Hermanstyne's WWE Smackdown Hitlist: Kane Promo, Christian vs. Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston goes ape shit crazy, Women's title situation, Rey and Jack Swagger battle to the Gulf of Mexico, Overall show

By Marv Hermanstyne

WWE Smackdown Hits

Kane: To quote Ron Simmons: DAMN! I say this because in the 15 years Kane has been in the WWE, he has done his best promo work of his career. It's intriguing that he opens the show with the spooky promos and still keeps it PG for the crowd. I am still not in favor as having him as the World Heavyweight Champion to a certain extent, but his work must still be respected and commended in this point of his career. If Kane can have a lengthy title run (WWE is usually three to four months), he could really be an strong champion for a while until he is fed to Taker.

Christian vs. Drew McIntyre: This was a hot opening match which made both guys look good and strong at the end. It still cringes me that Christian is still buried in the mid-card on the "B" show, but it satisfies me that McIntyre's push has cooled off since the PPV. This could be a nice feud to close the summer out if they plan to move McIntyre up the card since his feud with Matt Hardy was a flop because he's buried in the lower card and Kofi Kingston was good but it seems that he is getting elevated ahead of Drew, which I will explain next.

Kofi Kingston's Edge: What we saw last night was Déjà vu from Kofi Kingston. When Kingston and Randy Orton was feuding on Raw, it was one of the hottest feuds for a while until Kofi got depushed. The ruthless aggression was amazing and he beat the holy shit out of Dolph Ziggler. I'm going to say this now, if ruthless aggression is the thing that Kofi needs to become a main eventer, pull the trigger and do this now. If you want to turn him heel and push him (which I don't recommend because the brand is extremely heel heavy), I wouldn't have any issues with this either. I'm not going to give away any spoilers because next week's show is taped, but I can tell you to expect more "Thug Life" Kofi Kingston in the immediate future.

C.M. Punk makes punks out of the Straight Edge Society: This segment and the beatdown on the Big Show was great. Punk patronizing the SES was hilarious especially when he asks Serena to smell her breath to make sure she was sober, classic. The beatdown on Show was well executed and (minor spoiler) they will face Big Show at Summerslam in a handicap match, so it's an opportunity for all three members to shine against the Giant and get a nice Summerfest payoff.

Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger no DQ match: A good main event with a predictable finish because Kane pretty much gave away the ending by saying that Rey is Taker's attacker and had plans to beat him down at the end. I enjoyed the street fight between both men on and I wouldn't be surprised if they turn this world title match into a triple threat because Swagger is on fire and should be added to make the match more meaningful. Rey vs. Kane one-on-one has no money in it and it’s the middle of the SummerSlam card at this rate.

Overall Show: Smackdown kicked some ass again this week with another strong show and I want them to keep up the good work. If the shows can stay consistent and good, the transition to SyFy should make things easier to adapt and they can bring in better than usual ratings. Overall, this was almost a flawless show with some very minor exceptions which I will explain below.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Women's title situation: The LayCool team needs to go away, point blank. Layla is the official women's champion, so why is Michelle McCool still involved in the title situation? Why would Vickie Guerrero use her power to put McCool in the match when she is not the real champion? Layla could've beaten Tiffany clean because Tiffany cannot work and it clearly showed last night. They have no confidence in Tiffany, Rosa Mendes continues to do jumping jacks, and Kelly Kelly is irrelevant. With Beth Phoenix still injured, and there is no hope for the women's division on Smackdown. Now we have to see who gives up their belt next week? Ugh. We are going to get a meaningless LayCool feud with McCool eventually getting the title back, so why should I or anyone else care?

Alberto Del Rio vignettes: This has gone far enough. We have gotten at least two or three of these boring ass vignettes an show about how perfect he is or how big his wine glass is…who gives a shit? If you've seen him behind the scenes, he has some skills in the ring but for Christ sakes, debut him already on Smackdown!

"Dashing" Cody Rhodes commercials: These commercials are corny to an point that they should be aired on Raw. There is nothing really "Dashing" about Cody Rhodes! Does the average man go out and get a facial? Not that I know of…so why is he telling us to get an avocado mask? These commercials should be aired on Superstars and not Smackdown.