10 Biggest Talking Points From WWE SmackDown (Aug 16)
5. So Close, Yet So Far
As set up by a backstage segment at the very beginning of the show, Randy Orton was in action against Heath Slater. As with all of Slater's recent matches, if he won, he'd get a contract.
Orton decimated Slater, beating him from pillar to post, and then giving him the elevated DDT outside the ring. He also mocked Brock Lesnar, pulling Slater back in the ring and giving him two German suplexes before hitting the RKO. In all the chaos, though, Orton was disqualified for not breaking on the referee's order. That made Slater the winner.
Backstage, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan presented a woozy Slater with a Smackdown contract. "The One Man Band" was so disoriented, though, that he confused Bryan for Mick Foley. That seemed to amuse Shane, but when Slater confused him for Stephanie, he took the unsigned contract away.
Seemingly having Slater reach his goal only to see it get pulled away was amusing, but given the end result, it might have made more sense just to have Orton win. On the plus side, "The Viper" was really great, and SummerSlam looks to be a treat.