WWE Smackdown Review - 19/8/11 - Mark Henry Wins Battle Royal To Face Randy Orton

The Big News: Mark Henry eliminated Sheamus and Sin Cara to win a number one contenders battle royal, Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan engaged in a terrific tussle and Cody Rhodes defended his Intercontinental Title in a rematch with Ezekiel Jackson. They aired a SummerSlam video package capturing images of Orton defeating Christian for the world heavyweight championship. Teddy Long was out in the ring to announce Randy Orton as the NEW World Heavyweight Champion. Randy Orton celebrated with his title and then cut a dull promo talking about how fans had become so used to seeing Christian at the beginning of Smackdown whining each week but he assured everyone that he is not Christian, his name is Randy Orton and he is the NEW World Heavyweight Champion. Good of him to clear all that up for us. He said that he used to respect Christian but came to despise him and gave him such a beating at SummerSlam that he is currently unable to walk let alone turn up on tonight€™s show before confirming that the feud is now over. Now I like the fact that Orton is a rather psychopathic face who talks and acts more like a heel but he could have at least put over how much Christian had pushed him over the previous few months so that fans can still respect the former champions worth as he moves away from the title scene. Anyway Orton turned to Long for new blood and the Smackdown General Manager responded by telling him that the next contender to the throne would be the winner of a 20 man over the top rope battle royal scheduled for tonight€™s main event. This brought out Cody Rhodes and his lackey Ted Dibiase. Rhodes got on the mic and reminisced with Orton about the time the three of them were in Legacy together when himself and Dibiase were basically Orton's whipping boys. He said that a lot has changed since then however as he now wears gold just like Orton but he is not content in just being the Intercontinental Champion, he wants in on the battle royal for a chance to fight for the World title. Rhodes handed the mic to Ted who was just making a point about how he knew about Orton's strengths and weaknesses when he was hit with an RKO out of nowhere. Guess Poor Ted hadn't done his homework after all. Orton left the ring with a sadistic smile as a devastated Rhodes demanded that Long did something to discipline the poor behaviour of the new World Champ. Instead however Long said that with Dibiase now decapitated, Rhodes would have to take his place in a match against Ezekiel Jackson where he would be defending his Intercontinental Championship. Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Ezekiel Jackson via pinfall to defend his Intercontinental Championship Solid but pathetically brief re-match from their title clash last week. Jackson showed great aggression in his initial beat-down of Rhodes hitting him with a spinning side walk slam and some nasty blows into the corner. On the outside Jackson threw Rhodes over the steel steps but Rhodes drop kicked the steps into his opponents knee and continued the onslaught back inside the ring connecting with a vicious knee from the ropes and hitting the Cross Rhodes for the pinfall. ** Backstage a delighted Zak Ryder informed Teddy Long that WWE champion Alberto Del Rio was on his way to Smackdown just as Teddy Long had requested. Long was annoyed however because when he made the invitation he had anticipated that the Champion would be either Punk or Cena. They were interrupted by Askana who indulged in more lewd flirtatious wordplay with Teddy Long. They played the video package of Justin Gabriel returning home for the WWE tour of South Africa. Match: Justin Gabriel defeated Tyson Kidd via pinfall Considering the time allocated this was a fantastic tussle. Match began with a fluid leapfrog rope running sequence before Kidd took advantage with an armbar. He followed this up with a hurracarana and a dropkick before Gabriel fought his way out a headlock and connected with a spin kick and then proceeded to run wild with a roaring elbow and a springboard before countering a submission attempt into an STO take-down. After blocking a superplex he then landed the 450 splash for the pinfall. Crowd was mostly dead but the wrestling was really tight. ** ½ Backstage interview with Jinder Mahal and Khali. Mahal basically put the giant in his place by saying that the focus was on them both helping him win the battle royal later tonight. Alberto Del Rio came out to greet the fans and cut another effectively slimy promo. He talked about how his destiny had finally come to fruition and how it was funny that a year ago he made his debut on Smackdown by defeating Rey Mysterio and then one year later he was doing the same thing again. Just to drive the point home he replayed the footage from Raw in which he defeated Rey Mysterio to defend his title. Del Rio then told the fans that he wanted to be a real champion who accepts challenges from everyone and questioned if there was anyone backstage who was man enough to face him. Daniel Bryan came out and told Del Rio that he won the title in a pathetic manner and said that he wasn't anything special at all before walking down towards the ring to accept his open challenge. Match: Alberto Del Rio defeated Daniel Bryan via submission (MATCH OF THE NIGHT) This was the complete opposite of their match last week in which Daniel Bryan was made to look completely out of his element. On this week's show a back and forth tussle took place with the crowd firmly behind Bryan and solidly against the heel World Champion. Del Rio effectively worked the arm to start but Bryan rallied back with a flurry of nasty looking kicks, a flying forearm and a running knee dive to the outside. Work-rate was of a very high standard throughout as the finish saw Bryan attach himself onto his opponent for the Guillotine choke only for Del Rio to use his wits to ram Bryan into the corner and then land a snap supplex before immediately transitioning into the cross armbar for the element of surprise. Bryan tapped way too early again for a man whose supposed to be a submission expert but this was still a very high quality tussle that got the crowd invested through its smoothness and great selling. *** ½ Post-match Del Rio locked Bryan in the cross armbar before Sin Cara came out to make the save. Backstage interview with Mark Henry who said that with his recent path of destruction he shouldn't have to qualify for anything. Regardless however in the Battle Royal he promised to continue his physical onslaught in order to establish himself as the number one contender for the world heavyweight title. Divas Tag Match: Kelly Kelly and AJ defeated Natalya and Alicia Fox via pinfall Natalya was great here. She was impressively brutal in her beat-down of AJ to start and then showed real character as she instructed Fox to finish her off each time she tagged her in. AJ was also impressive as the face in peril as she made some fleeting, eye grabbing comebacks only to be knocked down again by her stronger opponents. She eventually managed to get the hot tag to Kelly Kelly who landed a horrible lou thez press on Fox, ran the ropes at two miles an hour and then took her opponent to the ground with a clumsily executed bulldog. She then won with her Rocker Dropper finisher. Kelly's weak offence looked even worse coming straight after a very authentic beat-down. * 1/2 Post-match a frustrated Natalya knocked Fox off the apron and then executed a sharpshooter on the outside before walking off up the ramp with a satisfied grin. Being a heel definitely suits her. Match: Mark Henry won a 20 Man Battle Royal to become the no 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship Sin Cara, Wade Barrett, Mark Henry and Sheamus received individual entrances and sure enough were the four men remaining in the ring at the end. During the match, Henry was knocked under the bottom rope by Sheamus and the worlds strongest man remained on the outside whilst the other three major contenders helped eliminate the remaining competitors. When various superstars were eliminated Henry then took it upon himself to deliver some severe beat-downs including an awesome spot where he sent one of the USO boys flying onto the announce table causing the monitors to nearly come of out of their sockets. This came off really well and pretty much earnt the match an extra star on its own merit. When it was down to the final four, Sheamus took out Barrett with a kick to the skull as both men fought precariously on the outside of the rope, the Irishman then struggled to eliminate Sin Cara who used his rope expertise to valiantly make a string of near saves before Henry used the distraction to throw Sheamus over the top rope. It came down to Sin Cara and Mark Henry and despite taking down the big man with a crossbody, Henry soon proved to be powerful for the high flyer and threw his opponent overboard after delivering a worlds strongest slam. *** VERDICT: This was a very good show that effectively made Mark Henry look like a monster who could be a big threat to Randy Orton's title. The crowd reacted well to the vicious beat-downs he delivered during the battle royal and from a booking perspective it can't be argued that a fine job has been done of building up Henry as a major destructive force. Hopefully this will lead to some sort of hardcore match between Orton and Henry at the next PPV as this is an environment in which both men could help to craft a very atmospheric spectacle. Orton's loose cannon personality colliding with Henry's no-nonsense, destruction could result in fireworks if done properly. There was also some strong in ring work on this show. They're doing a good job of portraying Alberto Del Rio as a fighting champion and if he keeps on regularly winning clean and vaingloriously gloating about his victories then his character should crawl even further under the crowd's skin. His match with Daniel Bryan on this show was the perfect example of how to maintain the champions credibility whilst also promoting the skills of the challenger. Certainly Bryan lost nothing by taking a clean pinfall after such a tough, evenly fought contest. On the downside, it was a shame to see an Intercontinental Title match last under five minutes especially when they could be making this belt seem really worth something by simply letting the champion Cody Rhodes and various other superstars such as Jackson, Sin Cara, Wade Barrett, William Regal, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd both challenge the champion on a regular basis and compete in various number one contenders match ups. There is strength in the Smackdown midcard to make this title mean something again and to gradually groom certain midcard talent towards the main event scene. Overall though a solid show that definitely benefited from already having certain matches arranged as opposed to Hunter spending twenty minutes stood in the ring announcing them. SUPERSTAR OF THE NIGHT: He doesn't really deserve another main event run but nonetheless Mark Henry is really starting to blossom in his current monster role and sold himself really well on this show. He cut a fine promo and was super intense in the battle royal. MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: The announce table spot. It was beautifully chaotic and effectively got the crowd riled up.