By Chris Shore

Smackdown on SyFy
Taped on 9/13/11 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Josh Matthews, Michael Cole and Booker T welcomed us to Smackdown. Edge's music hit and he came out to an unbelievable pop. Edge said he missed doing that (entrance) and even if this was the last time, it was great to be in the ring. He put over Toronto as his home town for the cheap pop.

Edge said he's been doing a lot of cool things, but he missed a lot of things about wrestling. He said he missed the fans the most, and a "Thank you, Edge" chant broke out. He put over the Cutting Edge for later, and said he would ask the tough questions. He started to say more, but Cody Rhodes's music cut him off.

Cody came out with his bag men and a mic. He put over Edge appearing on Haven after SyFy. Nice way to do that. Cody said Edge was pandering to the crowd. Edge said Cody should do something himself and stop blaming everyone else for what's wrong. Cody said Edge sounded bitter.

He said the last time he saw Edge, Edge was victorious at WrestleMania while he wallowed in his disfigurement. Cody said since then he had won the Intercontinental Championship and Edge was retired. He said that made Edge the tragedy. He handed Edge a paper bag and said he wanted Edge to place the bag on his mantle so he would be reminded that Cody is the new face of Smackdown.

Edge said he appreciated it, but if Cody was the new face of Smackdown, the show needed the bag more than him. He said since Cody was going to keep talking, he was going to leave so he didn't fall asleep in the ring. Edge left and Cody screamed for Edge's music to turn off. It didn't until Edge was all the way in the back.

Cody went around the ring, pointing out people who needed bags. A guy with a bag on his head stiffed Cody, and revealed himself to be Ted DiBiase. Ted jumped the rail and slammed Cody into the rail. They rolled in the ring, and Ted hit Dreamstreet. He went for a bag, knocked out a bag man, and rolled back in the ring, but Cody rolled away and backed up the ramp…Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan were shown backstage…

Shore's Slant: Good open. Nice to see Edge of course, nad other than his bad voice, Cody did well tonight. I'm pretty sure this solidifies Cody vs. Ted for the IC at Night of Champions. It's a little late in the game, but I like the story between them. It remains to be seen if Cody is hot enough to get Ted over though. I'm not sure.

[Q2][C] 1. Daniel Bryan defeated Sin Cara at 8:57. Bryan hit a running knee at the bell and attacked Sin Cara ruthlessly. He drove Sin Cara to the floor and went for the dive. Sin Cara slid in the ring first and hit a dropkick to the knee. Cara worked the leg with kicks and a knee breaker. He tossed Bryan to the floor and stood in the ring…[C]

Back at 5:53, Sin Cara worked a leg lock on Bryan. Bryan just punched out, but Sin Cara hit a kick and a flying headbut for two. Sin Cara went for a moonsault while Cole obsessed over something stupid Booker said, but Bryan got the legs up. Bryan went straight ROH on Sin Cara with kicks and strikes in the corner.

Bryan climbed up, but Sin Cara slipped away and tied Bryan to the tree of woe. He kicked and kicked Daniel Bryan in the face, until the ref disqualified him for not stopping. He hit a dropkick on Bryan's head in the corner, and Bryan slid out and to the floor. Sin Cara's music played again, but like an entrance, and the other Sin Cara made his complete trampoline entrance.

[Q3] The two Sin Caras faced off and tried to get the fans to cheer and boo them, but nobody seemed to care. Finally, the evil Sin Cara left. Booker T said something stupid about the new Sin Cara having a black patch on his boot and then laughed while Cole played annoyed…A Mark Henry hype video aired…[C]

Shore's Slant: Decent match, but that stare down was beyond awful. The crowd died for it because Sin Cara wasn't big enough before the odd heel turn followed by doppleganger gimmick. It's just odd right now, not cool like they hoped.

Back from commercial, Teddy long and Zack Ryder talked about Orton and Henry being able to get along in the ring. Long said he was invoking the no contact clause again from last week. He told Ryder to pass it along to both men. Ryder walked off and Teddy turned around to meet Aksana.

Aksana made her sex joke and offered to give Teddy a massage. Teddy said yes, and bent over so she could work his lower back. He moaned like she was giving him the business and Trish Stratus walked up. Aksana walked off, and Teddy and Trish made a "tight" joke and Trish walked away…

2. Beth Phoenix (w/Natalya) squashed AJ (w/Kaitlyn). at 1:24. AJ tried to get in some shots, but Beth tossed her around with ease. Beth hit the Glam Slam for the win. Post-match she cut a promo and said the fairy tale was ending for all the princess Divas…

Shore's Slant: Really? That's the best they could do with Trish Stratus? F--- this company. I'm also going to tell you what, AJ is a star in the making. She's cute, got a unique look, and sells better than any woman in the division. Watch.

[Q4][C] A Sheamus hype video aired…Backstage, Edge and Trish were talking about Yoga. Christian walked up and thanked Trish for showing up when she had something to sell. Edge said he thought Christian was mad at him after SummerSlam. Christian said maybe Edge cost him the title, but it was cool. They hugged, and Christian asked Edge to get him a title shot because he deserved it. Edge hesitated and Christian freaked out. He stormed off yelling at Edge.

Ryder ran up and told Edge to tell Orton and Henry they couldn't touch each other before running off again. Trish asked, "Was that the Internet Champion?" Edge asked what happened and she instructed him in Yoga to calm him down…Wade Barrett made his ring entrance…[C]

Shore's Slant: I have always had it bad for Trish. No I'm absolutely in love with her. That line was great.

Christian and Justin Gabriel made their entrances. Sheamus was out next. He cut a promo on the heels and called Christian a horse's ass, and Barrett a bag of shit…

[Q5] 3. Sheamus and Justin Gabriel defeated Wade Barrett and Christian at 10:32. Gabriel and Barrett started. I lost cable, and when it came back, Christian whipped Gabriel into the corner and stared off at Sheamus…[C]

Back from commercial, Gabriel hit an STO on Christian, and both men gave hot tags. Sheamus destroyed Barrett for a moment and went to the top. Christian stopped him and Barrett grabbed him, but Sheamus shoved both men away and hit his shoulder tackle on Barrett. Christian escaped, and Barrett took a Brogue kick and 450 splash for a Gabriel win. Post-match, Christian teased going after Christian, but finally backed away…Another Mark Henry hype video aired, and the announce team hyped the Cutting Edge…[C]

Shore's Slant: Fair match, but nothing getting worked up over. I do appreciate them giving Sheamus and Christian the top of the second hour. This feud should be pretty good. I hope. Both guys need serious help. Christian just needs to look good, and Sheamus has to drop the corny ass "luck o'the Irish" gimmick.

[Q6] 4. Great Khali defeated Heath Slater by disqualification at 1:10. They wrestled for about 25 seconds when Jinder Mahal came out with a mic. He verbally assaulted Khali in Punjabi while Khali destroyed Slater. Khali went for the kill, and Mahal attacked, causing the DQ. Post-match, both men attacked Khali, but Khali ended up knocking Mahal to the floor, and Slater out…[C]

Shore's Slant: Bleh. No heat on Jinder or Khali other than the freakishness. What a waste and a shame. Slater still looks like a fake.

A video recapped the Triple H vs. CM Punk storyline…

[Q7] Air Boom made their ring entrance…[C]

Back from commercial, R-Truth and Miz made their entrance to Truth's old song, but they re-did it by telling the crowd "You suck!" I laughed my ass off. That was beyond hilarious…

5. R-Truth (w/The Miz) defeated Evan Bourne (w/Kofi Kingston) at 1:53. Miz and Kofi joined commentary so it was just a wall of noise with five voices. Bourne knocked Truth down and went for AirBourne. Truth moved, and hit his finisher for the win. Miz made fun of Kofi and celebrated with Truth in the ring…A video showed the Henry/Orton confrontation from Raw, and then Edge was shown backstage…[C]

Shore's Slant: A two minute match to hype the tag title? I thought they were interested in rebuilding the titles. Terrible.

[Q8] Back from commercial, Edge was already in the ring. He put over why Toronto was important to him, and then how important titles are. He introduced Henry and then Orton, who both came to the ring. Edge reminded them that Teddy Long issued a no contact policy for the night.

Edge said he wasn't going to pull punches, so he started by pointing out that Orton is lucky that policy is in place. He put over Henry as a beast and asked Orton if he really thought he could beat Henry. Orton put over all the damage Henry has done, but said Henry only attacked him after matches. Orton said maybe Henry knew his best wasn't good enough. Orton said he didn't think he could beat Henry, he knew he could.

Edge said Orton had a point, Henry's career had been a disappointment. Edge said when he started, Henry was already a veteran. Edge said maybe Henry had some bad luck, or maybe he didn't have the desire. He said maybe Henry wasn't good enough to take it to the next level.

Henry took the mic and said he was going to let Edge walk out on his own power because he was right. He said for 15 years he let guys smaller than him get past him because he was told to just go and smile. He said he was going to take what he wanted because he did what he was told for 15 years and it didn't work. He said on Sunday, he would be the new champion.

Orton said their match was going to be symbolic of Henry's career. It would look good, and come close, but in the end, Henry would still be a 400lb, World's Strongest Failure. They stared off, and Edge reminded them there was no contact during the Cutting Edge. He climbed out of the ring and said the Cutting Edge was now over.

Orton attacked and Long ran to the ramp. He called out the locker room scrubs, and they ran to the ring and tried to separate them. Henry and Orton killed everybody, and Henry hit a World's Strongest Slam on Orton, followed by two splashes. Henry cleared the ring, and hit another slam on Orton. He held up the title over a fallen Orton to close the show…

Shore's Slant: I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, this was very well done. Henry was once again off the charts good, and Orton did a great job here as well. Let there be no doubt, this is the match I most want to see at Night of Champions.

On the other hand, WWE closed both shows with talking segments. Closing with a promo can be effective, but it needs to be used sparingly. Granted we did get the physical brawl here at the end, but I just don't like the idea that both shows closed on promos.

Overall a quick show that really didn't do much to hype the PPV outside of the closing segment, but that segment may have been enough. I'll have more to say tomorrow on the hitlist and the Dot Net member's exclusive audio show. Thanks for watching along tonight.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or tweet me @TheShoreSlant with whatever is on your mind.

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