American Idol’s Top 10 results show opened with a Clash of the Titans movie tie-in. Simon Cowell, of course, was the villain, with the contestants portrayed as Titans in the opening video package. It was pretty cute, but it’s still blatant cross-promotional advertising.

Viewers were not graced with a group performance this week. To see the entire Top 10 singing together on one stage, it seems you’ll have to go to one of the summer tour shows. Though the Idols did not sing together, this particular results show was still jam-packed with stage shows, starting with one favorite AI alum.

Ruben Studdard kicked off the episode with “Don’t Make Me Like You No More.” The Season 2 winner looked and sounded wonderful, which was no surprise. Studdard has been fairly consistent, and there wasn’t much of a chance he was going to get on the Idol stage and tank. Was the performance exciting and thrilling? No, but he didn’t bomb. Ryan Seacrest complimented Ruben on his weight loss before he called Michael Lynche over to center stage. Seacrest, flanked by Studdard on one side and Lynche on the other, looked like a ten-year-old kid (and I mean, even more than usual).

The Ford video for the week was set to the tune and theme of “Kung Fu Fighting,” which is patently silly. It would be nice if Ford would have some sort of respect for the viewers. As always, you can view all the Ford videos on the official Idol site.

Lee DeWyze was the first to stand as Ryan turned to the results. It turned out to be a good sign - Lee was soon told to sit right back down. Casey James was also pronounced safe, to rousing applause from the crowd. As Aaron Kelly waited to hear his results, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest got into another war of words on the big Idol stage. Kara DioGuardi soon jumped into the fray with a barb of her own. Randy Jackson quickly interceded to answer the question Ryan originally posed - how Aaron Kelly can learn to portray emotions in his songs. Either way, none of it mattered, as Aaron was also told he’s safe.

Siobhan Magnus and Katie Stevens stood up together to hear the next results. Magnus received uncharacteristically bad praise after her Tuesday performance; Katie has never managed once to sound like a young teenage girl and her singing style is a current bone of contention among the judges. After some discussion, Stevens was sent to the sad set of three seats, while a very relieved Siobhan was allowed to sit in safety.

Usher’s highly-stylized performance was expertly choreographed, which is what you‘d expect. The vocals definitely weren’t the best, but Usher certainly knows how to put on an entertaining show. When will.i.am appeared on stage, the audience went wild. The song’s actually really, really terrible.

Didi Benami stood up after the break to hear more results. Didi also got ripped by the judges after her Tuesday performance, another highly over-done and extremely depressing little ditty. Of course, she was also in the bottom three for the week. Michael Lynche was the next to stand. He gets better and better every week, and there’s just no way he’s going home yet. Ryan Seacrest faked out the audience by calling Mike toward the center of the stage, then telling him to go sit in safety. Lynche had the last laugh - he picked Ryan straight up in the air right on the stage. “That scared me to death,” Seacrest quipped.

Crystal Bowersox was the next to stand up, but was also allowed to sit down quickly. Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia stood up together, arms around each other’s shoulders, to hear their news. “I don’t think he understands what we’re saying,” Kara DioGuardi continued to ponder why Urban is smiling all the time. Tim explained that he is simply making the most of a lifetime opportunity. Good answer. It was Andrew Garcia, of course, who was allowed to sit down. Urban has been in the bottom three for much of the season already, so this was no surprise.

Katie Stevens was sent to safety almost immediately, leaving Didi Benami and Tim Urban in the bottom three together.

Sean Combs, now known as simply Diddy, appeared for the first time on the Idol stage to sing “Hello Good Morning” from his new album Dirty Money. He’s a huge superstar and a mega-mogul in the recording, clothing and reality television industries, and his performance was accorded appropriate effect and embellishment. Fog poured off the stage, lights danced, sexy women writhed around. But the song was absolutely horrible, with few lyrics and an extremely repetitive techno beat. Whatever you want to call him, Sean Combs is a consummate performer and he really poured it on for his first-ever Idol appearance. Diddy stopped by the judging panel to give hugs to each one before he joined Ryan Seacrest on stage - greeting him, too, with a large hug. He politely thanked the crew for the opportunity to appear on the stage before the show went to commercial break. Things have really changed since the nineties, when he was Puff Daddy and he was often in the news for club disturbances and gun violations.

The stage lights went red as Ryan Seacrest finally read the results - Didi Benami would be going home. Tim Urban is safe, yet again. Don’t ever count out the Vote For the Worst candidate. Benami then sang “Rhiannon” in hopes of gaining the judges’ save. The performance had a few uncertain warbles, which is standard for Didi, but it was probably one of her best.

Even so, it wasn’t enough to save Didi Benami. The judges’ save was spared for another elimination, and she was sent on her way. We’re down to nine. While you wait for the next episode, stay up to date on all the show news, gossip and spoilers - check out all our American Idol 9 posts.