8-12-11 Smackdown results & thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the August 12, 2011 episode of Smackdown

The show starts with Triple H coming to the ring and announces Ezekiel Jackson vs. Cody for the IC Title, Randy Orton vs. Great Khali and the battle of the Money in the Bank winners Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio for tonight. Christian then comes out and says that he is threatening to sue WWE because of Orton’s anger issues and that having the no holds barred match at SummerSlam is an unsafe working environment for Christian and that he wants Triple H to take stip out of the match. Triple H says the match will take place and that it will be no holds barred and if Christian decides not to face Orton, he will fire him for being in breach of contract. Triple H says that he doesn’t like Orton but he does respect him, and he doesn’t respect Christian and neither do the fans because of how he won the World Title. He tells Christian to face Orton and earn the respect. Triple H walks out but Christian stops him and says that he will face Orton Sunday and that he wants to know who he’s facing tonight. Sheamus’ music plays and he comes out setting up the first match for the show.

Sheamus vs. World Champion Christian. Sheamus wins by count out when Christian purposely gets himself counted out. This was a good match.

Kaitlyn & AJ vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya. Beth & Natalya win when Beth pins AJ. After the match Natalya puts Kaitlyn in the Sharpshooter.

Teddy Long & Zack Ryder are backstage and Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase, Jr. come in and they thank Ryder for giving Cody an IC Title match (even thought Triple H made it). Long says it wasn’t Ryder who made the match and then Aksana comes in, Long stumbles over a few words and walks out.

Johnny Curtis is backstage and Mark Henry shows up and tells him that it’s a shame that his first match will also be his only match because he is facing Henry. Henry says that he liked the vignettes that Curtis was doing with the corny expressions and that he had a saying for him. “Break a leg.”

Sin Cara 2 vs. Tyson Kid. Cara 2 gets the pin. This was good back and forth match too. The announcers mentioned that Cara looked more muscular.

Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio. Alberto wins by submission. This was a real good back and forth match. After the match Wade Barrett comes in and gives Daniel the Waste land.

Intercontinental Champion Ezekiel Jackson vs. Cody Rhodes for the Title. Cody gets the pin to become the new champion. This match was also good. After the match Ted puts a bag over Zeke’s head, then Zeke comes to and clobbers Ted.

Matt Striker interviews Randy Orton backstage and Orton says that he is ready for Christian and that he will keep everything simple for Khali and that Khali won’t need a Rosetta stone or Jinder Mahal to translate the meaning of RKO.

Johnny Curtis vs. Mark Henry. Henry gets the pin. After the match Henry gets a chair and was about to break Curtis’ ankle with the second rope splash but Sheamus comes out and Henry bails. Sheamus gets the mic and says that all he hears from Mark Henry is how tough he is, but every time Sheamus out he runs. Sheamus calls him “Shamu” and tells him to get back in the ocean. Henry makes like he’s going to face Sheamus but he hit Curtis and walks out. The match was a squash but the post match promo from Sheamus was good.

Randy Orton vs. Great Khali. Orton gets the pin. After the match Christian come out and says that Sunday everything is about to change and mentions that anything goes and that he now the best thing going.

I thought this was a good show overall and they did a decent job in the final hype for the SummerSlam build. The best matches were Cara 2-Kidd and Bryan-Del Rio.