kane and Henry being taken out of the match, allowing Jeff Hardy to hit MVP with a swanton bomb.

Vladimir Kozlov: WWE continued the nice build towards the eventual Kozlov vs. Triple H WWE Title match with Kozlov officially challenging Triple H for the Title. Kozlov's not bad on the mic. His English seems to be improving. He is at the very least being well scripted to sound like a strong challenger. I wasn't thrilled with anything that Triple H said. I didn't need to hear a Rocky IV recap (although I did laugh at Triple H's expression when the live crowd booed the mention of Apollo Creed's death). But, I did like what Kozlov had to say about not wanting to fight unless it is for the Title, as he has already proven he can beat up the Game.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Masked Magician: This was just such a shameless plug for the MyNetwork show. It was boring and had nothing to do with wrestling. It really didn't advance the Festus and Maria love story. It didn't make me want to tune into the magic show next week. It was just a big waste of time.

Kozlov vs. Undertaker Next Week: WWE has been doing such a good job of building up Kozlov that he has the potential to be a big opponent for the Undertaker down the line. That is why is is so disappointing that WWE's short sighted booking is forcing him into a match with Undertaker next week. It is interesting to see the two top feuds on Smackdown at the moment come together like this, but it is a huge mistake to have this be the first match between these two. Why not save it and build to it the way they have been building to Kozlov vs. Triple H?

Brand Split?: I know I gave these matches Hits above, but WWE keeps shooting itself in the foot with the total lack of a brand split. We had an ECW team facing a Smackdown team. Later, we had a six man tag featuring wrestlers from all three brands. ECW seems to have a working agreement with both Raw and Smackdown, but how did the Raw wrestlers show up on Smackdown?

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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