This week's Smackdown taped from Uniondale on Long Island, Long Island, LONG ISLAND (recall the WWE's commercials).

With Payback hype in full swing, the battle between The Shield and Team Hell No raged on, and there were even suspicions that a Punk sighting might just happen.

The show began with Miz TV and his guests, the volatile Team Hell No. Daniel Bryan, unhinged as ever, continued ranting his obsession with being the so-called "weakest link" of the team, and even the words of Kane and The Miz could not assuage his fears.

Kane ultimately walked away from the Miz's program, leaving Miz to ponder to Bryan if this was the end for the former tag team champions. Bryan, in response, petulantly gave what appears to be a "yes!", though it was inaudible and thus ambiguous. Nonetheless, Teddy Long announced that Bryan would participate in the night's main event, paired with Randy Orton against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.

*Curtis Axel defeats Chris Jericho: Jericho has been matched against a returning CM Punk for the pay-per-view, but until then he went up against Paul Heyman's new client, Curtis Axel. Heyman served as a guest commentator, and he watched Axel beat Jericho with a simple roll-up. Jericho did seem to have bigger things on his mind, as the opening of Cult Of Personality blasted through the arena. Alas, a Punk sighting was not to be, but Jericho did get his revenge in the end, getting Axel back in the ring and hitting him with a Codebreaker.

*Alberto Del Rio defeats Heath Slater: It was not a match per se, as 3MB attacked Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez before the bell even rang. After the ensuing brawl, Del Rio did make Slater pay, forcing him to tap out, while Ricardo also got back at Slater's cronies, dousing Mahal and McIntyre outside of the ring. But that was only the beginning, as the real reason for this segment appeared on the big screen -- Del Rio and Rodriguez's celebration was quickly cut short by a now-recovered Dolph Ziggler (he suffered a concussion that kept him out of last month's Extreme Rules), who said he'd been cleared to wrestle and would be raring to go on next week's Monday Night Raw.

*Kane defeats Ryback: The two large superstars agreed to a match in an earlier backstage segment, after Kane defended his (former?) tag team partner to Ryback. The match carried on and ended abruptly when Ryback brought out a table (it's been kind of his thing over the last few shows) and powerbombed Kane through it; Kane won by a DQ.

*Fandango defeats Zack Ryder: This match came after a series of segments, including another Damien Sandow challenge involving Sheamus and a likely mock-up of the supercomputer Deep Blue -- this time the computer took the Brogue Kick. Daniel Bryan's backstage pre-match meet up with Orton, suggested a heel turn in the works, and the audience got another glimpse at the Wyatt Family. Another Payback match was announced, with The Miz and Fandango vying for Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship. However, even though Ryder did get a lot of love from the Long Island crowd, the hometown hero was the biggest loser, as Fandango took him down with a leg drop, even as the dancer slipped on his way up.

*Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton defeat Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns: Drama ensued in the middle of the match, as Bryan accidentally kicked Orton and Ambrose interfered to give Bryan and Orton the win via DQ. When it was all over, Orton gave Bryan an RKO and stood victoriously over in a manner reminiscent of the still-absent CM Punk with the Rock at RAW 1000. The act garnered him thunderous booing from the audience, suggesting a heel turn may be in order for him too.

Watch Daniel Bryan take on The Shield with Kane and Randy Orton and his match versus Ryback on June 3's Monday Night RAW.

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WWE Smackdown