11/1 WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage: John Cena, The Rhodes Family, The Usos, The Shield, and more for the first show in November

By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage
Taped on 10/29 in Tampa, Florida

[Q1] Video aired of John Cena's return and his title win after surgery. Cena then made his entrance in the arena, while video of Damien Sandow's assault and cash in attempt from Monday aired. Cena said he came back to the WWE on Sunday and won the World Heavyweight Championship, and then had his first title defense on Monday against Damien Sandow. He wasn't excited because of what happened, but for what's to come, because the World Champ is here.

Cena said “Get Ready Smackdown, because it's a new day”. He then egged on the crows from his adopted home. He then said the world champ is here again, and said if you want some, come get some. The Real Americans music hit and they walked out on the ramp. Colter said they had never been formally introduced, and his name was Zeb Colter. He thanked him for defeating Alberto Del Rio, and got him one step closer from sneaking back across the border he snuck across in the first place.

Colter asked Cena if he could call him John. He said unlike the crowd that had no moral code, he had a lot in common with the Real Americans. He called him a patriot, a hero, and a legend. He then said he had been authorized to invite him to join them in their struggle, their fight, and their agenda. He then said out of a sign of respect, they would put their hands over their hearts and say we the people. Zeb stuck out his hand to Cena, but he waved you can't see me at them.

Cena then clowned on the Real Americans. He pointed out that Swagger looked like he had an erection, and Antonio Cesaro's giant nipples. He claimed they look like Papa John's pizzas, and should come with a 2 liter and buffalo wings. He said Zeb looks like a guy who had too many Zimas with the guys from duck dynasty. He said he wanted to be serious for a moment, and said they speak sideways politics and BS. He asked them to look at the real Americans in the crowd, and said they have a right to look and act however they'd like. He declined their invitation to join the Real Americans, and told them to go down to downtown Tampa and speak that way and see what the reprecussions are.

Damien Sandow interrupted and called John Cena a hypocrite. He claimed Americans make their opportunities like he did, when he stabbed his friend in the back at Money in the Back. Sandow claimed Cena had been handed everything in his career, even after he got back from his latest tricep injury. He claimed Cena was a false champion, and that he was still the uncrowned Champion. His sole purpose in life was to end the Cena era in the WWE, and he would do it by any means necessary. You're welcome.

All three men surrounded Cena, until Goldust and Cody Rhodes evened the odds. Vickie Guerrero walked out and demanded order. She made a six man tag for the main event between all the participants at ringside. Sandow and the Real Americans vs. John Cena and The Rhodes Family. Backstage, The Shield were shown. Ambrose said the Shield was getting tired of the Uso's getting in their business. Rollins said they can beat any Tag Team on Earth when united, and they will prove the Uso's are no exception. Ambrose said he and Rollins would make sure that justice gets served. Reigns had a disappointed look on his face, and Rollins looked sideways at Ambrose...[c]

My Take: Paint by numbers opening segment. Cena and Colter delivered average performances, and the six man was pretty predictable. The main event should be entertaining. Sandow was the only guy that really stood out here. His promo was a nice kick off for a new evolution of his character.

[Q2] The Shield made their ring entrance through the crowd, followed by the Uso's with their full entrance.

1. The Uso's vs. The Shield (Ambrose and Rollins) Jimmy Uso started on offense and hit a clothesline in Dean Ambrose. Jay tagged in and they hit a double team clothesline. Rollins tagged in and turned the tide. He hit some strikes and stomps on a downed Jay. He isolated Jay in the corner and charged, but Jay hit a back body drop to the outside. Ambrose tagged Rollins and he flew over the top and took Jay and dumped him to the outside. Reigns went to attack Jay on the outside, when Big E Langston walked down to the ring to even the odds...[c]

[Q3] Ambrose continued the pressure on Jay Uso with a head lock center ring. He followed up with a clothesline that got a two count. He tagged in to Rollins, who hit a fist drop from the top rope for a two count of his own. He followed up with a running forearm, and climbed up to the top. He waited for Jay to get up, and jumped at him. Jay reversed and turned the dive into a Samoan Drop.

Jimmy made the hot tag and cleaned house on Ambrose. He hit a Bubba Bomb and a Rikishi Splash in the corner for a near fall. He followed up with a kick to the face for another near fall, but Rollins broke up the tag. Jay re-entered and hit a spinebuster on Rollins, and then both Uso's hit a double superkick on Reigns on the apron. Jay splashed Rollins and Reigns on the outside. Jimmy caught Ambrose coming off the top rope with a thrust to the throat, and rolled him up a moment later for the win.

The Uso's defeated The Shielda 8:32.

After the match, Big E Langston went after Ambrose, and nearly hit the Big Ending until Roman Reigns chop blocked him. Reigns wanted a piece of Big E, but Ambrose and Rollins prevented him from going on the attack. The announce team plugged Shawn Michaels on MizTV for later.

My Take: Fun match that really makes you more interested in seeing where they are going with Reigns down the road. He seems unhappy with his Shield mates, but I don't really succeeding as a babyface even if he breaks away. Hopefully they find a way to keep him heel for the short term even if they spin him off.

JBL and Cole reminded us that HBK was a guest on MizTV, and showed us video of HBK getting tapped out by Daniel Bryan on Monday, as well as the Wyatt Family's assaults on Bryan and Punk from later in the show. The Prime Time Players made their entrance ring entrance after the videos...[c]

[Q4] Bray Wyatt appeared on the tron and said that false heroism is a sickness that plagues this world that must be dealt with. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down. He blew out the lantern, and the Wyatt's appeared in the ring.

2. The Wyatt Family vs. The Prime Time Players: Darren Young got tossed out to the floor by Erik Rowan. Rowan then dragged him back into the ring and stepped on his head. He assaulted him in his corner and tagged in Harper. Rowan tossed Young into Harper's big boot and then did some alligator rolls with him on the ground. Rowan tagged in a minute later, and blasted Titus off the apron. Rowan missed a clothesline in the corner, but tagged in Harper, who prevented Young from reaching his corner.

Young caught Harper with an Enziguri, and made a tag to Titus. He clotheslined Harper and knocked Rowan to the floor. Titus hit an avalanche power slam on Harper, but Rowan broke up the pin. Young clotheslined Rowan out to the floor, and Harper hit his Clothesline from Hell on Titus for the win.

The Wyatt Family defeated The Prime Time Players at 3:23.

Bray hit Sister Abigail on Young after the match when he tried to attack him. Follow the buzzards. After that, Cole introduced footage of Kane crushing Miz and giving himself over to the Authority on Monday. The Miz was shown walking towards the ring for MizTV...[c]

My Take: An ok match, but after Monday this felt pretty boring and formulaic from the Wyatt's. I'm a huge fan of where they appear to be going with them, but it looks like we'll likely only see the good stuff on Mondays.

The Miz was shown in the ring. He welcomed us to MizTV. He said his scheduled guest tonight was Shawn Michaels, but he 'left the building'. Instead, he would have the face of the company...and then Randy Orton interrupted. Randy said he proved at Summerslam that he was better than Daniel Bryan, with or without Shawn Michaels. He said the reason Shawn didn't show is because Miz was irrelevant, and nobody cares about him or MizTV.

[Q5] Randy said a few months ago he beat him up in front of his family and hometown, and the WWE universe practically cheered him. If it were up to Orton, Miz would join Big Show on the unemployment line. Orton said that Big Show violated his restraining order and KO'ed him on Monday Night, and because of that The Authority had banned Big Show from WWE for life. When Miz was about to offer his two cents on the subject, Orton hit him with an RKO. Cole plugged the main event once more. Backstage, Dolph Ziggler tried to sell you merch. He failed. The Bella's and Natalya were shown walking towards the ring...[c]

My Take: Short and sweet for MizTV. I hope this leads somewhere for him, otherwise he's on a rocket sled toward a contract release.

Natalya and the Bella's were already in the ring. AJ made her entrance with Tamina and Alicia Fox.

3. Natalya and The Bella's vs. AJ, Tamina and Alicia Fox: Nikki and Alicia tied up to start. Nikki hit a bulldog and made a tag to Brie. She hit a running clothesline and covered Alicia for a two count. Tamina made a blind tag and folded Brie up with a clothesline. Tamina hit a vertical suplex and dropped a knee. AJ tagged in and hit a snap mare and locked in a headlock.

AJ jumped up on Brie and locked in a guillotine. Brie escaped by running her into the turnbuckle, and then tagged Natalya. Natty hit a discus clothesline a bit later and covered for a two count. The match broke down after Tamina broke up the tag. Natty barely escaped a rollup and the Bellas took out Tamina on the outside. Natty forced AJ to tap out to the Sharpshooter in the ring.

Natalya and The Bellas defeated AJ, Tamina and Alicia at 3:58.

[Q6] After the match, we got the Raw Rebound. The package recapped The WWE Championship scenario with Big Show's involvement at the end of Raw. Cole plugged the main event at next...[c]

My Take: The divas match was ok. Nothing extraordinary, but better than the average Divas fare. The division could probably be a lot hotter if WWE took more care to create characters for the women that got half the attention of Total Divas.

Cole introduced a video package form his interview this week from WWE.com. Cole ran down David Otung's take on Big Show's lawsuit. He claimed the McMahon's should take it seriously, and ran down a laundry list of contract violations. Triple H forcefully interrupted Cole and banned Big Show from WWE for life. He said he didn't care about Big Show's lawsuit or Otunga's irrelevant opinion. After the video, John Cena made his ring entrance for the main event.

My Take: These Cole and Triple H interviews seem to be getting less and less interesting as we along.

[Q7] Cody and Goldust made their entrance after the break. Their entrance mash-up is awful. They were followed by the Real Americans and finally Sandow.

4. Cena and The Rhodes Family vs. Sandow and The Real Americans: Cody Rhodes and Cesaro started. Cody hit a hop toss and tagged in Goldust. They did a double team arm twist and Goldust dropped a knee. Cody tagged back in and hit a high knee on Cesaro for a near fall that swagger broke up. Everybody got in the ring at that point and the babyfaces cleared everybody out of the ring...[c]

Cesaro put the boots to Cena, until he hit a head scissors. Cena made a tag to Goldust, and Cesaro tagged Swagger. They did a neat bulldog spot bouncing off the top turnbuckle and knocking the other heels to the floor.. Swagger hit a chop block and tagged Cesaro back in. Swagger tagged in and clotheslined Goldust to the floor. He then followed up with a nasty clothesline on the floor, and then rolled him back in.

Goldust tried to fight off the heels in their corner, but got a beating for his trouble. Sandow tagged in and hit some knees and choked Goldust over the bottom rope. All the heels traded tags and continued a solid tag team beat down of Goldust. Cesaro hit a very impressive gutwrench suplex to prevent Goldust from making a tag. Swagger tagged in and threw Goldust in the corner to continue the assault...[c]

[Q8] Cesaro hit a vertical suplex on Goldust for a two count. He then locked in a chin lock. Goldust got to his feet, but maintained the headlock. Goldust charged at his corner and Cena made a tag, but the refs missed it. Cesaro took advantage and dragged Goldust back to his corner and tagged in Swagger. He hit a body slam and a Swagger Bomb in the corner. Cesaro tagged in and they he a double team double stomp for a near fall.

Goldust rallied and hit a DDT on Cesaro and tried to make a tag, but Sandow tagged in and prevented it. Sandow applied a chin lock of his own. Goldust elbowed his way to his feet, and then hit a back elbow off the second rope out of the corner. Goldust then knocked Cesaro off the ramp and went for a tag. Sandow knocked Cena off the apron to prevent it. Goldust finally tagged in Cody after a well timed punch.

Cody hit a sunset flip on Sandow for a two count. He then hit a moonsault for another near fall. Rhodes picked up Sandow as he hung on to the ropes and kicked him in the gut. Cesaro made a blind tag and then Cody hit Cross Rhodes. That allowed Cesaro to pick him up for the Cesaro swing. Cena hit a big spear on Swagger on the outside. Cesaro covered after the Swing and Goldust broke it up. Sandow then ran in, but Goldust clotheslined them both over the top rope.

Cesaro went for a tag, but nobody was there. Cena got back on the apron and Cody made a tag. Cena did the five moves of doom. Cesaro escaped the AA and hit a gutwrench suplex. He then played to the crowd and went to do the Cesaro Swing on him, but Cena tripped him up. Cesaro then hit a vault european uppercut.

The match broke down completely at that point with everybody hitting signature offense. Cody hit the disaster kick on Cesaro. Sandow hit the You're Welcome on Cody Rhodes. Goldust hit a bulldog on Sandow. Swagger then tagged in and dumped Goldust to the outside. He applied the ankle lock to Cena, but he slipped out and hit the AA for the win.

John Cena and the Rhodes Family defeated Sandow and The Real Americans at 23:51.

My Take: A very story lite show this week, with everything pretty much stalling on what happened Monday. We didn't see any new development aside from Sandow's annoucement that he's after Cena, and we didn't see Alberto Del Rio at all. This is probably a skippable show for that reason, as there wasn't anything built for Survivor Series, and unless you really like prototypical WWE tag team matches, there wasn't much to watch here. The main event was good and fun, but not something that you'll remember when Monday comes around. I'll have more to say with Chris Shore on the Smackdown Podcast tomorrow morning.

Questions, comments or concerns? E-Mail me at barnett.jake@gmail.com or on twitter @barnettjake.