Welcome to Laying The Smackdown. WWE Smackdown is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this week. WWE Hall of Famer Edge starts the show. Edge is on Smackdown to plug his show on SyFy and also to talk about Daniel Bryan and Kane. Edge shows a video of Bryan and Kane saying “I’m the tag team champions” to each other on RAW last Monday. Edge wants to know how they became BFFs and the WWE Tag Team Champions. Edge says that he knows what it takes to be a tag team champion because he was a 12-time champ and he is interrupted by Daniel Bryan.
After Bryan gets into the ring, he tells Edge that he is the tag team champions. Bryan tells Edge to go back to acting and says nothing can make Bryan snap in the ring. Edge says his intention wasn’t to make him snap, but it sounds like a challenge. Bryan says no it doesn’t and Edge says yes it does. They go back and forth saying no and yes. Bryan snaps and repeatedly yells no until Kane’s pyro interrupts him. Kane and Bryan do their “I’m the tag team champions” argument until Edge stops them. Edge is wondering why Kane has stopped being the Big Red Machine. Edge talks about the rivalry Kane and Edge have had and the tormenting they did to each other. Kane says he remembers that and gives Edge a hug. Edge hugged him back, but it was not as strong as Kane’s hug. Daniel Bryan starts yelling no. Edge and Kane invite Bryan for a group hug, but they are interrupted by Damien Sandow who rants about Kane and Bryan. Edge tells him to shut up and asks the audience if they want to see Kane or Bryan face Sandow. Smackdown goes to a commercial break. After the break, Kane and Sandow start their match.
Kane vs. Damien Sandow
Sandow won with his finishing move. Sandow’s win wasn’t clean. Kane was distracted by Daniel Bryan who was on the ring apron and yelling that he was the tag team champions. This was not a bad match, but it needed more time. The time length of the match was 3:07.
Winner: Damien Sandow
Rating: *3/4
Smackdown advertises Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Zigger. That match will happen tonight on Smackdown.
Backstage, Kane is looking for Daniel Bryan who has his tag team championship. Kane finds Dr. Shelby and Dr. Shelby tells Kane to calm down. Kane calls Bryan a goatface and Bryan comes out of hiding to tell Kane he does not have a goatface. Dr. Shelby convinces Bryan to give Kane his championship back because if he doesn’t, Kane will try to rip Bryan’s beard off. After Kane gets his championship back, he says he is mad that Bryan caused him to lose his match. Dr. Shelby says he will talk to Booker T and ask him to give Bryan a match tonight.
Alberto Del Rio is in Booker T’s office. Del Rio and Booker T talk about the Brogue Kick getting reinstated at Night of Champions. Del Rio wants another title shot, but Booker T says he has to earn his opportunity. Del Rio can prove he deserves another match for the World Heavyweight Championship in the tag match tonight.
Layla vs. Natalya
Layla won with the Lay Out. It was an average Divas match. The time length of the match was 1:32.
Winner: Layla
Rating: *
Ricardo Rodriguez is in the ring to introduce Alberto Del Rio. The tag match is starting earlier than I was expecting.
Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler
Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick. This match was a little bit disappointing because I was hoping for a very good tag match. This match was just a normal Smackdown tag team match and it was what you would expect from a free TV match. The match was joined in progress, but there wasn’t a commercial interruption during the match. The time length of the match shown on TV was 8:18.
Winners: Sheamus and Randy Orton
Rating: **1/2
Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes
Rhodes won with the Cross Rhodes after Kane’s pyro distracted Bryan. I like this match-up and I think this would have been a great match if Bryan and Rhodes were given enough time. The time length of the match was 2:11.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
Rating: No Rating (NR)
Backstage, Bryan and Kane have another argument. Rhodes and Sandow are watching the argument and they are laughing. Rhodes says they are a complete joke. Bryan and Kane challenge them to a match tonight and Rhodes and Sandow leave. Then Bryan and Kane argue about who Sandow and Rhodes were scared of.
Smackdown shows a video of the John Cena and CM Punk feud.
Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater
Brodus won this match by disqualification after he got attacked by Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre. It was nice to see Drew on TV and I hope this leads to more TV time for Drew. The time length of the match was 1:11.
Winner: Brodus Clay
Rating: NR
Santino vs. Antonio Cesaro
Santino won with a roll-up. It looked like Cesaro had the match won, but the referee was distracted by Aksana who fell in the ring and hurt herself. She fell in the ring reaching for the Cobra that was taken off Santino’s arm by Cesaro. The time length of the match was 1:50.
Winner: Santino
Rating: *1/4
After the match, Cesaro broke up with Aksana in five different languages.
Daniel Bryan and Kane vs. Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes
This match was a lumberjack match. The team of Daniel Bryan and Kane won by disqualification after Rhodes hit Kane in the back with a chair. The match ended earlier than I was expecting. I would have liked to see a longer match.
Winners: Daniel Bryan and Kane
Rating: **
After the match, Bryan took the chair from Rhodes. Bryan and Kane attacked Rhodes and Sandow with chairs. Then they attacked the lumberjacks. Smackdown ended with Bryan and Kane arguing again.
Matches to Watch: Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Zigger, Daniel Bryan and Kane vs. Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes
Matches to Skip: Kane vs. Damien Sandow, Layla vs. Natalya, Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes, Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater, Santino vs. Antonio Cesaro
Best Superstars of Smackdown: Kane and Daniel Bryan
This week’s Smackdown was the Kane and Daniel Bryan show. They had a great in-ring segment and two great backstage segments. Each of them competed in two matches in one night. No one came close to having a better night than Kane and Daniel Bryan.
Best Moment of Smackdown: The Kane-Daniel Bryan-Edge segment
Kane and Daniel Bryan segments are usually good, but they are even better when Edge is in the same ring. Great stuff from all three guys and I would have loved to see the group hug happen. Seeing Kane and Edge hug it out was cool. I would have never guessed that would happen after the feud they had at the end of 2010.
I was disappointed that only one match this week was longer than four minutes and seven seconds, but that doesn’t matter because Daniel Bryan and Kane are the main reasons I enjoyed this week’s show. I wrote last week that I wouldn’t mind if Smackdown devoted an entire episode to Kane and Daniel Bryan and they almost did that. Three of the matches featured either Kane or Daniel Bryan or both. Almost every segment featured Kane and Daniel Bryan. They were even in the main event. When was the last time the WWE Tag Team Champions were in the main event on Smackdown or RAW? I forgive Smackdown for giving very little time to their matches this week because they gave a lot of time to Daniel Bryan and Kane and I would rather see them than the matches.
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Ringsidehustle.com 
You hit the nail of the coffin right there, Tony. Kyran ( 😉 ) really stole the entire show. It is a pity there was a lack of wrestling, hopefully there will be longer matches next week. The tag team division means something again. Sandow is really getting heat every week, tremendous heel.
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Kyran…lol. I could be wrong, but is Daniel Bryan slowly turning into a face? That would be a smart decision because I don’t think anyone wants to boo the guy. It seems like the more he tries to get booed, the more he gets cheered.
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It’s not Kryan, it’s Yes We Kane…or Hell Yes!
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Nobody wants to Boo Punk either but Punk is giving us a reason to boo him so he gets booed. Bryan isn’t giving us a reason to boo him so I think he will be face, if he isn’t really already? He seems to be a tweener at the moment.
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Plenty of people want to boo Punk, the casual fans.
DB has been an ass for quite a long time, but I do think people like a good redemption story, so this one is helping him do that.
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Yeah he has but in recent weeks not as much. Well personally I LOVE redemption storylines so I’d be cool with that!
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Well, the constant “NO!!!”‘s don’t help.
Also, I put a caption in for that Lashley pic in the latest Duckman column. Not on facebook, so I didn’t know where to put it.
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yeah Bryan may already be face…he did face Cody Rhodes on Smackdown.
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Yeah, we are seeing the turn.
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That opening segment between Edge/Kane/Bryan was class, especially loved the expression on Bryan’s face when he was invited into the group hug. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Kane being used as a comedy-style character again, but gotta say it’s working and I’m enjoying it. I’m really digging this team right now, and they’re the best part of WWE for me.
Match wise, although the matches were short, I felt it was good to see each one continuing a storyline, and helping it move on well. Intrigued by the ending of Clay/Slater, and want to tune in next week to see where it goes next.
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Yeah, not very much in-ring stuff, but a ton of storyline progress. Plus, a super fun ending!
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I would love to see Team Hug It Out vs. Sandow/Rhodes for the tag belts.
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Team Hug It Out doesn’t roll off the tongue. How about Sharing and Caring?
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It’s unofficially Team Friendship I hear.
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Hug and Yes’s!
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Duh! Hugs and Yes’s.
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I felt like the show should have ended after the first hour. With three hours of Raw on Monday, it just feels like overkill.
While the Kane-Daniel Bryan stuff was good, it wasn’t all golden which causes me to think, they’re not putting them out there as often as they are because their segments are that good; I think they’re out there so often because the rest of the show is that bad.
The only other intriguing thing that happened was Slater, McIntyre and Jinder joining forces. But Heath is the only one of those three who is really entertaining.
With the product as mediocre as it currently is, I think less is more unless they’re going to devote serious time and attention to the undercard. If not, I can live without a wrestling tv show on Friday if I’ve already sat through three hours on Monday.
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Most people I’ve seen have loved the DB/Kane parts.
I do have interest in the new stable with Slater/Jinder/Drew. Slater brings the ‘tude. Jinder brings great intensity. And Drew brings…a terrific ponytail. I don’t know, You got me on that one. But maybe this will let Drew show some more personality. Who knows?
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More Drew or RIOT!
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I read at LOP that he has started calling the stable “Encore” due to the musical nature of it. I like it.
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I’ve loved Kane since I was a kid and I’ve loved the pushes he has had. His mask cmiong off was a great string of events and featured Kane vs Shane, some great matches. If they can put the mask back on and it’ll make sense I guess I wouldn’t be opposed, but anything to put Kane in a spotlight.
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