This Week In WWE TV – November 25-December 1, 2013

This week: It’s Thanksgiving week, so let’s be thankful for the renewal of an old ‘around the world’ rivalry as Sami Zayn faces Adrian Neville, thankful for a Smackdown full of Shield matches and thankful that Kassius Ohno has one more chance to make an impression on NXT fans after losing in 10 seconds. Plus, Orton crosses Cena, Regal crosses Cesaro, Titus shows why you shouldn’t wrestle on a full stomach, Xavier Woods crosses Brodus who isn’t a fan of rookies all of a sudden and Miz crosses Michael Strahan, as well as wrestling fans everywhere.

RAW

– Orton came out to open the show. He brought out HHH and Stephanie, who complimented him on his Survivor Series victory and claimed they gave him the motivation. Orton said he didn’t need their help and they argued until Orton claimed he was the best in company history, which brought Cena out. Cena referenced the Bryan chants before pointing out he was champion too and saying there should only be one champion. Cena challenged Orton for both titles. Orton accused them all of plotting against him and HHH made the match for TLC, in a TLC match, with both titles above the ring.

– The Shield d. Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Goldust (Ambrose pinned Cody) in 5:00. The Shield cut off Goldust right at the start. Rey and Cody both made short comebacks and the match broke down. Reigns speared both Rey and Goldust before Cody took him out. But Ambrose stopped him hitting Cross Rhodes on Rollins and hit the side headlock driver for the pin.

– Miz hosted MizTV with Michael Strahan. Long story relatively short, Titus came out pretending to be Strahan for some reason, Strahan came out and was apparently fine with them joking around, he announced the main event would be Orton and Del Rio against Cena and Big Show, Miz dared Strahan to take a simple wrestling move, Miz and Titus couldn’t hiptoss him, Strahan countered and gave Miz one then danced with Titus and gave him a hiptoss, then they all danced. People seemed mad that this exposed the ‘biz’. Not 100% sure I agree, but whatever.

– After respective singles wins at Survivor Series, Mark Henry and Big E Langston d. Ryback and Curtis Axel (Henry pinned Axel) in 2:31 in a tag team match, with Henry beating Axel with the World’s Strongest Slam. King called them the World’s Strongest Team and I’m all for them becoming regular partners.

– In an actual Survivor Series rematch, Survivor Series Elimination Match: Natalya, The Bella Twins, The Funkadactyls, Eva Marie and Jo-Jo d. AJ, Tamina Snuka, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae, Rosa Mendes and Kaitlyn in 8:21.

Brie pinned Aksana, Nikki pinned Rosa, Tamina pinned Naomi, Tamina pinned Cameron, Jo-Jo pinned Tamina, Alicia pinned Jo-Jo, Eva Marie pinned Alicia, Natalya submitted Kaitlyn, AJ pinned Natalya, Brie pinned AJ and Nikki pinned Summer

.

Key points here were Jo-Jo pinning Tamina after Natalya did all the work, then getting eliminated with a spinning backbreaker from Alicia. She looked a lot better in her short time in than Eva Marie, who the crowd booed again. The crowd were behind AJ and then Summer, when it came down to Summer against The Bellas and Eva. Summer challenged Nikki to a dance off. She couldn’t do the worm and tried to leave, but Brie and Eva stopped her, leading to Nikki winning with a torture rack backbreaker.

– Hamptons Hardcore Match: Damien Sandow d. Dolph Ziggler in 8:01. The hardcore match won the Raw active vote over Long Island Lumberjack and Strong Island Street Fight. I’ve no idea if that last one is a pun or a real place and I’m not inclined to check. Sandow made sure to point out he was above competing in “circus like conditions” before the match. Weapons provided here included golf clubs, tennis rackets and oars, so I guess Hamptons is a well to do area. I learned something here at least. Sandow pinned Ziggler with the full nelson slam on a trash can. In a skit backstage, Rowan gave Strahan a sheep mask and he put it on. Santino was there too for some reason. No idea.

– Renee interviewed Punk and Bryan in the ring. Punk was in fine form here. He said the deck was stacked against them, but they finally got their hands on the entire Wyatt Family tonight. Punk said it didn’t matter who they faced and dropped a whole bunch of names, including The Dicks, The Ring Crew Express, Colt Cabana and Matt Classic, before they agreed it was clobbering time. 3 On 2 Handicap Match: CM Punk and Daniel Bryan d. The Wyatt Family by DQ in 10:24. Bryan made a big comeback at the end before the Wyatts attacked to the point the referee threw the match out. The Wyatts carried Bryan backstage and as Punk tried to go after them, Reigns appeared out of nowhere and destroyed Punk with a spear. The Shield then gave Punk the triple powerbomb in the ring.

– The Miz d. Kofi Kingston in 4:58. Both guys slapped each other after teasing a handshake at the start, in a play off of what happened on the Survivor Series pre show. Miz won with a surprise roll up. Foley did the merchandise plug, including as Dude Love and Mankind. Xavier Woods d. Heath Slater in 3:18. Xavier came out doing Brodus’s entrance, which Truth explained as him and Brodus giving Xavier a chance to impress. He then beat Slater with Lost In The Woods.

– There were a couple more segments with Strahan, one with The Bellas, Funkadactyls, Eva Marie and Goldust, one with Cena, before in the main event, John Cena and Big Show d. Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio (Cena submitted Del Rio) in 12:29. Big Show took a superkick from Del Rio and they played up that he might be concussed. The doctor came in to check on Big Show but Orton jumped him and the match just continued. Show countered the punt with a spear and tagged Cena, who countered the cross armbreaker and made Del Rio tap with the STF. After the match Del Rio attacked Cena, Cena hit an AA but Orton then laid out Cena with the belt and posed with both titles.

MAIN EVENT

– Alberto Del Rio d. Dolph Ziggler by submission in 13:38. Their usual good match with a lot of near falls towards the end. Finish saw Del Rio counter a fameasser into a powerbomb and win with the cross armbreaker. Also on the show, Damien Sandow d. Santino Marella in 2:37 pretty decisively with the full nelson slam, they showed a clip for HHH’s WWE.com interview clarifying that there was no need for two champions and he wanted one undisputed champion and Kofi Kingston d. Fandango in 10:19. Kofi hit a big somesault dive here. Fandango recovered to take control, but Kofi fought back. Fandango avoided Trouble In Paradise and almost won with a sunset flip powerbomb. But Kofi avoided the top rope legdrop and won with Trouble In Paradise.

NXT

– Antonio Cesaro d. Yoshi Tatsu in 3:32. Before the match, Saxton went to take Cesaro’s We The People flag out of the ring and Cesaro got mad at him for touching it, which caused Regal to go to the ring and pull Saxton to safety. Yoshi tried a quick pin when the match started, but Cesaro soon took over. Cesaro kept looking up at Regal as he beat up Yoshi and he finished Yoshi off with the Neutraliser.

– Devon interviewed Bo about the number one contendership match. He claimed we’d all be winners for seeing a great match, but pointed out neither had a chance of beating him. CJ Parker interrupted. Bo asked when he’d last won a match so CJ challenged him tonight. Bo Dallas d. CJ Parker in 3:03 after crotching CJ on the top rope and hitting a spinning bulldog off the ropes.

– After their match last week, we were supposed to get a Breeze and Ohno rematch. Rusev ran out and clotheslined Ohno during his entrance though. Ohno insisted on competing. But Tyler Breeze d. Kassius Ohno in 0:10 with the Beauty Shot. And the crowd applauded. Devon interviewed Sami and Neville. They mentioned that they went back a long way and agreed it was about becoming NXT Champion and making it to WWE. They both said they’d do what they had to do tonight and there was just a little tension between them by the end.

– Hunico and Camacho d. The Ascension (Hunico pinned Victor) in 3:38 with a surprise small package. And in the main event, #1 Contendership: Adrian Neville d. Sami Zayn in 9:55. Bo did commentary in place of Regal. The match was back and forth the whole way. Sami hit a dive early and Neville came back with a top rope asai moonsault. Sami countered a cartwheel elbow into the blue thunder for a big near fall and Neville hit a big hurricanrana for his closest near fall. In the end, Neville went for the corkscrew shooting star and Sami actually teased the top rope brainbuster. But Neville fought out and hit the corkscrew shooting star for the pin. Neville and Sami hugged afterwards.

SUPERSTARS

– Since they were in New York, Zack Ryder d. Fandango in 2:37 with the Ruff Ryder and The Usos d. The Real Americans (Jey pinned Swagger) in 7:25. Jimmy got worked over for most of the match. Jey made a comeback and Jimmy hit a dive on Cesaro, before Jey hit a superfly splash halfway across the ring for the pin over Swagger.

SMACKDOWN

– Since it was Thanksgiving week, Vickie held a Thanksgiving leftover party. She warned everyone this party wouldn’t turn into mayhem like most WWE parties and we caught the start of a food eating contest between Titus and Khali. More on that later. Mark Henry d. Curtis Axel in 3:09, with Ryback in Axel’s corner and Big E in Henry’s. Ryback gave Big E a cheap shot outside which briefly distracted Henry, but Big E took out Ryback with a clothesline later and Henry pinned Axel with the World’s Strongest Slam.

– Truth and Xavier were watching his entrance from Raw backstage. Brodus came in and said main event players like him didn’t need rookies feeding off of them. Brodus ended up telling Xavier to keep his mouth shut unless spoken to and shoved Xavier. Tensai tried to calm him down and Brodus stormed off. Then, Renee interviewed Orton in the ring. Orton claimed Big Show didn’t knock him out at Survivor Series because he had an iron jaw, he was just playing possum. And he didn’t need The Authority’s help to win either. Renee asked about the Cena match and Orton refused to answer before leaving.

– Back at the party, the food eating contest was still going. AJ and Tamina showed up which Vickie didn’t like, so they left. Khali ended up passing out, which made Titus the winner. Vickie said his prize was to face Cesaro tonight. Los Matadores and El Torito d. The Plymouth Rockers/3MB ( pinned ) in 2:55. The ‘Plymouth Rockers’ came out to the Rockers theme music and had pilgrim hats because Thanksgiving. El Torito started the match against Slater, who couldn’t catch him. El Torito and Los Matadores all hit dives. They went on to win after El Torito took out Drew and Los Matadores gave him their double samoan drop move.

– Tons Of Funk d. R-Truth and Xavier Woods (Brodus pinned Xavier) in 2:17. Brodus ended up pinning Xavier with a middle rope splash, after what was sort of a cheap shot after a blind tag. After the match Brodus taunted Xavier a little and Tensai and the Funkadactyls didn’t seem thrilled with him. Renee interviewed Punk backstage and Punk said he had bruised ribs. He said he didn’t know why The Shield attacked him and if they were following orders, but he’d get to the bottom of it. A Bray promo then aired and I guess he teased that Bryan had joined them.

– After his food eating contest win, Antonio Cesaro d. Titus O’Neil by DQ in 2:00. Titus acted like, well, like he’d just been in a food eating contest. So of course Cesaro gave him the giant swing and you can guess what happened next. First Young ran in for the DQ to save Titus, which was less predictable. Titus then proceeded to channel Booker T 2002 and vomit. In JBL’s hat. Which he threw on Cole. And on Zeb. At least they censored this somewhat, but still, this was not cool WWE. Not cool.

– WWE Tag Team Championship: Cody Rhodes and Goldust (c) d. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns by DQ in 16:01 when Ambrose, who was doing commentary, ran in. The match up until that point was good as you’d expect. Both Rhodes brothers got worked over before Cody fought back. Cody hit a dive on both challengers but missed a moonsault. Rollins then went for the flying knee, which Cody avoided, but when Cody hit Cross Rhodes Ambrose broke the pin. Punk made the save with a chair and Vickie made a six man tag. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Goldust d. The Shield by DQ in 7:45 after The Wyatt Family ran in. The Wyatts appeared to distract Punk and ended up getting involved for another DQ. The Usos and Mysterio ran out to even the odds and Vickie restarted the match again as a twelve man tag. And in that match, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Rey Mysterio and The Usos d. The Shield and The Wyatt Family (Punk pinned Rowan) in 8:45. The Shield and the Wyatts still had some miscommunication, albeit a little less than in their last twelve man match. Rey got worked on and Punk made a comeback. And after the match broke down and The Usos hit dives, Rey saved Punk from the Sister Abigail by Bray and hit a 619 to Rowan, setting up the GTS by Punk.