Credit: Matthew Bilmes & PW.net

JBL and Michael Cole came out to announce for Smackdown. Renee Young was in the ring to start. She asked us to welcome her guest, the face of WWE, Randy Orton. She asked about the controversy from Sunday’s title match against the Big Show. Orton claimed Big Show hadn’t knocked him out, he was playing possum. Orton said he didn’t need The Authority to win, and they tainted his victory. Renee then threw to a video package from Raw on the unification match setup. She asked Randy how that made him feel. She kept prompting him with adjectives, but Randy got annoyed with her and left the ring and walked up the ramp.

Vickie Guerrero appeared on the Titantron to talk about Thanksgiving and have the superstars compete in a food eating contest. I couldn’t tell who because I couldn’t see the screen. Banal comedy.

Mark Henry made his entrance, accompanied by Big E. Curtis Axel then made his entrance, accompanied by Ryback.

1. Mark Henry (w/Big E Langston) defeated Curtis Axel (w/Ryback). Henry won quickly with the World’s Strongest Slam. Apparently, this tag team feud continues.

Another Thanksgiving skit aired on the blocked TitanTron. It sounded like it somehow involved R-Truth. There were more Thanksgiving skits after a commercial break. Yay. It sounded like Titus O’Neil won some contest and the right to compete against Antonio Cesaro.

2. Los Matadores and El Torito beat The Plymouth Rockers (a/k/a 3MB). Wow, this show is getting better and better. Oh, but El Torito is wrestling and it’s a six man tag! Has that happened before? I’m not sure, I usually fast forward though both these teams matches. Los Matodores won quickly, thankfully.

But don’t worry! This show is saved! Brodus Clay and Tensai are out! I seriously feel like I’m at a house show right now. But at this point I guess Smackdown is pretty much the same thing.

3. Tons of Funk beat R-Truth and Xavier Woods. Tons of Funk surprisingly won after Brodus splashed Xavier from the second rope. I guess Creed (a/k/a Woods) isn’t a priority.

CM Punk was then interviewed by Young. He said he hadn’t heard from Daniel Bryan since he was kidnapped. He said he was injured and banged up. Then he said he didn’t know why The Shield attacked him. He said that maybe it was because they were carrying out orders from people with authority. Punk didn’t really seem to care about the fact he hadn’t heard from Bryan.

4. Antonio Cesaro (w/Jack Swagger, Zeb Colter) def. Titus O’Neil. No promo from Zeb. Antonio Cesaro started to spin Titus, but D-Young broke it up for the DQ. Odd. Titus then “vomited” into JBL’s hat as a result of the spin. Titus then shoved the hat in Michael Cole’s face. Titus then vomited on Zeb. More pointless comedy. Who writes this stuff?

Bray Wyatt gave a promo on the Titantron in which he basically claimed that the Wyatts would turn Bryan into a monster.

5. 5. Cody Rhodes and Goldust beat Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns by DQ to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship. Lilian gave in-ring introductions, partly to give it a big match feel and partly because the microphone stopped working in the middle of the the Rhodes Brothers entrance. Ambrose was on commentary with JBL and Cole. A solid match, but not up to the par of their previous contests, partly due to the lack of crowd involvement because they were dead for the past hour plus of filler. Cody hit CrossRhodes on Rollins, but Dean Ambrose ran out causing the DQ.

C.M. Punk came win a chair to even the odds, and Vickie made it a six man tag. Punk had the biggest pop of the night by far.

6. C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Goldust beat The Shield by DQ when The Wyatt Family interfered. At one point in the match, the Wyatt’s came out and stood on the stage, drawing Daniel Bryan chants. Then they attacked Cody and Goldust, causing a DQ. The Shield then attacked Punk, and the Usos and Mysterio ran out and made the save.

Vickie made a 12 man tag rematch from last weeks raw, except with Rey Mysterio instead of Daniel Bryan. I’m pretty sure this segment (from the tag title match until now) is gonna end up taking the entire final hour of Smackdown Friday. it’s been pretty awesome, so I’m not complaining.

7. C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Rey Mysterio, and The Uso Brothers defeated The Shield and The Wyatt Family in a 12-man tag match. Very fun match, although another illogical ending with the faces picking up the win after a 619 and GTS combo on Erick Rowan. The faces posed at what I assume will be the end of the television show.

Notes: Overall, it was a good taping, despite the ridiculous hour of filler during the first hour of Smackdown. The Ziggler vs. Del Rio match on tomorrow’s Main Event is must see, and the last hour of Smackdown on Friday is going to be extremely fun with all the tag team matches. Notably, there was no John Cena or Authority during the show, and very little progression of that storyline in general. Not that I’m complaining, the stupid filler was better than that probably would have been.

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