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WWE SmackDown returns to SyFy this coming Friday night (July 19, 2013) from Providence, Rhode Island, but the show was taped, as usual, on Tuesday night. That means full spoilers are readily available if you're the impatient type who doesn't want to wait a couple days for the payoff.
Unwrap that present early (via PWInsider.com):
- Vince McMahon in the house! They tease a job evaluation for Teddy Long but Booker T makes his return to the show and stakes his claim as the General Manager. Brad Maddox also appears but Vince apparently dismisses them all in favor of Vickie Guerrero. That's right, everybody, she was fired from Monday Night Raw and immediately instated as the GM of SmackDown. Lovely.
- Dolph Ziggler def. Jack Swagger and I wonder if their past relationship was brought up at all.
- Apparently AJ went nuts backstage after seeing this and Big E. Langston calmed her down before they teased a kiss. Don't worry Zigglee lovers, it didn't happen.
- The Shield vs. The Usos never happened because Dean Ambrose ran in leading to Mark Henry running in to make the save. So that beatdown was to turn Henry babyface.
- Daniel Bryan def. Wade Barrett in the match they were supposed to have on Raw but never got the chance to.
- Paul Heyman got rave reviews for his interview with The Miz on MizTV. Apparently a must watch.
- Curtis Axel def. Chris Jericho in an Intercontinental championship match. Ryback beat Jericho down afterwards, which could be a write off seeing as Fozzy will be touring soon enough.
- Damien Sandow promo talking about what happened with Cody Rhodes leading to yet another confrontation between the two.
- Rob Van Dam returned to SmackDown for the first time in a long time and squashed Darren Young.
- Randy Orton def. Alberto Del Rio in the main event. This is the match WWE claims Orton suffered an injury at but there have been conflicting reports regarding the severity of the injury. It could essentially be a carbon copy of the injury Bryan suffered against Orton on Raw some weeks back. We'll see.
That's the show, Cagesiders. How does it sound to you?