411’s WWE Smackdown Report 06.21.13

Greetings all, your regular Smackdown recapper Michael Benjamin could not be here this week. I’m Scott Rutherford and I will be your fill in.

This week Smackdown is coming from Dayton , OH and your commentators are Michael Cole and JBL.

We start with a recap of Payback.

Daniel Bryan is out and both Cole and JBL think after losing at Payback and on Monday DB is the weakest link. Bryan says that Monday night something happened that has never happened in his 13 years as a wrestler and had a match stopped. He told the doctor he could go on but the officials didn’t believe him and stopped the match. He says the company line is they were concerned about his health but he knows they really think he isn’t tough enough. The worst part however was Randy Orton and he asked them to roll footage from Monday of the doctor calling off the match. Daniel Bryan didn’t like Randy picking him up and patting him on the head like he was a little dog and seeing pity in his eyes. Bryan doesn’t care what anyone thinks and will beat Orton tonight. This brings out Randy and he claims Bryan has it wrong. The match was stopped for his wellbeing and he respected the fact Daniel wanted to go on. Bryan doesn’t believe him and still can see the pity in his eyes. He proved how tough he was last week when he beat The Sheild. Randy has heard enough and says that he will hurt Bryan tonight and will need to be carried out.

++++

Match #1:Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes (w/- Damien Sandow) color= 0033ff>
Cody starts out quickly but Sheamus fight back quickly enough and rams Cody’s head into the corner. Snap suplex gets 2 and Sheamus goes to the arm bar. Cody punches his way out, takes control then goes up top, He gets caught and Sheamus snapmares him from the top rope. Rhodes rolls outside and trips up Sheamus on the apron, rams the arm into the ring post and slams Sheamus into the barricade. Cody waits for him back in the ring and greets Sheamus with a series of kicks and a knee drop onto the arm. Sheamus tries to keep fighting out but Cody quickly cuts him off and gets a running knee to the head for 2. Sheamus tries a corner charge but misses and gets rolled up for a two count. Sheamus fights back and tries a sling-shot shoulder breaker but Cody catches him and counters into an armbar submission be he cannot get Sheamus to tap. They work to their feet and Sheamus explodes with two running axe handles and a running senton. Cody gets thrown into Sandow but manages to counter the White Noise into a pin attempt but Sheamus reverses into the Texas Cloverleaf for the tap out win.

Sandown attacks after the bell.

Winner: Sheamus via submission. Like every other match you have seen between Sheamus and this pair. Doesn’t suck but doesn’t set the world alight. **

Wyatte Family promo

++++

Match #2:Curtis Axel (w/- Paul Heyman) vs. Wade Barrettcolor= 0033ff>
Lock up to start and they break in the corner. Lock-up again and Axel gets a side headlock. Barrett fights out and gets a snapmare and elbow drop for a quick one count. Barrett off the ropes and eats a dropkick. Axel takes control and nails a 2nd rope elbow for a two count. He backs Barrett into the corner but Wade takes control with a clothesline and blows to the head and hits a snap suplex for two. A boot the Curtis’ head and he tumbles to the floor. Barrett rams him into the ring apron and rolls him back into the ring. Axel gets him coming back in but Barrett block a Perfectplex attempt and nails a boot to the face for a two count. Barrett misses his own 2nd rope elbow and a running neckbreaker by Axel gets the win.

Miz who has been doing commentary comes into the ring to face off. Heyman pulls Curtis away.

Winner: Curtis Axel via pinfall. Short match and nothing exciting. Would have expected something a little more smash mouth to tell you the truth. *1/2

++++

Replay of the awesome Mark Henry promo from RAW. Hint…it’s still awesome.

Recap of the Big E. Langston double crossing Kaitlyn and AJ’s win for the Diva’s Title at Payback

Match #3: AJ Lee vs. Natalyacolor= 0033ff>
Nattie jaws about getting AJ to show some respect and promptly pounds the crap out of her trying to do just that. AJ manages to get a sleeper on Natalya but Nattie break it up by ramming AJ into the corner, but AJ quickly kicks her in the back of the head. Cut to the end and Natalya has her over the should in the power slam position but decides to do an aeroplane spin, AJ bites her hand to get her to stop, quickly gets the octopus submission for the tap out win.

Winner: AJ Lee via submission. Quick and inoffensive. AJ really needs a strong face as she’s leagues in front of everyone else. Personally I would throw wads of cash at Lita to come back for one last run. ½*

Layla and Kaitlyn have been watching in the back. Aksana calls Kaitlyn trash. Looking at my show notes I describe the reaction as this…”Kaitlyn goes bugfuck” Still an apt description.

++++

Match #4: Alberto Del Rio (w/- Richardo) vs. Chris Jerichocolor= 0033ff>
Please not for the sake of my recapping sanity I refer to Del Rio as ADR.

Lock up top start as ADR gets a shoulder block. He runs the ropes but eats dropkick, Jericho nails him with a clothesline, kicks in the corner and chokes ADR on the second rope. Running knee to the back of the head gets a one count. Jericho chops away in the corner but eats a kick to the face on a corner charge. ADR charges him but Jericho steps aside and ADR goes through he ropes to the floor. Y2J gets his second rope springboard dropkick but ADRt manages a reverse kick when he gets back in the ring as we head to the commercial break…

…we’re back with Jericho in control but he quickly misses a corner charge and falls outside. ADR runs him into the barricade and kicks him in the ribs. ADR rolls him back into the ring and a pinfall attempt gets two. ADR backs him into a corner and gets a series of shoulder blocks to the mid-section. However he misses a shoulder charge and Jericho gets two running shoulder blocks of his own, axe handle off the top rope gets a near fall. Running bulldog and the lionsault but Jericho can’t cover. ADR reverse kick gets him the upper hand, he goes for the cross arm-breaker and they trade counters between the Walls of Jericho and the arm breaker. Richardo tries to distract Jericho and he gets put into the Walls for his trouble and out of nowhere Dolph Ziggler runs in for the DQ finish.

After the match Jericho is pissed and nails Dolph with the Codebreaker. ADR and Richardo take advantage and lay into Ziggler some more.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio via DQ. The match felt like the first 10 minutes of a really good 15 minute match. They were just hitting their stride once Dolph made the run in. I would welcome a 20-minute match between these two. **1/2

++++

Match #5: Drew McIntyre (w/- Heather Slater & Jinder) vs. Christiancolor= 0033ff>
Short match as Christian easily takes control and takes out Slater and Jinder then nails Drew with the Killswitch for the win.

After the match The Shield come out and make their usual statement.

Winner: Christian via pinfall. Absolutely nothing match and only served to get Christian into the mix. I take it he may be the 3rd man to go with Kane and The Undertaker for the rumoured UT/Kane vs. Shield match at SummerSlam. That or Christian will be plugged in if UT doesn’t choose to wrestle. DUD

++++

Recap of C.M Punks return at Payback and RAW. We of course get the footage of Brock Lesnar attacking Punk from RAW as well.

Renee Young is backstage with Paul Heymen. She asks about the Lesnar attack from Monday. Paul says that’s a personal question. You don’t see him asking Rene about her father, or her Uncle removing her from a limo at her prom or why she broke off her engagement 2 months ago. No, they are personal questions. Punk says they are best friends and he will not air dirty laundry on TV. Maybe next time she interviews him Renee should ask about Curtis Axel who just defended his Intercontinental Championship for the first time and he walks out…

++++

Match #6: Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryancolor= 0033ff>
Bryan starts out fast but they trade blows in the corner with no one getting the upper hand. Randy finally takes control and a vicious uppercut drops Bryan to he mat, Orton rakes his boot laces across the eyes and then a series of head butts. Bryan fights back up but his attempted snap suplex is blocked and Randy nails one of his own and then proceeds to stomp on Bryans face but misses a knee drop and DB locks in a leglock submission. Randy counters into a side headlock but Bryan reverses and attempts to get the No Lock but Orton keeps resisting and breaks it up using a side slam. Randy out to the ring apron and he tries to suplex Bryan over the tope rope onto the floor, Bryan block but can’t maintain it and Randy finally hits the move as we go to break…

…we’re back with Orton in control. He crotches Bryan on the top turnbuckle but cannot get the superplex, Bryan knocks him off top with a headbutt and hits a missile dropkick and both men are down. The ref counts and the are up at 5 as Bryan charges the corner and hits a drop kick and it’s the YES kicks. Running dropkick again gets a 2 count. Bryan runs the ropes and goes for his clothesline but gets powerslammed for his trouble. Randy tries an uppercut which is countered into a backslide pin attempt which only gets a 2 count for Bryan. More YES kicks with a big one to the head. Bryan goes up top but this time Randy catches him and nails the superplex for a 2 count. Hanging DDT and Orton signals for the RKO but Bryan rolls out and Orton follows and drops him on the barricade like he did on Monday. Randy then goes for a hanging DDT to the floor but Bryan rams Orton into the barricade instead, running knee to the face off the apron to the floor. Bryans back in but he soon hitting his dive to the floor. Both men are down as the ref counts and Bryan beats Orton back in for the count out win.

Bryan is pissed that the match is stopped and demands it gets restarted as we go off air.

Winner: Daniel Bryan via countout. Much like the Jericho/ADR match this was just starting to get going and seemed like the first 2/3 of a longer match. I’m guess this leads to a big rematch on Monday and likely the much rumoured Orton heel turn. ***

Overall: As with most SD shows, this was inoffensive and unmemorable. A couple of good matches and nothing actively bad. We had a little movement on the Bryan/Orton feud and a possible set-up for Christian to be brought into the feud with The Shield. As always though, this is a place holder for RAW and tonight it really felt like it.