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Busted Open

Sami Helps Cody Retain | King & Queen of the Ring Semifinals

20 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What was the highlight of SmackDown featuring Cody Rhodes and Gunther?

0.031 - 15.816 Denise Salcedo

Hey guys, it's Denise Salcedo here with the world's strongest man, Mark Henry, on the Busted Open podcast. Today, Mark and I discuss Cody Rhodes versus Gunther on SmackDown with Sami Zayn as the referee. We also break down the King and Queen of the Ring semifinals. Let's go.

0

15.936 - 36.028 Mark Henry

This is the Busted Open podcast. Last night, shit, what a show SmackDown was. From beginning to end, it was the best SmackDown of the year.

0

37.17 - 38.351 Denise Salcedo

What?

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38.371 - 79.414 Mark Henry

Yes, ma'am. You look at what that match did. First off, Cody Rhodes, excuse me, and Gunther with Sami Zayn, no commercials. They went through the entrances, the championships announcements, the match, all of the failure and ballyhoo and smoke and mirrors until you get to a match with Carmelo Hayes and Ricky Saints. And then you get to another tag match that was

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80.795 - 97.234 Mark Henry

It was better than what I thought it was gonna be with Truth and Priest versus the MFTs. And I thought for your money, the best match of the show,

Chapter 2: How did Sami Zayn's role as the referee impact the match outcome?

97.788 - 126.765 Mark Henry

was Jey Uso and Javon Evans because of the emotion and the selling and the story of the good guy versus the old guy and yada, yada, yada, and just the overall action. And then the best theater of the night, the women, main event. You had appearances throughout the show of other stars

0

128.129 - 160.297 Mark Henry

the Jay Cargill incident that led to Charlotte Flair showing emotional toughness and why we look at her the way we look at her and to be able to go into a main event match with Alexa Bliss in which they tore the damn house down. And Yeah, they could have dove from the top. They could have done this and that and went through the announce table and they didn't have to.

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161.84 - 195.313 Mark Henry

They had a good structured match based on storytelling and selling. And when we talk about pro wrestling, we always talk about, yeah, I want the storyline to match the energy and the vibe. We don't always get it, but last night we did. And I just want to commend all parties involved and for Charlotte to go up to the top at the end of that match.

0

196.514 - 204.283 Mark Henry

And she's trying, she's hopping up there on one leg. And I'm like, come on, man. Come on. And I find myself doing this shit.

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Chapter 3: What were the key moments in the Jey Uso vs. Je'Von Evans match?

206.685 - 241.279 Mark Henry

I'm breathing like I'm finna have a damn heart attack. why I watch wrestling. It's why I became a fan with my grandmother going to shows. And then you look out in the crowd. Speaking of grandmothers, you look out in the crowd last night and probably 60%, 70% of the people that were there had a kid with them. It was full of kids. You look at the entrance ramp

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241.85 - 269.055 Mark Henry

which I'm so glad that Cody started back acknowledging his fans because he, you can see how many kids were there and how he interacted with them. And I just, I thought it was a really, really good show. And the show explained a lot, which most of the time when you're leading towards, uh,

0

269.423 - 307.661 Mark Henry

one pay-per-view nevertheless two are ples now excuse me i'm showing my age uh king and queen of the ring everything became clear it was educational it also showed kind of where we're going for summer slam We don't know who all the players are going to be. So that being said, I thought it was unbelievable, Denise. And it's going to be, you know, you can make an argument always.

0

308.263 - 313.032 Mark Henry

But I just thought that it was really good.

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Chapter 4: What happened during the Liv Morgan vs. Charlotte Flair semifinal match?

313.012 - 346.343 Denise Salcedo

Oh man, Mark, I don't know where to begin because we were driving down a straight road and we are about to make a massive, massive U-turn because I had so many people telling me, That they thought that this was the worst SmackDown of the year. And you're out here saying it was the best SmackDown. I got people telling me it was the worst SmackDown. I'm, look...

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346.323 - 348.366 Mark Henry

Who you gonna listen to, me or them?

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348.867 - 373.866 Denise Salcedo

Well, here's the thing, I listen to me. I am the speaker of me. And I gotta tell you, I'm on borderline, okay? I think that there were things on this show that did not make sense, and we're gonna break them down in just a second. But I won't sit here and say it was the worst SmackDown of the year, especially because I-

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373.846 - 402.402 Denise Salcedo

I have sat through some really rough episodes of SmackDown, so I do not think it was the worst episode of the year. However, I do think that the show, had it been the two hours and had we gotten the primary highlights of the show in a nice little two-hour edition, I do think the show would have felt a lot better. But I got to tell you, though, when we were about an hour into the show,

0

402.382 - 408.008 Denise Salcedo

I looked at the clock and I thought to myself, oh, my God, we still got two hours left.

Chapter 5: How did the attack by Jade Cargill influence the women's match?

408.069 - 431.916 Denise Salcedo

How are we going to get through today? And I'm going to tell you why and some of the different ways that people are seeing what played out. So I want to talk about first and foremost, I guess, you know what? Let me just go over some of the highlights. I think that the big thing that people were looking forward to was Cody Rhodes versus Gunther. That's going to be the big topic here because.

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431.896 - 452.952 Denise Salcedo

Here's the thing, Gunther right now, unfortunately, was kind of made to look a little silly here last night on SmackDown. Because at Clash in Italy, he had his foot under the rope. Referee didn't see it. He got screwed. He's out there telling people like, hey, man, what the hell? And everybody kind of was like, all right, whatever.

0

453.052 - 470.32 Denise Salcedo

You'll get your match on SmackDown and you get to pick your stipulation. So Gunther picks his stipulation. He wants a special guest referee and he himself picks the last real good guy in Sami Zayn.

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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Sami Zayn's actions for his character?

470.4 - 500.45 Denise Salcedo

So he picks the man. Right. So now in the matchup, what happens? They start beefing with each other. Gunther and Sami Zayn, the man that you handpicked and to the point where he takes them out, power bombs him. And all of a sudden, this is what pisses off Sammy. And he fast counts freaking Cody Rhodes winning this matchup. So Gunther's like, WTF, man. Like, I freaking picked you.

0

500.47 - 521.861 Denise Salcedo

You weren't doing your damn job. And so now Gunther's out there looking hella silly. They go to the back. And they're all arguing amongst themselves. Cody Rhodes goes out there and is like, we need to restart this match. They restart the match to get an actual winner between Cody Rhodes and Gunther because Sami Zayn screwed the first half of it.

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Chapter 7: How does the King and Queen of the Ring tournament compare to previous events?

522.241 - 538.724 Denise Salcedo

So what happens? What happens? People are like, oh, maybe something crazy is going to happen. No, no, no, no. Instead, Sami Zayn goes out there and causes a DQ. I'm sorry, but what are we doing?

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539.465 - 552.501 Mark Henry

Denise, Denise, Denise, listen. How do they say it about the insanity and looking for a different response?

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552.542 - 558.209 Denise Salcedo

Yeah, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different reaction.

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559.31 - 588.432 Mark Henry

Well, when you argue with crazy or you make a deal with a crazy person, That is what's going to happen to you every time. This guy is not all there right now. He is talking to a guy that is comatose and he is answering. I was always told crazy is not talking to yourself. It's when you answer.

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Chapter 8: What predictions are made for future matches involving Jey Uso and Obafemi?

590.285 - 628.242 Mark Henry

The craziness is when you are, yeah, they off. They're gone. He's doing both. And then you have a guy that is emotionally off kilter. That's the way that I'm seeing it. He gets this match and Gunther is smiling like, man, I got an ace in the hole. And early on, It was working until Gunther goes, points and do your job.

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629.203 - 668.036 Mark Henry

Now, do we find out somewhere along the line that Gunther actually worked something out with him and he changed his mind? Maybe. But Gunther was smiling real big. Like, I got a secret. I got an ace in the hole. And then when Sammy started like kind of really refereeing the match. Gunther took. Wait a minute. What are you doing? I paid you. I put you in this position. I complimented you. I don't.

0

668.317 - 700.65 Mark Henry

What are you doing? So that's when the trigger flipped. And you can see it. In real time, Sammy was like, hey man, don't do that. Not only am I official, but you don't tell me what to do. He's a wrestler. He's not a referee. He stayed at a Holiday Inn. He just planned a referee. And Gunther didn't know when to say when. That's his damn problem.

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702.149 - 742.799 Mark Henry

He keeps overstepping his bounds on some bully shit. Not bully right, but just being a bully. And it turned on him. Sammy flipped and became Duran Sammy. And you can almost see it now when he switches. Cody's told him a couple of weeks, maybe three weeks ago. that he didn't see him as championship material. And it was like somebody took a piece of a hammer and smashed a piece of glass.

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743.841 - 775.763 Mark Henry

You could see the cracks in Sammy. And he ended up slapping Cody's face. Same thing happened to Gunther last night. Gunther pulled the hammer out and smashed the glass. Sammy went off. Sammy became his enemy and he did something illegal, which is make a fast count. Like I said, he's not a wrestler. I mean, he's not a referee. He's a wrestler and he's off.

775.783 - 809.373 Mark Henry

What happened to Gunther was a byproduct of the fact that and Gorilla, as you was talking about them restarting the match, Gunther, he was like, I'm not doing this match again. And Gunther went off, elbowed him in the head, punched him, slammed him over the table. You think a crazy person is gonna just allow that to be the last of it? Nope, nope, nope, nope.

809.393 - 834.435 Mark Henry

So when they restarted that match, by the time he recuperated, which they gave him a little a minute. And he went and gave that halluva kick. And he was in crazy mode. And Cody goes, hey man, what the? And bang! He hits him with the title too. And then he goes, oh my God, what am I doing? It's too late, Denise. It's too late.

835.411 - 853.774 Mark Henry

You are dealing with a case of showing classic schizophrenia and they're not addressing it. The whole mental health thing has become a major story in wrestling and it will be put out there at some point.

854.817 - 866.991 Denise Salcedo

So first of all, the biggest takeaways that I got here is you're right. Sami Zayn isn't a referee. So why the hell is Gunther picking a wrestler to be a referee?

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