By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Helms' Return: I can't quite give Hurricane Helms vs. Montel Vontavious Porter a Hit. It wasn't a good enough match (or long enough either at under 4 minutes). It wasn't bad, but it was a bit off (particularly the ending). However, as a long time fan of the ex-Hurricane, I was very happy to see Helms back in a WWE ring. I like the new look. He looks more like an adult now. I really enjoyed the pop up appearances leading up to this. They showed his great since of humor. I hope that continues, while he also is taken more seriously as a performer. That might sound like a contradiction, but there have been plenty of humorous wrestlers who were taken seriously. He has the talent and hopefully he will be healthy.

Gauntlet: I wasn't thrilled when Vickie Guerrero announced the concept for the Triple H & Jeff Hardy tag team gauntlet. For one thing, I couldn't think of any tag teams on Smackdown, but if I could have, I wouldn't want to have seen them in a long line getting buried by Triple H and Hardy. However, the match itself was booked much better than expected. There were only two teams and Miz & Morrison were very competitive. The whole "match" was very fun to watch, from the constant bickering between Hunter and Hardy, to the actual traditional wrestling elements with them and Miz & Morrison. They did a very good job of building the anger between Trips and Hardy until it finally boiled over. The post match fight in Vickie's office was good too.

Big Show vs. Triple H: This was a good steel cage main event. WWE continues to try to have a steel cage match every two weeks it seems, but this one was good. Big Show and Undertaker are capable together of putting on a good match, but they are also capable of putting on a bad match. It was good that this one was much better than their casket match from Survivor Series. It had good back and forth action with plenty of counters and reversals, particularly towards the end with the multiple attempts at chokeslams from both wrestlers. There were some very memorable spots like the superplex and when they were fighting on the top rope. There was a scary moment there when I wasn't quite sure what they were going to do, but everything worked out well in the end.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Why Are Edge & Vickie Together?: It has been a few weeks since my last Smackdown Hits & Misses, so I haven't had a chance to touch on the reunion of Edge and Vickie Guerrero. What I have to say is that it makes no sense. Vickie hated Edge. Edge has been off of t.v. for the past few months because of what Undertaker did to him, "sending him to hell." That was a direct result of Vickie's hatred for him. So now, they are back together? I say again that it makes no sense. What is even worse is that there hasn't been any attempt at an explanation and the announcers haven't raised the question. I don't have to have a good explanation, but why would Vickie forgive Edge? Why would he forgive Vickie? I would even take a lame explanation over no explanation at all. At least have the question raised.

Maria vs. McCool: As I said above, it has been a few weeks since my last Smackdown Hits & Misses. Unfortunately, the last one also had a Miss for Maria vs. Michelle McCool. This was just an ugly ugly match. Maria really doesn't belong in the ring. McCool is fine, but not very good, and she certainly can't carry a poor performer to a decent showing.

Kiss Cam: These segments are total wastes of time. Runjin Singh can be amusing as the mc of Khali's Kiss Cam, but other than that it is horrible. There have to be better ways to fill time on t.v. Admittedly, I was happy that this one wasn't just a way to make fun of large women. But, when I think about it, it sort of was still making fun of them. Khali has to kiss them, but on Christmas, he gets to finally kiss a hot chick. I hope they drop this gimmick soon.

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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