This Week In WWE TV – June 3-9, 2013

This week: The Daniel Bryan juggernaut rolls on, with a double dose of The Dazzler on Raw. And after an RKO on Smackdown, it might be the Viper who’s about to do a not so sudden u-turn. Plus, McMahon family drama, Curtis Axel is the Count Out King, and Sheamus stops attacking innocent people long enough to start attacking innocent inanimate objects instead.

RAW

– Stephanie came out and said even though HHH was cleared to compete, she was making an executive decision not to let it happen. The crowd weren’t happy, which brought out Vince. He asked everyone not to boo his daughter. They didn’t listen. Crowd wanted HHH, but they claimed they cared about him more than they did, which is why he wouldn’t be competing tonight. Vince got annoyed and said WWE wasn’t a blood sport. He got on the crowd for chanting one more time when Kofi was being put through tables on Smackdown and said the crowd were beneath HHH. The Shield’s music hit, but they went to commercial and I guess the McMahons just left.

– The Shield d. Randy Orton and Team Hell No! (Ambrose pinned Bryan) in 13:44. This started a little more slowly, before Kane was cut off and got the tag to Orton. Orton ran wild and hit a double hanging DDT, but as he teased an RKO, Reigns distracted him and Orton was cut off. Orton finally managed to tag Bryan, who made a typically awesome comeback. He gave Rollins a super hurricanrana onto Ambrose and then took out Reigns with a dive, which had the crowd going nuts. The Shield broke up a NO Lock and Reigns hit a spear to Kane. Orton then hit an RKO on Rollins. But Reigns sent Orton into Bryan as he tried another RKO and Ambrose capitalised with the side headlock driver. This turned into another great Shield match.

– Backstage, Bryan and Orton argued over what happened. Bryan blamed Orton and accused both him and Kane of thinking he’s the weak link. He vowed to find a way to make them respect him, by having another match tonight.

– HHH arrived and argued with Stephanie and Vince, insisting he was facing Axel tonight. Vince told him not to do something he’d regret.

– The Usos d. The Primetime Players (Jey pinned Young) in 4:36. The Usos have face paint now. And the commentators pushed that they were after a tag team title shot, as Jey pinned Darren with a superfly splash.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Big E Langston in 4:55. They pointed out these two were 2-2 against each other and this was the ‘rubber match’. For now, maybe. Alberto kept going for the armbreaker and Big E kept finding a way out, until Del Rio caught him trying to roll backwards and got a pin.

– Sheamus d. Cody Rhodes in 5:23. Sandow came out with Cody and did commentary. This was more competitive than you’d expect, but Sheamus finally avoided a moonsault and won with White Noise and a Brogue Kick. After the match he offered Sandow a handshake. Sandow knocked his hand away so Sheamus laid him out.

– HHH left, mad at Vince, but told Stephanie he’d face Axel next week. After Bryan ran into Ryback and they challenged each other to a match later, Vince then told Heyman and Axel he’d be facing Cena instead in a No Disqualification match.

– Great Khali d. Fandango by count out?. Fandango escaped the Punjabi Plunge and took the count out. Although the bell never rang, so who knows. Miz tried to stop Fandango leaving, but Barrett hit Miz with the Bull Hammer.

– The Miz d. Wade Barrett by submission in 3:22. Fandango came back out and danced on the stage during the match, distracting Wade and allowing Miz to catch Wade in the figure four.

– Heyman and Jericho had a contract signing for the Punk and Jericho match at Payback. Heyman emphasised that Jericho wouldn’t be the fan favourite in Chicago, where Punk could do no wrong. Jericho feigned concern and suggested alternative venues, before signing the contract. Then he put the contract down Heyman’s pants for some reason.

– AJ and The Bellas d. Kaitlyn and The Funkadactyls (Kaitlyn pinned Brie) in 4:33. AJ walked out on The Bellas and left Brie to be hit with a spear by Kaitlyn.

– Kane tried to convince Bryan he was making a mistake and said he had nothing to prove to anyone. Bryan didn’t listen and told Kane not to get involved, so Kane decided he was leaving.

– Another Wyatt Family video aired.

– Daniel Bryan d. Ryback by DQ in 11:31. Bryan started strong and even had Ryback in trouble at points. Ryback gained control eventually, but posted his shoulder, giving Bryan chance to fight back. Bryan hit a flying headbutt from one side of the ring to the other for a big near fall. He caught Ryback in the NO Lock, but Ryback got to the ropes. Bryan then tried a dive but missed and landed against the announce table. Ryback sent Bryan repeatedly into the post, before getting a table and powerbombing Bryan through it for the DQ. He teased doing it again but Cena ran out to protect Bryan, before Axel came out for his match and Ryback backed down.

– No Disqualification Match: Curtis Axel d. John Cena by count out in 13:03. So this was no disqualification, but not no count outs. To be fair they did tease a count out early in the match to establish that fact, where Cena was about to do something with the announce table but had to get back in to beat the count. Later Cena went through a chair in the corner and beat the count at nine. Axel used the chair repeatedly and hit the swinging neckbreaker on it for two. Cena escaped the Perfect Plex and got him in the STF. Heyman passed Axel a tablet for Axel to use to escape. Then, after a Heyman distraction, Ryback put Cena through a table outside and he got counted out.

MAIN EVENT

– Sheamus d. Antonio Cesaro in 13:06. Cesaro’s entrance video is in German colours now, for reasons unexplained. He’s still billed from Switzerland. Crowd were into Sheamus. Cesaro sent him into the post and delivered a boot to gain control. Sheamus fought back, but Cesaro hit him with a european uppercut coming off the ropes for a near fall. He used a crossface chicken wing, but Sheamus got a foot on the rope. Sheamus then escaped a Neutraliser and won with the Brogue Kick. Really good, as you’d expect.

– The Usos d. Team Rhodes Scholars (Jey pinned Cody) in 9:53. After Cody and Sandow got taken out with a crossbody to the floor, they got the advantage on Jey. Jimmy made a comeback and The Usos won again with a superfly splash from Jey.

– Justin Gabriel d. Curt Hawkins in 3:38. Hawkins put up a decent fight for a while, but lost to the 450.

NXT

– JR hosted a contract signing between Big E and Bo. The crowd chanted “No More Bo”, which seemed to amuse Big E. Bo claimed he should be doing everything in WWE that Big E was doing, that’s why he needed to be NXT Champion. Big E called him a geek and made fun of Bo. He also blew Bo’s promo out of the water. Bo signed the contract and stormed out.

– Renee interviewed Graves. He said tonight was about putting the Wyatt Family down and the title. He admitted he didn’t like Ohno and said he didn’t need anybody’s help, so Ohno could stand on the apron and watch.

– NXT Womens Championship Tournament First Round: Paige d. Tamina Snuka in 4:20. Tamina pretty much dominated, but Paige got her knees up to block a superfly splash and rolled Tamina up.

– Renee interviewed Ohno and his Misawa t-shirt. Ohno said it wasn’t about him and Graves, it was about taking the titles from the Wyatt Family and promised a war not a match.

– Mason Ryan d. Colin Cassady in 2:01. Squash for Ryan, despite Cassady being taller than him. He won with a torture rack neckbreaker.

– Renee tried to interview Sami Zayn about his win over Cesaro, but Cesaro interrupted and claimed it was a cheap win. Cesaro challenged him to a rematch. Zayn made fun of him and Cesaro gave him a slap, which resulted in them being pulled apart.

– Conor O’Brien d. Alex Riley by submission in 2:12. Conor debuted a new submission, The Stockade, to get the win.

– NXT Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Family d. Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno (Harper pinned Ohno) in 9:22 to retain the titles. Graves tried the 13th Step but was cut off by Harper. Ohno made a comeback but Bray hit Ohno from behind with the referee distracted. And as Graves dove onto Wyatt, Harper hit Ohno with a spinning clothesline for the pin.

SMACKDOWN

– Miz hosted MizTV with Orton, Kane and Bryan. Bryan started out apologising to Kane and Orton. He said he didn’t feel like he got the respect he deserved and everybody ended up getting mad at everybody else. Bryan claimed if Kane had anybody else to team with he’d be gone, causing Kane to give up and storm off. Teddy showed up and put Bryan and Orton against Rollins and Reigns later.

– Curtis Axel d. Chris Jericho in 7:03. Heyman did commentary. Jericho missed a Lionsault and Axel hit the swinging neckbreaker, but Jericho kicked out. Jericho got the Walls, but Axel got to the ropes. Punk’s music then hit on Heyman’s cue and Jericho was distracted, allowing Axel to roll Jericho up and steal the win. As Axel celebrated, Jericho ran back in and gave him a Codebreaker.

– Kane ran into Ryback backstage and Ryback bragged about beating Bryan. Kane stood up for Bryan and dared Ryback to try putting him through a table like Kofi and Bryan.

– Del Rio was supposed to face Slater. 3MB attacked Alberto before the match though. Alberto fought them off and made Slater tap to the cross armbreaker, before Ricardo helped Alberto clear the ring again and hit a dive off the top onto Drew and Jinder. Ziggler then appeared on the big screen and announced he’d be back on Raw.

– Kane d. Ryback by DQ in 5:43. Ryback managed to give Kane a press slam. That was impressive. Ryback brought a table in. Kane hit a chokeslam but Ryback grabbed the rope to break the count. Kane then set up the table, but Ryback raked the eyes to escape a chokeslam and powerbombed Kane through the table.

– Sandow issued another intellectual challenge. He said no man was his intellectual equal, so instead, he challenged the only thing on the planet capable of matching him, a super computer. He vowed to beat Deep Blue at chess and warned it might take some time, but insisted everybody sit back in silence and watch. For some reason Deep Blue could speak (and sounded a lot like the Raw GM computer, stock voice software I suppose). Sheamus came out and claimed he could beat the computer in one move. That move turned out to be a Brogue Kick. Sandow got mad and sucked punched Sheamus, then beat him down.

– Orton told Bryan to put his personal problems aside and deal with The Shield. Bryan warned Orton to stay out of his way tonight, which Orton didn’t like.

– Fandango d. Zack Ryder in 2:18. Miz did commentary. Crowd were into Ryder since they were in Long Island. Didn’t help him much as Fandango countered the Ruff Ryder and won with the flying legdrop.

– Kaitlyn told Natalya her secret admirer would be revealed on Raw. Natalya warned her the guy might be a creep, but Kaitlyn said if he was he’d be texting Natalya not her. Seems harsh.

– Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton d. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns by DQ in 9:01. The Shield worked over Bryan early. Orton got a tag but Reigns pulled Rollins out as he teased an RKO. They regained control on Orton before Bryan made a comeback on both opponents. Bryan took both out with a dive and hit the flying headbutt on Rollins. Reigns then took an RKO, but Bryan accidentally hit Orton with a dropkick in the corner. When Bryan got Rollins in the NO Lock, Ambrose ran in for the disqualification. Bryan then fought Rollins and Ambrose off, only for Orton to spin him around and give him an RKO.