By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown Hits

Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs. Sheamus and Zack Ryder: There can be no doubt that the "new talent initiative" Vince McMahon hyped for so long is not what it was made out to be. That said, there can also be no doubt that there are some very exciting workers coming along in the pike, and these four are just examples. Sheamus is a little out of place in this group as his star is much brighter, but Ziggler is well on his way, and Swagger is a two time World Champion. Ryder's comedy continues to entertain me. And this match is a must see.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett: Speaking of things you need to see, this match is one of the better multi-man matches I have ever seen. No, it isn't an instant classic, but multi-man TV matches can be dreadful more times than not, and I really thought all four guys worked hard to give us a nice match. If you can only see one, see the tag match. But if you have the time, see this one as well.

Mark Henry: Mark was not great on this show, but the bar with him has reached a point where even "good" is entertaining. I think Jake Barnett said it best on the All Access podcast when he pointed out that Henry is having to show vulnerability and that's not what he has had to do since this run began. It is a testament to Henry's recent success that he was able to do something he is obviously not as comfortable with as well as he did.

Daniel Bryan: I know a lot of people are up in arms over the whole "win the title have it stripped" garbage that played out at the start of Smackdown. And there is certainly a mine field created by this decision that could derail a great WrestleMania story that seems to be building. But Mania is a long time away. And with the video packages WWE can do, there's plenty of time to make people forget this moment, or at the very least make it meaningless. There's still big money in Bryan vs. Henry at Mania for the title, and I don't think this cost them a dime.

WWE Smackdown Misses

None: I really have a hard time finding fault with anything in this episode. Sure, there are potential problems in some things that happened. But just because there might be problems doesn't mean there will be. Huh. Apparently for Thanksgiving I had a double portion of optimism.

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