WWE Smackdown is in Indianapolis, Indiana this week. Mr. McMahon is introduced to the ring by Lillian Garcia. Mr. McMahon is in the ring to announce the new General Manager of Smackdown. Mr. McMahon says that Booker T is the new Smackdown General Manager. Booker T enters the ring and while he is talking, Alberto Del Rio’s music interrupts him. Del Rio and Booker T talk about Sheamus and guess who comes out to interrupt Del Rio? It’s Sheamus!
Sheamus asks Del Rio if he’s really not going to compete until SummerSlam. Last Monday on RAW, Del Rio announced to the crowd that he was not going to wrestle in any matches until his World Heavyweight Championship match against Sheamus. That makes sense. Del Rio is the #1 contender for the championship so why risk injury by competing in non-title matches? Booker T disagrees with that and says that both Sheamus and Del Rio will have individual matches tonight. Del Rio doesn’t care that Booker T is the GM and he says he won’t compete until SummerSlam. Booker T says he is the boss and Del Rio will compete in the ring tonight. Del Rio’s opponent will be Randy Orton! Booker T tells Sheamus that he has a match next. Sheamus will face Tensai.
Sheamus vs. Tensai
Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick. This wasn’t a great match and looked like most of Sheamus’s matches, but it was an okay match. Tensai did well in this match and the match was back-and-forth until the end. I would say that this was the third Sheamus match in a row that will probably end up being more enjoyable than his SummerSlam match vs. Del Rio. I didn’t enjoy this match a lot, but it was probably one of the best Tensai matches this year. I might have enjoyed the match more if I liked Sheamus and Tensai.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: **1/4
Backstage, Eve offers her services to Booker T. Teddy Long walks in the room and Booker T offers Teddy a job. Teddy is now the Booker T’s senior advisor. Booker T tells Eve that all of the jobs on the staff are now filled.
Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro
Cesaro won with his finishing move. It was a clean win for Cesaro. Santino almost won the match after hitting the Cobra, but Cesaro’s leg was under the rope. Cesaro should definitely be the number one contender for the United States Championship now. I think he’d be a better champion than Santino. Short match, but it was enjoyable to watch.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Rating: **
Backstage, Matt Striker interviews Daniel Bryan. Striker shows a video of Daniel Bryan from last Monday’s RAW. After the video, Daniel Bryan says that he will say no more often. Daniel Bryan is wearing a No! No! No! shirt. Daniel Bryan doesn’t want people chanting yes anymore. Daniel ends his promo by chanting “no”. I’m interested to see what happens after this. I think smarky fans will start chanting “no” now.
Chris Jericho and Christian and Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler and The Miz and Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan rolled up Jericho for a three count after Vickie Guerrero distracted the referee and Ziggler tried to hit Jericho with his Money in the Bank briefcase. Good match, but it wasn’t great.
Winners: Dolph Ziggler and The Miz and Daniel Bryan
Rating: ***
In the locker room, Randy Orton is interviewed by Matt Striker. Orton says he plans on hitting Del Rio with the RKO.
Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal
Ryback won by disqualification after Jinder hit him with a microphone. Quick match.
Winner: Ryback
Rating: No Rating (NR)
Backstage, The Primetime Players are wondering why Little Jimmy has a t-shirt and they don’t.
R-Truth vs. Darren Young
Darren Young won with a gutbuster after R-Truth attacked Titus O’Neil because O’Neil attacked Kofi Kingston. Another quick match.
Winner: Darren Young
Rating: No Rating (NR)
Smackdown shows RAW highlights featuring the CM Punk-Big Show-John Cena feud. Smackdown shows some Touts about CM Punk. The reactions about CM Punk were mixed. Two positive reactions and two negative reactions.
Backstage, Booker T tells Cody Rhodes that he will face Sin Cara next week.
Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio
Randy Orton won by disqualification after Ricardo Rodriguez interfered in the match. The match wasn’t really enjoyable and the cheap finish didn’t help.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: *1/2
After the match, Sheamus threw Del Rio into the ring and Orton hit Del Rio with the RKO. Why should I believe Del Rio can defeat Sheamus at SummerSlam after seeing that he needed Ricardo interfere in the match and seeing the show end with Del Rio receiving the RKO? Del Rio looks like a weak number one contender. Maybe there’s enough time for Orton to get thrown into the SummerSlam match, but I think it’s unlikely there will be two triple threat World Championship matches at SummerSlam.
Matches to Watch: Sheamus vs. Tensai, Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro, Chris Jericho and Christian and Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler and The Miz and Daniel Bryan
Matches to Skip: Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal, R-Truth vs. Darren Young, Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio
Best Superstar of Smackdown: Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan cut a good promo and got the winning pinfall during his six-man tag match, so it was a successful night for Daniel Bryan.
Best Moment of Smackdown: Booker T being named the General Manager of Smackdown
It’s too early to determine if Booker T will be a great General Manager or not. I’m looking forward to seeing Booker T as the GM because he was very entertaining as a Smackdown announcer. I don’t like that the WWE took the easy route and hired someone who already is a full-time talent instead of someone who is rarely on TV like Mick Foley or William Regal, but I think Booker T is an interesting choice for General Manager. This could end up being a great decision.
I didn’t like this Smackdown episode. The six-man tag match was good, but not great. The other two good matches were barely good and I came close to putting them on my “Matches to Skip” list. The main event was very disappointing. That match should have never happened because there was no way Orton was going to get a clean win over the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship and there was no way Del Rio was going to get a clean win over Randy Orton. The ending of the match didn’t hurt Del Rio a lot because Orton didn’t pin him, but it didn’t make him look better at all. Not a good way to push your number one contender weeks before the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year. I wonder what Smackdown will do about the announcing team now that Booker T is the GM. They could bring in a new color commentator, but Smackdown once had an announcing team of Jim Ross and Todd Grisham so they have had two play-by-play men call Smackdown in the past.
Ringsidehustle.com 
In a long time I disagree with you on this weeks Smackdown! Well I guess with an opinion it cannot be wrong though.
I enjoyed it, glad Booker is GM. It’s something new and fresh. I just hope he won’t be one of those ”get the heels” managers. He should be fair like. But they do need another announcer, maybe JBL in a couple weeks time when he’s done his charity stuff?
BTW, you were all dreaming that the site was re-designed. It was an IWC dream where all wrestling fans had it. Seriously though, if it sucks just fucking tell me!! lol.
Great review, Tony!
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Oh, opinions can be wrong. Not talking about Tony. As they say: Everybody has the right to an opinion, but that doesn’t make the opinion right.
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True but opinions aren’t facts. Like opinions are subjective to your liking. That’s the way I see it anyway.
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Opinions are like buttholes. Everybody has one and most of them stink.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it. I felt the matches weren’t on the same level as last week and I’m tired of main event matches ending in a DQ. The last three matches of the show were awful in my opinion. Fans could have stopped watching after the six man tag match. That was the unofficial main event for me. Too much bad and not enough good.
I have been reviewing Smackdown as I watch the show. Maybe it would be a little bit better if I watch the show as a fan first and watch it as a reviewer later.
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They weren’t as good as last week. Idk what it is but to me there’s a whole new feeling about WWE with me.
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When I review Smackdown, I kinda compare the episode to last week’s episode. I guess it wasn’t terrible, but I feel that if they could do a good show last week, it shouldn’t be too hard to do it again this week.
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I liked how they added a bit to Ryback’s gimmick to help the “Feed me more!” line mean something. I can picture “Food Chain” shirts right now.
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I remember when HHH and Batista used to talk about being ”top of the food chain”. It’s awesome because it shows they’re hungry which leads to Ryback’s ”Feed Me More” catchphrase. Ryback is not a bad wrestler for the size he is.
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Love the guy’s energy.
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Kofi, does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?
Great movie…
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Is this just a random video or does it reference something in some way that I’ve missed? haha
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Well Kofi was wearing a suit this week. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before.
Speaking of Kofi, check of the 10th Anniversary Smackdown DVD if you have never seen it. It’s funny watching Kofi doing his interviews for the DVD because he’s in character and the DVD was made when he was from Jamaica. It’s funny how much an accent can change someone’s gimmick.
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I’ll definitely have to check that out. I remember the first time he spoke without the accent, it shook me because he played the Jamaican gimmick so well!
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Yeah, Kofi is in slick suit. It reminded me of the principal from the Breakfast Club. And I remembered the quote.
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I did like the fact they gave Ryback a chance to talk. The promo wasn’t too bad.
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The only problem with Ryback’s first promo is that I remember when he was Skip Sheffield so it didn’t seem new.
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Well, his first promo with the new gimmick.
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I love the fact that Book T has been made GM. Being such a baby face of late I hope he doesn’t continually make matches in favour of the good guys. I like some good heel time. Glad Ryback/Skip got to cut a promo, he’s a pretty decent wrestler consider the sheer size of him. ADR needs to step up his game, someone needs to take that title off Sheamus. I like him, but am getting fed up of his indestructible image. And they say Cena is superman?!? Roll on SummerSlam!
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