Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 30, 2011

Randy Orton executes an RKO on Mark Henry.

Another strong promo from Mark Henry. These promos declaring himself as the "badass" of the company are perfectly done. The match with Great Khali was obviously garbage, but Henry once again looked impressive in slamming the Punjabi Playboy and entering him as the latest inductee in the Hall of Pain.

Fun match from Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne, but it was over too quickly. Bourne was able to perform in his hometown, so that was the main focus here. Hopefully we see Air Boom defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against the team of Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler this Sunday.

Pointless match between Sin Cara and Heath Slater, but at least it didn't go longer and have to be re-taped similar to the last time these two met. The crowd isn't really into the Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara program, as the match contested between them this Sunday at Hell in a Cell is rather risky. The new outfit for Hunico is pretty cool nonetheless.

Having Divas Champion Kelly Kelly win at first was fine, but now it's getting predictable and illogical. Natalya is much better than Kelly, yet Kelly pins her within two minutes in a fluke fashion. If Beth Phoenix doesn't win the Divas Championship this Sunday, I'm rioting.

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I'm not sure where they're going with this John Laurinaitis and company angle, but it seems intriguing to me. Could they be alligning with the fired Awesome Truth? I could do without the legal stuff, but at least Dvaid Otunga is finally being able to put his lawyer experience to good use.

Boring match between Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Sheamus, mostly due to the fact that most people knew the title wasn't changing hands in the first place. Don't get me wrong though, since they put on great action, so I'd like to see this rivalry come to fruition somewhere down the line. Christian's interference was logical, but set up their bout nicely for Hell in a Cell.

Random match between Zack Ryder and JTG that didnt' really serve a purpose, but it was good action for the time that they had. JTG wasn't as bad as he usually was, and Ryder got a great reaction throughout the match.

Solid match between Randy Orton and Christian as always, but we've seen it so many times in the last few months that it no longer feels special. I liked seeing Cody Rhodes get involved in the finish, as he and Christian have great chemistry together. I question the thought of having finally execute an RKO on Mark Henry, but it certainly could mean the World's Strongest Man retains his title on Sunday.

Overall, the show felt like more a chore this week than anything else, as the action as a whole was nothing to write home about. However, they provided decent hype for each of the matches on the Hell in a Cell card, which is always a good thing seeing they're only two weeks removed from Night of Champions anyways.