SmackDown - January 7, 2011 - Tucson, AZ

The first SmackDown of 2011 felt like a pay-per-view. The night started off with the Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge & Kane. These two battled from the ring to the hallways of the TCC Arena and back. Edge took most of the punishment later on in the match, even being chockslammed through the announce table, but he would not stay down. Once Edge gained the upper hand & delivered a spear, he grabbed a couple of chairs and smashed Kane's knee with a con-chair-to. The pain was too much for Kane to get up before the count of 10 & Edge remained the World Heavyweight Champion.




The night continued with another title on the line as the Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler faced off against Kofi Kingston. As expected, it was a very competitive match until Kofi caught Dolph with a high cross splash from the top rope. Thus Kofi was declared the new champion, until Vickie Guerrero grabbed the mic and announced that since GM Teddy Long was not in the building, she used her power as the acting general manager to have a rematch for the title on the spot. Although Dolph tried to take advantage of the situation, Kofi knocked him out with the trouble-in-paradise kick and started off 2011 as the new Intercontinental Champion.




The craziness continued on SmackDown as the Big Show, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes, & Drew McIntyre were set to compete in a triple threat match, where the winner would be the new #1 contender for Edge's world title. But before the match started, Vickie Guerrero came out & used her power again to make it a fatal-4 way match, inserting an already worn-out Dolph Ziggler. As the match progressed, it appeared that the Big Show had things well in hand until former Nexus member, Wade Barrett ran down & assaulted the 7-foot giant. Moments later, Dolph had enough smarts left to trick Cody into helping him take down the Big Show, before executing the zig-zag on Cody & getting the pinfall. Yes it's true: Dolph Ziggler is the new #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.




In a divas match, Michelle McCool took on Kelly Kelly in what could've been an even match, but with the distraction of Layla, McCool took advantage & executed the faith breaker finisher to win the match. Afterwards, Lay-Cool continued to assault Kelly until Drew McIntyre came to her aid. For the past few weeks, Drew has been trying to gain & earn Kelly Kelly's trust.




In the main event, Rey Mysterio faced off against Alberto Del Rio in a 2-out-of-3 falls match. The first fall went to Alberto after he made Rey tap out to his arm lock submission. The second fall belonged to Rey, after he rolled up Alberto for the pin. In the third fall, Rey landed on both Alberto & his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, from the top rope. After Rey threw Alberto back in the ring, Ricardo held Rey's leg long enough for the referee to count to ten & award the match to Alberto Del Rio. After the match, Rey made Ricardo pay for his actions, attacking him outside the ring & knocking him out with the 619.