The WWE Smackdown on November 4th was actually a pretty good show.
The show started with a bang with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes going at it – no long promo, no one talking about how they been screwed – just a good old fashioned match between two guys that really don’t like each other. Orton won with the reliable RKO, but since it was a street match (no count outs) they took it out in the audience, giving the fans a little extra something to cheer about. And while Rhodes used his stupid mask as a weapon, Orton finally did what most fans wanted him to do – take off Rhodes mask and use it on him! Orton left with Rhodes cracked mask, but not before returning last week’s favor and putting a brown paper bag over Cody’s head.
Next was Ted Debiase against Tyson Kidd. While not as long as the Orton/Rhodes match, it was still a good match with Debiase taking the win.
Alicia Fox came out and fought Natalya. It was short and sweet with with Alicia Fox getting the win.
After that, the Big Show came out to challenge Mark Henry to a rematch after collapsing the ring at Vengeance, with Christian coming out to interrupt and whine for his “one more match” for the Title. Big Show gave everyone what they wanted and threw a choke slam on Christian, but the problem was that Christian had a match with Sheamus next. After Christian claimed he couldn’t wrestle, Wade Barrett came out to take on Sheamus while Christian waited until the right moment to jump and a deprive Sheamus the win right before Sheamus got ready to drop the Celtic Cross on Barrett. During the commercial Sheamus caught up with Barrett and Christian and started getting some revenge but was broken up by security (why do these guys always show up when things get good?)
Next, the “good” Sin Cara came out and fought someone named “Epico”, and the match was going along with Sin Cara looking at a win when the “gangster” Sin Cara came out and intervened. Gangster Sin Cara and Epico beat on Sin Cara for awhile, but they never tried to take off his mask. I still don’t get that – if the ultimate insult is to unmask a luchador, then why didn’t they unmask him? This storyline is weak and getting weaker by the show.
The final match was Mark Henry versus Daniel Bryan, which took place because Bryan looked at Henry “wrong”(I’ve never seen anyone in need of therapy as much as Henry!). Although the Big Show was in Bryan’s corner it didn’t keep Henry from beating the tar out of Bryan. But Big Show kept his promise to knock Mark Henry out on every Smackdown until he gets a rematch for the title and tried to get Bryan to turn in his “Money in the Bank” case to take the title from Mark Henry, but a dazed Bryan couldn’t get into the ring in time. After a little scuffling between the two big men, Smackdown GM Teddy Long (why can’t have someone stable like Long be GM on Raw?) came out and announced a title rematch between Big Show and Mark Henry.