This Week In WWE TV – February 3-9, 2014

This week: Randy Orton begins to run the gauntlet of Elimination Chamber opponents, starting with Daniel Bryan on Raw. And while Bryan’s in ring results against Orton and Cesaro produce YES YES and YESes, his dealings with Corporate Kane are a little less successful. Plus, the EMMAlution begins on Raw, Cody’s steel cage moonsault, a 3MB audition for Curt Hawkins and The Shield and The Wyatts trade wins and words.

RAW

– Orton came out to start the show and complained about the Chamber match. The crowd tried to drown him out with Punk chants but Orton didn’t break stride, so the crowd promptly gave up within literally 30 seconds. Orton asked how many times he had to beat Cena, Bryan, Christian, Sheamus and Cesaro and he knew people wanted one of those five to win, but he’d beat them and the “jakked up, muscle bound, genetic freak” Batista. HHH and Stephanie then came out and the Punk chants started up again, until Stephanie completely ignored them and everybody stopped. They only managed 20 seconds this time. Stephanie warned Orton not to bite the hand that fed him. HHH said maybe they should consider putting their faith in someone else and Stephanie announced Orton would face all of his Chamber opponents in singles matches over the next few weeks. Starting with Bryan and if Bryan won, maybe they’d have to reconsider him as the possible new face of WWE. HHH then started a YES chant.

– The Shield d. Rey Mysterio, Big E Langston and Kofi Kingston (Ambrose pinned Big E) in 7:57. The Shield briefly cut off Kofi, before working over Mysterio. Big E made a big comeback on Reigns, who ended up bleeding from the eye. When things broke down, Reigns ended up hitting a superman punch and went for the spear. Ambrose tagged himself in though and stole the win with the headlock driver. After the match, Rollins got between Ambrose and Reigns. The Wyatts then appeared on the screen and Bray and Harper both cut promos before Rowan added ‘Run’ at the end.

– Bad News Barrett and his giant podium on a forklift appeared to deliver some Bad News about people’s Superbowl eating habits. However, Lawler cut him off. Christian d. Jack Swagger in 5:59 in a rematch from Smackdown. Christian won again, with the sunset flip from the second rope and Cesaro shook his head in disappointment, as Zeb questioned Swagger over what happened.

– WWE Tag Team Championships, Steel Cage Match: The New Age Outlaws (c) d. Cody Rhodes and Goldust (Billy pinned Cody) in 12:48 to retain the titles. This was no escape rules and regular tag rules, but in a cage, old school style. The match started slow, so we got another 20 seconds of Punk chants. Outlaws got the advantage over Goldust. Cody fought back and hit a disaster kick for a close near fall. Cody then climbed the cage and hit a moonsault off the top of the cage onto Road Dogg. But Billy hit a fameasser moments later and pinned Cody, as he was the legal man.

– Titus O’Neil d. Zack Ryder in 2:46. Titus had new music. During the match, Miz came out and complained on commentary about Titus and Ryder being on the show and him not, before promptly leaving. Titus won with the Clash Of The Titus sky high powerbomb. Fandango and Santino were then supposed to have a dance off. Santino said Fandango wanted none of him and his new moves, so instead he proposed Summer against a member of the audience. He chose Emma and her #EMMAlution sign. Summer went first and Emma did her dance, before Santino announced her the winner. Not sure this was the best introduction for Emma, but it was an introduction and the crowd at least cheered her to win, so that’s something. And Sheamus d. Curtis Axel in 7:04. Axel went after Sheamus’s bad shoulder, but Sheamus came back to win with the Brogue Kick.

– Batista came out, but was immediately interrupted by Del Rio. Batista said he had no issue with Del Rio. Del Rio said being famous didn’t make someone a champion, having cajones did. He said Batista wasn’t an animal, he was a chihuahua who was afraid of him. He then gave Batista a cheap shot, before bailing when Batista tried a Batista Bomb. The Wyatt Family d. Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Xavier Woods (Bray pinned Ziggler) in 5:02. Ziggler made a comeback after Truth was worked over. Harper blocked the Zig Zag though and hit a spinning clothesline, before tagging in Bray to hit the Sister Abigail. The Shield then appeared on the screen to cut a promo of their own.

– The Rusev and Lana video from the previous week’s Smackdown aired. Naomi d. Aksana in 4:52. AJ did commentary. Naomi took a knee drop to the face during this which left her with an eye injury. She still won with a split legged moonsault and Cameron stopped Alicia from attacking her, before sending Alicia into a Rear View.

– Daniel Bryan d. Randy Orton in 23:53. Plenty of Bryan chants. Also some more brief Punk chants, for whatever reason and a JBL chant after Orton got sent over the announce table. Orton struggled at the start as Bryan worked over the leg. Orton got back into it with an exploder suplex and Bryan sold his shoulder, so Orton went after the arm. Bryan got the YES Lock at one point but Orton made the ropes. After a back and forth finish, Bryan ended up hitting a flying headbutt for a near fall, before Kane came out. Bryan dropkicked Kane off the apron and hit a dive onto Orton and Kane. When Kane tried to attack, Bryan sent him into the steps with a drop toe hold. As Bryan rolled back in, Orton then tried an RKO, but Bryan countered and hit the running knee for the clean win. After the match though, Kane and Orton both went after Bryan and Bryan tried to fight them both off, but got outnumbered. Kane hit a chokeslam and Orton posed with the titles.

MAIN EVENT

– The Miz d. Fandango by submission in 8:55. Before the match, Santino brought out Emma to do commentary with him. Emma got the full entrance, with bubbles. Crowd were into Miz. Miz won with the figure four in a solid match. They showed a clip from HHH’s WWE.com interview, saying his job was to make talent better and Orton had a lot to prove, so he’d be facing Cena on Raw.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder in 4:57 with a kneeling superkick. And Big E Langston d. Curtis Axel in 11:57. Crowd were behind Big E since he used to play football in the state. All Big E early. Axel briefly took control after sending him into the steps. Big E fought back, but Axel avoided the Big Ending and hit a Perfect Plex for a near fall. Big E escaped the face first neckbreaker and hit the Big Ending second time around though for the win.

NXT

– Alexander Rusev d. Sin Cara in 4:44 with the Accolade camel clutch. They’re still dimming the lights for Sin Cara singles matches. I don’t know if we can blame the lights, but this was ugly at times. Rusev put the camel clutch on again after the match on Lana’s orders. Emma d. Alicia Fox by submission in 3:19 with the Emma Lock. Renee did commentary. After the match, Emma wished Paige a speedy recovery from injury, because when she was recovered, she’d be challenging her for the Women’s Championship. Sasha and Summer tried to attack and Emma fought them off, until Alicia and Charlotte got involved. Natalya and Bayley made the save for Emma and they cleared the ring.

– Mason Ryan d. Sylvester Lefort in 0:53. If Lefort won, Mason agreed to let Lefort manage him. Lefort, of course, didn’t. Mason won quick with a cobra clutch slam. Backstage Aiden English, under a spotlight, said he wasn’t ashamed of threatening someone in a wheelchair because Enzo took things to the next level by running over his foot. Aiden sung about how he hoped he made Canada cry by beating Kidd tonight. As he got backstage after his match, Lefort said he didn’t want to manage Ryan anymore and he would get revenge.

– Tyson Kidd d. Aiden English in 2:42. Cassady distracted English by putting on his scarf and beret, allowing Kidd to hit a top rope blockbuster. And Adrian Neville d. Corey Graves in 11:06. Neville hit a corkscrew dive before Graves took control focusing on the leg. Neville countered a possible piledriver on the floor and made a comeback. Neville managed to win with the corkscrew shooting star despite the bad leg. Afterwards, Bo came out and teased attacking, but HHH stopped him and announced that their match on the February 27th live NXT special would be a ladder match.

SUPERSTARS

– Tamina Snuka d. Natalya in 4:37 with a superkick and The Usos and Los Matadores d. 3MB and Curt Hawkins (Jimmy pinned Hawkins) in 6:22. No Torito with the Matadores. Saxton and Phillips claimed that Hawkins was auditioning for 3MB. The 3MB team worked over Diego for a while. Jimmy made a comeback and the match broke down. Momentum swung with each team sending an opponent outside until just The Usos and Hawkins were left. Jey caught a Jimmy superkick and sent it back into Hawkins. Jey then hit a dive to 3MB, as Jimmy finished Hawkins with the superfly splash. Not sure if losing counts as a good or bad audition for 3MB.

SMACKDOWN

– Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose d. Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston (Reigns pinned Ziggler) in 10:00. Rollins did commentary and spent most of the match denying there were problems between Ambrose and Reigns. Ambrose and Reigns worked together with no problems and isolated both Ziggler and Kofi during the course of the match. Ziggler made a comeback but got shut down by Reigns. When Reigns set up for the superman punch, Ambrose teased tagging himself in and it allowed Ziggler to hit a DDT for a near fall. Rollins then distracted Kofi outside, leading to Ambrose taking him out, Reigns hitting the superman punch and spear to Ziggler, then tagging Ambrose and letting him get the pin. As Rollins got between Reigns and Ambrose again, the Wyatts appeared on the screen and cut a promo.

– Bryan came out. He said he didn’t want to be the face of WWE. Bryan said The Authority showed their true colours after the match and he’d stayed out of Kane’s way until now, but not anymore and called him out. Kane refused to get in the ring and gave an apology. Bryan brought up their history and said that Kane was his friend. He told Kane to get rid of ‘Corporate Kane’ and get his mask back. Kane said their history was exactly that and he was glad Team Hell No was over. He said they weren’t friends and they never were, because he was interested in making money, not friends. Kane refused to fight Bryan and put him in a match with Cesaro.

– Another Lana and Rusev promo aired. AJ d. Nikki Bella by submission in 2:36 with the Black Widow, after Tamina tried to get involved and Nikki accidentally threw AJ into Brie. Backstage, Renee interviewed Titus. Although Titus claimed it was him interviewing Renee. Titus ran down Darren and said the only weight he’d be carrying now was WWE gold. Darren appeared and attacked Titus until referees dragged him off.

– Renee interviewed Del Rio, who said Batista belonged in the circus and he was the tamer who’d turn him into a puppy. Daniel Bryan d. Antonio Cesaro by submission in 10:42. This was really good as you’d expect, which didn’t stop a couple of people from trying to start JBL chants while the pace was slow, then Punk chants later on. It’s jumped the shark lads, you can stop now. Back and forth match. Bryan hit Swagger with a flying knee off of the apron. Cesaro went for the big swing and Bryan countered with a small package, but Cesaro kicked out. Cesaro then hit a massive clothesline. But Bryan escaped the Neutraliser and ended up hitting La Mistica, into the YES Lock for the win. Not as good as their Raw match last year, but still good. Kane came out afterwards allowing Cesaro to hit Bryan from behind and give him the Neutraliser. Kane then hit a chokeslam as well.

– Renee interviewed Orton. Orton called Bryan’s win a fluke and said he’d beat the rest of his Chamber opponents, before retaining the title in the Chamber. Sheamus d. Ryback in 5:46. Axel got involved early, so Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick. Ryback got the upper hand for a while, but Sheamus avoided a big splash off the top. Sheamus made a comeback, before Ryback countered the Brogue Kick into a powerbomb for a near fall. As Ryback went for the meathook though, Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the pin.

– Bray Wyatt d. Goldust in 3:56. Cody and Goldust did an inset promo about being desperate to win back the Tag Team Titles. Harper and Rowan jumped Cody, distracting Goldust and leading to Bray getting the win with the Sister Abigail. After the match Cody came in to protect Goldust, before The Shield appeared on the screen. They responded to what the Wyatts said earlier.

– In the main event, Randy Orton d. Christian in 11:53. Christian hit a shoulder block from the top rope to the floor. After beating the count, Orton then grabbed the microphone (I presume this part was on the App on the US broadcast) and complained about being stuck in Des Moines because of the weather. Corny, but it worked. If this is what it takes to get crowds to react to Orton in a way that doesn’t involve chanting former wrestlers names, I’m all for it. Orton eventually took control of the match. Christian fought back and they had a back and forth finish. Christian missed a frog splash and Orton hit the DDT from the apron, before going for the RKO. Christian countered into a backslide for a near fall, then went for the Killswitch, which Orton countered. Orton then caught Christian trying a second rope sunset flip with a mid air RKO, ala 2011, for the win.