Tonight's WWE Smackdown emanates live from Verizon Arena in Little Rock, AR as Josh Matthews and Matt Striker welcome us to the show. Striker hypes up Teddy Long's social experiment between the contenders for the World Heavyweight Championship, who will team up to take on Sheamus, who will be tested by being forced to team with Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes. Also on the docket are the Cruiserweight Championship and five more superstars will qualify for the Royal Rumble Match.
Theodore Long enters and explains that he has been coerced by the WWE Board of Directors into inviting some of the ECW defectors to the show tonight, as Paul Heyman has elected a field of ten to determine which five will be the representatives for ECW in the qualifying matches at the Royal Rumble and the first match is set to take place right now.
Christian enters and glares at Teddy Long as he makes his way from the stage to the entrance ramp, bound and determined to represent ECW in both the qualifying matches and eventually the Royal Rumble Match. He enters to a new mix on his theme that includes the intro from his old “At Last” theme. Ezekiel Jackson is out next and the match is underway as ECW's two most recent champions go at it.
Christian def. Ezekiel Jackson to move on to the Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Jackson lifts Christian for the Torture Rack, but the crafty veteran rakes the eyes and drops into perfect position to drop Zeke with the Killswitch. Christian hits a Diving Headbutt for good measure and logs the three count. It is determined that in order to qualify for the Royal Rumble, Christian will have to get past Chris Masters at the show.
Muhammad Hassan and Jinder Mahal are backstage, engaged in a violent argument as Daivari and Jinder Mahal try to play mediator. Theodore Long comes up on the group and advises them that should any of the four of them get involved in The Great Khali’s qualifying match tonight, they will be fired on the spot.
Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes are at the door of Sheamus’ locker room, trying to curry favor with their perhaps-unwilling partner tonight, Sheamus tells them he can’t stand either one of them, but believes in the spirit of competition and loves spoiling for a great fight and has no intention of sacrificing a victory for the sake of petty nuisances such as themselves as we go to commercial.
The Big Show def. The Great Khali to qualify for the Royal Rumble
Surprisingly better match than expected in this titanic clash. Finish came as Big Show ducked a Brain Chop and came back with WMD to take down the Punjab Sequoia. After the match, all four men in Hassan’s camp ran down and Mahal, Daivari and Singh were all met with WMD and Hassan got a Show Stopper for his troubles.
Matt Striker updates the Royal Rumble Card which now includes The Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship, The 60-Minute Iron Man Match for the WWE Championship, The Rumble Match which we now know will feature Alberto Del Rio, The Big Show, John Cena, Alex Riley, Drew McIntyre and Santino Marella and a qualifying match between Christian and Chris Masters.
Randy Orton meets up with World Champion Bryan Danielson backstage and tells him that as a rule, he doesn’t play well with others, but that the champion can count on him to do the right thing in the main event tonight. Orton says that a problem still exists however, as Dolph Ziggler obviously still has his own agenda. Danielson advises Orton to keep an eye on him during the main event.
Chavo Guerrero def. Trent Barreta to qualify for the Royal Rumble
Great back and forth matchup. Finish comes as Barreta throws a Frankensteiner, but Chavo wisely counters and gets him into position and plants him with a Gory Bomb and a Frog Splash for the pin.
Theodore Long catches up with Bryan Danielson and reminds him that there’s a 30-day defend clause in his contract as World Champion and that he hasn’t defended the title since December 18. As a result, The GM has set up a World Heavyweight Championship Match next week on Smackdown against Wade Barrett. Danielson tries to refocus on the main event despite this huge announcement as we go to commercial.
The Hurricane def. Tajiri (Still Cruiserweight Champion) when Sin Cara interfered
Finish came when Hurricane ducked a Buzzsaw Kick, and draped Tajiri over the top rope. Sin Cara comes through the crowd and throws a nasty Pele’ Kick just out of the ref’s line of vision and jumps back through the crowd. The Hurricane drops his challenger with The Hurrichokeslam and picks up the three.
Theodore Long is the only man not fooled by Sin Cara’s cameo and opts to make an impromptu qualifying match on the spot, between Sin Cara and Tajiri to take place next.
Sin Cara def. Tajiri to qualify for the Royal Rumble
Sin Cara jumps up on the top rope and lands a High Angle Senton to pick up a two count. Tajiri locks in the Tarantula and refuses to break the hold, resulting in a disqualification.
Another Rey Mysterio promo runs on the titantron, this one says “Coming in Six Weeks”.
Ted DiBiase in Teddy Long’s office, the GM advises DiBiase that he can’t give him a shot at Cody Rhodes IC title for two weeks, because Cody’s qualifying match is next week and his qualifying match is next. Long tells DiBiase to head to the ring, and he’ll have an opponent ready for him. DiBiase leaves, frustrated, but understanding as we go to commercial.
Back from break and DiBiase waits in the ring for his qualifying match opponent. Much to his own surprise and to the surprise of many WWE fans in attendance, it’s a returning HARDCORE HOLLY.
Ted DiBiase def. Hardcore Holly to qualify for the Royal Rumble
Really good chemistry between these two. Match started only as Holly could start a match, by slapping the taste out of DiBiase’s mouth just as hard as he possibly could. DiBiase had the fans’ support, but Holly was WAY OVER with the crowd. After a decent back and forth contest, DiBiase picks up the win after countering the Falcon Arrow by falling into position to hit Dream Street for the three count.
A really confusing backstage promo featuring Mordecai saying that “The Ascent begins tonight” as The Pale Warrior rides down the Road to Wrestlemania. Mordecai in action, a Rumble spot on the line, NEXT!
Back from Break and Mordecai hits the ring, prepared to qualify for the Royal Rumble, unfortunately his opponent tonight---is The UNDERTAKER.
The Undertaker def. Mordecai to qualify for the Royal Rumble
Great Match. This may have easily been match of the evening. Mordecai had the fans believing by the time the match was over, nearly putting the Deadman away with a Rope Hung Stunner. Finish came when Taker countered an attempted Shoulderbreaker into the Tombstone for a three count.
Theodore Long backstage telling a clearly still injured Mark Henry that in order to qualify for the Royal Rumble match that he too will have to compete in a qualifying match, and that his match is next week. Henry rages, but can only do so much as he is in no condition to demonstrate his usual strength after the world-class beatdown that was put on him by Bryan Danielson at TLC.
Orton and Sheamus cross paths just prior to the main event. Orton tells Sheamus that he has no idea what Teddy Long plans to prove with this “Social Experiment” tonight, but that Sheamus shouldn’t expect him to let up tonight because he hates Sheamus less than Barrett and Rhodes and Orton says this knowing that Sheamus feels the exact same way. Sheamus tells Orton that he better hope he doesn’t come away from the Royal Rumble with the World Title, because he will win the Royal Rumble Match and take the belt from him at Wrestlemania. An intense staredown before Orton backs away with a devious smirk on his face and we go to our final commercial.
Wade Barrett, Sheamus and Cody Rhodes (w/William Regal)
def.
Randy Orton, Bryan Danielson and Dolph Ziggler
Sheamus was the easy favorite in this contest, despite his one-night-only alignments. Finish came as Danielson and Barrett brawled into the crowd and Orton chased Rhodes up the entrance ramp, leaving Ziggler alone with Sheamus. The Celtic Warrior catches The Show Off with another Brogue Kick and a High Cross to pick up the win.
Theodore Long emerges and tells Sheamus and Rhodes they will both have Rumble qualifying matches next week and Danielson and Barrett will go one-on-one for the World Heavyweight Championship, which leaves only Ziggler and Orton. So, in a return match from TLC, Orton and Ziggler will once again go at it next week, this time in a Texas Bullrope Match with the loser being ousted from the World Championship Match at the Royal Rumble. Ziggler returns to his feet and begins screaming at Teddy Long as Smackdown goes off the air.
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