By Chris Shore

Smackdown on SyFy
Taped on 8/2/11 in Lexington, KY.

[Q1] A video recapped Mark Henry's destruction of Kane and Big Show, and Sheamus's babyface turn last week…The show opened with Sheamus's music and a big pop. Josh Matthews, Michael Cole and Booker T welcomed us to Smackdown, and announced it will be Sheamus vs. Mark Henry at SummerSlam. Khali and Jonder were out next…

1. Sheamus defeated Great Khali (w/Jinder Mahal) at 5:20. Khali shoved Sheamus around, but Sheamus tied him in the ropes and hit his clubs to the chest. Sheamus went to the top, and Khali punched him to the floor. Khali dragged Sheamus back in the ring and dominated him.

Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick and Khali chopped him out of the air for a near fall. Khali hooked the vice grips on the head. Sheamus went down, but fought back and powered Khali's hands off. He hit the Brogue Kick for the win and a huge pop. Wow…[C]

Shore's Slant: Impressive reaction for Sheamus. Good for him. And I must have missed the interview where Jinder said he was married to Khali's sister and would divorce him if he didn't follow Jinder. What a stupid story. I can't believe that's what they went with.

A video recapped Beth Phoenix's win and attack on Kelly Kelly Monday night…

[Q2] 2. Natalya defeated AJ at 1:57. They opened with a mat wrestling series and I finished falling in love with AJ. They had several more series of reversals and then Natty hooked in the Sharpshooter. AJ tapped immediately.

Post-match, Natty attacked AJ and tossed her to the floor. She drove AJ's back into the apron and then hit a snap suplex. She too a mic and said, "Beth Phoenix, I'm with you. The days of the cute, perky little princesses are over." She walked to the back celebrating like she was still a babyface…[C]

Shore's Slant: Short match, but very well wrestled, and it advanced a storyline. Wait. Did I just say a Diva's match advanced a storyline? That didn't really just happen did it? Twice in the same week. Color me impressed.

Back from commercial, Matt Striker interviewed Randy Orton. He asked him about his match with Christian at SummerSlam, and then replayed Orton's assault on Truth from last week. Orton said he wasn't trying to send a message, but Christian was right, he did have anger management issues. He said Christian was going to help him work those issues out. He said Christian was the only man to ever win the title by disqualification.

Shore's Slant: What?

He said at SummerSlam, Christian had to beat him by pinfall or submission, something he had never done, or will do…A video recapped Justin Gabriel going home to South Africa…Wade Barrett made his ring entrance and joined the announce team while a video showed his altercation with Daniel Bryan last week…

Shore's Slant: It's a recorded show, you think they could redo the obvious errors. This is what happens when you have television writers writing for wrestling, they have no idea about history. Plenty of people have won titles on disqualifications.

[Q3][C] Back from commercial, Tyson Kidd was in the ring, and Daniel Bryan introduced new entrance music…

3. Daniel Bryan defeated Tyson Kidd at 10:26. They chain wrestled to start and Bryan hit a drop kick that sent Kidd to the floor. Bryan dove on him and grabbed his left knee. He rolled Kidd in the ring and Kidd attacked the leg. Kidd hooked a figure four around the post and stalked Bryan…[C]

Back from commercial, Kidd continued to work the knee. Bryan hit an elbow and then a missile dropkick. He hit several kicks, but Kidd grabbed the leg and hooked a half crab. Bryan made the ropes and they traded rollups. They traded kicks and then Bryan locked in the guillotine choke on Kidd. Booker T called it the anaconda choke, and Kidd tapped out so he didn't have to listen to Booker anymore…Zack Ryder was shown backstage, heading toward the ring for the "State of the Showski" address…

Shore's Slant: Very good match. It was one of those matches that didn't blow you away, but you could have watched for another 20 minutes and not been bored with it. Solid work from both men, and I hope Kidd isn't on any post-show talent dump.

[Q4][C] Zack Ryder made his ring entrance. Ryder said the ratings went through the roof last week when Triple H made him the assistant general manager. He said things were going to change, and Ezekiel Jackson's music cut him off.

Zeke came to the ring and said he was sure Zack thought he was going to rip his head off for booking him in a handicap match, but he wasn't. He said he just wanted to know why he put him in the match. They argued for a moment and then Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase came out.

Cody cut a promo and said he was going to take the title from Zeke and resurrect its image just like he resurrected DiBiase's career. Zeke said he knew what 'used' look like, and DiBiase was being used. Cody said Ted associated with him because that was associating with a future. He said he wanted Ted to get in the ring and beat the champ, if that was OK with Ted and the assistant General Manager.

Ryder said it was OK with him, but Teddy Long's music hit. He came to the ramp and danced, and Ryder mimicked him in the ring. Teddy said Ryder couldn't make a match because he wasn't the assistant GM, he was the assistant to the GM. He said Ryder couldn't make a match because he was going to be in a match with Zeke…

4. Ezekiel Jackson defeated Zack Ryder at 2:28. Ryder got in a few shots, but this was a squash. Teddy Long was shown watching backstage on a monitor. Zeke hit his body slams and locked in the torture rack for the win.

[Q5] Teddy Long smiled at Ryder's loss and told whoever knocked at his door to come in. He dropped his remote and bent over to pick it up. The camera panned up and showed Aksana from NXT Season 3 in a cat suit. She hit on Teddy in her hot ass accent and said she wanted to talk business with him. He gave her his card, and then wrote his personal number on the back when she asked for it. She said, "I can't wait to do business with you," and left…Mark Henry was shown heading toward the ring…[C]

Shore's Slant: NXT Season 3 was the one I watched almost none of, but wasn't Aksana blond back then? Ryder was better tonight, but we only got a minute or so from him. Be sure to read the spoilers to see what happened during the commercial break to Ryder.

5. Mark Henry defeated Vladimir Kozlov at 1:15. Kozlov went right at Henry and hit his three head-butts to the chest. He kicked Henry, and Henry came right back with a clothesline. He hit the world's strongest slam for the win. Post-match, he "broke" Kozlov's leg just like he did Kane's and Big Show's. Sheamus ran out with a chair and chased Henry from the ring. Kozlov took a stretcher away from the ring…John Morrison was shown backstage doing parkour to warm up…[C]

Shore's Slant: For those who don't know, they took Kozlov out back and dumped him in the parking lot. OK, not literally, but Kozlov was released earlier today.

[Q6] Backstage, Todd Grisham asked Sheamus about Mark Henry and Sheamus ran down Henry for putting people out. Isn't this the same guy who bragged for a year he put Triple H out? He said he had the luck of the Irish, which meant he had a 24k gold horseshow is his ass that he could whip out and beat Henry with. I quit listening after that…

6. Michael McGillicutty, David Otunga, and JTG defeated Trent Baretta and The Usos at 3:47. Jay and JTG started. Everybody got a run in the ring and then Otunga and McGillicutty hit a double team elbow drop for the win…[C]

Shore's Slant: Snooze fest of a match. I wonder how many of those guys are still employed in the morning.

[Q7] Johnny Curtis did another stupid vignette and said the writing was on the wall. A chalkboard said he would debut next week…A video recapped the unification match announcement on Raw…

Backstage, Matt Striker interviewed and asked him about trying to work with Triple H last week. Christian said that it was no surprise Hunter acted like he did because all the people on Smackdown wanted Orton to be their champion. R-Truth ran up and asked Christian if that meant it was a conspiracy. Christian said yes, and Truth said Christian sounded like Miz on Monday. He said he was a good R-Truth and tonight, Orton was gonna get got for what he did last week. Orton made his ring entrance…[C]

Back from commercial, a video hyped the return of Sin Cara next week…

Shore's Slant: So he was suspended for 30 days on July 19 and he'll be back on a show that's taped on August 9. Nice to know WWE's math has finally matched its logic.

7. Christian and R-Truth defeated Randy Orton and John Morrison at 15:07. Truth and Orton started and Truth went right at him, beating him down in the corner. Orton came right back and tagged Morrison. Truth ran and tagged Christian before diving out of the ring to avoid Morrison. Morrison went to work on Christian as the announce team went on and on about how Christian was the first ever to win the title on a DQ.

[Q8] Orton and Christian ended up in the ring and Christian fled into the crowd to avoid Orton…[C]

Shore's Slant: I will walk back what I sad earlier just a bit. The WWE version of the World Heavyweight Championship has never changed hands on a DQ until Christian did it, but it's not the first time a world championship has changed hands.

Back at 7:40, Morrison kicked both Truth and Christian. He went for the Chuck Kick and Truth pushed him over the top rope to the floor. Truth rolled him back in the ring and the heels worked in and out on Morrison. Christian missed a flying headbutt, but took out Orton to prevent a tag. Truth tagged in, but Morrison hit his new flipping STO and both men got tags.

Orton and Christian went back and forth in some great reversals. Christian tried for the Kill Switch, and Orton reversed into his backbreaker. Orton went for the punt kick, and Truth ran in. Morrison ran in and he and Orton took out Truth to the floor. Morrison hit a dive on Truth. Christian punched Orton and hit a drop kick through the ropes on Morrison. Orton kicked Christian and hit his rope DDT.

Orton stalked Christian but did not strike the viper pose. Truth ran in and Orton hit the RKO, Christian immediately hit the Kill Switch for the pinfall victory. Post-match, Christian ran from the ring and grabbed his title. He celebrated on the announce table while the announce team put over his pin, and then ran to the ramp where he kissed the title again and again to end the show…

Shore's Slant: Great TV main event. Morrison looked much better this week, and the rapid fire moves, especially between Orton and Christian, really set the stage well. The ending sequence is must see TV to be sure. This was a mediocre Smackdown that had some pretty good moments with the main vent and Bryan vs. Kidd. I'll have more to say tomorrow in the hitlist and member's exclusive audio. Thanks for reading and I'll see you then.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or tweet me @TheShoreSlant with whatever is on your mind.

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