The Doctor's Weekly WWE SmackDown Recap: 124 Things We Learned, Loved and Hated

I would like to start off by extending my thoughts and prayers to the family of acting legend Ben Gazzara, who passed away Friday from pancreatic cancer. If you are unfamiliar with Gazzara simply watch The Big Lebowski and wait for Jackie Treehorn to show up.

Now, on to the show.

Following a great Raw, the WWE had what I can only describe as an average SmackDown. The night had it's share of highs and lows, and we saw a few things that are noteworthy.

Next week Daniel Bryan will face Randy Orton, and Mark Henry was taken out of the Chamber match for SmackDown after Teddy Long suspended him.

Orton defeated Barrett in a no DQ match, and Sheamus debuted a new finisher as he defeated IC champion Cody Rhodes.

These weekly recaps I do are made up of equal parts of humor, observations, recap, reactions, speculations, questions, answers and anything else that I think of during the show.

I try and have fun with these so I hope you have fun reading this week's 124 things we learned, loved and hated from SmackDown.

1. We start off with a video package recapping Orton and Barrett's rivalry.
2. This rivalry has been great for both men so far and I only hope it continues to be a good program.
3. Teddy Long is in the ring talking about the Rumble and Elimination Chamber.
4. We get the list of contenders—Daniel Bryan, Barrett, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry and Randy Orton.
5. Do we really still need to hear the rules of the Chamber match? I am pretty sure we know them by now.
6. Henry's music hits, and he makes his way to the ring.
7. Mark Henry is not great at math apparently.
8. Sign of the night "Hunico stole my bike"
9. He wants to be taken out of the Chamber match and given a title shot tonight.
10. Long asks what will happen if he doesn't.
11. Henry is out of the Chamber, but he does not get a title match tonight.
12. Long suspends him for putting his hands on him, must be how they will write him off TV for a bit.
13. Henry is about to attack Long, but Sheamus comes out for the save.
14. It's sexual chocolate facing the human jar of mayonnaise in the ring.
15. A Brogue kick takes Henry down, and Henry is going to be escorted out by security.
16. Long asks Sheamus which title he will challenge for, but he hasn't decided.
17. Smart move waiting until after the Chamber to decide who he will face.
18. Cody Rhodes is out now—how many people will we see in this opening segment?
19. Rhodes might be right that Sheamus' win at the Rumble will be forgettable.
20. He reminds us he had the most eliminations of the Rumble and lasted over 45 minutes.
21. Rhodes forgot about Triple H holding two titles at once, and why the hell is he mentioning Ultimate Warrior? I thought that was a no-no in WWE.
22. Long announces Sheamus vs. Rhodes for right now, nice!
23. We come back from commercial, and Sheamus is in control of the match.
24. Sheamus just used Mr. Kennedy's old finisher, I wonder if he will bitch like Angle did when Orton used his.
25. Rhodes hits an awesome looking Beautiful Disaster off the guard rail to gain control, well executed.
26. Wow, amazing moonsault by Rhodes for another two count.
27. Rhodes is varying his moves a bit more lately, and it is making him a more interesting wrestler.
28. Cole actually says something smart, Rhodes is the most improved wrestler in the past year on SmackDown.
29. These two have some good chemistry, this would be an awesome long-term feud.
30. Sheamus debuts a new finisher to get the three count.
31. Fun fact, if you watch Beyond the Mat, there is a profile of two rookies who get a WWE tryout. One of them uses this exact move, and Cornette is heard saying he had never seen it before.
32. It has been used by several others over the years as well, but it is a decent looking finisher if done right.
33. Icarus Gabriel is out next, and Rhodes is still at ringside.
34. Here comes Hunico and Camacho out next.
35. I like Hunico's passion, but his promo fails miserably.
36. Rhodes attacks Gabriel before the match, but Khali comes out and makes the save.
37. Rhodes bails, and Camacho and Hunico get beat down.
38. I guess Khali is back for more than just a Rumble appearance.
39. Poor Michael Ian Black, forced to do Expedia commercials because Comedy Central keeps cancelling his shows.
40. We're back, and Drew McIntyre is still begging to keep his job, but Long is not having it.
41. Long says he needs to find another way to impress him because he can't just keep losing week after week.
42. Santino walks in and talks about Santoshi not working out, so he has a new partner.
43. Awesome, It's Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
44. They get a match with Primo and Epico, which means I will get to see Rosa.
45. Aksana walks in and her Noir-style music makes me want to walk down a deserted street contemplating something deep, while steam rises from sewer grates.
46. HAHA, she says "Oh my God, Teddy, it's a huge piece of wood," and Teddy spits out his drink.
47. She picks up a two-by-four, and Hacksaw comes in and takes it. Classic!
48. WOW, Rosa is wearing my Chicago Bears colors tonight, and she looks amazing.
49. Santino goes for a takedown, but Epico just looks confused, until he gets some of Hacksaw.
50. Josh Matthews reminds us that Hacksaw is a cancer survivor, which I was unaware of, glad to hear he made it through what can be a terrible situation, even for those who survive.
51. Rosa tries a Sunny-like distraction and Satino says, "I don't think so," but gets a back stabber and loses anyways.
52. Typical Santino match, not much in the way of wrestling
53. Hilarious, WWE spliced in a clip of some kid kicking a soccer ball back into his father's face into their YouTube commercial.
54. Bob Saget is smiling somewhere, and Tom Bergeron is wrenching.
55. Rajiv is in a Vonage commercial? Outsourced deserved more of a shot, this guy is great.
56. Cole is interviewing Bryan after the break.
57. He talks about his own problems with Bryan in the past, but is willing to admit he was impressed Bryan made it out of the cage as champion.
58. Cole admits he was wrong about Bryan, and now we really know Bryan is a heel and Cole is supporting him.
59. Bryan says this interview is not about Cole, it's about him.
60. He excuses Cole from the ring and talks about winning at the Rumble, strange that a heel and a heel announcer would not get along.
61. Bryan wants us to be vegans.
62. Not a chance buddy, I like steak, pizza, chicken, bacon and tons of other things way too much.
63. Looks like he is going the way of CM Punk with his straight-edge agenda and his own vegan lifestyle.
64. I can't hear, is the crowd chanting "We want bacon," because if they are that is just awesome.
65. OK, I can hear the "you suck" chant.
66. He wants Big Show out of the Elimination Chamber match since he has already beaten him four times.
67. He brings up AJ again, I wonder if she is a vegan, or if Bryan makes exceptions when non-vegans will sleep with him?
68. Odd, this is the second time someone tonight has brought up John Laurinaitis being fired, but he was never really fired since Undertaker came out and interrupted.
69. Show comes out to a nice pop, oh right, canned audience I always forget about that.
70. A Big Show chant breaks out.
71. He says he would have interrupted sooner, but he had to finish a steak, which the crowd loves.
72. Show calls Bryan a pompous, arrogant little ass again, I wonder if someone will catch on and make a Daniel Bryan shirt that says "Arrogant Little Ass."
73. Sounds like Bryan is either losing his voice or about to cry.
74. Bryan is pushing Show by calling him a loser, and Show ends up attacking him when he can't take anymore
75. Whoa, Show rips off Bryan's shirt and slaps his chest in one movement.
76. AJ comes out in a neck brace, but looks scared of Show
77. Show goes for the WMD on Bryan, but AJ stops him
78. Take away the neck brace and AJ is looking pretty good tonight.
79. I know she is of age, but I just felt really guilty about that.
80. Oh great, Natalya is farting again.
81. Haha, Santino walks into it again and pukes in a garbage can
82. I hate that she is getting saddled with this stupid storyline, but Santino makes it funny as hell.
83. Vavavoom, Aksana is on the way out to the ring.
84. Tamina is already in the ring, and Pinup Strong is out to face them—I guess Natalya took some Tums.
85. Beth tags herself in and says, "Get out of my ring Nattie!"
86. Was she really that pissed off about the farts?
87. I wonder if Natalya will be turning face and feuding with Beth soon?
88. Natalya tries to put Aksana in the Sharpshooter, but gets a super-kick and Superfly Splash from Tamina.
89. Does anyone else find it strange that WWE had a zipper put over the chest area of Aksana's costume?
90. We get what seems like a five minute video package on Cena before coming back from commercial.
91. Cole does not look like he knows what to do when the camera is on him, and he is not talking.
92. Matt Striker is talking to Orton about his match with Barrett tonight.
93. He says he doesn't blame Barrett for throwing him down the stairs because he would have done the same thing.
94. WWE loves that clip of Orton and Barrett in the elevator.
95. Barrett is out first, followed by Orton for their no DQ match.
96. They show Bryan and AJ talking about Big Show to Teddy Long, and Long says they should just watch the show for now.
97. Orton and Barrett start off strong with punches and strikes back and forth.
98. They go outside as Orton is working Barrett over.
99. Nice, Orton just high fived a kid at ringside—good to see him interacting with the crowd.
100. Pretty much a one-sided match in Orton's favor in the early going, as he looks under the ring for a table.
101. D-VON!!!!!
102. Back from commercial and Barrett ends up putting Orton through the table for a two count.
103. I like that Booker brought up the British Bulldog, he doesn't get mentioned that often and he really did do quite a bit in WWE.
104. Barrett continues mauling Orton and hits a running big boot, knocking Orton to the outside.
105. Orton comes back and Barrett is in the crowd now, as Orton follows.
106. It looks like Barrett may have forgotten a spot, Orton was on the barricade and looked surprised Barrett crawled away.
107. Barrett ends up getting in some good shots with a chair to Orton's stomach and back.
108. My only complaint about Orton is that he has weird looking clotheslines, everything else he does is great.
109. He comes back and gets Barrett down before Irish whipping him into a chair set up in the corner.
110. Orton has one of the best dropkicks in the business.
111. I love how all the announcers clear out when Orton throws Barrett over the table, but Booker just rolls his chair to the side without getting up.
112. Orton goes for an RKO, but runs into a black hole slam for another near fall
113. Barrett tries a pumphandle slam into a chair, but Orton reverses it into an RKO.
114. He doesn't want to win yet.
115. He picks Barrett up and hits another RKO on the steel chair.
116. Good match to end the show, both men looked strong throughout.
117. We go back to Teddy Long and Daniel Bryan.
118. Long makes a match with Orton and Bryan for next week.
119. That should be a good match.
120. Bryan tells AJ to stay in back as he heads to the ring.
121. Bryan is in the ring doing his celebration like he just won the title, and Orton just looks confused as Bryan leaves, still yelling and cheering.
123. Weird way to end the show
124. Hmm, no Brodus Clay today, I guess WWE edited out his match.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave your thoughts and additions to the list below.

If you want to read my other recap lists from this week you can find them at the links below.

Raw Recap list

Royal Rumble Recap List