Punk vs. Palumbo: With the exception of one overly scripted spot (when Chuck Palumbo just happened to stagger into the corner to get the running knee from CM Punk), this was a good opening match. It was nice to see WWE follow up on their match from ECW a few weeks back. It was good to see Punk get the decisive win. The match had good back and forth action. It went a decent length, and neither wrestler had control for too long a time, meaning the match didn’t drag or get redundant. There were plenty of counters and reversals. I have never been a Palumbo fan, but he looked good here.
Show & Finlay vs. MVP & Henry: This was a fun tag team match, a better match than I anticipated. It went nearly 10 minutes, and was commercial free which was surprising, but a nice change of pace. The best spot in the match was when Montel Vontavious Porter kicked Finlay off the top rope to the outside. That is an example of MVP making a slight adjustment to one of his signature moves to keep things new and fresh (we saw the same thing last week when he used the running kick on the outside of the ring). Big Show is the biggest star in this match, and I was glad that he was treated as such. I am a fan of MVP and believe he deserves a major push, but given Big Show’s status (and my hope for a push for the big man), I have no problems with MVP ducking him early in the match. They kept the interaction between Mark Henry and Big Show to a minimum which also helped the quality of the match.
Hardy vs. Benjamin: This was another good under card match for Smackdown. I would have liked to see the match go longer, but it went a decent length and had good action while it lasted. Shelton Benjamin got in a good amount of offense, but not too much. Matt Hardy’s matches lately seem to have him selling the entire time, then hitting a surprise out of nowhere Twist of Fate for the win. It was good to see this match have a better balance of offense between the two competitors, while at the same time retaining the out of nowhere nature of the Twist of Fate. WWE has done a good job of building up Hardy’s finisher, which continued. But in the past, in order to build the finisher, Hardy might look weak in the mean time, but that wasn’t the case here which was good.
Tension in La Familia: I liked the fact that Chavo Guerrero was one of the wrestlers who questioned Vickie Guerrero and Edge’s tactics last week. It is totally logical that he would feel like a pawn as he was also part of the Championship Chase. I have mixed feelings about Chavo and Bam Neely abandoning La Familia on the way to the ring for the Main Event. On the one hand, it flowed logically from the earlier scene. On the other hand, it seemed a bit rushed. In the end, I am o.k. with it, and even though it wasn’t perfectly executed, the tension in La Familia worked well.
SMACKDOWN MISSES
Batista’s Priorities: Normally, I would have no problem with how Batista was used on Smackdown. It makes perfect sense to get his reactions to what happened on Raw between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. We all knew that the Batista vs. Michaels feud wasn’t going to be over after Backlash, and I for one was fine with that. The problem is that of everyone who got screwed over the Championship Chase last week, Batista was the one who got the biggest screw job. He actually won the match before Edge came out. I found it a bit odd earlier in the night when Big Show complained that he was all ready to face Undertaker, when Edge came out to spoil it. But, Big Show was eliminated by Batista. Batista was eliminated by Edge. Batista should be more angry about being screwed out of the World Championship opportunity, than by Michaels faking a knee injury to win a match a month ago. All of this would have been fine if Big Show had eliminated Batista, and then been eliminated by Edge. That would have made Show’s comment earlier actually make sense, and given Batista less reason to be angry at Edge, allowing him to focus on his feud with Michaels.
Vickie - Undertaker Saga: I would love it if all corporations dealt with disciplinary issues the way that the WWE does. I would love to hear about an employ of a major company being forced to fight a 7 foot tall man in order to keep his or her job. Smackdown didn’t get off to a very good start. The opening segment was o.k., and everyone played their parts well, but I’m with Mick Foley on this one. It is ridiculous that Vickie would have to wrestle Undertaker to keep her job. I know we’ve seen similar moments in WWE before, but that doesn’t mean I liked those moments either. The logic didn’t improve when Vickie changed the match to a six on one handicap match. I loved her matter of fact statement that while she couldn’t cancel the match, she could change it. Really? The board said she had to face Undertaker, they didn’t say she could add others to the match, or add stipulations, or change it in any way. The writing of the whole Undertaker vs. Vickie feud has been pretty poor. When someone on Raw finally gets their hands on William Regal, it will mean something. But, I have no interest in seeing someone get their hands on Vickie, even though I am tired of her act. The notions that the Board of Directors would force her to wrestle, or that she would have the power to change the Board’s decision were laughable. The fact that there wasn’t an end to their match was stupid as well.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!
