It was another busy week in WWE, as Legends resurfaced, championships changed hands and big announcements regarding upcoming title bouts were made.
On Raw, the plot thickened concerning the WWE Title and the COO. Triple H announced a CM Punk-John Cena main event, with the winner facing Alberto Del Rio for the gold at Night Of Champions. Beforehand, Punk interrupted Kevin Nash and Triple H, telling both men what he thought of them. When Punk insulted The Game once too many times, Nash clocked him with a right-hand, meaning that HHH had to throw the "unemployed" Nash out of the building.
Soon afterwards, John Laurinitis told HHH that Nash had been in a car accident, meaning that HHH left the arena. Laurinitis was in charge, and at ringside (along with Del Rio) for the Punk-Cena match. Cena won after Nash distracted Punk, but was assaulted afterwards by his opponent at NOC, Del Rio.
Elsewhere on Raw: Beth Phoenix and Natalya again applauded Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres after they were victorious (although it's likely to be a set-up). Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne beat David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty for the Tag Team Titles (I can't see the ex-Nexus members doing much now after that). Dolph Ziggler cost Jack Swagger a match with Alex Riley, and saw his relationship with Vickie Guerrero continue to weaken in the aftermath. The Miz and R-Truth pounded Santino Marella, and appeared to team up against the "conspiracy" on Raw. And Del Rio himself beat John Morrison, whilst it was announced that Rey Mysterio - last seen being beaten by Del Rio the night after SummerSlam - would miss months of action due to an injury.
On SmackDown, Bret Hart was the guest General Manager, since SD was in the Hitman's hometown of Calgary. Christian, long story short, got a Steel Cage match with Randy Orton for the World Title on the SuperSmackDown next week from Bret - although the chances of him winning the gold for the third time, knowing that Mark Henry will face the victor, are unlikely.
Other SD talking points: Christian defeated Daniel Bryan; Randy Orton beat Ted DiBiase, who afterwards was dumped by his "Life trainer" Cody Rhodes; Ezekiel Jackwon was impressive in beating The Great Khali with the Torture Rack (after a minor miscommunication with Khali and Jinder Mahal, which could see their alliance begin to crumble); Sin Cara defeated Heath Slater; and Mark Henry's match with Sheamus resulted in Henry pounding the Celtic Warrior at ringside. An eventful episode, but the emphasis is on next week's SuperSD, with the Cage match and a clash between Del Rio and Sin Cara.
Due to SummerSlam last week, I never had much room for NXT and Superstars in the previous piece, but will give a quick recap of this week's shows here: in between the brand new main event storyline for NXT (namely, highlights of the Raw main event), Darren Young continued to bully poor Matt Striker; Derrick Bateman's new girlfriend Maxine beat AJ in her NXT return; and Tyson Kidd was denied a hometown victory over Trent Barreta by a mysterious Japanese symbol on the Titan Tron - the second in as many weeks. Is it Yoshi Tatsu, returning for vengeance? If so, it was a clanger having Yoshi in the SmackDown Battle Royal last week, and eliminated fairly quickly - and this, while Kidd was in the same match.
Superstars was unique this week, in that it actually featured some, well, Superstars. Sheamus made an appearance, beating Heath Slater in the battle of the red-heads, while Brodus Clay beat another "hometown hero" and Daniel Bryan beat Drew McIntyre in the main event.
And Vintage Collection (I know it isn't current, but it's usually good for nostalgia) focused, as it will for the next few weeks, on Champions (in the run-up to Night Of Champions). WCW Clash Of The Champions was under the microscope this week. It was fairly enjoyable, although editing out the weapon shot that ended the Lex Luger-Rick Steiner World Title main event, on a night-time viewing, dampened the entertainment factor a bit.
There weren't many choice quotes on WWE TV this week, so I'll mention a few humorous fan signs:
"Tear Up My Sign" (Raw)
"I Texted Nash" (Raw)
I also meant to do this last week, but forgot, so I'll insert last week's and this week's Things Of The Week here.
Superstar Of The Week (Last week): Alberto Del Rio for becoming WWE Champion and beating Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan.
Match Of The Week (Last week): The No Holds Barred match between Randy Orton and Christian.
Show Of The Week (Last week): SummerSlam, although it was only average until midway through.
And now, for this week:
Superstar Of The Week (This week): For two good matches with Christian and Drew McIntyre, it's Daniel Bryan. Or DBryan, as Booker T calls him.
Match Of The Week (This week): I would have said the Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho match shown From The Vault on SmackDown. But, as it was old footage, it's a surprise nod to Tyson Kidd vs Trent Barreta on NXT, with Bryan vs McIntyre a close second.
Show Of The Week (This week): Raw was eventful, but SmackDown had more noteworthy moments, so SD gets this one.
I would have concluded with the humorous quotes; but, as there weren't really any this week, I'll end with my predictions concerning the weeks ahead.
On Raw, Cena will probably retailiate to Del Rio's attack, but the big question concerns Nash. Obviously, he wasn't in a car accident, but did Laurinitis know that Nash hadn't? What about HHH? And what about Cena? Big questions are waiting to be answered on Raw, as the connection - assuming there is one - between HHH, Nash, Laurinitis and possibly Del Rio and Stephanie McMahon looks too obvious to remain a secret. It may wait until Night Of Champions; but a major hint or talking point (i.e. perhaps some sort of ultimatum for HHH to show whose side he's on) should come out of the next Raw. I still wouldn't rule out another Cliquer getting involved, either.
As for SD: I can't see Christian beating Orton in the Cage. Orton will win here, and face Mark Henry at NOC. As I said last week, a final Orton-Christian match in Hell In A Cell would have been good, but with the Cage match coming up, I doubt it would happen now. It's more likely that Henry would get a second chance at Orton in the Cell, after some sort of DQ at NOC. Might a sustained beating by Henry in the latter match provide Daniel Bryan with a chance to turn bad and cash in his Money In The Bank to become World Champion?
And my predictions for the Night Of Champions card - some matches already announced, others not - are as follows: Cena vs Del Rio (WWE Title), Orton vs Henry (World Title), Cody vs DiBiase (IC Title), Miz and R-Truth vs Kofi and Bourne (Tag Titles), Dolph vs Swagger vs Riley (US Title), Beth vs Natalya vs Eve vs Kelly (Divas Title) and CM Punk vs Kevin Nash. I won't predict all of the results just yet, since only the Cena match is currently scheduled to happen.
That's all for this week. We'll see you next week; good night everybody!
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