WWE Smackdown Spoilers & VIDEO: 6/21 Payback Aftermath Plus, Who is The Weakest Link?
This week's Smackdown taped from Dayton, Ohio and the WWE Universe began the transition from Sunday's Payback pay-per-view to next month's Money In The Bank, a few superstars look poised to capitalize during this time more than Daniel Bryan.
His recent spate of erratic behavior and excellent matches have gotten him over with the crowds and given him major momentum for the next pay-per-view. First, however, he had to show up. His match on Monday Night Raw was called due to injury, as an ill-taken suicide dive left him reeling outside the ring.
Bryan was present in the show's opening, where he claimed that he has never in his career had a match ended due to injury. He wondered aloud if he was set-up -- does the WWE even think he's the weakest link? Bryan insisted he was ready to prove himself again and he'd do it by defeating Randy Orton on Smackdown.
Orton came back at the enraged Bryan, claiming that he allowed the match to end out of respect, but that he would ensure Bryan that was truly injured after their match that night.
*Sheamus defeats Cody Rhodes: The Irishman was able to get the mustachioed Rhodes into the Cloverleaf submission. It was Rhodes' partner-in-crime Damien Sandow, however, who was really able to get at Sheamus with an attack after the match.
*Curtis Axel defeats Wade Barrett: Barrett's rematch request was denied Monday in favor of a battle against a returning Christian, but he was finally able to attempt his revenge. He was in control for most of the match, but a mistimed Bullhammer elbow allowed the newly-crowned champion Axel to retain his title.
*A.J. defeats Natalya: Natalya initially called out A.J. for a lack of respect, but this match was a quick one as A.J. performed the submission hold she had on display at Payback and forced Natalya to tap out. Meanwhile, the humiliated Kaitlyn, feted over the week with cheers of "You tapped out!", was mercilessly teased by fellow diva Aksana backstage. Just like on last week's Smackdown, Kaitlyn savagely attacked her until Layla broke up the fight.
A match between Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho ended in a DQ: Del Rio compatriot Ricardo Rodriguez interfered as Dolph Ziggler came in to attack Del Rio. Del Rio escaped as Jericho got a Codebreaker on Ziggler, but the World Heavyweight Championship returned to stand victorious over the fallen Ziggler.
*Christian defeats Drew McIntyre: Christian got his first Smackdown match after a lengthy absence, and got the 3MB member with Killswitch. His return promo was, however, broken up by a brief appearance by the Shield, who gave their triple power bomb.
*Daniel Bryan defeats Randy Orton: Orton spent most the time dominating this lively match, and at one point hit a DDT on the second rope with a follow-up RKO. Then the match began to shift in favor of Bryan, who made it out of the ring. He gave Orton a big knee and this time hit the suicide dive well to pick up the victory by count out. This result, however, was unacceptable to Bryan: he demanded that the match be restarted, as he didn't want to win against Orton in that fashion. With the ref's refusal, the show came to an end.
Check out Daniel Bryan taking on Randy Orton on Monday Night Raw.
