This Week In WWE TV – February 24-March 2, 2014

This week: An historic week as the WWE Network launches with pre and post shows for Raw and Smackdown, as well as providing new homes for NXT and Superstars, while Hulk Hogan returns to WWE after just over five years. Plus, Batista is awesome again so DEAL WITH IT, Undertaker returns, NXT ArRIVAL, Cesaro and Sami Zayn raise the bar again, The Wyatts and The Shield continue to battle, Bryan challenges Triple H, Cena gets stretchered out and a rough week for Damien Sandow.

RAW

– Show opened with Hogan coming out. Big reaction. He said this was the turning point of his career and he was officially home, brothers. He plugged the Network, after calling it the WWE Universe admittedly, but covering for it pretty smoothly. He also plugged being the official host of Wrestlemania 30 before asking what we were gonna do. In a rematch from Elimination Chamber, Alberto Del Rio d. Batista in 6:00. Boos for Batista again. At least everyone was nice to Hulk. Commentators acknowledged the boos. We got “you can’t wrestle”, “Boo-tista” and “Si” chants. Del Rio was competitive and did some damage to the arm. After a missed/whiffed kneeling superkick, Batista hit a spinebuster before Orton came out. The distraction allowed Del Rio to roll Batista up for the pin. Orton mocked Batista for losing and for the way the WWE Universe had reacted to his return. Batista said he loved this business and said the fans were honest, which Orton knew nothing about. He called Orton a whining, snivelling, kiss ass suck up and he was the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion, telling the crowd to “deal with it”.

– Big E d. Cesaro by DQ in 12:40. Fairly even match. Cesaro caught Big E in mid air and turned it into a tilt a whirl backbreaker at one point, which is kind of ridiculous strength. Big E had some flashes of strength too. Cesaro got a near fall with a pop up uppercut. Big E countered the big swing and dumped Cesaro with a big Samoa Joe style corner STO for two. In the end Swagger tried to take out Big E, who ducked and hit a clothesline. Cesaro got Big E in the big swing, but Swagger then came in and put Big E in the ankle lock, causing Cesaro to be disqualified. After the match Cesaro and Zeb both seemed annoyed with Swagger. When Big E went after Swagger though, Cesaro gave Big E a Neutraliser. Big E took an awkward landing, but presumably he was okay since he wrestled on Smackdown.

– Cena came out. He said it was spectacular to see Hogan back and plugged the Network as well. Cena talked about his message to the young stars having to go through him to prove they could carry WWE and said he’d put a target on himself, before talking about Bray costing him the Chamber match. Cena dared Bray to make another bold move and the Wyatts came out. Bray cut a promo on Cena. The Wyatts then surrounded and Cena tried to fight them off. Cena was beaten down and sold a knee injury. He got up and tried to attack but was beaten down again. The Wyatts then teased leaving, before Rowan distracted and Bray took Cena out with a crossbody attack. Cena was stretchered out during the break.

– Sheamus d. Christian in 12:44. They showed the setup to this match from the pre show, as Maddox interrupted them arguing backstage and made the match. Sheamus was favouring his ribs. Even match until Christian tripped Sheamus on the top rope and worked on the ribs. Sheamus got the cloverleaf but Christian made the ropes. Christian almost won with a sunset flip pin countering the White Noise. Sheamus then hit a tilt a whirl slam for a near fall before teasing the Brogue Kick. Christian ducked, but then leapt off the second rope into a Brogue Kick for the pin.

– HHH and Stephanie were shown arriving earlier and they talked up the Network. Bryan showed up shouting at HHH and challenged him to a match at Wrestlemania. HHH said he’d try to find a spot for Bryan on the card and Stephanie told him to take his aggression out on the person who deserved it, Kane. Backstage, Rollins and Reigns quizzed Ambrose about the Chamber match until Ambrose walked off. The Wyatts appeared and Reigns challenged Bray one on one. Bray accepted. They then went to Josh, Booker and Flair on the Backstage Pass panel.

– Daniel Bryan d. Kane in 12:37. Bryan’s shoulder was still taped up. Bryan went after Kane’s knee and Kane focused on Bryan’s arm. Bryan hit a dive and a dropkick against the barrier. Kane blocked a diving headbutt by catching Bryan by the throat and hit a chokeslam, but Bryan kicked out. After escaping the YES Lock, Kane went for another chokeslam. Bryan tried to turn it into the YES Lock and Kane threw him off, but Bryan ducked a clothesline and and hit the running knee for the pin. After the match, Bryan called HHH a coward and accused him of hiding behind his wife’s skirt. He told HHH to give the people what they wanted to see, HHH against Bryan at Wrestlemania 30.

– Another Rusev video aired. Emma d. Summer Rae by submission in 3:30 with the Emma Lock. The Usos d. The New Age Outlaws (Jimmy pinned Road Dogg) in 1:15. The referee called for the bell before Road Dogg had done his catchphrase. He asked The Usos to step out of the ring and let them do it. Which they did, at first, before coming back in and interrupting. Road Dogg took a superkick from Jimmy and Jey hit a dive on Billy, before Jimmy hit the superfly splash for the pin. Crowd booed The Usos a bit for interrupting the Outlaws.

– Bray Wyatt d. Roman Reigns by DQ in 10:38. Crowd chose this match for the random chants. Reigns made a comeback but when he set up for the superman punch, Rowan and Harper appeared. Rollins ran in and hit a big dive onto them though. As Harper and Rowan attacked, Ambrose ran out to make the save. Reigns then hit the superman punch to Bray, but as Reigns hit Harper, Ambrose attacked Bray for the DQ. Wyatts and Shield brawled after the match and The Shield cleared the ring.

– Backstage, Heyman told Lesnar they should act like gentlemen tonight and asked him not to tear anything or anybody up. Aaron Paul was announced for Raw next week. Lesnar and Heyman then came out. Heyman said Brock should be main eventing Wrestlemania and he wasn’t in a good mood. He said Orton and Batista should get their match out of the way and the winner should face Brock. Heyman said HHH and Stephanie had offered Lesnar an open contract at Wrestlemania and called it a consolation prize. He talked about all the championships and accomplishments Brock had made history by conquering. Heyman said the open contract didn’t mean anything to Brock and he wanted to make history, so they said ‘no thank you’ and they’d have Wrestlemania without Lesnar. As they went to leave though, Undertaker’s gong hit and Undertaker came out. Undertaker got in Brock’s face and looked at the Wrestlemania sign. Brock then signed the contract and gave Undertaker the pen to sign it too. Undertaker jammed the pen into Brock’s hand and chokeslammed him through the table.

MAIN EVENT

– Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Los Matadores and El Torito d. RybAxel and 3MB (Torito pinned Slater) in 7:20. RybAxel struggled against Cody and Goldust, until Ryback turned a disaster kick into a powerbomb. The heel team worked over Cody before Ryback shoved everybody but Torito off the apron, before Cody hit the disaster kick. Torito got the tag since he was the only one on the apron and he made a comeback on Slater, before Los Matadores hit dives on Drew and Jinder. Goldust hit a cannonball to Axel and Cody a dive on Ryback. That left Torito with Slater. And after a battle of hip thrusts, Torito beat Slater clean with a kneeling hurricanrana

– Alicia Fox and Aksana d. Natalya and Eva Marie (Aksana pinned Natalya) in 3:57. Eva was passable, aside from moving out of the way of a kneedrop too early. Natalya was sent into Eva by Aksana, who hit a spinebuster for the win. Bad News Barrett and his giant podium on a forklift appeared to deliver some Bad News about Spring Break. They showed a clip from Cole’s sitdown interview, which was with JBL this week to hype NXT ArRIVAL.

– In an Elimination Chamber rematch, Darren Young d. Titus O’Neil in 4:08, countering a fallaway slam into a sunset flip while Titus seemed in complete control. And Sin Cara d. Damien Sandow in 5:42. Sandow was frustrated coming out and more aggressive during the match. He lost again though after Sin Cara escaped the Royal Arch, hit a kick from the outside and hit the swanton for the pin.

NXT ArRIVAL

– The show started with HHH hyping up the crowd and a new opening video. Some extra touches to the presentation of the building too. Antonio Cesaro d. Sami Zayn in 23:02. Crowd into this from the start as you’d expect. Sami had new gear with flags of all the countries he’s wrestled in on. Cesaro went for the swing early but Sami countered and hit a dive. Cesaro took control. Sami fought Cesaro off as he tried to use the post and went for the tornado DDT through the turnbuckles, but Cesaro countered with an uppercut in mid move. He then worked on the knee. Cesaro caught Sami and turned an arabian press into a tilt a whirl slam onto the ramp. Sami hit an exploder into the turnbuckles and a blue thunder for near falls, before getting Cesaro in the Koji Clutch, which Cesaro broke out of and turned into a stretch muffler. Sami got to the ropes and countered the big swing with a roll up. Cesaro kicked out and gave Sami the big swing, then hit an uppercut in the corner. Sami turned the pin into a pin of his own, but Cesaro kicked out and double stomped Sami’s head for a near fall. Cesaro tried to counter a top rope hurricanrana into a super ricola bomb, but Sami turned that into the hurricanrana, then hit the Helluva Kick in the corner for a near fall. They teased Cesaro winning by knockout with some uppercuts but Sami wouldn’t stay down and eventually fought back. Sami hit a german suplex, but ran into a boot. Sami countered the Neutraliser and almost got the pin before a code red got another near fall. Cesaro hit a pop up uppercut but Sami kicked out at one. Cesaro then hit a roaring uppercut and the Neutraliser to get the win. After the match, Cesaro teased leaving, but came back and hugged Sami. Maybe the MOTY so far.

– Mojo Rawley d. CJ Parker in 3:23 with the Hyperdrive, which is the Earthquake butt splash. They showed video packages for various people on the roster throughout the show, the best one being Emma’s, which aired after the Mojo match. NXT Tag Team Championship: The Ascension (c) d. Too Cool in 6:41 to retain the titles. Too Cool were mystery opponents. Ascension have new music. After Grandmaster was worked over, Scotty made a comeback and went for the Worm on Viktor, but Viktor pulled him into the ropes and The Ascension won soon after with the Fall Of Man.

– Stephanie came out and did an introduction for the match putting over the NXT diva division, before holding the belt up before the match. NXT Womens Championship: Paige (c) d. Emma by submission in 13:02 to retain the title. New theme for Paige too. After a shoving match to start things started aggressively. Paige went for the Paige Turner early but Emma countered. Paige then countered the set up to the Emma Lock. Later Paige countered the Emma Lock again, before Emma took control working the ribs. After Emma hit a sit out powerbomb, we got a “better than Batista” chant. Paige made a quick comeback and hit the Paige Turner, but Emma kicked out. So Paige put Emma in a Scorpion Cross Lock for the win. Like Cesaro and Sami, they hugged after the match as well.

– Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze went to a no contest when Alexander Rusev interfered. Actually the match didn’t even really get started before Rusev came out. 35 seconds, the ‘match’ lasted. Woods and Breeze both tried to attack him and were left laying, Woods getting put in the Accolade as Lana put Rusev over as the next generation. Before the main event, Shawn Michaels came out. He plugged his DVD and put over the ladder match. NXT Championship, Ladder Match: Adrian Neville d. Bo Dallas (c) in 15:45 to win the title. New theme for Neville. Bo tried to go for the ladder straight away and was stopped. He got a ladder after tying Neville’s leg in the ropes, but had it dropkicked into his ribs. Neville then hit a dive. Bo took a back drop on the ramp and Neville went for the belt, but Bo knocked him off with another ladder. Bo climbed with Neville under the ladder, but Neville managed to tip it over. Bo tipped Neville off a ladder and Neville had a ladder fall on him after a collision of heads. Neville countered a bulldog onto the ladder and sent Bo into another ladder wedged in the corner. Bo stopped Neville from getting to the belt though and when Neville went for the corkscrew shooting star, he was pushed off the top rope and to the apron. As Bo tried to climb, Neville springboarded over him onto the ladder but Bo was able to stop him. Neville ended up taking a powerbomb into the ladder wedged in the corner, but recovered to drop Bo on a ladder and hit the corkscrew shooting star with Bo on the ladder. Neville then climbed up and got to the title before Bo could climb up to stop him.

SUPERSTARS

– Kofi Kingston d. Damien Sandow in 4:22. Kofi avoided Terminus and Sandow ducked Trouble In Paradise. Kofi fought off the Royal Arch though and caught Sandow in a small package. And in a eight man tag team match, Cody Rhodes, Goldust and Los Matadores d. Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre of 3MB and RybAxel (Cody pinned Drew) in 6:47. So basically the Main Event match without Heath and Torito. Torito distracted Ryback and early and when RybAxel surrounded him, Goldust and Cody hit a cannonball and a dive. That was cool. Matadores then hit dives on Drew and Jinder. Diego got worked over after Drew opened the ropes on him. Cody made a comeback and things broke down. Torito hit Slater with a hurricanrana off the apron and Cody won with Cross Rhodes on Drew.

SMACKDOWN

– The Real Americans d. Big E and Mark Henry (Cesaro pinned Henry) in 5:34. Swagger struggled early, before Cesaro hit the superplex from the apron on Big E. Swagger tagged himself back in mid move which Cesaro didn’t realise until he tried a pin. Henry got the tag and ran through Swagger but Cesaro hit a boot as he went for the World’s Strongest Slam. After sending Big E into the post, Cesaro tagged himself in as Swagger had Henry in the ankle lock and hit the Neutraliser for the win. Swagger and Cesaro celebrated together after the match though.

– Batista came out. Not the Batista of recent weeks. The good one. In a white trainers, jeans, white vest, sunglasses and flat cap combo. Batista said he loved this business and this company. He then said he didn’t come back to be liked or to please the fans, he came back to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion and told everyone to deal with it. He asked what had happened to the business and asked where all the real men were and what happened to the attitude. Batista told the crowd they were chanting the names of “190 pound wannabes” and they’d never be him, as the crowd chanted YES. He asked the crowd if they thought their heroes were as good as him and took off his vest to prove his point. Batista mocked the crowd and said he’d be systematically detroying everyone’s heroes on the way to main eventing Wrestlemania and posed. Batista’s back. Ziggler interrupted the posing and stood up for the fans. He called Batista a dinosaur and said a real man was standing in front of him right now. He challenged Batista and Batista laughed. Not just a regular laugh, he grabbed the ropes, slapped his knee and laughed, before accepting. Ziggler then hit a dropkick and Batista flipped out.

– Backstage, Del Rio spoke with Vickie. Vickie pointed out him and Batista were one and one. Del Rio claimed he’d come to ask for the rubber match, but since Batista had a match he’d take the night off. He tried flirting with her, but Sheamus came in and suggested a match with Del Rio which Vickie agreed to. Sheamus d. Alberto Del Rio by DQ in 3:36. Sheamus had his ribs taped. Christian, in a suit and sunglasses, came out to do commentary when Del Rio got the advantage. When Sheamus got the cloverleaf on Del Rio, Christian then ran in for the DQ. Sheamus sent him outside and avoided the cross armbreaker from Del Rio before hitting a Brogue Kick. But Christian ran back in and hit the Killswitch.

– Backstage, The Shield argued. Or at least Ambrose and Reigns did. Rollins told them to zip it. He told them to show Bray they were still the hounds of justice. Batista d. Dolph Ziggler in 6:29. Ziggler was competitive at the start before Batista took out the knee to take control. Ziggler fought back near the end and got a near fall with the fameasser before going for the sleeper. Batista threw Ziggler off though and hit three spinebusters and the Batista Bomb for the win.

– The Wyatts came out and Bray cut a promo about people living a lie and Cena being the poster boy with a plastic smile. The Shield interrupted and got into a stand off with the Wyatts, but HHH came out and said he had too much money invested in them all so a rematch wouldn’t happen, without some promotion and it’d happen on Raw instead. He told The Shield to stand down and Bray mocked them, so The Shield got in the ring. Rollins and Ambrose hit dives on Harper and Rowan, before getting back in the ring. But Bray left and held Harper and Rowan back from fighting.

– WWE Divas Championship: AJ (c) d. Cameron by submission in 2:16 to retain the title. A lot of screeching from Cameron in this match. Tamina got thrown out for helping AJ avoid a splash in the corner. AJ still managed to win with the Black Widow though. In the main event, Daniel Bryan and The Usos d. Kane and The New Age Outlaws (Bryan pinned Billy) in 11:05. Usos and Bryan were on top at the start, but Kane and the Outlaws eventually cut off Jimmy. Bryan ran wild until Kane hit a clothesline as he went for a dive. Kane tried to double chokeslam The Usos but they delivered a double superkick. The Usos hit dives on Road Dogg and Kane. Billy then hit the Fameasser on Bryan, but Bryan kicked out. After avoiding a back suplex, Bryan then beat Billy with the running knee.