This Week In WWE TV – July 1-7 2013

This week: It's Champion versus Champion on Raw, a rare, special occurance that only happens once every few months when they change one or both the titles and decide to do it on Raw. Plus, Christian reminds everyone what they've been missing for the past 10 or so months, 3MB try and fail to catch the greased Ziggler and why Xavier Woods is NXT's hot new act (it's at least 50% the theme music).

RAW

– Vickie opened the show announcing a WWE Champion versus World Champion match between Cena and Del Rio.

– Bryan came out, with a ladder in the ring, because it's Money In The Bank season. Bryan said last week proved he wasn't the weak link and talked up his chances of winning Money In The Bank. He said he wanted to follow the likes of Sammartino, Hogan, Austin and Rock and be WWE Champion. Sheamus interrupted and brought up his 18 second win over Bryan to end his last title reign. Orton, Kane, Christian and Punk all ended up coming out and saying their piece. Orton said it had been too long since he was champion, Kane was looking forward to MITB because there'd be no friends and got in an arguement with Bryan, Christian talked about his ladder match experience and success and Punk said he'd be the first person to win MITB three times. He also did RVD's talking for him. Bryan threatened to make Punk tap faster than Orton last which, which made him mad, which made Kane protect Bryan, which then made Bryan mad. Orton then gave Kane an RKO.

– The Shield d. Christian and The Usos (Ambrose pinned Christian) in 6:02. Rematch from last week's Smackdown, which The Shield lost. The Usos and Christian hit triple dives, before Jey was cut off. Christian made a comeback, but this time Rollins hung up Christian and Ambrose rolled him up to get The Shield's win back.

– Bryan apologised to Kane and said to make it up to him, Kane would be facing Orton and he'd be the referee. Kane seemed far from pleased about the second part.

– Dolph Ziggler d. Jinder Mahal in 2:24. Jinder actually took most of the match, before Ziggler hit a Zig Zag out of nowhere for the pin. After the match, Slater and Drew surrounded Dolph and tried to attack. But they couldn't catch him. Ziggler gave all three of 3MB the run around, caused them to take themselves out and hit Drew with a Zig Zag on the floor before celebrating on the announce table

– Backstage, HHH told Vickie she was doing a great job tonight. Vickie said she was stressed with the other McMahons. HHH told her to hear them out and just do what he said.

– A Mark Henry career retrospective aired and it did a great job of making Henry come off as a badass.

– Kane d. Randy Orton by DQ in 4:46, with Daniel Bryan as special referee. Orton got mad at Bryan for pulling him out of the corner and gave him a light shove, giving Bryan excuse to disqualify him and give Kane the win. Kane wasn't happy though and had Bryan restart the match.

– Kane d. Randy Orton by DQ in 3:39, with Daniel Bryan as special referee. This time, as Orton set up an RKO, Bryan stepped in the way to protect Kane. That allowed Kane to deliver a big boot and Bryan quick counted to give Kane the win. Kane teased a chokeslam on Bryan but couldn't do it and stormed out. Leaving Bryan to get an RKO from Orton.

– Heyman tried to get Punk and Axel on the same page. Punk said he'd beat the Prime Time Players by himself and all Axel had to do was stay on the apron. Heyman told Punk to trust his judgement though.

– Sheamus d. Fandango by count out in 6:17. Sheamus mocked Fandango's dancing early on. Fandango eventually walked out on the match when he decided things weren't going his way.

– The Miz d. Ryback by referee stoppage in 5:11. No, really, he did. Jericho did commentary. Ryback beat up Miz until Miz reaggravated Ryback's knee injury from Smackdown and Ryback said he couldn't continue. After the match, Jericho ran in and gave the injured and unsuspecting Ryback a Codebreaker.

– Mark Henry came out and talked about being the World's Strongest Man. He said politics had stopped him from getting a proper opportunity at the WWE Title and he'd earned the right to be champion. He said nobody would keep him down at MITB and everyone would say he earned it. And he warned Cena he'd beat his ass at MITB.

– Vince went to Vickie and was annoyed she wasn't listening to him. He got upset Vickie was giving Cena and Del Rio away for free and warned her there was a long list of people who'd been fired or thrown out for not listening to him.

– CM Punk and Curtis Axel d. The Primetime Players (Axel pinned Young) in 6:13. Punk insisted on starting the match, but Axel immediately tagged himself in and wouldn't tag back out. The PTP took control as a result. Axel finally tagged Punk who ran wild and hit the GTS on Young. As Punk threw Titus outside, Axel then tagged himself in to steal the pin. Punk refused to celebrate with Heyman and Axel afterwards.

– Kaitlyn d. Alicia Fox in 1:52. After Kaitlyn won with a spear, AJ came out with Big E and put up and mock photo of fat Kaitlyn to make fun of her.

– Stephanie criticised Vickie for not dealing with AJ. She sympathised with Vickie, for a while, until she complained about HHH and Vince. Stephanie said Vickie would have a public job evaluation next week.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Cody Rhodes in 2:24. Before the match Sandow insisted he and Cody would stay best friends after MITB despite what the fans would want and Colter reintroduced Jack Swagger. Cody tried to pin Cesaro with his feet on the ropes but it didn't work. Cesaro then caught Cody with the Neutraliser for the pin.

– The Bellas had a Total Divas 'cast meeting'. The Bellas claimed they were the stars and insulted Jo Jo and Eva Marie, The Funkadactyls and Natalya. They said they needed to remind everyone who was in charge of the Divas division which gave them chance to insult AJ and Kaitlyn too before leaving.

– John Cena d. Alberto Del Rio in 12:49. Throughout the show they aired videos on former WWE and World Champions like Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold and Sting in preparation for this. Del Rio escaped an AA early and took control, after Cena posted his shoulder. Del Rio was able to stop Cena's comeback a couple of times but couldn't put Cena away. They exchanged big moves towards the end before Cena escaped the cross armbreaker and put Alberto into the STF. Henry came out which distracted Cena. Del Rio took advantage but Ziggler ran out and climbed theropes, distracting Alberto and allowing Cena to hit the AA for the win. This definitely picked by the time they got to the near falls.

– After the match, Henry got in the ring with the WWE Title. He punked Cena out and threw the belt at his feet. When Cena went to pick it up, Henry then punked him out again before leaving. The show went off with a Wyatt Family video though and they're coming this Monday.

MAIN EVENT

– Christian d. Damien Sandow in 17:01. We got Cody back on commentary this week, with just Josh, which made me happy. Also making me happy, this match. Sandow quoted a great man, Damien Sandow, before the match to insult the crowd for liking Christian. The match started slowly paced before building as it went on. Sandow managed to counter the Killswitch near the end once, but not a second time and Christian got the hard fought win. Between the match and the commentary, lots to love here.

– Jack Swagger d. Sin Cara in 6:11. Colter cut his usual promo on Sin Cara before the match. Sin Cara put up a fight near the end, but Swagger eventually caught him with the gutwrench powerbomb and won with the Patriot Lock.

– Big E Langston d. Curt Hawkins in 3:14. AJ did commentary. Hawkins tried to put up a fight, but was put away with the Big Ending.

NXT

– The show started with Renee interviewing Bo. Bo talked about his Bo-lievers and striving to be the best, just like his good friend and mentor Bret Hart and generally humble bragged about his accomplishments. He said Leo Kruger had to earn a title shot like he did. Cesaro interrupted and challenged him to a match tonight. He said in his America, there'd be No More Bo. Bo accepted and warned Cesaro wouldn't forget his name after tonight.

– NXT Womens Championship Tournament Semi Final: Paige d. Alicia Fox in 4:44. Paige won an even match with the Paige Turner to advance to the final.

– Conor O'Brien d. Andy Baker in 1:01. Conor had Rick Victor with him and actually got a good reaction, from some, coming out. He made short work of Baker with a flapjack and a legdrop to the back of the head.

– Renee interviewed Neville and Graves about Ohno being injured. Graves said he had someone who could fill Ohno's role. Neville appealed to Regal to team with them and help earn the Wyatt Family.

– Xavier Woods d. Scott Dawson in 4:11. Xavier is clearly starting to come into his own now. He's possibly the most charismatic guy on NXT and might be a good bet for next call up post Wyatt Family. Lefort's distraction aided Dawson briefly, but Xavier fought back and won with Lost In The Woods. Best thing about Xavier winning is two doses of Xavier's theme song.

– Bray and the Wyatt Family were in the woods and Bray did a promo.

– Mason Ryan d. Enzo Amore in 0:12. Amore was accompanied by Colin Cassady, who Ryan beat a couple of weeks ago. Imagine a taller Edge. Amore antagonised Ryan before the match, immediately walked into a punch and got pinned. Amore freaked out and sent Cassady in to deal with him.

– Mason Ryan d. Colin Cassady in 0:35. Cassady fared a little better, but not much. Ryan won with a cobra clutch slam.

– NXT Championship: Bo Dallas (c) d. Antonio Cesaro in 10:05 to retain the title. Lots of boos for Bo. People even chanted We The People in support of Cesaro. Regal called Tim Tebow a “tosspot” which would be a highlight of any match. Cesaro controlled most of the match, with Leo Kruger watching from the stage. Bo managed to fight back but was crotched on the ropes. Cesaro then hit a gutwrench superplex for two. After surviving a flying kneedrop, a rear choke and a bridging fallaway slam, Bo then threw Cesaro off the top and sent Cesaro into Kruger, before winning with the belly to belly. After the match, Kruger jumped Bo. Cesaro took out Kruger with an uppercut and attacked Bo himself. Bo fought back until Kruger made a save, so Cesaro and Kruger teamed up, until Sami Zayn made the save.

SMACKDOWN

– Punk came out. He said unlike Cena he wasn't here for a patriotic 4th of July speech, but he was all about the independence part and when somebody told him to do something, he does the opposite. Punk said he had two goals, get his hands on Brock and win Money In The Bank. Del Rio interrupted and claimed Smackdown was his show. Apparently he didn't get the brand split memo. Alberto ran down the crowd for being fat and chanting USA. Punk said Del Rio was just mad the fans saw through his Born in Mexico Made in America garbage. Del Rio ordered him to leave. He didn't, so Teddy showed up to put them in a match later.

– Punk spoke with Heyman backstage, who told him facing Del Rio tonight made no sense. Punk decided to have the match anyway. He turned down Heyman's offer to accompany him and asked him nicely to stay out of things.

– The Usos d. Team Rhodes Scholars (Jimmy pinned Sandow) in 2:18. Before the match, Sandow and Cody insisted their team wouldn't suffer at MITB and agreed with the saying may the best man win. Usos won with a double superfly splash to Sandow. The Shield then appeared on the screen and said their six man loss was lucky and had made them more focused. Ambrose also warned he'd win MITB and be lurking in the shadows.

– Alicia Fox d. Kaitlyn in 2:46. AJ showed up during the match and distracted Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn knocked AJ off the apron with a dropkick, but then got rolled up for the pin. Kaitlyn chased her backstage afterwards.

– The Bellas stopped AJ and warned her they were after the Divas Title. She brushed them off and told Big E they had to leave, despite being reminded by Big E that Ziggler still had a match later.

– Renee interviewed Orton and Christian. They both promised to win their match tonight and brought up their past history and MITB.

– Randy Orton d. Christian in 9:29. This was a back and forth match all the way. There was a call back to their 2011 Smackdown matches with Orton teasing an RKO counter to Christian's second rope sunset flip and Christian faking Orton out, knowing what was coming. After an exchange of finisher counters, Christian almost won with a spear. Orton hit the hanging DDT, but Christian countered the RKO. Orton avoided Christian coming off the top rope though and hit the RKO for the win. Not their best match ever, but still pretty good.

– Heyman went to Teddy, who wanted Heyman to be on commentary for the main event, since Punk liked the idea of people doing the opposite of what they were told so much. Heyman seemed to like this idea.

– Dolph Ziggler d. Drew McIntyre in 3:11. They showed App footage of Ziggler telling AJ that she was better than what she was doing to Kaitlyn. Before the match, Ziggler talked about his match with Del Rio. McIntyre controlled things for a while, before Ziggler avoided a kick on the apron and Drew crashed knee first into the posts. Ziggler won with a Zig Zag, before again avoiding an attack from the rest of 3MB. This time they dared him back in the ring, so Ziggler ran back in and eluded 3MB's grasp a second time just to further annoy them.

– Fandango d. Justin Gabriel in 1:38. Fandango won after using a kick to intercept a dive from Gabriel and hitting the flying legdrop.

– A Colter video promo, with Swagger and Cesaro in the background, aired. Colter complained about how people celebrated the 4th of July. Colter guaranteed one of them would win Money In The Bank, to give all of America something to celebrate.

– Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk went to a double count out in 7:40. Heyman did commentary. Del Rio focused on the arm. Punk fought back before the match spilled outside. Del Rio threw Punk over the announce table and teased putting Punk through it, causing Heyman to step in. Del Rio knocked Heyman down and Punk snapped, leading them both to be counted out. Punk gave Del Rio the GTS after the match in frustration and helped Heyman, who tried to apologise.