WWE Friday Night Smackdown Results (4-15-11): 20 Man Battle Royal & Edge Says Goodbye!

"Yes sir, we promised you a great main event?."

Tonight, Smackdown is coming from the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. Later tonight, World Heavyweight Champion Edge will be coming out to announce his retirement & surrender the belt.

Chimel intros Rodriguez who calls out Alberto Del Rio, who comes out in a classic Rolls Royce to a lot of heat from the crowd. He says that tonight it is about Edge, respectfully paying tribute to Edge's career. He says that it is his destiny to win the World Heavyweight Championship, but not like this. He wants Edge to come out and give him the belt. But Teddy Long comes out to the ring and says that won't be happening. He tells Del Rio that he'll still be in a Ladder Match at Extreme Rules for the title, but there will be a new number one contender determined later tonight in an over-the-top battle royal. Del Rio argues this, but Long stands his ground. Del Rio says he's glad that he forced Edge to retire, which of course draws heat from the crowd. Del Rio tries to argue its his destiny to be the champ, but Long interrupts him and says its his destiny to shut up, and leaves. And after this, we get our first commercial break.

Kofi Kingston vs Exekiel Jackson (w/The Corre)
Back from break and Big Zeke is already in the ring, awaiting the arrival of Kofi. The rest of The Corre are at ringside, chai riding at commentary. Kofi comes out to a nice pop from the crowd. While Kofi & Zeke go back and forth in the ring, Barrett, Slater, & Gabriel go back and forth verbally at commentary as to who is going to win the Royal later tonight. It gets interrupted by Zeke as he throws Kofi onto all three of them. As Barrett tries to get in the ring, the ref is distracted long enough for Zeke to toss Kofi to the mat like a rag doll and get the 1-2-3 for the win.

Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

Postmatch: Big Zeke takes the mic to say that he is the personification of domination, & after the battle royal, he will be the #1 contender & everyone will know, including The Corre. Are they forgetting that Zeke was the last ECW champion before they retired it? And we have ourselves another commercial break.

Back from break and we're shown a clip of LayCool talking to a therapist about being a team. Michelle did apparently show up, but she's not thrilled with this. They bicker back and forth for a few minutes before Michelle walks off.

Back at the arena, Cody Rhodes is already in the ring. He's in his wrestling attire, but the lights are out over the ring. He has a hoodie on covering his face. He says that beating Mysterio at Wrestlemania isn't enough. He says he is going to win the battle royal later tonight, & win the Heavyweight title at Extreme Rules. He says that winning the title will be the only gratification for his disfigurement & he will not stop until he disfigures Mysterio's face and gets vindication. Mysterio's music hits to a large pop from the crowd. He hits the ring going after Rhodes. He goes for the 619 but Rhodes blocks it. Mysterio kicks him then hits with the 619 in the midsection this time & Rhodes retreats backstage as we go to another commercial break. During the break, they replayed the clip for Awesome Kong.

Rey Mysterio vs Drew McIntyre
Back from break and Drew comes out as Rey is still in the ring. Drew stares down Rey, literally. Rey takes it to Drew, but Drew takes it right back to him as he hits him with a power slam. Drew has control early on until he picks up Rey for a side slam, but Rey reverses it tossing Drew into the ropes. Rey goes for the 619 but is blocked by Drew. Rey kicks him to the outside, and as he goes for a baseball slide, he's caught by Drew who then tosses him into the barricade head first. And we have a commercial break.

Back from break and Drew has Rey locked up, who eventually powers out of it tossing Drew to the outside. But Drew gets back in control as he beats down on the master of the 619. He spears Rey in the corner, then charges in but Rey hops over him as Drew runs into the ringpost. Mysterio eventually hits Drew with the 619 and the flying cross body from the top rope to get the pinfall and the win.

Winner: Rey Mysterio w/the 619

They show a clip highlighting Edge's career up till Monday Night when he announced his retirement. (In case anyone is interested, the song during this clip was "When You're Young" by 3 Doors Down.) Awesome clip. After the clip, we're backstage and we're shown Edge getting an ovation from the Smackdown locker room. It ends with Edge & Kane shaking hands, and we go to break.

Back from break, Edge's music hits to a very large pop from the crowd. He gives a recap of his career, saying he's going to miss all of it. The crowd starts giving him a loud "Thank You" chant. He says he wants to do his intro one more time, which he does. He's fired up now, as he talks about how great the WWE doctors are & saying he's taking his girl and going surfing. He say's he's happy that he got to say goodbye in Albany because it's the place where he won his first championship. In fact, it was a cab in Albany where he came up with his nickname. He introduces us to his mother who is sitting in the front row & thanks her for all her support. The crowd even gives her a "Thank You Mom" chant to which gets her even more teary eyed. He says the title has meant everything to him, but the belt is not his, and that every fan holds a piece of it as he relinquishes the belt. He says its been one heck of a ride, places the mic & the belt down and says goodbye. Another loud thank you chant from the crowd as he gives his mom a big hug & goes backstage as we got to break. But before the break, they showed the trailer for Randy Orton's movie.

Back from break as we're shown Edge backstage, who is talking to Rosa Mendes when he is interrupted by Alberto Del Rio, who extends his hand. But Edge just stares him down and walks away as Del Rio smiles.

Kelly Kelly vs Layla (w/Michelle McCool)
Kelly comes out next to a quiet pop from the crowd. LayCool comes out, with Layla trying to do their entrance, but Michelle ignores her and goes straight to the ring to sit at commentary. Most of the match takes place outside the ring. And Layla is almost counted out until Michelle gets up and tosses her back into the ring. Unfortunately, she's thrown into a roll up by Kelly to get the pinfall.

Winner: Kelly Kelly with a roll up

Postmatch: After the match, Michelle comes into the ring & shoves Layla across the ring, and then leaves the ring. And we have another commercial break.

Back from break and we're shown a replay of Lawler & Swagger's match on Raw on Monday. They then show a replay of the video of WWE superstars talking about Taker/H's match at Wrestlemania.

The Big Show is the first person announced to the ring for the battle royal as we go to commercial break.

20 Man Battle Royal for #1 Contender to face Del Rio at Extreme Rules for the Heavyweight Title
Back from break & as Del Rio is shown at ringside, we see that pretty much all members of the Smackdown roster are in the ring for this, including Brodus Clay. Except for Kane who's pyro goes off & it starts once he's in the ring. The first four eliminations came from the Big Show, and as he eliminated the 4th one being Ezekiel Jackson with a clothesline, he ended up eliminating himself in the process.

Those eliminated:
JTG by Big Show
Trent Baretta by Big Show
Heath Slater by Big Show
Ezekiel Jackson by Big Show
Big Show eliminates himself
Cody Rhodes by Rey Mysterio
Curt Hawkins by Rey Mysterio
Drew McIntyre by Brodus Clay
Chavo Guerrero by Brodus Clay
Brodus Clay by Kane
Kofi Kingston by Wade Barrett
Tyler Reks by Christian
Yoshi Tatsu by Christian
Kane by Barrett & Gabriel
Chris Masters by Wade Barrett
Wade Barrett by Justin Gabriel
Justin Gabriel by Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio by Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger by Christian

The final four came down to Christian, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger & Justin Gabriel. Mysterio takes out Gabriel and then he & Christian go at it for a few moments until Swagger goes after Rey. Mysterio gets Swagger setup for the 619, but Cole comes over and takes the 619 for Swagger. The distraction allowed Swagger to eliminate Mysterio. Christian goes at with Swagger, including Swagger getting Christian in the ankle lock. Afterwards, as Christian was on the apron, Del Rio tries to come over and pull him down, but fails. Swagger charges at Christian, but falls out as Christian pulls the rope down to get the last elimination for the win.

Winner: Christian, will face Del Rio at Extreme Rules for the Heavyweight Championship

Postmatch: Edge comes out to celebrate with Christian. They stare down Del Rio who is standing on the broadcast table as the show rolls off the air..