Here’s RAW in case you missed it:
From The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio:
Hosted by John “Bradshaw” Layfield (JBL), Michael Cole and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler.
WWE dedicated this week’s broadcast to the life and memory of Hall of Famer/Legend Mae Young who passed away on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 at the age of 90.
A video honoring Civil Rights leader The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was aired.
HOUR 1:
Principal Owner of WWE Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley) were ready to welcome the return of David Batista, when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton crashed the party. Stephanie was furious with him for his assault on John Cena, Sr. Randy was furious with Hunter and Stephanie for being booked in a rematch against John Cena at the Royal Rumble, and for bringing back both Batista and Brock Lesnar. Hunter told him that he was their choice to be the face of the WWE, and that he had lost of lot of faith in himself. He stated that he expected Randy to rise up and make things right, and felt that Batista and Lesnar are after him.
That, and Hunter booked Randy in a rematch against Kofi Kingston!!! Hunter installed a camera in the back to see if John was going to show up. After that, Batista arrived!!! Randy wanted a handshake, but Batista wouldn’t give him one, and announced that he returned for the World title and to headline Wrestlemania 30!!!
1. SIX-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: WWE Tag Team Champions Goldust and Cody Rhodes and WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E Langston vs. The Shield (WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns).
THE WINNERS: THE SHIELD.
Daniel Bryan announced that after last week, people have asked him if he had a plan to take down The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper). He stated that when dealing with someone who has a Messiah Complex, you have to take them down both mentally and physically. He also mentioned that whenever Bray Wyatt says “Follow the buzzards”, he said “Last week, I became the buzzard and chewed on the carcass of Bray Wyatt!”. He announced that he will face him at the Royal Rumble. After that, Bray appeared on the Titantron, labeled Daniel a traitor and told him “From now on, everything that happens to you is your fault”.
2. Xavier Woods with R-Truth vs. Fandango with Summer Rae.
R-Truth served as the Special Guest Commentator for this match.
THE WINNER: FANDANGO.
Stephanie was disgusted with Kane for chokeslamming CM Punk last week on SmackDown!. He apologized, but Stephanie ordered him to apologize directly to Punk!!!
HOUR 2:
Kane apologized to Punk for last Friday, but Punk didn’t hear him. Kane apologized again, Punk replied with “I’m sorry too!” and wailed on him!!! Kane was ready to fight, but RAW General Manager Brad Maddox stopped him and booked Punk in a match. But not against Kane……
3. CM Punk vs. “B.A.” Billy Gunn with Road Dogg.
Road Dogg served as the Special Guest Commentator for this match.
THE WINNER: CM PUNK!!!
After the match, Brad congratulated Punk, but was interrupted by Kane who announced that Punk will be the first entrant into the Royal Rumble.
4. Rey Misterio, Jr. vs. Alberto del Rio.
THE WINNER VIA SUBMISSION: ALBERTO DEL RIO.
After the match, Batista confronted Alberto del Rio. del Rio charged at him, but ended up in a Spinebuster and The Batista Bomb!!!
The Big Show mimicked Paul Heyman as he spoke about his upcoming match against Brock Lesnar on Sunday. Heyman appeared, so did Brock. As they were about to enter the ring, they left, which enraged Big Show. They returned, Brock got in Big Show’s face, tried to assault him and got tossed out of the ring again!!! Brock tried to hit him with a steel chair and a monitor from the commentator’s table, but with no luck. Big Show took the chair that Brock was going to use, but Paul stopped Brock from retaliating.
This went into the first five minutes of Hour 3.
HOUR 3:
5. DIVAS TAG TEAM MATCH: WWE Divas Champion A.J. Lee and Tamina Snuka vs. The Funkadactyls (Naomi and Cameron).
THE WINNERS: THE FUNKADACTYLS!!!
6. TAG TEAM MATCH: The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) vs. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper with Bray Wyatt.
THE WINNERS: THE USOS!!!
7. A NON-TITLE MAIN EVENT REMATCH: Kofi Kingston vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton.
THIS MATCH ENDED IN A NO-CONTEST.
Before the end of the match, John Cena zoomed into the arena an fought Randy Orton all the way into the skybox, and Randy escaped in someone’s truck!!!
Match #’s 3, 6 and 7 are the highlight matches of the night!!!
CM Punk, Billy Gunn, The Usos, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Kofi Kingston are the wrestlers of the night!!!
The return of David Batista was the highlight of the night!!!
ANALYSIS: The return of Batista made the show!!!