Welcome to Laying The Smackdown. WWE Smackdown is in Grand Rapids, Michigan this week. For the second week in a row, MizTV is the opening segment of Smackdown. The Miz’s guest is…JOHN CENA! Whoa…Cena is on Smackdown?! Miz shows a video of Cena kissing AJ and a video of Cena injuring his knee while chasing Dolph Ziggler on RAW last Monday. Miz asks for an update on Cena’s knee and Cena says he is fine. The injury won’t prevent him from competing in WWE. Miz wants to know if Cena and AJ are more than just friends. Cena says he was tired of the accusations so he gave Vickie Guerrero and Ziggler what they wanted by kissing AJ and ended the accusations. Miz asks Cena if he and AJ are more than just friends. You asked him that question already. Before Cena can answer, AJ comes out.

AJ and Cena talk a little bit and then Ziggler comes out. Ziggler says that if he was John Cena, he would hate AJ’s guts. Ziggler shows a video of AJ attacking Ziggler in the locker room on RAW. It’s not a short clip of the attack…it’s the entire two minute segment. Two minutes doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but there has been many Smackdown matches that get less time than that. I hate to see Smackdown waste two full minutes on footage we just saw on RAW last Monday. After the video, Vickie comes out. Vickie says Ziggler knows how to kiss someone who is authoritative, confident, decisive, and passionate. Cena calls Vickie a liar and says Ziggler actually kissed Vickie. Cena also says that we cannot medically prove that Vickie is a woman. Vickie says she was not talking about herself because her relationship with Ziggler is strictly professional. Ziggler says AJ and Cena deserve each other because they are two weak losers. Then Cena makes a joke about eating and finding nuts. Before this segment, I didn’t mind the AJ-Cena storyline, but now I hate it. It’s not bad when you are watching it, but this was a difficult segment to review.

Ryback vs. Darren Young

First Cena and now Ryback is on Smackdown? Finally, Smackdown is getting some top superstars on the show. Titus O’Neil did guest commentary during this match. Ryback won with Shell Shocked. The time length of the match was 2:12. That RAW segment of Ziggler and AJ in the locker room was longer than this match.

Winner: Ryback

Rating: *

Up next is Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth in a non-title match. I didn’t see their Survivor Series match, but I didn’t see anyone call it one of the best matches of the Pay-Per-View.

Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth

Before the match, Cesaro says he can see that the fans enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I don’t like it when WWE pretends that it’s Friday in the arena because 15,000 fans know that it is Tuesday. R-Truth won with the Little Jimmy. That was a fast match and there wasn’t any set-up for the finish. The time length of the match was 1:33.

Winner: R-Truth

Rating: NR (No Rating)

Booker T talks to Sheamus backstage and tells him that one of the matches at the TLC PPV will be Sheamus vs. Big Show in a chairs match. Booker also tells Sheamus that Sheamus will not compete tonight. Big Show will compete on Smackdown and he will face Team Hell No.

Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio won with the Cross Armbreaker. The match was a little bit too short, but I enjoyed it. The time length of the match shown on TV was 6:21.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Rating: **3/4

In the locker room, Daniel Bryan and Kane talk about their match against Big Show. Then Daniel Bryan talks about vegan turkey at Thanksgiving and Kane talks about beating up Santa Claus at Christmas.

Team Hell No vs. Big Show

Early in the match, Kane said to Bryan, “I thought you were going to do this in 45 seconds.” Sheamus watched this match with William Regal from a skybox in the arena. Big Show won after choke slamming Bryan. Kane left the match after Bryan tagged himself in. Bryan had a good in-ring performance. I think he can have a good match with anyone. The time length of the match was 8:02.

Winner: Big Show

Rating: **1/2

After the match, Big Show cuts a promo at Sheamus from the entrance ramp. Big Show says a giant is going to have a chair in his hands this time.

Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow (WWE Intercontinental Championship match)

Wade Barrett did guest commentary during this match. Kofi won with Trouble in Paradise. This was an average match with Kofi doing his usual spots. The time length of this match shown on TV was 5:57.

Winner: Kofi Kingston

Rating: **1/4

Smackdown shows a RAW video of CM Punk’s 365 day celebration last Monday. After the video, Smackdown shows some Touts from fans. The topic is CM Punk and Ryback.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

Ziggler won after rolling up Orton for the three count. It looked like Ziggler grabbed Orton’s tights during the pin and the announcers didn’t say anything about it. The match was enjoyable, but it was not as good as I was expecting. The time length of the match shown on TV was 9:37.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Rating: **3/4

After the match, Ricardo Rodriguez enters the ring and Orton RKOs him. Del Rio was going to enter the ring too, but he stops after he sees what happened to Ricardo. On the entrance ramp, Cena puts the STF on Ziggler. Smackdown ends with WWE referees trying to break up the STF.

Matches to Watch: Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio, Team Hell No vs. Big Show, Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

Matches to Skip: Ryback vs. Darren Young, Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth, Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro

Best Superstar of Smackdown: Dolph Ziggler

No one had an amazing performance this week, but I think Dolph Ziggler had the most impressive performance. His promo is the opening segment wasn’t very enjoyable, but he had a good match with Orton and he got the win. After Ziggler’s win, JBL said, “One of the greatest weeks I have ever seen in anybody’s career Dolph Ziggler has just had.”

Best Moment of Smackdown: The commentary of JBL and Josh Mathews

I have seen several Smackdown commentary teams in my life. I remember Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler, Jim Ross and Mick Foley, Jim Ross and Todd Grisham, Todd Grisham and Matt Striker, Michael Cole and Tazz, and others. I think this current team of JBL and Josh Mathews is the best Smackdown commentary team I have ever seen. I hope this team stays together for many years because they could end up being the next legendary WWE commentary team with the great teams before them like JR and Lawler, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, and the team of Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Their commentary this week was very entertaining and they make the show more fun to watch.

This week’s Smackdown was different. Teddy Long wasn’t on the show and there was a special appearance by John Cena. I don’t think Cena made the show better, but it’s nice to see the RAW guys make an appearance occasionally. It looks like the Orton-Del Rio feud will continue. It’s not a terrible feud, but I think it’s time for them to find new opponents. A Sin Cara and Del Rio feud would be interesting in my opinion. I didn’t think this episode was any better than recent episodes of Smackdown, but there were a few good matches. Not a bad episode, but not a great episode either.

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