This week: It’s the final Raw and video package filled other shows before Wrestlemania. Punk crosses the line with an ashes shower for The Undertaker. Plus, Fandango’s scorecards, Del Rio takes a beating and a full NXT starring Brad Maddox.
RAW
– Cena came out. Lots of boos. He said the childish games were over. He said he believed Rock was the greatest WWE Champion of all time, but his time was up and his time was now. Cena warned Rock he’d have to deal with his loss for a year, like he did. He talked about Rock debuting his own belt and promised he’d lose it in his very first defence. The crowd chanted not only Cena sucks at him, but boring too.
– Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show d. 3MB (Show pinned Jinder) in 3:05. Big Show ran through all three and passed off Heath and Drew into an RKO and a Brogue Kick, before knocking out Jinder. Afterwards, The Shield appeared in the crowd and told them to enjoy their win, because there’d be nothing to celebrate at Wrestlemania. They said they weren’t really a team and nobody believed it, but they would believe in The Shield.
– Swagger and Colter did one of their usual promos, except on the street in front of the United States Capitol. Striker then interviewed Alberto who warned he would break Colter later on.
– Dolph Ziggler d. Daniel Bryan in 7:42. Match was pretty even throughout, despite Big E’s distraction. AJ skipped around Kane, distracting him enough for Big E to take him out. Bryan dropkicked Big E from the ring, but Ziggler rolled him up with the tights for the pin. Big E then gave both Bryan and Kane the Big Ending after the match. He also broke out of the chokeslam, which got a good reaction.
– Shawn Michaels came out to talk about HHH and Brock. HHH interrupted and insisted he knew what he was doing. Shawn said things were different to his match with Undertaker, because they respected each other, but Brock respected nobody. He said HHH’s career wasn’t on the line, his life was and he’d better kick Brock’s ass. He said he’d be in HHH’s corner. Lesnar and Heyman showed up and Heyman said HHH would disappoint Vince, the board, Stephanie, Shawn and the WWE Universe and he’d have to learn to live with that disappointment. And unlike Shawn, he wouldn’t be able to walk away, he’d have to crawl away.
– Wade Barrett d. Zack Ryder in 3:52. Miz did commentary. He put a brave face on his match with Wade being confirmed on the pre show. Barrett got a fairly comfortable win with the Bull Hammer
– Santino told Vickie and Brad that Mr McMahon was here tonight. When they got worried, he told them it was an April Fool’s joke. So Brickie put him in a match.
– Mark Henry d. Santino Marella in 0:54. Henry won quick with the World’s Strongest Slam, before Ryback came out. Henry pointed out there was a no contact clause between them, so Ryback threw Santino onto Henry.
– Striker interviewed Punk. He explained the only career or memory he cared about was his own and all he was doing was trying to get in The Undertaker’s head. Punk said he would do whatever he had to do to beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania and after Sunday, whenever people thought about Wrestlemania, they’d think of him.
– Alberto Del Rio d. Zeb Colter by DQ in 0:50. Before the match Alberto asked Ricardo to go backstage, but he came back out. Swagger tried to attack him and Zeb used Ricardo’s crutch on Del Rio. Del Rio got the crutch but Swagger clipped Alberto’s leg and both Swagger and Colter beat him with crutches.
– The Rock came out. He said it was the will of the people for him to beat Cena. He teased running for president because they were in Washington. He’d be perfect. Make of that what you will. He said Wrestlemania wasn’t about redemption and it wasn’t about passing the torch.
– Chris Jericho d. Antonio Cesaro by submission in 9:15. Fandango danced his way out mid match and started holding up scorecards, Dancing In The Stars style, marking Jericho harshly. Cesaro controlled things for a while, but Jericho came back and dropkicked Fandango sending the cards flying. Jericho won with the Walls, but Fandango attacked and gave Jericho the legdrop off the top twice before saying his name.
– The Bella Twins d. The Funkadactyls (Nikki pinned Cameron) in 4:45. Naomi had her arm worked over, before Cameron ran wild. Things broke down on the floor, before Nikki reversed a crossbody and pinned Cameron.
– At the end of the show, Undertaker was scheduled to “eviscerate” Punk. That’s actually how they billed it. He promised Punk would suffer for making things personal and said beating him wasn’t good enough, he’d pay the ultimate price. Undertaker said the streak may end on Sunday but Punk wouldn’t live to talk about it. He was interrupted by druids and Heyman dressed as Paul Bearer. Undertaker stormed up the ramp and attacked the druids, but one was Punk, who beat Undertaker down and hit him with the urn repeatedly. Punk then poured out the ashes from the urn over Undertaker.
MAIN EVENT
– Two On One Handicap Match: The Miz d. The Primetime Players by submission in 11:52. Wade did commentary. Miz made Young submit to the figure four. I don’t know who thought this match was a good idea, but they were mistaken.
– Striker interviewed Big Show. Show said Orton and Sheamus didn’t want him to turn over a new leaf, they wanted him at his cruelest. He promised payback on The Shield.
NXT
– The Wyatt Family d. Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville (Bo pinned Harper) in 7:41. Brad Maddox was on commentary duty this week and Ohno was there too for this match. Neville was worked over, after a distraction from Wyatt. Bo ran wild and Neville took out Rowan and Bray with a twisting dive, allowing Bo to win with the belly to belly. This was fun.
– Conor O’Brien said the NXT Title belonged to him tonight. Regal then ran out and attacked Ohno at the commentary table as payback for last week. They later announced Regal versus Ohno for next week.
– Paige and Sasha Banks d. Summer Rae and Audrey Marie in 3:48. Paige tried to get her hands on Summer Rae repeatedly. Sasha was cut off, before making the tag to Paige. And the moment Paige tagged in, Summer ran away. Literally. Paige pinned Audrey with the Paige Turner before going after Summer.
– NXT Championship: Big E Langston d. Conor O’Brien in 6:04 to retain the title. Conor was able to wear Big E down for a while. Big E escaped when Conor tried the Big Ending on him though, delivering a clothesline before winning with the Big Ending. After the match Big E hit another one and gave Conor the five count.
SUPERSTARS
– Great Khali d. JTG in 2:42. Yep, he did. Big chop to the head. This happened.
SMACKDOWN
– Two On One Handicap Match: Ryback d. Primo and Epico in 3:16. Ryback had some problems, before he was able to hit Primo and Epico with a double Shell Shocked. On the handicap match sliding scale, this smoked Main Event’s one.
– The Bellas, Cody and Sandow came out, dressed as Tons Of Funk and the Funkadactyls. Sandow said their imitation wasn’t meant as flattery, it was to illustrate the lunacy of Tons Of Funk. Sandow referring to this as “satire” and taking it deadly serious made this. They said Tons Of Funk didn’t deserve to be at Wrestlemania. Brodus, Tensai and the Funkadactyls came out and cleared the ring.
– Renee interviewed Del Rio at Axxess. He said Swagger was lucky he was there and not at Smackdown and promised victory at Wrestlemania.
– Jack Swagger d. Kofi Kingston by submission in 6:40. Swagger won with the Patriot Lock after a distraction by Colter.
What You (Probably) Need To See:
– Ziggler versus Bryan on Raw.
– Jericho versus Cesaro also from Raw.
– Heyman’s promo on Raw.
– And all of NXT is worth a watch, but particularly Dallas and Neville versus The Wyatt Family.