The WWE website spoiled this Friday’s Smackdown, announcing that Edge relinquished the WWE World champion due to a pectoral tear, as reported over the weekend here on the site. WWE needed to come up with a last minute plan to get the title off Edge and they did so at the TV taping.
The following is the WWE.com statement: A new World Heavyweight Champion walks tall among us this night, and his name is The Great Khali. No, youâve read this right ��” The Great Khali now holds sports-entertainmentâs most elite prize, one that dwarfs even his 7-foot-3, 420-pound frame. During tonightâs taping of SmackDown in the Laredo Entertainment Center, he won the title in true colossal fashion, by being the last man to stand inside the ring after an excruciatingly hard-fought 20-Man Battle Royal. The historic contest had been ordered by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, who earlier this evening had ordered an injured Edge to surrender the World Heavyweight Title. After pulling off his truly enormous feat, the largest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history needs a challenger for The Great American Bash. A No. 1 Contenderâs Match ��” also ordered this evening by SmackDown GM Long ��” will determine whether itâs Batista, whom Khali had originally agreed to face this Sunday, or Kane, the Big Red Monster who was supposed to meet Edge at the pay-per-view. And the only way to find out who wins that contest ��” as well as how Khali walked out of Laredo with the World Heavyweight Title ��” is to watch SmackDown this Friday night at 8/9 CT on the CW.
