WWE Smackdown is back with another live Tuesday night special tonight (Feb. 21, 2012) from the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford, Illinois, featuring a champion vs. champion match pitting WWE titleholder CM Punk against world heavyweight champ Daniel Bryan.
That's what they're advertising, at least.
Of course, Chris Jericho just won his chance to contest for the strap at WrestleMania 28 and Sheamus is still looming large ... kind of. I imagine he and Bryan will actually need to have some interaction with each other to get their feud going here soon.
Randy Orton is injured and WWE released an article saying he won't even be reevaluated until Feb. 27, so that would seem to leave him out of tonight's festivities. Unless, of course, he makes another one of his miraculous recoveries ad shows up to surprise us all.
Other than that, expect the rest of the Smackdown crew and a few Raw folks to make appearances.
The show starts at 8 p.m. ET on SyFy, so be sure to make your way back here to chat with all your favorite Cagesiders during the show. It's always a good time. Smackdown live blog after the jump.
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FEB. 21
Geno here.
Broadcast is live.
Interestingly enough, Brodus Clay is still in the opening of both Raw and Smackdown but we haven't seen him in weeks. Maybe he's not as firmly entrenched in the doghouse as we've been told.
Daniel Bryan starts the show with an introduction from Lillian Garcia and comes rolling down to the ring with AJ in tow. Starts cutting the usual promo about being world heavyweight champion and how he's heading to the main event of WrestleMania. Which is fine if "main event" means fourth match down.
Now he brings up Santino Marella trying to channel Rocky headed into Elimination Chamber. But Bryan is the real Rocky, you see, because he overcame all five monsters in the Chamber match. Does some Rocky scthick with AJ, who stands there looking cute and smiling at him.
He's a heel and she's with him, I wonder why they're not calling her a slut?
Bryan touches on Sheamus ruining things for him and then says he'll beat CM Punk tonight before The Miz's music suddenly cuts him off.
What the hell is this guy doin here to interrupt Bryan?
Miz says, "Well look at you, the world heavyweight champion." Bryan takes the chance to fire off a "YES" or two. Or three.
Miz continues by saying he knew Bryan would win the title because he mentored him on NXT. He's not out asking for thanks, though. He's just coming out to say congratulations on being in the main event of WrestleMania. He also thinks they should form a tag team but while he's laying out his case for why, Sheamus makes his way out.
Sheamus blows right past Miz and says he also wants to congratulate Bryan ... for being a massive arse. And being a hypocrite. "You're no role model. You're just a coward. You would rather hide behind a woman's skirt than stand up and fight like a man."
Goes after Miz and tells Bryan he's going to take the title from him at 'Mania.
Miz gets in Sheamus' face before Bryan can reply and says Sheamus deserves to be taken down a notch or two. How dare he interrupt them and try to steal Bryan's thunder.
Sheamus shuts him down by telling him to back off and let the lads who actually have a match at WrestleMania take over. When he turns around again, Bryan slaps him and runs away. Miz attacks but gets tossed out quick.
Commercial break.
We come back and Sheamus is in the middle of bludgeoning Miz. Apparently they're having a match.
Sheamus vs. Miz -- It's going about the way you would think, with Sheamus doing his thing and Miz getting smoked.
They reverse course fairly quick, though, and Miz gets some offense in. Hanging clothesline through the ropes leads to a double axe handle and a running kick off the ropes. All that only gets a one count on the ensuing pinfall attempt. For what it's worth, Miz looks a lot smoother in there tonight.
Sheamus battles back and takes control with a huge backbreaker. Booker T is going insane on commentary, which sounds odd because the crowd is basically dead.
They go into the finishing sequence of Sheamus missing the Brogue Kick but hitting the backdrop he hit on Bryan at the Chamber pay-per-view and that gets the pinfall.
Backstage and Aksana is romancing Teddy Long with the jazz music playing in the background. She wants him to be the General Manager of both Raw and Smackdown. In comes John Laurinaitis with David Otunga right behind him.
Bowtie!
Laurinaitis calls Long unprofessional and this is why he should be running the show. Long says he chose a special place for him to set up shop. Tells a prolonged story about it being the bathroom.
Terrible comedy.
Otunga talks up that he's going to beat Long's boy, Ezekial Jackson, again tonight. Another bad joke and off go the heels.
That wasn't a very good segment.
Commercial break.
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler -- This is so weird. Truth and Kingston are teaming for reasons we still don't know and now Swagger and Ziggler are back together for no reason at all. At least Josh Matthews bothered to say the tag champs are watching this with plenty of interest.
The heels in control early until Truth gets a tag to Kingston, who cleans house. Truth gets sent out by Swagger, who gets sent out by Kofi. Vickie trips and falls on the outside and makes a big stink. When Kofi goes back to Ziggler, he gets an eye poke and then the Zig Zag for the pin.
Now they're promoting the SyFy show Face Off with an exclusive clip of the next episode.
Commercial break.
Time for another video of Ron Simmons getting into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Same one that aired last night on Raw.
Now they're doing more comedy skits with Santino Marella as Rocky. He's using the Cobra and practicing on some cups for "target practice." Heath Slater shows up and knocks all the cups off the table. Santino shoots something into his face from the Cobra.
Our funny guy wasn't so funny here.
They put over CM Punk feuding with Chris Brown on Twitter. Speaking of which, Punk actually did a two minute video that just dropped a short while ago in which he goes after him again. He says it's not for publicity but we all know that's exactly what it's for, especially now that WWE is promoting it on TV.
Commercial break.
Drew McIntyre vs. Great Khali -- McIntyre already in the ring coming back from break and Khali got an intro. McIntyre went over to the announce table and complained to the announcers that he didn't want the match and he blames Teddy Long for this madness.
The match is just a squash with Khali hitting the chop to the head before the Punjabi Plunge for the pin. Quick and painless.
Khali is the giant fans want to see when they go to the shows live because in person, he's visually impressive. On TV, he's god awful.
Cut backstage and it's interview time with Big Show. He says Cody Rhodes is at the top of his you-know-what list. Threatens him by saying he's going to snap his neck if he gets his hands on him. Coming from Show with his track record of legitimately injuring half the roster, that's a very real threat that Rhodes should take seriously.
Show-Henry up next.
Commercial break.
Mark Henry vs. Big Show -- Speaking of big guys who are visually impressive in person, Show and Henry are here to have a plodding match that probably won't last long.
Show kicks it off with punches to the body and a big splash in the corner that Henry wasn't ready for. Show immediately goes for the big right hand but Henry ducks and hits a clothesline. Henry goes into full badass mode by pushing Show's arms away while screaming at him.
This version of "The World's Strongest Man" is the best.
Henry looks as good as he has in a while but they're still working slow. No real high impact moves and Show is selling like he's completely gassed. Man, Henry is in there going nuts. Punching Show in the face and saying, "You're in my house! You can't do nothing when I'm in your face! Get your ass up!" and then punching him again.
Show battles back with a boot in the corner and a spear. Suddenly, Cody Rhodes interrupts. He wants to show a video segment they're calling "Another Embarrassing WrestleMania Moment with Big Show."
The video rolls and Show turns around into a body slam from Henry. He follows with a splash that gets a two count. He gets up and complains to the ref and Show just gets up and hits the WMD. Show says screw this and bails to the back to chase down Rhodes.
So we're getting Rhodes vs. Show at WrestleMania?
Raw Rebound time, which is actually just their way of showing the Triple H-Undertaker segment.
Commercial break.
Ezekial Jackson vs. David Otunga -- John Laurinaitis does some sort of dance before Otunga is introduced. Lilian Garcia botched introducing Ace's various titles and Cole is slamming her now and saying she should be fired.
They air a pre-match promo split screen with Jackson saying he let down the Smackdown brand last night and he'll make up for it tonight. In keeping with that, he takes control of the match early. Goes for the torture rack but Otunga gets out and hits his spinebuster finish for the win.
He's got a new pose he does after winning. A legit push for Otunga?
Another promo for Face Off, which is actually not a bad show at all.
Commercial break.
Holy shit, they run the segment back with Cena and Eve. They even make sure you include all of Cena's putdowns. Great. Oh, how cute. I missed it on Raw when he jumped out of the ring and popped the collar on his rise above hate shirt.
Whatever.
They come back and Michael Cole is the guy saying it went too far and Eve didn't deserve to be called all those names. Great.
Backstage interview with CM Punk now and he's saying he'll address Chris Jericho on Raw next Monday. Moves on to Bryan and runs through the various ways he's basically stolen Punk's gimmick. Nonetheless, tonight he'll teach Bryan how to lose.
Commercial break.
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan -- These guys are actually going to get somewhere close to 25 minutes for the main event, which is good because they need to save this show.
Quick start leads to a stand off and already another break.
Commercial break.
This is Punk ad Bryan's chance to get slick again and do a lot of shit we never see on WWE TV. So they're busting out all sorts of good stuff. Bryan working Punk's arm after he sold it big on a bump. The match slows down a bit with a rest spot and Bryan working Punk's arms. Punk finally reverses and attempts a backbreaker but he misses bad.
That looked ugly. Twice now they've had spots where Punk sold so big the ref was asking if he's okay and cameras picked him up saying that he is.
They have a sequence leading to Bryan trying to run out and Sheamus throwing him back in the ring. Punk hits a kick to the head and gets the pin for the win.
Wait, here comes John Laurinaitis. He says he won't allow this injustice to continue. Due to outside interference, this match will continue. And they actually ring the bell.
How does Laurinaitis have any authority here?
He gets out a chair and sits ringside as Punk continues selling arm problems in the ring while Bryan is laid out on the mat.
Commercial break.
They come back and before long, Bryan gets a pin on Punk by using the ropes to aid him. Now it's Teddy Long's turn to come out and say the match needs to be restarted.
Laurinaitis, of course, is protesting.
Again, the match gets restarted. Punk and Bryan meet in the center of the ring to trade shots. Lot of reversals leads to Bryan getting dumped to the outside and Punk hitting a suicide dive that looked a little too close to a Lita moment.
Springboard off the top and that gets a near fall. Crowd hot for the match now. Bryan takes control and hits a big dropkick in the corner that gets two. They go back and forth with pinfall attempts into the LeBell Lock and another pinfall attempt.
Great match.
Crowd chanting for Punk as he goes up to the rop rope for the Elbow Drop. Bryan gets up and knocks him off and they nearly knock each other out on the way down. They continue to battle on the top rope with Bryan working his ass off to get a superplex and Punk foiling him like three times in a row. Finally it happens and they both roll each other up and the referee counts three.
Both guys raise their hands and the ref is confused as to who actually won the match. Laurinaitis and Long argue ringside while the crowd chants saying Punk won.
Laurinaitis gets in the ring and raises Bryan's arm. Long gets in and raises Punk's. Long and Ace start going at each other and they both throw their coats off. The crowd gets hot for this and Long bails out of the ring after throwing his coat at Laurinaitis, who caught it and threw it back. Bryan holds back a pissed Laurinaitis as Punk looks on bewildered to close the show.
Fade to black.