This Week In WWE TV – February 11-17, 2013

This week: We find out what Jack Swagger’s really been up to during his extended leave of absence from WWE. Contacting grizzled old veterans with Fox News playing constantly in the background, mostly. Plus, Chamber build, Rock tells a story, Punk steals the title and the finals of the NXT Tag Team Title tournament.

RAW

– Heyman began the show in the ring, claiming this would be the last we saw of him. He talked about all the sacrifices he’d made. He said something bad was going to happen to him, which would mean something bad would happen to CM Punk. Heyman claimed Punk was his best friend and that he loved him, so he was quitting to help Punk stay focused on the WWE Title. Punk came out and tried to convince Heyman to reconsider. Heyman agreed to be in his corner at Elimination Chamber to see him retain ‘his’ title. And then they hugged.

– Mark Henry d. Great Khali in 1:36. Henry won with the World’s Strongest Slam, then went back and gave the WSS to Hornswoggle as well.

– Jericho interrupted Teddy and Booker, asking to be in the Chamber match. Teddy said yes, but Booker said everyone else had to impress him first and put him against Daniel Bryan.

– Heyman spoke to Vickie, but she was interrupted by a phone call by Vince. She put him on speaker phone and made Heyman ask him add a stipulation that Punk could win the title by count out or DQ at Elimination Chamber. Vince for whatever reason agreed before hanging up on him.

– A video for Fandango aired. He’s still a thing that totally exists!

– Chris Jericho d. Daniel Bryan in 7:18. Booker and Teddy were shown watching. Jericho missed a crossbody to the apron and Bryan capitalised with a dive. The match stayed even throughout. After fighting over the Walls and the NO Lock, Bryan hit a buzzsaw kick for a near fall. Jericho avoided a second one, then hit the Codebreaker to pick up the win.

– John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus d. 3MB (Cena pinned Jinder) in 2:51. This was a warmup match for Cena’s team before Elimination Chamber. They barely broke a sweat winning it though, with Cena giving Jinder the AA, Ryback hitting Shell Shocked on Slater and Sheamus giving Drew White Noise at the same time. Afterwards, they teased going after The Shield later.

– Yoshi and Riley were shown making fun of Big Show backstage earlier in the night. Dumb move. Big Show showed up and KOed them both. Big Show then came out and Striker tried to interview him, but immediately got KOed. Fantastic. Show teased cutting a promo for while, but was too mad and just stormed off.

– Jack Swagger d. Zack Ryder by submission in 2:33. Swagger was accompanied by Zebekiah Coulter. You know, Zeb Coulter. Cole and King sold this in the typical “what is he doing back” way, as if he was a character every fan should remember and recognise. Maybe there are more Blu Brothers fans in the world than I give credit for. Swagger won with the Patriot Act ankle lock. Zebekiah, aka Dutch Mantell, then talked about hating immigrants. Joy.

– Booker and Teddy put Swagger in the Chamber match. Ziggler interrupted them and said if Jericho was in the Chamber, he wanted in. Booker booked him against Kane for the final spot.

– The Miz d. Cody Rhodes by DQ in 3:04. Cesaro did commentary and inevitably got into it with Miz. Cesaro attacked Miz for the disqualification. He then repeatedly giant swinged Miz into the barricade which looked pretty awesome.

– Brodus Clay and Tensai d. Primo and Epico (Tensai pinned Epico) in 1:12. The dancing monsters won comfortably, after a headbutt from Brodus and the senton by Tensai.

– The Shield came out and addressed Cena’s team. They dared them to come to the ring, but there was no sign of them. They called Cena a failure and Rollins said Cena would fail again at Elimination Chamber. They agreed John Cena was the problem with WWE and had been for a decade, but they were the solution. The lights went out and when they came back on, Cena’s team cleared the ring of The Shield and chased them out through the crowd.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Damien Sandow by submission in 1:18. Sandow buried the crowd for listening to country music rather than Beethoven and Mozart before the match. Alberto won in a strong showing with the cross armbreaker. He then made it clear he’d be going to Wrestlemania as champion.

– Wade Barrett d. Kofi Kingston in 3:07. Bo Dallas attacked Wade backstage before the match in payback. Wade felt his jaw through the match. He avoided Trouble In Paradise and trapped Kofi in the ring apron as he followed him outside, allowing him to hit a Bull Hammer elbow for the pin.

– Kane d. Dolph Ziggler in 7:17. After Big E distracted Kane, Ziggler took control. Kane fought back and Ziggler accidentally knocked AJ off the apron into Big E, distracting him and leading to a chokeslam for the victory.

– In the main event, Rock came out and told a long story about living in Nashville and buying a car off a crackhead. Long story short, literally I suppose, Punk and Heyman interrupted. Rock dared him to come to the ring and a brawl broke out. Rock went for a People’s Elbow but was tripped by Heyman. Punk then hit the GTS and stole the WWE Title, claiming it belonged to him.

MAIN EVENT

– Jericho hosted the Highlight Reel. Miz was supposed to be his guest, but he was injured after Raw, so instead Alberto was his guest. Jericho said he respected Alberto and his family, but he planned on winning the Chamber and beating him for the title at Wrestlemania. They debated in Spanish until Ziggler and crew interrupted. Ziggler promised to cash in his contract between now and Wrestlemania, which lead to Del Rio challenging him to a match.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Dolph Ziggler by submission in 16:34. Match started slowly. Alberto missed in the corner and hit the post shoulder first to give Dolph the advantage. Later Alberto was sent over the ropes and hit the steps on the way down. Alberto hit a reverse superplex to get back in the match. Ziggler blocked the cross armbreaker, before AJ put his foot on the rope after a corner lungblower. Ziggler got the sleeper but Alberto escaped and hit the corner enziguri for two. After a cheap shot from Big E, Ricardo hit him with the bucket and was chased backstage. Del Rio then countered the Zig Zag and applied the cross armbreaker for the win. This ruled.

– Striker interviewed Heyman, who had the WWE Title. Heyman said Punk was busy training and that Punk would ‘retain’ ‘his’ title at Elimination Chamber.

NXT

– Mike Dalton was supposed to face Axl Keegan. Before that could happen, Paige ran out and went after Summer Rae, who was ring announcing. She refused to leave until Summer came back. She yelled at Dalton and Keegan to leave and even slapped Keegan. Dusty came out and told her to leave, before Summer reappeared and Dusty ended up in the middle of a pull apart. Paige hurt her shoulder during this somehow and was checked on in the trainer’s room.

– Corey Graves d. Alex Riley by submission in 5:09. Graves won fairly comfortably with the 13th Step.

– Summer Rae d. Paige in 2:03. Paige had her shoulder taped and Summer targetted it. Paige tried to fight back, but got her arm hung across the rope, then took a back spin kick for the surprise loss. Summer is basically a cross between Maryse and Michelle McCool.

– Sasha Banks got another secret admirer’s note, telling her she had to wait one more week.

– NXT Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey d. The Wyatt Family (Neville pinned Harper) in 11:56 to become the first NXT Tag Team Champions. Wyatt called his team bigger, stronger and undefeatable before the match. Grey took out Harper with a dive early on. Neither team could get an advantage for some time, before eventually Bray got involved and tripped Grey off of the apron. Dusty, who was at ringside, saw it and sent Wyatt to the back as Grey was worked over. Neville made a comeback. Harper countered a springboard with a boot in mid air, but Grey broke the count. In the end, Harper accidentally knocked Rowan off the apron and Neville won with the corkscrew shooting star.

– Dusty congratulated Neville and Grey after the match. Tony Dawson attempted to interview them, as they celebrated to close the show.

SUPERSTARS

– Justin Gabriel d. Titus O’Neil in 5:01. Titus riled up the crowd before the match talking about how he was a former Florida Gator. He had trouble with Gabriel to start off, with Gabriel hitting a somersault dive. Titus took over for a while, but Gabriel managed to catch him by surprise with a kick from the ring apron, setting up the 450.

– Kaitlyn d. Natalya in 3:34. Natalya had some fun, at least until Kaitlyn countered the sharpshooter and won with the spear. The announcers claimed, even before this, that Kaitlyn patterned her style after Goldberg.

SMACKDOWN

– Big Show came out and said his attacks on Raw were Alberto’s fault. He said Alberto had never pinned him before and never would. As he threatened to knock Alberto out on Sunday, Jericho interrupted. He told Big Show that if he became World Champion at Elimination Chamber, he’d beat him at Wrestlemania. Show said if they faced at Wrestlemania, it’d be Jericho’s last and warned him to leave. But Booker came out and put them in a match later on.

– Striker tried to interview Orton, but Mark Henry walked up and stared him down.

– Mark Henry d. Randy Orton by DQ in 6:34. Rematch from last week. Orton countered a World’s Strongest Slam and Henry countered an RKO, before Orton used a chair for the disqualification. Henry blocked a chair shot and hit the World’s Strongest Slam though.

– Henry then commandered Striker backstage, saying the Hall Of Pain was getting full lately. He said it would need the army, marines and navy to stop him on the road to Wrestlemania.

– Tamina Snuka d. Layla in 4:11. Tamina won with the superfly splash to set up her match with Kaitlyn at Elimination Chamber, who was shown watching.

– The Rock, without his title, went to the ring and addressed Punk. He said Punk traded holding Rock’s belt for an ass kicking. He promised to make Punk suffer. Punk and Heyman appeared on the big screen and Punk said he wanted Rock to make him suffer, because if he got disqualified he lost the title, so he could let Rock beat himself. Rock called him a spoiled little boy and he’d beat him like a man on Sunday.

– Brodus Clay and Tensai d. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB (Brodus pinned Jinder) in 2:39. Despite Drew’s efforts to help, a choke bomb from Tensai and the splash by Brodus got the win. Their celebration was interrupted by The Shield, who took out Brodus and Tensai, giving Brodus the triple powerbomb. Ambrose said they’d do the same thing on Sunday.

– The Miz d. Cody Rhodes by submisson in 3:11. Miz had his shoulder taped from what happened on Raw. He survived Cody going after the arm and caught Cody in the figure four for the submission.

– Jack Swagger d. Zack Ryder by submission in 3:20. Just like on Raw, Swagger beat Ryder with the Patriot Act and Zeb said some stuff about ‘Murica.

– Striker interviewed Del Rio. Del Rio, through Ricardo saying “Si”, said he might not have pinned Big Show but he was World Champion and he’d beat him at Elimination Chamber.

– Big Show d. Chris Jericho in 6:40. Jericho took the fight to Big Show, but got launched over the announce table. Big Show hit a chokeslam but Jericho rolled outside. An elbow from the middle rope missed and Jericho hit a Lionsault for two. Jericho got another near fall with a DDT, but in the end, Show fought off an attempted Walls Of Jericho and gave Jericho the KO punch. Alberto appeared on the stage and stared at Big Show to end the show.