New World Heavyweight Champion crowned on Smackdown!

World Heavyweight Championship matches taking place on Smackdown! are somewhat of a rarity, and the World title changing hands on a taping is even more rare. Despite the rarity in both cases, both have happened on Friday Night Smackdown! We now have a brand new World Champion, and that man is none other than Alberto Del Rio, who defeated The Big Show to win his first World Championship.

Anyway, as you probably know by now, The Big Show has been feuding with Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez the past few weeks, beginning with Show knocking out Rodriguez in a backstage segment on Smackdown! a few weeks back. WWE is attempting to turn Del Rio into a face (good guy), which has not only resulted in Rodriguez being a sympathetic character, but Del Rio turning from rich snob into something of a protector to Rodriguez, and the fans have taken notice. Del Rio and Show have been feuding for the last few weeks, with Show putting his title on the line against both Del Rio and Rodriguez recently.

Well, at the recent Smackdown! taping, Show once again put his title on the line, against Del Rio, in a Last Man Standing Match. Del Rio was victorious, ending Show’s second run with the title after just four months. This marks Del Rio’s first reign as World Heavyweight Champion, and third reign with a major championship overall, as he is also a former two-time WWE Champion.

It is unknown at this time why WWE went in this direction, as the original plan seemed to featured Show going into Wrestlemania 29 as champion, possibly being defeated at that event by Ryback. However, there have been rumors of a Del Rio World title reign for quite some time now, so perhaps WWE just felt now was as good a time as any to pull the trigger on those plans. There have also been rumors circulating for a while that Show’s time in professional wrestling may be coming to an end soon due to him being physically unable to continue dealing with the extremely, physically demanding lifestyle that comes with working for WWE, but that cannot be confirmed at this time.

Del Rio will likely defend the title against Show in a rematch at the Royal Rumble, and the current rumor circulating is that Del Rio may retain the title there, only to drop the belt to “Mr. Money in the Bank” Dolph Ziggler somewhere down the road, possibly even that same night.