Shore's WWE Smackdown Hitlist: John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler, Eric Escobar vs. Matt Hardy, Beth Phoenix beats up a jobber CM Punk beats up a ref, Mysterio confronts Batista, and Chris Jericho vs. Kane

WWE Smackdown Hits

Opening Segment: This is a mild hit, but a hit nonetheless. Jericho is always awesome on the mic and Kane did a good job. I’m not a fan of Teddy Long’s promo style and he talked to much for me. The match setup was logical, but I don’t like that Teddy said Smackdown would have a Triple Threat because Raw did. Smackdown won Bragging Rights and should be leading the pack, not following.

John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler: Two of the best in ring performers in the business once again put on a show for us. The last move of Ziggler slamming Morrison on the announce table was hot. I hate the countout finish, but it does establish Ziggler as a legitimate contender, even though he has lost every title match. This should be a world title feud in the future, but for now, Ziggler needs this title more than Morrison, so I hope he gets it soon.

From the Vault: This was a fun trip down memory lane. I didn’t need to be reminded how much of a tool Cena was, but it was neat to see him in his original gimmick. Jericho was as great then as he is now, but now it is recognized. I wish he could beat down Cena like that now. Hell, I wish anybody could beat him down like that now. It was also nice to hear Taz on the mic…but not Cole.

Chris Jericho vs. Kane: Nice way to close the show. The Codebreaker off the top was hot. Jericho continues to do what he does, and Kane continues to impress since his return from hiatus. I don’t want to see Kane with the strap again, but I like him near the top, especially if he can keep this performance up. He will be invaluable in creating the next main event face. It’s also nice to see Jericho in the main event scene again. Put the tag straps on somebody else and let him run with the world title until Edge comes back. And watch the money roll in.

The Announce Team: No one could fill JR’s shoes. That being said, Striker did a nice job filling in. He and Grisham had good chemistry throughout and the product didn’t suffer. If JR doesn’t come back to Smackdown/ever (God forbid) this team would be a fine plan B.

Overall Show: This show sounded terrible on paper. And except for the first and last matches, it pretty much was terrible. However, those matches were really good, and the other stuff was easy to ignore (except for the Mysterio/Batista segment). Taking all that into consideration, the show gets a hit, though just barely.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Beth Phoenix vs. Jenny Brooks: The storyline here is that Jenny Brooks beat Phoenix in high school. Are you serious? We don’t need a unknown jobber to prove Beth is a beast in the ring. Let her destroy one of those Divas who are there to wiggle and jiggle. Grisham called her smart, sexy and very powerful. Somebody needs to get a rolled up newspaper and whack him on the nose.

Eric Escobar vs. Matt Hardy: I don’t know if Matt actually hurt his leg or not, but that doesn’t excuse how chaotic this match was before the injury. The quick finish was either because of the leg, or it was terrible match calling. Escobar continues to leave me unimpressed. And Vickie is nowhere near as much fun as she was in her GM role.

Mysterio and Batista: A complete miss here. Batista’s grinning made him look stupid. Mysterio sounded like a teen girl trying to get her boyfriend back. This segment needed a beat down like no segment in wrestling history. Our correspondent reported that the crowd cheered Batista and gave Mysterio the “What?” treatment. Shame on WWE for editing the crowd noise. It just made it worse. And so did the Hardy intervention. This could end up the worst turn ever.

Drew McIntyre vs. Finlay: Note to creative, beating down mid-carders does not make McIntyre credible. Put him in a match and let him win. I realize that in ring ability is no longer the measuring stick, but this is still wrestling. You cannot build stars with promos and endorsements from Vince. He actually needs to wrestle some before he can get over.

Divas Costume Contest: Weak segment. Cryme Tyme’s commentary was terrible. Natty is hot, but not sexy (she’s too awkward), Layla looked stupid, McCool is so blah, and Mickie was OK, but no Jennifer Garner. The best part of this was Striker telling Grisham he looked a lot like k.d. lang. The brawl at the end was OK, but Mickie oversold.

CM Punk vs. Scott Armstrong: Do I really need to explain why this is a miss? If the rumor that Punk is buried for mouthing off to Undertaker, then we now have enough evidence to have Vince removed as Chairman because he is officially damaging the product. How did we go from not being able to name the refs to having them compete in matches?

WWE Smackdown on Hulu Miss

Divas Hype Video: I watched Smackdown on Hulu and one of the hype videos they played was for the Divas. It showed various short clips of the Divas with graphics that said…yup, Smart, Sexy, Powerful. I wanted to gouge my eyes out.