Smackdown's Live SyFy Premiere- Can They Pull Off A Decent Show?

Good Evening Bleachers! It's Friday night, 1am in the great British Isles, which means the live premiere of Smackdown on SyFy is about to air, and Leva Lies is here to document it. So without further ado, let's get to it.

Well... As the show begins, the first big change from Smackdown's move to SyFy is its theme song, which is now "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day. I'm not too sure what to make of this choice, but it's a big night for Smackdown, I'll give you your moment.

First match of the night is Dolph Ziggler v MVP for the Intercontinental championship.

The match starts off decent, both of the men in the ring are two superstars capable of putting on a decent showing.

And three minutes into the match, HERE COMES NEXUS! Wow. Shocker, I know.

Gabriel and his new black barnet, Heath Slater, Michael Tarver and David Otunga, minus leader Wade Barrett, march down to the Smackdown ring for the first ever time and take out Ziggler on the way. Vickie Guerrero stands by, screaming. 

The four men get into the ring and take out MVP. Watching this attack and comparing it to their first, the night they invaded RAW, is a depressing contrast. The once cohesive unit has gone stale, much like everything that has gone through the WWE in recent times.

Gabriel finishes off with his signature 450 splash, and Big Show comes out to MVP's aid, only to be taken out too. And like clockwork, here comes Super Cena. He's roughed up a little until Big Show gets back into the ring with a steel chair and slams it straight into Heath Slater's back. Ouch.

As the Nexus scramble back up the ramp, Wade Barrett appears on the titantron behind them and lets the Smackdown audience know that this is the last time Cena will recieve a beating at the hands of Nexus. The WWE Universe breathes a collective sigh of relief, with all of us thinking the same thing;

"Good luck with your future endeavours, Tarver."

What? Just me? 

Standing beside Barrett now is Smackdown GM Teddy Long, who announces that Big Show will face the Nexus tonight in a 5 on 1 handicap match.

Oh god.

We cut to a commerical break and then, what's this? Why did the RAW theme and visual play? I guess the UK broadcasters just aren't used to live Smackdown shows.

Dolph Ziggler v MVP ends in No Contest

Second match on the card tonight is an 8 Diva tag match: Laycool, Alicia Fox and Maryse v Natayla, The Bella Twins and Kelly Kelly.

First off, is this the best RAW could do? It's not like there's a lack of face Divas on the flagship show with decent wrestling ability. Was Gail Kim too busy jobbing to supermodels or something? Doesn't Melina have beef with LayCool too? I'll save my rant about the Diva Division (or lack thereof) for another day.

Some really bad selling from French Canadian beauty Maryse throughout. Yikes.

If this match wasn't a bit of a joke before, Hornswoggle appears from under the ring, making sure it is. He gets my vote for "Worst Thing To Come Out Of The PG Era." He grabs onto Layla's legs and proceeds to pull her underneath the ring until Michelle saves her BFF's behind by kicking him square in the chest.

Am I the only one who got up and cheered at this point?

The match only goes on for a few minutes, with some unimpressive wailing and flailing filling the ring until Natayla gets into it, while the rest of the Diva's spill outside. 

As per usual, Nattie displays some impressive offense, despite being up against less talented Divas. So glad she's getting her push, finally.

This 8 Diva tag match ends with Natalya putting the signature Hart sharpshooter on Maryse, making her tap out. 

Natalya, The Bella Twins and Kelly Kelly beat Laycool, Alicia Fox and Maryse via submission.

It truly sucks for this woman that Michelle McCool married the Undertaker at a time like this. Natalya deserves to hold gold (or pink and silver?) more than anyone of the Diva's on the roster. It's great that she was actually involved in a match though.

It looks like Natalya vs Michelle McCool for the Unified Diva's Championship has been confirmed for Hell In A Cell. Hopefully, these two can put on a decent match (which goes on for more than four minutes).

Another commercial break, and when the show returns, the ring is set up in Red, White and Blue. Some lovely music plays, and everyone's favourite All American-American Jack Swagger comes out with a King Booker-esque robe on. God, I love this guy. He's accompanied by his personal mascot, the "Swagger Soaring Eagle", which stands next to him being irritating whilst Swagger complains about how his own home state of Oklahoma failed to give him a Welcome Home parade on his return.

The injustice.

He lets us know that he and the Swagger Soaring Eagle are moving to Texas, and generates some decent heat whilst doing so. Michael Cole cheers him on for the whole time. And then he declares himself the "Undisputed King of Oklahoma". He has a crown too. Isn't he supposed to be moving to Texas?

Edge's music hits, and here comes the Rated R Superstar, to a great pop.

He says that after his encounter with the GM, he is now on a mission to rid the WWE of anything stupid. Swagger responds to perhaps the greatest thing I've ever heard in my life;

"Bro, I got my own personal mascot, that's not stupid, that's cool."

I've got a feeling that that one sentence is going to be the highlight of this entire night.

Edge disagrees, calling out everything in the ring (excluding himself) as stupid. He attempts to go toe to toe with Swagger, but he pushes the SSE in front of himself, and Edge whacks him on the beak. Swagger rolls out of the ring and Edge spears the Eagle. Swagger isn't too happy.

Put some barbeque sauce on it? Okay then?

Edge needs to be back on Smackdown. This segment just proves that this is his show.

We go backstage to Nexus, Barrett is telling his crew that they've got to push the envelope further. Oh, and if anyone touches any member of the Nexus tonight, they will be suspended indefinitely. Before it cuts to commercial, the Nexus guys put their heads together, plotting on how to become even staler.

WHOAAAA YOU'LL BE SMOKE AND MIRRORRSSSS TONIIIIIGHT!

Welcome back to Smackdown's premiere episode on SyFy, being broadcast live. That legendary lyric means it's time for the best thing about Friday Night Smackdown- 'Dashing' Cody Rhode's grooming tips.

This week, we are on the subject of sweaty armpits, and Dashing teaches us how to correctly apply deodorant like only Dashing people can. I dare anyone to keep a straight face through this. I've got to give Baby Rhodes props, he manages to pull this off every week without faltering away from his character once.

It's time for the next match, which is The Nexus v Big Show in a 5 on 1 handicap match.

I love their theme tune, 'We Are One' (by 12 Stones) was a great choice for them.

Big Show comes out with that stupid bandana which needs to disappear forever.

The match starts out slow, with both The Mighty N and 'Show hesitating before the five men shove him straight into the corner. The Big Show retaliates by tossing them all aside, and a couple of the guys end up outside the ring.

Striker bigs up The N on commentary, hailing them "The Infidals" and "The Great Interrupters", making them sound more like a film from the '90's than a vicious group of angry men.

The handicap conditions of the match makes it look more like another one of their random RAW beatings than a legitimate match, a niggling reminder of how badly Creative messed up this angle.

The Nexus get the Big Show onto the ground, and each member puts separate limbs into submission maneuvers, a great team move. Big Show falls unconscious eventually, and The N take home a victory from Smackdown's live premiere on SyFy.

Following the match, Barrett instructs Gabriel to get onto the turnbuckle for a 450 splash and then he tells him to get back up and execute the third 450 of the night.

Gabriel is a very talented man, his 450 Splashes appear to be consistently effective and him holding his ribs in pain afterwards pushes this point further. He, along with Wade Barrett, are going to be two of the biggest WWE Superstars come this time next year.

Someone please give Big Show something to do other than handicap matches. Seriously.

The Nexus beat Big Show via KO.

There's a Taker/Kane promo package, I don't need to say anymore about it.

CM Punk v Undertaker

Undertaker's entrance with Paul Bearer looks great, Bearer's character seems to be as convincing as ever.

Striker, Cole and Grisham spend some time going over the backstory of the Kane/Taker feud, most likely because of all the newer/casual fans.

Taker dominates for most of the match, the Urn is doing its job, eh? CM Punk also shows some impressive offense during the match, you won't get wrestling like this on Monday Night RAW, ladies and gents.

This is 'Vintage Undertaker' apparently.

AHAHAH, Undertaker goes for a Chokeslam and Matt Striker makes an interesting reference to "Bed Intruders"- "Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, the Undertaker is back!"

'Taker finishes the match with a Tombstone Piledriver, great way to close an even greater match.

I must say, the chemistry between 'Taker and Paul Bearer is amazing.

Undertaker beat CM Punk via pinfall.

MY NAME IS ALBERRRTO DEL RIO...

But you know that already.

Mr Del Rio takes to the ring and delivers another great promo. He introduces Rey Mysterio and it's a.... Chihuahua?

Del Rio apologises to "Rey Mysterio" for  injuring him and then gives the doggy a kiss, just because he can.

I can really see this guy going on to doing some amazing things, his charisma and skills on the stick are very impressive. 

The REAL Rey Mysterio looks like he's had enough of Del Rio on the night of his return.  I doubt he'll be getting a kiss back at this rate.

Mysterio tries to start a brawl, but Alberto Del Rio quickly ducks out of the ring, leaving Rey to take his frustrations out on his poor ring announcer (who now has a profile on WWE.com btw).

Hopefully, Del Rio and Mysterio have a good, lengthy feud that actually GOES SOMEWHERE.

WWE Champion Randy Orton v 'Dashing' Cody Rhodes.

WWE Champion Randy Orton slithers his way down to the ring. I wonder who the Viper'll be going up against tonight?

It's Cody Rhodes, Orton's former Legacy team mate! The Dashing One is accompanied by his partner Drew McIntyre, and he checks himself out in his wonderful digital mirror on the stage, holding that god-awful Unified Tag Team Championship belt above his head.

As the two lock horns, I'm expecting a good match. Both show some great offense, and I'm glad to see some of that old in ring chemistry between them is still there.

I could swear that every time Cody tries to smash his knees into his opponent, he always ends up hitting the mat? Time to give it up, or pick up some knee pads, Dashing.

Not too surprisingly, Orton ends the match with an RKO.

McIntyre gets into the ring and eats one too, but when Randy turns around, he gets knocked to the ground by his Hell In A Cell opponent, Sheamus. This was pretty surprising, as most of the time, it's Orton that's the last man standing.

Randy Orton beats 'Dashing' Cody Rhodes via pinfall.

There's a short and touching piece here on the WWE's work with Make A Wish foundation. According to the package, they've made more than 5000 wishes come true. It's great to see the Superstars doing something like that.

Main Event- John Cena v Kane with Nexus Lumberjacks.

It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out, as I doubt the Nexus will attack Kane. Think back to the 900th episode of RAW, where Kane and The N seemed to have some sort of alliance.

Kane dominates the start of the match, and to no surprise, throws Cena out of the ring to be attacked by The Nexus.

Super Cena gains some momentum somehow, and Kane ends up out of the ring. The Nexus surround him, but don't attack. Instead, they head inside the ring  to target Cena. Gabriel gets knocked off the apron and lands on Kane, who doesn't take this too well. He attacks, Cena makes his way up the ramp, away from it all for some reason?

The lights go out, Undertaker appears in the ring with Kane and the two take their brawl out into the audience. These two are intense as ever, it's great to watch.

Speaking of intensity, am I the only one really impressed with how well Percy Pringle plays the Paul Bearer character? It's truly nuts.

Match ends in No Contest.

Overall, the live premiere of Smackdown on SyFy, was a decent show, leaps and bounds better than Raw's sham of a 900th episode and definitely superior to recent Monday Night RAWs.  If Smackdown continues this way, it's not impossible for it to become the full time superior show to RAW.

Stand out moments for me were Paul Bearer, the interaction between Edge and Jack Swagger, The Taker/Punk match and Natalya's brief chance to shine. Good job Smackdown, you did it.

With Hell In A Cell only a couple days away and RAW ratings plummeting, the 'E have got to do something to knock the ball out of the park. It looks like the weight of this is on Smackdown's shoulders this time...

Feedback, positive or negative is welcomed.

-Leva Lies.