By Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

Kane vs. Bryan: I had some issues with this match. I would have liked to see Daniel Bryan getting a pin fall or submission victory in his first match back. I understand why WWE did what they did and it did set up the main event (with Triple H now playing the part of Teddy Long). I was still a little disappointed. However, it was great to see Bryan back wrestling again. And it was a good match. It wasn't great. It is difficult to have a great singles match with Kane involved. But, it was good enough to get a Hit.

Royal Rumble Talk: I liked seeing multiple wrestlers talking about how they are going to win The Royal Rumble. It started with Bryan's show-opening interview where he said he would win the Rumble. It continued with a promo from Bray Wyatt. Then it continued with Renee Young interviewing Roman Reigns. This was good in that he addressed being teammates with Bryan and Dean Ambrose in the main event, but their opponents in the Royal Rumble. It was also good because he didn't say any silly cartoon quotes or tell any fairytales or do any type of humor. Later, we got another Young interview with The Big Show where he talked about how nobody can throw him out of the Rumble (maybe Cesaro?) only to be interrupted by Kane in a way to remind Show that they might be partners tonight, but not in the Rumble. And finally, we got a strong promo from Ambrose making his case for why he has what it takes to win the Rumble. This was all well done. It seems like WWE did a better job on this episode of Smackdown of making it seem like there are multiple legit candidates to win than all of the build up to last year's Rumble when it was just assumed that Batista would win no matter what.

Heyman and Rollins: Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins are very good at what they do. I do have a problem with the way WWE is positioning Brock Lesnar to get cheers against Seth Rollins. I would like to see Lesnar as the clear cut 100% heel going up against a clear cut 100% (and actually popular with the live crowds) babyface at WrestleMania (obviously, preferably Daniel Bryan). But, I am willing to wait and see how the main event World Title match goes down at the PPV. Ignoring some of my reservations about this angle, Heyman and Rollins were outstanding here. Heyman was great as usual in talking up Lesnar. I loved how he said that Lesnar does what he does because he can and because he wants to. His comparison of that Lesnar to the current pissed off Lesnar worked well (but again, positioning Lesnar to get cheers). Rollins' interruption was great. They played off of each other very well. I liked Rollins' threat to curb stomp Heyman, followed by Heyman's mocking of that threat, to Rollins' great come back about taking out the brains behind Lesnar, to Heyman's ultimate comeback about his own power. It was very interesting to hear him talk about how The Authority's power might be fleeting, but his power continues to grow. The final line about how Heyman himself will decide when the future is now was outstanding, as was Rollins' reaction to that statement. It certainly makes for some interesting possibilities in the future.

Bryan, Ambrose, Reigns vs. Rollins, Kane, Show: This was a good six man tag main event. WWE smartly booked the match to have Ambrose taking the prolonged beating before getting the eventual hot tag to Bryan. Reigns' time in the ring was limited so as to not expose his weaknesses. I was having flashbacks to two years ago when Bryan got over huge with the crowd largely on the basis of a series of great six man tags teaming with Kane and a variety of partners against The Shield. Those five elements were all part of this match and it delivered well. Ambrose did a nice job of selling his knee injury. The heels played their parts well gloating over having the advantage. Bryan was great in showing fire and cleaning house after getting the hot tag. It built well to Bryan getting the pin that he missed out on in the opening match with the running knee on Kane. I also was relieved that Bryan didn't attempt the top rope head but (hopefully a sign of things to come).

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Triple H's Announcement: It would have been nice after the last few weeks to have a show end with a babyface celebration. The heels have had more than their share of dominating the shows lately. Allowing Bryan to stand tall would have been a nice change of pace. Triple H could have made the same announcement on Raw. I appreciate the fact that they are trying to hype Smackdown ahead of time. I am curious to see how Bryan can turn into Mr. Smackdown going forward. But, they didn't have to do it this way. Also, it makes me wonder why The Authority doesn't just pull Bryan out of the Rumble if they don't want him in it. Why give him a chance? Assuming Bryan wins, a better stipulation to me would have been that Bryan would be #1 in the Rumble if he lost. That would have given him something to fight for, allowing The Authority to look like jerks, without raising the question of why not pull him from the match in the first place? Other than that ending, this was a very good episode of Smackdown.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at his NEW email address - jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

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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