Tonight's Smackdown comes to us live from the Tucson Arena in Tucson, AZ as Striker and Matthews welcome us to the show and the "Legacy Battle Royal" is already underway.
Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes wins The Legacy Battle Royal (featuring Ted DiBiase, Randy Orton, Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty, David Hart Smith, The Usos, Deuce, Goldust, Chavo Guerrero, Road Dogg, Terry Gordy Jr., Primo and Epico) last eliminating Randy Orton
The match boiled down to McGillicutty and Harris and the former members of Legacy. DiBiase and Rhodes dump out the Nexus members then Rhodes tosses DiBiase to narrow the field to two. Orton takes control, but DOLPH ZIGGLER appears on the titantron and he's taken "Cowboy" Bob Orton hostage. Ziggler threatens to put the senior Orton out of his misery for what The Viper did to him at the end of last week's show. Orton eliminates himself in pursuit of Ziggler, and heads up the ramp.
As it turns out, however, Ziggler had recorded the segment earlier in the day and was actually waiting behind the curtain for Orton to strike. Ziggler clips Orton's knee out from under him. Ziggler ultimately uses a steel chair extensively on both of Orton's knees before draping Orton's throat across the chair and guillotining the legs into the stage floor, leaving Orton coughing up blood on the stage. Ziggler gets a mic and whispers in Orton's ear as he writhes on the floor and tells him that in the event that he wins the World Title at the Rumble and ECW ends up with their own brand again, he'll not only take the title with him to RAW, he'll pawn the belt to ECW the following night on RAW Supershow. Ziggler stands defiant over his fellow challenger as we go to commercial.
Back from break and Theodore Long emerges to announce that for the first time in WWE History, the Royal Rumble PPV will be FOUR HOURS LONG to accommodate the presence of the ECW roster. Long advises the WWE Universe to order early for a special start time of 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time.
Muhammad Hassan interrupts and vows to win the Royal Rumble Match and go on to headline Wrestlemania where he'll inevitably win the World Heavyweight Championship on the Grandest Stage of them All. Long says he will not represent an organization that would have him as their World Heavyweight Champion and raises the stakes a little. Long says that in the rare event that Hassan does win the Royal Rumble, he'll walk out of World Wrestling Entertainment and leave his long held post as Smackdown General Manager. Long throws down the mic and storms out. Hassan looks confused and bewildered about what has just transpired, when suddenly Justin Roberts starts the introduction for the upcoming match and introduces Hassan's opponent for the evening--SHEAMUS.
Sheamus def. Muhammad Hassan
Hassan tries for the quick finish with Skullduggery, but Sheamus throws vicious back elbows to fight out and throws a unnerving Brogue Kick and follows up with a High Cross Powerbomb for the win.
Theodore Long is backstage with World Champion Bryan Danielson and informs the champion that David Otunga has filed an injunction to ensure that for their match tonight, Danielson has one hand tied behind his back to even the odds as Otunga is merely a legal advisor. Danielson agrees and ups the ante, saying he could beat Otunga with both hands tied behind his back and asks Teddy to make the stipulation. Long hesitantly concedes and makes the match for later tonight as we go to commercial.
The Royal Rumble recall features Kane's career outing in 2001, dumping 11 men over the top before being dumped by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Kane def. Booker T
Booker puts up a decent fight, but Kane is on the warpath. Kane sidesteps the Scissor Kick and wraps his gloved hand around Booker's throat, strangling him to the point of bringing him down to one knee before Chokeslamming the Hell out of the Five-Time WCW Champion for the duke. After the match, Kane chokes Booker T out by smothering his face with the gloved hand.
Striker and Matthews rehash the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012, which is growing quickly and currently features Randy Savage, Owen Hart, Edge, The Rock and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. The tribute video re-airs and we learn Demolition joined the ranks this past Monday with a new Hall of Famer to be named the night after the Rumble.
Wade Barrett is heading toward the ring for his Royal Rumble warm-up match as we go to our next break.
Wade Barrett def. Kaval
Basic Barrett match here. Kaval got a really good flurry of strikes in, but Barrett eventually overpowered his much smaller opponent and polished off the World Warrior with Wasteland for the win.
Striker and Matthews run down the final card for the Royal Rumble this Sunday.
Chavo Guerrero and The Hurricane are heading to the ring for a Cruiserweight showdown coming up NEXT!
Chavo Guerrero def. The Hurricane
Hurricane attempts Shining Wizard, but Chavo rolls away and sends the resident superhero crashing into the turnbuckles. Chavo finishes the match with a Gory Bomb, but decides he’s not done. Continuing the onslaught, the beatdown is interrupted by a DEBUTING JAY LETHAL. Lethal stuns Chavo with a Handspring Back Elbow and a Lethal Injection before landing a Diving Elbow Drop to a HUGE pop. A “Randy Savage” chant rolls through the arena as Lethal plays to the crowd in his new home.
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase backstage. Apparently everyone is in a high-risk mood after last week’s visit to Las Vegas, as DiBiase cons Rhodes into agreeing to make their match tonight for the Intercontinental Championship.
Sin Cara def. Hunico
Another decent Cruiser match that ends with Sin Cara countering Hunico’s Diving Senton by rolling out of the way and rebounding with La Mistica for the submission victory.
Cameras rush backstage to discover Mark Henry and the Big Show engaged in a titanic brawl and fighting toward the ring. Chaos is reigning as Theodore Long among others attempt to restore order as we go to a frantic commercial break.
Big Show versus Mark Henry ended in a No Contest
WWE Officials restore order long enough to get the two behemoths in the ring and ring the bell, but it doesn’t last. Show and Henry continue brawling at ringside until Show finally clocks Henry with WMD and Chokeslams Henry through the Spanish Announce Table before lumbering to the back, still fuming.
Striker and Matthews extend a thank you to Volbeat for their song “A Warrior’s Call” for use as the theme of the 2012 Royal Rumble.
Cody Rhodes def. Ted DiBiase via Count out (Cody remains IC Champion)
DiBiase had an answer for everything that Rhodes threw at him, and would eventually fall victim to Dream Street. Unfortunately for the challenger, the impact sent Rhodes rolling to the outside of the ring.
As Ted struggles to lift Cody’s dead weight back into the ring, the ref reaches nine before Cody stealthily comes to life and rolls into the ring. The referee reaches ten before DiBiase can react and Rhodes remains champion.
Cameras pan backstage again, this time just in time to see a limo peeling out of the parking lot, clearly trying to avoid being caught as we go to break.
Daniel Bryan emerges for the main event and the ref proceeds to restrain his hands as per the stipulation, but Theodore Long tells Bryan that David Otunga has fled the arena with the keys to the handcuffs. Before Danielson has time to take appropriate action, ROB VAN DAM, SABU, CHRISTIAN, JACK SWAGGER and RHYNO storm the ring. Still restrained, Danielson falls victim to a Steel Chair to the face, a GORE, an Ankle Lock from Swagger and a Diving Headbutt from Christian before Van Dam connects with a Five-Star Frog Splash to complete the statement that they made on Monday Night. Dolph Ziggler saunters out to the ring, grabs the World Heavyweight Championship from the timekeeper and raises it in victory while standing over a decimated Danielson. The Rumble is 48 hours away and Ziggler is in firm command as we go to commercial.
The Undertaker surfaces in the final segment, having vowed to give CM Punk and Chris Jericho his answer last Monday night. The Deadman addresses the issue saying that for the last two decades, warriors, legends, icons and arguably some of the best of all time have stepped up to the plate at Wrestlemania, and all have inevitably failed. As it concerns who Taker is actually targeting in his effort to solidify a 20-0 streak on the Grandest Stage of Them All, he explains that all answers will come into focus on Sunday Night at the Royal Rumble, where he promises to remove all doubt to whom the Reaper has chosen to be his next victim.
Apparently, this response is not good enough for either Punk or Jericho, because both come storming down the ramp and demand an answer from Taker on the spot. Before the Phenom can open his mouth for another word, Punk and Jericho collaborate on a beatdown of the Last Outlaw. This draws out the entire Smackdown roster to fight off the RAW invasion, which in turn pulls out the RAW Rumble participants and the melee is on. Amidst the confusion, Punk pulls Jericho from the throng of brawlers and drops the unsuspecting challenger with the GTS. Punk rolls from the ring with the WWE Championship in tow, telling Jericho that the score is now even at 1-1 as Smackdown goes off the air.
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