12/14/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Big Show vs. R-Truth: *1/2

Cody  Rhodes & Damien Sandow vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: *1/2

Kaitlyn vs. Aksana: 3/4*

Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Great Khali, & Hornswoggle vs. Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Primo, & Epico: *1/4

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio: **

Sheamus vs. Antonio Cesaro: **1/4
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Sheamus and Cesaro at ringside to "scout" their respective opponents for TLC. Show faces Truth here. Painful beatdown from Show for the first few minutes. Cesaro stands over Truth and Sheamus shoves Cesaro. Show KOs Truth in the ring for three. Show taunts Sheamus some more. Sheamus stalks Show. Cesaro pushes Sheamus into Show. Show gets all giddy because he thinks the match is off now that Sheamus made contact with him. Booker says the match is still on.

Sandow re-introduces Cody Rhodes as his tag partner. Cody had been sidelined until this past week with injuries. They face the Usos tonight. Standard match here. Sandow holds the tights on the rollup to get three.

Show has Otunga by his side to get out of his title match. Otunga demands to the WWE Board of Directors that the match be called off and that Booker gets removed as Smackdown GM. Booker says the match is still on. Show is pouting like a big baby. Whoa, Otunga brought up Booker's past of serving jail time eons ago! Sheamus storms to the ring with a chair. Sheamus says if the match is off, he'll just kick Show's arse right now. Show says the contract's fine and the match is on. Brogue Kick to Otunga. Well, that was entertaining.

Shield shown taking Randy Orton out. Orton apparently went through a table. Injury angle?

Kaitlyn and Aksana in another match. No intros. They've had some bad matches in the past but have developed a decent back story over the last few months (Aksana being the mystery person taking Kaitlyn out before her divas title match against Eve). Frankly, JBL's commentary was much more entertaining. Gutbuster wins it for Kaitlyn, the so-called "hybrid" diva in WWE.

Striker says Orton has a separated shoulder and a possible concussion.

Miz TV next; guests are Team Hell No. DB and Kane will use tables (YES), ladders (YES), and chairs (YES), and will love every single second of it (YES YES YES). Shield interrupts with their camera. Ambrose again comes out as the big star in that one. Kane invites them to the ring to fight. Shield spotted in the crowd. They make their way down the crowd, but Ryback comes out. Shield retreats.

Khali and Hornswoggle in tag team action again. Natalya is now a valet. Why?! 8-man tag right now. Rosa slaps Tyson Kidd, so Natalya comes over and takes out Rosa. Kidd counters a rollup with one of his own and gets the win. Fairly abrupt ending. The face team ends up dancing in the ring after. Yup.

Kofi and Alberto next. Gotta love the Kofi high-flying stuff to pump the crowd up. Kofi counters an ADR suplex and rolls him up for three. Barrett sprints to the ring and tries a sneak attack, but Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise.

Recap of RAW with the World Heavyweight Title picture. We also see the Sheamus/Ziggler match again from Monday night.

Shemaus tells Regal he will hit Show with a ton of chair shots and become champ again. Tonight, the Celtic Warrior faces Cesaro. I agree with JBL, I love that Euro uppercut as well. It looks vicious and you can hit it from just about any angle. Sheamus with the comeback. Shemaus then sees Show on the stage with a fallen Regal. Show with the chair shot to Regal as Regal holds Sheamus back. Ref counts Sheamus out in the process. I have to give it to WWE. It's been a very nice build for the PPV.

I frankly want to literally see blood flowing between Show and Sheamus. It's not PG, but dammit, if WWE really wants an edgier product now, just do it. Don't show blood all the time, but show it when you need to. This is one instance where adding a bit of color would make it that much better. Show and Sheamus was not built up to be a wrestling clinic. This was made to be a war from the start. Let it be a war with blood.