By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Mysterio - Del Rio: Smackdown got off to a good start with the in ring verbal confrontation between Rey Mysterio and the debuting Alberto Del Rio. The Del Rio vignettes have been an effective (old school) way of introducing Del Rio to the WWE Universe. He has a way of getting under people's skin. His mic work was strong interrupting Mysterio as he talked about his SummerSlam loss to Kane and the Kane - Undertaker situation. That was a nice way to follow up on that big PPV match and angle, while simultaneously hinting at what was to come later in the show when Kane would explain himself, and setting up Mysterio vs. Del Rio for the main event. It was good to transition Mysterio away from the World Title picture at this point.

Kane's Promo: I had some issues with this segment. For one thing, it did go on a very long time and dragged some. I also am not a fan of the mood music or the way they distorted Kane's laugh at the beginning of the promo. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the use of the inset videos during a promo, but considering the 13 years of history that Kane was covering it actually worked fairly well in this instance. Kane definitely was very strong on the mic. He made it seem perfectly believable that he has been working on this plan for his entire WWE career. The writers did a nice job of picking out moments from his past with Undertaker to tell this story of his plan and how he waited and waited for Undertaker's weaknesses to grow. It wasn't great, but it was a good performance of a fairly well written promo, which will cement Kane as the top heel on Smackdown and further set up Undertaker to get revenge.

Christian vs. McIntyre: I'm giving this a marginal Hit as it was a good match, but a bit too similar to their match from a few weeks ago in how Drew McIntyre worked on Christian's shoulder for most of the match, but Christian was able to pull of a win in the end with a leverage pin. Both guys performed well in the ring. McIntyre continues to look better than he did for quite awhile after his debut. Christian did a nice job in selling the arm injury. I also enjoyed Cody Rhodes on guest commentary during the match. But as I said, I would have liked a little different formula. The post match fight with Matt Hardy getting involved worked well also.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Kingston vs. Ziggler: This feud has had its ups and downs. I like the intensity shown by Kofi Kingston, but am getting tired of Vickie Guerrero's constant interference. I did like that after being beaten up after two previous matches, Dolph Ziggler got his chance to show some intensity as he destroyed Kingston and the stomp to end the segment was very brutal. However, I'm sick of Vickie. That bit with her screaming, but moving into Kingston's way was stupid. I don't like the sleeper hold as such a vicious finisher. It bores me. But, the real problem here was that these guys have had better matches against each other. This one wasn't good. I almost wonder if they were just going through the motions waiting for the DQ ending. Also, I would like to see the Intercontinental Championship mean more than just throwing it out in the first match on Smackdown. This feud will likely culminate at Night of Champions, and there has to be some sort of stipulation to keep Vickie from interfering. However, this is the type of feud that could potentially culminate in a well advertised in advance Smackdown main event.

Hornswoggle: I had actually forgotten about Hornswoggle and clearly wasn't missing him. I'm not looking forward to seeing him now that he is back. Plus, the whole thing with him disguising himself as a plant to spy on LayCool was lame. The camera caught the fact that LayCool have some sort of secret flawless plan. So who cares that Hornswoggle was eavesdropping on their conversation?

Swagger - MVP: A Jack Swagger vs. Montel Vontavious Porter feud does have potential. We have seen them work together in the past and I have always felt WWE should go back to this match up and make it more meaningful. I was happy to see MVP get the surprise win over Swagger last week as he had been very underutilized lately. I wasn't thrilled to see him teaming up with JTG against Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins on Superstars this week. I was wondering what happened to MVP one week after beating Swagger. So, I was happy to see them have a confrontation on Smackdown, but to set up a game of hoops with some really lame stipulations? That was a disappointment. That reminded me of MVP's series of challenges against Matt Hardy a few years ago. That seemed appropriate at the time, but MVP should be moving on to bigger and better things, and Swagger should definitely already be at bigger and better things considering he is a former World Champion.

Mysterio vs. Del Rio: I enjoyed their verbal confrontation more than their actual match. I did love the fact that Del Rio has his own ring announcer. That was great. But, the match just didn't click. Del Rio looked like a solid worker, but far from inspired or exciting. The match dragged. It wasn't entertaining. This is probably not their fault, but watching Del Rio work on Mysterio's arm after McIntyre had done the same thing to Christian earlier in the show wasn't the best idea. It felt like more of the same that we had already seen. I wasn't impressed. I did like the arm bar submission finisher. I liked that Mysterio sold it by tapping out right away. That had a bit of an MMA feel to it when Mysterio had to tap out as soon as Del Rio cinched in the hold (note to Ziggler, an MMA fighter would put an opponent out with a properly applied sleeper in maybe 5 seconds. In other words, this felt more realistic than that). Also, it was a good idea to spring board Del Rio to the top with a win over Mysterio. Perhaps an arm injury will finally allow Mysterio to take the time off that he needs. So, there were some positives in the match. However, it was still an unimpressive in ring debut.

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

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

We suggest these recent related articles...

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt

9/7 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Paige vs. Banks, Rollins vs. Ryback, Orton vs. Sheamus, Cena & PTPs vs. Rollins & New Day

8/24 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Opening Segment, New Day, Dudleys return, Stewart, Sting