6-21-13 Smackdown results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the June 21, 2013 episode of Smackdown

The show starts with Daniel Bryan coming to the ring. He gets the mic & the fans chant yes. Then he says Monday night on Raw something happened to him that has never happened to him before. In his 13 years in this industry he has never had a match stopped due to injury. When the Dr. asked him if he could continue he said YES! Unfortunately the Dr. & more importantly the referee didn’t agree. Officially the company line is that they were concerned for his health so they stopped the match. Realistically they stopped that match because they think that Daniel is the weak link & that he’s not tough enough. That’s not the worst part of it. The worst offender in this whole thing is Randy Orton. The reshow the end of the Daniel-Orton match from Raw. Then Daniel says that instead of fighting to keep that match going, pleading with the Doctors & referees, or raging against the machine with Daniel side by side, instead of all that Orton picked Daniel up, patted him on the head like he’s his little brother, or worse, like he’s some sort of little dog. Daniel then says that Orton told ‘Little Daniel” not to worry. But in Orton’s eyes Daniel saw nothing but pity. Tonight Daniel doesn’t care what the Doctors or referees think & most importantly Daniel doesn’t care what Orton thinks. Daniel will prove that he is not the weak link. Will he beat Orton tonight? YES! Then he leads that fans in the yes chant and then Orton comes out. Orton tells “Dan” that he’s got it all wrong. The reason their match was stopped was because people were concerned for Daniel’s well being. Orton was concerned for Daniel’s well being too. Orton wanted to stop fighting Daniel but Daniel kept coming. Orton had no choice & that made him respect Daniel even more. Then Orton tells Daniel that the match was stopped because Daniel could no longer defend himself. Then Orton says that when he helped Daniel up it wasn’t because of pity, it was because of respect. Daniel tells Orton not to patronize him. He can look Orton in the eye right now & he doesn’t see an ounce of respect. All Daniel sees is pity because he knows that Orton thinks that Daniel is the weak link. Daniel mentions that Orton said it Monday. Tonight Daniel will prove how tough he is. He proved it last week when he beat The Shield. Daniel will take all this respect & is going to shove it down Orton’s throat. Orton says that Daniel is way out of line. If Daniel wants this that badly, fine. They fight tonight & Orton is gonna hurt him. Tonight when the referees stop their match Daniel won’t be walking out, he will be carried out. Then Orton tells Daniel to respect that. This was great. Both Daniel & Orton were awesome on the mic here. I like that they have Daniel being the paranoid guy, thinking everyone pities him & he isn’t the heel. I like that there’s no face vs. heel in this feud. Just a guy who thinks no one respects him. Daniel Bryan is amazing & this is the most I’ve been interested in watching Randy Orton in years.

Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes. Sheamus wins by submission. This was a solid match. Then Damien Sandow comes in & pounds away on Sheamus. It looks like the Sheamus-Sandow feud is continuing. I’m not sure why since Sheamus beat him at the Payback Kickoff, but hopefully this rivalry will be booked better.

Time for a Wyatt family vignette. They’re coming.

Miz is on commentary.

Wade Barrett vs. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel for the Title. Axel gets the pin. This was a solid match too. Then Miz gets in the ring and He & Axel stare each other down. Miz takes jacket & tie off but Axel & Heyman retreat.

They show a Mark Henry video package.

Time for a look back at the awesome Cena-Henry segment from Raw.

Natalya vs. Divas Champion AJ Lee. AJ wins by submission. This was a decent match. They showed Kaitlyn & Layla watching backstage & then Aksana comes by. She asks if this is the same AJ that beat Kaitlyn. Then Aksana calls Kaitlyn trash. Then as Aksana goes to leave Kaitlyn hits her in the back of the head with a bottle of water. Layla tells Kaitlyn Aksana’s not worth it. Then Kaitlyn dumps trash on Aksana. Then other Divas come in to break it up. This was a decent backstage bit. I like that they have Kaitlyn being the crazy 1 now.

Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio wins by DQ when Dolph comes in. Jericho was going for the walls & Del Rio countered it into the arm breaker. Then Jericho reversed that back into the walls. Then Ricardo got on the apron, Jericho threw him in the ring & locked Ricardo in the walls & Ricardo tapped. Then Dolph came out & attacked Del Rio & the referee called for the ball. Then Del Rio & Ricardo hop the guard rail & escape. In the ring Jericho is pissed at Ziggler for costing him the match. Then Jericho gives Dolph a code breaker. Then Del Rio & Ricardo go back in the ring. Referees come to hold Del Rio back. Ricardo holds up Dolph & Del Rio kicks him in the head. This was a good back & forth match but I wasn’t into Jericho flattening Dolph. I’m curious thought if Jericho will be feuding with Dolph too. Maybe even be in the title hunt.

Christian vs. Drew McIntyre. Christian gets the pin. This was mostly a squash.

Then Christian gets the mic & says that after 10 long months it feels good to be back on Smackdown & even better to be out there in front of all of his peeps. Everyone knows why he came back. For that 1 more match. Then The Shield’s music plays & they come out. This time through the entrance. They surround Christian and then they get in the ring & triple team him. Then the give him the triple power bomb.

Backstage Renee Young interviews Paul Heyman. She says that fans want to know why Lesnar attacked Punk & to what extent was Heyman involved? Heyman says there’s a lot of gossiping happening regarding Punk & Heyman. Heyman says that since she thinks it alright to talk about people’s personal lives maybe she would like to lead by example. He then asks Renee how her relationship with her dad is these days. Is it better than it was before? Has she talked to him in the past 2 years? Maybe Renee would like to discuss in public why her uncle had to rip her prom date out of the limo. That’s a matter of public record isn’t it? It’s not fun talking about your personal life on TV is it? CM Punk made it very clear that he is not Heyman’s client, they’re just best friends. Therefore anything that happens between Punk & Heyman is personal & Heyman isn’t going to air their dirty laundry on television. Maybe next time Renee interviews him she will be kind enough to ask him about Curtis Axel defending the Intercontinental title for the first time earlier in the show. Or did she not pay attention to that either? This was the usual good promo Heyman delivers.

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton. Daniel wins by count out. Both guys were going at it outside the ring & Daniel got back in to beat the 10 count. Afterwards Daniel gets the mic. He’s not gonna take a count out victory. He tells the referee to restart the match right now. The referee tells him no & Daniel scream yes. Then Daniel & the fans chant yes as Orton watches in the corner. The fan continue chanting yes to end the show. This was a really good match & I thought Daniel’s reaction to winning by count out was good too. I also liked that Orton stood in the corner as Daniel & the fans chanted yes.

I thought this was good show this week. The Daniel-Orton promo at the start was great & their match at the end was good too. I also liked that Daniel wasn’t satisfied with a count out win & telling the referee to restart the match & going back & forth with yes-no bit. Orton’s reaction to the whole bit was good too. Paul Heyman was great on the mic as usual & Renee did a good job with the feeling uncomfortable reaction when Heyman was talking about her family. Christian-McIntyre was mostly a squash, Christian’s promo afterwards was solid & The Shield coming out was good also. Jericho-Del Rio was a good match too & Dolph going after Del Rio made sense. The only part that I wasn’t into was Jericho giving Dolph a code breaker. Maybe they’re going to have Jericho be in the Money in the Bank ladder match for the world title case. Natalya-AJ was decent & I liked the backstage bit where Kaitlyn & Aksana went at it. Kaitlyn is good at playing the frustrated/boarder line crazy person. Barrett-Axel was a solid match & I was ok with Miz getting in the ring afterwards only for Heyman & Axel to retreat. Sheamus-Cody was also a solid match & it looks like the Sheamus-Sandow feud isn’t done yet. Overall I enjoyed this week’s Smackdown.