Five nights after a memorable and controversial WWE Money-in-the-Bank, the 570th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, AR. Five nights after successfully defending his World Heavyweight Title against Jack Swagger at WWE Money-in-the-Bank only to lose the World Heavyweight Title mere moments later after Kane successfully cashed in his Money-in-the-Bank title opportunity, former World Heavyweight Champions would square off as “The Master of the 619” Rey Mysterio would go one-on-one with “The All-American American” Jack Swagger in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match with the winner earning a shot at the World Heavyweight Title at “The Biggest Party of the Summer”, SummerSlam!
>>Match Results<<
- Drew McIntyre & "Dashing" Cody Rhodes def. Christian & Matt Hardy by Drew McIntyre pinning Matt Hardy following a big boot.
- Non-Title: Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) def. Kofi Kingston by submission to the sleeper hold.
- Big Show def. Joey Mercury (the masked ally) by pin following the Knockout Punch.
- #1 Contender’s 2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the World Heavyweight Title: First Fall: Rey Mysterio def. Jack Swagger by DQ after Jack Swagger ignores the referee’s five count.
- #1 Contender’s 2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the World Heavyweight Title: Second Fall: Jack Swagger def. Rey Mysterio by submission to the ankle lock.
- #1 Contender’s 2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the World Heavyweight Title: Third Fall: Rey Mysterio def. Jack Swagger by roll-up to become the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title at SummerSlam.
>>Detailed Results<<
Five nights after winning the SmackDown Money-in-the-Bank title opportunity and cashing it in on the same night on a weakened Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Title, the show kicks off with the new World Heavyweight Champion, Kane! The new champion describes the last thirteen years of his career as “slowly dying” until Sunday night where he laid seven other competitors to “rest” to earn the Money-in-the-Bank title opportunity and that he “made history” by cashing in the opportunity on the same night to become the new World Heavyweight Champion! Kane then states that winning the World Heavyweight Title was the “most gratifying moment” of his entire career! Kane then tells Rey Mysterio that he just did what anyone else in his position would have done! Kane then shouts that he “did it”, but that he did not do it for himself, but for his fallen brother, The Undertaker! Kane then explains that he went to visit The Undertaker and upon seeing his brother being “unable to appreciate” the momentous occasion, he “vowed” to The Undertaker that “no one” would ever take the “holy grail”, the World Heavyweight Title, away from him! Kane then vows that he “will not rest” until he finds the culprit responsible for the attack on his brother and “hell will reign supreme when the World Heavyweight Champion finally achieves his vengeance”! Who will the new World Heavyweight Champion seek out next in his ongoing quest for revenge?
Five nights after competing in the SmackDown Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match, four of the eight competitors in that match were in action as “Captain Charisma” Christian would team with Matt Hardy to face the team of “The Chosen One” Drew McIntyre and “Dashing” Cody Rhodes! The match took an interesting turn, however, as during the bout, Cody Rhodes entered the ring and Christian followed, leading to the two teams brawling. However, Matt Hardy then missed hitting Cody Rhodes and inadvertently struck Christian! Shortly after this, Matt went to check on Christian, but doing so left Matt vulnerable to a big boot by Drew McIntyre, which ended up spelling the end of the match for the team! After the match, Christian re-entered the ring and pulled Matt Hardy to his feet before the two Superstars reluctantly shook hands! Are Christian and Matt Hardy truly at peace with each other?
Backstage, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long confronts the self-proclaimed “co-Women’s Champions”, LayCool, that Layla will be defending her Women’s Title on next week’s SmackDown against Tiffany! Can Layla successfully retain her gold or will Tiffany claim her first championship?
Five nights after they both competed in the SmackDown Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match, Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, with his NXT Rookie Michael McGillicutty at ringside, would go one-on-one with “The Platinum Superstar” Dolph Ziggler, with SmackDown Consultant Vickie Guerrero in his corner! During the match, Kofi Kingston gets knocked to the outside and Kofi’s NXT Rookie Michael McGillicutty goes to check on his WWE Pro, but SmackDown Consultant Vickie Guerrero confronts McGillicutty and orders McGillicutty to leave the ringside area! In the end, it was Vickie Guerrero grabbing the foot of Kofi Kingston that allowed Dolph Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag and inevitably lock in the sleeper hold to put Kofi to sleep to pick up the win! After the match, Dolph picked up the Intercontinental Title belt and celebrated with it as if he had just won it! After defeating the Intercontinental Champion, Dolph Ziggler certainly has a title shot, but when will Dolph get it?
Five nights after competing in the SmackDown Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match and one week after humiliating CM Punk by exposing Punk’s bald head, “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show was in action against “The Straightedge Disciple” of CM Punk, Luke Gallows, but before the match began, CM Punk had a discussion with Luke Gallows before deciding to send the masked ally of The Straightedge Society to face Big Show instead! The masked ally put up a fight against Big Show, but that did not stop Big Show from ripping the mask off of the masked ally, just like Big Show did to CM Punk last week, to reveal that the masked ally is actually a former WWE Tag Team Champion who had been missing from the WWE for three or four years as the masked ally is actually the former MNM member, Joey Mercury! After exposing Joey Mercury, Big Show leveled Mercury with the Knockout Punch en route to picking up the win! Did CM Punk throw Joey Mercury to Big Show knowing that Show would unmask Mercury? How will The Straightedge Society respond to Big Show unmasking CM Punk and Joey Mercury?
Then it was time for the main event as, five nights after successfully retaining the World Heavyweight Title against Jack Swagger only to have Kane cash in the Money-in-the-Bank title opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Title at WWE Money-in-the-Bank, former World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio would face “The All-American American” Jack Swagger once again, but this time it would be in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match with the winner earning the right to challenge Kane for the World Heavyweight Title at SummerSlam! The first fall was determined after Jack Swagger locked in the ankle lock on Rey Mysterio as Swagger ignored the referee’s five count and got himself disqualified, taking Rey up one fall to none! Then came the second fall and Jack Swagger locked in the ankle lock and, after all of the abuse that Rey Mysterio’s ankle had taken, Rey had no choice but to tap out, tying the match at one fall a piece! In the end, quickness won out as Rey was able to outmaneuver Swagger and roll Swagger up to win the third fall and punch his ticket to face Kane for the World Heavyweight Title at SummerSlam! After the match, Jack Swagger grabbed Rey Mysterio by the ankle, but before Swagger could deal any further damage, World Heavyweight Champion Kane intervened and delivered a thunderous chokeslam to Swagger! Then it looked like Kane would do the same to Rey Mysterio, but instead, Kane raised the hand of the new #1 Contender before exiting the ring! However, Kane was not done with Rey as Kane returned to the ring and was set to deliver the chokeslam to Rey, but Mysterio countered and managed to hit the 619 on the World Heavyweight Champion! Can Rey Mysterio do the same at SummerSlam and regain the World Heavyweight Title or will Kane reign supreme at “The Biggest Event of the Summer”?