By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Mike Knox: After a solid match between Finlay and Dolph Ziggler, I liked what we saw from Mike Knox in beating up Finlay. I have been saying for awhile that Knox has potential and that hopefully WWE will at least give him a chance. It looks like they are listening. His physical dissection of Finlay was very well done. That sidewalk slam on the steel steps was incredibly impactful. I'm not quite sure what to make of his brief promo afterwards. I like his quiet understated delivery as a juxtaposition to so many other voices in pro wrestling today. I'm just not sure what he was talking about. But, I am curious to see if this is the start of something that might actually resemble a character beyond an impressive beard.

Morrison vs. Punk: This is the third time that we've seen John Morrison wrestle CM Punk in recent weeks, and all three matches have been very good. These two clearly have good chemistry in the ring. It has been a joy to watch them work together like this. This is the future of WWE and the future is now. That flying knee across Morrison's neck as he lay across the ring apron was wicked. The match continued on and was very enjoyable to watch as it went back and forth. Punk has really nailed his in ring heel character (put that together with a better showing in the opening segment from a mic work stand point - the opening segment was fine, but not quite good enough for a Hit - and you get a very good heel Punk). His facial expressions like when he is proud of hitting a physical move are great. It was also the right ending to the match as Punk needed to get the clean win heading into his World Title match at SummerSlam.

Cryme Tyme - Jeri-Show: This was another good week in the development of the feud between Cryme Tyme and Chris Jericho & The Big Show. Cryme Tyme gave a solid pre-match promo. It was nice to hear them giving a more serious and focused promo instead of just talking about that "money, money, yeah, yeah." Jericho was great as usual on guest commentary. Big Show dominated his match against JTG, but that was ok. What made it work is the idea that Cryme Tyme will have to work as a team instead of two singles wrestlers. Also, Shad's sneak attack on Show afterwards worked very well.

New Hart Attack: I really like the new twist that Tyson Kidd put on the classic Hart Foundation finisher. Instead of simply running the ropes and hitting a leaping clothesline on his opponent being held by David Hart Smith, Kidd did a springboard clothesline which was very impressive looking. Hopefully, the new finisher is here to stay.

End of Smackdown: Smackdown had a strong ending starting with the handicap match of the Hart Dynasty vs. Jeff Hardy. Things really picked up after the match as Punk came out to get him some more of Hardy. That led to Morrison making the save, until he got overwhelmed by the numbers. Just when Punk was going to crush Hardy's neck in the chair like last week, Matt Hardy came out to make the save. I particularly liked how Jeff begged off of Matt while sitting in the corner as he clearly thought Matt was going to attack him. I am very intrigued by this storyline and want to know more about Matt's motivation. The six man tag match announced for next week should be good.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Kane - Singh: As I said last week, I am not a fan of Runjin Singh so I don't really care what Kane does to him. This is one of those wrestling angles where you have to totally turn off your brain to accept it, as Kane has held a man hostage for a week and yet the police don't seem to be involved. The basement scenes between them were uncomfortable to watch. Revealing that Singh is The Great Khali's brother didn't make me more interested in this angle or the characters involved. And, this didn't make me want to see Khali get revenge on Kane.

DX Video: I didn't enjoy this footage as it aired for the first time on Raw. I didn't enjoy watching this recap video on ECW. I didn't miss it when they skipped it on Superstars. And, I didn't enjoy having to sit through it once again on Smackdown.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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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