This Week In WWE TV – December 10-16, 2012

This week: With CM Punk on the shelf, The Shield are given the opportunity to step up in his place at TLC. That place being throwing ladders at people, putting them through tables and hitting them with chairs to set up a PPV. Plus, Cody’s moustache, crazy AJ, The Shield’s malfunctioning camera and once you see upside down Sheamus face you will never unsee it.

RAW

– Ziggler started the show in the ring, stood on a ladder. He said TLC was Cena’s Christmas, but it wouldn’t be a merry one. Ziggler claimed after he won, he’d cash in on Big Show and become World Champion. Sheamus interrupted and said he’d have to cash in on him, not Big Show, after TLC. Sheamus said he didn’t think Ziggler would win and he’d be facing Cena instead. Show came out and called them delusional. He dared Ziggler to try and cash in tonight. Sheamus and Show exchanged words, before Sheamus tipped Ziggler off the ladder.

– Vince showed up before the next match and brought out Vickie. He coaxed Vickie into making Sheamus against Ziggler tonight. She then tried to book AJ in a handicap match, but Vince ‘suggested’ she face Vickie instead.

– R-Truth d. Wade Barrett in 1:52. Kofi and Cesaro did commentary. Truth caught Barrett with a surprise cradle for the victory and got in Cesaro’s face. Kofi then hit a crossbody on Wade to add insult to injury.

– Backstage AJ spoke to Aksana. She ran into Kaitlyn, on the way to find Cena. AJ burst into the men’s locker room and Cena had to get rid of her.

– Four Way Elimination Match: Team Rhodes Scholars d. Primetime Players, Primo and Epico and The Usos in 7:46. First things first. Cody had an amazing moustache in his return from injury. The winners of this advanced to TLC to face Rey and Sin Cara for the number one contendership. Primo was out first, after a superfly splash from Jimmy. Young then got pinned the same way during the commercial, to try and sell WWE’s new phone app which I guess shows live feed during commercials. Finally, after Cody’s moustache got it’s own chant, Cody got his knees up on a splash and hit Cross Rhodes on Jimmy.

– Eve Torres d. Alicia Fox in 2:31. Eve won with a rolling neckbreaker. She had someone take pictures of her afterwards.

– Punk, on crutches, came out with Heyman. He assured everyone his surgery was real and he wasn’t ducking Ryback. Heyman got mad at the crowd for disrespecting Punk. He said Punk didn’t have a stunt double like The Rock and put Punk over for showing up, unlike Rock. Punk dares anyone to strip him of the title, because nobody could take the title from him the past 388 days. He guaranteed Rock would fail at Royal Rumble too.

– Sheamus d. Dolph Ziggler by DQ in 11:45. Sheamus went after Ziggler’s injured leg. Injured coming off the ladder in the opening segment, by the way. Ziggler gained control for a while and posted Sheamus’s shoulder at one point, but Sheamus fought back. Ziggler hit a nasty looking x factor off the top for two. Both then came up with counters, until Sheamus set up the Brogue Kick. But Ziggler ducked and rolled outside, then hit Sheamus with a chair for the DQ. He went to hit Sheamus again, but Sheamus Brogue Kicked the chair away and Ziggler escaped. Good match despite the finish.

– Vince walked in and found Hornswoggle and Khali trying to help Vickie stretch. He said he thought this was supposed to be a family show and left disgusted. I laughed. So sue me.

– The Shield promo from Smackdown re aired. The camera cutting style really doesn’t make much sense if you think about it, but at least they’re trying to make them stand out and be different.

– Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder by submission in 6:29. Alberto lost to Sheamus on Smackdown, which meant either Zack or Sin Cara was getting tapped out here. Zack drew the short straw this week. Somebody rescue Alberto from this perpetual cycle he’s stuck in, please! At least Zack’s ‘token boot in the corner’ hasn’t been so token the past few weeks.

– Vickie Guerrero d. AJ in 2:13 with Brad Maddox as referee. Vickie dominated AJ for a while, before AJ got mad and prevented Vickie from running away. Maddox refused to count her pin though and Vickie rolled AJ up for the win. Afterwards AJ snapped and slapped Justin Roberts. Cena calmed AJ down backstage.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Kofi Kingston in 10:17. Before the match Cesaro insulted New Jersey. Cesaro controlled things for the majority, before Kofi hit an SOS, but Cesaro grabbed the bottom rope at the last moment. Cesaro then caught Kofi off the top, turned it into a tilt a whirl backbreaker, then won with the Neutraliser. Finish looked cool, this was in a rough spot on the show though and felt twice as long as a result.

– Miz came out onto the stage to do MizTV, with Sandow and Cody. The fans chanted for the moustache again. Sandow asked everyone to attempt to act like adults, while he reintroduced the new and improved Cody Rhodes. Cody said they were a shining beam of light. Miz made fun of the moustache. He said they wouldn’t even beat Rey and Sin Cara, let alone Kane and Bryan. Sandow criticised Miz’s hosting skills. Miz tried to create tension between them, but Cody wasn’t buying it and they left. Cody and Sandow made this the closest to a good MizTV segment you’ll ever see. You’re welcome.

– John Cena d. Big Show by DQ in 10:47. Ziggler did commentary. Cena went for the AA early but got crushed. Cena made his big comeback but Show hit a chokeslam for two. He then went for the KO punch but Cena ducked and hit the AA. Before Cena could pin though, The Shield ran in and attacked Cena. Team Hell No tried to make the save, but Ziggler and Show joined in. Sheamus and Ryback both ran out to even the odds and the show ended with a big brawl involving all ten guys.

MAIN EVENT

– Ricardo interrupted Miz and Cole before the match to hype up Del Rio. He said he’d made a 17 minute video tribute for Alberto that he would like to show. The video, which was great, basically centered around how amazing Del Rio was. Ryback interrupted the video a few minutes in though, much to Ricardo’s consternation. Alberto told Ryback he was disgusting for interrupting a tribute to the greatest man in WWE history.

– Ryback d. Alberto Del Rio in 9:15. Del Rio was competitive, relatively speaking. Ryback posted his shoulder and Alberto got the advantage briefly. Ryback fought back and after Alberto went for the arm, avoided the cross armbreaker and ran through him with Shell Shocked.

– Striker interviewed Ryback. Ryback said to beat The Shield, he and Team Hell No had to act like The Shield and feed together. Striker pointed out he was a lone wolf, but Ryback said YES YES YES.

– 3MB came out. They were annoyed they didn’t get an invite to perform at the Hurricane Sandy benefit concert. Drew complained about not being asked to perform on WWEs’s Rolling Stones PPV as well. They promised a taste of their first demo tonight. Kidd and Gabriel interrupted what was basically a bunch of screaming. Kidd challenged them to a match and 3MB agreed, so long it was 3 on 2.

– 3 on 2 Handicap Match: 3MB d. Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd (Slater pinned Kidd) in 8:51. 3MB worked over Tyson briefly before Gabriel ran wild on Drew. He was pulled to safety before a 450 could happen. Gabriel and Kidd both hit dives, before Drew tackled Gabriel into the steps to regain control. 3MB prevented the tag a few times, but eventually Kidd got the tag and ran wild. Things broke down, with Gabriel hitting a crossbody and taking out Jinder, then Kidd getting rid of Drew. But a cheapshot by Drew from the floor allowed Slater to win with the Smash Hit. As handicap matches go, this was really good.

NXT

– Paige d. Sasha Banks in 4:05. Crowd were pro Paige as usual. Banks looked good, before losing to the Paige Turner.

– Roman Reigns was interviewed. He got annoyed at the interviewer, saying they operated on his time. He fielded a phone call mid interview and then just left.

– Ohno and Kruger cut a promo backstage. They said Steamboat, Barreta and Kidd had all crossed them and regretted it. Ohno said Regal disappointed him and if he got involved again, he’d be going to the ICU.

– An unnamed Erick Rowan d. Oliver Grey in 1:58. Bray Wyatt said some words before the match and introduced his “son”. Bray watched from the crowd as his guy won with a side slam. If you want a mental picture of Rowan, think Sheamus, but, upside down. It’s actually rather distracting.

– Dusty Rhodes came out and addressed Vickie. He told her she made no decisions on NXT and there would be no bounties. Camacho interrupted, mad that there was no bounty because he needed the money. He said if Dusty erased the bounty, he’d reopen it on him. Big E showed up, so Dusty put them in a match next week and gave Camacho chance to find a partner to make it a handicap match. Somebody in the crowd had a giant (ie, Big) “E” sign, which is genius.

– Big Show did a promo saying he was going to answer Bo Dallas’s challenge and make sure he never got any further in WWE than he was right now.

– NXT Championship: Seth Rollins (c) d. Jinder Mahal in 16:13 to retain the title. NXT finally caught up to Jinder, as he was in 3MB mode here, albeit solo. Jinder stalled at the start. Rollins dictated things until Jinder blocked a springboard and pushed Rollins all the way to the floor. Jinder worked him over, before Rollins began to fight back. A dive took out Jinder, before Jinder countered a top rope hurricanrana and almost got the pin. Rollins survived and caught Jinder taunting with a buckle bomb. A series of counters lead to Jinder trying the camel clutch but Rollins getting the ropes. A kneeling superkick then set up a standing sliced bread for the pin. Almost as good as their first match. As Rollins left, Corey Graves appeared in the crowd ‘applauding’ for Rollins.

SUPERSTARS

– Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre of 3MB d. Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd (Jinder pinned Kidd). Striker made a reference to Kenta Kobashi retiring for some reason, because he’s Matt Striker and that’s the kind of thing he does. Kidd and Gabriel displayed some tag team moves early, including an assisted dive. Eventually 3MB were able to cut off Gabriel. Kidd ran wild and hit a blockbuster, but Slater put Jinder’s foot on the rope. Kidd took out Slater and Gabriel hit a dive on Drew. But Kidd got hung up on the ropes and hit with a full nelson slam by Jinder.

– Brodus Clay d. Michael McGillicutty in 3:31. Brodus won decisively with the big splash and danced with some children.

SMACKDOWN

– Big Show d. R-Truth in 4:44. Both Sheamus and Cesaro did commentary. They got into it during the match when Cesaro teased going after Truth. Big Show got the win with the KO punch, before goading Sheamus to hit him. While he was distracted Cesaro hit Sheamus from behind. He ran away, while Big Show realised that Sheamus bumped into him and celebrated the match being off.

– Show went to Booker backstage, trying to claim the no contact clause had been violated. Booker didn’t want to hear it and said if Show was scared of Sheamus, he should just say it. He said the match was still on.

– Team Rhodes Scholars d. The Usos (Sandow pinned Jimmy) in 3:53. Sandow announced before the match that, after two weeks, he had found noone worthy of being his apprentice and reintroduced his tag team partner “and best friend” Cody instead. Sandow rolled up Jimmy with the tights for the pin.

– Backstage, Otunga looked over the no contact clause for Big Show and they agreed to go to the ring. They threatened to go to the board, until Booker came out. Booker was unmoved. Sheamus came to the ring with a chair and threatened to hit Big Show, so Show decided not to proceed any further. Sheamus then gave Otunga a Brogue Kick.

– Orton was found being attacked backstage by The Shield. They later had Striker announce Orton had a separated shoulder and possible concussion.

– Kaitlyn d. Aksana in 4:18. Aksana seriously held onto the same head and chinlock for about 4 minutes straight before Kaitlyn won with a gutbuster. That was the match. Wow.

– Miz hosted MizTV with Kane and Bryan as guests. Bryan said he and Kane would unleash all of their anger on The Shield at TLC. Kane said he and Bryan were on the same page now thanks to The Shield and they were unstoppable. The Shield appeared on the screen and said they should ask Randy Orton what happens when they’re threatened. The Shield appeared in the crowd, but Ryback came out and The Shield decided to turn around.

– Great Khali, Hornswoggle, Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel d. The Primetime Players, Primo and Epico (Kidd pinned Primo) in 3:18. Kidd was cut off and got slapped by Rosa, leading to another altercation with Natalya. A surprise roll up then got Kidd the pin and the faces then cleared the ring.

– Kofi Kingston d. Alberto Del Rio in 8:44. Match started fairly evenly. Del Rio got the advantage after Kofi hit a dive, but was then sent into the post. Kofi rallied and countered a suplex with a roll up for the victory. After the match Wade tried to attack Kofi but was hit with Trouble In Paradise.

– Sheamus spoke with Regal backstage. Regal warned Sheamus not to let Big Show get to him tonight. Sheamus told him not to worry, he’d wait until TLC.

– Antonio Cesaro d. Sheamus by count out in 7:22. Cesaro was able to ground Sheamus for a while before Sheamus built momentum. But Sheamus noticed Big Show on the stage, with an injured Regal. Show hit Regal in the back with a chair, with Sheamus unable to do anything because of the contact clause. Meanwhile, he got counted out.