This Week In WWE TV – October 8-14, 2012

This week: WWE pull their Vince McMahon band aids (good marketing opportunity) out of the drawer again for Raw, while CM Punk takes his pursuit for respect from the fans a little too far. Plus, the rise of Ryback, the NXT punch bag machine gets dusted off and wheeled out of the props cupboard, Rollins makes his first title defense, Colt Cabana makes a cameo and so does Larry King’s wife.

RAW

– Raw began with Cena coming out. Big mixed reaction. Cena did his routine, before turning his attentions to Punk. Cena said the choice for Hell In A Cell was Punk and he didn’t have a voice anymore. He said Punk versus Cena at Hell In A Cell would be something people would remember. He encouraged the fans to tell Punk how they felt when he came out later. Cena told Punk to be a man and face him. As Cena left, Ryback came out for his match and they passed in the aisle.

– Two On One Handicap Match: Ryback d. Primo and Epico in 2:35. Ryback’s new nickname is, apparently, “The Big Hungry”. Primo and Epico got Ryback down briefly. The crowd got into Ryback with a Feed Me More chant and he fought back to win with the double Shell Shocked.

– Brodus was scheduled to face R-Truth. Instead, Truth said Little Jimmy was going through puberty and they wanted to dance with the girls. But Vince showed up on the screen and asked them to dance their way backstage, because he was coming out.

– So Vince did in fact come out for the State Of The WWE address. Vince said there was place in WWE for dancing with imaginary children and so on. He said the most important thing WWE had was action and said everybody wanted to see champions taking on all comers. Punk interrupted with Heyman. Vince immediately told Punk his new shirt was ugly. Punk said Vince’s line about champions was a shot at him. He said he’d given Cena shot after shot and he was still champion. Punk asked if Vince respected him. Vince respected he’d been champion for 323 days, but he didn’t respect him being a “Paul Heyman guy”. He said he wasn’t a “CM Punk guy”. Punk said he should be, because he wasn’t a spoke on the wheel anymore, he was the wheel. He teased quitting again if he didn’t start getting respect. Vince said somebody needed to shut Punk’s mouth. He told Punk he wasn’t the calibre of Andre, Shawn, HHH, Bret or Austin. Punk took exception, saying he was nothing like Austin, claiming Austin made it to the top through shortcuts. Punk said Austin got to the top by beating up a clueless millionaire and that millionaire was now a senior citizen. Punk ended up slapping Vince down. Vince said he ought to fire Punk and he would if he didn’t fight him tonight. Heyman wasn’t happy about it, but Punk accepted.

– Tag Team #1 Contendership Tournament Semi Final: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara d. The Primetime Players (Rey pinned Young) in 3:49. Rey and Sin Cara looked good early with dives on both opponents. The PTP cut off Sin Cara. Rey made a comeback and Sin Cara took out Titus. Young hit the double knee gutbuster on Cara, but Rey escaped it and hit a 619, followed with a splash for the pin.

– Heyman spoke to Punk backstage. Heyman was freaked out about the prospect of Vince making their life miserable. Punk said he’d find a way to win.

– Sheamus d. Wade Barrett by DQ in 9:25. Big Show showed up almost immediately, to watch from ringside. Sheamus missed a boot from the apron and Wade clipped his knee. Later, Wade avoided a whip into the steps and kicked them back into Sheamus. Sheamus finally fought back, but Tensai ran in for the cheap DQ. Tensai and Wade beat down Sheamus, with Big Show watching. Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick on Tensai. He then tried one on Big Show, but Show caught it and threw him back over the ropes.

– JR left to go talk to Vince. Meanwhile Punk went to AJ’s office and said nobody was going to blame him if Vince got put in a wheelchair, but she might be if she left it happen. AJ asked if Vince was scared to fight Vince too. Punk said this was on her head.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Tyson Kidd in 3:55. They showed Cesaro at an American restaurant, disgusted with the food. Kidd held his own, making a strong comeback, before missing a springboard elbow. Cesaro hit the pop up uppercut and Neutraliser for the win.

– Team Hell No! d. Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler (Kane pinned Ziggler) in 13:10. Kane and Bryan had their usual dissension, but were still on top at the start. A sly kick from the apron lead to Bryan being cut off. Bryan eventually tagged Kane, who ran wild. After both opponents escaped a double chokeslam, Ziggler almost got the win with the fameasser. Bryan tagged himself back in when Kane teased going to the top rope. Things broke down, with Vickie distracted Bryan. Bryan escaped a pin and hit a buzzsaw kick, but Kane tagged himself in and won with the Chokeslam.

– JR spoke to Vince backstage, worried about him competing with CM Punk. Vince wanted JR to call the match tonight and had JR preview it for him.

– They had Larry King on the show, to present Larry King Now with The Miz as his guest. Larry had his wife with him. Miz said it was his birthday and wanted everybody to sing Happy Birthday for him. Larry wasn’t down with this. He said he was replacing Miz as guest with Kofi. Miz got annoyed. He said he’d had more championships than Larry had wives. Larry’s wife threw water in Miz’s face. Miz teased attacking and Kofi threw him off the stage, then leapt off onto Miz.

– Tag Team #1 Contendership Tournament Semi Final: Team Rhodes Scholars d. Santino Marella and Zack Ryder (Cody pinned Santino) in 3:10. Cody and Sandow did an inset promo, calling it the biggest mental mismatch in the history of the tag team division. It was a physical mismatch too, Cody pinning Santino with the disaster kick. After the match, Heath, Drew and Jinder ran out and attacked Santino.

– Heyman tried to apologise to Vince and tried to broker peace. Vince wasn’t interested. Heyman warned him not to let Punk do to him what Brock did to HHH.

– WWE Divas Championship: Eve Torres (c) d. Kaitlyn by submission in 2:52. Layla did commentary. Eve escaped a torture rack with an eye rake and attacked Kaitlyn’s injured ankle. She won with a heel hook but didn’t release it, forcing Layla to chase her off. Eve tried showing concern and Layla shoved her.

– Josh tried to question Del Rio about Orton claiming he’d be at Smackdown. Del Rio stormed off.

– Backstage, Bryan ran into Larry King. He wanted Larry’s advice on being called goatfaced. Bryan hit on Larry’s wife and got knocked back. Kane showed up and they got into an arguement, as Larry and his wife slinked off.

– Heyman lamented his situation with Punk. He said the only way to deal with their problem was to hurt Vince so bad, he could never make another decision for the rest of his life. Punk promised to do just that.

– In the main event, Punk jumped Vince during his entrance and a match never officially started. Instead it was just a fight. Vince tried to fight back but took a roundhouse kick. Vince managed to push Punk into the ring post and launched him over the announce table. Vince said he’d teach Punk some respect and dove over the announce table to get to Punk. He brought in a kendo stick and Punk escaped, teasing leaving. Vince slapped Heyman and held Punk’s title hostage. So Punk got his own kendo stick. Vince hit Punk with the stick and Punk begged off, but hit a low blow. The crowd were hot for this. So much so the hard camera was shaking. As Punk went for the GTS, Ryback hit the ring (to a big reaction) and chased off Punk. Cena threw Punk in to Ryback, who hit a clothesline and went for Shell Shocked. But Punk escaped and left through the crowd ala Money In The Bank. Unfortunately he ‘met’ some very handsy fans up there and, well, got ‘handsy’ back shall we say. Which the cameras caught. Vince told Punk he either faced Ryback at Hell In A Cell or he faces Cena and if he didn’t make up his mind next week, he’d do it for him.

MAIN EVENT

– In the pre-match segments Big Show told Josh the WWE Universe were fickle and put over his knockout punch, while Orton was interviewed by Striker and promised to see Del Rio very soon. He said he wasn’t ashamed to lose to Big Show two weeks ago, but he didn’t like losing.

– Big Show d. Randy Orton in 15:17. Orton took the fight straight to Show. Show targetted Orton’s ribs to take control and went back to them any time Orton tried to mount a comeback. Orton finally caught Show with a dropkick and gave Show a drop toe hold into the steps outside. He gave Show the draping DDT from the top rope for a near fall, then hit the RKO but Show rolled outside. Orton tried a second RKO on the floor but was sent into the apron. And after repeated elbows, Show applied the Colossal Clutch. Orton escaped, but only into a Chokeslam. This was about as good as a 15 minute match between these two could be.

– Josh interviewed Sheamus about Big Show. Sheamus said Show was the biggest challenge he’d faced, but that’s what he came to WWE for. And if he beat him at Hell In A Cell, it’d be even sweeter.

– Kofi Kingston d. Michael McGillicutty in 2:28. Miz is co-commentator with Cole, so they focused on the Larry King segment from Raw throughout the match. Kofi missed Trouble In Paradise but caught McGillicutty with SOS for the pin. Cole is definitely down the middle now, because he was giving it to Miz here. After the match Miz and his red velvet jacket went to interview Kofi. Miz didn’t like Kofi’s fun attitude and accussed him of a cheapshot. He said Kofi would never be at his level, so Kofi challenged him to a match next week. Miz accepted. Kofi wanted it to be for the title and goaded Miz into it by saying he was a better Intercontinental Champion. Miz then tried a cheapshot and Kofi ducked, hitting Trouble In Paradise and posing with the title. Both guys did really well here, much better than Raw.

NXT

– CM Punk was on the show this week and opened with a promo about respect, saying he was here to watch Rollins in his first main event as champion. He said he hoped everyone appreciated how special it was to have him watching.

– Bo Dallas d. Johnny Curtis in 4:05. Curtis got control, but missed a kneedrop. Bo recovered and won with a spear. The crowd, the males at least, don’t seem into Bo.

– Paige and Audrey Marie d. Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox (Paige pinned Alicia) in 6:12. In contrast, the males do seem into Paige. This picked up when she was in, at least. Paige rolled up Alicia after running her into Kaitlyn for the pin.

– Trent ran into Jake Carter backstage, who tried and failed to hit on some random blonde. Carter challenged him to a match and Trent accepted.

– Briley interviewed Rollins. Rollins said he wasn’t nervous, but McGillicutty should be. He claimed McGillicutty disrespected him, which brought in CM Punk. Punk told him being champion wasn’t going to get him respect. He told Rollins not to give McGillicutty respect and to beat the respect out of him.

– Leo Kruger d. Dante Dash in 2:23. Kruger slowly picked Dante apart and finished him with his face first neckbreaker. He also pulled some of his own hair out. Afterwards he cut a weird promo. Still no clue what to make of him.

– Briley interviewed McGillicutty. McGillicutty said he didn’t care about respect. He said after he beat Rollins, he’d beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship too. Good luck with that.

– NXT Championship: Seth Rollins (c) d. Michael McGillicutty in 9:50. Punk did commentary for this match. Punk wished them both good luck before the match. The continuity with Punk and JR was a little unfortunate, considering this was taped so far ahead of time, but hard to be avoided I suppose. Rollins went for the Blackout early. McGillicutty struggled to take control for long but threw Rollins to the floor. Rollins built momentum and hit a dive. The advantage swung at the end, until Rollins countered the swinging neckbreaker and hit a sliced bread for the pin. Punk applauded him from commentary.

SUPERSTARS

– Wade Barrett d. Tyson Kidd in 7:42. Third match in as many weeks. Wade’s eye was messed up from the Sheamus match. This was fairly even, until Wade caught a kick and tripped Kidd on the apron. Kidd used a dragon screw in the ropes and fought back strongly. Wade missed a boot on the floor and crotched himself on the barrier, then walked into the apron kick. Kidd managed to apply the Sharpshooter but Wade made the rope. And after catching Kidd with a black hole slam, Wade got the win with the Souvenir. This was a really enjoyable match and both guys got the chance to look good.

– Footage from CM Punk’s DVD theatre premiere aired. They worked in Colt Cabana as a “ticket seller”.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Justin Gabriel in 6:55. Cesaro turned an attempted dive into a running powerslam on the floor. He then destroyed Gabriel with a clothesline. Gabriel survived and mounted a fight back. But Cesaro crotched him and hit the Neutraliser.

SMACKDOWN

– A contest was set up by Booker T, with a punching bag machine on the stage, to measure which was more powerful, the Brogue Kick or the KO Punch. Big Show didn’t want to play the game. He ranted about everyone he’d knocked out. Sheamus volunteered to go first and scored “1322 pounds per square inch”, whatever that means. Show claimed this was a trick to make him look dumb and thought Sheamus might have rigged the machine. Sheamus goaded him, until Show punched the machine out of rage, which scored 1809. That shut Sheamus up. He told Sheamus he’d see him at Hell In A Cell. After Show left, Sheamus was hit from behind by Tensai. Which lead to.

– Sheamus d. Tensai in 3:35. The fight started in the aisle. JBL, who was on commentary with Josh, referenced both NJPW and NOAH. Tensai missed his senton and Sheamus managed to hit White Noise, followed by the Brogue Kick for the pin.

– Ricardo was worried about Orton, but Alberto wasn’t concerned. He said if Ricardo was so worried, he should go find him. Ricardo went to do just that. Instead he found Santino, who scared him with the Cobra.

– Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal d. Santino Marella and Zack Ryder (Slater pinned Zack) in 3:52. Heath, Drew and Jinder cut a promo before the match, announcing they were The Band. And then they did air guitar. Ridiculous. Drew’s distraction lead to Heath getting the win with a snapmare driver. And they did air guitar again. Too ridiculous.

– Kane d. Dolph Ziggler by DQ in 7:04. Ziggler had his problems early on. He escaped a Chokeslam and gained control with a fameasser. Kane ended up going for the top rope clothesline but Ziggler hit him in the ribs with the briefcase for the disqualification. Bryan made a very belated save, which caused an arguement. Striker tried to interview them and Bryan put him in the NO Lock. JBL cheered this. He wasn’t the only one. Kane then Chokeslammed Striker.

– Backstage, Ricardo found Hornswoggle playing with a Randy Orton brawling buddy. Ricardo beat up and punted the toy and left.

– Big Show d. Kofi Kingston in 2:13. Miz did commentary. Show dominated for a while. Kofi fought back and set up Trouble In Paradise, but Big Show blocked and KOed him. Afterwards, Miz got in the ring and taunted Kofi as he was attended to.

– Bryan went into Alberto’s locker room, which seemed to spook him, expecting Orton. Bryan told him they had a match tonight.

– Layla and Kaitlyn went to Booker T, claiming that Aksana had found a blond wig in Eve’s bag. Eve came in and claimed she found a wig in Teddy’s bag, so maybe it was him. This excuse didn’t go down well.

– Sin Cara d. Damien Sandow in 3:17. Sandow had Cody with him. After a fairly even match Sin Cara hit a crossbody to the floor on Cody. Cody tried to attack and got thrown out as a result. Sandow argued with the referee and Sin Cara caught him with a springboard hurricanrana for the pin.

– Backstage Bryan told Kane not to come out and rescue him, even if it looked like he was in trouble. Kane told him not to worry about it, because he wouldn’t.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Daniel Bryan by submission in 6:52. Bryan was on top early but missed a corner dropkick. Del Rio then went after the arm. Bryan escaped the armbreaker and got the NO Lock but Alberto barely made it to the rope. Alberto caught Bryan with an armbreaker in the ropes, Minoru Suzuki style. He then posted the shoulder and won with the cross armbreaker.

– After the match, Alberto claimed Orton wasn’t there. He showed footage of him attacking Orton two weeks ago. Alberto said he was the new Apex Predator and Orton made the right decision to hide from him. He mocked Orton’s pose, but Orton snuck up on him and attacked as he mocked the RKO set up. Orton teased a DDT of the announce table but Ricardo saved. Alberto then escaped. So Orton gave Ricardo an RKO on the table.