Smackdown opens with a recap of Zack Ryder winning the Battle Royal last week to become the General Manager for tonight’s show. We see the Smackdown opening video and Josh Mathews welcomes us to the show from Denver, Colorado.
Zack Ryder comes to the ring. He welcomes everyone to the very first “Friday Night Zackdown.” He says his first order of business is to organize the world’s largest fist pump with the crowd, and he does. He says this will be the great Smackdown ever. Alberto Del Rio’s music hits and he comes out, along with Ricardo Rodriguez. Del Rio takes the microphone and says that Ryder is a bigger joke than Teddy Long. Del Rio says he will become the “real” World Champion this Sunday and will rule Smackdown. Ryder says someone wants to get their hands on Del Rio, and the match starts right now. Sin Cara’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring.
Match #1: Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. Sin Cara
Sin Cara starts the match off by pummeling Del Rio, but Del Rio comes back and takes control. Del Rio gets a couple of near falls on Sin Cara. Del Rio chokes Sin Cara on the middle rope and tosses him into the corner. Del Rio charges, but Sin Cara moves and stomps and punches Del Rio down into the corner. Sin Cara hits a DDT for a two count. Del Rio takes Sin Cara down with a back elbow and then gets a scoop slam for a two count. Del Rio charges at Sin Cara, but he moves and Del Rio goes through the ropes, which allows Sin Cara to kick him in the head. Sin Cara dives over the top rope and takes Del Rio down on the outside as we go to a commercial. We’re back and Sin Cara is still in control. He kicks Del Rio and goes for a cover, but only gets a two count. Sin Cara connects with a back elbow, but Del Rio comes back with a chop and a head butt to Sin Cara. Del Rio hits a shoulder breaker and goes for a cover, but Sin Cara kicks out at two. Del Rio works on Sin Cara’s arm and applies a submission. Sin Cara fights out, but Del Rio keeps control. Sin Cara comes off the ropes, but Del Rio catches him with a back breaker for a two count. Del Rio continues to work on Sin Cara’s arm and gets another two count. Del Rio applies the submission again, but Sin Cara fights out, but gets cut down again by Del Rio. Del Rio tosses Sin Cara into the corner, but Sin Cara comes back with a hurricanrana and knees to Del Rio’s face. Sin Cara hits a spinning DDT and goes for the cover, but Del Rio kicks out at two. Sin Cara goes up top and flips off, but Del Rio moves and quickly locks in the cross arm breaker submission for the victory. Winner: Alberto Del Rio.
We see a video of John Cena giving his favorite Raw moment. He says it was the day he was drafted to Raw in 2005. We see various fans’ favorite Raw moments as well.
We see Zack Ryder and Teddy Long backstage. Teddy says he is doing a great job. The Big Show walks in and says he is doing a terrible job and that he should be the GM. Show looks ready to punch Ryder, but The Great Khali walks in and Ryder makes a match between the two. Khali says, “Woo woo woo, you know it,” and we go to a commercial.
We’re back and we see a video package of the feud between The Prime Time Players and Epico and Primo, headlined by A.W.
Match #2: Darren Young (w/A.W. and Titus O’Neil) vs. Primo (w/Epico and Rosa Mendes)
They tie up and Primo backs Young into the corner. Young fights back and pushes Primo away and then they exchange blows. Young tosses Primo into the corner, but Primo comes back and takes Young down with a hurricanrana. Primo trips Young into the ropes and slides onto him and to the outside. Young comes back and slams Primo into the turnbuckle and gets a two count. Young smacks Primo’s chest and hits a leg drop on the apron of the ring. Young goes for a cover and gets a two count. Primo comes back with some punches, but Young knees him in the midsection and drops him with a neck breaker for a two count. Young grabs Primo and hits a leg drop and some drop chops, but Primo kicks out at two. Young gets Primo in a headlock, but Primo fights out and takes Young down. Primo chops Young and hits a cross body. Young rolls through it and picks Primo up, but Primo shoves him into the corner. Primo goes for the backstabber, but Young shoves him off. Young goes to grab Primo, but he rolls through and gets the pin fall on Young. Winner: Primo.
We see that we will take a look back at what transpired between A.J., CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan from this past Monday night on Raw as we go to a commercial.
We’re back and we see a memorable Raw moment. This time, it’s Edge’s retirement on April 11, 2011.
We go backstage and we see Sheamus talking with Zack Ryder. Chris Jericho walks in and says he can’t believe that Ryder is in charge tonight. Sheamus challenges Jericho to a match, but Jericho says no. Ryder says that’s a great idea and makes the match.
We are reminded that The Big Show and The Great Khali will go one-on-one tonight as we go to a commercial.
We’re back and we see a preview of the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match for this Sunday at Money in the Bank.
Match #3: Christian and Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero)
Christian and Rhodes start off the match and Rhodes takes Christian down. Rhodes punches and stomps Christian down to the mat, but Christian comes back and takes Rhodes down. Christian tags in Marella and Rhodes tags in Ziggler. Ziggler takes Marella down and then levels him again with a right hand. Ziggler charges Marella in the corner, but Marella goes up and over and takes control. Marella tags in Christian, who comes in and decks Ziggler with a right hand and then drapes him over the top rope and gets a two count. Ziggler comes back and clubs Christian down to the mat and tags in Rhodes. Christian slaps Rhodes across the faces and goes for a DDT, but Rhodes slams him to the mat for a two count. Rhodes tags in Ziggler, who hits a dropkick for a two count. Ziggler connects with a shot with his elbow and applies a headlock on Christian. Christian fights out, but Ziggler takes him down with a knee lift. Ziggler tags in Rhodes, who continues to work over Christian. Rhodes drops Christian with a face plant and gets a two count. Rhodes kicks Christian in the midsection and goes for the Alabama Slam, but Christian reverses and hits Rhodes with a flapjack. Marella and Ziggler get tagged in and Marella takes control with a hip toss and then he goes for the cobra sock. Rhodes comes back in and takes Marella down and Christian clotheslines Rhodes over the top rope. Ziggler hits the Zig Zag on Marella for the pin fall. Winners: Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes.
We see that we will revisit what happened between A.J., CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan from this past Monday on Raw next.
We see the Charlie Sheen/Social Media Ambassador promo again. It’s a little out-dated now as Sheen has deleted his Twitter account and WWE is looking for a new Social Ambassador.
We go back to Monday Night Raw and see the video of what went down between A.J., CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan.
Match #4: The Big Show vs. The Great Khali
Show backs Khali into the ropes and chops him, but Khali comes back with a chop of his own. Khali panders to the crowd and turns right around into a WMD Punch. Winner: The Big Show.
We are reminded that the main event tonight will be Chris Jericho vs. Sheamus as we go to a commercial.
We’re back and we see that Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Prime Time Players on the Pre-Show before Money in the Bank this Sunday night.
Match #5: Ryback vs. Tyler Reks (w/Curt Hawkins)
They tie up and Reks hits a couple of knees and stomps on Ryback in the corner. Reks comes off the ropes, but Ryback delivers a big boot to take him down and slams Reks’ head into the mat. Ryback tosses Reks to the outside and goes to get him, but Reks drapes him over the top rope. Reks charges, but Ryback takes him down with a toss. Ryback charges Reks, but Reks gets a boot up. Reks comes off the ropes, but Ryback hits a big clothesline. Ryback hits Shell Shocked for the pin fall. Winner: Ryback.
We are reminded of the Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho main event again as we go to a commercial.
We’re back and we see another Raw moment. This one was when Hugh Jackman hosted the show and leveled Dolph Ziggler with a right hand. We also see that The Rock will return to Raw in two weeks for the 1,000th episode. And then we see more fans’ favorite Raw moments.
Match #6: Damien Sandow vs. Justin Gabriel
They tie up and Gabriel takes Sandown down. Sandow comes back and takes control and takes Gabriel down with a Russian leg sweep. Sandow drops the elbow and applies a headlock. Gabriel fights out, but Sandow connects with a head butt. Gabriel comes back and connects with some kicks and charges in the corner. Sandow moves and delivers some knees to Gabriel and hits the neck breaker for the pin fall. Winner: Damien Sandow.
We go back to Raw and revisit when the Anonymous Raw General Manager was revealed to be Hornswoggle.
We see that Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho is up next as we go to a commercial.
We’re back and the announcers run down the final card for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view this Sunday.
Match #7: Chris Jericho vs. Sheamus
Sheamus backs Jericho into the corner before the referee separates them. Jericho slaps Sheamus and Sheamus clubs away on Jericho. Jericho gets to the outside and Sheamus goes out after him. Jericho gets back into the ring, but Sheamus hits his flying shoulder block and gets a two count. Sheamus knocks Jericho down and drops some knees and tosses Jericho into the corner. Jericho gets his boot up and hits a dropkick from the ropes for a one count. Jericho hits some elbows in the corner, but Sheamus reverses and connects with some knees to Jericho. Sheamus puts Jericho into the corner, but Jericho goes over the top rope. Sheamus gets Jericho and connects with his vintage ten clubbing blows and he knocks him into the announce table. Sheamus goes out after him and slams his head into the ring apron as we go to a commercial. We’re back and Jericho is in complete control of the match. Jericho had a headlock on Sheamus in the ring, but Sheamus fights out and punches Jericho in the midsection. Jericho runs shoulder-first into the ring post and Sheamus took him down to the mat. Sheamus hits the Irish Curse back breaker for a two count. Sheamus hits the plunge on Jericho for another two count. Jericho pokes Sheamus in the eyes and goes for the Code Breaker, but Sheamus fights back. Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, but Jericho moves and hits a dropkick on Sheamus. Jericho hits the Lionsault and goes for the cover, but only gets a two count. Sheamus hits a back breaker for a two count. Jericho applies the Walls of Jericho, but Sheamus quickly gets to the ropes. Sheamus goes for White Noise, but Jericho counters into the Walls again. Sheamus escapes and kicks Jericho off. Jericho charges, but Sheamus connects with White Noise for a two count. Sheamus sets up for the Brogue Kic, but Jericho ducks and hits the Code Breaker. Jericho goes for the cover, but only gets a two count. Sheamus kicks Jericho away and pulls himself up in the corner. Sheamus goes to the top rope and goes for his shoulder block, but Jericho countered with the Code Breaker. Jericho goes for the cover, but Sheamus kicks out at two again. Jericho gets up first and charges at Sheamus, but Sheamus counters with the Brogue Kick for the pin fall. Winner: Sheamus. After the match, Sheamus goes to the top of the ramp and Alberto Del Rio’s music hits. Del Rio’s car comes out and Sheamus looks at it, and Del Rio attacks Sheamus from behind. Del Rio kicks Sheamus off the stage and then applies the cross arm breaker on Sheamus on the stage as referees finally pull him off. Smackdown comes to a close with Del Rio looking down at Sheamus.
Quick Results:
1. Alberto Del Rio def. Sin Cara
2. Primo def. Darren Young
3. Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes def. Santino Marella and Christian
4. The Big Show def. The Great Khali
5. Ryback def. Tyler Reks
6. Damien Sandow def. Justin Gabriel
7. Sheamus def. Chris Jericho