The 27^th April 2012 episode of Friday Night SmackDown! starts with with the announcers informing us that later on in the episode will see a rematch of Sheamus and Mark Henry after the controversial ending to their match on Monday Night Raw, followed by a video recapping Brock Lesnar’s attack on Josh Mathews from Raw to explain why he isn’t present on SmackDown! this week (click here for our Raw report).

Now, Daniel Bryan’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, where he says that he did it. What he says he did was cut the umbilical cord and got rid of AJ, which he says felt good, but that something was still bothering him, so he thought that he would come out and set the record straight.

He says that his loss at WrestleMania does not count, and as a result, that loss should go on AJ’s record, as it was she who lost the match, not him. Bryan says that Sheamus runs around with his championship as if he actually won something, but he plans to rectify that situation on Sunday at Extreme Rules, as he says that Sheamus can’t even beat him once, let alone in two out of three falls.

Bryan says that despite his personal feelings regarding Sheamus, he says that he promised himself that he would call it right down the middle when he was asked by John Laurinaitis on Raw to referee the match between Sheamus and Mark Henry, and he says he did that.

He says that some people have accused him of quick-counting Sheamus’ shoulders to the mat, but he says that he thinks that the footage speaks for himself, as he then rolls it – but with the count in slow motion, so that it looks like a fair count.

Bryan says that there was nothing wrong with that count, but that in typical Sheamus fashion and despite knowing that he would be fired if he were to put his hands on a WWE referee, he attacked Bryan, so Bryan was forced to defend himself, as he then rolls footage of that too, where he ended up putting Sheamus in the newly-renamed Yes Lock – and it is at that point that he says to pause the footage.

He says that is a beautiful picture, but says that now it is Q&A time – did Mark Henry beat Sheamus on Raw? Yes. Did Bryan make Sheamus tap out in front of the entire WWE Universe? Yes. Is Sheamus’ entire world title run a fluke, because he took advantage of a confused and unintelligent woman? Yes. Will he regain his championship at Extreme Rules? Yes! Yes! Yes!

Alberto Del Rio’s music hits, and he makes his way out and to the ring, introduced as always by Ricardo Rodriguez. Del Rio asks if Daniel Bryan has been making excuses since he lost his title at WrestleMania in eighteen seconds, and Rodriguez responds with “Si!”.

He continues, by asking if the winner of the Bryan/Sheamus match will eventually lose to the new number one contender, Alberto Del Rio, to which Rodriguez utters another “Si!”. Del Rio asks if Bryan will be forgotten when Del Rio becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion, and Rodriguez responds even more enthusiastically than before, by jumping up and down chanting “Si!”, with the crowd joining in too.

Del Rio asks if Bryan is watching the new World Heavyweight Champion in this moment, but he is interrupted from getting an answer, as The Big Show’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring. Show asks if it is “Yes” or “Si”, as he isn’t sure, and after asking the crowd a number of times, decides to take down Bryan – but Bryan manages to bail out, as does Del Rio who Show goes after next.

Unfortunately for Ricardo Rodriguez, he is unable to escape in time, and after The Big Show asks him which he thinks it is out of “Yes” or “Si”, and Rodriguez responds with a noise that indicates he’d rather not be involved, Show decides that it is “Si”, and hits him with a chokeslam.

Next, Alberto Del Rio takes on The Big Show in a match which sees Show get the victory as a result of a disqualification, when Cody Rhodes interrupts and attacks The Big Show. Afterwards, Rhodes grabs a Kendo stick and hits Show with it, but it doesn’t even seem to hurt Show, who then knocks a steel chair out of Rhodes’ hands.

When Rhodes takes off his belt and tries to use that, he runs right into a big boot from Show, followed by Show using it against Rhodes instead, causing Rhodes to bail out of the ring as soon as he can, but not before Show gets two shot in with it.

After an interaction between John Laurinaitis, Eve Torres, and Teddy Long backstage, in which Long is told to report to Eve from now on, and a video recapping the match between Nikki Bella and Beth Phoenix on Raw which saw Nikki become the new Divas Champion, Damien Sandow makes an appearance to educate us on enlightenment.

Back in the arena, Nikki Bella (accompanied by Brie) is pitted against Alicia Fox in a match which sees Nikki get the victory, when she invokes “Twin Magic” and switches with Brie behind the back of the referee, and Brie hits jumping facebuster for the 3-count.

After an interaction involving Yoshi Tatsu, Titus O’Neil, Darren Young, and Ezekiel Jackson, an interaction involving Teddy Long, Aksana, John Laurinaitis, and Eve Torres sees Aksana informed that Antonio Cesaro will have a try-out match on this episode, with her as the Special Guest Ring Announcer. Long is informed that he will be commentating on the match, as well as the upcoming match between the team of Titus O’Neil and Darren Young and the team of Yoshi Tatsu and Ezekiel Jackson – with all of his words to be decided by Laurinaitis so that he doesn’t say anything wrong – and he will have to wear a “People Power” t-shirt.

Now, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young go against Yoshi Tatsu and Ezekiel Jackson in a tag team match which sees O’Neil get the victory for his team, when they hit Tatsu with a double-team move for the 3-count.

Next up, Michael Cole interviews Randy Orton in the ring about his match at Extreme Rules with Kane. Cole tells Orton that he is extremely confident that they can conduct this interview like civilised human beings, and that he is also sure that Orton has heard the edict passed down by John Laurinaitis, which states that if any Superstar touches any announcer, said Superstar will be immediately suspended.

Randy Orton asks if that was a question, as he says that he was well aware, and he also asks if Cole is aware that when he is pushed just right, he tends not to act so rational. He says that he is a “shoot first, ask questions last” kind of guy.

After rolling footage of the events leading up to the match between Randy Orton and Kane at Extreme Rules, Cole asks how Orton feels going against a monster that was reborn because of his failures at WrestleMania.

Orton says that people say that what happens at WrestleMania goes down in history, and when people think of the issues between him and Kane, they think of their match at WrestleMania, but he says that what they talk about is how it came with a price.

He says that Kane beat him in a wrestling match, but at Extreme Rules on Sunday, he plans on going above and beyond pinning Kane’s shoulders to the mat, as he messed with his family. Orton says that although there is a part of him deep inside that wants to respect Kane for that, under no circumstances will he accept it.

Orton says that Falls Count Anywhere at Extreme Rules, but that is just the beginning, as there is no holding him back from making Kane suffer like he couldn’t imagine. He says that although Kane calls himself the “Devil’s Favourite Demon”, not even the Devil himself is capable of unleashing the hell that he will bring on Sunday.

Jinder Mahal’s music hits, and he makes his way to the ring, where he says that he believes that Orton and Kane will both take each other down, and when they do, a new breed of Superstar will emerge.

Mahal says that Orton’s time at the top is over, as he is younger, smarter, richer, and hungrier than Orton, and he says that he will be waiting for Orton on the other side. Randy Orton’s response is to stop Mahal for a moment as he tries to leave, and ask him if he is an announcer, and when Mahal replies that he isn’t, Orton says that is good as announcer’s are apparently off-limits, and he then hits Mahal with an RKO.

Next, Aksana is the Guest Ring Announcer and Teddy Long is a commentator, as Tyson Kidd takes on Antonio Cesaro in a match which sees Cesaro get the victory, when he hits a cradle piledriver hold dropped into a facebuster for the 3-count.

Afterwards, Aksana enters the ring and happily proclaims Cesaro as the winner, and after apparent prompting by John Laurinaitis through the announcer headset, Teddy Long enters the ring and raises the hand of Cesaro.

Aksana then proceeds to celebrate even more, by pulling Cesaro into a kiss right in front of Long, who looks very upset at the scene, before he then leaves.

After a video recapping the events leading to the match at Extreme Rules between Brock Lesnar and John Cena, including Edge telling Cena on Monday Night Raw to “wake up”, and a video recapping the events of last week involving Cody Rhodes and The Great Khali that lead to this upcoming match, Cody Rhodes is pitted against The Great Khali in a match which sees Khali get the victory, when he hits Rhodes with the Punjabi Plunge for the 3-count.

After an interaction involving Primo, Epico, Rosa Mendes, and Abraham Washington, in which Washington sets a deadline of Monday for them to make their decision, Jacob Kaye goes against Ryback in a match which sees Ryback get the victory, when he hits Kaye with a muscle-buster for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the events of last week involving AJ and Daniel Bryan, and the aftermath that saw her attack Natalya, Matt Striker attempts to interview AJ backstage, only to be told by Kaitlyn when she appears, that AJ is clearly in no condition to talk about any of this.

The interaction that follows between Kaitlyn and AJ sees Kaitlyn tell AJ how Daniel Bryan never was a jerk, never respected her, loved her, or even did anything for her, resulting in AJ slapping her, but looking rather shocked when she realised what she has done.

Back in the arena, Sheamus takes on Mark Henry in a match which sees Sheamus get the victory, when he hits Henry with a Brogue Kick for the 3-count. Afterwards, Sheamus invites Bryan to come down to the ring from his position on the stage, asking whether he is scared now that he doesn’t have a referee shirt to hide behind, or whether he is scared of having his head kicked off and losing in eighteen seconds again.

Sheamus says that Bryan got off easy at WrestleMania, but come their 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match at Extreme Rules, it won’t be a fluke and Bryan won’t be able to blame AJ, so the question is whether Sheamus will kick Bryan’s arse to remain the World Heavyweight Champion.

Taking a page from Bryan, he says that the answer to that is “Yes! Yes! Yes!”, continuing to chant it along with the crowd as SmackDown! goes off the air.