By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Rollins vs. Kane: I always like to see a match kick off a show instead of a long talking segment, so it was good to see Smackdown start off with Seth Rollins vs. Kane. This continued the storyline of The Shield vs. Team Hell No with the tension building between Kane and Daniel Bryan. I'm not sure if this was the start of The Shield Show or the Daniel Bryan Show, but either way it was a good match to start Smackdown.

Reigns vs. Bryan: That match was followed up right away with Roman Reigns taking on Bryan in another good match. I enjoy wrestling matches that are good in and of themselves while also fitting well into an overall storyline and that is what WWE did with these first two matches. The first ended when Bryan was successful at cheating to help Kane get the win. This match however ended when Kane got caught cheating and thus got Bryan disqualified. I still don't want to see a Bryan vs. Kane feud after Team Hell No breaks up. But, they are doing a nice job with this angle wherever it goes from here.

Sandow - Sheamus: I am reluctantly giving this segment a Hit as I was entertained by it, but it could have been better. The performances from Damian Sandow and Sheamus were strong here. I loved when Sheamus used Sandow's "Silence!" command against him and Sandow's reaction to that was priceless. I also loved how after Sheamus had shown that Sandow had cheated at the shell game since the ball wasn't under any of the cups that Sandow proclaimed himself to be a magician too and asked if there was no end to his talent. One of my issues here is that Sandow did a poor job of actually palming the ball. It seemed so obvious that Sheamus should have seen it also. But, that's not too big of a deal. I said in my Raw Hits & Misses that Sandow should have gotten a tainted victory over Sheamus in their tag match to keep the feud going, but assumed that WWE was moving on from that entirely to focus on Sheamus and Randy Orton taking on Rollins & Reigns. But, here on Smackdown they were right back to more of Sheamus vs. Sandow. If this was planned, then they really should have had Sandow win on Raw. Sheamus got the better of Sandow on last week's Smackdown. Then he beat him in a tag match on Raw. Sandow didn't say anything about Sheamus before Sheamus interrupted him. So, why did Sheamus come out in the first place? He gets the better of Sandow at every turn. It isn't much of a feud at that point. If Sandow had gotten that tainted victory on Raw, then it would make sense that Sheamus would be upset and come out to get some revenge on Smackdown.

Ryback Destroys Kingston: With Kofi Kingston needing time off with an injury, WWE was smart to have Ryback take him out by putting him through three tables after their match on Smackdown. That was a vicious beating that reinforced Ryback as a monster heel. It showed how far he would go just to send a message to John Cena. It worked well as a way to foreshadow what Ryback will be capable of against Cena in the Three Stages of Hell match at the Payback PPV.

The Daniel Bryan Show: Smackdown had a very strong ending. After the main event between Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton ended in a disqualification after the rest of The Shield attacked Orton, Orton was saved by Team Hell No. The match itself was good and another strong showing in the ring from Ambrose as a performer. I do worry a little about The Shield getting over exposed with three matches on one show all of which were two segments. But, I enjoyed them all. WWE needs to be careful about this going forward with The Shield appearing so frequently on both Raw and Smackdown. That being said, it was a good main event and the ending with Daniel Bryan going crazy and taking out The Shield was very strong. The work that Bryan is doing and the reactions that he is getting should hopefully point to a main event push sooner rather than later. I also hope WWE goes with the fan reactions that he is getting and keeps him a babyface. This ending seems to point to the fact that they know that they have something with him and they want to take advantage of it.

Announcers: I should also point out how nice it was to not have Josh Mathews on commentary. The team of Michael Cole and JBL was much better as a duo than a trio with Mathews like they have had for quite awhile on Smackdown. As a general rule, I am not a fan of three man announce teams. I am also not a fan of Josh Mathews. The annoying things about Cole and JBL just seemed to be less present without Mathews. I did not miss more bickering. I did not miss them making fun of him. This is how WWE should go forward with the Smackdown announce team.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Del Rio vs. Langston: I continue to not be a fan of whatever WWE is doing with the World Title picture while waiting for Dolph Ziggler to return from his concussion. I don't care about the relationship between AJ and Big E Langston. I haven't been a fan of much that Alberto Del Rio has done since becoming a babyface late last year. I understand that AJ cheated, but I still don't get why the #1 contender for the World Title would lose a match before getting his Title shot. Don't you want the challenger positioned to look strong? Don't you want the fans to think the babyface challenger has a great chance to defeat the heel Champion? Instead they are sending the message that Del Rio has no chance to beat Ziggler when he had the help of AJ and Langston especially when they work together like this.

Jericho's Interview: Is it just me or is Jericho's ring work holding up very well, but his mic work has been totally subpar in his current run in WWE? The goofy alternate list of names for Fandango that he used on more than one occasion were hit or miss. This long list of supposed diseases that you can get from spending too much time with Paul Heyman was very lame. I mean totally lame and totally unfunny. It was just bad.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown 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 Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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