The 1^st July 2011 episode of Friday Night SmackDown! starts with a video hyping Mark Henry and the match to take place later in the show between him and Randy Orton, followed by us going backstage where Christian approaches Teddy Long with a contract for his World Heavyweight Championship match at Money In The Bank.

Long tells Christian that he thinks he has memory loss, as he said last week that if Christian won he would get the title match, but Christian’s tag team partner Mark Henry was the one that won, hence the upcoming match between Henry and Orton.

He says that Henry has been impressive lately, and if he can beat Orton again, he might make the match at Money In The Bank a triple threat match, or maybe just a one-on-one match, with Mark Henry going against Randy Orton.

Christian tries to tell him that he can’t screw him again as he has the contract right there, but Long says that he can and he is, and that furthermore, Christian is banned from ringside for the upcoming match.

In the arena, Randy Orton takes on Mark Henry in a match which sees Orton get the victory when he takes advantage of the distraction provided by The Big Show’s music hitting, by hitting Henry with an RKO and re-entering the ring to beat the ten count that Henry is unable to answer.

Afterwards, an angry Mark Henry makes his way to the side of the stage and accuses the audio technician of causing the distraction, to which the technician vehemently denies. Henry knocks the equipment away and drags the technician to a platform and throwing him over it.

After a video recapping the match between Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan last week and the aftermath, Daniel Bryan is pitted against Ted DiBiase in a match that has no music for their entrances due to the attack on the audio technician.

The match ends with Bryan getting the victory when he forces DiBiase to tap out, though the win marks the return of the music, evidently meaning that they managed to get a replacement technician or they overstated his importance.

Backstage once more with Christian and Teddy Long, and Christian says that it leaves no doubt that he is the number one contender now that Mark Henry has lost, so it looks like they’ll be having the contract signing after all.

Long agrees, but he says that the word is that Christian was seen leaving the production truck when The Big Show’s music “accidentally” started playing. Christian denies this, saying that he was on the phone at the time and he would be happy for Long to check his phone records if he really wants to.

Long says that Christian is going to compete tonight, which Christian isn’t happy about as he says that he should be protecting him as he’ll be the face of SmackDown!, but Long says that all the time he’s spending complaining to him should be used getting ready for his match later on against Sin Cara.

Elsewhere backstage, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes are talking, with Rhodes asking DiBiase if he knows the significance of May 20^th. DiBiase doesn’t, so Rhodes says that was when DiBiase last won a match, and that there has been flashes of brilliance in between, he goes out and loses to the common man Daniel Bryan.

Rhodes says that he can’t guide DiBiase until he applies his aptitude for consistency to anything else but failure, and that if he can’t do that, he might as well wear a paper bag.

After a video recapping the attack by The Great Khali in Ranjin Singh that was ordered by Jinder Mahal five weeks ago, Singh talks about how before the Mahal’s amassed their fortune, the Singhs and Mahals were pretty close.

He says that although he will never admit it, Mahal always has been and always will be jealous of The Great Khali as he has become a worldwide celebrity in the WWE, gets roles in Bollywood and Hollywood, and is adored by billions of people everywhere.

Ranjin Singh says that all that ate away at Jinder Mahal and that Mahal wishes that he was The Great Khali, but he never will be. He says that years ago, he became his brother-in-law because his sister married them, but when Mahal yells at The Great Khali, he’s telling him that if he doesn’t listen to him, he’ll shame their whole family by divorcing her.

He says that he doesn’t feel comfortable saying these things, but they need to be said, and those that say that there is nothing to fear but fear itself are wrong, as you need to fear Jinder Mahal.

After a video hyping Sin Cara and another telling us not to copy what we see in the ring, Christian goes against Sin Cara in a match which sees Cara’s lighting being used as usual during the match, but Christian is the one to get the victory when he hits Cara with a spear for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the match between Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett at Capitol Punishment for the Intercontinental Championship, Jackson takes on Cody Rhodes (accompanied by Ted DiBiase and his assistants handing out the paper bags) in a match which sees Rhodes take advantage of the distraction provided by DiBiase, and hit Jackson with a springboard kick that he follows up with Cross-Rhodes for the 3-count and victory.

Time for another appearance by Johnny Curtis, and this time he appears to be painting something. Curtis says that he still hasn’t made his SmackDown! début yet, and he’d like to apologise if he has become a wise-guy or bitter, so from here on out there will be no shenanigans as he wants to avoid doing this – as he turns his painting around to show that he has literally painted the word “myself” into a corner.

After a Raw Rebound video recapping the match between R-Truth and John Cena on Raw (click here for our Raw report) and CM Punk’s comments afterwards, Michael Cole says that moments after Raw went off the air on Monday, WWE Headquarters had him tell the live audience that Punk was indefinitely suspended, which he says is justifiable as the comments we saw in the video were nothing compared to what he went on to say.

After he says that rumours are going around that Vince McMahon will be at Raw on July 4^th to address this situation, Kane is pitted against Wade Barrett in a match which sees Kane get the victory when he hits Barrett with a chokeslam for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the earlier attack by Mark Henry on the audio technician and during which the announcers comment that he has regained consciousness, Teddy Long makes his way to the ring for the contract signing.

Christian makes his way to the ring for the signing with what is apparently his lawyer, but when Orton makes his way to the ring for it, all he needs to go with is his World Heavyweight Championship title.

Long asks both men to sit down and says that this is the official contract signing of the Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View, but Christian says that just so Long and Orton know, his legal counsel has reviewed the contract and there is a clause in there that clearly states that if the referee screws him over yet again, he receives an immediate rematch with no questions asked.

Christian tells Long to tell his lackeys in the black and white stripes to do their job, or they will be there doing it yet again, as he says that he refuses to be screwed over and he deserves to be the World Heavyweight Champion.

He tells Orton that he knows he can beat him, even though nobody else thinks that he can, though Orton says that there is a reason for that. Christian tells him to shut up, reminding him that he beat him two weeks ago on Raw, beat him last week in the tag team match, and says that neither Long, crooked referees, or WWE brass can save him any more because he is their golden boy.

Christian says that the truth is that Orton can’t beat him, and at Money In The Bank he is going to prove it. Orton says that there was a time when this all started that he actually enjoyed facing him in the ring and respected him, and they had a great match in which Orton beat him, and another epic match in which he won again.

Orton says that the more that he beats Christian, the more he begs for one more match, which he says is comical, but all of this is starting to get him angry, and as he knows he has had problems in the past managing his anger.

He congratulates Christian on “lawyering-up” and getting himself another title shot, but that won’t help him as to become the champion he has to beat him, and that will never ever happen. Orton signs the contract and Christian hands it to his lawyer to read for a moment, before his lawyer hands it back and whispers something to him.

Christian seems to have a problem with the ink in the pen when he is about to sign it, and Teddy Long is about to hand him another one when Sheamus enters the ring to interrupt things, knocking over the table throwing out a chair, and attacking Randy Orton.

Sheamus also attacks Christian, hitting him with the Brogue Kick, that he then hits Orton with too, after countering his RKO. Sheamus spies the contract and grabs it before ripping it to pieces and then leaves as SmackDown! goes off the air.