WWE Smackdown Storyline Tracker
By Robin Scannell, PWTorch Specialist

Episode - January 20, 2012

(1) World Title Picture

Daniel Bryan came to the ring and spoke about A.J.’s injury last week and Big Show’s crocodile tears, essentially a repeat of his Raw promo. Bryan then dedicated his title match to A.J. He also said that Show should just quit, so that nobody gets hurt.

Later, backstage, Mark Henry insulted the Las Vegas-themed wheel (I’m with you there, Mark). Henry told Long to spin the wheel for him, and it landed on a lumberjack match. Henry said Bryan would enter the Hall of Pain.

In the main event lumberjack World Heavyweight Title match, both men at points in the match fought with the lumberjacks. Eventually, Bryan provoked some of the lumberjacks by kicking them outside of the ring. This caused them to storm the ring. During the chaos of the large number of wrestlers in the ring, Bryan managed to escape to the back.

Backstage, Bryan was angry with Teddy Long about the matches he’s been put in. Long then booked a triple threat cage match for the title at the Royal Rumble featuring Big Show and Mark Henry.

***

(2) The Roulette Wheel

If this were a hits and miss column, The Roulette concept would get a clear miss every single time. I truly feel sorry for residents of Las Vegas. It’s simply all too convenient that the “pick your match and opponent” stipulation only falls on the wrestler who hasn’t had his opponent announced yet. Who was Cody Rhodes to face otherwise? Furthermore, there’s no way to explain why the tornado stipulation only appears for tag team matches.

Also, with the flag match, Josh started giving some stats on flag matches and Cole drew attention to the fact he didn’t know that flag match would have occurred. This is despite it being reasonable for an announcer to have stats on each potential stipulation. What would have happened had the two wrestlers been from the same country?

What would have happened if the World Heavyweight Title match was a flag, question mark (unknown opponent), tornado, strange bedfellows, player's choice, blindfold, body slam, on a pole, trading places, song and dance, pillow fight, handicap, or blast from the past match? Those options make up 13/20 (65 percent) of the stipulations on the wheel and would either not apply or would make a joke out of the title.

***

(3) Intercontinental Title Picture

Cody Rhodes spun a player’s choice match, meaning he got to choose his opponent and he chose Hornswoggle. Cody Rhodes attacked Hornswoggle before the match started. Justin Gabriel then ran out for the save. Gabriel then challenged Rhodes to a match, who agreed. In the match that followed, Cody Rhodes defeated Justin Gabriel.

***

(4) Ted DiBiase vs. Hunico (w/Camacho)

DiBiase had an inset promo talking about Hunico and Camacho being angry at not being invited to his DiBiase Posse parties. DiBiase defeated Hunico in a short match by capturing his flag.

***

(5) Drew McIntyre’s Losing Streak

Backstage, Teddy Long fired Drew McIntyre. However, Santino asked to face McIntyre to prove his victory over him wasn’t just lucky, so McIntyre wasn’t fired. The wheel was spun and landed on a blindfold match. Santino then defeated McIntyre in the blindfold match.

***

Other Stories

- Primo & Epico (w/Rosa Mendes) defeated The Usos in a tornado tag match.

- Brodus Clay beat Vickie Guerrero in a very funny dance contest. William Regal came out and Clay challenged him to dance, which he did. Clay then hit Regal with his running crossbody called "Ah, Funk it!"

- Wade Barrett defeated Sheamus in a tables match after a distraction of Jinder Mahal. After the match, Sheamus put Mahal through a table.

Current Feuds Active this Week (# weeks)

Smackdown

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show (6) / Mark Henry (3)
Sheamus vs. Jinder Mahal (6) / Wade Barrett (3)
Ted DiBiase vs. Hunico (w/ Camacho) (3)

Feel free to email any comments to scannell.torch@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @robinocracy for my thoughts on the pay-per-view and non-wrestling related things.

[Torch photo (c) PWTorch.com]

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