Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 9, 2011

Another very strong segment from Mark Henry, who is becoming one of the hottest commodities in the entire WWE. I was afraid the entering Zack Ryder might take some momentum off, but he played his role well and showed major guts for standing up to Henry before getting pummeled.

I've been anticipating an eventual showdown between Mark Henry and Ezekiel Jackson for quite some time now, but the match wasn't what I hoped it to be. It's no secret they are both slow workers, but the quick squash over Big Zeke got the World's Strongest Man over in a big way.

Fun match between Sin Cara and Tyson Kidd for what's it worth, but we've seen this squash so many times that it's become predictable and boring. It doesn't make sense to keep reverting Sin Cara from face to heel constantly, so hopefully they straighten out the controversy very soon by revealing the current Sin Cara as Hunico.

Lackluster Divas match yet again this week, but Natalya was the only thing keeping the bout going and saving this from being an utter disaster. It disappoints me seeing Natayla lose to someone who can't even run the ropes, but all signs point to Kelly Kelly dropping the Divas Championship to Beth Phoenix at Night of Champions.

Very solid match between Sheamus and Wade Barrett, who hold excellent chemistry together. The Christian run-in was logical given how the Sheamus drove him away prior to the bout, but I managed to forget that aspect while enjoying the action. I'm all for building the Celtic Warrior, but having him prevail against two credible Superstars in Christian and Wade Barrett makes the latter two come off as weak yet again. Nonetheless, I'm glad the contest went to a non-finish, as a Barrett-Sheamus feud has WrestleMania potential.

Decent tag team match with Air Boom once again defeating the team of Jinder Mahal and The Great Khali, with the bigger hit being the huge push Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne are receiving as WWE Tag Team Champions while appearing on both shows. However, I'm not glad to see Khali and Mahal splitting this early into the storyline, even more importantly that I don't want to see Khali once again portray a face.

Great main event match with World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton taking on Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes. It was obvious Orton would emerge victorious, but Rhodes had some impressive offense during the 15-minute contest. The ending sequence was exciting, but I was a bit surprised Ted DiBiase wasn't included on the show at all. Mark Henry's post attack was logical, but it spoke volumes since it's been quite a long time since anyone has accomplished such on Randy Orton many weeks in a row. Unfortunately, I think it means we see the Apex Predator successfully retain at Night of Champions.

Overall, a pretty good show that manged to go by quick, that also included some average amount of action as a whole. Despite it being an enjoyable show, there was very little hype for the upcoming Night of Champions pay-per-view besides for the World Heavyweight title picture. Here's hoping more matches get announced next week for SmackDown going into next Sunday.