WWE Smackdown will air at 8 p.m. Friday night on SyFy with a slew of big matches set up.
Fandango, the WWE's newest sensation, will be in action as he takes on Santino Marella.
WWE U.S. Champion Kofi Kingston will compete against WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett.
Alberto Del Rio will be in action as he takes on Jack Swagger in a match-up that could have world title implications.
The Great Khali, Natalya & Hornswoggle will take on Primo, Rosa & Epico in six-person tag team action. And in the main event, it will be packed with former World Heavyweight Champions as "The Viper" Randy Orton and "The Great White" Sheamus will take on The Big Show and Mark Henry.
In other news, it appears that WWE has been having problems with one of its biggest stars. According to Wrestling Inc.com via PWInsider, CM Punk was not happy with the way that the original promo that he cut Monday night on Raw was written. Fans saw Punk cut a brief and solemn promo where he addressed his recent losses to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 before he dropped the mic and walked out, leaving several openings and options for how to package Punk's character when he returns.
However, sources say that the plans written by WWE's writers originally called for Punk to come out and whine about losing at WrestleMania 29 before walking out of the company and being written off storylines until his scheduled return. The promo was supposed to be cut the Raw following WrestleMania last week, but was held for two reasons.
The first reason was that officials didn't want Punk to get a big reaction from the post-WrestleMania crowd that embraced him the night before during his clash with the Undertaker (although Punk did get a decent-sized reaction from the Raw crowd in South Carolina). The second was that Punk was reportedly unhappy with the way that the promo was written, as he felt that it made him come off as whiny.
Reports of Punk being unhappy with WWE Creative and management have circulated for several weeks prior to WrestleMania. The site further reported that Punk had a major blowup with writers prior to his Raw speech where he almost quit the company. Apparently, cooler heads prevailed, leading to the promo that viewers saw. Punk is reportedly expected back around SummerSlam in August.
And in other news, WWE Champion John Cena will reportedly be missing three straight live events from May 24 through 26, WrestleZone.com reports. To replace him, WWE announced that WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will take his place at the events, which are also scheduled to feature Attitude Era favorites The New Age Outlaws and Chris Jericho.
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