By Lee Stevens, PWTorch Specialist

Thank you for joining me again as we take a closer look at Smackdown. For new readers, this is not a full recap of the show, simply a more detailed look at certain events, themes, or mistakes. Sometimes, it's just a brief celebration of the excitement of seeing a Joe Flacco jersey...or Joe Flacco...or a guy named Joe from jersey. Any combination of those things will work. I certainly don't catch everything, so if you notice something, please comment below.

Quoth the raven, nevermore

Even if you didn't know that Smackdown was coming from Baltimore this week, you saw evidence of the charm city throughout the stands as R-Truth made his way to the ring. Among those enjoying his theme song were two men who were proudly representing the Baltimore Ravens and not so proudly representing their families by their dancing.

Regardless of their abilities and lack of rhythm, the #20 jersey belongs to Ed Reed and the #9 brings back the ghost of QB's past in the form of Steve McNair. I didn't see any love for the pride of the Blue Hens, Joe Flacco. Since no fans were wearing the #5, we dedicated our intro to Flacco this week.

Everybody sing!

R-Truth missed a chance for an interesting duet with his tag team partner Hurricane Helms. Several years ago, before the superhero gimmick, Gregory Helms worked with Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias as the "boy group" trio 3 Count. The group sang before their matches, but were not as well-received by the fans as R-Truth.

While R-Truth continually asks "What's up?," I remember Helms, then as The Hurricane, asking "What's up with dat?" I'm sure the two could find some common ground. 4 Non Blondes hit the charts in 1993 with the song called "What's up," but that doesn't seem like their style. Am I looking too closely? Perhaps. What would Joe Flacco do? Let's move on.

Nice shirt

Not related to R-Truth's musical ability was a rare sighting near the end of his song. After he was finished performing, he became the call and response part of his entrance. If you look closely as one fan shouts back towards the ring, you will see the fan is wearing a "Ring of Honor" t-shirt. Since this was not a live show, I'm surprised that the WWE production team left it in for the final broadcast.

Feeling mellow

Before we leave the world of WWE fan fashion, we couldn't help but notice someone in the stands sporting a classic green basketball jersey, with the words Oak Hill and the number 15. Oak Hill Academy is a school which has produced NBA players such as Jerry Stackhouse, Rajon Rondo from the champion Celtics and #15, Carmelo Anthony. How good is the team? Anthony could end up being the best pro player to come out of the school, yet he doesn't hold any of the individual records.

The highest scoring average belongs to Carlos Vega, most points in a season is held by Josh Smith and most rebounds in a season goes to DeSagana Diop. How does a Denver Nuggets player by way of Syracuse University get a following in Baltimore? It's not only because he's talented, Anthony actually grew up in Maryland after moving to Baltimore when he was eight years old.

From Hollywood, weighing in at 173 pounds, Bob "You have no" Hope

Leave it to the WWE to have incredibly interesting celebrity relationships. From Liberace at WrestleMania to Bob Hope on Smackdown. Although the shows are dramatically different, I suppose that "The Tribute to the Troops" is carrying on Hope's tradition. From the footage shown, you saw that Hope had his own "Divas" in the former of the Andrews Sisters. He started visiting the troops in 1941 and performed throughout World War II and into The Persian Gulf War. Although the USO continues to travel, Hope passed away in 2003.

This weekend's Tribute is the 6th time the WWE has visited the troops in Iraq.

We'll get back to you

It was good to have the announcement before the Maryse vs. Maria match informing us that the winner would get a Divas title shot. What was interesting was that there was no time frame attached to it. In most cases, the timeline has been established and it will either be next Friday on Smackdown or at the next pay-per-view. I'm not sure if either way builds more interest. The answer could come in how Maryse treats this opportunity during the next few weeks until a date for the match is announced.

Turn left at Rockville

When we've seen Mr. Kennedy during the past few weeks, a plug of his DVD is not far behind. "Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia" will be released in just a few weeks, but with the location of this week's Smackdown, he missed a chance for a complete different movie with a similar name.

"Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia" would have required a simple 25-minute drive to one of the many suburbs of Baltimore. Columbia, Maryland is a planned community just outside of Baltimore and while it has nothing to do with the setting of Mr. Kennedy's new movie, it does have ties to Hollywood. Academy Award nominee Edward Norton grew up in Columbia.

TLC

Also on DVD is Edge's new retrospective "Decade of Decadence," highlighting his many accomplishments, both as a singles wrestler and as a tag team with Christian. Seeing the footage reminded me of the classic Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches against The Hardy Boyz and The Dudleys. While you can argue the qualifications of which team was the best among the three, I want to take a closer look at what they've done individually since then. With Jeff Hardy's title win last week, four of the competitors have now won top individual honors.

Edge is the most decorated individual wrestler of the group, winning both the WWE title and the World Heavyweight Championship

Christian won the NWA World Heavyweight Title twice while TNA was still recognizing the championship.

Matt Hardy is the current ECW Champion and Jeff Hardy is enjoying his first week as WWE Champion.

While the Dudley Boyz have been well decorated as a tag team, I don't believe either has held individual gold on a national level.

Watching those TLC matches, even now, it's amazing to think that all six are still competing, much less succeeding, considering the damage and risk with that particular match.

Lee Stevens goes "Under The Microscope" for Smackdown and Raw. Yes, he likes to say the name Joe Flacco. You can leave comments below or e-mail him at glstevens.torch@gmail.com.

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