The 582nd edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Rose Garden in Portland, OR. Twelve nights after being betrayed by his confidante and manager, Paul Bearer, leading to Kane retaining the World Heavyweight Title inside Hell in a Cell, The Undertaker would return to SmackDown to confront his brother, Kane, and “The Father of Destruction” Paul Bearer! Nine nights before Team RAW faces Team SmackDown in the annual 7-on-7 Bragging Rights Tag Match to determine brand supremacy, SmackDown would see the Team Captain, Big Show, begin to form a team capable of defeating Team RAW at WWE Bragging Rights!
>>Match Results<<
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio def. "Dashing" Cody Rhodes by pin following the 619 and Splash to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Jack Swagger (with the Swagger Soaring Eagle) def. MVP by submission to the ankle lock to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Alberto Del Rio def. Chris Masters by submission to the cross arm breaker to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Non-Title: Edge def. Dolph Ziggler by pin following a mid-air Spear to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: 5-Minute Challenge: Kaval def. Big Show by surviving the five minute time limit to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Tyler Reks (in his return) def. Kaval by pin following Reksless Endangerment to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
- Final Team SmackDown Qualifying Match: Kofi Kingston def. Drew McIntyre by pin following Trouble in Paradise to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match.
>>Detailed Results<<
The show kicks off with an ominous site as the outside of the Rose Garden is shown, but standing on the roof of the arena is none other than The Undertaker as “The Phenom” awaited the arrival of his brother, World Heavyweight Champion Kane! What does The Undertaker have in store for his younger brother, Kane, and the man who betrayed him, Paul Bearer?
The General Manager of SmackDown then makes an appearance as Theodore Long proclaims that SmackDown will take the Bragging Rights trophy for the second year in a row before announcing that the six unknown members of Team SmackDown will be determined in a series of qualifying matches with the winners becoming a member of Team SmackDown! Who will fill out Team SmackDown?
The opening match of the night was a qualifying match for Team SmackDown as “The Master of the 619” Rey Mysterio would go one-on-one with one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions “Dashing” Cody Rhodes! In the end, it was Rey Mysterio hitting the 619 and following it up with a splash off of the ropes on “Dashing” Cody Rhodes en route to picking up the win and becoming the first Superstar to qualify for Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights! Team Captain Big Show and Rey Mysterio are a part of Team SmackDown, but who else will join the blue team?
Backstage, Kaval confronts the Team Captain of SmackDown, Big Show, about being a part of Team SmackDown and Big Show states that he is looking for “big Superstars” and he is a “different caliber of Superstar” than Kaval and Kaval could not last “five minutes” in the ring with him and Kaval responds by challenging Big Show to match where, if Kaval lasts five minutes in a match with Big Show, then he will be a part of Team SmackDown!
Twelve nights after betraying The Undertaker and ensuring that his son, Kane, retained the World Heavyweight Title inside Hell in a Cell, “The Father of Destruction” Paul Bearer made an appearance on SmackDown to issue a “challenge” to The Undertaker! Paul Bearer states that the “time” of The Undertaker’s “final reckoning is nigh” as he presents Undertaker his “instrument of ultimate destruction” before offering Undertaker “one last opportunity to take back the holy grail” in a fight with Kane where the winner will be World Heavyweight Champion and the loser will be “buried alive”! Bearer then states that he knows that The Undertaker’s “pride” will make him accept the challenge and, at Bragging Rights, Undertaker will be “beaten, broken, and incapacitated” and Undertaker will be “drowned in a hell of dirt and darkness”! Bearer continues that Kane’s “plan” is “almost complete” and, when he and Kane call out The Undertaker, everyone will see the “empty shell of a man” that The Undertaker has come and Kane will “tower” over The Undertaker and he “longs” to witness this moment! Will The Undertaker accept Kane and Paul Bearer’s challenge for a Buried Alive Match for the World Heavyweight Title at Bragging Rights?
With the Team Captain of SmackDown, Big Show, on commentary, “The All-American American” Jack Swagger, with the Swagger Soaring Eagle in his corner, would go one-on-one with “The Ballin’ Superstar” MVP with the winner being the second Superstar to qualify for Team SmackDown! During the match, the action would spill to the outside where the Swagger Soaring Eagle would step in between MVP and Jack Swagger, leading to MVP hurling Swagger’s mascot over the announce table! This distraction would allow Swagger to take advantage and ultimately lock in the ankle lock on MVP, forcing MVP to tap out en route to qualifying for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match!
Then it was time for the fourth member of Team SmackDown to be determined as Alberto Del Rio would go one-on-one with “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters! In the end, it was Alberto Del Rio locking in the cross arm breaker on Chris Masters, forcing Masters to tap out en route to qualifying for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match!
Then it was time to determine the fifth member of Team SmackDown as “The Rated-R Superstar” Edge would go one-on-one with the boyfriend of his ex-wife in the Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler! At the end of a hard-fought match, it was Edge catching Dolph Ziggler with a Spear in mid-air en route to picking up an impressive win and qualifying for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match!
Then it was time for a 5-Minute Challenge as “The World Warrior” Kaval would go one-on-one with the Team Captain of SmackDown, “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show where, if Kaval lasts five minutes against Big Show, he would become the sixth member of Team SmackDown! Despite being dominated throughout the match, Kaval would fight back long enough to survive the rest of the five minutes, meaning that Kaval will be a part of Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match! Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, and, now, Kaval are a part of Team SmackDown, but who will be the seventh member to join the team?
After lasting five minutes in a grueling match against Big Show to qualify for Team SmackDown in the Bragging Rights Tag Match, a still-recovering Kaval would be met by the return of a bigger, stronger, and improved Tyler Reks as Reks calls Kaval’s spot on Team SmackDown a “joke” and states that he is SmackDown’s “new breakout Superstar” and he “deserves” a spot on Team SmackDown because he can beat “giants” and he knows he can beat Kaval! The SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long intervenes and tells Reks that he can not let Reks face Kaval because Kaval just survived a match against Big Show, but Kaval tells GM that he does not need a “babysitter” and challenges Reks to come and “take” his Team SmackDown spot, which would prompt the GM to make the match official! The monstrous Tyler Reks would make quick work of a weakened Kaval by hitting a unique torture rack face plant en route to taking Kaval’s spot on Team SmackDown! Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, and now the monstrous Tyler Reks are a part of Team SmackDown, but who will fill out the team as its seventh member?
Then it was time to determine the seventh and final member of Team SmackDown as Kofi Kingston would go one-on-one with one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, “The Sinister Scotsman” Drew McIntyre! In the end, it was Kofi Kingston coming out of nowhere with Trouble in Paradise on Drew McIntyre en route to picking up the win and becoming the final Superstar to qualify for Team SmackDown! Team SmackDown is complete with Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, Tyler Reks, & Kofi Kingston, but can Team SmackDown overcome Team RAW at Bragging Rights to win the Bragging Rights trophy two year in a row?
With his father, Paul Bearer, accompanying him, World Heavyweight Champion Kane made an appearance on SmackDown and states that the “fact” is that Undertaker is a “despondent, dejected, shell of his former self” before proclaiming that he is “superior” to The Undertaker and all the fans! Kane states that The Undertaker has “failed” to regain the World Heavyweight Title on two separate occasions before vowing that The Undertaker will “fail” at Bragging Rights! Kane continues that the fans use The Undertaker to “escape” from their “colorless lives” while he “forces” the fans to “face reality” and that there is “no escape”! Kane then states The Undertaker will “never” stop him before stating that the fans’ “hopes” will be like The Undertaker, “buried alive”! The familiar sound of a gong then rings throughout the arena as the one and only Undertaker makes his entrance and marches to the ring with a sense of purpose as The Undertaker comes face-to-face with his brother, Kane, and the man who betrayed him, Paul Bearer! The Undertaker would then stare into the evil eyes of his brother before attacking Kane; waylaying and stomping away at his younger brother, forcing Kane to retreat from the ring! As a fright-filled Kane looks on, The Undertaker raises his arms and ignites the signature and mysterious fire of Kane! A visibly frightened Kane and Paul Bearer then retreat to the stage where The Undertaker summons a lightning bolt that strikes inches from the father and son! The Undertaker appears to be more than ready to combat his brother, but which of these two brothers will be buried alive in nine nights at WWE Bragging Rights? Will Kane successfully complete his thirteen year plan by burying The Undertaker alive or will The Undertaker finally put Kane in Kane’s final resting place as World Heavyweight Champion?