WWE Friday Night SmackDown September 23, 2011 Results

Randy Orton punches Cody Rhodes’ ticket to hell.

Five nights after Night of Champions, the 631st edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Nutter Center at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. After dominating Randy Orton at Night of Champions to achieve his fifteen year odyssey to becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion and after assaulting Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler on the RAW SuperShow, “The World’s Strongest Champion” Mark Henry arrives on SmackDown just nine nights before Mark Henry defends the World Heavyweight Title against Randy Orton inside Hell in a Cell.

Match Results

• Sheamus def. Heath Slater by pin following the Brogue Kick.
• Wade Barrett def. Justin Gabriel by pin following Wasteland.
• Natalya & Beth Phoenix def. A.J. & Kaitlyn by Beth Phoenix pinning A.J. following the Glam Slam.
• Non-Title: Cody Rhodes def. Randy Orton by DQ after Randy Orton uses Cody Rhodes’ protective mask as a weapon.
• The Great Khali def. Jinder Mahal by pin following the Punjabi Plunge.
• Sin Cara def. Daniel Bryan by pin following a senton.
• Non-Title: Air Boom def. Jimmy & Jey Uso by Evan Bourne pinning Jey Uso following Air Bourne.
• World Heavyweight Championship: Lumberjack Match: Mark Henry (c) (with Sheamus) def. Christian by pin following the World’s Strongest Slam to retain.

Detailed Results

SmackDown kicks off with several SmackDown Superstars, including Christian, Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, The Great Khali, Sin Cara, Ted DiBiase, Jinder Mahal, Ezekiel Jackson, and even SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, standing on the outside of the ring as the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis, says that WWE COO Triple H has lost control of things, which led to the “chaos” that engulfed RAW. Laurinaitis continues that the “chaos” led to the dismissal of two “premiere Superstars” in The Miz and R-Truth. Laurinaitis then states that Triple H has “control” of the situation because he saw the “resolve” and “determination” in the eyes of Triple H on RAW. After this address, the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations introduces the new World Heavyweight Champion, Mark Henry, who makes his way to the ring as the Superstars of SmackDown part for “The World’s Strongest Champion”.

As John Laurinaitis makes his exit, the new World Heavyweight Champion addresses the SmackDown Superstars still at ringside as Mark Henry claims that it has taken him fifteen years to become the World Heavyweight Champion and it will be fifteen years before someone can take the title from him. Mark Henry then singles out Ezekiel Jackson and Theodore Long, saying neither of them “believed” in him, but before “The World’s Strongest Champion” can continue, Mark Henry is interrupted by the arrival of the Chief Operating Officer of the WWE, Triple H! Before the COO can even speak, he is interrupted by Christian, who enters the ring to tell Triple H what a “great job” he is doing. Christian continues that he “appreciates” everything Triple H does and the entire SmackDown roster look up to him as a “leader”. Christian then states that to be the leader, he needs to be the World Heavyweight Champion, once again bringing up that he “deserves one more match”. Christian continues that, once Mark Henry “chokes” during Hell in a Cell, he will step in and take care of Randy Orton to become a three-time World Heavyweight Champion.

Triple H then assures the SmackDown roster that he has everything under control on both RAW and SmackDown before the COO suggests that Christian “lead by example” in front of the roster. The COO then announces that the main event will see Christian challenging “The World’s Strongest Champion” Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship with the Superstars of SmackDown surrounding the match in a Lumberjack Match with the winner defending the gold against Randy Orton inside Hell in a Cell! After petitioning for weeks that he deserves “one more match” for the World Heavyweight Title, Christian will finally get his opportunity, but it will be against the dangerous World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry. Is there any way that Christian can survive the destructive streak of the new champion?

After delivering the Brogue Kick to Christian at Night of Champions, “The Great White” was in action on SmackDown as Sheamus went one-on-one with Heath Slater. In the end, it was Sheamus hitting the Brogue Kick on Heath Slater en route to picking up an impressive win.

Former teammates in both The Nexus and The Corre faced off on SmackDown as former Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett went one-on-one with the high-flying Justin Gabriel. Despite Justin Gabriel getting the better of Wade Barrett for much of the match, it was a big boot that allowed Barrett to take advantage, hitting Wasteland on Gabriel en route to picking up the win.

Five nights after narrowly missing out on winning the Divas Title from Kelly Kelly at Night of Champions, “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix and Natalya looked to get back on track as Phoenix & Natalya faced A.J. & Kaitlyn in tag team action. In the end, it was Beth Phoenix planting A.J. with the Glam Slam en route to picking up the win for her team.

Nine nights before he challenges either Christian or Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship inside Hell in a Cell, the former World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton, went one-on-one with Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes in a non-title match. During the match, Cody Rhodes exposed the turnbuckle to distract the referee so that he could use his protective mask to blast Randy Orton in the face. Despite this, Randy Orton still kicked out, but this underhanded tactic by the Intercontinental Champion sent an already unstable Randy Orton over the edge as “The Viper” uses the mask of Cody Rhodes as a weapon against Rhodes, blasting him in the face, earning Rhodes the win via disqualification. Things would then get much, much worse for the Intercontinental Champion as Randy Orton repeatedly used Cody Rhodes’ protective mask as a weapon against Rhodes. Orton then delivers his suspended DDT to Rhodes before taking the Intercontinental Champion to the outside of the ring where “The Viper” uses the ring bell to smash the face in of Cody Rhodes. With Rhodes bleeding profusely from the shot with the ring bell, Orton delivered the final blow to the Intercontinental Champion, planting Rhodes with the RKO on the announce table! After beating Cody Rhodes to a bloody pulp, what is the status of the Intercontinental Champion? After seeing the sheer violence and destruction caused by Randy Orton, is either Christian or Mark Henry in over their heads when they defend the World Heavyweight Title against Orton inside Hell in a Cell in nine nights?

After becoming fed up with Jinder Mahal controlling him, “The Punjabi Nightmare” The Great Khali would be looking for revenge as Khali went one-on-one with Jinder Mahal. In the end, it was The Great Khali hitting the Punjabi Plunge on Jinder Mahal en route to picking up the win and getting a measure of revenge.

After coming face-to-face with a doppelganger Sin Cara for the past week, one of the two Sin Caras went one-on-one with “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” Daniel Bryan on SmackDown. During the match, and with the referee tending to Daniel Bryan, the second Sin Cara emerged, shoving the other Sin Cara off of the top rope before hitting a senton on Bryan to take the win from the first Sin Cara!

After successfully defending the WWE Tag Team Titles at Night of Champions, Air Boom, Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston, faced Jimmy & Jey Uso in a non-title match. In the end, it was Evan Bourne hitting Air Bourne on Jey Uso en route to picking up the win for the WWE Tag Team Champions.

Then it was time for the main event as, with the Superstars of SmackDown surrounding the ring as lumberjacks, Christian finally gets his “one more match” as he challenges “The World’s Strongest Champion” Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Lumberjack Match. During the match, Mark Henry found himself among the lumberjacks on the outside of the ring, but when every available Superstar jumped on Mark Henry, “The World’s Strongest Champion” shoved all of them back at once before Henry picks out Trent Barreta to use as a projectile to nearly take out the entire group! Having witnessed this, Christian thought better of the match, backing away from the ring and Mark Henry. However, Sheamus rushes out to throw Christian back into the ring as Mark Henry plants Christian with the World’s Strongest Slam en route to retaining the World Heavyweight Title. After the match, Mark Henry’s Hell in a Cell challenger, Randy Orton, comes out as champion and challenger brawl with Orton delivering a dropkick to “The World’s Strongest Champion”, sending Henry out of the ring. After destroying Cody Rhodes and sending Mark Henry out of the ring, is Randy Orton prepared to face Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Title inside the demonic Hell in a Cell in nine nights?

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