This Week In WWE TV – December 30-January 5, 2013/14

This week: The last Raw of 2013 and the first shows of 2014 see Punk, Bryan, The Wyatts and The Shield take centre stage with Cena and Orton otherwise occupied. Punk tries to orchestrate a split in one group, whilst the other recruits itself a new member. Plus, Brock Lesnar returns and quickly picks up where he left off, Bad News Barrett is going up in the world, an NXT Sing Off, Brodus speaks out and The Great Khali wrestling by popular demand.

NEW YEAR’S RAW

– Punk came out to open the show and talked about the highlights of his year like facing Rock and Undertaker, before saying 2013 wasn’t his year, it was The Shield’s. The Shield came down as Punk was planning to call them out. Punk said he wanted to fight the best. Ambrose accepted, but Punk pointed out he’d already beaten him and he was the weak link, so he was talking to Reigns and Rollins. He challenged Reigns, but Rollins answered the challenge first. Reigns and Rollins had a bit of dispute and the crowd actually chanted for Reigns, before Brad showed up and made Punk against Rollins official. CM Punk d. Seth Rollins in 11:10. Punk tried the GTS straight away but Rollins escaped. Punk got pushed off the top rope into the barrier pretty hard at one point. After a back and forth finish, Rollins tried a GTS. Punk countered but Rollins avoided an elbow drop attempt. When Punk got Rollins in the anaconda vice, Ambrose came in and caused Punk to let go. Rollins then hit a sliced bread but Ambrose accidentally had the referee distracted, giving Punk time to kick out. Punk sent Rollins into Reigns and Ambrose, then caught him trying a slingshot move with a GTS for the pin.

– Backstage Brad told Stephanie and HHH he wanted to take a step forward as GM. Bryan stormed in wanting a match with Bray. Maddox put him in a gauntlet match with the Wyatts to get it, which seemed to impress Stephanie and HHH. Stephanie then went out and introduced a video package on Orton’s career, before announcing Orton versus Cena at Royal Rumble. Later, HHH told her that he had something to say tonight as well.

– Dolph Ziggler d. Curtis Axel in 4:15. Axel and Ziggler both had inset promos before the match. Ziggler won with a Zig Zag out of nowhere as Axel wasn’t paying attention. WWE Intercontinental Championship: Big E Langston (c) d. Fandango in 9:45 to retain the title. This got the full title introductions which is good. Fandango worked on Big E’s leg. Crowd seemed to get into Big E and he fought back. Fandango got a near fall with a tornado DDT and hit the legdrop off the top but Big E rolled outside. And Big E recovered to win with the Big Ending. Hopefully this is part of a renewed focus on the Intercontinental Title.

– Booker came out onto the stage with various members of the roster, in the middle of a New Year’s party. Booker wanted to do a spinaroonie, but he was interrupted by Bad News Barrett, who’s podium was on a forklift next to the stage. He was raised over everybody and delivered some bad news about apocalypse, backstabbing, poverty and pollution to spoil the party. Renee then interviewed Sandow backstage. Sandow said he’d been disrespected all year and if he didn’t win tonight, he’d quit. Thankfully, Damien Sandow d. Great Khali in 4:54. Khali won with 39% over Kofi and Miz, which probably would have been a better segment for Bad News Barrett to be in, telling them fans would rather see Khali wrestle than them. Sandow won with a roll up, although as they pointed out on replay, one of Khali’s shoulders was up. And R-Truth d. Brodus Clay in 4:05 with Xavier on commentary, after Xavier distracted Brodus and The Funkadactyls came out too, leading to Truth winning with a Little Jimmy off the second rope. Xavier did a good job on commentary, I thought.

– HHH came out for his announcement, which was welcoming back Brock Lesnar. Both Heyman and Lesnar actually shook hands with HHH, presumably to tie up the loose end of their feud. Heyman announced Lesnar had no old scores to settle and Lesnar wasn’t back for any sort of revenge for him, because he had a forgiving heart. He said Lesnar was declaring his desire to be WWE World Champion and whoever won between Orton or Cena would have to face the self declared number one contender, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar claimed nobody could stop him and he didn’t need to win the Royal Rumble to earn a title shot. He said the line started with him challenged anybody to come out and do something about it, which Mark Henry did. Lesnar jumped Henry before he could get in the ring and they fought outside. Henry threw Lesnar into the crowd, but Lesnar then speared Henry through the barrier and gave him an F5 on the floor before Heyman convinced Lesnar to stop.

– Kaitlyn, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes d.The Bellas, The Funkadactyls and Eva Marie (Aksana pinned Nikki) in 5:11. Eva had a disagreement with the rest of her team when she tried to tag out, for whatever reason. Aksana actually ended up beating Nikki with a reverse final cut after a Rosa distraction, which was a surprise. Brad told HHH and Stephanie that he’d dealt with the Khali pin situation and they said they were impressed with the job he’d done. He said he had their favourites lined up for Old School Raw and he wooed to not so subtely hint one of them was Flair.

– Daniel Bryan d. Luke Harper in 11:44. Bryan tried to go after the leg early before Harper gained control. Bryan fought back and hit a pair of dives. Harper countered a top rope hurricanrana in a sit out powerbomb from the second rope for a near fall. After a half nelson suplex, Bryan caught him in the YES Lock and Harper escaped to hit a big boot. But Bryan landed on his feet to avoid another suplex and hit the running knee for the pin. Rowan attacked after the match, leading to the next match. Daniel Bryan d. Erick Rowan in 2:46. Rowan attacked Bryan outside and threw him over the announce table. Rowan hit a fallaway slam off the ropes, but Bryan surprised him with a small package to win.

– The final match wasn’t a match, as much as it was an angle. Harper stopped Rowan from attacking and Bray got in the ring like he was going to fight, but he turned his back like he was going to let Bryan attack him. But before Bryan could do so, Harper and Rowan jumped him. So technically, Daniel Bryan d. Bray Wyatt by DQ in 0:12. Once Bryan was beat up, Bray started singing and said this was Bryan’s fault. Bryan finally said that Bray was always right and no matter how many matches he won and how loud people cheered, the machine wouldn’t allow him to win. Bryan asked to join the Wyatts and Bray gave him the Sister Abigail, which I guess was his way of saying yes. They dragged Bryan out of the ring and Bryan left with them to close the show, despite the crowd trying to convince him not to by chanting his name.

MAIN EVENT

– Damien Sandow d. Kofi Kingston in 18:15. Tom Phillips replaced Josh here. Before the match Sandow claimed he’d win the WWE World Championship in 2014. Good luck with that. Kofi started strong. Sandow avoided a Trouble In Paradise and eventually he took control. Kofi tried to fight back but was cut off again. Kofi finally hit a big flip dive and made an actual comeback, but missed Trouble In Paradise. Sandow broke out a new submission which is basically the Edgecator, before throwing Kofi throat first into the rope and hitting the You’re Welcome. Understatement here, but this probably didn’t need to be 18 minutes.

– Clips from a Heyman WWE.com interview and HHH’s weekly interview aired. Heyman reiterated that Lesnar was back to be the champion and he’d be going after whoever won between Cena or Orton, but first he’d be doing something ‘old school’ on Old School Raw. HHH said Lesnar was back because it was best for business. The Funkadactyls d. Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes (Naomi pinned Alicia) in 6:34 after Alicia kicked Cameron off the apron, but ran into the Rear View for the pin. The show ended with MizTV, with Brodus as the guest. Brodus had a suit and new music. Brodus said he’d dropped the deadweight and Brodus wannabees. He claimed he wasn’t angry because of Xavier, he was angry his match at Wrestlemania was cancelled because of Tensai and the Funkadactyls. He complained that Cody, Sandow and the Bellas went onto success and he was stuck with a washed up hasbeen. Brodus offered to hire Tensai as his driver when he realised his run was over, which caused Tensai to run out. Brodus escaped when Tensai got the better of him.

NXT

– After the announcement that Tyler Breeze had entered the building, Alexander Rusev d. Kofi Kingston by submission in 3:50. Rusev dominated at the start. Kofi made a comeback, but Lana distracted him as he went for a crossbody, allowing Rusev to slam him off the top and lock on the Accolade camel clutch. Devin interviewed Lefort. Lefort said Dawson had suffered a broken leg and he was holding auditions for new clients. Bull Dempsey walked in, but Lefort immediately said he was too fat and told him to leave. So, he did. Mason Ryan walked in and Lefort assumed he was there for the audition. He wasn’t and shoved Lefort’s money into his own mouth. This amused me.

– NXT Womens #1 Contendership: Emma d. Natalya by submission in 4:33. Pretty even match throughout. Emma countered the sharpshooter with a roll up, then when Natalya kicked out turned it into the Emma Lock for the submission win. Natalya raised Emma’s hand afterwards and even tried to do her dance. Up next was the Sing Off beween Colin Cassady and Aiden English, hosted by Renee. Cassady came out in a suit. English sang an opera number and Cassady teased that he couldn’t sing, before singing that English was S A W F T. The fans voted for Cassady, which outraged English. And Regal. English demanded to sing again and sung that the crowd had no taste. In response, Cassady again insulted English via the medium of song, so English clipped his knee and stormed off.

– Tyler Breeze d. Mason Ryan in 1:18. Lefort came out and Ryan laid him out with a clothesline, but then ran into the Beauty Shot spin kick from Breeze. And in the main event, after the announcement that Tyler Breeze had now left the building, 2 Out Of 3 Falls: Sami Zayn d. Leo Kruger, by 2 Falls to 0, in 10:28. Sami stopped to sign an autograph during his entrance, which was nice. After fighting outside at the start, including Sami getting slammed on the floor, Sami won the first fall with an exploder suplex into the turnbuckles and the running boot in the corner. Second fall saw Kruger block a superplex and throw Sami to the floor. Sami beat the count and eventually fought back. Kruger got a near fall with a twisting brainbuster and almost made Sami tap with the GC3 only for Sami to get to the ropes. And Sami countered the Slice into a Koji clutch for the submission.

SUPERSTARS

– Jack Swagger d. Tyson Kidd by submission in 4:53. No Zeb with Swagger. Swagger won a fun little big man, little man match with the ankle lock. And The Usos d. The Primetime Players (Jimmy pinned Titus) in 8:13. Usos worked over Darren after he took a spill to the floor. Titus made a comeback but Jey blocked the sky high and a double superkick set up Titus for a superfly splash for the pin. Another solid match.

SMACKDOWN

– The Shield came out to start. Ambrose claimed everybody was wrong about there being dissension in The Shield and Punk couldn’t divide and conquer The Shield. Reigns said there wasn’t a weak link and Rollins said any setbacks they’d had recently were temporary. The Usos d. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns by DQ in 9:00. Ambrose did commentary. He was in fine form. Jimmy made a big comeback but as The Usos were going for dives, Ambrose tripped Jey for the disqualification. Punk ran out to even the odds and force The Shield to retreat, before Vickie came out and during the break announced a six man tag for later.

– R-Truth d. Fandango in 2:56. Xavier did commentary and just like on Raw, a Xavier and Funkadactyls distraction lead to Truth winning with the Little Jimmy. WWE Tag Team Championship: Goldust and Cody Rhodes (c) d. The Wyatt Family (Goldust pinned Rowan) in 13:00 to retain the titles. No Bray or Bryan with the Wyatts. Bray’s chair was there though. They claimed Brie had been in contact with Bryan, to clear that logic hole up. The Wyatts worked over Goldust at the start. Cody ran wild and hit a big rope walking dive on Harper, before he was then cut off. Harper almost won with a sit out powerbomb but Goldust made the save. A sunset flip from Cody got a near fall as well. In the end, Rowan prevented a tag, but a blind tag from Goldust lead to him rolling Rowan up for the win.

– Renee interviewed Big E. He said Henry was after a match not a brawl on Raw and he was beat up, but he’d be okay. Axel showed up laughing and said he’d beat Big E tonight. Big E said Axel wouldn’t be laughing after their match. Nikki Bella d. Aksana in 3:46 with a torture rack backbreaker. Big E Langston d. Curtis Axel in 3:55 with the Big Ending on the second attempt. And Bad News Barrett and his giant podium on a forklift appeared to tell us all we wouldn’t keep our new year’s resolutions.

– In the main event, CM Punk and The Usos d. The Shield (Punk pinned Ambrose) in 12:42. Usos and Punk were on top early, until The Shield managed to isolate Jimmy. Jimmy hit a whisper in the wind and brought in Punk, who fought back, but a distraction from Ambrose allowed Rollins to crotch him on the top rope. Punk got the anaconda vice but Ambrose broke it up. Key moment was with Punk down, Rollins went for a tag and Ambrose seemed to take the tag away from Reigns. Ambrose got a near fall, then instead of tagging Reigns, he walked into a roundhouse kick. He escaped a GTS and Reigns almost ran into him which caused confusion, allowing Punk to hit a kick and The Usos to take Reigns out with a double superkick. The Usos hit dives onto Reigns and Rollins, leaving Punk to pin Ambrose with the GTS. As Punk and The Usos celebrated, Reigns complained to Rollins about what happened. At the end of the show, a promo by Bray aired saying Bryan had a home now.