This Week In WWE TV – November 4-10, 2013

This week: YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH. It’s Luke Harper Week! If you want to see a spinning clothesline or four, this is your lucky week, as he’s paired against world travelled veterans in Punk, Bryan, Ohno and, uhhh, The Primetime Players in a tag team match. Plus, the debut of Corporate Kane, the returns of Superstars legends Tyson Kidd and Hunico (and Camacho), the return of ECW on Sci Fi participant Shawn Spears and the World’s Largest Athlete’s world’s shortest lifelong ban.

RAW

– CM Punk d. Luke Harper in 8:09. This stemmed from the Wyatts attacking both Punk and Bryan last week. As far as I can tell, this was a first time ever match. Harper started strong and blocked a dive from Punk, before missing a boot in the corner, allowing Punk to hit the dive second time. Harper regained control after a Rowan distraction. When Punk made a comeback, he decided to dive onto Rowan instead of hitting the big elbow on Harper. Harper then countered a springboard with a big boot. But Punk won after ducking the spinning clothesline and rolling Harper up. Post match Harper and Rowan attacked and an injured Bryan made the save with a chair. Renee then interviewed Punk who said he’d been dealing with being outnumbered for a while with Heyman, but he now realised he wasn’t the only one with an issue with the Wyatts.

– Heyman was interviewed on the phone. He claimed he was seeking alternative treatments in Europe for the injuries Punk gave him. He said what Punk did was a travesty and Punk owed him an apology. Then he hung up. In a match set up by Ryback bullying Hornswoggle earlier in the day, Ryback d. Great Khali in 2:26 with the meathook clothesline. Santino was at ringside with Hornswoggle and Ryback went after him after the match. Hornswoggle tried to help out Santino but got scared off, leaving Santino to get thrown into the barrier.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Kofi Kingston by submission in 6:53. Kofi hit a big dive early before Del Rio took over for a large chunk of the match. He did mount some offence by the end, but got caught in the cross armbreaker.

– Orton came out. Before his opponent was announced he cut a promo, claiming every woman in the audience was fantasizing about waking up next to him and all the men would never be half the man that he was. In the fan vote to face Orton, Big E beat Miz and Ziggler with a massive 75%. Miz got 13% and Ziggler only got 12%. Ouch. Randy Orton d. Big E Langston in 8:43, but Big E got to look very competitive here. He missed a spear on the apron to give Orton the upper hand, but soon got back into it. Big E countered an RKO at the end, but Orton escaped the Big Ending and won with the RKO.

– Tyson Kidd and Natalya d. Fandango and Summer Rae (Kidd submitted Fandango) in 3:46. This was Kidd’s official return to Raw. Before the match they showed clips from Tyson and Natalya’s wedding on Total Divas, so they’re officially an on screen couple now. Tyson countered the top rope legdrop into a sharpshooter for the submission win.

– Renee interviewed Sandow about his MITB loss. He said he’d stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Zeb and The Real Americans interrupted saying he had the opportunity for revenge tonight and they’d have the opportunity to beat the tag team champions for a second time. Before the match Cena thanked everyone for supporting the Susan G Komen campaign. In a rematch from Smackdown, John Cena, Cody Rhodes and Goldust d. Damien Sandow and The Real Americans (Goldust pinned Cesaro) in 16:10. Colter and Del Rio both did commentary. They didn’t get along. Aside from complaining about Cena. Cesaro and Cena squared off for a while early on. Cena was eventually cut off after a big pop up uppercut. Swagger got Cena in the ankle lock briefly but Cena got out. He finally got the tag to Goldust, by which point the crowd were really into this. The match broke down and Cena hit the AA on Swagger, but Sandow took him out with the Silencer. Cesaro got Goldust in the giant swing, before Cena avoided a charge outside and Cesaro accidentally took out Colter. Goldust hit a bulldog, kicking Swagger off the apron in the process, but Sandow broke the pin. Cody hit a moonsault on Sandow and Cena a crossbody on Cesaro, to set up the Final Cut from Goldust for the pin. This was great, even better than the Smackdown match and the Smackdown match was pretty good itself.

– Big Show was shown arriving in the building. Vickie told HHH, but Stephanie informed HHH she’d let him in because the board had demanded it. Dolph Ziggler d. Curtis Axel in 4:53 with the Zig Zag and Renee interviewed Bryan, who said he saw an opportunity for payback tonight and it looked like there was someone else with an issue with the Wyatt Family. Vickie then told HHH and Stephanie that Big Show would only speak to them in the ring.

– The Usos d. Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre of 3MB (Jey pinned Slater) in 2:45. 3MB actually took most of the match, before Slater got caught with a superkick coming off the top, setting up a superfly splash from Jey. Renee tried to interview Los Matadores, but El Torito started running around and they told her El Torito was ‘horny’. Because everybody loves bad puns. And The Bellas and Eva Marie d. AJ, Tamina Snuka and Aksana (Eva Marie pinned Tamina) in 3:12. Brie ran wild against Tamina, before Tamina clotheslined Eva. She then missed a superfly splash though and Eva tagged in to roll up Tamina and win.

– HHH and Stephanie brought out Big Show to close the show. There’s valid complaints about the story, but crowds are really into Big Show, so there’s that. Big Show got them to give him his job back before The Shield came out. Show left threatening to go through with his lawsuit, forcing HHH to give him a shot against Orton at Survivor Series. But HHH also put him in a four on one handicap match with Orton and The Shield. Four On One Handicap Match: Big Show d. Randy Orton and The Shield by DQ in 3:04. Big Show, in his suit, got beat down four on one. He put up a brief fight to fend off The Shield, chokeslamming Reigns and giving Rollins and Ambrose a double suplex, before Kane came out, also in a suit. That bought Rollins and Ambrose time to recover and Orton hit an RKO. Kane handed them chairs to use on Show and Reigns hit him with the steps as well. The Shield then put Big Show through the announce table with a triple powerbomb to end the show.

MAIN EVENT

– On Raw, they plugged Big E versus Axel. But for some reason it didn’t happen. So instead, we got The Wyatt Family d. The Primetime Players (Rowan pinned Titus) in 11:35. Titus made a comeback after Young was worked on most of the match. But Harper hit the spinning clothesline and Rowan followed up with the big splash for the pin, before Bray hit his customary post match Sister Abigail.

– Also on the show, Nikki Bella d. Alicia Fox in 4:56 with a facebuster. It was revealed Kane had been named the new WWE ‘Director Of Operations’ and they showed a clip from Cole and HHH’s WWE.com interview, with HHH agreeing with Kane’s quote that he was HHH and Stephanie’s monster to unleash. And The Usos d. Hunico and Camacho (Jimmy pinned Hunico) in 14:29 in Hunico and Camacho’s return match. Both Usos got worked over in the course of the match before Jimmy fought back and set up Hunico for the superfly splash from Jey.

NXT

– Before the show Lefort was shown talking to the woman who’d been watching Rusev in recent weeks, who we found out is called Lana, who is apparently Russian and who told him Rusev was her client now. She did the announcing for Rusev. Lefort tried to pay Rusev off, but Alexander Rusev d. Sylvester Lefort by submission in 0:15 with the camel clutch while stuffing the money in Lefort’s mouth.

– Backstage Summer and Sasha found Bayley and Charlotte and apologised to Bayley for breaking her headband. They gave her a new one and tried to convince Bayley to join them, which Charlotte took exception to. Leo Kruger d. El Local by submission in 2:09 using a new butterfly lock submission. A WWE.com video showed Paige and Emma arguing after Emma’s accidental clothesline last week.

– The Ascension d. Travis Tyler and Troy McClain (Victor pinned Tyler) in 1:44 with the Fall Of Man. McClain didn’t even tag in. And Mojo Rawley d. Ty Dillenger in 3:24, who is former OVW and ECW on Sci Fi (aka the real ECW) alumni Shawn Spears, after a jumping butt splash. Crowd seemed into Mojo.

– In the main event, Luke Harper d. Kassius Ohno in 12:59 in what may or may not be Ohno’s last NXT match. Apparently there’s one more to air, but his release was announced after this show aired. Harper was on top most of the match. Ohno was knocked off the apron with a big boot at one point but Ohno beat the count back in. Ohno fought back and both guys got near falls. Ohno almost won with a rolling elbow, but then ran into the spinning clothesline for the pin.

SUPERSTARS

– Naomi d. Alicia Fox in 5:53 in a solid match, with the Rear View. And in a super rare victory, Zack Ryder d. Jinder Mahal in 6:18 despite Slater’s attempt to distract him, hitting the Rough Ryder while Drew and Slater were busy talking to Alex Riley at the announce table.

SMACKDOWN

– Punk opened the show. He said he didn’t know why the Wyatts had a problem with him, but he didn’t care. Punk called them out but instead got Axel. He said the Wyatts could wait in line because they had unfinished business and he’d make Heyman proud by beating Punk tonight. CM Punk d. Curtis Axel in 8:19. After an even start, Axel avoided a GTS and speared Punk into the barrier to take control. As Punk started to build momentum the Wyatts video distracted him. Axel attacked from behind and hit a Perfect Plex, but Punk kicked out. And he escaped the neckbreaker to win with the GTS. Bray then appeared laughing on the big screen.

– The Usos and R-Truth d. 3MB (Truth pinned Jinder) in 3:58. 3MB debuted a new triple team and almost managed to break one of The Usos neck with it. He didn’t seem pleased. The Usos hit a pair of dives and Truth pinned Jinder with the Little Jimmy. Then AJ and Tamina Snuka d. The Funkadactyls (AJ submitted Cameron) in 4:30. AJ did an inset promo saying the Diva’s Champion was what really mattered, not the return of Total Divas. Tamina hit Cameron with a powerbomb and Naomi with a boot when she broke the pin, then let AJ finish Cameron off with the Black Widow.

– Del Rio came out. He claimed he should still be champion and Cena stole it from him. Del Rio complained he had a fever, a bad knee, a bad elbow and a bad neck, but he still competed because he was Mexican and he had pride. Cena interrupted and made fun of him. He challenged Del Rio to have his rematch tonight, but Vickie refused and said it would happen at Survivor Series. She put them in separate matches with Khali and Ryback instead. Alberto Del Rio d. Great Khali by submission in 5:06 with the cross armbreaker in the first of those. Khali took a decent amount of this match before losing.

– Daniel Bryan d. Luke Harper by DQ in 6:29. Bryan had his shoulder taped from the attack the previous week. He hit Harper with a dive, but moments later Harper threw him into the barrier shoulder first. Bryan kept the match fairly even and eventually caught Harper in the YES Lock. Rowan ran in for the DQ and Punk made the save.

– John Cena d. Ryback in 11:56. Cena got the duelling chants. Ryback cut off Cena’s big comeback and tried Shell Shocked, but Cena countered with a DDT. Ryback then avoided an AA and got a near fall with a Jackhammer. Cole mentioned the “similarities” between him and Goldberg, so they’re definitely teasing something. Cena countered the meathook into the STF but Ryback got to the ropes. Ryback got a near fall with a spear and Cena with a half nelson neckbreaker. Ryback then escaped another AA and hit a running powerslam for a two count, before hitting the meathook. But Cena slipped out of Shell Shocked and hit the AA for the pin. This really picked up by the end. After the match Del Rio attacked Cena and went after the arm, but Cena managed to ward Del Rio off before he could do too much damage.