By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Swagger vs. Morrison: I liked this match for a few reasons. For one, it was nice to see World Champion Jack Swagger win a match. He was in a match with a popular upper mid card wrestler in John Morrison and he won clean. That is a better use of Swagger than having him lose his first match after becoming Champion on Raw. Also, the match was pretty good. There was one botched spot, but they did a nice job of covering for it. I didn't like stopping the match for the blood (more later). So, there were a few problems in the match, but on the whole it was still good. I liked the ending as it was something different as Morrison tried to figure out which direction Swagger was going to go in on the outside, only to have Swagger get the better of him by tripping him off the ring apron. It was also nice to see a 9 minute match uninterrupted by a commercial break.

Straight Edge Society: The relationship between Darren Young and his mentor CM Punk was one of the most intriguing aspects to NXT when it first debuted. Things have gone up and down, but this was a very good development in the storyline with Young seemingly ready to join the SES and let Punk shave his head, only to have Young change his mind. The mic work from Punk was good as usual (also from Luke Gallows and Serena). This was the first time we've seen someone say no to Punk like this, and the crowd popped big time for it. Young got a really good reaction, better than he has at any time on NXT. The beat down that followed was well done, as was the save from Rey Mysterio. My only problem is that it could have actually been a major angle (even a "main event") for NXT. It could have been advertised ahead of time and built some buzz for the show which would have also benefited from an appearance by Mysterio. On a side note, my wife wants me to point out that Darren Young looks a lot like John Cena in the face. I didn't notice it at first, but after she pointed it out, I can really see a resemblance.

Edge vs. Jericho: I believe I predicted last week that there would be a non-finish to this match. I won't brag about it though, as I'm sure many fans were predicting the same thing. The match itself was quite good. It went 19 minutes, although with two commercials we only saw about 12 minutes of it. However, those 12 minutes were enjoyable to watch. It was interesting to see Edge working over Chris Jericho's injury, the way Jericho worked over Edge's injury at WrestleMania. The match went back and forth nicely. Jericho was great after Edge kicked out of the Codebreaker in yelling at him "stay down stupid!" The brawl through the crowd for a count out was a good choice for the non-finish. It helped to elevate this feud as being very personal and intense. The ending with another Spear from Edge was good too. Where do they go from here? A triple threat would seem to be the obvious choice. I will however put forth a different possibility just as the thought entered my head. Randy Orton has nothing going on Raw. He beat Swagger two weeks in a row. Maybe somehow he will get the World Title shot at Extreme Rules, while an Edge vs. Jericho rematch will end up being without the Title involved.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Swagger's Lisp: I was critical of WWE for making fun of Swagger's lisp when Christian was doing it over a year ago on ECW. Now that Swagger is the World Champion, they should just stop. I appreciate the fact that the announcers played up the fact that Morrison was just trying to get inside Swagger's head before their match. That made it a little better. Swagger is presenting himself as more serious now that he is Champ. I have mixed feelings about that. A serious Swagger has potential, but I liked some of his antics like the push ups during his entrance and I don't see why he can't do that as Champion. My problem is that if you are making him more serious as a character, why are you having him act like a first grader in whining about not having a speech impediment. I may have been ok with it on this show (because of the announcers covering for it), if Edge had not done the same thing later on .

Blood Check: I have complained about this in the past, and I will continue to complain about it in the future. This just really bothers me. I don't care if you do away with blading. WWE can still have a perfectly good product without that type of blood. However, when a wrestler gets a tiny cut on the ear (I think that's where Swagger was cut) and the tv audience can't even tell, then why are you stopping the match? It gives it a "real" sports feel I guess, but there are tons of ways wrestling could feel more like a real sport that they don't do, so why do this? It is boring. It takes the audience totally out of the action of the match. Morrison looked bad for having to continue selling Swagger's offense so early in the match while the ref cleaned up the blood.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, 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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