6/7 Barnett's WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage Review: MizTV with Orton, Kane and Bryan, plus Chris Jericho, Curtis Axel, Fandango, Ryback and more in action

By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage Review
Taped Tuesday, June 4th in Uniondale, New York

[Q1] A clip aired of Chris Jericho and Paul Heyman’s contract signing for Payback. A match for tonight between Chris Jericho and Curtis Axel was advertised. Daniel Bryan’s saga with The Shield and Ryback was shown next, and then Orton, Bryan and Kane were advertised for Miz TV.

In the arena, The Miz made his way to the ring for MizTV. Miz welcomed us to his show. He said his guests came within a fraction of a second of beating the Shield, but after the match they had some issues. He then said he wanted to get right to it, and invited Randy Orton to the ring. The announce team plugged 12 Rounds 2: Electric Boogaloo, and then the Miz invited Team Hell No to the ring. Bryan’s elbow was heavily taped. Bryan grabbed a microphone and Miz started with him.

Miz pointed out that Bryan was pinned by The Shield, and brought up that he has been obsessed with being the weakest link of his team. Bryan said he has something to say before Miz stirred the pot. Bryan said he had a lot of time to think, and apologized to Orton and Kane for his accusations on Monday. Kane asked if that meant he was dropping the weak link garbage, and Bryan responded that he wouldn’t call it garbage. Miz said it was personal to him, and asked if he thought he got the respect he deserves.

He said sometimes, and Kane got a little upset. Kane said everybody respects him, and the crowd cheered. Orton said he respects him less and less the more he whined. Bryan got in his face and Kane tried to tell him to ignore it and pulled him from the ring. Bryan bickered with him and said he has left him in the ring too often by himself with The Shield, and halfheartedly comes to his defense when people called him the weak link. Kane eventually got tired of trying to convince Bryan, and left saying Randy was on his own.

Miz asked if they had just seen the breakup of Team Hell No, and Bryan said sure. He asked the crowd if they were going to blame him. The crowd said yes, and Bryan screamed no. Teddy Long’s music then hit and he booked a match between Orton and Bryan, and both men looked on nonplussed…[c]

Barnett’s Brief: A good opening segment that had both Orton and Bryan showing some heel tendencies. Bryan more so than Orton, but Randy definitely showed some frustration at Bryan’s obsession and mental hang ups. Hopefully they are able to tell the rest of this story effectively leading towards the main event.

[Q2] Chris Jericho’s music hit and he made his ring entrance with his light bright jacket. Curtis Axel then followed with his entrance. Heyman had a mic and introduced himself, and said in the 3 weeks since Axel debuted, he has a victory over Triple H and consecutive victories over John Cena. Axel said tonight, another former champion learns what it’s like to be……perfect.

1. Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel: Heyman joined on commentary, as Axel hit a shoulder block in the ring. Jericho hit some chops and a nice standing drop kick. Both men traded offense until Jericho cleared Axel from the ring with a clothesline, and followed up with a baseball slide. Jericho slammed Axel into the announce table and stared down Heyman, who begged off. Axel recovered and hit a nice neck breaker after catching Jericho with a kick as he got into the ring…[c]

Axel controlled Jericho and a hit a big chop on the outside. A clip was shown of Axel hitting a big clothesline to the back of Jericho’s head during the break. Axel locked on a rear chin lock. Jericho fought out after a bit and hit a double axe handle from the top. He attempted the Walls of Jericho but got rejected. He hit a bulldog and missed a lionsault. Axel hit his signature running neck breaker, but Jericho kicked out at two.

Axel missed an avalanche in the corner, and Jericho hit a high cross body from the top for a near fall. Axel went for the Perfect Plex a moment later, but Jericho escaped and locked in the Walls of Jericho. Heyman showed concern at ringside, but Axel reached the ropes. Jericho hit a springboard drop kick to Axel on the apron, and he spilled to ring side. Heyman stood on the announce table and pointed to the ramp, and CM Punk’s music hit. Axel then got a school boy on Jericho for the surprise victory.

Curtix Axel defeated Chris Jericho at 11:01.

[Q3] Axel celebrated with Heyman, and Jericho took a dejected walk up the ramp. Jericho got furious enough to charge back to the ring, and hit a Codebreaker on Axel. He flashed an evil look at Heyman, who stared on with a fearful look on his face.

Barnett’s Brief: A good match with a finish that made sense in the context of the stories for Heyman, Axel and Jericho. The ring work was very sharp and I thought Axel held his own very well. I wish we could have seen a longer match, and perhaps we will down the road.

Kane was shown backstage and he bumped into Ryback. Ryback asked if he saw what he did to his little buddy Daniel on Monday. Kane said Bryan was his partner no matter how annoying he is, and said that he couldn’t do to him what he did to Kofi and Daniel. Ryback said Kane knows Ryback Rules. Kane said he’s buried people alive and tombstoned a priest, whatever Ryback’s Rules were, they didn’t apply to him. Kane walked off and the announce team plugged a McMahon recap from Monday.

Barnett’s Brief: Short and sweet from Kane and Ryback, but I liked it. Kane made a good case for himself, and Ryback didn’t come off nearly as awkwardly as he did with Bryan on Monday. I think Ryback is best on the mic in small doses.

A Wyatt Family video aired, followed by a McMahon family drama recap.

Barnett’s Brief: The Wyatt Family stuff has been great so far. I hope they can do it justice on live TV. The video package was basically a repeat of everything from Monday, minus Stephanie’s burial of Curtis Axel on the microphone by saying he was beneath Triple H.

[Q4] 3MB’s music hit and Heath Slater made his ring entrance with the rest of the goof troop. Before the bell rang, McIntyre and Mahal tried to beat up Del Rio but failed miserably. Del Rio locked on the Cross Arm Breaker on Slater, and he tapped, but the match hadn’t started yet. Ricardo assisted Del Rio in clearing McIntyre and Mahal from the ring for a second time, and the hit a splash onto them at ringside while Del Rio cheered him on surprised.

Dolph Ziggler appeared on the tron and congratulated Del Rio on doing a great job, for someone that wasn’t him. Ziggler then said he didn’t come to the party without a present, and said he would showoff in front of Del Rio’s face this Monday on Raw, because he is medically cleared to wrestle. The announce team plugged Ryback vs. Kane as next…[c]

Barnett’s Brief: Hey, 3MB is a total joke, but Ziggler’s back! I guess the positives outweigh the negatives for that sentence. Funny how WWE expects us to believe they wheeled the satellite truck out to Ziggler’s house, which apparently looks suspiciously like a generic hotel living room.

Kane’s music hit and he made his ring entrance. Ryback made his entrance in an ambulance once again.

[Q5] 2. Ryback vs. Kane: Collar and elbow tie up early, with Ryback backing Kane into a corner. Kane slapped Ryback and threw some punches. Ryback hit a shoulder block, but Kane avoided a leg drop and hit a seated drop kick. Ryback hit an impressive press slam on Kane, which got the crowd’s attention. Ryback took a break with a long choke hold on Kane, and then threw some punches and head butts.

Both men collided mid ring and stared each other down. Kane went for a choke slam but had to settle for a side slam for a two count. Kane hit a running DDT and sent Ryback over the top rope with a clothesline. Ryback sent Kane into the barricade, and then rammed his head into a few times while he was seated. He brought a table from ringside and set it up in the ring. Kane fired back with an uppercut and tossed Ryback back in the ring. He went for a top rope clothesline and missed, and Ryback made him pay with a spine buster.

Ryback lined up for a meat hook clothesline, but Kane avoided it and hit a choke slam. Ryback grabbed the bottom rope to break the three count. Kane sold frustration and set up the table himself. Ryback got to his feet and Kane went for another choke slam. Ryback hit a poke in the eye to escape and power bombed Kane through the table for a DQ.

Kane defeated Ryback at 5:55.

After the match, Cole said we’d see a video package of Ryback’s recent rampage later, and plugged the main event.

Barnett’s Brief: This match was a little on the slow side as you’d expect, but on the whole I thought it found a good pace and told a good story. Kane showed again here why it’s a mistake to sleep on his in ring ability, because I thought he had another match that exceeded expectations here. The final Powerbomb spot looked impressive and I thought the choke slam looked good too.

A recap of last week’s Sandow Feat of Intelligence was shown. Sandow was then shown in the ring. He opened and said over the last several weeks, he has tried to engage Sheamus in a series of intellectual challenges. He said Sheamus failed each time, because he will never be his intellectual equal. He asked the crowd who they thought could be his intellectual superior, and he said of course no one could. He then ripped the local community college and said the audience were checkers minds in a chess world. He then showed a computer monitor on a stand, and said it was the deep blue super computer. It had a primitive Chess Game up on the monitor. Sandow said he would prove his intelligence by challenging and defeating the computer in a game of chess. He said it would take quite some time, and told the crowd to sit in silence while he yelled at the computer.

[Q6] Just as Sandow made his first move, Sheamus’ music hit. Sheamus asked Sandow how he was doing, and called his current challenge was the most incredible yet. Sandow congratulated him on his intellectual baby steps. Sheamus said he has a challenge for Sandow, and said he could beat the “toaster” in one move. Sandow reminded Sheamus he’s on television and not to embarrass himself. Sheamus said he wasn’t the one who embarrassed himself, and reiterated that he could do it with one move.

Sandow said he looked like an Orangutan trying to solve a crossword puzzle, and Sheamus backed up and touched his chin in thought. Sandow urged him to hurry up, and Sheamus said he just reminded him of his move. Sheamus then hit a Brogue Kick on his monitor, and Sandow erupted. He took a cheap shot at Sheamus, and then tossed him a number of times into the table that the monitor had been set on. Sandow’s suit was disheveled, but he stood over a falled Sheamus and told the crowd “you’re welcome”.

Bryan was shown backstage and Orton walked in. Orton told Bryan that Kane had to be taken to the trainers room, and Bryan said he didn’t ask Kane to defend him. Orton asked him to put their differences aside and get the job done. Bryan said he didn’t have differences, he had a mission, and told Orton to stay out of his way. Orton said he didn’t take orders, and that he was only Bryan’s partner for tonight. He then said he didn’t like partners, and he didn’t like Bryan either.

Barnett’s Brief: Two very good segments there. This was the best of the “Feats of Intelligence”, and Sandow came off like a star, even more so than Sheamus. I liked the backstage interview with Bryan and Orton too, and I liked that they decided to give Orton more of an edge.

Miz joined on commentary and Cole asked him about the Wyatt Family. He said these weren’t friendly Duck Dynasty hillbillies, these were freaks and he was interested to see what they’d do in WWE. Fandango made his ring entrance with Summer Rae. Neither of them can dance. Miz called him a bag of skittles again on commentary, and plugged their triple threat match for the IC Title at Payback. Zach Ryder then made his ring entrance.

[Q7] 3. Zach Ryder vs. Fandango: Fandango beat down Ryder with punches out of the gate. He continued the beating with a heel kick. Ryder got in a missile drop kick from the top rope, and hit the Broski Boot. He went for the cover but only got two. Ryder hit a discus clothesline, but Fandango hit a power bomb when he went for a Rough Ryder. Fandango went up top and hit the Fandangobama Jam for the three count.

Fandango defeated Zach Ryder at 2:23.

After the match, Fandango reminded the crowd of his name and stared down The Miz. He then backed up the ramp with Summer Rae as Miz did the hard sell on commentary for their payback match with Wade Barrett.

Barnett’s Brief: Not a bad match, but I can’t get over that Fandango is still using the Alabama Jam. You’ve only got so many of them, and he’s burning through them pretty quick.

Ryback’s Rampage was shown as promised, and they went through everything from Extreme Rules through current events. After the video, Cole and JBL plugged the three stages of hell match.

Natalya was shown backstage with Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn said she was going to meet her secret admirer on Raw. Natalya tried to tell her to meet him privately instead of on Raw, but Kaitlyn said if he was a creep he wouldn’t be texting Kaitlyn, he would be texting Natalya. The Shield made their ring entrance, with Ambrose heading back up to the concourse…[c]

Barnett’s Brief: Yeah, no chance this could turn out badly for Kaitlyn. Natalya is being a total downer. I mean, what are the odds that someone stalking you isn’t your soulmate?

[Q8] Randy Orton was in the ring, and Daniel Bryan got a full ring entrance after the break.

4. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns: Bryan went work on Rollins early with kicks and locked in leg hooks for a surfboard. He pulled Rollins head up by his nose, and then jumped up and down to stomp on his knees. Bryan worked the shoulders of Rollins for a moment, but he got to his feet. He hit the ropes and ate a drop kick from Bryan. Rollins backed Bryan into the corner and made a tag to Reigns. They traded tags and some nice double team offense. Rollins hit a splash in the corner and Reigns hit a nice clothesline for a two count.

Reigns locked in a chin lock for a bit and then stomped on Bryan in the corner. Bryan hit a drop toe hold on Reigns onto the turnbuckle and made a tag to Orton. Rollins tagged in and ate a power slam and a rope DDT. Reigns pulled Rollins out of the ring before Orton could set up for the RKO. Orton stared down Rollins and Reigns at ringside…[c]

Reigns stomped on Orton and choked him on the second rope. The ref pulled Reigns off and Rollins used that moment to drop an elbow on Orton’s head. Reigns locked on a chin lock for a moment, and Orton suplexed his way out of it. Orton couldn’t make the tag, as Rollins put a stop to it. Rollins hit rapid punches on Orton and tagged Reigns back in. Orton avoided a spear and made a tag to Bryan. Bryan hit a top rope drop kick on both men and hit kicks to the head and chest of both men. He covered Rollins and got a near fall.

Bryan continued to dominate Rollins with a Greco Roman throw and hit a suicide dive out to both Reigns and Rollins. Bryan went to the top and hit a diving headbutt. He had the pin, but Reigns broke it up. Orton got back in and hit an RKO on Reigns. Rollins backed Orton into a corner, and Bryan hit him with a drop kick by mistake trying to hit Rollins. Bryan got rolled up by Rollins, but reversed into the Yes/No Lock, but Ambrose broke it up for the DQ.

Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton defeated Reigns and Rollins at 12:18.

Post match, Ambrose beat down Bryan with Rollins. Ambrose held Bryan for a charging Rollins, but Bryan kicked him and elbowed Ambrose out of the ring. He then hit a back body drop on Rollins and sent him onto Ambrose at ring side. As he turned around, he walked right into a Randy Orton RKO that elicited boos from the crowd to close the show.

Barnett’s Brief: The RKO was a nice touch to end the show. Bryan and Orton seem to be colliding for a singles feud that I’m happy to see both men get into. Orton has been lacking inspiration as a character and WWE needs to strike while the iron is hot with Bryan and establish a new singles persona for him. Which one they decide to turn full heel will be interesting. Stay tuned for more analysis in tomorrow’s Hit List and Smackdown Audio on Saturday.

Do you have questions, comments or concerns? Contact me at barnett.jake@gmail.com or on twitter @barnettjake.