What you need to know
No point putting off talking about it, Daniel Bryan is a Wyatt no more. After partnering with Bray early on Monday night and losing via disqualification when Luke Harper and Erick Rowan jumped into their match against The Usos, Bryan took his medicine from The Eater of World in the form of another Sister Abigail.
But when former Hell No partner Kane agreed to lock the steel cage for the rematch later in the night, he couldn't stand to take another one when the twins were victorious over the dysfunctional pair a second time. To the delight of the Providence crowd and the millions at home, Wyatt ate a Basaiku Knee.
Daniel was free to celebrate with the followers of the YES Movement, but a concussion suffered during the bout puts the timing of whatever comes next up to question.
Meanwhile, rebuilding projects seem to be underway for Alberto Del Rio (victorious over Rey Mysterio, and still trash talking Batista) and Damien Sandow (still battling valiantly but coming up short against John Cena) as we head toward Royal Rumble. At least The Mexican Aristocrat is actually in the Rumble match. Big Show is getting ready for his showdown with Brock Lesnar by living out almost every smark's dream - squashing Jack Swagger.
He celebrates by punching out old men, because he's a good guy.
CM Punk is the 30 man battle royal scheduled for next Sunday in my hometown. At least he's got that going for, but he better watch his back. Triple H's allies are everywhere, as he learned on Monday when the New Age Outlaws bailed on him in his latest offensive against The Shield. The Hounds of Justice? Also in the Rumble.
The Best in the World came looking for The Authority head, but ran into the Director of Operations first. Even after dealing with The Shield and being betrayed by Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, will he have to also go through Kane to get to Haitch?
We try to stay spoiler-free here at the Preview home office. Really we do, But it's tough when WWE and our own website breaks news like AJ Lee being the longest-reigning Divas champ in history. So while Naomi got the best of her after AJ and Tamina's win over the Funkadactyls on Raw, I don't think she wins the belt tonight.
And in the still strangely in the backseat main title feud, a rest hold-heavy marathon saw Kofi Kingston sneak out a victory over the champ. That loss sent Randy Orton even farther over the edge than normal, and he attacked Cena's dad (again) who was seated in the front row with Gallagher (Leo, not Ron. I think. All we know for sure is that it wasn't Black) . Cena, Sr. did a stretcher job but was given a clean bill of health. Cena, Jr. was PISSED.
What to look out for
Live on tape for Woos-tah, Mass! Previews are as spoiler-free as we can be (see above), but if you can't wait, you can get all the particulars here.
The announced main event is tag champs The Rhodes Brothers against the freshly turned NAO. Rumor has it the Degeneration Xers are active wrestlers for the foreseeable future - will they be the next to hold the bronze eagles as Cody and Goldy get ready for their long desired WrestleMania one-on-one?
If Billy and the D-O-double G can win the belts, will they just be holding them for The Usos? After a couple of high-profile wins on Monday night and an opportunity to actually speak to the Universe (asked for in another one of these Previews that no one reads), Rikishi's boys seem ready to take the next step in WWE's tag team hierarchy.
How will Daniel Bryan's big night be addressed? Official WWE channels have been mum on his injury - there's been a notable lack of a big story placing the concussion in kayfabe on their website like we've seen for other recent injuries - adding to the intrigue. Then there's the matter of The Wyatts, and how they'll be positioned after their latest set-back in their stated goal of taking down the machine.
Expect small movement in the Punk vs. The Authority angle, and probably a Cena promo addressing the champ's dastardly assault of his father.
What they should do
I enjoyed the Friday bullet points last week, so let's do it again!
- The timing of her passing probably means that any on stage/in ring mention will be saved for Raw, but the dust will probably get in our eyes with a video package honoring Mae Young and a remembrance or two.
- A tease for next title unification, whether it will actually come to pass or not, would be great. Whether it takes the form of Big E Langston and Dean Ambrose giving each other side-eye, or a past champ like Cody or Cesaro stating an interest in getting their hands on one - the unification of the United States and Intercontinental titles should get a nice build in order to establish what will now be the company's secondary title.
- Bad News Barrett is in the Rumble...now can we find him something else to do for the next two weeks? With Ryback heat-seeking on a whole 'nother level, it's more important than ever that Wade's old school insults be given a purpose in order to not get lost in shuffle. They haven't done an uneasy heel alliance in a while, and The Intellectual Savior has a complementary gimmick and also needs something to do...
- Speaking of getting lost in the shuffle, the Xavier Woods - Fandango feud needs some air time in order to keep Woods from fading to the back like Los Matadores or Brodus Clay after their splashy mid-card debuts. And to keep Fandango from slipping down the card like, well, like Fandango after WrestleMania 29.
- #Emma-tain me!
What we're afraid they will do
Really not excited to watch Billy Gunn and Road Dogg wrestle again on a regular basis, so maybe we can limit returns from the over-40 crowd to guys who could actually work when they were in their 20s?
YES! or NO! Can Smackdown keep pace with Monday night's fan-gasmic Raw?
Sound of below, and/or join the Friday night gang in tonight's open thread!