Michael Cole came out to initial boos but then polite applause. JBL came out hatless but the crowd chanted his name loudly. Finally, Jerry Lawler was out to a mega pop and “Jerry” chants. There was no pyro to start Raw. Lilian sang “God Save the Queen”…
A recap of last week was shown and focussed on Randy Orton turning babyface. A “Where’s Our Network?” chant started again only it was louder this time…
John Cena came out to mega boos. The crowd sang John Cena sucks during his intro. Cena looked a little rattled. He tried and failed to get the crowd behind him. The fans started up the network chant again. Cena said he understands and the crowd got behind him. There was even a “Yes” chant. He used the lack of the network in the UK and blamed The Authority.
Cena got back on track and said The Authority have stopped people from joining his Survivor Series. He said Zack Ryder’s real life injury was the result of him saying he wanted to join. He said Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler would be his first two teammates. He said The Authority scared everyone else. He said he wants his opponent tonight, Ryback, to come down to the ring to talk.
There was yet another “Where’s Our Network” chant again as The Authority got in the ring. Triple H said Cena is right in that everything is on the line. He was drowned out by network chant. Triple H waffled for two minutes about playing the game, saying the same thing in 70 different ways. He said The Authority always wins. Triple H said Jack Swagger and laughed, then mockingly said Dolph Ziggler’s name and made him out to be “the little tiny guy.” Cena came back with a Daniel Bryan line.
Steph waffled about Team Authority. She tried to recruit Ryback for Team Authority. Triple H followed up by offering Ryback more. Ryback thought about it and smiled. Cena called them wankers. Cena ran down The Authority. Cena asked Ryback which side he was on. The crowd chanted “Feed Me More.” Ryback said he’s not afraid of The Authority, but he doesn’t see Ryback at the bottom of his paycheck. He turned around and gave Cena a spinebuster to presumably join Team Authority…
1. Seth Rollins defeated Jack Swagger. Unbelievably, people in droves headed to the bar. Rollins and Swagger both got lukewarm reaction. The crowd was silent for a pretty decent match. They came alive to chant “We The People, which was weird. The crowd chanted for all three commentators. One section of fans chanted for Jim Ross. Swagger put Seth in ankle lock at ringside. The new stooges Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble interfered. Seth put Swagger in the ring and hit the Curb Stomp for the 1-2-3. Swagger appeared to be busted open in the middle of the ring as doctors tended to him. The Authority stood over him. Seth hit another Curb Stomp…
Highlights of Smackdown were shown of Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt on The Peep Show…
There was a backstage promo from Ambrose. He said he’s not trying to be a hero. Every time he gets in the ring he faces demons worse than Wyatt. He said he hopes there’s a special place in hell for both of them. Wyatt vs. Ambrose was confirmed for Survivor Series…
Ryback shown backstage to boos. Kane told him that tonight would his opportunity to take out Cena. Kane said if he wants to be a successful cog in The Authority machine then he needs humility. They were already building tension between Kane and Ryback…
2. Paige defeated Alicia Fox. Page received a huge reaction. Biggest pop of the night so far. A “Let’s go, Paige” chant started, followed by England. It was a basic Diva match with Paige winning via pinfall in about three minutes.
Hunter and Stephanie watched the Vince announcement from last week. Steph said its a test. She’s been tested her whole life. Hunter questioned if he was trying to split them. Hunter again disparaged Ziggler and said they will overcome. Steph questioned “what if?” Triple H said as long as they have each other they will be fine and they kissed…
Rusev and Lana were shown walking backstage before they were stopped by Stephanie. Lana said they are still considering. Steph said consider this you stupid Russian twit. You scratch my back… As the video was playing they setup the ring for an interview segment which presumably was for Rusev as there was a Russian flag… They showed various vehicle incidents in WWE history…
Rusev came out with the lovely Lana. They showed highlights of his U.S. Title win from the network last week, which didn’t go down well. Lana said Rusev is “your champion.” How ironic? She said he wears it as a symbol of how much better Russia is than the United States, which got a pop. Rusev was told that mother Russia is proud of him. There was a random chant of “Winston Churchill” followed by “what?” chants. They played the Russian national anthem, which was boo’d heavily. This was interrupted by Sheamus, who charged the ring and cleared the Russian party…
3. Rusev defeated Sheamus to retain the U.S. Title. Decent match to start. At one point, Rusev threw Sheanus over his head into the announce table. There were a couple slow moments which were clearly rest holds. There were loud C.M. Punk chants at one point followed by Bad News Barrett. People got restless and started booing the steward, who took signs from the fans. Then there was a loud boring chant. There appeared to be a blown spot when they missed a roll up, which was awkward and led to a loud “you f’d up” chant.
Sheanus went for a Brogue Kick, but Rusev bailed to ringside. Sheanus and Rusev fought on the outside. Rusev got in the ring at nine, but it appeared Noble and Mercury ran out to stop Sheamus from getting in the ring. It was hard to tell from Haydn’s distance. The match started well, but went about 15-20 mins and lost the crowd completely…
As Rusev and Lana were walking backstage. Steph applauded and asked if they had considered further. Lana said they would join Team Authority. Lana started to say “Vladimir Putin would…” but Steph said she doesn’t care what Putin wants, it’s what The Authority want…
Ryback was backstage. Seth Rollins told him as captain that Ryback did the right thing by joining. He said it will be his honor to captain the team. He said they have had their differences but they need to be on the same page. Ryback said his game plan is simple, he finds his target and he destroys it…
4. The Miz and Mizdow defeated Los Matadores. Hornswoggle came out dressed like The Miz. Watching Mizdow sell on the ring apron live was hilarious. Sandow got a great pop every time he came into the ring. The finish came when Miz suplexed one of the matadors into the ring and Mizdow grabbed his leg from outside the ring…
Backstage, Ziggler was complained about their number shortage to Cena, who said he would understand if Dolph wanted to jump ship. Ziggler said no chance, for once they are on the same page and he wants to get rid of The Authority. Triple H came in confidently and asked why the long faces. He said Ziggler would have to face Henry with Cena banned from ringside. Triple H said Swagger is out of their team. Triple H said what’s that song? Another one bites the dust. That caused the crowd to sing along. Surely, not what you want from your lead heel surely…
Dolph Ziggler came out to a great pop. We had just been treated to See No Evil 2 trailer so anyone would have received a pop. Mark Henry came out as they showed highlights of last week’s match between him and Big Show…
5. Dolph Ziggler beat Mark Henry by DQ. Much better match than it had any right to be. Henry threw the bell at Ziggler and got disqualified. Henry picked up the ring steps tried to put them in the ring, but they got stuck in the ropes which made the crowd laugh. He threw Ziggler inside the ring and went to hit the World’s Strongest Slam on the ring steps. Out came Big Show, who cleared the ring. Show grabbed a microphone and announced he was joining Team Cena…
The Smackdown main event will be Kane and Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho…
Sheanus joined Team Cena in a backstage segment…
6. AJ Lee beat Brie Bella (w/Nikki Bella). There were loud C.M. Punk chants during Lee’s entrance. Not a great match. Lee won with the Black Widow. Nikki attacked AJ after the match to no reaction whatsoever. She posed over AJ with the belt…
Ryback was shown backstage again this time with Henry. They talked about their WrestleMania match and Henry welcomed Ruback to the team… It was announced that Grumpy Cat will be guest starring on Raw next week…
7. Tyson Kidd defeated Adam Rose. Great reaction from the UK for Rose. Highlights showed Rose knocking out The Bunny. Erick Rowan came to ringside during the match. The Bunny distracted Rose, allowing Kidd put Rose in the Sharpshooter for the submission victory. Rose attacked The Bunny again…
8. John Cena beat Ryback by DQ. The match went about 20 minutes, methodical and slow as you would expect with Ryback on offense. Ryback got disqualified when Kane came in the ring. Kane and Ryback stood off with Rollins acting as peacemaker. Ryback hit Rollins, then Kane knocked Ryback out of the ring. All Team Authority attacked Cena, which brought out each of Team Cena individually. They got knocked down. Ryback got back in the ring and cleared Team Authority and left on his own. That’s where I believe the taping ended…
