‘WWE RAW’ 12/16/13 Results + Notes – Bryan Vs. Orton, Shawn Michaels Confronts CM Punk, Brodus Clay Done Being Funky
Venue: American Airlines Center (Dallas, TX)
Commentators: Michael Cole, JBL, & Jerry Lawler
One night removed from unifying the World Titles, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton saw non-title action in the main event of this week’s RAW against arguably his biggest rival Daniel Bryan. Shawn Michaels also made a surprise appearance to jaw with CM Punk, Brodus Clay finally had enough of Tons of Funk, and the WWE Tag Team Champions lost another non-title match.
Read on for results and notes from the show. I was at the show live but didn’t keep match times.
Match Results
1. Non-Title Match: Rey Mysterio & The Big Show defeated *WWE Tag Team Champions* Cody Rhodes & Goldust when Mysterio pinned Goldust.
- Notes: Mysterio & Show were voted by the WWE Universe to face Rhodes & Goldust on WWE.com.
2. Dolph Ziggler defeated Fandango [w/ Summer Rae] via pinfall with an inside cradle.
3. *WWE Intercontinental Champion* Big E Langston & Mark Henry defeated The Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Antonio Cesaro) [w/ Zeb Colter] when Langston pinned Cesaro with the BIG ENDING.
- Live Notes: The TX crowd ragged on Swagger the entire night for his OU background and he played to that heat beautifully. Henry also joined in, using the Longhorn hand gesture to get the crowd even more on his side.
4. Ryback & Curtis Axel defeated Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & Tensai) [w/ The Funkadactyls] when Ryback pinned Tensai with SHELL SHOCK.
- Post-Match: Clay splashed Tensai repeatedly until R-Truth and Xavier Woods (who were on commentary for the match) intervened. Clay walked off and spouted off once more about being a main event player. Truth invited The Funkadactyls to come dance with he and Woods and that they did…while Tensai was still motionless from being splashed.
5. The Shield (*WWE United States Champion* Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Roman Reigns) defeated CM Punk & The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) when Reigns pinned Punk with a SPEAR.
- Note: The Usos were voted in as Punk’s partners via the WWE App.
- Live Notes: Punk was awesome throughout the match, totally getting into the Usos chants and playing the cheerleader babyface role better than I expected him to. He appeared to be actually enjoying himself which was a nice change of pace.
6. *WWE Divas Champion* AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka, & Alicia Fox defeated Natalya & The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella) when Lee pinned Nikki Bella following a running knee.
- Notes: Nikki Bella covered her face for the remainder of the match following a stiff superkick from Snuka, signaling she either broke her nose or lost some teeth during that exchange.
7. Non-Title Match: Daniel Bryan defeated *WWE World Heavyweight Champion* Randy Orton via DQ when Orton caught Bryan with a low-blow.
- Live Notes: Orton started bleeding early in the match and was patched up by the ringside doctor during what I assume was the commercial. The crowd was absolutely insane for this match throughout, louder than for anything else during the show.
- Post-Match: John Cena came out after the match and laid into Orton, but was caught with an RKO when he went to check on Bryan after. Orton posed with both belts to end the episode.
- Off-Air: John Cena beat Randy Orton via DQ in a dark match with special guest referee Booker T. Cena then hit Orton with an Attitude Adjustement and Booker T did a Spinerooni to send the fans home happy.
Important Segments
-The episode opened with the entire WWE roster (including The Wyatts!) on the stage. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon made their way out and introduced new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton to the ring. Orton cut a celebratory promo then was cut off by John Cena who apparently had a mic. Cena told Orton to put up or shut up and to wrestle Daniel Bryan (which the Dallas crowd was all for). Orton didn’t want to but Triple H & Stephanie signed the match anyway much to his chagrin. It eventually was shown to be non-title but that wasn’t known at the time by anyone in the arena until the graphic showed on the TitanTron later on.
–CM Punk cut a celebratory promo about The Shield then once again accused The Authority of wanting to punish him for his comments made towards Triple H. He invited Trips to come out and discuss this but instead out came Shawn Michaels to a loud ovation. The cheers quickly turned into a “YOU SOLD OUT!” chant which Michaels brilliantly mocked the crowd about when they couldn’t keep it up. Michaels then brought up the fact he was the one who superkicked Punk last week and Punk said he would let that slide out of respect but if it happens again he’s going to kick back. Michaels then segued into The Shield making their way out for the six man tag team match.
–Bray Wyatt cut an ominous promo on the TitanTron to “Sister Abigail” (his empty rocking chair), calling Daniel Bryan a coward and saying he thought he could save him. Luke Harper then piped in saying that Bryan would burn with the saints, teasing more attacks in the future.
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