By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Del Rio Takes Out Mysterio: I wasn't very impressed with Alberto Del Rio in the ring last week. However, I have been impressed with other aspects of his performance. I wasn't very impressed with Drew McIntyre in his early in ring career, but he has improved over the last year. I'm hopeful that Del Rio impresses me in the ring quicker than McIntyre, but we shall see. For now, it is good to see another young wrestler getting a push. He has a ton of crowd heat for what he has done to Rey Mysterio. There have been rumors for a long time that Mysterio needs to take time off to heel up some nagging injuries, and hopefully this will be the excuse to keep him off tv for awhile. That would give Del Rio bragging rights and set up a feud upon his return.

Kingston vs. Ziggler: I enjoyed this match more than some of their previous matches, although I'm getting tired of this match-up. It was interesting with the added stipulation that if Dolph Ziggler got disqualified, he would lose the Intercontinental Championship to Kofi Kingston. The announcers did a nice job of reinforcing that notion throughout the match which featured better quality action than their match last week. There were some nice touches along the way, like Ziggler getting upset at Vickie Guerrero for slapping Kingston behind the referee's back. It was predictable from the start that there would be a count out loss for Ziggler so he could still retain the Title, but I liked how it was booked to have him attempting to get back in the ring, while Guerrero held him back. I like the fact that he was trying to win the match while she was being the manipulative sneak. I don't want to see this feud continue, but I will be ok with it as long as there is exactly one more match (at Night of Champions), in a Steel Cage perhaps, to end the feud once and for all (and assuming the match is high quality like this week, not low quality like last week).

Undertaker - Kane: This felt fairly epic. We haven't seen a big feud between The Undertaker and Kane for awhile. Kane is definitely being positioned as looking stronger than his brother at the moment. Undertaker did a good job in his performance on the mic acting confident, but portraying himself as being somewhat weakened by Kane. His voice sounded different than usual. Some of the language was a bit over the top with talk about the Devil, but it did fit in well with Undertaker and Kane's characters and issues over the years. Kane was strong in not backing down, despite the fact that his attack on Undertaker several months ago failed to finish the Dead Man off. I look forward to seeing this continue.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Kane vs. Mysterio Starts Smackdown: I am a firm believer that wrestling should be booked as if it were 100% real, as if the writers didn't know the outcomes ahead of time. By that I mean that Teddy Long would never book this match to start the show. This is a main event. In the end, the final match that Long planned for Smackdown was Del Rio vs. some jobber? That makes no sense. Obviously, the "main event" was Undertaker's return, but there should always be a legit main event match (this used to happen on Raw a lot where a random Divas match would be the final match, while the main event was John Cena addressing whatever situation). This was a stacked show. However, the World Champion should not be wrestling the former World Champion in a PPV rematch in the opening match. This could have been the final match. People would be expecting Undertaker to interrupt and been more surprised by an actual pinfall finish. Del Rio, after already winning an earlier match, could have come out at this point to take out Mysterio the same way he did. Then, you have Undertaker come out after a commercial to finish the show.

Heal Heavy Show: WWE has done a good job in elevating heels on Smackdown. There is a heel World Champion in Kane. There is the former heel World Champion in Jack Swagger. There is the heel IC Champion in Dolph Ziggler. There is the heel duo that has been working together recently and getting a push in Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. There is the recently debuted and already getting a push Alberto Del Rio. And there is CM Punk and the Straight Edge Society. That last group has a babyface nemesis in The Big Show (or the Giant as the announcers often are calling him). Kane has Undertaker. Ziggler has Kingston. Swagger has Montel Vontavious Porter. But other than that, the other heels on the show don't have any babyfaces to challenge them. Assuming that Mysterio is off tv for awhile, who will Del Rio feud with? If Matt Hardy is off tv for awhile, who will McIntyre and Rhodes feud with? Christian has been dominated by them. Even if he is the one, he needs someone else. Who will it be, JTG? Even those heels who have babyface pairings at the moment have dominated their feuds. Kane got the better of Undertaker at SummerSlam and the last word on Smackdown. Ziggler keeps getting the better of Kingston by holding on to the IC Title. Swagger beat up MVP after MVP was DQ'd during their shoot out. Del Rio destroyed Mysterio. Rhodes & McIntyre destroyed Hardy & Christian last week. Raw has some young fresh babyfaces to get behind like Evan Bourne and Daniel Bryan. Where are they on Smackdown?

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]

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