Friday Night SmackDown Review - June 29, 2012

Newly appointed special guest referee AJ taunts Daniel Bryan.

Fine match between Divas Champion Layla and AJ. I was pleasantly surprised to see a Divas match open the show and it was a nice change of pace. The two ladies worked well, but nothing all that memorable. I'm glad they're holding off on putting AJ in the title picture just yet due to being involved with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Bryan's interference was logical as well and gave AJ an out for the loss.

Solid segment featuring Daniel Bryan, Vickie Guerrero, and AJ. Vickie is used to playing the annoying authority figure and played her role well as she was trying to be on her best behavior for the WWE Board of Directors. The poll that was shown felt random since not many fans were probably exposed to it and the ending result was never in doubt. Nevertheless, Bryan and AJ continue to be the most entertaining act on Friday nights.

Brief match with Damien Sandow defeating Zack Ryder to qualify for Money in the Bank. I'm glad Sandow has finally beaten someone with some legitimacy that it makes him looks more credible. The action was short, so I'm still waiting for the match that we get to see Sandow execute more than his usual move-set. It's great that they're inserting Sandow into the Money in the Bank since his act is extraordinarily awesome, but Ryder continues to flounder unfortunately.

Fun match between Tyson Kidd and Jack Swagger. Both Kidd and Swagger have amazing abilities and it was entertaining to see their styles mesh so easily. The bout was mostly Swagger selling Kidd's offense, but he did it in such a way that made this contest enjoyable. I'm very glad to see Kidd finally receiving his much deserved push and being able to qualifying for Money in the Bank.

Good tag team match with Intercontinental Champion Christian and United States Champion Santino Marella defeating David Otunga and Cody Rhodes to qualify for Money in the Bank. The match didn't really kick into high gear until the very end where all the false finishes got suspenseful. While I'm glad to see Christian in Money in the Bank, I'm not too high on leaving Rhodes out of it. Thankfully, Rhodes could always be added since he was arguing that he wasn't the one who was pinned, so there's always a chance he could be inserted at next week's SmackDown special.

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Intercontinental Champion Christian takes control of Cody Rhodes.

Typical squash match with Ryback dominating two local athletes. Nothing new to say here, it's the same old stuff. I do enjoy the fact that the crowd is chanting along with Ryback to his "Feed Me More" line, though. I'm hoping to see Ryback included in the Money in the Bank match, as he could play as an interesting counterpart to Tensai among others.

Decent match between Tensai and Justin Gabriel. Tensai looked better here than he has in the past, so it seems as if he's improving. I had hope that Gabriel was going to repeat what Kidd did earlier in the night and pull out the victory, but no such luck. By the way, why is Sakamoto still with Tensai if he beat the living daylights out of him a few weeks back?

Excellent Triple Threat match with World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus successfully defending his title against both Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio. Although it was obvious from the start that Sheamus would win, these three tremendous athletes still managed to provide a strong match-up. They all had great chemistry and each had their share of spots. The finish was also nicely done, leaving the door open for a possible Sheamus vs. Del Rio singles title match at Money the Bank since Del Rio wasn't the one who was pinned.

Overall, a great show that had its share of solid action and meaningful promos. While it successfully built towards the Money in the Bank pay-per-view in a few weeks (which should be the main focus), there was also some minor hype for Tuesday's live SmackDown special. Vickie Guerrero as this week's Interim General Manager was a nice flashback to the days she was almost always in charge, but I wouldn't like to see that occur on a permanent basis.

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