James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor

I only had time to watch the Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho match from Smackdown on Friday night and the match definitely lived up to the pre-match hype and expectations. Both men can simply tell a great story working together and they managed to incorporate some new elements, which was difficult to do after incorporating so many great counters, reversals, and fast-paced sequences in the previous three PPV matches.

There was the early counter of the 619 into the spinning torture rack backbreaker. There was the "come on, 619!" shout from Jericho. There was the classic Rey underdog storyline element. We'd seen these elements before, but they were still great because the two men in the ring made you buy into the action for a fourth straight time. The finishing sequence of Jericho becoming frustrated and telling Rey to stay down, only to take the 619 and springboard splash for Rey's victory captured the story WWE was trying to tell of Rey not quitting, not giving up, etc. Good conquered evil and both men gave us a great match on the way to reaching the story's destination.

I thought the commercial breaks were placed well during natural breaks in the action to where it didn't took away too much from the match. I thought it actually enhanced the middle of the match when there was a great flurry of action leading to Rey attempting a 619, only to have Jericho grab the ropes to send Rey flying to the floor. That was well done and allowed the viewer to take a breather before returning for the finish.

Post-match with Edge and Dolph Ziggler was fine. It was so funny watching Edge walking normal to where I thought they were going to dub a shot of him snapping his ankle on a spear or something. Sad to see Edge's greatness off TV for six months. Meanwhile, Dolph was given serious face time hitting his finisher on Rey. Exit Edge. Enter Dolph.

Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

Smackdown was solid from start to finish. The lapses came with the Khali/Kane "chairdown" and the Women's tag match. Everything else was pretty entertaining. The ongoing storyline with CM Punk and Jeff Hardy continues to entertain. I've loved CM Punk's straight edge references the past few weeks as they give the feud more of a personal feel now. Here's hoping this is the new long term direction for the Straight Edge Superstar.

John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler put on a very entertaining TV match. Everything about it was pretty good even if we've seen far too many heels win lately by getting a handful of tights. I'm glad they're not gonna feud these two too quick because it'd be a shame to see either one lose a feud to the other as they both should be in line for big-time pushes. I'm guessing Morrison is going to get a feud with Punk in the coming months and from the looks of the end of the show, Ziggler is gonna be facing Mysterio for the IC Title at Night of Champions. I guess plans could change now since Edge's injury but I think Ziggler deserves the push right now.

I got flack for this awhile back but I still feel like most fans don't give a damn about Khali. Seeing two big men wrestle is a tough thing to watch. Undertaker and Kane have had some decent feuds but I don't see this one being very entertaining. Here's hoping this feud is short and sweet (well, as sweet as it possibly could be).

As I said, the women's tag match wasn't very good as Layla and Eve aren't anywhere near ready right now to be in-ring performers. It's a shame there are two female championships because the depth just isn't there right now. Three of the four best women wrestlers (Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and Katie Lea Burchill) haven't been featured as actual wrestlers in a long time (and really never in Katie Lea or Natalya's case). After the match, the action wasn't so bad between Melina and Michelle McCool, but again, the division just isn't big enough for two titles.

Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio put on another gem of a match. They gave these two more than enough time to put on another great match and I bet they could put on better matches in their sleep than half the Raw roster could do while awake. I'm curious to see where Chris Jericho will go from here since Edge's injury. He could be inserted into the IC Title picture for one more match. Regardless, it should be interesting to see where he goes from here.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.5)

The show begins and ends, as most do when these two go at it, with Jericho vs. Mysterio. Even though this is the fourth match in their series, they keep things entertaining, tough to do when you have the same opponent night-after-night. Give credit to Mysterio; despite his age and injuries, he finds ways to reinvent himself and is still at the top of his game. The rest of the show was fine, nothing more.

Punk's promo on Jeff Hardy was the exception, as they really ramped up Punk's heel character. I'm a bit surprised they're playing his straight edge character for a heel- what kind of message is that sending to the young kids who WWE is targeting their product at? Ziggler vs. Morrison was good for the time it got. Kane vs. Jeff Hardy was OK, and they seem intent on keeping Kane strong for whatever reason. Khali vs. Punk was all storyline that surrounded the match- from bell-to-bell, it meant nothing. Now that I think about it, there wasn't even a bell to end the match.

Cryme Tyme vs. Hart Dynasty was a tad disappointing; this feud hasn't taken off so far as I had hoped it would. The Divas tag match accomplished what it set out to, that being advance the Melina vs. Michelle McCool situation. I wonder how they're going to write Edge off the show at this point.

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