Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
6/7/2013
Long Island, New York
-Miz TV starts the show. They actually bothered to have both chairs and couches in the ring. Team Hell No comes out quite somberly. Daniel Bryan gets great support from the fans before he makes a statement. Bryan attempts to bury the hatchet with Kane and Orton.
Soon thereafter, Orton and Bryan begin to get into each other’s faces. Kane tries to hold Bryan back, before exclaiming that he’s already had his back forever. Bryan claims that Kane was forced to team up with him and that this wouldn’t happen if he had a better partner. Kane walks out. The Miz rubs it in. Bryan gives him a look like he’s the worst babyface that ever lived.
Teddy Long comes out at this point and makes a match where Bryan has to team with Randy Orton to take on Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel (w/ Paul Heyman)
Heyman is on the microphone on the way to the ring. Heyman reminds us of Curtis’ achievements thus far. I wish they had something genuine to brag about. There’s a lockup to start and a couple of side headlocks, before Jericho takes over with a dropkick and a couple of chops. Axel fights out of the corner after taking a couple of chops but telegraphs a back bodydrop and gets clotheslined out of the ring.
Jericho mugs for the camera after sliding out into Axel. Back inside, Axel hits a neckbreaker from the second rope and gets two. We hit the break. Axel is in control as we return. Axel hits the necksnap for two. Jericho fights out of a rear chinlock and hits a couple of shoulderblocks and goes up top to hit the double axe handle.
Axel reverses out of a Walls of Jericho attempt but takes a bulldog. Jericho misses the Lionsault and Axel hits his running neckbreaker for two. Axel misses a corner splash and Jericho comes off the top with a crossbody for two. Axel ducks a clothesline and goes for the backslide, unsuccessfully.
The Perfect-Plex is reversed into the Walls of Jericho. Axel crawls and makes it to the ropes. Chris hits the springboard dropkick and Axel falls to the outside. Heyman steps onto the table and summons CM Punk.
The music distraction works as Axel rolls up Jericho for the win. We all saw this coming. Jericho is a sore loser and heads back to the ring and beats down Axel. Chris hits the Codebreaker and glares at Heyman.
Final Thoughts: I can’t wait for the “Best of Curtis Axel” YouTube compilations. The really bad news about this match is that, while it was fine, Axel did not shine against Jericho. However, the timing was terrible for this match, with Jericho dealing with Heyman and looking towards Punk, and Axel having no real momentum to speak of. Maybe, we’ll get this match again in the next few weeks and it will get more than seven minutes or so.
-Kane is backstage and walks into Ryback. Ryback taunts Kane and remind him that he rules. Kane lists a few of his accomplishments, including tombstone piledriving a priest. Those rules don’t apply to him.
-We enjoy a Wyatt Family vignette.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Heath Slater
3MB beat down Del Rio to start, but Drew misses a big boot and takes out Mahal. Slater charges and eats a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Slater quickly taps to the cross armbreaker. Jinder and Drew get dumped to the outside and Ricardo comes off the top onto them to a big pop. Dolph shows up on the tron. Ziggler informs the fans that he’s back.
Final Thoughts: Well, at least it Big E and ADR aren’t going for a best of seven series. Still, they should have just had Dolph return on Monday as more of a surprise rather than have him “via satellite” on Smackdown and cutting a promo after nothing happened.
Kane vs. Ryback
They lock up to start and slug it out before Ryback hits a shoulder block. Ryback misses a splash and Kane hits the running dropkick for one. Ryback hits a knee to the gut and is able to struggle and get Kane up for a press slam. The crowd chants for tables. Ryback eats a big boot after fighting out of the chokeslam. Kane hits the corner clotheslines and a sideslam for two. Kane hits a running DDT and Ryback then gets clotheslined out to the floor.
Ryback rams Kane into the barricade and goes under the ring for a table. They’re just turning him into a babyface with this. They head inside. Kane misses the clothesline from the top and Ryback follows with a spinebuster. Kane counters the Meathook with the chokeslam but gets two after Ryback grabs the bottom rope. Kane sets up the table. Ryback reverses the chokeslam and powerbombs Kane through the table and calls him stupid.
Final Thoughts: This was fine, and far better than their first match. This makes Ryback look pretty good and powerful, but he’s going to be a huge face if they keep up this tables gimmick. On the powerbomb through the table, Ryback struggled with Kane and dropped him pretty early and awkwardly on his arched back, and not flat through the table. Hopefully, Kane doesn’t feel lasting effects.
-Damien Sandow is in the ring. Sandow proclaims to be the smartest man in the world. Damien introduces Deep Blue, the supercomputer that is the best chess player in the world. Sandow demands the crowd to sit back in silence and watch him school the computer in chess. Sandow was better than Bobby Fischer, he claims. Sandow berates the computer for complimenting his first move.
Sheamus interrupts this epic encounter between man and machine. Sheamus claims to be able to beat the computer in one move. Sheamus refers to the machine as an ATARI. I’m sure the fans caught that. Sheamus stalls. One guy in the crowd sarcastically chants Brogue Kick. Sheamus Brogue Kicks the monitor. The CPU is fine…but WWE logic.
Sandow finally fights back after this tragedy and runs Sheamus into the monitor stand. OK, now the CPU is thrashed after Sandow’s aggressive assault on Sheamus. Sandow was tremendous.
-Backstage, Orton and Bryan are getting ready for their match. Orton doesn’t like Bryan.
-They show the other Wyatt Family vignette.
Fandango vs. Zack Ryder
Hey, Zack got onto a New York show. The Miz is on commentary and adds nothing noteworthy. Fandango hits the spinning heel kick to start and drives a few knees into Ryder’s skull. He follows with a European uppercut. Ryder fights back with a facebuster and gets the knees up in the corner.
Zack follows with a missile dropkick and hits the Broski Boot for two. Ryder hits the discus clothesline but gets powerbombed while going for the Rough Ryder. Alabama Jam wins it for Fandango.
Final Thoughts: It was just a modern squash with good heat since they’re in Long Island. That’s where a distraction loss makes a lot more sense. Fandango getting rolled up by Ryder is far less destructive than Jericho getting rolled up by Axel and having to get his heat back ten seconds later.
-Backstage, Natalya runs into Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn reveals that she’s going to meet her admirer on Raw. Natalya warns that revealing it to the world is a bad idea, and then Kaitlyn insults her. So much for her babyface character….
Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton an Daniel Bryan
Rollins and Bryan begin. Rollins tries to leapfrog on the whip, but Bryan hits a dropkick and goes into the surfboard. Bryan puts Rollins down in a hammerlock and stretches him down for two. Rollins fights back but takes a dropkick for another two count. Rollins runs Bryan into the corner and tags in Reigns.
Roman hits a headbutt and the two Shield members exchange quick tags and a double team leading to a two count. Roman puts on a headlock and Bryan fights out before getting knocked into the corner. Bryan hits the drop toe hold into the corner and tags in Orton.
Randy hits his clotheslines and a powerslam on Rollins, dumps Reigns and hangs up Rollins for the DDT. Reigns pulls Rollins out of the ring as we head to break.
We return with Reigns in control of Orton, choking him in the ropes. Reigns goes back to the chinlock. Orton fights out and hits the belly to back suplex. Rollins is in before Orton can make the tag. Seth stomps away and tags Reigns back in. Rollins is back and Orton fights out with a big boot and a dodge from the charging Reigns.
Orton tags in Bryan and Bryan comes off the top, dropkicking both members of The Shield. He kicks the crap out of both of them, but only gets two. Bryan flips out of the corner German suplexes Rollins. Seth bounces out to the floor. Bryan dives on both Rollins and Reigns. Rollins is rolled in and Bryan hits the headbutt.
Reigns breaks up the pin but takes a RKO. Bryan inadvertently hits the corner dropkick on Orton. The No Lock is locked onto Rollins, but Ambrose runs in. Bryan fights them off. Orton turns heel and gives Bryan an RKO. The show fades out with Orton looking down at Bryan and being showered with boos.
Final Thoughts: Orton was in autopilot, as per usual. The rest of the match was fine, but was lesser than the usual Daniel Bryan and Shield fare. As usual, the segments of the match with Rollins and Bryan were fantastic, and a fifteen minute singles match in the future would be welcome.
–The show was pretty dull this week. The most entertained I was during this show was whenever Damien Sandow was front and center. He did great work and finally looked strong against Sheamus. The IC title segment was flat. While we complained about how Heyman, Punk, and Lesnar had no group interactions heading into WrestleMania and how much fun could have been had, Curtis Axel should be nowhere near the main event right now picking up these cheap victories. Unfortunately, with Kofi Kingston out of action, WWE has no midcard faces to feed to Axel for a month straight. Realistically, Curtis should be in the IC title race to make the match a fatal four way. Going forward, Daniel’s feud with Orton should be kept brief, and with Bryan moving on after vengeance. Hopefully, Orton brings some intensity to this and doesn’t drag Bryan down like Sheamus’ was with his feud with Jinder Mahal in late 2011.
DVR MARKERS
0:00 – Miz TV –Slightly Recommended
0:15 – Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel – Slightly Recommended
1:11 – Sandow Strikes Back – Recommended
1:45 – Rollins & Reigns vs. Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan – Recommended
