By Tony Donofrio, Torch specialist

-- 5/29 WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES

SD HITS

Opening promo with Rey Mysterio & Chris Jericho: Both Mysterio and Jericho were solid on the mic, especially Jericho (as usual and expected). I like how Jericho is pushing for the de-masking of Mysterio as this has been a lot better booked thus far than the angle was last year with Mysterio and Kane (and Kane wanting to strip Rey of his mask). Also worth noting is that Jericho didn't dwell on Mickey Rourke being in attendance. But, here's hoping that Rey won't have to ever unmask in the WWE. It already happened in the old WCW and we all know how Rey's career nosedived (in WCW) from there.

Both Women's matches: Surprisingly, I'm going to give these a "hit." It was nice to see Smackdown give some time to the Women's Division. Smackdown has been the best WWE show for the past year (in my opinion), with the notable exception of how the Women's Division has been handled. Does bad booking follow the Divas Title, while good (or at least better) booking is going to follow the Women's Title? I guess only time will tell but having two women's matches was nice to see. The matches themselves were decent also, especially for three of the four women in them not exactly being seasoned veterans. (Although this is not strong enough to be considered a "miss," did anyone else notice Alicia Fox's generic WWE entrance theme of Nelly's song "Hot in Here?" C'mon, Jim Johnston, you can do better than that!)

Jeff Hardy-Edge in-ring ladder match promos: Jeff and Edge both delivered in their promos. I did prefer Edge's to Jeff's though as he drove home the point that while Jeff might "steal the show," he has the most wins. The promos by both of these guys don't have to be extremely strong though also, as a one-on-one ladder match between the two will pretty much sell itself.

Edge & Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy (minus Rey Mysterio): For the second time this week (the first being ECW), WWE delivered in a main event handicap match. Having Jericho masquerade as a Mysterio fan was very clever and I'd venture to say that most people didn't see this coming considering it looked like it was going to be a handicap match favoring Rey and Jeff and not the other way around (if you consider the Jericho/Edge interaction preceding the match). The match itself was well done. Edge pinning Jeff, who nearly pulled off the upset, should have many fans believing that Jeff could very well be the next World Heavyweight Champion. As for Jericho actually eliminating Rey from the match before it even started, I liked it considering they really pushed the concept that Jericho is going for Rey's mask as well.

SD MISSES

R-Truth & Great Khali vs. Mike Knox & Dolph Ziggler: This match was probably the low point of the night. Khali looked absolutely ridiculous singing (rapping) and dancing around with R-Truth. Some might say it was funny, I think it was stupid. (Sorry if I'm not exactly being objective there!) I think Dolph Ziggler has some potential to get over as a heel on Smackdown, but no one really cares about Khali and it's nearly impossible to have a good match with him. I know Jim Ross sees a lot in Mike Knox but it still hasn't come across yet. The match itself wasn't terrible, but this definitely wasn't good enough to be a "hit."

John Morrison vs. Umaga (w/C.M. Punk post-match): This is one part of the show that I had a tough time giving a "miss" to, but it gets one more or less because of what it lacked and not because the in-ring action was bad, because it wasn't. The match itself was pretty good with Morrison not giving in to Umaga until the point where Umaga snapped and finally used the strap to set up the DQ. We did find out during the of course of the match, however, that the PPV match will be contested under traditional strap match rules where you must touch the four corners in succession to win. With all that said, we still don't know why Umaga has been chasing Punk around for the better part of the past month and a week later, there still hasn't been a big deal made about the fact that "hey, we never knew Umaga could actually speak English, who the hell knew?!" One would assume that Umaga wants Punk's briefcase. I take it they're saving that point for the third and final match we get between the two on June 28 at "The Bash." Punk's promo was solid, but doesn't he want to know why a giant Samoan has been chasing him around for the past so many weeks too? Here's hoping they clear some of these things up in the coming weeks.

Cryme Tyme vs. Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin: Here's another match that is hard to give a "miss" to, but it has to be done. Again, the in-ring action was solid but where is this going? Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison had another good interaction backstage to remind everyone of their ongoing feud. I do understand that the match came out of the interference by Cryme Tyme in Haas/Benjamin's match the previous night on "Superstars." It was also nice to see some more tag team wrestling featured this week on WWE's programming. However, according to what Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler said a few weeks ago on Raw, the Colons will have to defend the tag titles on any of the three shows but their contracts are the sole property of Raw if/when they lose the Unified Tag Titles. Now, had this been a #1 Contenders Match for the Tag Titles, this would have made more sense. Should the two teams go at it again next week for the #1 contendership with Morrison spoiling the bid for the "World's Most Forgotten Tag Team" (as he so clearly put it), then revisionist history will make this match a "hit" leading into something. But, because the match had no meaning with no signs of a lead into anything right now, it sadly receives a "miss."

SD OVERALL

Smackdown this week delivered again as it usually seems to do these days. Lately, I look forward to Raw letting me down, ECW lifting my spirits, and Smackdown ending the week on a good note and this week probably is the best outline for what I just described. It was hard for me to be picky with anything this week on Smackdown as far as inside the ring goes. None of the matches were bad, that's for sure. Overall, I give this week's show a B+ as I was pretty entertained from start to finish.

Tony Donofrio is a new Hits & Misses Specialist covering WWE PPVs and TV shows during the week. Contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com

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