The 28^th January 2011 episode of Friday Night SmackDown! starts with a video recapping the events of last week in which The Corre introduced themselves, General Manager Teddy Long was found unconscious, and The Corre laid a beating on Edge, after which Dolph Ziggler stood over him.

Vickie Guerrero is already in the ring and announces that due to his injuries, Teddy Long will not be there and as a result she is the Acting General Manager of SmackDown!, but first she wishes Long a speedy recovery and is about to talk about the Royal Rumble when Randy Orton’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring.

Vickie says that she doesn’t understand what he’s doing out there as he doesn’t have a match until later on, to which Orton tells her to relax. He says that he is just showing his appreciation for being invited to SmackDown!, but says that she’ll have to excuse him for what he is going to do to her boyfriend later on – just like The Miz will when he takes his WWE Championship away from him.

He compliments Vickie on her hair as the crowd chant “RKO”, before telling her that there is no excuse. Ziggler makes his way to the ring and asks Orton who he thinks he is, whether he has any idea who he and Vickie are, and says that he will show him respect. He says that after later on, he’ll have no choice but to respect him, but Orton’s counter-argument is to tell him that around here you have to earn your respect, and hitting him with an RKO.

Next, Lay-Cool take on Kaitlyn and Kelly Kelly in a match which sees Lay-Cool being attacked during their entrance, but which ends up counting for nothing as Michelle McCool gets the win for her team with a boot the the face of Kaitlyn.

Now, Drew McIntyre is pitted against JTG in a match that has Kelly watching from ringside as McIntyre gets the victory after countering a backslide pin into the Future-Shock DDT for the 3-count. Afterwards, Kelly makes her way into the ring as McIntyre exits it and walks up the ramp – it isn’t clear whether McIntyre noticed that she had entered it.

After a video recapping the match last week between “Dashing” Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio in which Rhodes injured his face, we go backstage to where Todd Grisham interviews Rhodes. Rhodes refuses to turn around to face the camera and says that after what Mysterio did, he may be unable to show his face in public ever again.

He says that he has it on good authority that Mysterio wasn’t even concerned about winning the match and wanted to smash his face in, which he succeeded in as he has a deviated septum and broken nose which will require extensive re-constructive surgery.

Rhodes says that doctors have told him that he is not to compete in the Royal Rumble match, and that he doesn’t understand why anybody would do what Mysterio did to him, as now he can’t even look at himself in the mirror.

He says that he doesn’t know what he’ll do now, and that when he arrived at the arena a kid told him that he wasn’t “Dashing” any more, and that the worst part is that he’s right. After this, he tells Grisham to stop the interview.

Elsewhere, Edge is interviewed and asked about the Royal Rumble. Edge first wants to talk about The Corre, saying that he even remembers their names, though he says “DJ Gabriel” instead of “Justin Gabriel” which the interview corrects, but Edge brushes off as inconsequential, and “the rock band guy” for Heath Slater.

He says that he’s going to let them think about this as he’s not called the “Master Manipulator” and the “Ultimate Opportunist” for no reason, so they should sleep with one eye open. In the meantime, he has bigger fish to fry when he reunites with his former partner in Rated RKO; Randy Orton, to take on The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, as he’s going to tear Ziggler in half with a Spear.

Back in the arena, Alberto Del Rio makes his way to the ring after being introduced by Ricardo Rodriguez, and says that he’s not going to tell everybody that his destiny is to win the Royal Rumble. Instead, he says he will prove it as he has thirty-nine fighters from all over the world ready to fight him, so it will be like a Royal Rumble exhibition with more entering every thirty seconds until he throws them all over the top rope.

Del Rio makes quick work of Seth Allen and Mike Stevens, but as he is throwing Stevens over the top rope, Kane makes his way to the ring which Del Rio obviously didn’t plan on. They both get some offence to each other and Kane has his hand around Del Rio’s throat when Kofi Kingston’s music hits and he runs down to throw both of them over the top rope.

Neither Del Rio nor Kane are happy about this and enter the ring, but Mysterio runs down to even the odds until Vickie makes her way out onto the stage asking for people to excuse her. She says that she will not have her show out of control, therefore as the four are already in the ring she is making a tag team match between the team of Mysterio and Kingston against Kane and Del Rio.

The match ends with Del Rio being hit with a 619 from Mysterio and then Trouble In Paradise from Kingston for the win, with Kane not breaking it up as he hit Del Rio with a boot the face and walked out moments before.

Next, The Big Show makes his way to the ring and talks about how at his size you are not just the largest athlete, but also a target, so people try to make a name of themselves at your expense, just like The Corre did two weeks ago, as the following video recap shows.

He says that The Corre accomplished two things; they made him angry, and what it is like in a Royal Rumble match. The Big Show says that he’s never won a Royal Rumble match, and is about to say something about this year when The Corre’s music hits and they make their way to the ring and surround it.

Show asks if they are going to come at him as a group instead of one-on-one, as he then suggests that they face him one-on-one and see how they would do. Heath Slater enters the ring to attack him, followed by a referee who rings the bell to show that he has taken Show up on his challenge.

Apart from his initial offence, Slater gets dominated by Show and is pinned by him after a chokeslam. Afterwards, the rest of The Corre enter the ring and quickly gain the advantage until other Superstars make their way to the ring to force The Corre to retreat.

Now, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler (the latter accompanied by Vickie) are pitted against Randy Orton and Edge. Before that takes place however, he talks about the Truman Doctrine and says that it has nothing to do with the Royal Rumble, just like Orton intimidating Vickie and giving Ziggler and RKO earlier in the show.

He says that Orton can RKO everyone in the arena and call himself the King of RKO for all he cares, but it means absolutely nothing as he is the WWE Champion now and will continue to be the WWE Champion after Sunday.

The Miz talks about Orton’s music saying that he hears voices in his head, but after their match the only voice he will hear is him saying “I’m The Miz, I’m still the WWE Champion, and I’m AWESOME!”

The match ends with Edge getting the victory for his team after he hits Ziggler with the Spear for the 3-count. Afterwards, Vickie says that she as the General Manager of SmackDown!, she is acting in its best interest when she says that she is banning the Spear until further notice, furthermore if he uses it on Ziggler at the Royal Rumble he will not only be disqualified but will lose the World Heavyweight Championship.

Edge then makes the most of the fact that it is not yet the match at the Royal Rumble by hitting Ziggler with a Spear that knocks him off the apron, followed by two more Spears on the outside of the ring; the latter of which Vickie dives out of the way to avoid.

Edge stands in the ring holding his title aloft, with Vickie screaming at him and Ziggler rolling around in pain, as SmackDown! goes off the air.

What are your predictions for this year’s Royal Rumble? Let us know in the prediction thread on our Forums.