By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

The Usos vs. The Shield: This was a good match that went over 10 minutes. It was nice to see a little different line up with Dean Ambrose teaming up with Seth Rollins instead of Roman Reigns. WWE continues to tease Reigns being upset at Ambrose for some of what he has said in their recent promos. Here, after The Usos pulled off the victory with Big E Langston in their corner, Ambrose and Rollins had to hold Reigns back from going after Langston. I am worried that WWE is going to prematurely break up this trio, but some tension here and there isn't a bad thing.

Cena & Rhodes Bros vs. Sandow & The Real Americans: I'm giving this a marginal Hit. There was a lot to like about the match. There was plenty of good wrestling action. We got to see a great long Super Cesaro Swing on Cody Rhodes. We also got to see him hit a great super European uppercut on John Cena. Towards the end of the match there was plenty of action and drama on some near falls and reversals. The final few minutes were what really made this match work. The problem I had was that it was just too long at over 24 minutes. The extended heel beat down of Goldust went on too long. It got a little redundant after awhile and dragged in the middle. It had a hot start and a very good ending, but the middle wasn't so hot. Even cutting out 4 minutes would have still given a nice long main event without it feeling too long.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Opening Segment: What a terrible start to Smackdown. John Cena was insufferable on the mic. Zeb Coulter was fine when he and The Real Americans interrupted, but Cena's jokes on the trio was awful. I don't understand his obsession with Antonio Cesaro's nipples. It is just strange. This is why adult males hate Cena. Then Damian Sandow came out. Now I was part of the camp that thought what happened to him on Raw was a burial. I know others disagree. However, how am I supposed to take him as anything other than a loser? I did some research and found that after winning the Money in the Bank briefcase, before cashing it in on Raw, between Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and PPVs (including preshows), Sandow had a 7-16 win-loss record. 5 of those 7 wins were on Main Event. On Raw, he was 1-7. On Smackdown he was 0-5. So, if you are part of the vast majority of WWE fans who only watch Raw and Smackdown, then in the past few months, you have seen him win 1 mach and lose 12 (including a loss to Santino Marella). He also lost his only actual PPV match since then to Cody Rhodes. On Raw he could not beat a previously seriously injured Cena whom he did a huge amount of damage to before the match started. He lost. He is a loser. So, when he comes out and proclaims himself to still be the uncrowned World Champion, I just rolled my eyes. I don't understand how anyone can be excited about where Sandow stands when he is a complete loser. Oh yeah, his team lost in the main event too, so with this week's shows he is now 1-14 on Raw and Smackdown since MITB. So, I failed to get excited about his prospects in the main event 6 man tag that was made at the culmination of this opening segment.

Miz TV: Don't advertise that Shawn Michaels will be the guest on Miz TV and then not deliver. They announced it a few times during the show which should have gotten fans excited to see what Michaels had to say after his confrontation with Daniel Bryan on Raw. But, instead we got a lame statement from The Miz that Michaels had left the building and then a rather ho-hum interruption from Randy Orton.

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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