This Week In WWE TV – February 10-16, 2014

This week: If at first you don’t succeed, or are heckled by a hostile crowd, try try again, in a different city with a less hostile crowd. It’s Orton versus Cena! And it’s….. not bad at all. The MVP of the week is Cesaro though, who loses a first name but gains a couple of big wins in great matches. Plus, more good wrestling, Shield and Wyatts face off, Betty White, CJ Parker loves the environment, Big E becomes just Big E and Batista doesn’t get booed. Quite as much. Breaking tables trumps all I suppose.

RAW

– Big Show came out with Betty White at the start of the show and she said she was going to kick some ass. HHH and Stephanie interrupted to come to the ring and greeted Betty on the way, while Big Show gave HHH the evil eye. HHH said they were reconsidering Bryan as face of WWE, but also Sheamus, Christian, Cesaro and Cena, which brought out Orton. He apologised to them and he’d be bringing out The Viper for his championship reign, starting tonight. Crowd chanted for Bryan and Orton brought up Summerslam being in the same arena. Orton said he wanted to be the face of WWE outside the ring as well. Bryan interrupted. Stephanie said from now on, people would have to make appointments with Kane instead of interrupting them. Bryan pointed out beating Orton last week, despite Kane trying to help. He asked for a match with Kane. Stephanie said Kane had been given a letter of reprimand and been given a week’s administrative leave. Orton stood up for HHH and Stephanie and Bryan brought up their history. HHH then gave Bryan the night off.

– The Wyatt Family d. Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Goldust (Bray pinned Rey) in 6:54. Rey hit a sliding splash out of the ring onto Harper, with an assist from Cody, before the Wyatts worked over Goldust. Rey made a big comeback and hit a 619 to Harper. Cody took out Bray with a dive and Goldust hit a cannonball off the apron to Rowan. As Rey went for another 619 on Harper, Bray then tagged himself in and caught Rey on the run with a Sister Abigail in an awesome finish. Bray cut a promo on the Shield after. Renee then interviewed The Shield backstage. After they discussed the Wyatts, Renee pointed out Ambrose’s lack of US Title defences. Ambrose blamed paperwork and Roman called him out on it, so Ambrose issued an open challenge for the title.

– The divas were backstage with Betty. The New Age Outlaws showed up to protect her from any pranks. Fandango d. Santino Marella in 2:17. Miz came out and complained about not being on the show again. Fandango won with the legdrop off the top. Byron interviewed Sheamus, who said he respected Christian so he had no problem teaming with him tonight despite the Chamber. He said the Chamber was the last chance to get into the Wrestlemania main event and he’d kick anyone who got in his way.

– The Real Americans d. Sheamus and Christian (Sheamus pinned Swagger) in 11:06. Christian did an inset promo about the Chamber. They’re playing up that he’s ugly now. Or it’s all self referential. Zeb said Sheamus and Christian had found a way to sneak back into WWE and Cesaro, who got a pop, said he’d be the first Real American WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Some fun Cesaro and Sheamus interaction here. Crowd were into Cesaro. Cesaro got the big swing on Christian and almost won by count out. Sheamus then ran wild. Cesaro interrupted the Brogue Kick but got sent outside. Christian then saved Sheamus from the ankle lock and hit a DDT off the apron on Cesaro, leaving Sheamus to pin Swagger with the Brogue Kick. Great match.

– Renee interviewed Cena. He said him and Orton had dominated for a decade, but there was great change. He said the WWE Network would change things and the crowd were supporting new stars like Bryan. Cena said his match with Orton was the most important part of that timeline and it would define their future. He said he’d beat Orton to close their rivalry and if The Wyatts, The Shield, Cesaro and Bryan thought they had what it takes to carry the future of WWE, they’d have to go through him. Interesting. Alberto Del Rio d. Dolph Ziggler in 1:34 with a kneeling superkick. Ziggler probably ain’t making Cena’s list any time soon. After the match Del Rio put the cross armbreaker on Ziggler, so Batista came out and beat up Del Rio, before powerbombing him through the announce table.

– An airline instruction themed instructional video for the WWE Network, with The Bellas, aired. HHH warned Batista to keep things in the ring because they were a publicly traded company now. He gave Batista a match with Del Rio at Elimination Chamber. Batista said he guessed things really had changed around here. Lita was announced for the WWE Hall Of Fame. There was a segment backstage with Betty and the Outlaws, where they tried to give her a laxative, but she switched cups with Billy. The Usos d. RybAxel (Jimmy pinned Axel) in 4:23. Outlaws did commentary and Billy had some ‘problems’ during the match. Another good finish here, as Jey hit a dive onto Ryback and tagged Jimmy in mid-air, setting him up to win with the superfly splash. Outlaws teased confronting The Usos after the match, but Billy had to take a sudden detour and run backstage.

– WWE United States Championship: Mark Henry d. Dean Ambrose (c) by DQ in 4:58. Roman seemed amused at Henry being the opponent. Ambrose focused on Henry’s injured arm. When Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam, Rollins (but not Reigns) then ran in for the DQ. Reigns hit a spear on the floor but as The Shield were leaving, The Wyatts came out. The Shield came back over the barrier and both teams teased getting in the ring. Roman did get in the ring, but Bray decided not to.

– The Bellas and Cameron d. AJ, Aksana and Alicia Fox (Cameron pinned Aksana) in 4:42. Eva Marie was in the Total Divas team corner. Cameron pinned Aksana with the Girl Bye DDT. A new video for Rusev and Lana aired. Kane then came out. He claimed The Authority had nothing to do with him attacking Bryan, but Bryan interrupted and attacked Kane. Kane set up a chokeslam, but Bryan escaped and hit a big dive, before knocking him over the barrier with a dropkick. Kane left through the crowd and Bryan stood tall doing the YES chants.

– After Betty White thanked everyone for making her feel welcome, John Cena d. Randy Orton in 17:43. Crowd were split on Cena at the start. They at least gave the match a chance and the chants for other things/people were only intermittent. Orton hit a great looking DDT at one point. Cena fought back and they had a long back and forth finish. During this, either one or two people in the crowd tried to chant “Same Old Shit” at Orton. So Orton hit a DDT off the top rope and ‘flipped out’ on the fans. Cena got the STF and Orton grabbed the ropes. Orton tried the punt and Cena moved, but Orton countered the AA into an RKO for a near fall. Cena recovered to hit an AA for a closer near fall. Cena tried an AA off the top but Orton escaped. Cena then hit a legdrop off the top to the back of Orton’s head, followed by a second AA for the pin. This was good.

MAIN EVENT

– The Wyatt Family d. Sin Cara and Los Matadores (Bray pinned Sin Cara) in 10:42. Byron was on commentary this week. Wyatts largely dominated at the start. Sin Cara did make a brief comeback before flying into a big boot from Harper, before Diego fought back at the end. El Torito tried a dive on Harper and got caught, but Torito escaped and Fernando hit the dive. When Bray went after Torito, Sin Cara stopped him. Diego almost beat Rowan with a roll up and then hit a dive onto Harper. But Bray avoided the contact and made a blind tag, taking out Sin Cara and winning with the Sister Abigail. Better and more competitive match than you’d expect.

– Natalya d. Aksana by submission in 6:46. Alicia came out with Aksana, but only for her entrance for some reason. Aksana almost won countering a sharpshooter into a pin, but Natalya eventually got the sharpshooter for the win. Big E d. Drew McIntyre in 8:38. No Heath. Drew got the better of Big E for a while, but Big E fought back and won with the Big Ending. Drew ended up with a busted eye but it was hard to tell how. Jinder interrupted Big E’s celebration and demanded a match as well, leading to Big E d. Jinder Mahal in 0:38 with the Big Ending too.

NXT

– Natalya, Emma and Bayley d. Summer Rae, Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox (Emma submitted Alicia) in 7:25. Renee on commentary as usual for the womens matches. The BFFs had problems early before isolating Bayley. When Emma made a comeback, Summer and Sasha then decided they’d had enough and left Alicia to be beaten with the Emma Lock. And Aiden English d. Colin Cassady in 2:20 with the Director’s Cut.

– Sami came out and said he’d been rewatching his 2 out of 3 falls match with Cesaro and couldn’t figure out where he went wrong. Cesaro interrupted and called him pathetic. He said there was nothing Sami could have done, because he was always going to win. He told Sami he was better than him and Sami would have a great career ‘down here’, but he wouldn’t beat him. Sami said they went back a long way, even before the 2 out of 3 falls match and he respected Cesaro. Sami wanted one more match and asked if Cesaro was afraid. Cesaro pointed out Sami’s knee injury and wanted his word there’d be no excuses when he won again. Sami agreed and went to shake hands, but the crowd wanted a pinky swear instead. It didn’t matter, since Cesaro said no and kicked him in the knee, then threw the microphone at him. As Cesaro was leaving though, HHH came out and the crowd chanted “best for business”. HHH made the match for the live February 27th show.

– CJ Parker d. Tye Dillinger in 1:21 with Third Eye. After the match, he asked why the crowd didn’t love him, because he recycled and had a fuel efficient car. He claimed he should be booing the crowd for melting the polar ice caps and poaching his animals. The crowd responded to this by chanting USA. He said the crowd were incapable of love and from now on, he didn’t love the crowd either. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure even the near foolproof “turn the guy everyone hates heel and make him goofy until everyone changes their mind” tactic would work for Parker, but maybe I was wrong because this was actually amusing.

– In the main event The Wyatt Family d. Marcus Louis and Jason Jordan (Harper pinned Louis) in 0:58. Total squash. Crowd were at least into the Wyatts. Harper pinned Louis with the spinning clothesline, with Jordan not even tagging in. After the match, Bray gave Jordan the Sister Abigail and said NXT belonged to the Wyatts.

SUPERSTARS

– Natalya d. Tamina Snuka by submission in 4:40 in a rematch from last week with the sharpshooter and Big E d. Drew McIntyre in 7:03, again, in a rematch from Main Event, after knocking Jinder off the apron and hitting the Big Ending.

SMACKDOWN

– The Shield d. Daniel Bryan, Christian and Sheamus (Ambrose pinned Christian) in 12:41. Crowd super into Bryan at the start of course. Bryan got the YES Lock on Ambrose and it lead to a stand off between the two teams as Reigns and Rollins came in to save. Shield eventually worked over Bryan, then cut off Sheamus as he tried to make a comeback. Christian finally did make a comeback and Bryan got to run wild as well, hitting a five onto Reigns. Rollins then took out Bryan with a dive, leaving Christian and Ambrose. After Christian got a near fall with a reverse DDT, he avoided Rollins and Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick. Ambrose then countered the Killswitch and Sheamus accidentally hit the Brogue Kick on Christian, before Reigns hit the spear to Sheamus and Ambrose pinned Christian. Really good match.

– The Miz d. Fandango in 3:45. There was a completely random Undertaker chant here, which is at least better than the JBL chants because it’s vaguely spontaneous and thus not quite as tryhard. Either that or people want Fandango to beat the streak. The match was going fine before the chants, but fell apart a bit at the end. Fandango countered the figure four, but Santino and Emma came out. Summer confronted Emma and got shoved so slapped her. As they brawled Fandango went to grab Santino but got the Cobra, leading to Miz winning with the Skull Crushing Finale.

– Byron interviewed Cesaro. Cesaro asked Byron if he thought he could win at Elimination Chamber, but didn’t let him answer. He said he’d beat Orton and prove to him he could and will become WWE Champion. Intercontinental #1 Contendership, Fatal Four Way: Jack Swagger d. Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston (Swagger submitted Kofi) in 8:32. Big E did commentary. Big E is now just “Big E”, like Cesaro is now just “Cesaro”. All action match. Kofi and Rey hit dives. Henry then actually teased doing a dive as well, but got his knee clipped by Swagger. After Kofi hit Trouble In Paradise to Henry, Swagger gave a german suplex to Kofi as he was holding Rey, causing both guys to take the suplex. Kofi then hit Trouble In Paradise to Rey as he was going for a 619 to Swagger. Henry prevented the pin and got taken out by Kofi, before Swagger ended up getting Kofi in the ankle lock. Kofi escaped and went for Trouble In Paradise, but Swagger blocked and got the ankle lock again for the submission. This was fun.

– The Usos, Cody Rhodes and Goldust d. The New Age Outlaws and RybAxel (Jimmy pinned Road Dogg) in 10:58. Jey was cut off for much of the match. Jimmy ran wild and Cody hit a big dive on Axel. A double superkick then set Road Dogg up for the superfly splash, while Jey hit a dive over the ring post onto the other three members of Road Dogg’s team. Renee interviewed Orton, who said he understood why The Authority had set up the matches with his Chamber opponents and he’d give The Authority what they wanted, which was The Viper.

– After the Rusev and Lana video reaired, Darren Young d. Damien Sandow in 1:11. Titus did commentary. Darren won quick countering the You’re Welcome with a roll up. Titus attacked him after the match, but Darren fought back and Titus got away, not before getting his suit messed up.

– Before the main event, they showed a clip from HHH’s WWE.com interview, saying Cesaro was good enough to win the Chamber if people took him lightly. Cesaro d. Randy Orton in 12:44. Cesaro started stronger and Orton kept rolling outside to break the momentum. He sent Cesaro into the barrier to take over, then teased a shoulder injury and got the doctor to check on him, before cheap shotting Cesaro and dropping him on the barrier with a back suplex. Zeb actually played babyface manager and got the crowd into Cesaro. Back and forth at the end. Cesaro got the giant swing. Orton countered the Neutraliser and Cesaro landed on his feet, but ran into a powerslam. Cesaro countered the RKO with an uppercut and got a near fall with the pop up uppercut. An Orton superplex was turned into a sunset flip powerbomb by Cesaro. Cesaro then hit a spinning uppercut and the Neutraliser for the clean win. Announcers played this up big and this was a great match. Watch this if you haven’t already.