Alberto Del Rio
Alberto Del Rio entering the SmackDown arena in weeks prior to WWE's SummerSlam pay-per-view. WWE.com

The final show before SummerSlam, the Aug. 17 episode of Friday Night SmackDown was taped onTuesday, with Alberto Del Rio re-earning his World Heavyweight Title match at SummerSlam, The Miz losing another bout, Orton defeating Bryan, and mid-card wrestlers getting pushed, reports NoDQ.

Recorded Aug. 14 at Frank Erwin Center in Dallas, Texas, SmackDown set the World Heavyweight Championship match for SummerSlam as Alberto Del Rio vs. current champion Sheamus after Del Rio defeated Chris Jericho in a qualifying match. At the opening of the show, the two contenders approached General Manager Booker T, saying they deserved to fight for the belt at SummerSlam.

The GM set the night's main event as the number one contenders match, and to no surprise, Y2J was unsuccessful in defeating the Mexican Aristocrat. With Jericho already scheduled to face Dolph Ziggler at the Aug. 19 pay-per-view, it would have been foolish to think he would be involved in one of Sunday's main events.

It could have made for an interesting twist, being that Dolph Ziggler has a Money in the Bank contract which gives him the power to place himself in a World Heavyweight Championship match at any time. Theoretically if Jericho was in the match, Ziggler could have placed himself in as the third man, but that would have discarded the feud between Del Rio and Sheamus that has been building.

Ziggler did make his presence known at the SmackDown taping, attacking Jericho after his match. With the Ziggler vs. Jericho feud focusing mainly on Jericho not winning "the big one" since his return and Ziggler holding the Money in the Bank contract, Ziggler may cash in his contract for a title match against the World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam.

Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeated The Miz and Cody Rhodes in what is now the fourth loss in a row for The Miz. The current Intercontinental Champion will be defending his title against Rey Mysterio at SummerSlam, and the IC champ has already lost to Mysterio twice in the past two weeks.

Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara is expected to be added to the SUmmerSlam card. Damien Sandow vs. Brodus Clay is also a possible addition to the pay-per-view, making it a 10 match event including the pre-show.

There were two squash matches at the show: Antonio Cesaro beating Zack Ryder and Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins winning a match against two local wrestlers. Cesaro is being pushed for his United States Title match at the SummerSlam pre=show.

Reks and Hawkins had a new male stripper-esque look, and are apparently being pushed as part of developing a strong tag team division. WWE has been rebuilding the division since last year and Reks and Hawkins are the latest team to be rebranded.

Randy Orton defeated Daneil Bryan, maintaining his winning streak since his return last month. Despite the fact that Orton is undefeated since coming back from his six month absence, The Viper doesn't have a match set for Sunday's SummerSlam pay-per-view, or an ongoing feud.

Eve became Booker T's assistant on SmackDown after she defeated Kaitlyn. This comes after the rookie Kaitlyn got an upset victory over Eve on Monday's RAW.