Wade Keller, Torch Editor (7.0)

Good show. Smackdown has been the best of the two hours shows lately by far, especially if you take into account (a) personal enjoyment level and (b) what's likely best for business overall in terms of building feuds in entertaining fashion without hurting characters or rushing things or hotshot booking. The increased quotient of backstage interviews where wrestlers talk about their match later on the show is such a basic traditional effective welcome addition to the show... The show did a really good job building up the two top Smackdown-brand matches at Extreme Rules and provided solid content throughout the rest of the show. Not the best Smackdown of recent memory, but a good one.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (8.0)

This was another in a string of good Smackdowns. It has been better than Raw for quite awhile, and that was most definitely the case this week. Smackdown featured very good mic work throughout the show from the opening segment with Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio, to the final promo from Edge, with plenty of other quality mic work in between. Umaga vs. John Morrison was a good match. It was a bit slow in the middle with the nerve hold, but it picked up well at the end. It was also nice to see CM Punk make the save afterward and get some revenge on Umaga. Cryme Tyme vs. Haas & Benjamin was a good tag match. It wasn't as good as Haas & Benjamin vs. Primo & Carlito from Superstars, but I still enjoyed it. I am curious to see where WWE goes with Haas & Benjamin, especially in regards to Morrison. One of the best moments of the show was when Chris Jericho ambushed Rey Mysterio before the main event. That was very well done. I am not a fan of the mask storyline. I didn't like it when they did it with Kane last year, and I don't like it now. However, I still like the feud for the Intercontinental Title.

The real highlight of the show was the way that WWE hyped the ladder match between Edge and Jeff Hardy. There was a quality video package. Hardy have a short, but good promo. And, Edge gave a very strong promo towards the end of the show. I loved how he compared Hardy in ladder matches (he always shines) to himself (he always wins). The post-match beating with the ladder was great too.

My only real problem with Smackdown was Eve Torres vs. Layla. I will admit that it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, but it was still pretty bad.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

This was an all-business episode with little in the way of filler. Nothing knocked my socks off, but it was just a good, straightforward show. Let me amend that- Jericho attacking Rey from the crowd knocked my socks off. That was a great bit, as I don't think anyone saw it coming. Using Jericho's smarts combined with Rey's routine was an excellent way to get good heat on Jericho.

Good to see a decent mid-card feud involving Khali, Knox, Ziggler and Truth. They are all deserving (at some level) of having something to do and I'm glad the writers are finding a way to get them on TV every week. Melina had a good match with Alicia Fox, busting out some unique moves. I liked Umaga vs. Morrison even with the downtime in the match, because those points were kept relatively short and the action was very good otherwise.

Eve vs. Layla was the moment I dreaded when the two started feuding. The tag match was fun, but do they keep Haas and Benjamin together for the long term? The main event was the right move in terms of who went over....I'm sure we'll get Jeff Hardy standing strong to end next week's episode.

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