This Week In WWE TV – September 2-8, 2013

This week: The Corporation continues to tighten it’s grip on the WWE. Sad Big Show is sad, Ziggler runs afoul of The Big Guy and Cody finds himself on an extended honeymoon. Plus, Sami Zayn does it again on NXT, The Total Divas versus The Other Divas and Alexander Rusev is on the rise.

RAW

– HHH brought out Orton, with The Shield standing guard at ringside. Orton explained why he spray painted Bryan on Smackdown and talked about protecting the image of WWE. He said Bryan should give up his shot at Night Of Champions. HHH said popularity had nothing to do with what’s best for business and referenced Doink The Clown. He suggested bringing back the Cruiserweight or European Title to give Bryan a goal to aspire to, before Bryan interrupted. Bryan said HHH had given up being a man by becoming a corporate sellout and Orton have given up being in the title picture until he had it handed to him by HHH, but he wasn’t giving up his title shot. Bryan said he knew he could beat Orton and deep down they knew it too, which is why they were putting obstacles in his way. He said Orton had the genetics but didn’t have the heart of a champion. HHH told him he should be angry at Big Show, not them, for not helping him and put him in a match with Show later.

– HHH and Orton ran into Cody backstage. Cody questioned Orton for trying to avoid a match with Bryan, saying it was what’s best for business. HHH took offence and asked why he and Orton weren’t invited to his upcoming wedding. As a wedding present, he put him in a match with Orton and if he lost, he was fired.

– The Miz d. Fandango by submission in 4:43. Fandango got his nose messed up here. Miz won with the figure four and the crowd seemed more into him than usual.

– Booker spoke with Bryan backstage. He warned Bryan he wasn’t going to win a fight with the McMahons and he was too good to risk getting fired. Bryan ignored Booker’s advice to give up his title match. Booker told him he could get hurt but Bryan walked off.

– Ryback d. Dolph Ziggler in 3:07. They set this up as a mystery opponent for Ziggler. Ambrose attacked Ziggler before the match, before it was revealed Ryback was actually the opponent. With Ziggler hurt, Ryback bullied him for a while. Ziggler fought back briefly, but Ryback got mad and finished him off with Shell Shocked.

– Brad told HHH and Stephanie that Big Show was refusing to fight Bryan. Stephanie said she’d handle it.

– Stephanie went to the ring and called out Big Show. She referred to him as her friend. Stephanie claimed she’d known Big Show since she was 12, which doesn’t exactly check out. She claimed Big Show was broke and if he didn’t do what he was told, he’d be in breach of his iron clad contract. I’m not 100% sure if that checks out either. Anyway, she guilt tripped Big Show into taking the match and Big Show was sad. So this was a weird segment. They showed Big Show wrecking stuff backstage after the break.

– The Primetime Players d. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB (Titus pinned Jinder) in 5:29. 3MB cut off Young for a while, before Titus made a comeback. Young took out Slater and Drew before being sent outside, then Titus hit Jinder with the sky high for the pin.

– Heyman complained to Brad about last week’s fan vote and having to face Punk at Night Of Champions. HHH interrupted and said he always enjoyed Heyman’s ability to weasel his way out of trouble, so whether Heyman took a beating from Punk or weaseled his way out of it, either way he won.

– A Bray Wyatt promo about Kane aired.

– Randy Orton d. Cody Rhodes in 10:34. Match started fairly evenly, until Orton gave Cody a back suplex on the barrier to take control. They showed the roster watching backstage. Cody fought back and the crowd really got into him by the end. Orton avoided a moonsault and hit the draping DDT. Cody countered the RKO into Cross Rhodes for a big near fall. In the end though, Cody tweaked his knee on a missed disaster kick and Orton hit the RKO for the pin. This was by far the most people have been into Cody as a face. HHH came out after the match and told Cody he respected his effort, but still fired him because he ‘needed winners’. The fans chanted for Cody as he left.

– Punk came out, carrying a kendo stick. Punk promised no more empty threats and said he wanted a fight, but he knew he’d have to wait until Night Of Champions. Punk guaranteed everyone he’d beat Axel and get his hands on Heyman and that if you order the PPV, you’d see a side of him you’d never seen before and promised to break his face.

– Big Show spoke to Bryan backstage. Show said he was in a no win situation and Bryan agreed, because he was going to beat him tonight like he did to win the World Title.

– Divas Title #1 Contendership, Triple Threat: Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella went to a no contest in 1:47. AJ did commentary. She ran in and caused the match to be thrown out, causing all three to gang up on her.

– Rob Van Dam d. Damien Sandow in 6:51. Del Rio came out to watch from the stage during the match. Sandow controlled for a while, but Van Dam came back to win with the frog splash.

– They showed Stephanie making a four way match between Natalya, Brie, Naomi and AJ at Night Of Champions. Cody was then interviewed by Josh being escorted from the building by security. He said the McMahons had hated the Rhodes for two decades. Josh asked if he had anything to say to his fiancee watching and Cody didn’t answer.

– Daniel Bryan d. Big Show by DQ in 5:52. The roster watched from the stage. Big Show tried to convince Bryan to leave but he wouldn’t and kepy attacking, forcing Show to fight back. Big Show speared Bryan coming off the ropes and teased a KO punch, before changing his mind and going to leave. HHH came out with The Shield to stop him leaving. The Shield attacked Bryan and HHH forced Big Show not to get involved as he was triple powerbombed, then told Big Show to knock Bryan out while The Shield held him. Show refused and tried to leave but Stephanie stopped him. He teased hitting HHH and Stephanie stepped in the way, before he finally gave Bryan the punch. Then Orton came out and posed over a knocked out Bryan.

MAIN EVENT

– Fandango d. Justin Gabriel in 10:24. Riley was on commentary again. Fandango stalled early when things didn’t go his way until Gabriel hit a somersault dive, but landed badly. Fandango took control soon after and Gabriel only had a brief comeback, before Fandango won with the legdrop from the top.

– R-Truth d. Damien Sandow in 9:20. Before the match Sandow bragged about Cody getting fired and being the uncrowned world champion. Sandow actually broke out a second rope moonsault here. Unfortunately, he missed. Which lead to Truth making a comeback and for whatever reason, getting the win with the Little Jimmy.

– The Wyatt Family d. The Primetime Players (Harper pinned Young) in 3:11. Titus started by slapping the mask off of Rowan. PTP put up a decent fight, for a while, before Harper hit the spinning clothesline to pin Young and Bray gave him the Sister Abigail after the match.

NXT

– Charlotte and Bayley d. Alicia Fox and Aksana (Bayley pinned Alicia) in 4:32. Bayley was worked over early after being hit by Aksana going for a hug. Charlotte made a comeback and avoided the Flair gets slammed off the top rope spot by rolling through to her feet. Bayley tagged herself in and Alicia accidentally kicked Aksana, before getting rolled up.

– Lefort spoke with Dawson and Rusev about getting revenge on Mason Ryan tonight. Rusev demonstrated what he’d do to Ryan by breaking a board with his name on.

– Corey Graves d. Rick Victor in 9:46. Victor had Graves’s stolen title belt. Graves reinjured his ribs and Victor went after them. Conor tried a distraction and Neville took him out with a dive. Graves then countered a gutbuster into a small package for the pin and took his belt back.

– Summer gave Sasha another peptalk for her match with Paige and asked if she had the inner rage to give Paige a beating. Renee then interviewed Paige, who said she wasn’t a cover girl, she was there to cover girls and win matches. She promised to give Sasha the best fight of her life next week.

– Alexander Rusev d. Mason Ryan by submission in 3:59. Rusev looked pretty good again. Dawson and Lefort both tried to get involved and it distracted Ryan, leading to Rusev winning with a camel clutch.

– Backstage, Kruger was found standing and laughing over an injured Xavier Woods.

– Jack Swagger d. Sami Zayn in 13:15. Sami started aggressively after the attack last week and faked Swagger out on a dive. Which got lots of Ole chants. Colter distracted him to allow Swagger to take over. Sami finally hit his dive and made a comeback. Lots of near falls at the end. Sami got to the ropes in the Patriot Lock and got close two counts with a yakuza kick in the corner and a sunset flip powerbomb. Bo then came out, supposedly to cheer Sami on. But it distracted Sami and Swagger won with the Patriot Lock. Crowd were super into this.

SMACKDOWN

– HHH, Brad and Vickie started the show in the ring, with the roster on the stage, except The Shield who were stood guard again. He explained Cody was put in the position he was on Raw for being disrespectful and insubordinate and said he didn’t fire Cody, Cody fired Cody by losing. He claimed he was friends with Cody and his family but he had to make the hard decisions. HHH then fielded questions from the roster, with no repercussions.

– At first nobody wanted to step up. Sandow finally went first and said he fully supported the termination of Cody. HHH said he wasn’t looking for people to kiss his butt. Kofi eventually stepped up and asked if the roster being in fear of being fired was what’s best for business. Slater interrupted and tried to suck up to HHH unsuccessfully. RVD said HHH brought him back under the impression things were better now, but he was getting a vibe which wasn’t cool dude. HHH thanked him for calling him dude and said he still has faith in him. Ryback said he was fed up of being called a bully. HHH agreed and gave him another match with Ziggler to prove it wasn’t his fault Ziggler was injured on Raw. He criticised Bryan for not showing up and booked him against a member of The Shield of his choosing, then gave Kofi a match with Axel and RVD a match with Orton as reward for speaking up.

– Randy Orton d. Rob Van Dam in 10:17. Del Rio did commentary. RVD missed his legdrop off the apron and crashed into the barried to give Orton the advantage. RVD countered an RKO and fought back but missed a frog splash. Del Rio threw Ricardo into the post and RVD took him out with a dive. But Orton threw RVD into the announce table and hit the draping DDT off the apron, then rolled him back in to win with the RKO. After the match Del Rio attacked Van Dam and put him in the cross armbreaker.

– Renee interviewed Bryan. Bryan said he had no ego problem like HHH claimed and said he knew his match tonight wouldn’t be one on one, so let The Shield decide who’d get beat up first before the other two got involved. He said he knew he could beat any of the three, just like he knew he could beat Orton.

– AJ found Layla, Aksana and Alicia backstage. She told them she’d rather be facing them at Night Of Champions than anyone from Total Divas. AJ tried to get them on her side.

– Ryback d. Dolph Ziggler in 4:32. Ziggler made a hot start this time before Ryback took over. Ambrose showed up out of nowhere to join commentary. Ryback missed a spear and hit the steps, but Ziggler tried to go after Ambrose and Ryback recovered to clothesline him. And Ryback won with Shell Shocked.

– Kofi Kingston d. Curtis Axel in 6:44. Crowd were into Axel since the show was in Minneapolis. Heyman distracted Kingston to give Axel an advantage. Kofi hit an SOS out of nowhere to win though. They sold this with Heyman looking shocked, because if that happened at Night Of Champions he’d be left alone with Punk.

– Renee interviewed Heyman backstage and Heyman admitted he was concerned. He took responsibility saying Axel overlooked Kofi because they were concerned with Punk, but they wouldn’t make that mistake at Night Of Champions. Heyman promised his worst was a lot badder than Punk’s worst. He stormed off when Renee asked about Punk claiming he’d give him the worst beating of his life.

– Naomi and Brie Bella went to a Double DQ in 1:37. Naomi got to look good in the short time the match actually happened. AJ, Alicia, Aksana and Layla then ran out and attacked the Bellas and Funkadactyls.

– The Real Americans d. The Usos (Cesaro pinned Jey) in 3:37. Cesaro hit a dropkick as soon as the bell rang. After Jimmy was worked on, Jey tagged in and almost immediately hit a big dive. As Jey went for the big splash though, Swagger avoided Jimmy and pushed Jey off the top, into an uppercut for the pin. These two teams always work well together.

– Backstage HHH found Big Show waiting for him. He pretended he was mad because of what Slater said earlier and put him in a handicap match with 3MB to ‘let off some steam’.

– Three On One Handicap Match: Big Show d. 3MB in 2:36. Big Show destroyed them, obviously. He gave Jinder and Drew a double chokeslam and knocked out Slater for the pin. As he left The Shield came out and HHH convinced Big Show to leave.

– Daniel Bryan d. Seth Rollins in 6:06. After Reigns teased taking the match Rollins gave Bryan a cheap shot to start. Bryan tried to avoid the other Shield members and built momentum towards the end, including with a release german suplex. Reigns ended up clotheslining Bryan on the floor with the referee distracted. Rollins sent him into the steps but Bryan caught him coming off the top and went for the YES Lock. He took out Reigns and Ambrose, hit a dive on Reigns, blocked a dive by Rollins and hit the flying knee for the pin. As he celebrated on the stage though, Orton hit him with the title belt from behind.