7/8/11 Smackdown

Ratings:
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase vs. Ezekiel Jackson & Daniel Bryan: *3/4

Jinder Mahal vs. Trent Barreta: N/A (squash)

AJ vs. Tamina: 1/4*

Kane vs. Mark Henry: *1/2

Sin Cara vs. Tyson Kidd: *1/2

Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: *

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus: **1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
We're in Tucson tonight! Josh Mathews in the ring with the MITB participants. DB does the "it's been my dream since I was a little kid" promo before Cody breaks the monotony and does his own thing. Barrett is doing well on the mic as usual and then Sheamus cleans house with a chair. Sure, fine. Sheamus mentions (and shows) the time when Orton punted him. Christian comes out and mentions Sheamus tore up that contract last week, so Christian says his team of lawyers made a new contract. Now if Orton is disqualified or if there's another case of bad officiating, Christian wins the title. Loved Christian calling Sheamus "Ronald McDonald." Sheamus vs. Orton tonight, per Teddy Long's orders!

Tag match is first. Not bad here. Crowd was really behind Zeke when he came in. Both Rhodes & DiBiase each have a pinfall win over Zeke now.

Mark Henry destruction video package shown. Striker interviews Henry, and basically gets no response.

Looks like Jinder Mahal squash time. Poor Trent Barreta is the victim this week. Khali will be on commentary?! That's a new one on me. Booker mentions Mahal's ring attire. Full Nelson slam finishes it, and Khali on commentary was pointless. Khali should just stick to picking up the scraps and nuking people after the match is over.

Sheamus being interviewed in the back, and he looks both drunk and stoned.

Divas time. AJ getting more time to show her stuff. Tamina even does that running butt bump in the corner. Liked that running Shining Wizard knee from AJ. Not liking the schoolgirl rollup win. I'd prefer AJ stick with a submission finisher to look stronger. Rollup wins generally look like fluke wins. Michael Cole is annoying.

Kane vs. Henry is a typical big-man match. Kane at least throws in a few agility moves. Cole is still annoying. Typical stuff from both guys. Chokeslam by Kane but Henry gets his foot on the ropes pretty predictably. Kane takes apart the announce table. World's Strongest Slam wins it for Henry.

Orton interviewed in the back. He hears voices in his head. Yup, sounds about right.

Sin Cara and Tyson Kidd could really be at least three stars if given time. But of course, this is free WWE TV, so they get like...five minutes. What was Sin Cara's finisher called? Flying Walendas? Couldn't understand either Booker or Cole.

Striker asks Long if Long is intimidated by Henry. No answer.

Time for some tag team action. Usos with their haka before the match. Good tag team finisher from the Usos.

Johnny Curtis segment is again weird. His "sinister" laugh is way too forced. Horrible segment.

The Vince/Cena/Punk dealie is shown next as part of a video package.

Orton and Sheamus round out the show. Christian comes to ringside before the match starts...he'll be on commentary -- and at least he's got very good mic skills unlike Khali. Really liking Orton's expanded moveset; I'm becoming a bigger fan of his each passing week. Sheamus skinned the cat right there...that's super impressive. Booker does mention this is a non-title match (it obviously is because Sheamus is not the #1 contender). Orton ready to pounce on Sheamus for the RKO and Christian of course gets involved. Sheamus takes out Christian, and then Orton with the RKO on Sheamus.

Is Booker trying to have a new catchphrase now? Did he just say "Bollywop?"