By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Hardy's Delivery: Matt Hardy delivered his show opening promo very well. This was a huge promo for him, as it was one of the longest in his career (maybe the longest?), and it was very important for the follow up to his turning on his brother Jeff at the Royal Rumble. It wasn't a home run promo. But, most of the problem was with some of the script and the annoying over production (more later). I don't quite buy into the whole thing where he was jealous of Jeff's popularity considering he has been very popular and getting great responses for a long time. The parts of the promo dealing with Jeff as a screw up and being tired of having to save and look after him were much more resonating. His cold delivery worked very well as did the final few statements from the promo, saying that not only were the Hard Boyz as a team over, but they are over as brothers.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Over Produced Opening: After the initial opening video of the Hardy situation, did we really need to keep seeing the images of their past while Matt talked? It was over kill. I understand from a cinematic point of view why they did it. It was meant to remind all the fans about their history, juxtaposing it to the words that Matt was speaking. The problem is that it was too much. It was too post-produced. It reminded the audience that the show isn't live. The music playing while he spoke was annoying too. It was interesting to hear him come to the ring without any music to deliver his speech. We didn't need the music later. It would have been more powerful to just have the images of the videos set up in the opening, and let him deliver the promo without them.

Haven't We Seen These Videos Already?: Speaking of videos, there were so many on Smackdown that we've seen all week long on Raw and ECW. I know this is going to keep happening with the build up to WrestleMania, so I might get used to it. But, for now I am just bored with them already. There was the WrestleMania video, an Umaga video that we've seen on Smackdown several weeks in a row, the Elimination Chamber video, another Vladimir Kozlov video like the ones we've seen several weeks in a row on Smackdown, there was the WrestleMania 21 video for the third time this week, the "12 Rounds" Trailer (John Cena's movie is another source for videos that we will have to sit through three times each week until it finally hits theaters), and the Raw Rebound for only the second time. Throw in a video on the Mickey Rourke - Chris Jericho deal and that is way too much. It was very annoying. And, I don't look forward to having to complain about the same thing next week.

Henry On Smackdown: I hate to sound like a broken record here, especially considering some of the comments that have been left when I have complained about the lack of a brand split, but why was Mark Henry, an ECW wrestler, wrestling on Smackdown for a chance to compete for the Smackdown WWE Championship? Don't tell me to ignore the lack of a brand split and just go for the ride when WWE used that brand split on ECW when Matt Hardy left the show. If the brand split doesn't matter, then why did he have to leave his brand in order to appear on Smackdown? Henry didn't get released from his ECW contract, but three days later he was on Smackdown. So, why would Matt have to get released from his ECW contract? And, if you are Vickie Guerrero, why do you allow someone from a different show on your show competing for your show's Title? What if Henry defeated Undertaker and won the Elimination Chamber and took the WWE Title to ECW? She would have felt really stupid at that point.

Triple H vs. Khali vs. Kozlov: This was a terrible match. It was slow and boring. I was happy when the commercial break came. I was sad when the show returned. Nothing good happened during the match. I don't know that a match with The Great Khali can possibly be any good. Kozlov isn't much better. Triple H can still have good matches, but he can't carry either of these two to a good match, and certainly not both at the same time. I understand wanting to protect Kozlov from taking the loss. The problem is that meant that Triple H had to pin Khali, which meant he had to hit the ugliest Pedigree in the history of the world. Then, they showed a replay of it. The Royal Rumble was a solid PPV (I would say disappointing. It wasn't bad, but it is always my favorite PPV of the year and so I was disappointed that the show was just ok). Raw was very bad. ECW was bad. Smackdown was bad. Impact wasn't great, but it was the best of the four shows this week.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt