This Week In WWE TV – November 18-24, 2013

This week: It’s Raw Country! Yee ha and other Southern stereotype phrases. A show full of country music inspired frivolity, such as Florida Georgia Line. A match with guitars and drums involved. And, uhm, I think somebody might have worn a cowboy hat in the diva segment? Honestly, as Raw Country goes, it was Miley Cyrus, more Raw than Country. Topical reference! Plus, that twelve man tag team match everybody wanted, the Real Americans tag title match everybody wanted, Rey Mysterio returns, Xavier Woods debuts, subscribing to the Wrestling BOserver and Big E’s big win.

RAW COUNTRY

– HHH and Stephanie came out and said last week proved how vital The Authority were to the show. HHH promised to deal with Vickie and Brad before Orton interrupted and blamed them for what happened. HHH and Orton got in each other’s faces before Vickie and Brad came out and Brad pinned the blame on Vickie. But The Authority put them both in matches, Vickie with AJ and Brad against Orton. Before Brad could think about leaving, Kane blocked his path. No Disqualification Match: Randy Orton d. Brad Maddox in 3:55 by referee stoppage. Maddox, in his suit, tried to run. He then hit Orton with a microphone and actually got a near fall with a DDT, before Orton destroyed him outside and beat him with the microphone until the referee stopped the match. They stretchered out poor Brad afterwards and Vickie looked concerned.

– WWE Intercontinental Championship: Big E Langston d. Curtis Axel (c) in 5:26 to win the title. Big E’s theme got remixed. Not a fan. Big E built momentum at the end and countered the neckbreaker, before winning with the Big Ending. Crowd were into Big E which made this a pretty great moment. They showed Orton and The Shield watching this and said let’s hope there wasn’t a new WWE Champion at Survivor Series. He told them he’d spoke to The Authority and they agreed they had each other’s backs.

– The divas had a musical chairs competition. Is competition the right word? This was just an excuse to play some country music and for everyone to get into a cat fight. Big Show d. Ryback in 8:00. Ryback was competitive and actually hit Shell Shocked, but Big Show kicked out. He tried a second, but Big Show pushed him off and hit the KO punch for the pin. After the match Orton tried to attack but got speared. 3MB then had a segment backstage with Florida Georgia Line and in the trainer’s room, Orton got mad about The Shield and The Authority not helping him.

– The Real Americans d. Kofi Kingston and The Miz (Cesaro submitted Kofi) in 4:46 after Miz refused to tag in. Backstage, Vickie pretended to faint to get out of facing AJ. Stephanie wasn’t buying it and had her wheeled to the ring. AJ d. Vickie Guerrero by submission in 1:28 with the Black Widow. HHH then put Ziggler and Sandow in a match and Broadway Brawl: Dolph Ziggler d. Damien Sandow in 8:24. The ring was filled with musical instruments to be used in the match. This was rough going since I guess most of them were too hard or awkward to really do much with. Ziggler busted some drums and a guitar over Sandow’s head to win and we did get a Double J strut from Ziggler.

– Orton asked HHH and Stephanie if he had their confidence as face of WWE and they said they needed to think about it. Cena, in a sling, came out. He talked about heart and determination and so on before Del Rio showed up to mock him. Del Rio teased attacking but Cena revealed he didn’t need the sling and beat Del Rio to the punch. He tried an AA but Del Rio escaped.

– In his Raw debut, Xavier Woods and R-Truth d. Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre of The Rhinestone Cowboys/3MB (Xavier pinned Drew) in 3:06. Sadly Xavier didn’t come out to his own theme, but Truth at least tweaked his rap again, so there was a reason. Still, Xavier’s theme needs more airtime. Xavier beat Drew with Lost In The Woods. In their office, HHH and Stephanie told Orton they had faith in him, which is why there’d be no help from The Shield at Survivor Series.

– After Florida Georgia Line performed, in the main event, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, Goldust and The Usos d. The Shield and The Wyatt Family (Punk pinned Ambrose) in 17:37 in a twelve man tag team match stemming from last week. They teased dissension between the Shield and Wyatts early, before Cody was cut off by The Shield, who refused to tag any of the Wyatt Family. Harper eventually tagged himself in which lead to Cody getting over to tag Bryan. Bryan ran wild until Harper hit a running powerbomb and The Shield and Wyatts finally started working together to isolate Bryan. Punk made a big comeback and got Ambrose in the anaconda vice before things broke down. The Usos hit dives on Harper and Rowan, Ambrose hit the headlock driver on Punk, Goldust made the save but Reigns then speared him. Cody hit Cross Rhodes, Bryan took out Bray with a dive and Punk got Ambrose with the GTS to win. After the match, The Real Americans ran in and helped the Wyatts attack Punk and Bryan, before Rey Mysterio made the save. Harper took a 619, GTS and the running knee from Bryan, leaving the faces standing tall.

MAIN EVENT

– Tamina Snuka d. Naomi in 10:59 with the rest of their respective Survivor Series teams at ringside. AJ claimed an ankle injury to get out of the match. An inevitable brawl between the teams (minus AJ) broke out and Tamina beat Naomi with a superkick. Alberto Del Rio d. Santino Marella by submission in 4:29 with the cross armbreaker. And Kofi Kingston d. Fandango in 9:31. Miz explained his actions from Raw on commentary and it didn’t really come off like he was a heel now, so who knows. Kofi hurt his arm falling onto the steps and Fandango worked it over, but Kofi came back. Kofi then threw Fandango into Miz. Miz complained and Kofi dropkicked him, but that allowed Fandango to roll Kofi up for the win.

NXT

– Bo Dallas came out. Wearing a party hat. He said that, as everybody who was following the Bo Dallas newsletters (so there’s more than one apparently) already knew, he’d been on a world tour and everywhere he went, everybody loved him. JBL interrupted and called him an international ambassador and the face of NXT. Sami then interrupted asking to be reinstated so he could get a title shot. JBL agreed, but Bo pointed out he’d already beaten Sami and he was becoming a sore loser. JBL then announced a Beat The Clock challenge for the number one contendership.

– Beat The Clock Challenge: Alexander Rusev d. Colin Cassady by submission, setting the time at 5:33. No Enzo due to injury sadly. Cassady put up a decent fight and even escaped the camel clutch, before tapping out to the camel clutch second time around. Neville was interviewed by a new interviewer backstage. He said he Graves’s concussion was unfortunate, but he was focused on Beat The Clock and we’d see if English could keep up with him.

– Bayley was interviewed about Charlotte turning on her. She said they were like Spongebob and Patrick even taught Charlotte how to pogo stick. Bayley tried to be intimidating and apologised if she scared the interviewer. Beat The Clock Challenge: Kassius Ohno d. Tyler Breeze, beating the time in 4:48. Hey, Kassius Ohno. Remember him? I’m not sure if WWE would have bothered to air this if it didn’t play into Beat The Clock, considering the result. Ohno won with a cradle after both tried going for quick pins.

– Beat The Block Challenge: Adrian Neville d. Aiden English, beating the time in 4:45. English tried a superplex but Neville fought out and hit the corkscrew shooting star to win with three seconds to spare. The Ascension cut a promo on Hunico and Camacho for challenging them to a match next week. And in the last match, Beat The Clock Challenge: Sami Zayn d. Leo Kruger, matching Neville’s time at 4:45. Bo came out to watch from the stage. Kruger almost won late with a clothesline, but in his repeated attempts for a pin with time running out, Sami reversed one into a pin of his own, equalling Neville’s time. JBL came out and booked Sami versus Neville next week, to decide who’d face Bo. They timed the finish pretty perfectly and the Beat The Clock actually gave the show some energy, proving it’s better on a one hour show than spread out on a two or three hour one.

SUPERSTARS

– Fandango d. Tyson Kidd in 4:02 in a solid little match, after blocking a super hurricanrana and hitting the legdrop off the top. And Los Matadores d. Hunico and Camacho (Fernando pinned Camacho) in 7:28. This had a couple of awkward moments early, but picked up at the end. El Torito gave Hunico a flying hurricanrana off the top to the floor and Los Matadores won with their double team samoan drop type thing which still has no name.

SMACKDOWN

– WWE Tag Team Championship: Cody Rhodes and Goldust (c) d. The Real Americans (Goldust pinned Swagger) in 9:42 to retain the titles. They did point out the Real Americans win over Cody and Goldust last month as the reason for this match so at least that got paid off. Cody and Goldust started strong before Cody was cut off. Swagger prevented a tag by pulling Goldust off the apron, but Cody finally got to Goldust who made a big comeback. Goldust sent Cody onto the Real Americans with a back drop over the top rope. Swagger then got Goldust in the ankle lock, but Cody saved with a disaster kick. Cesaro got the giant swing on Cody and Swagger almost won with a roll up on Goldust, but Goldust kicked out and hit the Final Cut for the win.

– Ryback issued an open challenge and Ryback d. Great Khali in 3:20. Khali hit the overhand chop and Ryback just about touched the bottom rope to break the pin. Ryback then hit Shell Shocked for the pin. Backstage, Vickie put AJ in a handicap match against the Funkadactyls and they showed Cena speaking to the Oxford Union during the UK tour. Two On One Handicap Match: The Funkadactyls d. AJ in 2:25 despite Tamina taking out Cameron, when Naomi pinned AJ with the Rear View.

– Bray did a promo backstage on Punk and Bryan before Rey Mysterio and The Usos d. The Shield (Rey pinned Ambrose) in 8:43. The Usos hit a pair of dives early on. The Shield worked over Jey for most of the match, with Rey making a comeback. Reigns hit a spear on both Usos but Rey got rid of him. And after Rollins hit a dive on the Usos, Rey won with a 619 and splash on Ambrose.

– Big Show came out. He said it was ten years since he was WWE Champion and this could be his last opportunity, but he’d lay it all on the line at Survivor Series. Orton interrupted and called him finished and washed up. Show pointed out Orton and The Authority weren’t getting along. He showed a montage of him taking out Orton in recent weeks and said he was taking his title on Sunday. Then Big E Langston and Dolph Ziggler d. Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow (Big E pinned Sandow) in 2:39, so I guess all is forgiven there. Big E pinned Sandow with the Big Ending. Axel tried to attack with the Intercontinental title belt after but Big E ran him off.

– Renee interviewed Del Rio, who said he could have hurt Cena on Monday if he wanted to and there’d be no more games at Survivor Series. Daniel Bryan d. Luke Harper in 7:03. Harper hit some big moves including a michinoku driver but couldn’t put Bryan away. Bryan came back with a dive before Punk came out when Bray and Rowan teased getting involved. The distraction lead to Bryan catching Harper in the unbreakable small package for the pin. The Wyatts beat down Punk and Bryan afterwards though three on two, with Bray giving Bryan the Sister Abigail.