WWE Smackdown TV taping results
August 2, 2011
Lexington, Ky.
Report by Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch contributor & Joe Neal, PWTorch reader

Smackdown results for 8/5

Smackdown started right away with Sheamus vs. Great Khali and an announcement of Sheamus vs. Mark Henry at Summerslam.

(1) Sheamus beat Great Khali. Khali dominated the early portion of the match, and Sheamus eventually won with the Brogue Kick. Not as bad as you'd think.

(2) Natalya beat A.J. via submission with the Sharpshooter. Natalya then turned heel with a post-match attack on A.J. ringside. She said "Beth Phoenix, I'm with you. The days of cute Divas are over."

Ryder with a State of the Showski address to come later.

(3) Daniel Bryan beat Tyson Kidd via submission. Wade Barrett was on commentary. Kidd put Bryan in the Sharpshooter, but Bryan caused a rope break, then caused Kidd to submit.

Randy Orton was interviewed backstage. Orton acknowledged that he has anger management issues, but that's okay, because at Summerslam, Christian will provide him the opportunity to "work through those issues" and punish him to become new World Champion.

Ryder came out to address the crowd, and Ezekiel Jackson came out to question Ryder about the handicap match last week. Rhodes and DiBiase came out. Ryder tried to book Jackson vs. DiBiase, but Teddy Long came out and said to Ryder, "You are not asst. general manager. You are my assistant. Instead of making a match, you are in one vs. Jackson with Cody and DiBiase banned from ringside."

(4) Intercontinental champion Ezekiel Jackson beat Zack Ryder in a non-title match. Four-minute match.

Backstage, Teddy Long was seduced by NXT 3's Aksana, now with dark hair.

During a commercial, Triple H came out to relieve some stress by Pedigreeing Zack Ryder. The set-up was Triple H's promo to Ryder: "I've had this COO gig for a few weeks now, and the hardest part of my job is dealing with talent. Dealing with C.M. Punk (drew large mixed reaction with males cheering and kids booing), dealing with John Cena (large mixed reaction with males booing and women and kids cheering loudly this time), dealing with Randy and his anger management issues (everyone cheers, pro-Orton crowd)." Then, he referenced Ryder's promo: "And dealing with for example..you, Zack Ryder." Hunter said Ryder's job is to grab coffee for people and go to CVS to fill Teddy's Viagra prescription...that sort of thing. He then told the cameras to stop rolling. The Tron went dim as well. He told Lexington to keep a secret what he was about to do to relieve stress before he Pedigreed Ryder and left to a huge response. It's not clear how much, if any, of the exchange between Ryder and Hunter will end up on Smackdown, as he told the cameras to stop rolling about halfway through his promo.

(5) Mark Henry squashed Vladimir Kozlov. Afterward, he crushed Kozlov's leg, but Sheamus came out to prevent further punishment. After Henry attacked Kozlov, Kozlov was rolled out on a stretcher. It wasn't clear if it was just for this show or part of another injury angle.

Backstage, Sheamus cut a promo on Mark Henry ahead of their Summerslam match.

(6) WWE tag champions New Nexus (Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga) & JTG beat The Usos and Trent Barreta in a six-man tag match. Quick match.

Johnny Curtis debuts on Smackdown...next week! The "writing is on the wall," he said.

World Hvt. champion Christian was interviewed about Randy Orton when R-Truth came in to talk about conspiracies. When Orton came out next, it was the first time the crowd really woke up. They were sitting on their hands mainly the rest of the night.

(7) World Hvt. champion Christian & R-Truth beat Randy Orton & John Morrison when Christian pinned Orton. Decent main event.

Tucker: Not a good show. Neal: Besides the main event, the show mainly spun its wheels. The only Pyro the whole show was for the Superstars intro. John Morrison's entrance did not even get his normal pyro. There were lots of Summerslam and WrestleMania promos during the commercial breaks.

Post-taping Dark Match: World Hvt. champion Christian beat Randy Orton in a Street Fight to retain the World Title. The usual post-show finish with Cody and Ted distracting Orton to give Christian the win via spear. The match lasted a good ten minutes.

To close out the show, Randy eventually hit the RKO on the heels. Orton stayed out to his music for a good 10-15 minutes for whoever wanted his autograph around ringside. The whole crowd got a load of Twix bars handed out after the event.

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