WWE Smackdown Hitlist: Batista, MVP, Vickie Guerrero, Matt Hardy, Finlay, Chuck Palumbo

WWE Smackdown Hits

Vickie Guerrero: The Smackdown general manager has some serious heat. She's improved on the mic and the live crowds boo her louder than anyone on the show. Even Edge doesn't get as much heat as Vickie these days. I don't think anyone expected her to become the true villain of the Smackdown brand, but she's done just that.

Batista on the Player's Lounge: I got a kick out of Batista providing MVP with various displays of disrespect. How could you not laugh when he did the karate cry before punching that, well, whatever the hell that set piece was. And, no, I can't believe Batista brought back the sleeveless leather jacket.

MVP vs. Batista: No surprise here. Another entertaining television match between these two. Just think of how much better their matches would be if they were feuding over a title belt like, I don't know, MVP's World Hvt. Title belt? It's time.

Finlay vs. Chuck Palumbo: Dot Net Smackdown reviewer Chris Shore nailed it in his review last night when noted that Finlay got a lot out of Palumbo. I still see something in Chuck. He may not be a future WrestleMania main eventer, but WWE can get more out of him than they have thus far. I'd like to see how much better Chuck would be if he worked a full program with Finlay.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Undertaker will be banished from WWE if he loses at One Night Stand: There are generally two acceptable reasons for breaking out the "wrestler must win the title or he'll be banned or quit" stipulation. One, the wrestler is leaving the company for an extended period. Two, the company has screwed over the fans so many times by teasing that the wrestler is going to win and now they're desperate to let the fans know that they're going to see a title change. I might be missing a scenario or two, but I don't think there's any will justify this move. Perhaps WWE will surprise me with some unexpected display of creativity, but I think it's more likely that they just gave away the finish of his pay-per-view match with Edge.

Matt Hardy: He finally wins a singles title (according to the storyline) and WWE follows up by leaving him off the next pay-per-view (the 20-second promo doesn't count) and then putting him in a tag team match on last night's show. The match was fine, but the creative team has someone managed to kill Hardy's momentum ever since he won the U.S. Title. By the way, here's hoping WWE finally gets behind the team of Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke once ECW hooks up with the Raw crew.