The 615th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, IA. One week after taking advantage of an unintentional distraction by Randy Orton that would ultimately cost Christian another shot at the World Heavyweight Title, “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus would challenge Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Title on SmackDown! Not only would the World Heavyweight Title be up for grabs, but the Intercontinental Title would also be on the line as, in an Over The Limit rematch, “The Personification of Domination” Ezekiel Jackson would challenge Corre member Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental Title!
Match Results
- Christian def. Mark Henry by pin following the Killswitch.
- Tamina & Alicia Fox def. Kaitlyn & A.J. by Tamina pinning A.J. following a Samoan Drop.
- Jinder Mahal (in his in-ring debut) def. Yoshi Tatsu by pin following a full nelson side slam.
- Intercontinental Championship: Ezekiel Jackson def. Wade Barrett (c) (with Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel) by intentional count-out. Wade Barrett (c) retains.
- Daniel Bryan def. Ted DiBiase (with Cody Rhodes) by submission to the LeBell Lock.
- World Heavyweight Championship: Special Referee- Christian: Randy Orton (c) (with Christian) def. Sheamus by pin following the RKO to retain.
Detailed Results
One week after narrowly losing the #1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match in what was his final chance to get an opportunity at the World Heavyweight Title, SmackDown would kick off with two of the three competitors in last week’s Triple Threat Match as “Captain Charisma” Christian would go one-on-one with “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry! At the end of a hard-fought match, it was the quickness and resiliency of Christian reigning supreme as “Captain Charisma” would manage to plant Mark Henry with the Killswitch en route to picking up a big win!
After an impressive victory over Mark Henry, Christian would state that his victory was a “huge victory” for him, it is not the “victory” he was “looking for” because Sheamus is challenging Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Title on SmackDown and he feels like it should be his title shot! Christian would then present the footage from last week that shows that he had the match won, but an inadvertent distraction by Randy Orton would delay the referee’s count, allowing Sheamus to kick out and ultimately blast Christian with the Brogue Kick en route to winning the match! Christian continues that he has Sheamus “beat” for what seemed like an “eternity” and he does not “blame” the referee, but he thinks he deserves “one more chance” to become the World Heavyweight Champion! Christian is then interrupted by the General Manager of SmackDown Theodore Long, who agrees with Christian and says that Christian was a “victim of circumstance” before Christian does what the GM did last week by taking a poll of the WWE fans over who they would rather see Randy Orton defend the World Heavyweight Title against, him or Sheamus, with the fans overwhelmingly supporting Christian, but Theodore Long says that he “cannot” do that! Christian would then pitch the idea of a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Title with Randy Orton defending the gold against both Sheamus and himself, but the GM would deny Christian again, citing that Sheamus earned his title shot last week, but to avoid creating another “victim of circumstance”, Christian will serve as the Special Referee for the World Heavyweight Title match! Despite defeating Mark Henry and pleading with the General Manager, Christian continues to be denied another rematch against Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Title, but what will happen when Christian serves as the Special Referee for the World Heavyweight Title match between Randy Orton and Sheamus?
One week after the new team of NXT Season Three winner Kaitlyn and NXT Season Three Rookie Diva A.J. failed to pick up the win in their tag team debut, the manager of the new duo, Natalya, would be in the corner of Kaitlyn & A.J. as they would face Tamina & Alicia Fox, with Rosa Mendes in their corner! In the end, it was Tamina hitting the Samoan Drop on A.J. en route to picking up the win for herself and Alicia Fox! How will Natalya respond to her protégés losing two weeks in a row?
One week after tapping out to the LeBell Lock of Daniel Bryan before assaulting Bryan and placing a bag over the former United States Champion’s head, Cody Rhodes would appear on SmackDown as they say that “winning isn’t everything” and people who say that are “losers” before saying that “statistics” state that Daniel Bryan won last week, but they are “wrong” because Daniel Bryan was laid out with a bag over his head, so he “lost”! Rhodes continues that Daniel Bryan looks “less like a WWE Superstar” and “more like a member of the paying audience” because he is a “loser” before Rhodes instructs his assistants to hand out paper bags to the fans! Rhodes continues that he will “never” sit in the audience and watch Daniel Bryan do anything, but Daniel Bryan will sit in the audience and watch him become a World Heavyweight Champion with a bag over his head just like the fans will!
Backstage, Matt Striker shows The Great Khali footage of Khali’s confrontation with Jinder Mahal that ends with Khali turning on his brother, Ranjin Singh, as Khali would destroy Singh with the Khali Vise Grip! Striker would ask Khali about what happened last week, but Jinder Mahal would interrupt and tells Striker that, if he wants to talk to Khali, he will talk to Jinder Mahal! Jinder then tells Khali that they need to “lead by example” and make mention of “Jinder Mahal’s kingdom” before stating that he will take his “first step towards immortality”!
After weeks of abuse has led to his apparent control over The Great Khali, Jinder Mahal would make his in-ring debut on SmackDown as Mahal would go one-on-one with Yoshi Tatsu! In the end, it was Jinder Mahal picking up a dominant and impressive victory over Yoshi Tatsu as Mahal would plant Tatsu with a full nelson side slam en route to picking up the win in his debut match! After the match, Jinder Mahal would bark the orders at The Great Khali for Khali to lock in the Khali Vise Grip on Yoshi Tatsu, leaving Tatsu laid out in the middle of the ring! Now that he has this control over The Great Khali, can anyone stop Jinder Mahal?
Then it was time for the Intercontinental Title to be on the line as, one week after showing his dominance by combatting all three members of The Corre, “The Personification of Domination” would challenge Corre member Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental Title in a rematch from Over The Limit! During the match, Ezekiel Jackson would knock Wade Barrett to the outside of the ring and Ezekiel would start to pursue Barrett to the outside, but Corre members Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel would come out and would get on the apron of the ring, which would keep Ezekiel Jackson at bay long enough for Wade Barrett to get himself counted out to retain the Intercontinental Title! After the match, The Corre would regroup on the outside of the ring before Wade Barrett would appear to lead the charge in another attack on Ezekiel Jackson, but as Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel slide into the ring, Barrett puts on the brakes and leaves Slater & Gabriel high and dry to be dominated by Ezekiel as the big man sends Slater & Gabriel packing! Why did Wade Barrett send Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel to fight Ezekiel Jackson while he walked away from his Corre teammates?
Backstage, Sheamus would confront the Special Referee for his World Heavyweight Title match, Christian, as Sheamus states that he would be “more than honored” to have competed in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Title! Christian responds by saying that he better hope to do a “better job” against Randy Orton than he did just “lying” to his face! Christian would then tell Sheamus that he should worry “less” about his job as Special Referee because he plans on calling it “right down the middle”, but Sheamus should be worried about Randy Orton!
One week after picking up a big win over Cody Rhodes only to get laid out after the match by Rhodes, “The American Dragon” Daniel Bryan would go one-on-one with “The Fortunate Son” Ted DiBiase! During the match, Cody Rhodes would make his second appearance of the night as Rhodes would come out with his bag-toting assistants! At the end of hard-fought match, it was Daniel Bryan countering Dream Street and locking in the LeBell Lock on Ted DiBiase, forcing DiBiase to tap out to pick up another big win! Immediately after the match, Cody Rhodes would attack Daniel Bryan and Ted DiBiase would join in as Rhodes & DiBiase would stomp away at Bryan, but Bryan would get an unlikely assist at the hands of Sin Cara as “The International Sensation” would rush out and send both Rhodes & DiBiase packing out of the ring! How will Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase respond to Sin Cara’s involvement?
Backstage, the winner of NXT Season Four, Johnny Curtis, would appear and state that, as the winner of NXT, he was “promised” a WWE Tag Team Title match with his WWE Pro which was, in his case, R-Truth! Curtis then states that is “not going to happen” before saying that he is going to do what a WWE Superstar does before Curtis pours milk into a bowl before mock crying and spilling the bowl before dumping milk on his own head, symbolically “crying over spilled milk”!
Then it was time for the main event as, after using an unintentional distraction by Randy Orton to pick up the win in a Triple Threat #1 Contender’s Match, “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus would challenge Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Title with the former World Heavyweight Champion, Christian, serving as the Special Referee! During the match, Randy Orton would escape from the High Cross of Sheamus and would go for the RKO, but Sheamus would shove Orton, but Orton would stop just short of colliding with the referee! Sheamus would then run at Orton, but Orton would narrowly get out of the way, causing Sheamus to collide with Christian! Sheamus would then blast Randy Orton with the Brogue Kick and go for the pin, but Christian would refuse to count the three, feigning an arm injury! This would lead to Sheamus confronting Christian as Christian would deliver a right hand to Sheamus, spinning Sheamus around and right into the RKO of Randy Orton en route to Orton successfully retaining the World Heavyweight Title! After the match, Christian would raise the hand of Randy Orton, but after Orton turned around, Christian would ready himself and, when Orton turned his attention to Christian, Christian would blast Orton with a title belt shot to the skull of the World Heavyweight Champion! Christian would then hold the World Heavyweight Title belt over Orton and scream that he knows that he can “beat” Orton before Christian would leave the ring with the World Heavyweight Title belt while referees tend to the fallen Randy Orton! What will be the ramifications of Christian not only costing Sheamus the World Heavyweight Title, but blasting Randy Orton with the title belt and leaving with the gold?
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