By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Segment: This wasn't a great start to Smackdown, but a good one. Sheamus came out to start the show with a good promo about wanting to knock Daniel Bryan's block off at WrestleMania. There needs to be more of an issue between them than just wanting to win the World Title. Not that a simple "you have the Title and I want it to prove I'm the best" storyline has to always have a personal issue, but I expect a little more for WM. This was a start in bringing up Sheamus' past when he first became WWE Champion to compare how he changed afterwards to the way Bryan has changed since winning the World Championship. However, much more needs to still happen with this feud. I enjoyed the interruption by Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. WWE seems to have switched from fat jokes towards Vickie to old jokes which I like better. It set up a hook for after the first commercial break to see Ziggler vs. Sheamus, though while it did hype the main event of Bryan vs. Randy Orton, it could have created a stronger hook for that match than it did.

Ziggler vs. Sheamus: As much as I would like to see Ziggler getting a bigger push than he is right now, it is clear that at least for the near future, The Royal Rumble was as close as he is going to get to the main event level. He has shuffled back down the card which is fine for now. The fact of the matter is that he isn't going to be in a high profile WM match, so using him to help make Sheamus look very strong works well. Plus, the two of them put on a good match. We saw over 8 minutes of the match which was nice, especially considering the fact that the commercial happened before the match started, not in the middle of it so we got to see most of it uninterrupted. Ziggler continues to sell like a pro and Sheamus continued to show he has good in ring ability that I want to see more of in his match with Bryan at WM.

Big Show - Rhodes: WWE is doing a good job of building up this mid card WM match between The Big Show and Cody Rhodes. It has been well written thus far to have Rhodes getting under Show's skin by pointing out his numerous losses and embarrassing moments at WM. Rhodes and Show are playing their parts well and are making the fans want to see Show finally embarrass someone else at WM. I like that this is for the Intercontinental Championship. Show's match against Mark Henry was a good one, though I'm not happy to see Henry fall so far, but I suppose like with Dolph Ziggler, I have to just accept it at this point. He too will not be part of a high profile WM match, so using him to make Show look dominant going into his IC Title match makes some sense. However, Henry could have been protected here with a win after interference from Rhodes which would have continued to make the fans want to see Show get his revenge. But on the whole, this is being well done.

Orton vs. Bryan: This was exactly what this match needed to be. It allowed Orton to show how angry he is (by the way, in his interview earlier in the show, I loved his line when he said that he is back to normal, which means angry) at Bryan for giving him the concussion to take him out of the Elimination Chamber. He was very aggressive at the start of the match, which he should be, focusing more on getting revenge and less on getting a win. They also did a nice job of selling the fact that he isn't 100% after the concussion. The match also gave Bryan a chance to look strong when he was in control. It was a good match which ended with some distraction from Kane, which makes sense as Bryan got another cheap win while Orton was then given a reason to move on to something new.

Kane - Orton: I had some real mixed feelings about Kane being the one to interfere in Orton vs. Bryan. I am happy that someone interfered. I did not want to see Orton added into the World Title match, making it a triple threat which while possibly a great match, would have made Sheamus winning the Rumble a joke. I feared WWE was headed in that direction, so was relieved to find out they are not. I though quite awhile ago that WWE might transition from Kane vs. Cena to Kane vs. Orton just as a matter of elimination. Orton and Kane need opponents, every other top star is eliminated, so WWE will put them together. This seems to be why this match will happen which isn't the best reason to do it. It is creating a sense of randomness which isn't great. WWE has time to explain why Kane attacked Orton like this, but it needs to be a good explanation since this was such a random attack. I was also hoping to see Zack Ryder get a WM match against Kane, but that isn't going to happen now. While I do have some mixed feelings about this, the relief of seeing Orton move on to something new and my slight optimism that WWE will connect the dots in a meaningful way is enough to give this a marginal Hit.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Long - Laurinaitis: This backstage encounter between the two general managers had three things that I hate about WWE, or potential WWE storylines. The first is a power struggle. Too much emphasis is put on the authority figures in WWE and having them feud to try to control both shows is not making for good tv. I have already written about why I don't like this feud, so for now I will say that my opinion on the matter hasn't been changed. The second is the mention by David Otunga of a possible civil action against Teddy Long. I don't like it when WWE gets lawyers involved in storylines. Sure, it can work, but usually it doesn't. The third was when Long announced that next week on Raw that Otunga would be wrestling The Great Khali. I hate seeing Khali on my tv. That was the only hook by the way for next week's Raw other than another appearance by Shawn Michaels. That wasn't a good enough reason to watch.

Natalya's IBS: Really? This is what counts as character development in WWE? Natalya's farting character now finds it funny when she does it and apparently the reason she farts so much is that irritable bowl syndrome runs in the family. This is the early candidate for worst angle of 2012.

Laurinaitis's Closing Announcement: Kane vs. Aksana? Really? Instead of elevating Kane in terms of a potential big match against Orton at WM, you are bringing him down a level by having him involved in this bickering between Laurinaitis and Long. This was not a good hook for next week's Smackdown, and it was the only one.

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

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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