Super SmackDown LIVE, broadcast SyFy from Rockford, IL
The review is broken up into 3 parts
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[Q 1] The SmackDown intro airs, then the announcers hype the main event (World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs WWE Champion CM Punk) and the match of Big Show vs Mark Henry to happen later in the show.
World Champion Daniel Bryan walks to the ring accompanied by AJ. Bryan starts to speak by saying when he won Money in the Bank he said he was going to WrestleMania, but nobody believed him. He says Santino was trying to challenge Rocky Balboa, but he is the real Rocky story because he is a role model.
Bryan says Sheamus ruined his moment of celebration after the elimination chamber match, but he will ruin Sheamus’ moment at WrestleMania by defeating him. He says he will be victorious at WrestleMania, and tonight versus CM Punk. Bryan starts to talk about being the best in the world, but he is cut off by The Miz.
The Miz gets into the ring and says Daniel Bryan is wrong, because Miz knew he would be a world champion. Miz then takes credit for Bryan’s success by saying he molded him into a future world champion by mentoring him on NXT. Miz then congratulates Bryan for following in his footsteps and main eventing WrestleMania. Miz asks Bryan to form a tag team with him, but before Bryan can answer Sheamus’ music hits and he gets into the ring.
Sheamus also congratulates Bryan, but congratulates him on being a “massive arse”. He calls Bryan and coward and says he’s hiding behind AJ and won’t fight like a man. Sheamus says Bryan will get exactly what he deserves at WrestleMania. Miz steps between Bryan and Sheamus and accuses Sheamus of trying to take Bryan’s thunder. Sheamus tells Miz to let the people who actually have a match at WrestleMania talk. Sheamus turns his back to Bryan, and when he turns around Bryan slaps him. Bryan jumps out of the ring while Miz attacks Sheamus from behind. Sheamus throws Miz over the top rope and looks angrily at Daniel Bryan. [Commercial]
JayDub: Nice segment to start the show, I’m guessing this will lead to Sheamus vs Miz tonight.
[Q 2] 1. Sheamus defeats The Miz – The show returns from commercial and it’s mentioned that Teddy Long booked the match. Sheamus starts to take control of the contest after breaking a hold Miz had on him. Sheamus attacks Miz with the Irish Hand Grenades and Miz falls to the floor outside of the ring.
Sheamus goes after Miz and throws him into the ring. Sheamus uppercuts Miz and Irish Whips him into the corner. Sheamus goes charging towards Miz but he ducks out of the way and Sheamus’ left shoulder goes crashing into the ring post. Miz throws Sheamus back into the ring and starts to work on his left arm. Miz maintained control of the match and puts Sheamus into another submission wrenching the left arm.
Sheamus fights out of the submission and starts to gain momentum. He hits Miz with the Irish Curse backbreaker and pins Miz for two. Miz blocks further offense from Sheamus and performs his backbreaker/neckbreaker combo and then pins Sheamus. After Sheamus kicks out, Miz starts to wind up for the Scull Crushing Finale. Sheamus reverses and goes for the Brogue Kick, but Miz reverses and gets Sheamus in a roll-up. Sheamus kicks out and performs his new finisher on Miz. He pins him and Sheamus is declared the winner.
Backstage Aksana is shown rubbing Teddy Long’s chest. She says she wants him to be GM of SmackDown and RAW. As they flirt, John Laurinaitis and David Otunga enter Long’s office. Laurinaitis calls Teddy unprofessional and uses the moment as a reason to say he should be GM of RAW and SmackDown. Teddy Long suggests the men’s bathroom as an office for Laurinaitis, and Otunga says his office should be in the dumpster. [Commercial]
Video hyping The Rock’s return to WWE on RAW next week
R-Truth and Kofi Kingston make their way to the ring.
[Q 3] Vickie Guerrero enters the arena and introduces Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler.
2. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger defeat Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (2:45) -R-Truth and Swagger begin the match for their respective teams. Truth slaps Swagger in the face then does the same to Ziggler, which causes him to fall off the ring apron. Swagger hits Truth with the Swagger Bomb then tags in Ziggler, who locks Truth in a sleeper hold.
Truth fights out of the hold, and then tags in Kofi Kingston. Kofi comes in with a ton of momentum and takes control of the match. Kofi performs a crossbody pin from the top rope to Ziggler, but Swagger gets into the ring and breaks the hold. Truth tries to even the playing field, but Swagger causes him to fall out of the ring. Kofi clotheslines Swagger over the top rope and Vickie trips at the same time.
The ref tries to calm Vickie down, and Ziggler uses the distraction to thumb Kofi in the eye. Ziggler attacks him with the ZigZag then pins Kofi and wins the match for his team.
JayDub: I’m glad WWE hasn’t forgotten that these dudes are actually a tag team. From last night it looked like the makeshift tag team of Truth and Kofi would get an easy road to the tag team championships at WrestleMania. It still may end that way, but at least they’ll have a challenge from here until then.
A clip airs from the SyFy show FaceOff.
The announcers hype Big Show and Mark Henry’s match that will happen later in the show. A replay is shown of Big Show knocking Mark Henry out last week. [Commercial]
A video is aired which shows highlights of the latest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Ron Simmons’ career.
[Q 4] Backstage Santino is shown striking plastic cups with The Cobra. Heath Slater appears and slaps all of the cups off of the table. Santino tells Heath that the Cobra is not an ordinary Cobra. The Cobra then spits liquid into Slater’s face and he falls to the floor screaming.
WWE mentions the Twitter war going on between CM Punk and Chris Brown, and teases Punk vs Bryan main event. [Commercial]
Drew McIntrye gets the jobber entrance as The Great Khali makes his way to the ring.
3. The Great Khali defeats Drew McIntyre (32 seconds) – Drew pushes Khali then tries to exit the ring. Khali bring him back in and chops him. He drops Drew with the Punjabi Plunge and pins him. Khali wins the match.
JayDub: Ten bucks says Chris Brown makes a run-in on the main event. And yes, I am acting as if that last match never happened. Moving on…
A recap is shown of Cody Rhodes eliminating Big Show from the 10-man battle royal on RAW.
Backstage Matt Striker interviews Big Show. Big Show says he will knock Mark Henry out tonight, and says if he gets his hands on Cody Rhodes he will snap his neck. [Commercial]
The clip of Big Show knocking Mark Henry out last week is replayed. Mark Henry and Big Show make their individual entrances for their match.
4. Mark Henry defeats Big Show via count-out - Big Show takes control early on. Big Show prepares to knock Henry out, but Mark ducks out of the way and drops Show to the ground. Show fights back to his feet but Henry clotheslines him back to the mat. Henry goes for a cover but Show kicks out. Mark starts to dominate the match all while berating Big Show.
Henry Irish whips Show in the corner, and Show counters with a kick to the midsection and takes control of the match. Big Show spears Henry and prepares to chokeslam Mark, but is distracted by Cody Rhodes who appears on the stage.
Cody takes shots at Big Show for his bad record at WrestleMania, then throws to a video showing Big Show losing a sumo match at WrestleMania.
After the video finishes, Henry scoop slams Big Show and hits him with a big splash. Henry pins Big Show but he kicks out at two. Big Show gets up and knocks Mark Henry out, leaves the ring, and goes to the back to find Cody Rhodes.
RAW Rebound airs recapping Triple H and Undertaker’s confrontation from RAW. [Ccommercial]
JayDub: When Mark Henry is at his best and dominating, he is amazing. Him yelling at Big Show throughout the match was awesome, and even though he still got knocked out I’m glad he wasn’t embarrassed like he was on RAW last night. As far as Show and Cody Rhodes goes, I like how this feud is starting up.
A clip from WWE’s YouTube show “Are you Serious?” airs.
Lilian Garcia introduces Teddy Long, who then welcomes Ezekiel Jackson to come out.
[Q 6] Lilian also introduces John Laurinaitis, who mocks Teddy. Johnny is followed not too far behind by David Otunga.
5. Ezekiel Jackson vs David Otunga (1:20) - Ezekiel starts to dominate Otunga and gets him down into the corner. Otunga gets up and Zeke clotheslines him multiple times. Zeke drops Otunga with a side slam
Jackson tries to apply the Torture Rack to Otunga, but he grabs the ropes and gets out of the ring. He grabs Zeke’s head and causes his neck to crash into the ropes. Otunga gets back into the ring and hits Zeke with his finisher for the win.
Another clip from the SyFy show FaceOff airs. [Commercial]
JayDub: Yeah, umm… FaceOff is a really good show. I suggest you guys watch it!
A video airs recapping Eve saying she used Zack Ryder and planned on doing the same to Cena until he exposed her to the world.
Backstage Matt Striker interviews CM Punk. Striker asks him his thoughts on facing Daniel Bryan. Punk says Teddy Long gets his vote to be the GM of RAW and SmackDown. He also says he hopes Laurinaitis gets fired. Punk says Bryan has changed since winning the world champion, but he is the champion because he knows how to win. Punk says he will teach Bryan how to lose tonight.
Promo video for The Rock’s new WWE DVD. [Commercial]
[Q 7] An ad airs promoting The Rock’s return to WWE on RAW next week.
Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring, followed by CM Punk…
6. CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan ends with a double pinfall – The contest starts with some nice chain wrestling with both men fairly equal with their offense. The two reach a stalemate and we go to [Commercial].
We come back from commercial and Bryan has Punk in a headlock. Punk fights out of the hold and knees Bryan in the midsection. Bryan starts to focus on Punk’s left arm and begins to strike.
Punk goes to the top rope and attempts to attack Bryan with an aerial maneuver, but Bryan ducks out of the way and Punk’s falls to the mat on his left arm. Bryan continues the assault on Punk’s injured limb.
[Q 8] Bryan applied a submission to Punk working down both arms until Punk countered with a back drop. Both men were slow to get to their feet, but Punk gets the upper hand and goes into his signature offense. He gets Bryan into position for the GTS but Bryan reverses and tries to apply the LeBell Lock. Punk counters by pushing Bryan into the ropes. Bryan gets out of the ring and tries to walk away from the match, but Sheamus runs down to ringside and throws him back in the ring.
Punk kicks Bryan in the skull, pins him, and wins the match.
Post-match John Laurinaitis comes to ringside and says due to outside interference, the match will continue. He takes a seat at ringside and Punk takes control of the match. [Commercial]
Punk reverses a suplex attempt from Bryan and rolls him up for a pin attempts. Bryan counters with a pin attempt of his own while holding on to the ropes. The ref doesn’t notice, makes the count, and declares Daniel Bryan the winner.
Post-match John Laurinaitis claps in approval, but Teddy Long comes out to ringside and tells the ref to restart the match.
Punk and Bryan begin again and trade blows. Punk goes for a back drop on Bryan and dumps him over the ropes to the floor. Punk suicide dives on Bryan then throws him back into the ring. He hits Bryan with a springboard clothesline. Punk attempts his knee strike/bulldog combo but Bryan grabs his left arm and drops him to the mat as he takes control of the match.
Bryan sets Punk up for a hurricarana from the top rope, but Punk reverses into a pin attempt. Bryan kicks out and Punk goes for another cover. Bryan converts the cover into the LeBell lock, which Punk prevents Bryan from locking in. Punk kicks Bryan in the back of the skull and pins him, but Bryan places his foot on the bottom rope before the ref counts to three.
Punk goes to the top rope for the flying elbow, but Bryan pushes him off the turnbuckle and puts Punk into position for the superplex. Punk pushes Bryan off the turnbuckle twice, but Bryan returns and successfully superplexes Punk. Both men had their shoulders to the match as they hooked each other’s legs. The ref counts to three and looks as if he has no idea who the winner is.
Post-match Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis argue about who the winner is. Johnny gets into the ring and raises Daniel Bryan’s hand in victory, while Teddy Long does the same to CM Punk. They begin to argue and both men take off their suit jackets. Long angrily throws his jacket at Laurinaitis and leaves the ring.
JayDub: Minus all of the restarts, this match featured some nice action from WWE’s two world champions. I liked the double pinfall ending as it creates uncertainty and something to look forward to.
As far as the show as a whole, the quality was below the average episode of SmackDown. I noticed with this show and RAW yesterday that there were a whole helluva lot of quick and meaningless matches. I guess that’s because we’re in a transitional period as the WrestleMania card starts to take form, so they get a reprieve for not but it won’t last long.
