Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 14, 2011

Randy Orton and Big Show stand tall over Mark Henry.

Despite it being billed as the biggest battle royal in WWE history, the match itself was completely pointless and predictable. How many of those Superstars do you think the crowd actually recognized, since most of them don't appear on television on a regular basis? The ending few minutes was fun, but it was an absolute waste for the first half of the show.

Throwaway Divas match between Divas Champion Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. Although I am glad Phoenix the match cleanly, it wasn't clearly established whether the bout was for the title or not. These two have had better matches in the past, but here's hoping this is the end of a horribly booked rivalry.

Once again, I could honestly care less about this Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara rivalry. Sure, they established why it's occurring on commentary, but having Sin Cara Negro steal the other's mask confuses the audience tremendously, as Sin Cara Negro was cheered regardless when he made his entrance. The match was fine, but seeing Justin Gabriel take the loss here does him no favors. 

Solid match between WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus, but nothing to go back and watch for. Christian's interference was logical, and obviously kept this match from being better. As much as I enjoy seeing Del Rio pick up victories, his presence in this match felt worthless. I expect to see Sheamus and Christian to compete in a rematch at Vengeance, so it was a smart move in getting heat back on Captain Charisma going into next Sunday.

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41 Superstars fight for the the right to compete for a title.

In what certainly was Match of the Night for this viewer, the tag team match featuring Zack Ryder teaming with Kofi Kingston defeating United States Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger was an incredibly fun bout. Everyone involved got in their spots, and rightfully received ten minutes. Seeing Ryder once again pin Ziggler in the ending moments was a great finish to hopefully give the Long Island Iced Z one more championship match.

Although it was a great match, Randy Orton vs. World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry has gotten beyond stale as this point. Orton didn't need the battle royal victory to earn this match, seeing these two just had a match on Raw where the Viper defeated Henry by disqualification. Everyone saw Cody Rhodes' interference coming, and it was completely irrelevant minutes later when he would be destroyed by Orton anyway. Seeing Orton and Big Show close the show over their fallen opponents doesn't give viewers incentive to tune in next week or get anyone excited for the Vengeance pay-per-view. 

Overall, a less-than-average show that mimicked Raw in the style of bad booking. The action was much better to an extent over the past few weeks, but this so-called "special" episode did nothing for me. So far, the build to Vengeance has been terrible, so hopefully they can pick it up for the go-home show next week. 

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