WWE Smackdown is at the University of South Carolina this week. Smackdown starts with Alberto Del Rio. He enters the ring and shows a video of him attacking Sheamus on RAW last Monday. I wonder if Sheamus will sell the attack during the show tonight. Del Rio talks about breaking Sheamus’s arm at No Way Out and he is interrupted by Sheamus’s music. It’s Sheamus…no wait…that’s not Sheamus. It’s Ricardo Rodriguez and he is dressed like Sheamus! That’s funny. Ricardo gets in the ring and Del Rio says that he is not Sheamus. No shit! Del Rio says anyone can be Sheamus and punch his chest like a caveman.  Anyone can spike their head like a stupid kid, but there is only one Alberto Del Rio. Ricardo is trying to act like Sheamus and it’s hilarious. Ricardo attempts the Brogue Kick and he falls on his ass. Or should I say “arse”?

Then the real Sheamus comes out and enters the ring. He’s not here to talk…he’s here to fight! Sheamus gets double teamed by Del Rio and Ricardo, but he is able to force them out of the ring. Del Rio tries to get away from Sheamus, but Sheamus attacks him on the entrance ramp. Sheamus tries to slam Del Rio off the stage, but Ricardo stops him. Del Rio starts attacking Sheamus and the referees come out to break up the fight. Teddy Long comes out and says John Laurinaitis is not here tonight. That means Teddy is the General Manager tonight. Teddy announces the two matches made for tonight per Mr. Laurinaitis. Kane vs. Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio vs…. The Great Khali’s music plays and he is Del Rio’s opponent.

Alberto Del Rio vs. The Great Khali

Del Rio won with the Cross Armbreaker. This match was a little bit better than I expected, but it was a very boring match.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Rating: *

Smackdown shows a video of Big Show cutting a sit-down promo. It reminds me of the Brock Lesnar sit-down promo from April.

Backstage, Teddy Long talks with Brodus Clay. Teddy says Brodus Clay is no longer allowed to be on RAW to protect him from Big Show. How does that stop Big Show from attacking Brodus on Smackdown? Brodus is now a permanent member of Smackdown. The brands still matter! Brodus is not happy and says that he will eat up his Smackdown opponents.

Brodus Clay vs. Derrick Bateman

Brodus Clay gets a quick win against Bateman. It was the usual Brodus Clay match which means the first two Smackdown matches have been mediocre this week.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Rating: *

Sin Cara is next. Maybe his match will be enjoyable. It can’t be worse than the first two matches.

Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre is on Smackdown this week? Yes! Drew should be on Smackdown more often. The finish of this match was awesome. Sin Cara jumped off the top turnbuckle and Drew caught him. It looked like Drew was going to hit Sin Cara with a backbreaker, but Sin Cara reversed out of it. Drew then reversed Sin Cara’s reversal. Drew tried to slam Sin Cara, but Sin Cara reversed out of it again and this time Sin Cara turned it into a DDT. Sin Cara never hit the ground during all of those reversals. It was very interesting. That DDT was enough for Sin Cara to get the win. This was an enjoyable match and in my opinion, this was Sin Cara’s first “real” match since his return. This match was short, but Drew made it very competitive. This was by far my favorite Sin Cara match out of the three matches he has had since returning from his injury. I would have loved to see this match get more time.

Winner: Sin Cara

Rating: **1/4

The Ryback match is next. Ryback’s victims this week are Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney. Another Ryback handicap match? They cut a promo and it’s another awful jobber promo. They get worse every week.

Ryback vs. Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney

Ryback wins again. Enough of this jobber crap. Give Ryback a real opponent and let him have a real match. And stop having the same match with the same finish every week. It’s getting old very fast.

Winner: Ryback

Rating: No Rating (NR)

The Peep Show, hosted by Christian, is back. Christian’s guest is Cody Rhodes. Cody comes out first and starts talking before Christian comes out. Cody talks about Christian and he is interrupted by Christian’s music. Cody wants to know why Christian turned face. Christian talks about inducting Edge at the Hall of Fame and Christian says he realized his career could end at any time and he didn’t want to be remembered as the annoying, whining guy who kept asking for “one more match”. Christian wanted to come back and win championships. Cody says he will take back his title at No Way Out. Christian wants Cody to shut up and he wants to attack Cody, but he gets interrupted by Dolph Ziggler. Dolph will face Christian in a match.

Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler

Cody does commentary during this match and says he is asking for his Intercontinental Championship rematch at No Way Out. Christian won this match with the Frog Splash. The match was slow in the beginning, but the last few minutes of the match were very enjoyable. I think this was one of the best mid-card Smackdown matches I have seen this year.

Winner: Christian

Rating: ***

Smackdown shows the RAW Rebound. This week, it is a video of the John Cena vs. Michael Cole match from last Monday’s RAW.

Michael Cole grabs a microphone and starts talking. Cole gets interrupted by Jim Ross’s music, but it’s not good old JR. It’s Hornswoggle dressed like JR. That’s two imposters tonight! Hornswoggle gets in the ring and does a horrible JR impression. Hornswoggle is about to leave the ring, but Damien Sandow comes out. Sandow says Hornswoggle will be taught a lesson. Before Sandow can do anything, he is distracted by Tyson Kidd. Sandow tries to throw Kidd out of the ring, but Kidd hangs onto the ropes. Kidd springboards into the ring and kicks Sandow out of the ring. Sandow pretends that he is walking back to the locker room and then he attacks Kidd when Kidd’s back is turned.

Backstage, Matt Striker interviews Kane. Matt Striker wants to know how Kane feels about the opportunity to defeat the WWE Champion and the World Heavyweight Champion in the same week. Kane says he doesn’t have any feelings and all he cares about is winning the triple threat match at No Way Out and becoming the new WWE Champion. Kane walks away from Striker and AJ is watching Kane.

Jimmy Uso vs. Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro won this match with his finishing move. That was an entertaining match, but it was very short.

Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Rating: *3/4

Up next is the main event match.

Sheamus vs. Kane

Sheamus’s arm is bandaged so he is selling the injury from RAW a little bit. This match ended in a disqualification after Ricardo Rodriguez ran into the ring. It seems like many main event matches on RAW and Smackdown end in disqualification or have a controversial finish. And most of those matches involve Kane. Why is the WWE preventing Kane from looking bad against the World Champions? I didn’t like this Kane-Sheamus match-up and the bad finish made me dislike this match more.

Winner: Sheamus via DQ

Rating: **

After the match, AJ walks down to the ring and distracts Kane. The distraction helps Sheamus hit Kane with the Brogue Kick. Then Sheamus hits Ricardo Rodriguez with the Brogue Kick. Alberto Del Rio watches from the entrance ramp and Smackdown ends with Sheamus and Del Rio staring at each other.

Matches to Watch: Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre, Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler

Matches to Skip: Alberto Del Rio vs. The Great Khali, Ryback vs. Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney, Jimmy Uso vs. Antonio Cesaro, Sheamus vs. Kane

Best Superstar of Smackdown: Christian

Christian had a great performance during the best match of the night. Christian was executing his moves perfectly (so was Dolph Ziggler) and Christian does not look like someone who missed a large amount of time because of an injury. If Christian has a match every week, that will help make Smackdown a better show.

Best Moment of Smackdown: The finish to the Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre match

I enjoyed Sin Cara’s match this week because Drew McIntyre was his opponent, but also because the match had an awesome finish. It was fun to watch Sin Cara counter Drew McIntyre’s attempts to execute a move on Sin Cara. Usually Sin Cara’s matches end the same way like Ryback and Brodus Clay’s matches, but this match had a different ending. It’s nice to see a different match from Sin Cara and I wish the WWE would let Brodus Clay and Ryback try to end their matches a different way. I don’t mind seeing those three superstars win every week, but I don’t want the matches to look exactly the same every week.

I did not like this week’s Smackdown as much as last week. Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler was good and I also enjoyed the Sin Cara vs. Dolph Ziggler match, but the rest of the show was bad. Smackdown is trying their hardest to make the Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio match at No Way Out look like an interesting match-up, but so far I am not looking forward to that match. I don’t like Sheamus as champion and I don’t enjoy Del Rio’s matches so I don’t think there is anything the WWE can do that will make me want to see that match. It’s too bad that match will be one of the main event matches because I don’t think it would be good mid-card match. I have seen Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus wrestle each other on Smackdown and I did not like their match. I have a couple questions after watching Smackdown. What happened to the Divas? I don’t really care if the Divas have a match or not, but it seems like it’s been awhile since they have been on Smackdown. The WWE is usually good at getting at least one Divas match on the card every week, but there was no Divas match last week and no match this week. Also, where was Daniel Bryan? I understand he’s feuding with CM Punk and Punk isn’t going to be on Smackdown every week, but Smackdown needs Daniel Bryan to appear every week. Daniel Bryan is one of the few Smackdown superstars I enjoy watching so I think it’s hard to have a good Smackdown show without him. It was nice to see Antonio Cesaro back on Smackdown, but his match was too short. John Laurinaitis was not on Smackdown and I think that also hurt the show. Next week’s Smackdown should be better if Laurinaitis and Daniel Bryan are both on the show.