Shore's WWE Smackdown Hitlist: Randy Orton returns and sucks heat off Alberto Del Rio, Ryback hurts himself with promo, two good matches, and the greatest decision in the history of professional wrestling

By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown Hits

Booker T as GM: The biggest Hit in Smackdown history folks. That is the only way to describe Booker T being forced off commentary and into the General Manager position. Not to mention he should be good in this situation. Booker is a fun and entertaining guy, but he needs lines he can recite because he has bad instincts. This role plays to all of his strengths and none of his weaknesses. Now, if we can only get Cole to stop reminding us of how bad Booker was.

Sheamus vs. Tensai: Even discounting that I was convinced Tensai was going to get destroyed by Sheamus for the Tout video incident, this turned out to be a really good match. Sheamus's size and power allowed him to compensate for Tensai's girth, and Tensai showed what he can do when given someone to work with. I don't know if I would go out of my way to see this one, but it is certainly worth sitting through if you have the time.

The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, Christian, and Kane: If you do go out of your way to see a match from this week's show, this is the one. Jericho looked like he was ready to wrestle the world, and the crowd wanted to see him do it. I knew his feud with Ziggler would be good for Ziggler, but it might be even better than I thought if Jericho is this motivated.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Overall Show: While not a terrible show, it was a big Miss because it was meaningless for most of the segments. Every moment was either random and pointless or moved a story along that nobody cares about. I am baffled that with SummerSlam fast approaching, this is the best WWE could do to sell their product.

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio: This wasn't a bad match, and that's counting the non-finish that was expected. But it was a miss because it shouldn't have happened. Even if Randy Orton ends up in the title match at SummerSlam--something I think is very likely--this was not the way to get there. Orton's first words were to bury Del Rio. This line isn't that bad except that Del Rio has looked so weak recently that when Orton winning by DQ and still hitting the RKO works exactly the same as having him win by RKO pinfall: Del Rio looks even more insignificant. That's never good for your number one contender.

Ryback: So Ryback finally speaks. And then he fails to put away Jinder Mahal. Yes, I realize Mahal ran away, but after cutting a promo about the "law of the jungle," it looks exceptionally bad. Why? Because do you know what they call a wild beast who fails to catch his prey? Starved to death.