WWE Smackdown Hitilist: Taker stripped of the title, MVP, Matt Hardy, Michelle, Cherry, Victoria, Natalya, Festus, Mick Foley

Smackdown Hits

Mick Foley: Another good performance from Foley. Viewers who tuned in expecting Jonathan Coachman on commentary must have been pleasantly surprised. Foley has good chemistry with Michael Cole. There are times when it feels like you're listening in on a conversation and that's a good thing. Cole still uses too many cliches and seems to be going through the motions at times, but Foley definitely makes him better. I especially liked the way Mick asked what was next for MVP now that he changed his game plan and still lost to Matt Hardy. That's a natural reaction and an obvious question to ask, but for some reason most color commentators don't go there.

Victoria and Natalya vs. Michelle McCool and Cherry: I've been critical of the Divas lately, but McCool and Natalya have good in-ring potential, Cherry plays her part well, and Victoria is just plain good.

MVP vs. Matt Hardy: Another good match. The in-ring performances get a thumbs up, but I felt it should have been given the spotlight. See the "Misses" section for more on that. MVP will be WWE's next big star if they push him correctly. They need to get behind the character and move him into a main event role.

Smackdown Misses

Vickie Guerrero strips Undertaker of the World Hvt. Championship: Only a slight miss thus far. I don't think anyone enjoys seeing a wrestler is stripped of a title, but I want to see where this goes before I come down too hard on the idea. William Regal pulled the plug on Monday's Raw. Vickie stripped Taker of the title on Smackdown. There's definitely room for an authority figure to step in and restore order. I have no idea if that will happen, but we'll have a better idea where the Taker storyline is headed next week.

Lack of hype for Hardy vs. MVP: This match didn't get nearly enough hype. Granted, they billed the show "Championship Friday," but the match was just kind of thrown in during the middle of the show. If you're going to give it away on television then you should get something out of it. Why not show highlights of their pay-per-view match during last night's show and then feature the rematch next week in the main event slot? If my math is correct, WWE has now given away rematches of three of the seven matches they had at Backlash. That's just too many.

Festus: I was really hoping that his recent loss to Undertaker was going to lead to a singles push. He took Taker's finishing move for so long that it seemed logical that it was going to lead to some type of transformation. Instead, it kept him off TV for a week or two and he was right back in tag matches. Of course, there's still plenty of time and Jesse and Festus are over as a tag act, so this is just a minor miss and more my own disappointment than anything.