Welcome to Laying The Smackdown. WWE Smackdown is in Cleveland, Ohio this week. After a voice-over show preview, Smackdown shows Sheamus in the parking lot waiting for Big Show to arrive. Smackdown starts with The Miz, Cleveland’s favorite son. Miz is here to do another episode of MizTV. Miz introduces his guest…Mick Foley! Almost immediately after Foley enters the ring, he does a cheap plug for his book A Most Mizerable Christmas, available in bookstores and online now. Really Mick? Really? Foley says that the book can be purchased at bookstores right here in Cleveland, Ohio! A cheap plug and a cheap pop? Really? Miz tells Foley not to go for a cheap pop in his hometown. Foley asks Miz if he lives here…right here in Cleveland, Ohio. Another cheap pop! Foley gets serious and says he doesn’t know which Miz he is getting for Survivor Series. Is he getting the WrestleMania main event Miz or the occasionally on RAW and Smackdown Miz? When talking about WrestleMania main event Miz, Foley mentions that Miz defeated Cena. Technically that’s right, but it’s only because The Rock restarted the match after it ended in a draw and then Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom. Miz says he is the least of Foley’s problems and he lists all of the problems the other members of Team Foley have. Foley says he decided to have a team meeting and he introduces the rest of Team Foley which are Kofi Kingston, Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton.

The team meeting is a disaster. Team Hell No argued with each other, Kofi Kingston threatened to kick Miz in the face, and Orton admitted that he likes Foley more than any of his teammates which is surprising because Foley once threw Orton into a pile of thumbtacks. But we did find out that Kane roams basements and scares little children so now thanks to Foley’s team meeting, kids around the world know that they should not go in a basement if Kane is there. Dolph Ziggler and his team come out and Ziggler talks about how dysfunctional Team Foley is. Ziggler thinks his team works great together, but then Del Rio tells Ziggler that Del Rio should have been the leader and not Ziggler. Del Rio and Ziggler argue and then Foley announces that Booker T has allowed him to book three matches tonight. Foley books Ziggler and Del Rio vs. Orton and Miz, Wade Barrett vs. Kane, and Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow. The Kofi-Sandow match is up next.

Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow

Damien Sandow won after rolling up Kofi Kingston for the three count. Sandow illegally grabbed Kofi’s tights during the pin. Surprisingly, the announcers didn’t mention that Sandow cheated. This match wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really enjoy it. The time length of the match shown on TV was 6:03.

Winner: Damien Sandow

Rating: **

In the parking lot, Sheamus is still waiting for Big Show.

After a commercial break, Smackdown recapped the Vickie Guerrero and AJ voicemail segment that happened on RAW this Monday. After the video, a divas match was ready to begin and AJ wasn’t in the match. So what was the point of showing the video? I’m confused. I thought the video might have been setting up a backstage segment with Vickie or AJ. Or maybe we were going to get a Twitter update. I don’t understand why we needed to see that RAW video. This isn’t RAW…this is Smackdown. If AJ or Vickie aren’t going to be on Smackdown, then why show a RAW video of them? It’s a waste of time.

Natalya, Layla, and Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres, Aksana, and Alicia Fox

It looks like Natalya is now a face and Alicia Fox is now a heel. I’m guessing Natalya turned face when David Otunga spit coffee on her, but when did Alicia turn heel? Did it happen at a house show? Kaitlyn won this match with an inverted DDT. The match didn’t get much time, but it felt they were wrestling for over ten minutes. The time length of the match was 3:41.

Winners: Natalya, Layla, and Kaitlyn

Rating: *1/4

Smackdown shows an update of what is going on in the parking lot and Sheamus is still waiting for Big Show. Booker T joins him and tells Sheamus that Big Show won’t come to Smackdown tonight because Sheamus is waiting for him in the parking lot. Booker T wants Sheamus to wait 48 hours and then he can get his hands on Big Show at Survivor Series. Sheamus says he can’t promise that he won’t attack Big Show if he sees him. Booker T warns Sheamus that there will be serious consequences if things get out of hand tonight.

Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton and The Miz

The Miz pinned Alberto Del Rio after hitting him with the Skull Crushing Finale. Miz tagged himself into the match right before he hit his finisher. This was an okay match, but this match was put together to promote Survivor Series. This match featured four of the ten Survivor Series members from the Team Foley vs. Team Ziggler match and JBL talked a lot about how dysfunctional these teams are. The main story in this match was that Orton didn’t like teaming with Miz and after Miz stole Orton’s win, Orton hit Miz with the RKO. After the RKO, the announcers reminded the viewers at home that they will be teammates at Survivor Series and Josh Mathews wondered what will happen this Sunday. The time length of the match shown on TV was 7:26.

Winners: Randy Orton and The Miz

Rating: **1/2

Sheamus comes down to the ring and says he doesn’t want to wait until this Sunday to face Big Show. Sheamus says the time for talking is over and it is time to fight. I thought the time for talking has always been over. Every time Sheamus cuts a promo, it is always time to fight. I have never seen Sheamus say, “We can fight later…right now I want to talk.” Why did WWE force Kane and Daniel Bryan to attend anger management classes, but not send Sheamus to a class to help him with his addiction to fighting? He has a serious addiction. He is always talking about fighting people. Why doesn’t anyone else see that? Big Show comes out and says that he is scared of Sheamus, but not because of what Sheamus will do to him. Big Show is scared of what he will do to Sheamus. Big Show refuses to go down to the ring. Sheamus walks up to entrance ramp to fight Big Show, but Booker T stops him. Booker tells him to leave the arena.

Backstage, Booker tells Big Show he will compete in the main event tonight and Booker says Big Show will have to wait to find out who his opponent is.

Wade Barrett vs. Kane

This match ended early after Team Ziggler invaded the ring. Team Foley came out minus The Miz and the two teams gave the crowd a preview of Survivor Series. The brawl ended with Orton hitting a couple RKOs. The time length of the match was 0:56.

Winner: Kane

Rating: NR (No Rating)

Smackdown shows what looks like the official Survivor Series video package for the WWE Championship triple threat match.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Sin Cara

R-Truth did guest commentary during this match. Cesaro won after hitting the Equalizer. This was a match I wish got more time. It was an enjoyable match. The time length of this match was 2:20.

Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Rating: **1/4

After the match, R-Truth starts a “USA” chant.

It’s time for the main event and Big Show’s opponent is…The Great Khali!

Big Show vs. The Great Khali

Big Show wins with the knockout punch. This was a horrible main event match. The time length of the match was 3:34.

Winner: Big Show

Rating: *

After the match Sheamus’s music plays, but Sheamus doesn’t come out. Big Show walks to his bus in the parking lot and Sheamus comes out of the bus. They have an unofficial parking lot brawl. Smackdown ends with Big Show on the ground and Sheamus being pulled away from Big Show by several WWE officials and security.

Matches to Watch: Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton and The Miz, Antonio Cesaro vs. Sin Cara

Matches to Skip: Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow, Natalya & Layla & Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres & Aksana & Alicia Fox, Wade Barrett vs. Kane, Big Show vs. The Great Khali

Best Superstar of Smackdown: The Miz

Miz has been on Team Foley for less than a week and already he feels like the most important member of the team. I enjoyed his mic work this week and he did a good job stealing a win from Orton in the tag match. He’s not main event Miz again, but Miz is getting closer to the Miz he was when he was the WWE Champion. It’s good to see that his face turn hasn’t hurt his mic skills. Most wrestlers completely change their gimmick when they do a turn, but Miz is still the same Miz he has always been.

Best Moment of Smackdown: The parking lot brawl

For the second time in the last three weeks, a match that didn’t official happen was my favorite “match” of the night. It was a short brawl, but it was entertaining and I surprised that WWE booked another Big Show vs. Sheamus singles match for Survivor Series. This is a feud that needs at least one gimmick match. A falls count anywhere match would probably be fun.

This week’s Smackdown felt like a two hour Survivor Series preview show. Smackdown did a good job promoting the Pay-Per-View. The traditional Survivor Series match is more interesting now and I have to admit that the Big Show vs. Sheamus match looks interesting too. Survivor Series feels like the weakest of the four major PPVs and it doesn’t feel like a must-see PPV, but I thought Smackdown did a good job with their go-home show.

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