This Week In WWE TV – November 12-18, 2012

This week: The recap that predicted Roman Reigns callup two weeks in advance (sort of) returns, with a controversial Raw. In a shocking, much talked about, heavily criticised and, if I’m honest, bordering on the disgraceful segment, Brad Maddox lost and didn’t get a million dollars. I hope you’re proud of yourself Vince. Shame on you. Plus, oh yeah the fake heart attack thing was pretty bad too, Miz turns over a new leaf, Overly Attached Goatface and a WWE phone hacking scandal.

RAW

– Randy Orton d. Dolph Ziggler in 3:21. Orton used a slingshot suplex in the first few minutes, which is a new one. Crowd were lively, which definitely helped. Orton made his comeback and went for the RKO, but Del Rio ran out. Orton knocked him off the apron though and rolled up Ziggler for the pin. He was attacked two on one after the match but Kofi made the save. Teddy, with a makeshift excuse as to why he could, came out and made a tag team match playa.

– Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio d. Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston (Del Rio pinned Kofi) in 4:38. Kofi was isolated pretty quickly. Orton ran wild on Alberto before Kofi brought himself back in. After a crazy close near fall on an SOS, Kofi went for Trouble In Paradise but got distracted by Ricardo and Del Rio hit an enziguri in the corner for the pin. Crowd were really into all of this, so good start to the show.

– Ziggler stayed out to join Vickie in rehashing the AJ scandal. Vickie said she wouldn’t be threatened by AJ. She called out AJ and tried to get her to admit. AJ didn’t take this seriously, so Vickie played some vaguely incriminating voicemails. Cena came out, but AJ convinced him not to attack Dolph. She then slapped Ziggler and Cena laid him out with a right hand.

– Cena spoke to AJ backstage and there was an awkward moment.

– Big Show d. William Regal in 1:39. Dominant win for Big Show with a chokeslam. Sheamus saved Regal from a KO punch and ran Big Show off.

– #1 Contendership: Kailtyn d. Layla in 1:11. Eve did commentary. Kaitlyn won with a reverse DDT.

– Cole and JR brought out Jerry Lawler for his return to Raw. Jerry got to cut a really nice speech about being back before Punk and Heyman interrupted. Punk said Lawler thinking he could compete with him was in bad taste, not anything he did. Punk took some shots at Lawler before they had Heyman fake a heart attack, which brought out Foley. Foley ran down Punk for what he did, before announcing he’d be the referee for Punk and Cena tonight. This was pretty out there, especially for 2012 WWE. And the fake heart attack was about as far as they’ve ever gone. But at the same time, Lawler (and Heyman and Punk for that matter) isn’t doing anything he’s not comfortable with if he doesn’t want to, so how mad can you be I guess?

– Punk complained to Heyman backstage, wanting him to fix all his problems.

– Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio, Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel d. The Primetime Players, Primo and Epico (Gabriel pinned Young) in 6:29. Lawler took over commentary from JR from this point. Ricardo came out during the match to deliver a note to Rosa. That distracted Epico and allowed Gabriel to tag in Rey and lead to a stand off with both teams. Rey was cut off before tagging in Kidd. Things broke down and Rey and Sin Cara both hit dives. Rey then gave Young the 619, followed by a 450 from Gabriel.

– Heyman found Brad Maddox backstage and took him away for a talk.

– Ziggler interrupted a Miz phonecall, saying he knew Miz was going to beg to be back on his team. He said he was never Team Ziggler material. Foley showed up and they agreed to Team Rhodes Scholars facing Kane and whoever the fans voted as his fifth man. Miz asked to be one of the choices for his fifth man and Foley agreed.

– R-Truth d. Tensai in 2:17. Cesaro and his man bag came out and said Truth had become a joke, just like America before joining commentary. Truth got the victory with the Little Jimmy. And after the match he threatened Cesaro.

– Million Dollar Contract Match: Ryback d. Brad Maddox in 5:34. Brad’s entrance was interrupted by an ambulance being driven out beside the stage. They also wheeled out a stretcher for Brad. Maddox did an inset promo saying he had no regrets and that nobody would ever forget the name Brad Maddox. Poor Brad basically got destroyed and then Shell Shocked. They tried to stretcher him out, but Ryback beat Maddox up some more and tossed him into the back of the ambulance, hopefully not never to return.

– Sheamus d. David Otunga in 2:24. Easy win for Sheamus with the Brogue Kick. Sheamus said the same would happen to Big Show at Survivor Series. Big Show was shown attacking Regal, who had been watching backstage and he KOed him, so Sheamus ran to the back.

– Backstage, Bryan got annoyed about Kane having a new partner. Bryan tried to guilt trip Kane for teaming with someone else but Kane just walked off, leaving Bryan to throw a NO tantrum.

– Kane and The Miz d. Team Rhodes Scholars (Kane pinned Cody) in 5:40. Miz won the vote over Ryder and Santino with 60%, to become the fifth member of Team Foley. Bryan showed up before the match to reassert his partnership with Kane and to watch from ringside. Bryan seemed put out that Miz and Kane worked well as a team. His distraction aided Cody and Sandow. But Kane ran wild and pinned Cody with the chokeslam, after Bryan tried to go after Miz and Miz countered. Bryan tried to join in the celebrations after the match anyway. Fantastic.

– John Cena d. CM Punk in 10:19, with Mick Foley as the special enforcer. Punk controlled things for a while before Cena made a comeback. Advantage swung as it turned into an exchange of big moves towards the end. Punk countered the AA and Cena countered the GTS. Punk used a Koji clutch and Cena used an STF. Heyman tried to save Punk and Foley pulled him out. A roundhouse kick from Punk got a two count. Cena then turned the GTS into another STF but Punk got to the ropes. Punk tried to leave, but Ryback came out and Cena threw Punk back in. He went for another GTS, but Cena escaped and won with an AA. Really good match to end the show. Ryback and Cena had a stare down and both held the WWE Title with Punk in the background to end.

MAINEVENT

– Josh interviewed Bryan and Kane. Bryan claimed Kane and Miz only won on Raw because he was there. Kane accused him of sabotage. They argued until Kane left. Cody and Sandow then jumped Bryan, until Kane ran them off.

– WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Hell No! (c) d. Team Rhodes Scholars (Bryan pinned Sandow) in 10:35 to retain the titles. Bryan and Kane attacked before the bell with Bryan selling his ribs. The champions dominated but Kane accidentally punched Bryan and it allowed the challengers to cut off Kane. Unfortunately, Cody took an ugly landing on a back body drop from Kane, which landed him with a concussion and a shoulder injury. Bryan fought back on him but missed a flying headbutt. Sandow carried the load, working on Bryan. Kane ran wild on Sandow and hit the chokeslam, then tagged Bryan who hit the diving headbutt to retain.

– Striker interviewed Kane and Bryan at ringside. Kane tried to force Bryan and Miz to bury the hatchet. Miz wanted a handshake but Bryan, wanted to hug it out with him instead. So Miz sat back down.

– Cole and Miz interviewed Ziggler on the big screen. Ziggler said his team’s chances at Survivor Series were awesome. He pointed out Team Foley hated each other and said Miz would be like Foley one day, a loser who didn’t know when to quit. Miz and Ziggler traded shots, leading to Miz challenging Ziggler to a match on Main Event next week.

– Santino Marella d. David Otunga in 3:37. Santino tried a nip up, which didn’t go so well. He was more successful with the Cobra to score the win.

NXT

– Jinder was interviewed backstage about being the number one contender. Bo Dallas interrupted and challenged him to a rematch for tonight. He convinced Jinder to put the contendership on the line.

– The Ascension d. Yoshi Tatsu and Percy Watson (Cameron pinned Yoshi) in 2:55. I don’t know who was doing commentary and how many people, because they all sounded exactly the same. Incredibly distracting. Ascension beat Yoshi with the Fall Of Man total elimination double team.

– Aksana insulted Layla’s hair backstage. Layla called her eurotrash and said she’d take out the trash tonight.

– Corey Graves d. Oliver Gray in 4:13. Thankfully JR replaced one, or two, of the other commentators here. Graves was on top for the majority and after working the knee, won with an interesting looking knee submission.

– Luftman interviewed Big E. Big E said he’d end anyone who tried to claim the bounty Vickie had put on him. Camacho hit him from behind and quickly ran before Big E could go after him.

– Layla d. Aksana in 5:22. This might have been the most competent Aksana has looked competing. Which you can take how you like. Layla fought back to get the win with a roundhouse kick.

– A Bray Wyatt promo aired. Bray, who had Luke Harper with him, ranted and raved asking how anybody was going to stop him.

– Roman Reigns d. Chase Donovan in 2:41. I guess me saying Roman “could be a star soon” last week was a bit prophetic. Or a happy fluke. One or the other. He beat Donovan decisively and had Byron announce him to his liking as “The Thoroughbred” Roman Reigns.

– #1 Contendership: Jinder Mahal d. Bo Dallas by submission in 9:00. After Dallas made a strong start, Jinder was able to work him over. Bo fought back and went for the spear. But Jinder guided him into the turnbuckles and capitalised with the camel clutch. He tried continuing the attack afterwards, but Rollins chased Jinder off.

SUPERSTARS

– Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of the 3MB d. The Usos (Slater pinned Jey) in 7:15. Usos started hot, before Jimmy was sent into the steps by Jinder. Jey made the comeback but got caught trying a superplex by Jinder. Jey caught Heath coming off the top in a powerslam but Jinder broke it up. A superkick took him out, but Slater caught Jey with the Smash Hit.

– Great Khali d. JTG in 1:59. Surprisingly, JTG did not fare well against the Great Khali. Who’d have guessed it? One overhand chop ended it for Khali.

SMACKDOWN

– Miz hosted MizTV, with his guest Mick Foley. Crowd seemed pro Miz so that’s good. Miz said he wouldn’t fall blindly in line, even for Foley. Foley asked who’d show up at Survivor Series, the Wrestlemania main eventing Miz or the makeup wearing weak beard growing Miz. Miz said the rest of the team was more of a problem. Foley said he’d be having a team meeting. And brought out the rest of the team. Kane and Bryan bickered, then Miz and Kofi argued too. Foley asked Orton to be the voice of reason. Orton said there wasn’t a single member of the team he actually liked. Team Ziggler came out, minus Cody. Ziggler claimed his team had no egos. He got annoyed at Del Rio not listening to him. Del Rio said he should be team leader. Foley, with Booker’s permission, made Ziggler and Alberto versus Miz and Orton, Wade versus Kane and Kofi versus Sandow.

– Damien Sandow d. Kofi Kingston in 6:05. Sandow had his troubles early, with Kofi taking him out with a dive. Sandow away cowered from Trouble In Paradise. And after trying to escape again, Sandow rolled up Kofi with the tights for the pin.

– Sheamus was seen pacing in the parking lot.

– Layla, Kaitlyn and Natalya d. Eve Torres, Aksana and Alicia Fox (Kaitlyn pinned Alicia) in 3:41. Wonder if they did this here instead of a Survivor Series match because this is the entire Diva division. Kaitlyn ran through Alicia and sent her into Eve, before hitting the reverse DDT.

– Booker told Sheamus he was putting him in an awkward position. Sheamus said he’d move, but if Big Show showed up, he’d see him in the ring. Booker told him to wait until Survivor Series.

– Randy Orton and The Miz d. Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler (Miz pinned Del Rio) in 7:27. Miz and Orton were both taken out in the opening moments. Orton was isolated by Ziggler and Del Rio briefly, before making a less than friendly tag with Miz. Miz was cut off after a cheapshot by Del Rio. Orton made his big comeback, but Miz tagged himself in and gave Del Rio the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin. Not pleased, Orton gave Miz an RKO.

– Sheamus came out and called out Big Show. Big Show said he was scared what he might do to Sheamus. It threatened to turn into a fight but Booker came out and physically held Sheamus back. Booker told Sheamus to leave the building.

– Big Show thanked Booker backstage and acted all buddy buddy with him. Booker put Big Show in a match later against a mystery opponent. He assured him it wasn’t against Sheamus.

– Kane d. Wade Barrett by DQ in 0:55. The rest of Team Ziggler didn’t waste much time in getting involved to cause the disqualification. Bryan came down to make the save for Kane, followed by Kofi and then Orton. Sandow and Ziggler took RKOs. After the ring was cleared, Miz appeared and stared down at the rest of his team.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Sin Cara in 2:21. Truth did commentary. As you’d expect, there were some impressive moves from Sin Cara. But Cesaro caught him with the pop up uppercut and followed up with the Neutraliser for the victory. Disappointing that this was so short. Truth got a USA chant going after the match.

– Big Show d. Great Khali in 3:33. Khali had Big Show in trouble until a big spear knocked him down. Khali hit a big overhand chop for a close two. He then went for the Punjabi Plunge, but Show fought out and KOed Khali to pick up the victory. Sheamus’s music hit briefly, confused Big Show. He tried to leave quickly, scaring off Striker. But Sheamus attacked him in the parking lot. They brawled around and onto some cars, before Sheamus was finally dragged off of Big Show.