Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 24, 2012

Dolph Ziggler attacks World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.

Decent opening segment featuring SmackDown General Manager Booker T, Alberto Del Rio, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and Randy Orton. We've been seeing the same people open the show for weeks now, so it's grown repetitive. Nonetheless, it set up the main event nicely and reintroduced Orton into the World title picture.

Fine match between Ryback and Jinder Mahal. Mahal was able get in some offense before being ultimately squashed by Ryback, so at least he didn't like completely weak. The feud has served its purpose in giving both Superstars something to do for awhile, but it's time to move forward and allow Ryback to feud with a more credible mid-carder that is legitimate competition.

Passable match with Divas Champion Layla defeating Alicia Fox. This contest was definitely better than most Divas matches we've usually accustomed to, but it wasn't anything too great. It gives Layla her first singles win in a very long time as far as I know and puts over her feud with Kaitlyn, who was on commentary for the match. Obviously, Eve isn't turning face, as she's more than likely acting nice in order to get a promotion or get a title shot for herself.

Typical match between Sin Cara and Heath Slater. It was everything you'd expect from these two, with Cara showing off his flashy offense and Slater on the receiving end of it all. Pleasant surprise with Slater going over, as it also helps progress the Rhodes-Cara feud going forward. I've been certainly liking what they've doing with Rhodes as of late, and hopefully this leads to a rematch between the two at Night of Champions or sometime soon.

Good match between World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler. Of course, we've seen this contest numerous times in the last few months, so it was nothing out of the ordinary. However, both guys worked hard and put on an entertaining match for the most part. Smart booking with Ziggler losing via disqualification and not by pin-fall, thus protecting him in the process. It also made Ziggler look strong following the bout by beating down the Celtic Warrior, which will only help his credibility. 

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Randy Orton battles Alberto Del Rio in the main event.

Meaningless promo from Santino Marella that made me feel dumber just watching it. I understand he was trying to put over the fact that he let himself down by losing the United States Championship at SummerSlam, but most of what he was saying made absolutely no sense whatsoever (which shouldn't come as a shocker to anyone). Thankfully, Antonio Cesaro saved the segment by attacking Santino on the stage and continuing his strong momentum. If WWE really wants to get him over as United States Champion, he should be featured on Raw as well.

Fun match with WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth defeating Primo and Epico. The victory didn't seem to mean all that much, but it's nice to see some focus put back on the division itself. The most intriguing part came after the bout, when five teams starting attacking one another backstage. I'd love to see more of this on a regular basis, where I hope to see a Tag Team Gauntlet match at Night of Championships for the WWE Tag Team titles.

Solid match with Alberto Del Rio defeating Randy Orton to once again become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. This bout was even better than their previous encounter on Raw, so I felt more entertained this time around. As I've said before, I'd love to see a future feud between the two, but only if this contest isn't done enough times where it starts to feel watered down. The most shocking part came when Orton tapped out to give Del Rio the clean victory, so that benefits Del Rio tremendously. It feels like Ziggler has attempted to cash in one too many times now, but he'll probably do it sooner rather than later. I have no problem with Orton delivering an RKO to Ziggler shortly thereafter, as that probably signals an awesome upcoming feud between the two.

Overall, another good show that featured some nice fallout from SummerSlam while also building a variety of feuds for Night of Champions. Nothing was all that memorable on this show, but it was enjoyable for what it was worth and the two hours felt like they flew by quickly. 

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