Smackdown starts off with Commissioner Roose coming down to the ring with Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio in tow. Mic in hand, Roose began to talk about Smackdown’s latest invasion on Raw. He then showed a replay of Kofi kicking Real Deal in the side of the head, much to his crowd’s enjoyment. “Pause it right there. You see the look on Real Deal’s face? That’s the ‘I think I just crapped my pants’ face.”
Roose then went on to mock whether or not Real Deal could actually wrestle. “I would gladly love to throw that twerp around the ring like the fool that he is. I am twice the wrestler he is. I bet you right now I could challenge any one of my men in the back and I would beat them. But, I’m a good commissioner and I wouldn’t want to embarrass them in front of all of you.” Roose then points into the stands at a random vendor and tells him to get in the ring. The vendor confusedly points at himself and shakes his head. Kofi and Rey go into the stands to grab the vendor and “escort” him into the ring.
Roose reassures the vendor he would go easy on him as he demonstrated the technical wrestling abilities he possesses. Roose then proceeded to blindside the vendor with a punch. He then Irish Whipped him into the ropes, and landed a massive clothesline. Roose grabbed the microphone again and told and said, “A few of the guys back stage stole some signature moves I had invented back in the day. This one I like to call the ‘Roose Bottom,'” and Roose then proceeded to hit the Rock Bottom on the vendor. “As for this one, I call it the ‘Roosestone Piledriver,'” as Roose then drove the poor vendor’s head into the ground. Laughing, the three exited the ring while paramedics tended to the vendor.
After everything was cleared, Miz’s music hit as he was set to take on Mysterio next. Miz gave Mysterio a great match, powering the smaller guy around for the early part of the match. But as Miz went to hit Skull Crushing Finale, Roose distracted the referee while Kofi went into the ring and hit Trouble in Paradise. Miz fell into the ropes and Rey landed the 619 and earned the win.
Sheamus came down to the ring to remind the World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio that he’s fighting Sheamus at Payback and no one else. “Don’t look past me, fella. I’m going to get my belt back and this little month of being a champion will only be an after-thought.” Then John Cena’s music hit and he came down to the ring for their match.”
The match between the number one contender and the potential number one contender hit off. The last time the two met was back in April when Del Rio first joined Smackdown and attacked both guys. This time there weren’t any interferences, just a good clean match between the two heavyweights. Sheamus would earn the victory though after a hard fought match, landing a surprise Brogue Kick after countering an AA for the win.
Next up was the highly anticipated United States Championship match between the challenger, Shawn Michaels, and the champion, Justin Gabriel. The two had made a bit of a history the past couple weeks stemming from HBK trying to give advice to the younger, arrogant Gabriel. The two wound up having a non-title match and HBK won. After Michaels tried to bury the hatchet, Gabriel didn’t take too kindly to the gesture and threatened Michaels. Roose awarded Michaels a title match.
The match kicked off with fast-paced action. Michaels kept Gabriel down with a few chops and worked the kid into the corner. Gabriel used his quick feet to battle out of the hole and took the momentum of the match in his favor. After hitting an Enziguri, Gabriel set up Michaels for a corkscrew plancha and landed it. HBK somehow kicked out and Gabriel went for the top rope to set up the 450 splash.
Gabriel stood on the top rope and mocked Michaels a bit before going for the finisher. Michaels threw his knees up and caught Gabriel, causing the champion to roll around in pain. Michaels kicked himself up from the mat and began to tune up the band. Gabriel staggered to his feet and walked right into the Sweet Chin Music. Michaels fell on top of Gabriel and won the match, ending Gabriel’s title reign and becoming the new United States Champion.
Back stage, Roose was shown talking with his tag team. Kofi Kingston had a match up next and Roose was giving him some encouragement as he was going up against Billy Gunn. Roose and Mysterio went down to the ring with Kofi for his match.
Kingston and Gunn had a history when they were in the tag title hunt as foes so they knew each other well. Gunn was more physical with Kofi, throwing the high flyer around in their match. Gunn seemed to have the match won and he kicked Kofi in the gut to set up the Fameasser. As Gunn went to land it, Rey tripped up Gunn and acted like nothing happened. As the ref was distracted with Rey, Kofi hit Gunn with the Trouble in Paradise and earned the win. The trio celebrated in the ring together.
The last match of the night saw Randy Orton take on Del Rio in a singles, non-title match. It was another good match between the two with Orton getting the early advantage. Del Rio countered back, taking the momentum from Orton. But in a fury of moves, Del Rio accidentally kicked the ref, knocking him out of action.
This prompted Sheamus to come down to the ring and attempt to get involved in the match. Del Rio was ready though, ducking a Brogue Kick attempt and hitting an Enziguri. Del Rio then put Sheamus in the Cross Arm Breaker, but completely forgot about Orton in the match. Orton began to attack Del Rio and Sheamus fell out of the ring. Orton went for an RKO but Del Rio avoided it. He then put Orton in the Cross Arm Breaker and got the Viper to tap out.
Instead of celebrate, Del Rio rolled out of the ring and began to go to work on Sheamus outside of the ring. He threw the Celtic Warrior into the steel steps and proceeded to apply the Cross Arm Breaker out on the floor. Smackdown cut off with the refs trying to get Del Rio off Sheamus.
Real Deal vs Roose: Road to Wrestlemania 