This Week In WWE TV – September 23-29, 2013

This week: The odds are against The Shield in an 11 on 3 elimination match. Hey, maybe that HHH isn’t such a bad guy after all. Plus, a bad night for Punk, a bad week for Miz, a new NXT GM is named, Friday Night Snake Charming and Kassius Ohno, remember him?

RAW

– HHH and Stephanie came out. Gabriel, Truth, Ryder, Kofi, Ziggler, RVD, The Usos and The Primetime Players were all on the stage and The Shield were guarding the ring. They thanked everyone on the stage for stepping up. RVD said they did it for Bryan. HHH and Stephanie tried to convince them Bryan was getting title shots they could be having instead if they weren’t fighting for him and the real reason they did what they did was frustration at The Shield. So he put them in an 11 on 3 elimination handicap match with Bryan against The Shield. Stephanie announced a vote to see who’d face Orton tonight between Truth, Ziggler or RVD to thank the WWE Universe and they both sucked up to the crowd.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Kofi Kingston by submission in 10:30. Kofi hit a somersault dive early before Del Rio took control, focusing on the arm. Kofi fought back and set up Trouble In Paradise but Del Rio countered it with a german suplex. Kofi got a near fall with the SOS, but in the end Del Rio posted Kofi’s shoulder and won with the cross armbreaker.

– Renee tried to interview Miz, but HHH interrupted and told Miz he’d be hosting MizTV with Big Show as his guest.

– The Wyatt Family d. The Primetime Players (Harper pinned Titus) in 4:30. Young got worked on for most of the match. Titus was able to make a brief comeback, but walked into the spinning clothesline from Harper for the pin. After the match Bray attacked Young and hit Sister Abigail.

– Miz hosted MizTV with Big Show as guest. He warned Orton it wasn’t over between them before bringing Big Show out. Miz questioned how Big Show could do what he did to Dusty and told him it was time to stand up to Stephanie. Stephanie interrupted after Miz called her a witch. She ran down Miz, saying he was on his own cul-de-sac of disappointment and calling him a utility player. She told him he failed his family and friends last week and had Big Show knock him out. Big Show didn’t even hesitate this time and knocked Miz out before leaving.

– Randy Orton versus Rob Van Dam went to a double count out in 7:06. RVD won the App vote with 57% over Ziggler and Truth. Orton crotched Van Dam as he went for the frog splash and attacked him outside leading to the double count out. He continued the attack after the match and gave him a draping DDT off the top rope. During the break, Del Rio then attacked RVD as he was being helped out and put him in the cross armbreaker.

– Orton ran into the Bellas backstage and told Brie what he did to RVD was a fraction of what he’d do to Bryan. He said if she was looking to upgrade to a real man, he was available.

– Stephanie gave AJ a copy of HHH’s new DVD, saying since she was so unlucky in love she could watch the footage of her and HHH’s wedding. The real one, that is. AJ complained about her match tonight but Stephanie said she wouldn’t be champion much longer if she didn’t compete.

– Fandango d. Santino Marella in 3:46. Summer Rae distracted Santino as he went for the Cobra, which lead to Fandango winning with the legdrop off the top.

– Punk came out, wearing a Blackhawks jersey since they were in Chicago. They play something called ‘ice hockey’, I believe. Punk apologised for letting everybody down at Night Of Champions. He compared himself to the Blackhawks and said he’d come back and win. Heyman interrupted, driving a mobility scooter and singing about being best in the world. Punk said the crowd would bail him out of jail after he got his hands on Heyman. Heyman said despite being hurt, he took solace in the fact he could say he beat Punk. He said Chicago was the second city and Punk was the second best in the world, showing a picture of him pinning Punk. Punk asked if his goons could get to him faster than he could get to Heyman and threatened to rip his face off. Heyman pointed out he beat Punk with both hands tied behind his back and tried to drive off. The scooter apparently stalled and Punk went after him. Ryback and Axel immediately jumped Punk though. Punk took out Axel and dove off the stage onto Ryback. He hit Axel with a roundhouse kick, but Ryback recovered and press slammed Punk through a table. Once Punk was down, Heyman revealed he was perfectly fine and Ryback said that’s what happened to bullies.

– The Bellas, The Funkadactyls and Natalya d. AJ, Layla, Alicia Fox, Aksana and Tamina (Brie pinned AJ) in 1:54. Only Natalya, Alicia, Brie and AJ even tagged in here. Brie pinned AJ with a facebuster

– The Shield cut a promo backstage. Ambrose said they weren’t being fed to the wolves, they were the hounds that hunted the wolves. He said they were winners and they’d simply do their jobs tonight.

– Before the main event Bryan cut a promo. He said you didn’t need to fast count someone who was already knocked out and he didn’t know or care what happened at Night Of Champions, he’d beat Orton at Battleground and take back what was his. The Shield came down through the crowd for their match, but before they could get to Bryan, Goldust and Cody appeared and attacked them, before being dragged away by security.

– 11 On 3 Elimination Match: Daniel Bryan, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Justin Gabriel, The Usos and The Primetime Players d. The Shield in 17:06. RVD and Kofi were both hurt from what happened earlier and were eliminated first and second, both with the headlock driver by Ambrose. Reigns pinned Titus, Gabriel and Ryder all in quick succession with spears, before Bryan ran wild and set up Reigns for a superkick by Jimmy and the superfly splash from Jey to make it 6 on 2. This was apparently Reigns’s first pinfall loss. Rollins managed to eliminate Young next with a flying knee off the top after a blind tag. Ziggler was cut off by Rollins and Ambrose, but caught Ambrose with the Zig Zag to eliminate him. That left Rollins 5 on 1. Truth missed an axe kick and Rollins hit the Blackout to narrow it to 4. But Bryan, Ziggler and The Usos surrounded Rollins Shield style and beat him down. Ambrose and Reigns tried to run in but got taken out by Ziggler and The Usos, leaving Bryan to hit a diving headbutt and the flying knee for the win.

MAIN EVENT

– The Usos d. Fandango and Big E Langston in 9:38. Big E caught Jey off the apron, but Jimmy hit a dive to take him out. Jimmy was eventually cut off by a clothesline from Big E. Jey made a comeback and Fandango claimed an ankle injury, leaving Big E on his own. Jey escaped the Big Ending and hit a superkick to set up the superfly splash from Jimmy.

– Big Show d. Damien Sandow in 3:46. Sandow sort of held his own for a while, before Big Show landed the KO punch. He was a little hesitant before the punch and after the match he ripped Sandow’s briefcase off it’s handcuffs and put it on Sandow’s chest.

– Curtis Axel d. Justin Gabriel in 11:19. This started fairly even before Axel took control after taking a punch, but avoiding a baseball slide and hitting a clothesline on the floor. Gabriel built some momentum near the end and hit a corkscrew dive. He avoided the swinging neckbreaker and got a near fall with a springboard moonsault, but Axel recovered to win with the face first neckbreaker.

NXT

– Breeze and CJ both asked Maddox to be in the tag team turmoil. He pointed out they didn’t have partners. Breeze suggested Maddox clone him, but Maddox put them in a team with each other since cloning doesn’t exist.

– #1 Contendership Tag Team Turmoil: Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady d. CJ Parker and Tyler Breeze in 1:21, Enzo and Cassady d. Scott Dawson and Alexander Rusev in 2:00, The Ascension d. Enzo and Cassady in 2:33. Instead of standing on the apron, Tyler sat on the steps. He then distracted CJ allowing Cassady to eliminate him with a catatonic. Rusev and Dawson worked over Enzo in the next match, but Enzo caught Dawson in a surprise inside cradle to advance. Rusev attacked Enzo after the match. In the last match, Cassady put up a fight, but The Ascension made quick work of Enzo with their spinning elbow and legsweep finisher.

– Sasha Banks d. Bayley in 4:01. Renee joined commentary for this match. Summer Rae accompanied Sasha. Sasha won with a cross arm neckbreaker after dropping Bayley on the ropes. After the match Summer broke Bayley’s headband and announced Fandango would be on the show next week, so she and Sasha would run the show. Emma ran out and chased them off.

– Aiden English d. Bull Dempsey in 1:36. English had a new song to sing himself to the ring this week. The crowd chanted ‘bravo’. He won with the Take A Bow and performed a pretty popular encore.

– Renee tried to interview Summer. She challenged Emma to find a partner to face her and Fandango next week.

– Sami Zayn d. El Local in 2:58. Huge reaction for Sami. After he got the win over El Local with the running boot in the corner, Bo came out and congratulated him for learning from his mentor. He said the injury Sami carelessly gave him had healed and he forgave Sami. Bo then announced he’d have a Bo Dallas Invitational and if he lost, he’d give the winner a title shot. Sami challenged him to fight now but Bo told him one day he might have a following of Zayniacs, but he wasn’t there yet, so he wasn’t invited to the Bo Dallas Invitational next week.

– Backstage, Kassius Ohno returned and asked why he hadn’t been on the show recently since he was medically cleared a while ago. Brad called him a D+ player, C- at best and although he liked him, somebody thought it was funny to keep him on the sidelines. Ohno threatened to disrupt the show or knock Brad out, so Brad gave him a match with a Wyatt Family member next week.

– HHH came out. He put over NXT, before bringing up the Rhodes Family problems. He skirted around the exact details of what happened since this was taped in advance, but he announced Dusty was being given some time off from running NXT. He then brought out the new Interim GM of NXT, JBL. JBL said replacing Dusty with him was good for business and welcomed us to his era of NXT.

SMACKDOWN

– HHH opened the show and criticised people for blaming management for their failures. He pointed out he put The Shield in an 11 on 3 match which Bryan ended up winning because it was best for business. Miz interrupted and HHH pointed out he gave him an opportunity to face Orton, but he choked. He asked how Miz’s failure was management’s fault. HHH said he gave Miz an opportunity to interview Big Show on Raw since he was hurt and he squandered that as well. Miz called it a setup. HHH made him repeat what he said about Stephanie and claimed she was justified, but she regretted what she did. So he gave him another opportunity, putting him in a match with Orton and sarcastically offering to fly Miz’s parents out so they could sit front row again.

– Alberto Del Rio d. R-Truth in 1:35. Del Rio won quickly with the kneeling superkick and put the cross armbreaker on after the match, but RVD made the save and dropkicked a chair into Del Rio. Vickie and HHH were watching and decided to make their match at Battleground hardcore rules.

– The Real Americans d. The Primetime Players (Swagger submitted Young) in 3:48. Before the match the PTP taught two staff members how to do the millions of dollars dance backstage and Zeb told the crowd they were tired of being mocked and only real americans could say We The People with them. Cesaro did the giant swing on Titus. Young made the comeback and had the pin but the referee was tied up with Swagger. A bling tag then lead to Swagger winning with the ankle lock after Young had hit Cesaro with the double knee gutbuster.

– Bray Wyatt d. Zack Ryder in 2:21. Harper and Rowan threw Ryder into the ring before the match. Ryder’s one bit of offense was the boot in the corner. Wyatt then countered the Rough Ryder and won with Sister Abigail’s Kiss as I guess it’s now known.

– WWE United States Championship: Dolph Ziggler d. Dean Ambrose (c) by DQ in 2:02. Ziggler brought RVD and Kofi out to be in his corner and counteract Reigns and Rollins. Of course this ended with a disqualification when The Shield went after Ziggler and it turned into a brawl, until HHH came out and turned it into a six man.

– The Shield d. Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam (Ambrose pinned Kofi) in 8:07. The Shield worked on RVD’s arm, then isolated Ziggler. Kofi made a comeback and missed Trouble In Paradise, but hit a crossbody which Rollins had to break up the pin for. Reigns ended up spearing Ziggler and RVD hit a moonsault off the apron on him. That left Kofi and Ambrose. Reigns ran back in and took Trouble In Paradise, before Kofi rolled up Ambrose, but Rollins ran in and hit the Blackout and Ambrose scored the pin.

– Renee interviewed a miserable Big Show. HHH interrupted and made fun of him, then when he got angry told him he was going to do nothing and like it.

– AJ d. Cameron in 2:42. Tamina was with AJ and AJ did an inset promo saying Tamina was her protection because she was as ostracised and feared in the Diva division as her. Tamina took out Naomi with a clothesline when she went after AJ and AJ pinned Cameron with a shining wizard.

– Heyman came out and claimed Punk would fail every time he went against him. He bragged about what happened on Raw. Heyman thanked Axel and Ryback for helping him with his plan and thanked the fans , because their worship of Punk was driving him to keep going against Heyman. He said history would repeat itself when Punk was flat on his back looking up at him at Ryback at Battleground.

– Santino Marella d. Heath Slater in 2:59. Santino had Khali and Hornswoggle in his corner. When Santino went for the Cobra, Jinder tried to distract him by playing a flute, but Khali produced his own flute and a snake charming battle broke out. Khali gave Drew the big chop. The cobra almost turned on Santino because of the music but Hornswoggle made the save. Santino won with the cobra after Khali played the flute to wake it up. This all really happened.

– They showed a video from Cody and Goldust, accepting HHH’s offer to come to Raw on Monday.

– The Miz d. Randy Orton by DQ in 3:10. Miz attacked straight away. Miz ended up hurting his neck again and the doctor tried to check on him, but Orton attacked him causing the disqualification. As Miz was being checked on HHH then came out and claimed Orton was trying to get himself disqualified to cost Miz his opportunity, so he was restarting the match with no disqualifications.

– No Disqualification Match: Randy Orton d. The Miz in 3:38. Orton beat up the injured Miz outside and Miz could only put up a very brief fight, before Orton gave him a draping DDT off the barrier. He gave Miz an RKO in the ring to finally get the win.