By Chris Shore

The following his a live coverage review of the Smackdown special that originally aired on Tuesday. We are moving it to the top of the site so that those of you watching the show on Friday can follow along with the coverage.

WWE Smackdown on SyFy
Live from Rockford, Ill.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, and Booker T welcomed us to Smackdown. They hyped the champion vs. champion main event, and Big Show vs. Mark Henry...

Daniel Bryan was introduced, and he came to the ring with AJ who has the neck brace off. Still pictures showed Sheamus attacking Bryan at Elimination Chamber. Bryan cut a promo and said when he won the Money in the Bank match and promised to wrestle for the World Championship at WrestleMania, nobody believed him, but here he was.

He mentioned Santino, who got a big pop. He said Santino tried to mimic Rocky, but Bryan was the real Rocky story. He ran through the other five guys in the match and said, "You want Rocky? AJ I did it!" He said while he was celebrating, his moment was ruined by Sheamus. The crowd chanted for CM Punk and had very little response for Sheamus.

Bryan said it was now his turn, and he would ruin Sheamus's moment at WrestleMania. He said he would be victorious at Mania, and tonight against CM Punk. He started to say more, but Miz's music cut him off.

Miz looked at Bryan with some amusement and said, "Well look at you, the World Heavyweight Champion." Miz said Bryan was wrong. He said he also knew Bryan would be champ one day because he mentored and tutored him like a champion. He said he wasn't out there for thanks or to steal his spotlight, he came to congratulate him on being in the main event at Mania. He said once Bryan was done embarrassing Sheamus at Mania, they should form a tag team.

Sheamus's music hit and he came to the ring. He stepped in between the two men and congratulated Bryan on being a giant ass and hypocrite. He said Bryan was a coward who hid behind a woman's skirt. He said when Mania was over , nobody would be congratulating Bryan, they would be saying he got what he deserved.

Miz stepped in front of Sheamus and asked him how dare he interrupt them. He said Sheamus needed to be taken down a notch. Sheamus pushed him aside and said Miz should let the people who actually have a match at Mania talk. He turned back to Bryan, and Bryan slapped him. Bryan ran and Miz attacked Sheamus, but Sheamus tossed Miz over the top rope as Bryan and AJ ran back up the ramp...[C]

Shore's Slant: Good open. I assume Miz vs. Sheamus will be the match when we get back from commercial, otherwise having Miz come out makes little sense. I am very interested to see how they build this world title match because there isn't a whole lot of juice behind it yet.

[Q2] 1. Sheamus defeated Miz at 5:54 TV time. The match was joined in progress with Sheamus working an arm bar on Miz. Sheamus hit his forearms in the ropes and Miz collapsed to the floor. Sheamus rolled Miz in the ring and hit his slingshot shoulder tackle for two. Miz hit a surprise arm breaker to take control. He hit a double axe handle off the top for two, but Sheamus came right back with clotheslines. He lifted Miz, who slipped out and hit his back/neck breaker combo. Miz tried for a roll up, but Sheamus kicked out and drove Miz tot he corner. He followed with his new finisher for the win.

Backstage, Teddy long and Aksana flirted with each other until John Laurinaitis walked in with David Otunga. Never thought I would be so happy to see Johnny Ace. Ace said Teddy's unprofessionalism was why Ace should be the double GM. Teddy said he put Ace's office in the bathroom. Otunga said Teddy belonged in the dumpster. They walked off and Teddy reminded them to flush...[C]

Shore's Slant: Decent match. I'm not sure a win over Miz means what it used to, but at least it isn't a win over Drew McIntyre. And Teddy Long is beyond terrible.

Kofi Kingston and R-Truth made their entrances.

[Q3] Vickie Guerrero came out and announced her boys...

2. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger defeated Kofi Kingston and R-Truth at 2:45. Truth did the brunt of the selling and then tagged Kofi. All four men battled and Truth was dumped tot he floor. Kofi dumped Swagger to the floor and Vickie fell down. She started screaming and the ref checked on her. Ziggler hit a thumb to the eye on Kofi and followed with the Zig Zag for the win...

A video hyped the SyFy show "Face off..." The announce team hyped Big Show vs. Mark Henry for later, and then narrated a video showing Henry getting knocked out last week...[C]

Shore's Slant: More meaningless, pointless matches on the road to WrestleMania. Why would you waste one second having a meaningless match when you have your biggest PPV of the year to build for? I just don't get it.

The Ron Simmons Hall of Fame video aired...Backstage, Santino had the Cobra training by striking red solo cups.

[Q4] Heath Slater walked up and swept the cups off the table. Santino said he shouldn't have done that because it wasn't a regular cobra. Water shot out of his hand and into Slater's eyes and Santino said it was a spitting cobra. No, I am not making that up. I wish I were...The announce team put over the CM Punk vs. Chris Brown Twitter war...[C]

Shore's Slant: More comedy garbage. Sigh. And didn't Brown take down all his tweets at Punk? Please don't let this lead to Brown coming into WWE.

3. Great Khali squashed Drew McIntyre at 0:30. McIntyre shoved Khali and Khali chopped him and hit the Punjabi Plunge. So Khali can't wrestle longer than a minute, is that what we have learned?

The announce team setup a video that showed Cody Rhodes helping to eliminate Big Show on Raw. Backstage, Matt Striker started to ask Show about Cody but Show cut him off and said if he got his hands on Cody anywhere, he would snap his neck. His match with Henry was announced for next...[C]

Shore's Slant: There's a story on the main page that goes into greater detail on the Brown and Punk saga. Check it out.

Ring introductions occurred for the Henry vs. Show match...

[Q5] 4. Mark Henry defeated Big Show by an apparent countout in 6:00. Show went for the WMD early, but Henry ducked and hit Show. Henry worked over Show for a moment and then Show hit his spear. He called for the choke slam, and Cody Rhodes music hit.

Cody said if Show was chokeslamming someone, it must not be WrestleMania. He talked about Show losing to the sump wrestler at WrestleMania 21, and then showed a video that recapped it. Henry recovered and slammed Show. He hit a splash for two, and then Show knocked him out. But instead of covering, Show went after Cody and the match just ended...

The announce team setup the Raw Rebound which recapped the Undertaker and Triple H segment from Raw...[C]

Shore's Slant: WTF? Was there no finish on that match? They just leave it like that? It looks like the Shaq vs. Big Show rumors are incorrect as this is obviously setting up Cody vs. Show. It could be a tag match I guess, but that seems lame at this point. Of course, a lot of this is lame at this point.

A video plugged the YouTube show "Are You Serious." Teddy Long was introduced. He came to the ramp and stopped and Ezekiel Jackson made his entrance.

[Q6] Johnny Ace came out next and faked Teddy's dance, which was actually pretty funny, and waved out Otunga. Otunga came to the ring while a cut in promo from Zeke promised to make up for the loss on Raw...

5. David Otunga defeated Ezekiel Jackson at 1:20. Same match from Raw. Zeke was manhandling him until Zeke slipped out of the torture rack lift and hit a hangman on Zeke. He followed with his finisher for the win...Another Face Off hyped video aired...The main event was hyped...[C]

Shore's Slant: I'm just as stunned tonight as I was last night with how little they are doing to build for Mania. We had a good talking segment for the world title, and then a progression—albeit an illogical one—on the Cody and Big Show story. Everything else has been a waste of time. I realize they are building for team Teddy vs. Team Johnny, but I hate that whole idea. This show has been a big disappointment.

A video recapped what happened with Eve on Raw. Cole took up for Eve for being honest. Matthews hyped a WWE.com interview with Eve later in the week...Backstage, Matt Striker interviewed CM Punk. Punk cut a fun promo and said Johnny Ace should be a Men's Warehouse spokesman. He said he would address Chris Jericho face to face on Monday Night Raw.

[Q7] He said as to Daniel Bryan, he upped Punk's act from before by saying he didn't have a TV or eat meat. He said if Bryan makes AJ shave her head he's suing for copyright infringement. He said Bryan was the champion because he learned how to win, tonight he teaches Bryan how to lose...[C]

Shore's Slant: Silly but fun promo from punk. It didn't put any heat on the match, but on some level I'm OK with that. We're not going to get a real finish on this match, so there's no reason to put too much heat on it. Otherwise we walk away disappointed.

6. CM Punk fought Daniel Bryan to an apparent draw at 19:08. Cole continued to hype the CM Punk vs. Chris Brown Twitter war. The match started like an ROH match with several reversals and then a staredown...[C]

Back from commercial, Bryan did a weird arm attack with his legs that Punk sold. Punk tried for a springboard splash, but Bryan moved away and Punk landed on the arm. Bryan attacked the arm with several kicks and rest holds.

[Q8] Punk came storming back with kicks and Bryan escaped to the floor. He called for his belt and started to back up the ramp. Sheamus ran out and tossed him in the ring. Punk hit the roundhouse kick and scored the pinfall at 9:56. Punk started to celebrate, but John Laurinaitis came out and restarted the match due to Sheamus's interference...[C]

Back from commercial, Punk rolled up Bryan, but Bryan rolled through and grabbed the second rope to score a pinfall at 13:54. Not surprisingly, Teddy long walked out and restarted the match again.

Both guys traded blows in the middle of the ring. Punk dumped Bryan to the floor and hit a dive. He rolled Bryan back in the ring and hit a spinning kick for two. The crowd is crazy hot right now. Punk hit the knee in the corner, but Bryan escaped the bulldog and slammed Punk's arm down.

Bryan hit the dropkick in the corner for two, and set Punk on the top rope. Bryan went for a hurricanranna, but Punk held on and scored a roll up two count. Bryan kicked out and tried to hook the LaBell Lock, but Punk reversed into a slingshot into the corner and another roundhouse kick. Bryan put his foot on the rope to break the count.

Punk strated to climb for the elbow, but Bryan knocked him down and almost dropped him to the floor. Bryan went for a superplex, but Punk fought off twice. Finally Bryan hit it from the top rope. He tried to float over for a pin, but Punk hooked Bryan's legs with his own. The referee counted the pinfall, but both men's shoulders were down. He looked confused as both guys raised their hands in victory.

Teddy and Johnny argued at ringside. Ace got in the ring and proclaimed Bryan the winner. Teddy got in the ring and declared Punk the winner. The Gms argued again and it got heated. Ace took off his jacket and closed on Teddy. Teddy took off his jacket and threw it in Johnny's face and left the ring to close the show...

Shore's Slant: Good moments in that match. It's hard to call it a good match with all the stops and starts, but that's not Bryan or Punk's fault. I still want to see them go on a PPV, and perhaps this was a test for that down the road somewhere.

Overall this Smackdown was as disappointing as Raw was last night. I have zero desire to see yet another power struggle story play out, yet that seemed to be the focus of this show, with Show and Cody thrown in, and the obligatory Sheamus vs. Bryan moment. Everything else was filler, and most of it bad filler. I will have more tomorrow on the hitlist and tonight with the All Access Smackdown audio review. Thanks for watching along with me 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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