Friday Night SmackDown Review - July 22, 2011

Randy Orton sitting in the chair to open the chair seemed to be mimicking Punk's familiar tactics. The intensity between himself and Christian was decent, but stale seeing it's what we've been seeing for weeks.

Contrary to what some have stated, I believe Christian's match with Ezekiel Jackson wasn't half bad. We've seen them work before in ECW, and Zeke seems to being improving nicely for my taste. The finish was unexpected, but I'm glad the World Champion was able to pick up a clean win. Some hype for a champion vs. champion match would have been nice though.

I was surprised and glad to see Daniel Bryan to announce that he will be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase at the upcoming WrestleMaina 28 event. However, I surely hope WWE doesn't drop the ball by having him lose the briefcase before then similar to Mr. Kennedy a few years ago. Anyways, the action that followed was solid, but Heath Slater's character can't be taken seriously. He is horrible on the mic, and has that low rent look that does nothing for him. It's time to change his gimmick or release him altogether.

Usually, heel vs. heel matches aren't the best booking due to the fact that the audience has no one to cheer. Despite that, the fans seemed pleased with the action, especially with the brawling chemistry between the two. Sheamus seemed to win over the fans more, so it will be interesting to see if he goes face given the lack of faces on the brand. The program looks fun and could produce 

An awesome main event delivered from Randy Orton and Kane, who were given a great amount of time and used the Street Fight stipulation to their advantage. Given the right opponent, Kane can really work, and the final five minutes had intense suspense and had the Big Red Monster looking strong in defeat. I was pleasantly surprised to see Christian not interfere, and the Mark Henry segment that followed makes the World Strongest Man looking like the beast of the company.

Overall, a very enjoyable episode of SmackDown. Although there were only four matches contested, each bout was given a lengthy amount of time and served a purpose. There was no pointless Divas match to disrupt the show, but I was confused as to why the advertised Intercontinental Championship match never occurred nor was it explained. Nonetheless, hopefully the World Title picture can start fresh and heat up going into SummerSlam.