Welcome to Laying The Smackdown. WWE Smackdown is in Bossier City, Louisiana this week. Smackdown starts with John Cena. I will be surprised if there isn’t at least four people in or near the ring at the end of this segment. Cena talks about Dolph Ziggler. Cena says that the main event on Smackdown tonight is Ziggler vs. Sheamus. Alberto Del Rio comes out. Del Rio is not someone I was expecting to interrupt Cena. Del Rio says Smackdown is his show and he wants Cena to leave the ring. Cena says he has a match with Del Rio and he punches Del Rio.
John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio
Cena defeated Del Rio after hitting Del Rio with his fame asser from the top rope. Cena does that move a lot, but I think this is the first time I saw him get a win after that move. I think I’m in the minority, but I did not like this match. The beginning of the match was boring. The match got better after the commercial break, but I didn’t enjoy the match. Some of the spots were good, but most of them were spots I have seen several times from Del Rio and Cena. Del Rio got in a lot of offense, but I wasn’t expecting Del Rio to win so his offense didn’t mean anything to me. I was waiting for Cena to make his comeback during the whole match. I liked the Cena vs. Del Rio match on RAW in September, but this match wasn’t good in my opinion. The time length of the match shown on TV was 11:21.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: **1/4
After the match, Ziggler attacked Cena from behind on the entrance ramp with his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Backstage, Kofi Kingston wants to know if Team Hell No can get on the same page because the three of them will face Wade Barrett and The Prime Time Players later tonight. Kane says they can get along and Team Hell No starts chanting “yes”.
After a commercial break, Cena is talking to Booker T. Cena talks about getting attacked by Ziggler. Booker is worried about Cena ruining tonight’s main event match. He tells Cena to let the Ziggler vs. Sheamus match happen and after that, Cena can handle his business with Ziggler.
David Otunga vs. The Great Khali
Khali won with a chop to Otunga’s head. This was a quick squash match and that’s a good thing because I didn’t want to see a long match. The time length of the match was 1:17.
Winner: The Great Khali
Rating: NR (No Rating)
Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston vs. The Prime Time Players and Wade Barrett
Darren Young tapped out to Daniel Bryan’s No Lock. This was a good match and all six men had great performances in the match. The time length of the match shown on TV was 8:36.
Winners: Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston
Rating: ***
Backstage, Sheamus is interviewed by Matt Striker. Sheamus talks about his match against Dolph Ziggler.
Smackdown shows the RAW Rebound. This week, the RAW Rebound shows highlights of the ending of RAW last Monday night.
Before his match, Damien Sandow invites a plant…I mean “fan” wearing a CM Punk shirt into the ring. Sandow is looking for an apprentice and this “fan” has the opportunity to become Sandow’s apprentice if he can answer three questions. The “fan” answers the first two questions correctly, but he doesn’t know the answer to the last question which means he does not get to be Sandow’s apprentice. It looks like Sandow will be doing this every week until he finds his apprentice.
Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd
Sandow won with his neckbreaker finishing move. That was entertaining, but the match needed more time. The time length of the match was 2:51.
Winner: Damien Sandow
Rating: **
Backstage, Dolph Ziggler is interviewed by Matt Striker. Ziggler says he thinks his match will be a handicap match because Ziggler doesn’t think Cena will stay away from him like Booker told Cena to do. Ziggler says Cena cannot be trusted.
The Usos vs. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal
Drew McIntyre was standing at ringside during this match and it makes me wonder why McIntyre is always the one who isn’t competing in the two-on-two tag team matches. I haven’t seen him compete since McIntyre joined 3MB. Is he injured? This does not make sense to me because I think McIntyre is the best performer of 3MB. Mahal and Slater haven’t impressed me at all. Mahal got the winning pinfall in this match. The match was too quick, but I did learn from Josh Mathews how to know which Uso is Jey and which Uso is Jimmy so this match wasn’t a complete waste of time. The time length of the match was 2:43.
Winners: Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal
Rating: *1/4
Smackdown shows a video of Big Show destroying a chair on RAW last Monday night. There’s been some talk about Cena appearing during the main event, but I have noticed that Big Show hasn’t been on Smackdown yet tonight.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
Sheamus won by disqualification after Big Show interfered in the match. This was an enjoyable match. I expect Sheamus to feud with Ziggler after his feud with Big Show is over and I think they can have a very good Pay-Per-View match. I would have liked to see a clean finish, but the stuff before the DQ was good. The time length of the match shown on TV was 8:45.
Winner: Sheamus by DQ
Rating: ***
After the match, Big Show and Ziggler attack Sheamus. Cena comes out and helps Sheamus. Big Show and Ziggler are knocked out of the ring. Rick “Sign Guy” Achberger is shown at ringside. It’s good to see he is still going to WWE events. Smackdown ends with Sheamus and Cena in the ring while Ziggler and Big Show walk back to the locker room.
Matches to Watch: Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston vs. The Prime Time Players and Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
Matches to Skip: John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga vs. The Great Khali, Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd, The Usos vs. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal
Best Superstars of Smackdown: The Prime Time Players
The six-man tag team match was probably my favorite match of the night and the two men from that match who impressed me the most were Darren Young and Titus O’Neil. Those guys are mediocre at best by themselves, but together they are a very good tag team. I would love to see Team Hell No defend the Tag Team Championship against them. That would be a very good match in my opinion.
Best Moment of Smackdown: Damien Sandow looks for his apprentice
There weren’t many great moments to choose from this week, but I did enjoy the Sandow segment. I’m slowly starting to like Sandow more each week and I think his search for his apprentice will be entertaining. I wonder who his apprentice will be and how it will affect his relationship with Cody Rhodes.
I don’t think this episode was much different than any other Smackdown episode. The gap between Smackdown and RAW is still big and the only thing Smackdown has that RAW doesn’t is JBL. I think Smackdown has more wrestling than RAW, but RAW’s matches are better. RAW had two free PPV matches this week: Daniel Bryan vs. Rey Mysterio and John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler. RAW has better storylines too. I wonder where AJ and Vickie Guerrero were this week. It was surprising to see them missing on a show that had John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. Also missing were Randy Orton, The Miz, and Teddy Long. That’s two weeks in a row that Teddy wasn’t on Smackdown. And I think there wasn’t a single female talent on the entire show. I can’t remember the last time that happened. Usually there is at least one female character on the show. Smackdown wasn’t terrible this week, but they are still a long way away from being at the same level as RAW. I read a few reviews of Smackdown today and I saw that the Cena vs. Del Rio match got good reviews. I know I listed that match as a match to skip, but I guess that’s a match to watch because other people seemed to like it. If you can enjoy a Cena match that you know Cena is going to win and doesn’t have many entertaining and unique spots, then you might like it. I thought it was a boring match and I enjoyed the six-man tag team match and the main event a lot more.
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Ringsidehustle.com 
I know Drew was off for a while to take care of his sick mother before she died.
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I know about that too, but he was still making appearances on TV before she died.
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I didn’t see him for about a 2 week span.
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I didn’t see it this week and I don’t think I’ll bother. Doesn’t seem like a good show. The Sandow segment seemed funny so I might just watch that!
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It had some good matches, IMO. Del Rio/Cena, the Six Man Tag, and Sheamus/Ziggler(which was helped by the fight at the end) I found worthwhile.
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I hardly payed any attention to the show, it was more just on in the background while I was on my laptop.
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You’re terrible at this.
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The condom used to try and prevent you was “terrible” and failed.
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That may be the first time I can recall you trash-talking! lol
Ray’s getting a gimmick change!
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I like the backstage segment with Kane and Daniel Bryan. Esp when they both said “YES!”
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I think it could be those two and Ryback facing The Shield at TLC, with more Shield members being revealed.
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Ryback’s doing double duty at TLC?
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I didn’t mean TLC, but after the angle with Punk was over. Sorry.
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How shit did Del Rio look when he didn’t he lose to Cena’s finisher? Poor Ziggler still hasn’t beaten Sheamus.
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He’s not at his level yet. All he has to do is hang with a main guy and he’s done that many times. In fact, I’d say he’s one of the guys I could buy taking that next step when he eventually does.
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