-- 4/23 WWE Smackdown Reax

Justin James of Columbia, S.C., IT professional/author (7.0): Best Match: Morrison vs. Swagger. Worst Match: JTG vs. Knox. This was a hard show to judge. The wrestling was mostly quite good, but the writing felt weak and I know the performers were suffering from the European Tour. The show opening up with Jack Swagger's monologue was well done. Swagger is quickly growing into the role of a major player, and I like his progress. The match vs. John Morrison was excellent; Swagger brought back some of his painful-looking holds that I loved seeing when he was on ECW. Two matches I could watch every week are Morrison-Swagger and Bourne-Swagger. I'm putting my money on Swagger to retain at the PPV, and Morrison either goes against Swagger or the John Cena-Batista winner for a top-level title. The Hardy/R-Truth vs. McIntyre & Ziggler match was dull and lifeless. If Matt Hardy wants to know why he is stuck in the mid-card, he needs to compare his work in this match to JoMo or Swagger in the opener; he moves slower than Kane and sticks to the punch/kick/neckbreaker formula. I liked the Edge-Jericho/Barrett segment until Barrett got squashed. If Heath Slater can beat Jericho, Wade Barrett should not get punked by Edge in a two-on-one situation. It makes him look weak. All the same, I like how Jericho is always showing him off, and I am hoping to see a Jericho/Barrett team chase the tag titles after NXT. ... Shad Gaspard blew me away. He's had a total transformation of character, and become like a mix of Batista and Jericho. Awesome. I might actually have liked Cryme Tyme if he carried himself like this. On the flip-side, it was sad to see Mike Knox's last match. Total waste. The Divas match was good, and again, sad to see Mickie James's last match as well. She was great to watch and had a great attitude and personality. The final match was okay, but we've seen it too many times already; I just want Mysterio vs. Punk in a 15-20-minute match. Is that too much to ask for?

Chris of San Jose, Calif. (7.0): Best Match: Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison. Worst Match: JTG vs. Mike Knox. Good solid show going into the Extreme Rules PPV, as everyone was able to move their storylines forward. Many people may not like that Jack Swagger keeps losing as World Heavyweight Champion, but I think this is part of a bigger plan to get over other up-and-coming stars. John Morrison showed great fire in his match with Swagger and it was his best singles performance in three months. His emotion after gaining the pinfall victory showed that he is as hungry as ever. I expect Morrison to get hot as a singles performer and continue the momentum throughout the summer. Now that Jack Swagger has lost again, I expect him to beat Randy Orton and retain the World Title at Extreme Rules. With Morrison gaining the victory, this will elevate him because of his clean win over Swagger just days before the PPV. If Orton beats Swagger, then I'm afraid the booking of Swagger in the last month would be considered a wasted opportunity because he has all the qualities to be a strong and credible champion.

Richard H. of Wilmington, Ohio: Smackdown was entertaining and had some good matches and entertaining promos (a lot of promos, I mean a lot of promos), but I could not stay focused on the show. I am not sure if it's the product not grabbing my attention, competition from other networks, or the fact that it is taped and it doesn't feel "new." That being said, Swagger and JoMo put on a good match with Swagger stealing a page from Jericho's book by losing a match without losing any heat and advancing his opponent. That alone merits a "best match" vote. The teaming of Kane and Mysterio was an example of short memories in pro wrestling. It was not that long ago that Kane was trying to destroy Rey, and doing a pretty good job of it! Punk continues to excel at his heel persona that he is better than you. Vickie and Lay-Cool continue to improve as a heel stable with Vickie adding edge to McCool's blase character. All four women in the Divas tag match showed good wrestling chops, even Layla, with good action and ring psychology. And, while Matter Striker can be annoying at times and wander off target, he is still way better than "Vintage" Michael Cole. Maybe somebody can tell Vintage he has been drafted to ECW.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "WWE Smackdown Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on SD, click here.

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