WWE Smackdown Hits

Undertaker vs. Edge hype: A strong segment. Edge finally got some mic time that he didn't have to share with Vickie. Don't get me wrong, she's over, but it's important to establish Edge as the dominant heel in their relationship since he actually wrestles and appears at the house shows. The old Taker coffin gimmick is predictable, yet still fun after all these years.

Batista: I remember being disappointed when WWE didn't turn Batista heel for his feud with Shawn Michaels. It's worked out quite nicely and he continues to be an entertaining babyface who just happens to have an issue with fellow babyface HBK. I also enjoyed the prematch routine that set up the introduction of Big Show as his tag team partner for the match with Zach Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

Matt Hardy vs. Elijah Burke: Michael Cole and Mick Foley earned their paychecks during this match by selling the storyline that Burke is a talented performer who is struggling to win the big match that could move him up the ladder. For that matter, the announcers (or the writers) came up with a good explanation for Hardy working a non-title match despite his previous claim that he wants to be a fighting champion. The match was good and the announcers made it better.

MVP vs. Jamie Noble: The creative team could have simply thrown this match out there and made it a glorified squash. Instead, they took the time to set it up via two brief backstage segments and it made a big difference. I didn't think twice about the match when I read the spoilers earlier this week, but it turned out to be a solid segment.

Overall show: Nothing groundbreaking, yet still a fun two-hour show that did a very nice job of setting up the Smackdown main event of the pay-per-view. There was a story behind every match other than the Vladimir Kozlov squash. Granted, not every story had great substance, but at least they gave us a reason to care about a couple of the lopsided match ups.

WWE Smackdown Misses

C.M. Punk vs. John Morrison: Three minutes? For Punk and Morrison? That's just not right. I wasn't expecting them to have a 13-minute match on Smackdown, but they could have met me somewhere near the middle. I wonder how many viewers notice that it takes a fraction of time for the ECW matches to play out on Smackdown.

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