Smackdown is in Toledo, Ohio this week. It is the first Smackdown since the Extreme Rules Pay Per View. Smackdown starts with Sheamus. He is still the World Heavyweight Champion after beating Daniel Bryan at the PPV. Sheamus says that he loves to fight. Sheamus says that he was asked if he would fight Daniel Bryan tonight and he says he gave a one word answer. That word was “yes”. Sheamus starts chanting “yes”. Daniel Bryan’s music starts and Sheamus continues to chant “yes”. According to my unofficial count of the chant, Sheamus chanted “yes” 55 times. That’s right…55 times!

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

Ricardo Rodriguez interfered in this match so Sheamus won via disqualification. After the match, Alberto Del Rio put the cross-armbreaker on Sheamus and Daniel Bryan put the Yes Lock on Sheamus. Not at the same time unfortunately. This was a short match, but it was an enjoyable match before the DQ finish.

Winner: Sheamus

Rating: **

In the back, the WWE medical team looks at Sheamus’s arm. Sheamus is in a lot of pain.

R-Truth and Kofi Kingston vs. Camacho and Hunico

R-Truth won the match for his team after hitting the Little Jimmy on Camacho. How long has R-Truth’s finishing move been called the “Little Jimmy”? I don’t know why it took me so long to find that out. This was an okay match. It wasn’t a bad match, but it felt like an average Smackdown tag team match. The match was too short to develop a good story.

Winners: R-Truth and Kofi Kingston

Rating: *3/4

Brodus Clay vs. Jack Swagger

Brodus Clay won this match after Jack Swagger intentionally got counted out. Brodus Clay matches are no longer fun. They were interesting when he was beating jobbers, but now he is defeating former World Champions like Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. Clay’s winning streak has now become boring in my opinion. If he keeps winning easily over quality opponents, Clay will start getting booed like he did in Chicago at Extreme Rules. The Chicago crowd is one of the smartest crowds in the WWE Universe and they knew that Dolph Ziggler shouldn’t be jobbing to Brodus Clay. Jack Swagger shouldn’t be jobbing to Brodus Clay either. I wouldn’t mind a Brodus Clay-Dolph Ziggler feud, but only if Ziggler goes over. It would be a nice win for Ziggler if he ends Clay’s long winning streak.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Rating: NR (No Rating)

Smackdown showed a recap video of John Cena on RAW last week.

Backstage, Daniel Bryan is angry that Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez interfered in his match. Daniel Bryan wants to face Sheamus again later tonight and Eve says she has to consult with the ringside physicians before making a decision about the rematch.

Damien Sandow is introduced to the ring. Derrick Bateman is in the ring. Sandow says he will not compete in a match tonight and calls Bateman a “simple-minded ignoramus”. Derrick Bateman says he wants a match and his opponent is Ryback.

Derrick Bateman vs. Ryback

Ryback is still facing a jobber, but at least he is now facing a jobber on the WWE roster. I hope that means he will be getting better competition, but hopefully he will start facing Superstars that are a little bit more challenging than Derrick Bateman. Ryback won this match easily. It was Ryback’s first win over a real WWE Superstar, but now he needs to defeat someone that is on WWE TV more often. I think that was the first time since last year that Bateman was on Smackdown. I know Ryback used to be Skip Sheffield, but I’m talking about Ryback as if he and Skip are two different people which is what the WWE wants the fans to do.

Winner: Ryback

Rating: NR

Kane and Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show and Randy Orton

I’m surprised that Kane and Randy Orton were in this match. Does that mean their feud will continue? Big Show was teaming with Randy Orton during this match so I guess Big Show is still a face. I thought he might have turned heel when he attacked Cody Rhodes after their Extreme Rules match. Chicago was booing Big Show when he attacked Cody Rhodes, but they were also booing Big Show during the match so maybe that attack was not meant to be a heel turn. Big Show pinned Cody Rhodes for the three-count after hitting Cody with the knockout punch also known as the WMD. In my opinion, this was a boring match. It got a little bit better towards the end of the match, but it was just a basic tag team match. The Rhodes-Big Show feud will continue a little bit longer, but I hope Kane and Orton find new people to feud with. I thought their feud was over, but it looks like it might continue going into the Over The Limit PPV.

Winners: Big Show and Randy Orton

Rating: *1/4

Backstage, Sheamus tells Matt Striker that he came here tonight to fight and that is exactly what he is going to do.

Layla vs. Natalya

It’s nice to see that Layla is back in the WWE. I was disappointed that she returned at Extreme Rules instead of Kharma, but it’s nice to see Layla return to a WWE ring on WWE TV after she tore her ACL and MCL last year. Ironically, she got injured during last year’s Extreme Rules PPV. Layla won after hitting the Lay Out. This was an average divas match, but I enjoyed it more than the previous Smackdown match.

Winner: Layla

Rating: *1/2

Backstage, Aksana is taking publicity photos with Antonio Cesaro. Eve stops the photo shoot and says Antonio looks too dry. Eve tells Teddy to rub oil on Antonio. Teddy rubs oil on Antonio’s back and chest.

AJ talks to Kaitlyn in the back. AJ tells Kaitlyn that she can’t believe she slapped her last week and she understands if Kaitlyn doesn’t want to forgive her. Kaitlyn says she felt betrayed when she was slapped last week by AJ. Kaitlyn says she was just trying to be AJ’s friend and AJ’s pity party over Daniel Bryan has to stop. AJ slaps Kaitlyn for the second week in a row and walks away. Whoa! Is AJ turning heel?

Smackdown shows a RAW Rebound video of Brock Lesnar breaking Triple H’s arm. After the video, Josh Matthews confirms that Triple H has a broken arm. Michael Cole says you have to assume Brock Lesnar will be fired, but there is no official word yet on Lesnar’s future in the WWE. Alberto Del Rio’s theme music plays and Alberto Del Rio walks with Ricardo towards the announce table. Alberto Del Rio will be a guest commentator for the next match.

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

Alberto Del Rio tried to interfere in this match. Daniel Bryan tried to take advantage of the distraction by jumping off the top turnbuckle, but Sheamus hit him with the Brogue Kick after Daniel Bryan jumped. Sheamus pinned Daniel Bryan and got the win. It was a nice spot, but Sheamus did that same spot with Daniel Bryan on RAW last year to win the United States Championship. I thought this was a great match. It was not as great as the match they had at Extreme Rules because that match was the best match of the PPV in my opinion, but this match was very enjoyable. I think I liked this feud more because of Daniel Bryan than Sheamus, but this match and the Extreme Rules match are among my favorite performances from Sheamus. I’m not a fan of Sheamus, but he has shown me that he can have very good matches with the right opponent. I don’t think Alberto Del Rio is the right opponent for Sheamus, and I think their Over The Limit PPV match will be a mediocre main event match.

Winner: Sheamus

Rating: ***1/2

Matches to Watch: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

Matches to Skip: Kane and Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show and Randy Orton, Derrick Bateman vs. Ryback, Brodus Clay vs. Jack Swagger, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston vs. Camacho and Hunico, Layla vs. Natalya

Best Superstars of Smackdown: Daniel Bryan and Sheamus

For the first time, I have two Best Superstars of Smackdown. Daniel Bryan and Sheamus are the only reasons to watch Smackdown this week. They saved Smackdown from being a must-skip show this week.

Best Moment of Smackdown: AJ slapping Kaitlyn

There weren’t many great moments to choose from but I picked the AJ slap because it looked stiff. If I had to rank the two slaps, I would say this week’s slap from AJ was better than last week’s slap. I think this week’s slap made better contact and I wonder how good next week’s slap will be.

This was a very bad Smackdown in my opinion. All of the matches other than the two Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus matches were mediocre at best. There was only one in-ring promo on Smackdown (two if you count Sandow’s brief promo from the ring apron) and the promo wasn’t good. The three advertised Smackdown matches at Extreme Rules were all good so I thought the fallout after the PPV would be better. The Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus rematches were nice, but Cody Rhodes, Big Show, Randy Orton, and Kane should have been cutting promos instead of having a boring tag team match. There are only two more Smackdowns before Over The Limit so Smackdown doesn’t have much time to promote their PPV matches. I’m very disappointed with this Smackdown. It should have been a lot better.