Friday’s WWE “SmackDown” was taped on Oct. 9 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The show featured a W.M.D. vs. Brogue Kick challenge between World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and his Hell in a Cell opponent Big Show, Kane won a singles match and his partner Daniel Bryan lost one, and Michael Cole was absent from commentary, NoDQ reports.

It’s rare to see a WWE program that doesn’t feature Michael Cole at the announcer’s table, but the voice of the WWE was replaced by former wrestler and commentator John “Bradshaw” Layfield. TWN Press reports that the play-by-play commentator was missing from the Oct. 12 show because he is calling matches for “Main Event.”

That reasoning is strange since the WWE’s new Wednesday program is taped with “RAW.” It is possible that WWE is trying to bring on JBL as a permanent announcer, or Cole could have been absent for personal reasons.

Sheamus had a quick victory over Tensai, and Big Show beat Kofi Kingston in separate matches throughout the night, but the two started the show with a Brogue Kick vs. W.M.D. challenge. There was a punching bag on the stage, and Show won for hitting it the hardest.

The Tag Team Champions were in individual singles matches throughout the night, with Kane winning his match against Dolph Ziggler by disqualification and Daniel Bryan losing to Alberto Del Rio.

The Big Red Monster’s win to Ziggler was a good move, because it gave Kane a win while he holds the title belt, and it also makes Ziggler look like a strong aggressor. Even though Ziggler hasn’t been on a big winning streak since his Money in the Bank victory, the Showoff has looked great in all of his matches and will make a stellar World Heavyweight Champion when he finally cashes in his contract.

Daniel Bryan’s loss to the Mexican Aristocrat is less complimenting to the Tag Championships, but it heats up Del Rio as he builds his rivalry with Randy Orton. The Viper came out after the match to attack Del Rio, and put his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez through the announce table with an RKO.

Rey Mysterio was out of action on SmackDown, reported because of a stomach flu, but his tag team partner Sin Cara gained a victory over Damien Sandow. Cara and Sandow are both involved in the finals of the tag team tournament to crown No. 1 contenders for the tag tittles, and the the International Sensation set the pace for their tag team match.

The group known as the Band had its first official match with members Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal, accompanied by Drew McIntyre, winning a match against Santino Marella and Zack Ryder. This is an ode to the randomness of the tag team division right now, with performers that have nothing in common being coupled together to form teams.

The Band consist of Slater, a southern-rock star, Jinder Mahal, a stoic Middle Eastern character, and Drew McIntyre, an aggressive Scottish fighter, and they faced Santino Marella, an Italian comedy wrestler with a Cobra sock-puppet and Zack Ryder, a “Jersey Shore”-type Long Islander.

The tag division is excellent in comparison to the past six years, but what the WWE needs are true teams who are thought of as one collective unit. Exception can be made for the likes of Kane and Daniel Bryan, but the Prime Time Players and the Usos are the only real duos the company has right now.