This Week In WWE TV – January 6-12, 2014

This week: Raw goes Old School. Jake The Snake Roberts returns and Roddy Piper hosts Piper’s Pit for some 80s nostalgia. The New Age Outlaws represent the 90s. Too Cool compete and Big Show fights with Brock Lesnar for all the 2000s fans. And Ranjin Singh covers the “remember this guy from way back in 2007?” demographic. Plus, Daniel Bryan in the Wyatt Family, Corporate Kane makes a visit to NXT and Kaitlyn’s farewell on Main Event.

OLD SCHOOL RAW

– Flair came out to open the show. Orton interrupted. He and Flair hugged and Orton referenced their history, before saying tonight wasn’t just about the legends, it was about him as well. Orton claimed he was the greatest superstar of this generation or any other, before politely asking Flair to step aside and let him speak. He complained about having to face Cena without being consulted and said he’d already beaten Cena, so he had nothing left to prove. Orton asked The Authority to reverse their decision. Flair interrupted and said when he was champion, you performed against the best every night and told him to face Cena again. Orton claimed Flair always had someone watching his back unlike him and that Flair was the most overrated star in history. He warned Flair to leave or else. He didn’t. Flair questioned his manhood and Orton threatened him, but Cena came out. He stood up for Flair and challenged Orton to a fight, but Orton left.

– The Usos and Rey Mysterio d. Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Daniel Bryan (Jimmy pinned Harper) in 5:10. Bryan was in new, Wyatt Family suitable ‘attire’. Rey tried to talk sense into Bryan, but Bryan didn’t listen. After Rey hit a 619 to Rowan, Jimmy missed a superfly splash. Bryan then tagged himself in, but Harper tagged right in in response. Jimmy then rolled up Harper for the pin.

– After a recap of the botched finish from last week between Sandow and Khali, Brad told Arn Anderson, Bob Backlund and Sgt. Slaughter that they needed a guest referee for a rematch tonight and there’d be a fan vote to decide which one it would be. Kane walked in and asked Brad if he had anything to say to his face this week. Kane said he knew he couldn’t physically threaten him, but either he’d be fired for destroying Brad, or if Brad got him fired before then, he’d make sure Brad was never seen again. He warned him never to discuss his job performance with HHH and Stephanie again. Big E was shown walking to the ring, where he passed Nikolai Volkoff, Ted Dibiase and Aksana and IRS in the hallway. Big E Langston d. Curtis Axel in 2:45. Ryback did commentary. Axel was competitive and Ryback helped out with a distraction, before Big E won with the Big Ending.

– Roddy Piper then hosted Piper’s Pit, with The Shield as guests. Ambrose ran down Piper. Piper said there was only one person who could match him on a microphone and that was CM Punk, which annoyed Ambrose. Rollins told him it wasn’t 1985 and they were too smart for him. He said Piper was jealous, because Ambrose was a better US Champion than Piper ever was. Piper said Rollins and Ambrose couldn’t beat Punk one on one, so if Reigns could beat him tonight, wouldn’t that make Reigns better than them? Piper also pinched Reigns’s cheek. Reigns squared up to Piper and warned Piper never to touch him again. They teased attacking him, but Punk and the New Age Outlaws ran out for the save.

– They announced Batista would be in the Royal Rumble. Alberto Del Rio d. Sin Cara in 2:17 after avoiding the swanton and hitting a kneeling superkick. Del Rio then complained that people were talking about Batista and said he would throw Batista out, then everybody would be talking about him as the Royal Rumble winner. Backstage, Bryan told Harper and Rowan he was there to learn but he could teach too, because he’d been a tag team champion. Bryan wanted to team with one of them next week, but Bray said they’d be teaming together instead.

– Goldust and Cody Rhodes d. The Real Americans (Goldust pinned Swagger) in 8:12. All Cody and Goldust at the start. The Real Americans isolated Goldust for a while, before Goldust caught Cesaro with a second rope hurricanrana. Cody was then worked over. When Cody went to tag Goldust was knocked off the apron. Swagger got the ankle lock but Goldust returned to make the save. Goldust then made a big comeback and pinned Swagger with the Final Cut. Backstage, Booker found DDP doing some DDP Yoga. He asked Booker to try and Booker tweaked his back, which caused Ron Simmons to appear and say Damn.

– Great Khali d. Damien Sandow in 1:57, with Sgt. Slaughter as referee. Sarge won with 55% of the vote. Khali had Ranjin Singh in his corner since it was Old School Raw. Khali won with the big chop, despite Sandow having his foot on the rope. When Sandow complained and shoved him, Sarge put him in the cobra clutch. Sarge then danced with Khali which was something.

– Lesnar and Heyman came out. Heyman said Old School wasn’t about trudging out legends according to Brock, it was when one man reigned supreme as champion and everybody else challenged him. He mentioned Bruno, Hogan and Austin as examples and said after Royal Rumble, whether it was Cena or Orton in that position, Lesnar was coming after the WWE World Champion. Heyman hyped what Lesnar did to Mark Henry, until Henry ended up coming out. He didn’t fare much better this week and Lesnar put him in the kimura. They teased Henry an arm break and Heyman stopped Lesnar from doing any more. As Lesnar was leaving though, Big Show came out and Lesnar backed off, before exiting the ring. Lesnar then tried a sneak attack as Show was distracted by Heyman, but Show grabbed Brock and hurled him across the ring in scary fashion, so Heyman convinced Brock to leave.

– Alicia Fox and Aksana d. The Bella Twins (Aksana pinned Brie) in 3:50. Alicia and Aksana went after Nikki’s shin. Aksana then beat Brie after avoiding a missile dropkick. Too Cool d. 3MB (Rikishi pinned Jinder) in 5:23. 3MB did an inset promo. Obviously, Slater is back now and they said they’d begin their win streak tonight. They didn’t. Scotty hit the Worm before being cut off. Rikishi then sat on Jinder to get the pin, after Grandmaster had hit the Hip Hop Drop on Drew.

– The Godfather brought all the legends out onto the stage. Bad News Barrett and his giant podium on a forklift appeared to give them some Bad News, because all the flea markets around the country couldn’t book the legends to sign 25 year old photos of themselves. He said their attempts to rekindle their glory years would prove ‘frutile’. Close enough. He said they were doomed to anonimity and he’d take great pleasure in forgetting their names the moment they left the arena, as would the WWE Universe.

– Mene Gene introduced the New Age Outlaws, who were in the corner of CM Punk for the main event. He made a reference to his Hotline, which as he joked, somebody in the crowd got. The Outlaws then did an intro for Punk. Roman Reigns d. CM Punk in 13:19. Punk came out in a Ribera steakhouse jacket, either for Old School reasons, because Raw is airing live in Japan as of this show, or both. Punk was thrown into and over the turnbuckles to give Reigns the advantage. Reigns worked on the ribs and stopped a couple of Punk’s attempts to fight back. Eventually Punk built some momentum after avoiding the superman punch and hitting a roundhouse kick. As Punk teased the GTS, The Outlaws stopped Ambrose from interfering and when they were taken out, Punk knocked Rollins over the announce table with a dive. Reigns got a super close near fall with a mid air superman punch. Punk then avoided the spear and rolled Reigns up for a near fall of his own. Punk almost won with another roundhouse kick, then went for the GTS. Reigns escaped and countered a bulldog. Punk knocked Ambrose off the apron, but turned around into a spear for the pin.

– After the match, they teased giving Punk the triple powerbomb, but Jake The Snake Roberts came out, which distracted The Shield. Punk and the Outlaws got rid of Rollins and Reigns, before Punk gave Ambrose the GTS. Jake then put a snake on Ambrose.

MAIN EVENT

– The Real Americans d. R-Truth and Xavier Woods (Cesaro pinned Xavier) in 8:33. Swagger clipped Truth’s knee outside to take control. Xavier then made a comeback, but Fandango and Summer Rae danced on the stage to distract him as payback for Xavier and The Funkadactyls’s distraction on Smackdown, leading to Cesaro getting the pin with a pop up uppercut. They then showed a clip from HHH’s WWE.com interview teasing the big announcement at the CES later which was airing after Main Event.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Justin Gabriel in 3:46. Gabriel hit a corkscrew dive early and put up a brief fight late, before Del Rio beat him with the kneeling superkick. Del Rio got mad at the crowd for not celebrating his victory afterwards and for cheering whenever Batista videos were played. Del Rio said the crowd and Batista were faulty animals. Although it sounded like ‘felty animals’, which isn’t neccessarily an insult. People love cuddly toys.

– Renee interviewed Fandango. Fandango said he showed Xavier he had something up his sleeve tonight. When Renee pointed out he wasn’t wearing sleeves, he told her to shut her mouth and said she wasn’t even a real ‘journalism’. Close enough. Summer then warned Renee that Fandango was taken. Cody Rhodes and Goldust d. Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre of 3MB (Cody pinned Jinder) in 4:52. Slater did commentary. 3MB worked on Goldust most of the match, before Cody made a big comeback and beat Jinder with the disaster kick.

– WWE Divas Championship: AJ (c) d. Kaitlyn in 7:01 to retain the title. Miz mentioned he’d be marrying Maryse soon here. Not sure if that’s ever been brought up on TV before. The match started with a handshake, but AJ faked her out on a second one soon after. Tamina got involved to distract Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn fought back, but AJ countered a slam and rolled Kaitlyn up for the pin. After the match, AJ and Kaitlyn hugged. Tamina then superkicked Kaitlyn and AJ celebrated. This was Kaitlyn’s last match before she and WWE parted ways, so this was a pretty nice sendoff, getting one more match with AJ.

NXT

– Bayley d. Summer Rae in 3:54. Bayley had Natalya in her corner. Summer tried to trick Bayley into starting the match with a hug, but Bayley didn’t fall for it. Bayley won clean with a belly to Bayley suplex. Yes, that’s what it’s called. Devin interviewed Xavier, who mistakenly thought it was episode 200. Devin told him Kane wanted to speak to him. He didn’t seem phased.

– In a match stemming from their Sing Off last week, Aiden English d. Colin Cassady in 2:33 with the Director’s Cut. There was no encore. Devin tried to interview Neville. He was interrupted by Tyler Breeze calling him. Breeze was standing off screen, but said this was so he didn’t have to see Neville’s ugo face. Breeze fake apologised for costing him the match with Bo and said NXT deserved a champion who was gorgeous. Neville said he’d wait until next week to give him a face lift.

– Xavier came out and the good news was he had his NXT theme and not R-Truth’s. Kane, in DOO mode, brought up Xavier being behind the petition to get Big Show rehired, which sure seems like a long time ago now. So Kane punished him by putting him against Alexander Rusev. Alexander Rusev d. Xavier Woods by submission in 1:56 with the Accolade camel clutch. They then showed a WWE.com clip where Kofi said he underestimated Rusev in their match and got distracted by Lana, but he wanted a rematch and wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

– Tyson Kidd d. Baron Corbin in 3:11 with a blockbuster. And Tornado Tag Match: The Ascension d. Hunico and Camacho (Konnor and Viktor pinned Hunico) in 8:35. After a long, not very notable brawl, Hunico almost won with a noticably Sin Cara esque swanton but Viktor broke it up. Camacho then tried a dive but got hit in mid air, leaving Hunico to be beaten with the Fall Of Man. The crowd started giving Konnor the Curtis Axel ‘mimmick the noises he makes’ treatment, so look forward to that every time they wrestle now.

SUPERSTARS

– Natalya d. Summer Rae by submission in 4:45 with the sharpshooter in a solid match. And Ryback d. Dolph Ziggler in 7:14. Ryback yelled Ryback Still Rules and did some Hulk Hogan earcupping, which I hope wasn’t just a coincidence and was because this was taped before Old School Raw. Early on, Ziggler went to duck a clothesline and got took a forearm across the top of the head. Which may or may not have been the point where Ziggler got a concussion during this. The match carried on anyway and Ryback won after a meathook and Shell Shocked.

SMACKDOWN

– The Usos versus The Wyatt Family went a double count out in 9:39. No Bray with the Wyatts. Jey ran wild and hit a big dive. Everybody then fought outside and got counted out. After the match Jimmy saved Jey from the Wyatts, but Bryan and Bray attacked them in the aisle. Bryan hit the running knee to one Uso and Bray gave the other the Sister Abigail. Backstage, Orton spoke to Vickie, wanting to know where HHH and Stephanie were. He said he’d give them a piece of his mind on Raw since they weren’t there tonight.

– Miz hosted MizTV with Big Show as his guest. Show talked about not liking Lesnar and challenged him to a fight. Heyman came out and teased bringing out Lesnar, but said Lesnar would fight Big Show when Heyman said so. He said it’d be at Royal Rumble, but if he wanted to pick a fight before then, Lesnar wouldn’t be hard to find. Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara and Los Matadores d. The Real Americans and RybAxel (Rey pinned Swagger) in 4:40. Los Matadors hit dives on Ryback and El Torito hit one on Axel. Swagger countered a 619, but Sin Cara made a save. Rey then countered the gutwrench powerbomb, hit a 619 and a splash to win for the masked team.

– Randy Orton d. Big E Langston in 14:34. Big E matched Orton at the start. Orton finally took control after escaping the Big Ending and avoiding a spear off the apron causing Big E to fall to the outside. Big E rallied at the end and countered an RKO. Orton again used a thumb to the eye though, to set up the RKO for the pin. A Wyatts promo aired. Xavier Woods d. Fandango in 1:25. R-Truth did commentary. After Xavier won with a roll up, Summer got in his face, so The Funkadactyls tripped her up. Truth then helped Xavier clear Fandango out of the ring. And Tom Phillips interviewed The Usos, who were still hurt after what happened earlier. Jimmy hyped up their match with the Wyatts on Raw.

– Before the main event, Reigns said he became the new best in the world on Raw. Ambrose complained about what happened to him and said if the snake was in the ring now, he’d ‘choke it out’. Rollins calmed him down and said tonight wasn’t about the history, it was about the future of WWE. The Shield d. CM Punk and The New Age Outlaws (Reigns pinned Billy) in 13:34. They said this was the Outlaws’s first match on Smackdown since February 2000. The Shield struggled early before cutting off Road Dogg. Punk made a comeback on Ambrose. After both escaped each other’s finishers, Billy and Reigns were tagged in. Punk hit a dive on Rollins and Billy went for the Fameasser on Ambrose, but Reigns intercepted him with the spear to pick up the win.