First of all, I’d like to say a special thanks to Clare for the sexy new banner at the top. Yes, I know there are 6 men in it (one being Mark Henry of all people) but sexy is the first word that came to mind after seeing that Nattie was included. I do love my Nattie. And the other guys in the new banner are my favorite superstars on Smackdown too. Perhaps I shall get Clare to do my Survivor Series banner for me too. So thank you very much fella. What? Clare’s Irish. She won’t mind me calling her ‘fella’.

You can also follow Clare on twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/Clare_Hardy_HHH/

Ah, what the hell, since I’m shilling, you can also follow me on twitter also – http://twitter.com/#!/FutureScotDerek

So, let’s get this edition of Smacked Down! started, shall we.

What a surprise. Smackdown starts off with a promo. Not just any promo. But a promo from the conquering hero himself: WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio. What’s interesting is that he never really cut a heel promo. It wasn’t so much a Babyface promo either, but tonight, it looks as if Del Rio will be playing the role of a tweener. He talks about how it was his dream to compete for WWE in front of his people. But unfortunately, because of John Cena’s actions on Raw, he can no longer compete. This brings out T-Lo. He spoke with WWE Medical personnel earlier, and they stated that Alberto was medically cleared to compete tonight. So tonight, he WILL be in action against the number one contender to Smackdown’s World Heavyweight Championship – Raw superstar: The Big Show. I felt the need to emphasize that Big Show is on Raw and competing for a Smackdown title because WWE obviously don’t care about the Brand Extension. I know it doesn’t matter, but it should. Triple H said that for the time being, Smackdown superstars were allowed to compete on Raw. He never said anything about Raw superstars competing on Smackdown. I guess that’s my fault for remembering, huh?

Teddy walks to the back as Mark Henry makes his way to the ring. He will be in action next.

Match #1: World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry d. John Morrison.

John Morrison – Another Raw superstar. I’m fine with Del Rio on Smackdown but only because it’s his hometown. It should only be a one off. My problem here is that John Morrison jobs to Mark Henry enough on Raw. We don’t need to see it on Smackdown too. This match resembled the match they had a few weeks ago on Raw. The end result was the same. Mark Henry won with an impressive WSS.

Backstage, Christian is talking with the ever-so lovely Vickie Guerrero. I don’t care what anyone says. That woman is hot for her age. Teddy comes in and interrupts them. Christian says he deserves one more match (Give him another title shot already! He’s the best wrestler on Smackdown!) Teddy grants him one more match…against Sheamus…at Vengeance. Christian looks pissed. Long also announces that Dolph Ziggler will be doing double duty as not only will be gunning for the tag titles with Jack Swagger, but he will also be defending the US Title against Zack Ryder too. I think Ziggler will lose both matches. He’s ready to main event. He needs to be in the WWE Championship picture.

Match #2: Wade Barrett d. Daniel Bryan.

Glad to see these guys getting TV time again. As much as I despise Barrett, I think he is very good in the ring. Of course, my boy D-Bry is better. They put on a pretty good match. I was kinda hoping this feud could continue. Barrett works better with smaller guys while Daniel Bryan may be the best wrestler in the company. Certainly in the top 3, like I always mention. In terms of booking, though, he hasn’t been made to look very good since MITB. I think they plan on turning him heel for him facing Orton at Wrestlemania. He’s better as a babyface, but I know he can pull off being a great heel. Barrett won the match with Wasteland. He also won because he’s taller. Vince likes tall men.

Match #3: Sheamus & Zack Ryder d. Christian & U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler.

Pretty basic formulaic tag match. The heels worked over Ryder before making the hot tag to Sheamus who was all fired up against Ziggler (Another Raw superstar) and finished him off after turning him inside out with the Brogue kick. Christian was at the top of the ramp at this point. Smackown goes to a commercial and we find out that, when we come back from break, Sheamus was speared by Christian while he was making his way back up the ramp. I think Christian will win this Sunday, although I’d usually pick Sheamus to win seeing as Christian had the upper hand on the show before the PPV. That’s the theory I use anyway.

Cody Rhodes is in the ring. He cuts a promo on Randy Orton, about how bagging him 2 weeks ago wasn’t just because of mercilessly attacking him and causing him to get 9 stitches, but because of the mental poisoning Rhodes received from Orton. Something along those lines anyway. Cody sounds like a serial killer. I like serious Cody Rhodes. It makes him seem like more of a main eventer. I think, like Ziggler, he’s ready for the main event. He eventually asks Orton to come to the ring and to admit that he was wrong about Cody. That he made a mistake and that he got what he deserved.

Orton then comes out to the ring and says that the only mistake he made was let him breathe for costing him the World Title twice. He also says that the only thing that has changed is the amount of punishment that Rhodes will be on the receiving end of, this Sunday, and getting hit in the side of the skull with the ring bell should be the least of his worries. The baggers then attack him, as does Cody. Orton fight back. Cody escapes, but his baggers were not so lucky. They got destroyed. Orton hit a sick DDT on one of them before hitting an RKO. They should have a good match this Sunday. The title is not on the line, so I’d expect Orton to win before facing Henry again at Survivor Series.

#Match #4: Sin Cara Azul d. Sin Cara Negro in a mask vs mask match.

Wow! Huge pop for Mistico. I think I even heard Mistico chants throughout the arena. He easily got the biggest pop of the night. This was the match I was waiting for between these two. Far better than that train wreck they had at HIAC. I think being in their home country helped their performances too. The match looked a lot more natural than before. The best part of the match was the end. I kinda marked out when Mistico pulled out his ‘La Mistica’ armbar for the submission victory. That move is beautiful. After the match, Negro was about to take his mask off but attempted to walk away. Mistico is able to stop him and rip his mask off. I guess this marks the end of this feud. I wonder what’s next for the real Sin Cara.

In the ring, the two best all around WWE divas (Including talent AND looks) are in the ring. Those divas are the WWE Divas Champion Beth Phoenix and the former champ: the sexy Nattie Neidhart. They say they are prettier and the other divas and are better than them too. Nattie says that “Pain is beauty” and that there is nothing more beautiful than watching barbie dolls beg for mercy. Beth vows to make Eve cry at Vengeance, which brings Eve (Raw diva on Smackdown, people. Am I the only one that notices and actually cares about the brand extension?) out to the ring. I’m going to talk about Eve at the end of this recap because I have something that I have to say about her twitter comments from the other day. Anyway, Eve says that she’s not a barbie. Eve says that she used to think that both of them were beautiful women (were?) but are ugly on the inside. Sweetheart, we’re ALL ugly on the inside. At least to me anyway. Nothing I hate more than seeing somebody’s insides. It’s disgusting. Oh yeah, Beth tried to make Eve cry but she pushed Beth down and left the ring. I think Beth is winning this Sunday. I can see Beth holding the title all the way to ‘Mania if I’m honest.

Match #5: Big Show d. WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ.

Predictable outcome. I was surprised that Big Show dominated most of the match. It’s usually the heel that’s in control. I guess being in Mexico kind of made Alberto the babyface or as stated at the start, a tweener. The match didn’t last a great deal of time. It only came to an end when Ricardo came in and climbed on the Big Show’s back. He must have thought Show was a lama or something, I don’t know. He also needs to stop headbutting Big Show’s fist. He’s going to do himself an injury if he keeps that up. Del Rio also got knocked out. Mark Henry came down and he got knocked out cold too before Smackdown concluded. That means Big Show is losing at Vengeance. The match was not very good but it was bearable, and the crowd were quite hot for Del Rio for some of it. It was an above average edition of smackdown this week. The Mexican crowd was pretty good. I like those Mexicans. I know, their skin and Sheamus’ hair are the same color, but Mexicans are cool. I’d rate Smackdown at around a 6 out of 10 this week. Maybe a 6.5 out of 10 actually.

As for Eve’s twitter remarks the other day, I know it’s to build storylines, but she said something that really got to me. I’m going to show you something she said. Here it is: “I may not be a great “wrestler” But I am a fighter. On the mat & off.” – That really bothers me. I’m a hardcore wrestling fan with passion for the business by the bucket load. She said she may not be a great “wrestler”. Really? Are you kidding me? It’s a “WRESTLING” company. I don’t buy all this “Action soap opera” crap. It is what it is: It’s wrestling. There is no either or. I know Eve has passion for what she does. It shows in the ring. But she hit the nail on the head when she said she wasn’t a great wrestler. I look at a guy like Mark Henry. We all know he’s a bad wrestler but do you think he’d admit that? I don’t think so. I think if you can admit that you’re not a great wrestler, you shouldn’t be involved in a wrestling company. It’s not fair to get oppertunity if you’re not very good when there are other’s that are tremendous talents and they get put on the backburner. It’s not good business. I’m someone who thinks highly of the divas division, but they need more talented performers signed up. And that’s all I’ll say on that matter. It’s just my opinion and I know many of you have differing ones. I respect that. All I ask is that you respect mine in return.

Once again, Special thanks to Clare bear for the awesome banner. You rock! Shamus and Jim McDonald would be proud.