Shore's WWE Smackdown Hitlist: Damien Sandow continues to impress, Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler steals the show, CM Punk vs. Kane is also good, Sin Cara returns to a flat performance, Ryback, and more

By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown Hits

Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus: This was match of the night for me, not that there were many real matches to choose from. Still, if you want to know why I think Dolph Ziggler is the guy to replace Randy Orton and Chris Jericho during their suspensions, look no further than this match. The guy could sell ice to Eskimos in the ring, and he has more than paid his dues. They need to get him away from Vickie and Jack Swagger. I like Vickie (and Swagger actually), but the act is stale for him. He also needs a feud he can win, so I don't think Sheamus is the guy right now. I'm not sure who that leaves with the roster so thin near the top, but a place holder title contender is not what he needs to be the breakout star I think he can be. Go out of your way to see this match.

Kane vs. CM Punk: This match wasn't near as good as the one they had two weeks ago, but it's still one you should see. The non-finish was also OK considering this continued the story to make the title match at No Way Out a triple threat. I'm no fan of Kane being involved in this feud, but if it allows the overall Bryan vs. Punk feud to continue a month of two longer than it would have I can forgive it. I will also say this, WWE did a nice job of making this a triple threat that makes sense. Often times they just throw a third guy in who only has a cursory attachment to the other two. Not so here.

Damien Sandow: Sandow continues to impress me each week. His pink trunks aside, the guy seems to be the total package. His move set matches her gimmick, and his gimmick is easily getting under people's skin. I know I'm guilty of wanting guys to be put into feuds early, but this character really needs a foil to be most effective. His "refusal" to participate will only get him so far. It's working for now, but I long to see him in a program where his mic skills can build to a strong desire to see his face smashed in.

Big Show's attack: Other than the goofy "look at his hand and watch it close" thing that has always annoyed me personally (but is the perfect wrestling act), I thought Big Show was stellar from start to finish of his assault on Zack Ryder and Santino Marella. He looked cold and calculating, which is much better than the rage filled giant he so often plays as a heel. He also managed to take all the heat of them for their tag win. Normally that's a crime, but these two shouldn't have gone over the Prime Time Players so it worked out for the best in the end. No, I'm still not excited about Show vs. John Cena, but they are doing all the right things to try and make this feud seem fresh.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Sin Cara: It would seem I have ruffled some feathers with my comments about Sin Cara having "spotfests." As has already been pointed out to me once this morning, Sin Cara is from a lucha libre background. I'm so glad there are people out there to tell me facts I am already aware of. His lucha background is irrelevant in the WWE insofar as WWE is not a lucha promotion. Most everyone comes to WWE now from somewhere else, having learned a style that is different than WWE's. The point is that everyone must adapt their style to WWE's. Daniel Bryan and CM Punk do not wrestle the same way in WWE that they did in ROH. Chris Jericho does not wrestle the same way he did in Japan. They adapted.

I am not saying Sin Cara should stop being a high flyer and work matches like JBL, but I am saying he should learn to flow better like a Rey Mysterio has. So many of Sin Cara's moves require his opponent to stand there and watch that it looks bad. He will get some oohs and aahs for a while, but eventually the crowd will settle back into that "not caring" mode they were in before he hurt his knee.

Ryback: The former Skip Sheffield is not a miss himself, nor has missed any injections based on his size (I kid, I kid). But the way he is being booked is a miss, though a miss that is probably necessary given the current state of the WWE roster. Having guys come on and squash person after person is fine. But when the squash victims are 150 pounds and everyone else on the card is wrestling people who look like wrestlers, it diminishes the squash.

That said, I freely admit I have no idea who to let Ryback squash on the roster. Tyson Kidd, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, et al come to mind, but once you've plowed through them, who's left? There is no hierarchy in the roster anymore. There's the top few guys, then a big drop to the "kind of, sort of" stars, and then nothing. I like the Ryback character, and his in ring work is good, if a little stiff. But he's going to run out of steam soon if they don't find credible people for him to beat.

John Laurinaitis announces the triple threat: Not a lot to say here other than that sucked. I honestly cannot think of a more lack luster match announcement than that. Shawn Michaels announcing he was the special ref at WrestleMania was met with equal non-reaction, but at least that was during a tension filled moment. This went over like a fart in church.