Smackdown Preview 05.22.09

This week's Smackdown episode comes almost a week after the latest WWE Pay-Per-View, Judgment Day 2009. At the event, several of Smackdown's superstars were in action. In the main event, the Rated-R Superstar Edge defended his World Heavyweight title against the enigma, Jeff Hardy. The match was a back and forth affair, which saw Hardy start to take an advantage on the outside of the ring. Unfortunately for Jeff, his vengeance-fueled brother Matt decided to spoil the fight. Matt came out and suddenly bashed his brother with his arm cast, which eventually led up to Edge pulling off the win. While many fans and wrestling analysts were predicting Jeff Hardy's second major title reign, it was not to be. Now that the next PPV, Extreme Rules is on the horizon, will a rematch be set up between Jeff and Edge for the title? Or will a new challenger step into the World Heavyweight Title scenario?

Smackdown superstar Rey Mysterio made a successful defense of his Intercontinental Championship against Chris Jericho at Judgment Day. Jericho had cockily bragged prior to the match that he'd leave the arena as the champion, but failed to do so in his first attempt at Mysterio. Many fans and analysts referred to this as the match of the night, with Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison's match also rating highly. John Morrison seems to have major momentum now that he's coming off a big victory over Shelton. Will Morrison soon be thrust into the Intercontinental Title picture, or will Chris Jericho still be top contender? Also, will Jericho be celebrating a victory over CM Punk on WWE Superstars this Friday night?

And finally, the opening match of Judgment Day saw the Samoan Bulldozer Umaga beat the reigning Money in the Bank winner, CM Punk. It appeared Umaga was in complete control of the straightedged superstar, beating him in and around the ring. CM Punk started to gain some momentum, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't lift Umaga into the GTS, due to the strain and wearing down Umaga gave him. Umaga won it with the Samoan Spike, leveling Punk to the mat for a victory. CM Punk has now suffered back-to-back losses at Pay-Per-Views, with Kane and Umaga both defeating him. Will Mr. Money in the Bank be able to rebound from these losses? Will Punk have scored a big victory over Chris Jericho on WWE Superstars? Is Umaga going to keep going after Punk and preventing his opportunity to cash in for a title match?

Find out all the answers on WWE's Smackdown this Friday evening at 8PM EST on MyNetworkTV!