Welcome to Laying the Smackdown. WWE Super Smackdown Live was not live from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this week. Smackdown aired with a 45 minute delay, but I like that more than a three day delay. Smackdown starts with MizTV. Miz’s guests are Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee. Big E. Langston accompanies them to the ring.
Miz wants to know why AJ helped Ziggler win his match against John Cena at the TLC Pay-Per-View last Sunday. AJ says Cena toyed with her heart. AJ shows some videos from the AJ-Cena-Vickie storyline. AJ says Cena was supposed to be different than Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Cena broke AJ’s heart and so AJ helped Ziggler break Cena. Miz asks Ziggler if he is all aboard the crazy train. Langston walks up to Miz after he says that and Miz wants to know who he is. AJ says Langston is AJ’s friend and he doesn’t like it when people use the word “crazy” to describe AJ. Ziggler says AJ is passionate, not crazy. Ziggler stole the show and Cena’s girlfriend. Miz says AJ settled for the “fifth member of One Direction” after she was with a monster, a goatface, a gimp, and Marky Mark. Langston ends MizTV by attacking Miz. I did not like that MizTV segment.
Backstage, Teddy Long wants Booker T to give Brad Maddox a tryout match. Booker says Maddox is trouble, but Teddy says Maddox has a great social media following. Teddy thinks Maddox has talent. Booker says Maddox has a match tonight and he will find out who his opponent is when he gets to the ring.
Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
Before the match started, Rey Mysterio’s music played, but Rey didn’t come out. Later, The Shield came out during the match and they had Rey’s mask. They tossed Rey’s mask into the ring and Sin Cara picked it up. Sin Cara was distracted by the mask and The Shield and that helped Sandow hit Sin Cara with Terminus. That was an interesting opening match and I’m interested in finding out what happened to Rey Mysterio. The time length of the match was 6:18.
Winner: Damien Sandow
Rating: **1/2
After the match, The Shield attacks Sin Cara.
Santino Marella vs. Tensai
Santino won by pinfall after Tensai failed to hit Santino with the running senton splash. Surprisingly, this was an entertaining match. I enjoyed the commentary from Josh Mathews, JBL, and Michael Cole during the match. The time length of the match was 4:19.
Winner: Santino Marella
Rating: **3/4
In the locker room, Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston talk about The Shield and their match tonight. Daniel Bryan is mad that he didn’t win a Slammy award on RAW and Kofi makes him more mad by saying Ric Flair deserves a Slammy for the best catchphrase.
Wade Barrett and The Prime Time Players vs. Kofi Kingston and Team Hell No
Kane won after chokeslamming Darren Young. This match wasn’t as good as I was hoping it to be. The time length of the match was 10:43.
Winners: Kofi Kingston and Team Hell No
Rating: **
In the locker room, Cena tells Sheamus that he thinks Big E. Langston is quite possibly the strongest person in WWE. Sheamus wants to know what’s up with Cena and AJ. Cena whispers the answer in Sheamus’s ear and Sheamus can’t believe what he hears. Then Cena says he was kidding and leaves.
CM Punk comes out with Paul Heyman. Punk talks about the WWE fans voting for Cena to be Superstar of the Year instead of CM Punk who has been WWE Champion for 394 days. Punk talks about Ric Flair and says Flair has lost more title matches than he has won. Punk does not lose title matches. Punk says no one is going to beat him for the WWE Championship. Not Cena, not Ryback, not Flair, not The Rock, not Stone Cold Steve Austin. Ryback interrupts Punk. Ryback enters the ring and says he will become WWE Champion on the first RAW of 2013.
Ryback vs. Antonio Cesaro
Ryback won with Shell Shocked. Cesaro got in a lot of offense, but the match wasn’t much different than most of Ryback’s matches. The time length of the match was 5:08.
Winner: Ryback
Rating: *3/4
Smackdown shows a video of Miz preparing for a ride in a F-18 jet.
Backstage, AJ and Kaitlyn get into a fight after Kaitlyn calls AJ a lunatic.
Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn (WWE Divas Championship Match)
One minute after Kaitlyn’s fight with AJ, Smackdown showed a “Moments Ago” video of the fight. Is one minute long enough to say that something was “moments ago”? Kaitlyn won this match after Eve got disqualified for taking down the referee. The time length of the match was 5:40.
Winner: Kaitlyn via DQ
Rating: *1/2
Backstage, Big Show and Dolph Ziggler talk about their tag team match tonight.
Brad Maddox comes out and enters the ring. His opponent is Brodus Clay
Brad Maddox vs. Brodus Clay
Brodus won after hitting Maddox with the big splash. The time length of the match was 2:07.
Winner: Brodus Clay
Rating: *1/4
After the match, The Shield attacks Brodus.
Dolph Ziggler and Big Show vs. Sheamus and John Cena
Sheamus and Cena won the match after Big E. Langston attacked Cena. Good main event match. The time length of the match was 11:28.
Winners: Sheamus and Cena via DQ
Rating: ***
Ziggler and AJ kiss in the ring. Smackdown ends with Ziggler, AJ, and Langston in the ring near Cena who hasn’t recovered from Langston’s attack.
Matches to Watch: Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara, Santino Marella vs. Tensai, Dolph Ziggler and Big Show vs. Sheamus and John Cena
Matches to Skip: Wade Barrett and The Prime Time Players vs. Kofi Kingston and Team Hell No, Ryback vs. Antonio Cesaro, Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn, Brad Maddox vs. Brodus Clay
Best Superstars of Smackdown: The Shield
The Shield had a great night and injured three WWE superstars. I am more impressed with them every week.
Best Moment of Smackdown: Santino’s failed kip up
During Santino’s match, he tried to do a kip up like Shawn Michaels, but he botched it. I think Santino did that on purpose, but it was funny. Santino doesn’t have the most technical matches, but his matches are usually entertaining.
I liked this week’s Smackdown. I know I shouldn’t expect every Smackdown to be this good because this week Smackdown had a full roster and no commercials. I liked that there were no commercials because it made the matches more enjoyable. All WWE matches should be commercial-free in my opinion.
—————————-
Ringsidehustle.com 
I love the intense roar by Reigns.
LikeLike
I wonder what Langston’s big move will be called.
LikeLike
I was short on time this week, Tony, so I took your advice on what to watch/skip. I felt it was a decent show all round. I agree that all matches should be commercial free, it is a major putt off and leaves a bad taste in your mouth IMO of the quality of the match.
LikeLike
During the Attitude Era, I don’t remember any of the matches being interrupted. If they could do it back then, I don’t know why they don’t do it now. I was wondering why the matches this week were so much better and I realized it’s because I was able to watch the match from start to finish without having to fast-forward the DVR. Matches are meant to be watched in their entirety and uncut.
LikeLike
I remember when you used to see situations where they’d come back from a commercial break and they’d show the end of the match that happened during the break.
LikeLike
I never saw that! Wow…sounds like someone botched in the ring or in the truck.
LikeLike
No, it was to show that a match end at any time, not just when the cameras where on. It happened a LOT during early RAW(before Attitude).
LikeLike
But we know everything is pre-determined so why not make sure TV is back from commercial before they do the finish? Pro wrestling is the one sport that can guarantee you won’t miss anything important and they still couldn’t do it…lol.
LikeLike
Well, they would show what happened after the break.
LikeLike
It was a solid show. I’m a bit disappointed that Ziggler is seemingly in group. I would have preferred him to be on his own.
LikeLike
I don’t know if Ziggler is in a group now. It’s just him and AJ. Big E. is more like AJ’s bodyguard. It looks like the Ziggler-Vickie duo is over…that lasted a long time. I remember Vickie introducing Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions in Chicago and that was in September 2010.
LikeLike
Idk… I think he’ll be awesome in a group. I guess time will tell.
LikeLike
It looks like he’s going to be playing second fiddle to AJ.
LikeLike
What about first fiddle? lol
LikeLike
Its superb as your other articles : D, thanks for putting up. “Before borrowing money from a friend it’s best to decide which you need most.” by Joe Moore.
LikeLike