Hot on the heels of an eventful Monday Night Raw, the July 16, 2013 taping of WWE Friday Night Smackdown for Friday had a huge card with big stars and an eventful change on the Smackdown landscape.
The McMahons power struggle storyline took an interesting twist when Vince McMahon named the controversial Vickie Guerrero as the new GM of Smackdown, replacing Booker T. Guerrero was fired last week as the GM of Raw after a public job performance.
Fresh off the beating he received from former bodyguard Big E Langston, former world champion Dolph Ziggler defeated Jack Swagger, the man who gave him a concussion in May, with the Zig Zag.
Backstage, Ziggler's now-ex-flame, Divas Champion AJ Lee, went ballistic after watching the man who dumped her Monday night win. AJ and Langston shared a moment where they nearly kissed, only for Langston to pull back at the last moment.
The Usos and WWE Tag Team Champions The Shield, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, battled to a no-contest after U.S. Champion and Shield member Dean Ambrose interfered. Mark Henry, who was assaulted by the Shield on Monday night, ran down to make the save, signaling a potential face-turn for the World's Strongest Man.
Daniel Bryan, the No.1 contender for John Cena's WWE Championship for the SummerSlam PPV, defeated Wade Barrett via submission.
Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel defeated Chris Jericho. After the match, Ryback, who was victorious against Jericho at Money in The Bank, assaulted Jericho in the middle of the ring.
In a segment, MITB world title briefcase winner Damien Sandow attempted to apologize to tag partner and friend Cody Rhodes, whom he betrayed at the PPV to win the title shot. Sandow offered Rhodes the job of protecting the briefcase, but Rhodes, less than moved, chased him from the ring.
Rob Van Dam, in his first Smackdown match in more than six years since returning to WWE at Money In the Bank on Sunday, defeated Darren Young.
Vickie Guerrero had Teddy Long escorted from the building.
It was advertised that Big Show will be returning to action next week on Monday Night Raw. The gigantic multi-time word champion has not been seen since May, when he took off due to a pre-existing torn labrum injury.
And in the main event, WWE championship MITB briefcase winner Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio with an RKO to close the show.
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