In these reviews, I typically start out by mentioning what we can expect for tonight based on what we saw the previous week. but to be perfectly frank, I can’t remember what happened last week on Smackdown.

More accurately, I’m having trouble remembering what happened on Smackdown and what happened on the three-hour RAW.

Regardless, we’re moving forward to the MONEY IN THE BANK pay per view, and there’s plenty of questions to answer.

Will Zeke Jackson get a new opponent for the Intercontinental Championship, or will the eventual World Title scene push for Wade Barrett be stymied with the continuation of his feud with the former Corre member?

Are they really going to push the Usos? The twins did get a win last week over former tag champs Gabriel & Slater.

How long will they continue the Sin Cara trampoline ring entrance?

All that and more as WWE presents Smackdown on television!

The show kicks off with Teddy Long strutting to the ring, and he wants to address the situation from CAPITOL PUNISHMENT where Christian’s foot was under the bottom rope when the referee counted to three.

Out of anyone who might serve as a General Manager for Smackdown, isn’t Teddy Long the least likely to over-turn the referee’s decision? He has shown very little love for Christian in the past couple months, and as a rule, the referee’s decision is typically concrete and only over-turnable by the referee himsef at the time it happens… so I don’t see any reason to think Teddy Long is going to make things right.

Teddy Long apologizes, but he reiterates that the referee’s decision is final. Despite thinking that the referee made a poor decision, Teddy Long won’t grant a rematch unless Christian qualifies for another title shot… which he’s going to have to do by facing KANE later tonight.

I can understand why Christian would want a championship match handed to him, but does he REALLY have anything to complain about? Aside from facing The Undertaker or being involved in tag matches, when’s the last time Kane won anything?!

It’s basically a guaranteed title shot.

Oh great, Wade Barrett is cashing in his rematch clause to get a chance to reclaim the Intercontinental Championship. We can only hope he encounters someone backstage beforehand and that individual stops him from cheating and causes Wade to lose the match to Zeke so we can all move along.

Given the numerous title matches and rematches we saw for Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler over the past couple years, I’m not optimistic.

So after years of debauchery, Shawn Michaels became a born-again Christian and kept on the straight and narrow path… then retires to go home and become a family man… and he makes his guest appearance on RAW… from Las Vegas? Maybe WWE will hold a pay per view in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and he can be a guest then, too.

Match – Sin Cara vs Ted DiBiase

Is Sin Cara’s offense really unpredictable? I predict he’ll flip around, spin, hop off the ropes, use kicks and at some point go for a flying armbar.

Take those predictions to the bank.

Sin Cara wraps his knees around DiBiase’s neck, spins around and then spins into a falling armbreaker… and for the second time in recent weeks, Ted DiBiase gets pinned after a move other than a signature finisher.

Outcome – Sin Cara wins, so it might be a while before Ted DiBiase gets his matches highlighted in green.  Special lighting is for winners.

Anyone else hoping Sin Cara switches his finisher to something along the lines of what he did to beat DiBiase. That top-rope backflip urinage was cool… but it’s a little too easy to be botched, and he’s limited with who he can do that to… so let’s keep it on the shelf until a big ppv match with an athletic opponent.

Oh look, another match between Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes without having backstage / in-ring segments to turn this into an actual feud! Thanks for cutting out the fluff, WWE Creative! I always liked my cake more without the icing…

Daniel Bryan giving Cody a “REALLY?! REALLY?” makes me think that his time as the NXT Rookie with The Miz as his Pro actually did help him a little bit.

And you said he had nothing to learn.

Like I was hoping for, this feud gets personal as Daniel Bryan actually does a great job pre-match of heating things up, saying that Cody essentially lives his life knowing he’ll never be able to get out of the shadow of his father, “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes.

Match – Cody Rhodes vs Daniel Bryan

After a minute or two of action, Ted DiBiase shows up to stand at Cody’s side during the match. He must’ve been taking a bathroom break, because he didn’t have enough time to put on a pair of pants or even a tshirt. GuysNation Points awarded to the best suggestion for what DiBiase was doing backstage between the end of his match with Sin Cara and when he showed up to be at ringside with Cody.

Outcome – Cody Rhodes wins the match with the Cross Rhodes… and a little bit of help from Ted DiBiase

After the match, Daniel Bryan gets a bag on his head, and no one from the locker room shows up to put a stop to it.

So despite being on RAW, Big Show is apparently going to continue his trend of getting far more time on Smackdown.

Johnny Curtis gives a backstage promo where he addresses the rumors about why he hasn’t made his Smackdown debut… and he doesn’t know if it’s because he’s too cocky, too young, too inexperienced… but he says those folks are all wrong (so he doesn’t know the reason but he knows it’s not one of THoSE reasons?). He then makes a lame joke about not cutting the mustard… and honestly I want that guy to start making his in-ring appearances so the lame backstage stuff can stop.

Big Show is backstage, and apparently he’s fine after being brutalized a bit by Mark Henry, and it looks like they’re switching things up a bit so Big Show can actually target someone who’s on the same show he is.

As they try to move the feud for Big Show over to Mark Henry, the way Big Show tries to sell the feud? He says Mark Henry was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and even after being beaten up by Mark Henry at the pay per view, Big Show isn’t holding a grudge against him.

WWE hopes to fix that by creating a hype video where they show Mark Henry beating on people.

Apparently after seeing the hype video, Big Show now wants to get some revenge on Mark Henry… who says “Bigger is not always better. Better is better”.  Ironic, since Mark Henry has been bigger than nearly all of his past opponents, and most of them were better than he is.

Intercontinental Championship Match – Ezekiel Jackson (c) vs Wade Barrett

Before the match, Wade Barrett attacks Zeke from behind and the referee lets Jackson decide whether the match is going to happen or not… meaning they’re either going to turn Zeke into the tough guy who over-comes adversity in this match… or he’l become the FORMER Intercontinental Champion with a reason for losing.

In shocking and decisive fashion, Ezekiel Jackson picks up the win over Wade Barrett with the Torture Rack

Outcome – Zeke retains the championship by making Barrett tap out

The Usos actually get some theme music… and their entrance is shown this week… which means they’re definitely moving up the ladder. Apparently what they did atop the ramp is a war dance meant to intimidate their opponents… but it doesn’t help when Gabriel and Slater aren’t in the ring yet.

Match – The Usos vs Gabriel & Slater

If for no other reas, I enjoy this match because we get a Samoan Swat Team reference from Booker T!

After a very entertaining match, a feud develops through a very close yet clean finish as Heath Slater gets his knees up to block a frog splash, leading to a pinfall in an inside cradle!

Outcome – Slater & Gabriel pick up the win by pinfall

In our next match, it’s a guy who’s rarely ever on Smackdown against a guy who has yet to lose in WWE and has had impressive wins ever since he stepped foot into a Smackdown ring.

Match – Jinder Mahal vs Yoshi Tatsu

So… it doesn’t actually end up being much of a match at all, as Jinder essentially just brutalizes Yoshi Tatsu without the bell ringing to start the match.

After the brutalizing, Jinder Mahal basically says that he’s going to continue beating people up until someone stops him…

So essentially he’s Captain Obvious?

The not-too-many-segments edition of Smackdown (where apparently wrestling matters?) continues, as we move right along to the main event.

Match – Kane vs Christian

Maybe I missed something… I know that if Christian wins, he gets a rematch against Randy Orton. If Kane wins, does he get the title shot against Orton? I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t think they mentioned it either way. The announcers aren’t selling this as a #1 Contenders match.

So… as Christian tries to make himself into a heel despite the fans loving him, he chooses to use Edge’s SPEAR (complete with his pre-move taunting), which the fans cheered / chanted for even when Edge was a heel. Great logic by WWE…

Apparently Mark Henry continues to have issues with the Kane / Big Show duo, and he shows up and costs Christian the match by attacking Kane.

Outcome – Kane wins by DQ when Mark Henry gets involved

Teddy Long shows up and makes a new main event match, in which Christian can still win a World Title shot if he were to win the following tag team match…

Mark Henry & Christian vs Kane & Randy Orton

So how exactly is a tag match a good way to determine the number one contender? If that’s what Christian has to do to prove it to Teddy Long, why not just look back to this past Monday when Christian made it to the final two in the big elimination tag match… pinning Randy Orton in the process?!

If they’re going to start a whole new match, why would Christian volunteer to start things off against Randy Orton? Christian had just gone through a tough match with Kane, and Randy Orton hadn’t competed yet? He should’ve made Mark Henry start the match.

Since when does Booker T not like the “street style” of doing business? Must be a chilly day for Osama Bin Laden because a founder of Harlem Heat, a guy who attacked Stone Cold in a supermarket, doesn’t like it when things go “street style”.

Outcome – Mark Henry pins Randy Orton to pick up the win for his team

So does this mean that Mark Henry gets the title shot instead of Christian? He’s the one who made the pinfall, and he’s not going to stop attacking people until he’s “happy”… so Teddy Long has some things to think about next week!


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