Alberto Del Rio claimed his spot as number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship with a triple threat victory in the main event of SmackDown.

Del Rio, Kane and Randy Orton all staked their claim to the next World Heavyweight Championship match at the start of the show, promoting John Laurinaitis’ executive assistant, Eve, to pit all three men against each other in the night’s main event.

Daniel Bryan jumped Kane with a steel chair as the Big Red Monster made his entrance, giving Orton an advantage when he squared off with Kane after tossing Alberto Del Rio from the ring.

The Viper positioned Kane in the ropes for his patented elevated DDT, but Del Rio rocked Orton with a kick to put Kane back in control of the action.

An enzuigiri from Del Rio sent Kane spilling from the top rope, but the Big Red Machine was soon back in the ring, where Randy Orton took control with powerslams for both him and Del Rio.

Orton tried to RKO Del Rio only to be thrown from the ring by Kane and rammed into the steel steps.

A chokeslam from Kane put Del Rio on the mat, but before Kane could make a cover Daniel Bryan returned to ringside and distracted the Big Red Monster.

After chasing Bryan from ringside, Kane returned to the ring and walked right into an RKO from Orton.

Before Orton could make a cover, Del Rio kicked the Viper in the head and dove on top of Kane himself, stealing the three-count to become the number one contender to Sheamus’ World Heavyweight Championship.

Sheamus gave Del Rio little time to celebrate his victory, blindsiding the new number one contender on the entrance ramp to stand tall as SmackDown came to an end.

Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, was not as lucky when he stepped into the ring on SmackDown, taking on United States Champion Santino Marella.

Rodriguez challenged Marella to the match after being shown up as Del Rio’s ring announcer on Raw, but was soon second-guessing himself when he went toe-to-toe with the Milan Miracle.

Marella let Rodriguez tire himself out running around the ring before disorientating him with an aeroplane spin. Sanitno then rolled out of the ring and snuck up behind the dizzy Ricardo to strike him down with the Cobra for the win.

World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus took to the ring earlier in the night to apologise for knocking John Laurinatis over on Raw. When Eve deemed the Great White’s apology to be insincere though, she pitted Sheamus against the All-American American, Jack Swagger, in a non-title match.

After enduring Swagger’s assault on his knee for much of the match, Sheamus was able to slip off Swagger’s shoulders when the All-American American attempted a Gutwrench Powerbomb. When Swagger turned back around, Sheamus blasted him with the Brogue Kick to pick up the victory.

SmackDown Results:

• Christian def. Hunico w/ Camacho
• Darren Young & Titus O’Neil def. The Usos
• 2-on-1 Handicap Match:
  Ryback def. Brian Edwards & Kevin Bendl
• Santino Marella def. Ricardo Rodriguez
• Sheamus def. Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero
• Damien Sandow def. Yoshi Tatsu
• #1 Contender’s Match to the World Heavyweight Championship:
  Alberto Del Rio def. Kane and Randy Orton