By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Segment: I'm not a huge fan at this point of Undertaker's gimmick. It seems played out, and reminding the audience that he has been around for as long as he has (19 years!) with basically the same gimmick for the most part (other that a few years as the biker American badass character) doesn't help. However, he gave a good short promo about his opponents, Big Show and Chris Jericho at Survivor Series. It was basic, but he did a good job of upholding the importance of the World Title. Jericho then came out and cut a great Jericho promo about not being afraid of Undertaker, calling him just a man, not a dead man. The physicality at the end worked well too. However, I was a bit disappointed and confused why this was the only hype for Smackdown's main event at the PPV.

Mysterio vs. Knox: I enjoyed this match. I'm not a huge fan of Rey Mysterio wrestling much larger opponents when he can have such great matches against smaller guys like Jericho, or CM Punk (a feud that HAS to happen). But, this was a good match. The announcers did a nice job of discussing how this was a good test for Mysterio in terms of the size of his opponent for when he has to face Batista at the PPV. Mike Knox could be used better than he has. I like his twisted kinesiologist character and the twist that he lives in a mountain cabin in Arizona (although character traits like that should come from the wrestler himself, not just the announcers mentioning it). I liked his flying cross body on Myterio on the outside. That looked devastating. The match was well booked to keep Knox on the offensive, but to give Mysterio plenty of short comebacks to rally the fans. It was also a good win for Mysterio in the end.

Punk vs. Truth: Earlier in the show I was thinking about how CM Punk is sort of lost right now without a feud, other than against referee Scott Armstrong. I'm not thrilled to see that feud continue, but the execution in this match was well done. The match went 10 minutes and had good wrestling action throughout. R-Truth scared me a bit on his plancha before the commercial as it looked like he was going to hit his head. Luckily, he was ok. The match was good and fit in well with the Punk - Armstrong feud. Again, I don't like that feud, but the writing for it was good this week as Armstrong cost Punk the match. Punk's temper tantrum afterward was well acted, but I just don't see this as being good long term for him. I guess with all my reservations, it would be safe to call this just a marginal Hit.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Raw Rebound: I enjoyed Raw this week. However, WWE has highlighted one of the worst (probably THE worst) segments of the show, the Raw Has Talent game. I hated sitting through it the first time, and I didn't like having to sit through it on the Raw Rebound on ECW. It was even more annoying having to sit through it again on Superstars. And here it was, once again on Smackdown. I don't think WWE should show the same video three times in one week, regardless of the content. But when the content is this bad, it makes things even worse.

Hardy vs. Batista: This was just boring. The crowd was totally out of this match, and I don't blame them at all. Watching Batista methodically beat down Matt Hardy for several minutes was not fun. It was monotonous. Unlike Mysterio vs. Knox, they did nothing during that prolonged period of dominance to shake things up with even a tease of Hardy making a come back. Sure, things picked up nicely in the last few minutes as Hardy finally got in some offense, but even that just led to Batista destroying Hardy on the outside with the "international object" as Matt Striker called it. Having Batista strong and looking dominant is fine in general. But, I do expect more of a competitive match for a main event. This was almost a squash, and it lasted about 13 minutes which is too long for a squash. It was not good.

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

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