The Doctor's WWE Smackdown Recap: The 128 Things We Learned, Loved and Hated

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to my weekly SmackDown recap list.

I always appreciate my loyal readers, but for those of you who are new, each week I recap SmackDown with a long list.

The entries are made up of equal parts observations, humor, recap, play-by-play, revelations, speculations, questions, answers and anything else I notice during the show. I sometimes comment on commercials, too, just because I get bored during them.

This past Monday I covered the live blog for Raw so I did not do a standard recap list. I apologize if anybody was disappointed when they saw the shorter list I posted after the show.

I had mixed feedback from readers. Some liked the Live Blog plus reduced recap list while some wanted me to stick to the old format.

Since I will most likely be doing some more Live Blogs in the future, I am going to try and simply put the same things I would put in the list to keep my loyal readers happy, but with more play-by-play since that is the biggest part of the Live Blog.

Since SmackDown is pre-taped, I will always do the standard recap lists, but going forward you will likely see more Raw Live Blogs.

I will be doing the Live Blog for Sunday's Money in the Bank PPV, so be sure to come back on Sunday for all the action.

I try and interject some fun into these lists, so I hope you have fun reading this week's list of the 128 things we learned, loved and hated from the show.

1. The show opens with a clip from Z! True Long Island Story which highlights Zack Ryder winning the right to be the SD GM for a night.
2. Josh Mathews welcomes us to the show.
3. Lilian Garcia brings out Ryder at the top of the show.
4. I wonder if this is the start of a push? He needs it.
5. Ryder wants to get the world's largest fist pump going with the crowd. Maybe half the crowd does it.
6. I am pretty glad to see Alberto Del Rio come out at this point. Ryder was going nowhere fast.
7. Hmm. No car for the entrance. Maybe it has to do with the size of the arena they are in.
8. ADR runs down Ryder and mocks his Internet championship.
9. Ryder brings out ADR's opponent, Sin Cara.
10. They edited in a huge pop for Cara.
11. Cara gets the early advantage but Del Rio hits a big clothesline for a near fall.
12. Cara comes back in the corner and hits a series of lefts and rights.
13. Cara hits a nice suicide dive before we go to commercial.
14. This is an OK match so far, but I want to see these two tear down the house one night. They have never had an all-out match which showed their true styles and that is what I think would put Sin Cara over the top.
15. We come back to Sin Cara hitting a running kick to Del Rio for a near fall.
16. Del Rio with a nice shoulder breaker for a two-count. I haven't seen that move performed very often over the last ten years for some reason.
17. Del Rio keeps working the arm of Sin Cara as he slows the pace back down.
18. Cara hits a headscissors to take back control.
19. Cara hits a really slow looking tilt-a-whirl DDT for another near fall. It looked strange.
20. Cara goes up top but he misses the Senton Bomb attempt and ADR locks in the Cross-Arm Breaker for the win.
21. Del Rio won, can someone please turn off the mood lighting now?
22. Why would WWE show a bunch of videos of fans talking about their favorite Raw moments and list all their Twitter handles as @JohnDoe?
23. Big Show is backstage threatening Ryder when Khali walks up to stop him.
24. Ryder informs Show that he is facing Khali tonight.
25. Awful.

26. Another commercial already? That was like 30 seconds between commercial breaks!
27. I keep laughing when I see the replay of Primo clocking AW in the face. It looked so different from a normal wrestling punch.
28. I get why AW is doing the intros for the Prime Time Players, but he will never get the kind of heat Vickie can draw.
29. Primo and Epico are PTP's opponents.
30. We don't get enough of Rosa on television. Booker agrees with me.
31. Oh, I guess we are having a singles match between Primo and Darren Young.
32. The two trade shots until Primo takes control and hits a nice flying headscissors.
33. AW on his headset is really annoying.
34. Titus O'Neil is trash talking Epico on the outside. For some reason I don't find O'Neil intimidating despite his size. He needs more attitude for a guy with his build.
35. Young takes back the match as AW cheers him on over the headset.
36. Young gets a pair of near falls before he calls for something. He hits a bunch of elbows and forearms on Primo but can't get the pin.
38. Young catches Primo off a springboard and rolls through to keep him in his grasp before putting him in a fireman's carry position. That was a nice show of strength.
39. Primo gets the win with a roll up out of nowhere.
40. Christian looks back on Edge announcing his retirement on Raw after WrestleMania.
41. That was a crazy night. I was in shock when Edge actually had to retire. As soon as you knew it wasn't a work, it got really sad.
42. Ryder is talking to Sheamus backstage and Chris Jericho walks up.
43. Jericho makes fun of Ryder's fake tan, but Jericho looks like he fakes and bakes just as much.
44. Sheamus suggests a match with Jericho, and Ryder thinks it is a great idea.
45. Jericho and Ryder have a little back and forth. Not nearly as awesome as when Jericho and Bryan were having a catchphrase duel.
46. Eeeeever Again, YES, Again, Yes, Eeeever Again! Priceless.
47. Christian and Santino are out for a tag team match against Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes.
48. I just noticed that all the logos were actually changed to say ZACKDown instead of SmackDown. Nice touch.
49. Rhodes and Christian start things off.
50. It bothers me that Rhodes acts scared of Santino when Christian tags him in. No one should be scared of Santino.

51. Ziggler tags in and he takes down Santino easily.
52. Christian comes back in and takes over the match from Ziggler.
53. Ziggler puts Christian in the corner and tags Rhodes, but Christian is able to fight them both off and hit a spinning DDT on Rhodes.
54. Ziggler with a beautiful dropkick for another near fall.
55. As long as Christian stays in the ring, this is a great match.
56. Rhodes is back in and he hits a facebuster which sees him hold Christian up in the air for about 10 seconds. It may look textbook but that is not easy to do at all.
57. Christian hits a flapjack out of nowhere to get some breathing room.
58. Santino and Ziggler both tag in and Santino goes to work on Ziggler.
59. Santino quickly goes for the Cobra but Rhodes takes him down.
60. Christian and Rhodes fight out of the ring and that distraction allows Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag for the pin and the win.
61. Rhodes and Ziggler have a little staredown after the match. No handshake for these two.
62. If one of them ever turned face, I think a Rhodes/Ziggler feud would be pure awesomeness. They are two of WWE's best young stars who both still have a little to prove.
63. The show is abut halfway over and I already like it better than the Raw we had this week.
64. A recap of the recent events between AJ, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan is shown.
65. I spoke too soon about this being a better show. Khali vs. Big Show is next.
66. Show and Khali exchange chops to start things off.
67. Big Show hits the WMD out of nowhere to win in about 45 seconds.
68. That was the best possible way to end that match. Quick and painless, well, painless for us anyways. Khali and Show probably both have huge hand prints on their chests after those shots.
69. Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins are in the ring when we return from the break. Ryback must be coming out soon.
70. Reks says he is going to do what Hawkins couldn't: beat Ryback.
71. Ryback comes out to what I assume is a mostly canned reaction.
72. Reks gets Ryback in the corner and hits a bunch of knees and kicks to start.
73. Ryback takes him down with a boot to the chest and then throws him out of the ring with ease.
74. Reks pulls Ryback over the top rope but it is not enough to stop Ryback from hitting a belly-to-belly suplex.
75. Ryback hits a clothesline and then calls for his finisher. He hits it and wins the match.
76. That was the most offense anyone has had against Ryback so far. I wonder who will be the first person to beat him.
77. Hugh Jackman looks back on his stint as guest host of Raw.
78. When is the next Wolverine movie coming out, Jackman? That's all we care about.
79. Oh yeah! Damien Sandow is out to enlighten all of us.
80. Justin Gabriel is in the ring when Sandow enters. It seems like WWE is giving a lot more people the jobber entrance these days.
81. No promo on the way to the ring this time. That's too bad. It is one of my favorite parts of his gimmick.
82. Sandow takes the lead early on and hits his Latin spinning elbow for a near fall.
83. Mike Score Jr. gets in a couple kicks, but Sandow avoids him in the corner and starts hitting knees.
84. Is a Flock of Seagulls reference too obscure? It seriously looks like Mike Score and Robert Smith from The Cure had a baby and named it Justin.
85. Sandow hits his neckbreaker and gets the win.
86. He follows up the match with a perfect cartwheel to show his athleticism.
87. Dammit, Mathews! Why did you have to show us a clip of Hornswoggle being revealed as the Raw anonymous GM? I had almost blocked that from my memory.
88. Jericho and Sheamus are up next. It looks like they will get 20 minutes counting commercials. This should be a decent match.
89. Y2J slaps Sheamus after being backed into the corner and Sheamus goes mental on him.
90. Sheamus hits a flying shoulder block over the top rope for a near fall.
91. Quick pace so far, but Sheamus looks like he is going to slow it down once he gets Jericho reeling.
92. Jericho ends up hitting a middle-rope missile dropkick for a two count.
93. Ha! Jericho is Alister James.
94. Sorry. Had to do it. I really hope at least one person appreciates these 70s/80s music references.
95. Jericho is in control when we return from commercial.
96. We see how Jericho put Sheamus into the steel steps during the break.
97. The two go back and forth until Sheamus hits a backbreaker for a near fall.
98. This is a really good match so far. Both men look vicious.
99. Sheamus hits the rolling fireman's carry slam for another near fall.
100. Sheamus plants Jericho in the corner when Y2J tries for the Codebreaker.
101. Jericho hits the Lionsault for a two count.
102. You can really see the bruises starting to form on Sheamus.
103. Jericho locks in the Wall of Jericho but Sheamus gets to the rope to break the hold.
104. Jericho rolls out of a White Noise attempt and he locks in the Walls again.
105. Jericho pulls Sheamus to the middle of the ring and sits back to add more pressure.
106. Sheamus looks like he will tap but he powers himself up and breaks out of the hold with pure power.
107. Sheamus hits White Noise on Jericho for a very close fall.
108. Sheamus regroups in the corner and sets up for the Brogue Kick.
109. Jericho avoids it and hits the Codebreaker, but he can't make the cover right away and Sheamus kicks out.
110. I find it funny that Booker puts over Jericho and Cole puts over Sheamus right here. It seems backwards from a heel/face perspective.
111. I actually like when that happens.
112. Sheamus is on the top rope and he leaps off right into a knee to the face which was supposed to be a Codebreaker but Sheamus fell backwards instead of forwards.
113. It still looked awesome. Sheamus took that knee to the face for real.
114. Jericho covers but still only gets a two count.
115. A Y2J chant starts up as he goes for the cover. The crowd actually boos when Sheamus kicked out.
116. It's hard to hate Chris Jericho, I guess.
117. Jericho is first to his feet but he runs right into a Brogue Kick.
118. Sheamus gets a huge pop for the win. I wonder if WWE edited in the positive reaction. The crowd seemed pretty into Jericho towards the end.
119. The show ends with Alberto Del Rio's music hitting as Sheamus celebrates in the ramp. A car pulls out but Del Rio actually attacks Sheamus from behind.
120. ADR locks in the CAB with Sheamus hanging off the stage.
121. I like how WWE has made Del Rio more insane lately. I hope he wins the title on Sunday.
122. This show was so much better than Raw this week.
123. There was actually some good wrestling without sacrificing storyline progression.
124. Ryder as GM seemed to be all but forgotten in the second half of the show.
125. Sheamus and Jericho had the match of the night by a mile.
126. Sin Cara and Del Rio did alright as well, but I feel like WWE is always telling them to hold back when they are in the ring.
127. The Tag Team division is slowly getting better, with "slowly" being the keyword.
128. Justin Gabriel needs a friggin' haircut.

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