Friday Night SmackDown Review - July 20, 2012

The returning Rey Mysterio delivers a 619 to Dolph Ziggler.

Effective opening segment featuring the returning Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. Mysterio delivered a nice comeback speech, and having Alberto Del Rio interrupt and talk about how he injured him a year ago was logical and a good reminder for those that may have forgotten. Ziggler and Sheamus also played their roles well and successfully set up the main event for the night.

Enjoyable eight man tag team match with Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Hunico and Camacho defeating WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth, and Primo and Epico. Everyone's styles meshed nicely and made for an entertaining contest. It also was able to involve all of the tag team rivalries occurring right now. Cool finish with Young picking up the victory for his team and smart move by having the heels go over, who desperately needed momentum. I understand the sense in Big Show's attack by having him regain lost heat from the past week, but was it really necessary to destroy the tag team division and make them feel meaningless in the process?

Brief match with Damien Sandow defeating Zack Ryder. I would have liked to see more from these two, but what we got instead was very physical and aggressive from both men. I like the idea of putting over Sandow as a dominant heel, but his matches need to be longer if they're going to mean anything. I've enjoyed this feud between Ryder and Sandow, but it seems as if this match might have been the end of it.

Intriguing Peep Show segment featuring Intercontinental Champion Christian, Daniel Bryan and AJ. Christian did an excellent job in getting the crowd to hate Bryan and AJ as a couple, which was a missing element on Monday's Raw. They could finally become the dastardly couple I hoped they'd be earlier this year, so getting heat on both of them is smart booking. I hope to see a feud between Christian and Bryan at some point, preferably over the Intercontinental title, but nothing was really foreshadowed here during this segment.

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Christian welcomes Daniel Bryan and AJ on the Peep Show.

Good match between Daniel Bryan and Kane. We've seen them work together a handful of times before, so there was nothing new here. I liked the fact that they tied in Kane's former relations with AJ into this match to have it make sense, but I'm hoping this isn't leading to a feud between the two. I'd much rather see Bryan and AJ move on to something new. The disqualification finish was predictable, but it at least protected both competitors. AJ attacking Kane was interesting, and she can be Bryan's excuse for losing matches going forward.

Fun segment with Road Warrior Animal squashing Heath Slater. Animal's return was a nice surprise and the contest was short and sweet. Animal looked great in the ring, while Slater continues to impresses me in his role of losing to Legends.

Solid main event match with World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and Rey Mysterio defeating Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler by disqualification. Mysterio looked very fluid in the ring for someone who hasn't competed in nearly a year, while everyone else provided decent action as well. I could've done without the non-finish, but it kept heat on Del Rio without having to be pinned. The focus was kept on Mysterio, which is a good thing to see since it was his first night back in action as well as being in his hometown.

Overall, a pretty good show that was a nice fallback from last Sunday's Money in the Bank and successfully provided hype for Monday's Raw 1000. The action as a whole was decent and the promos were also very effective. This show wasn't spectacular, but nothing during the two hours was terrible either.

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