Smackdown Preview 07.31.09

At Night of Champions, Smackdown saw a new World Heavyweight Champion emerge with fan favorite Jeff Hardy. Hardy was able to finally get his hands on CM Punk and avoid any sorts of mishaps, such as Punk getting him disqualified. When the smoke had cleared from their battle, Jeff Hardy had pulled off the Swanton Bomb on Punk, scored the pinfall and was pronounced the new World Heavyweight Champion. It's been a long time coming for Jeff as he originally lost the title to Punk months ago at Extreme Rules. Now Jeff proudly wears the Championship belt, but CM Punk is definitely going to want to invoke his rematch clause at some point. He'll have to wait though, because a few weeks before the Pay-Per-View, rising superstar John Morrison requested a shot at the champ after Night of Champions. Smackdown GM Theodore Long agreed to it, which means Morrison will get his opportunity. Will Jeff Hardy be able to successfully defend against Morrison? Or will Morrison continue his momentum on Smackdown and capture the prized gold?

The big mystery heading into Night of Champions was just who would Smackdown's Chris Jericho choose to be his Unified Tag team Championship partner? That answer came as the event kicked off, right after Jericho did some more disrespecting of his former partner Edge. Edge has vowed to make a comeback to the wrestling ring, but until then Jericho vowed to choose a partner worthy of being a champion Jericho's selection was Raw superstar, The Big Show. The two successfully defended the tag team titles against Raw's Legacy, with Big Show able to force his opponent into submission. One night later on Raw, Jericho and Show were in action again, as they were ordered by guest host Shaquille O'Neal to face Cryme Tyme in a non-title match. The match ended in DQ when Show stayed in the ring illegally and continued to pummel his opponents. This eventually brought Shaq into the ring and the two prepared to chokeslam each other. Cryme Tyme was able to kick Show, breaking the hold up, and Shaq charged at Show to knock him out of the ring. Jericho and Show have claimed they will be the most dominant tag team in WWE history. What will they have to say regarding their run-in with Shaq & Cryme Tyme, and which team will step forward to challenge them next?

Two other Smackdown competitors challenged for titles at Night of Champions, but unfortunately failed. In the divas division of WWE, Melina tried to reclaim here Womens Title from Michelle McCool. McCool was able to retain the title and leave Melina on the mat after a quick pinfall. Will these two continue their feud, or will a new diva enter into the mix of competition? Also, quickly rising star Dolph Ziggler looked to take the opportunity to defeat Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Tite at the Pay-Per-View. Mysterio showed just why he's one of Smackdown and the WWE's top superstars by successfully defending against his tough new opponent. Ziggler still seems destined for championship gold, and with the lovely Maria accompanying him to ringside, it's only a matter of time before he wins a title. What will be next for both Mysterio and Ziggler following their Night of Champions title clash?

With Summerslam coming up in August, there's sure to be matches made on the coming episodes of Smackdown...

Catch all the action of Smackdown tonight at 8PM EST on MyNetworkTV!