Shore's WWE Smackdown Hitlist: Three stellar matches, a potential WrestleMania setup moment, Alicia Fox needs more work, and Sin Cara and company need to go away

By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown Hits

Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan: This was the match of the night for me, because it was fun to watch and did the most to advance a storyline. It also provided good video for when Bryan faces Henry at Mania for the title. Yes, I'm still holding on to that dream. I especially like the finish. Big Show got a knock-out punch, but it was a sucker punch. And then Henry got Show back (and killed Bryan in the process too). Teddy Long coming out and booking the match sucked, but hey, perfect is setting the bar too high.

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes: For pure match quality though, nothing came close to this one. It was a wholly unnecessary match, and Orton going over was equally unnecessary. But Cody looked very good in defeat, and I hope he will gain something long term from this feud. Given the street fight stipulation, they could have given him the win, especially seeing as how Orton just beat him at the PPV. But it was still a 23 minute TV match that contained two great workers. It's hard to complain about that, even if the complaints are legitimate.

Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett: This was another very good match, and I loved the fact that it wasn't Sheamus and Christian again. I'm not sure where they are going with this now, but the mistake would be to have a two on one situation. Barrett needs clean wins. This one was fine because it served a purpose, but he doesn't need to get wins with Christian's help. If they are going to make this a tag feud for a short run, that would be OK, but who do you put with Sheamus? A nice little bit of intrigue to get us to tune in next week. Well done WWE.

WWE Smackdown Misses

Sin Cara, Epico, and Hunico: I did not think this story could get any worse. I was dead wrong. I guess we have a new roster member in Epico, and aligned himself with Hunico, to beat up a guy that nobody cares about other than his flashy move set. This whole story line has been poorly done from the beginning. Hunico looked exactly like a stereotypical Mexican gang member. Is that the best the creative minds at WWE could come up with? Really? I really hate this who story and want it to just go away as soon as possible.

Alicia Fox vs. Natalya: Looks like Alicia Fox is the next Diva to get a run after Eve is finished. She did get a surprisingly good reaction from the Greenville crowd, but that crowd would have cheered my fat ass so it didn't mean all that much. As far as her in-ring work, she still needs a lot of help. Natty tried to cover for her a few times, and Alicia is very athletic. But she is still very awkward in the ring, and doesn't look like a serious contender for the title.