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

Intro

1. The play-by-play might be a bit light tonight. I have a terrible migraine.
2. Randy Orton comes out at the top of the show.
3. I feel like Orton has really helped SmackDown recently by putting over other talents.
4. I would like to see him back in the WWE title picture, though.
5. I can't get past how much younger the hair and lack of beard make Orton look.
6. Orton talks about how people think he despises Alberto Del Rio because he attacked him.
7. He says it is because of why Del Rio attacked him that bothers him.
8. Orton says Del Rio picked the wrong guy to make an example out of, and on Sunday he will destroy Del Rio.
9. The trumpets blast, and Del Rio is out with Ricky Ricardo on the stage.
10. Del Rio says they are going to fight on his terms.
11. Ha! Ricky does the Orton pose.
12. Keep tweeting your #Ortoning pics.
13. Orton says Del Rio only talks big when he is not in the ring with a fresh Orton.
14. I hate that this segment is boring me because I like Orton. Del Rio is just getting very repetitive.
15. Orton invites Del Rio to the ring, and Del Rio backs off and says he will see Orton Sunday.
16. I do think they have the potential to be Match of the Night.
17. Whoa! Wade Barrett comes out of nowhere and takes Orton down with an elbow.
18. Thank God, Barrett is back to feuding with top names like Sheamus and Orton. He needs to be elevated to the top of WWE as a major heel.
19. John Bradshaw Layfield and Josh Mathews run down a couple of matches we will see after the break.
20. After the break, we see Del Rio and Ricky talking backstage and Teddy Long walks up and basically accuses Del Rio of having Barrett attack Orton.
21. Del Rio denies it, but Barrett walks up and asks if that was what Del Rio was looking for.
22. Long makes Orton vs. Barrett for later.

Cody Rhodes vs. Kane

23. Rhodes comes out for his match with Kane and Damien Sandow and Daniel Bryan are on commentary.
24. Between JBL, Bryan and Sandow, this has the potential to be hilarious.
25. Sandow calls Bryan the weak link. Bryan calls him an idiot.
26. They both agree that Kane's pyro is unnecessary. I am already liking this commentary.
27. Sandow corrects Bryan when he says he is the tag team champions.
28. Kane uses his power to put Rhodes in the corner right away.
29. Bryan says Kane is going to disfunction Cody's face and Sandow says that does not make sense.
30. Haha! JBL says he has been in the ring with Kane and it kind of makes sense. This is awesome.
31. Kane gets a near fall after a corner clothesline.
32. Kane goes up top and hits the flying clothesline, and Bryan puts him over before burying him as the weak link.
33. Rhodes hits a running knee to get Kane down, and then he hits a disaster kick that looked more like a dropkick for a near fall.
34. Rhodes hits a missile dropkick for another near fall.
35. I like how JBL acknowledges that Cody has been a tag team champion with three different partners. It reminds me of Bob Holly.
36. I miss Holly. He was always one of those guys you could rely on to put someone over really well.
37. Bryan says Sandow is the weak link, and then he says Sandow's beard is horrible.
38. Sandow says his beard is perfectly symmetrical, and Bryan has a goat face.
39. JBL asks if it is a good or bad looking goat. This commentary is probably funnier than I can make it sound.
40. Rhodes lays into Kane with rights but Kane trades him a few back.
41. Nice. Rhodes tries to drop down when Kane goes for a backdrop for a punch, and Kane grabs him by the throat, lifts him up off the ground and then hits the chokeslam for the pin and the win.
42. Decent match. Awesome commentary. Sandow and Bryan would be a hilarious tag team, too.

Backstage Segment and Miz vs. Yoshi Tatsu

43. We go backstage and see Booker talking to Big Show about being professional tonight.
44. Show says he doesn't need to prove anything tonight.
45. Miz is out next for a match as we head to commercial.
46. Holy Cow! It's Yoshi Tatsu!
47. This is like seeing Big Foot riding a unicorn around a pot of gold and the end of a double rainbow.
48. I kind of went overboard there, didn't I?
49. Tatsu and Miz lock up and Miz does a little chain wrestling before knocking Tatsu down with a shoulder block.
50. Miz hangs onto the ropes when Yoshi tries a leapfrog, and then he runs Yoshi over with a boot to the face.
51. Miz knocks Yoshi out of the ring with a low dropkick, and then he gives chase and slams Yoshi on the floor.
52. JBL puts over Miz for being aggressive before Miz runs Tatsu's back into the ring apron.
53. Miz drapes Yoshi over the apron and then hits a running knee lift before going in the ring and punishing Tatsu with mounted strikes.
54. Miz hits another boot to the face before locking in a rear headlock.
55. Tatsu fights out and hits an elbow to Miz followed by a series of kicks.
56. Tatsu runs off the ropes and Miz meets him with a hard elbow before hitting that nasty looking Dramatic Dream Team miz hits where the opponent is kneeling.
57. Miz hits the Skull-Crushing Finale for the win.
58. Typical squash, but it was good to see Miz be so aggressive and it is always nice to see Tatsu.
59. Tatsu is so talented, and it is a real shame WWE has wasted him.
60. I just had a thought. They should turn Tatsu heel and have him team up with Tensai. They could help each other.
61. Tatsu's heel work in Japan was decent, and I think it could work.

Backstage Segment

62. Michael Cole's interview with Paul Heyman from Main Event is shown.
63. Heyman was born to be in front of a camera. He is such a great heel.
64. I wonder how long he will be around in WWE?
65. How many recap videos do we need to see in a row? We get a recap from Raw, Main Event and last week's SmackDown in one segment.
66. Eve and Kaitlyn's confrontation from last week is shown.
67. That slap Eve hit Katie with was crazy.
68. Now, we see Booker backstage with Aksana, Eve, Katie and Layla.
69. Aksana said Eve sent her the message to attack Katie.
70. Seeing Teddy and Aksana together without a saxophone playing is sad.
71. Eve says someone else must have taken her phone and sent Aksana the message and she looks at Teddy.
72. Booker says he is sick of not knowing who to believe.
73. He makes a match for HIAC between Eve, Katie and Layla for the Divas title.
74. Friday night, we get a tag match with Eve and Aksana taking on Katie and Layla.
75. This might be the most time given to a Divas storyline we have seen in years.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

76. After the break, we get Orton vs. Barrett.
77. The bell rings, and Orton hits Barrett early with a kick to the gut to take control.
78. He whips Barrett out of the ring and knocks him down on the floor with a clothesline.
79. Orton puts him back in the ring and starts hitting stomps to various body parts.
80. Orton locks in a headlock and then hits a side suplex for a near fall.
81. Barrett hits some punches to come back but Orton explodes out of the corner with a clothesline and follows up with a big knee drop for a two count.
82. Orton is looking great in this match. He picks up Barrett and hits a textbook suplex for another near fall.
83. Barrett goes to the outside to get some space and, when Orton goes after him, Barrett tries to take advantage.
84. Orton goes for the rope-hung DDT and Barrett counters and then kicks Orton off the apron.
85. He runs Orton into the table ribs first before the break.
86. Good match so far. These two had great chemistry when they were feuding before Barrett's injury and it looks like they still do.
87. Barrett is in control after the break.
88. Barrett puts Orton in the ropes and then hits a running boot to knock Orton to the apron.
89. Barrett gets a near fall after a backbreaker.
90. The match has slowed down a bit, but Orton starts to fight back.
91. Orton ends up running into a boot from Barrett for another near fall.
92. Barrett works over Orton's ribs with hard rights.
93. Barrett goes to the middle rope and Orton meets him with punches.
94. He sets up Barrett for a superplex and climbs up.
95. He hits it from the middle rope, which is still impressive given the size of both guys.
96. Orton winds up and hits a couple clotheslines and a snap powerslam, but he ends up eating a black hole slam from Barrett for a near fall.
97. Great match. These guys mesh really well.
98. Barrett misses the Souvenir and Orton is able to put him in place for the rope-hung DDT.
99. Del Rio comes down the ramp and distracts Orton.
100. Barrett capitalizes and hits the Souvenir for the pin and the win.
101. See what I said about Orton putting others over? Even with the distraction from Del Rio it is still a big win for Barrett.
102. Del Rio gets in the ring after the match and starts pounding on Orton with his scarf around his fist.
103. Does Del Rio not understand that a scarf won't make it hurt more?
104. Orton almost hits the RKO and Del Rio runs away.
105. Even after a loss to Barrett, we get Orton standing tall at the end of the segment.

Aksana and Eve vs. Kaitlyn and Layla

106. The Divas tag match is next. Booker is learning from Long that making tag matches fixes everything.
107. Aksana and Layla start things off. They lock up aggressively, and Layla ends up hitting a couple nice pinning combinations for near fall.
108. She tags Katie, and she hits a clothesline to Aksana for a near fall.
109. Katie goes after Eve on the apron, and Aksana takes advantage with a clothesline.
110. She slams Katie's face into the ring multiple times before tagging Eve.
111. Eve hits a kick to the chest for a near fall.
112. Eve tries to hit a somersault senton and Katie gets her knees up.
113. Eve gets up and still keeps her from tagging Layla.
114. Katie hits a nasty back elbow to get back control.
115. Aksana gets brought into the ring the hard way and Katie fights both women.
116. Layla ends up accidentally hitting Katie with a big kick, and Eve takes advantage and gets the pin.
117. That was a very competitive Divas match. I was really impressed with all four women.
118. WWE deserves a lot of credit for how well they have utilized tag teams in Divas in recent months. I hope this continues.

Damien Sandow vs. Daniel Bryan

119. After the break, we see a long recap of what happened with AJ, Vickie and John Cena on Raw.
120. Booker is backstage with Sheamus, and he is asking Sheamus to be cool tonight when he see Big Show.
121. Bryan and Kane are backstage, and Kane says, if Bryan loses his match tonight, he will prove he is the weak link.
122. Bryan's music hits, and Kane slaps him on the rear, to which Bryan yells "No!" in his face.
123. Wow! Lilian Garcia looks great in that pink dress.
124. Sorry. Had to point that out.
125. Sandow is out after the break, and I just realized how great it would have been to have Sandow's music after Bryan's old Ride of the Valkyries theme. Two classics for two old-school superstars would have been a nice touch.
126. Rhodes and Kane are on commentary, and Rhodes has ice on his jaw to sell his loss to Kane from earlier.
127. Sandow delivers a great promo during his entrance about the "Yes!" chants being stupid.
128. Sandow says he is more handsome and that Bryan, and his beard, is more sophisticated.
129. The bell rings, and Bryan goes to work with rights to Sandow.
130. Sandow goes to the outside and Bryan follows.
131. Sandow ends up taking Bryan down in the ring.
132. They trade some offense until Bryan hits a middle-rope dropkick for a near fall.
133. Bryan works on Sandow's arm as we head to another commercial, which started 10 seconds after Mathews threw to commercial. On a pre-taped show that seems like a bad editing choice.
134. Sandow hits the Elbow of Disdain after a side Russian leg-sweep.
135. Cody and Kane are not as good on commentary as Sandow and Bryan were.
136. Bryan flips off the corner and hits a running elbow to take back control.
137. He gets a near fall after a running dropkick in the corner.
138. JBL asks about Dr. Shelby and Kane is silent. Cody is pissed because he hasn't talked yet.
139. Bryan back drops Sandow over the ropes and Rhodes gets up to say something.
140. Sandow takes advantage and hits Bryan with an elbow, and then he starts running away from Kane.
141. Rhodes runs Bryan into the post while the ref is distracted and Sandow hits his finisher for the pin and the win.
142. Good match. I am interested to see how their match turns out on Sunday when the titles are on the line.

Sheamus and Big Show-Down

143. After another commercial, we get a showdown between Sheamus and Big Show with a line of security in the ring to separate them.
144. I wonder how many developmental guys are in there?
145. Why is Big Show calling his finisher the KO Punch? Are we done with calling it the WMD?
146. Big Show shows a clip of him blocking the Brogue Kick and throwing Sheamus out of the ring.
147. Big Show says he is too tall to be kicked in the head, which makes me think Sheamus will hit one while he is on his knees during the match.
148. They yammer back and forth until Sheamus breaks through security and attacks Show.
149. Security separates them, and they fight everyone off.
150. Big Show rolls out of the ring to avoid a Brogue Kick, and Sheamus kicks a security guard instead.
151. The show ends with Show and Sheamus staring each other down.
152. I enjoyed a lot about the show tonight.
153. There were a few good matches and the Divas really impressed me in their tag match.
154. Match of the Night is a tie for me. Bryan vs. Sandow and Orton vs. Barrett were two matches that stood out to me.
155. Sandow and Bryan might make a great feud down the line, but they might make an even better tag team. Their banter on commentary was great.
156. Thanks for reading and feel free to share your thoughts on the show below.
157. I lost 25 bucks at a poker game last night, and tonight I have a migraine. I am really hoping Hell in a Cell turns this weekend around for me by being a good show. Dolph cashing in would be nice.

Make sure to join me here, on Sunday, where I will be covering Hell in a Cell live.

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