What you need to know
Daniel Bryan just wants to be himself, you guys. And he left the Devil's Favorite Middle Manager alone when he was going through the whole "kidnapped by a backwards cult and turned into a Libertarian" thing, but now that he's chokeslammed him, he wants some answers from the man with whom he once shared the tag titles.
Kane says that he and DB were never friends, and he declined to get physical with him - not even a hug! He did book Bryan in a match against one of his competitors in the upcoming Elimination Chamber WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. And The Beard made the Swiss Superman tap out in a spectacular fashion...no thanks to his Real Americans partner Jack Swagger, who continues to be ineffective in interfering - and to draw the ire of Zeb Colter.
Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose put their internal issues aside to beat Dolph ZIggler and Kofi Kingston. Bray Wyatt isn't buying it though, and he and his Family aim to make believers of The Shield. The Eater of Worlds earned himself a victory over Goldust, then The Hounds of Justice reminded him in who's yard The Wyatts are playing.
Renee Young was very busy on Friday night, and as DDP used to say, that's a good thing. The intrepid reporter found out that Alberto Del Rio is coming for Batista, Randy Orton is delusional and Titus O'Neil is a pimp. Darren Young definitely takes issue with that last thing, but more because his former tag partner disrespected him than because he's anti-prostitution, I think.
And breaking the heart of, well, me...and I'm sure a couple of other folks, Captain Charisma fell short in his latest one more match against The Viper. Christian will get another shot at the next pay-per-view (PPV), but for now, the Face of the WWE is 1 for 2 against those that will challenge him in Minneapolis.
What to look out for
Will Los Angeles be more boisterous than Omaha? Probably, but they might not get there until the start of the second hour.
So what if he doesn't want it, now that teenagers and toddlers are catching up with the early adopters of the YES Movement, could The Authority try to convince The Beard to become The Face? There's probably no chance that he tells them anything other than "Hell No" as long as his former tag partners keeps interfering in his business.
A wig will be split. An ass will be kicked. Not necessarily the same person. Mark Henry is back, so while there's no guarantee of a Hall of Fame announcement, there will probably be a Hall of Pain induction or two.
Betty White!
The Viper's gauntlet of contenders brings him to a(nother) familiar foe tonight in John Cena. Their story goes back so far that Orton has assaulted John Cena, Sr...more than once! The second assault really hasn't been avenged, either, so look for The Champ (of being John Cena) to be seeking a measure of revenge against the WWE Champ.
Guess who's not mentioned in WWE.com's preview this week? Here's a hint: he's a big fan of the College World Series.
What they should do
I might be in the minority, but I am completely in favor of the rumored Miz/Dolph Ziggler pairing. Both guys are, at best, stuck in neutral right now. They're both positioned in kayfabe for a hardcore fan-friendly worked shoot gimmick - and if there's any wrestler and cause who can make smarks forget to boo Miz, it's "Push Dolph".
Miz gets a lot of crap, because he kind of sucks and it's a lot of fun to give him crap. But the dude loves pro wrestling, and has worked to become better at it while also doing everything his employer asks of him. We'll always be able to amaze younger fans with the answer to the trivia question, "who retained the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 27?" But it revisionist history to not acknowledge that he got that spot because he was doing very entertaining work as part of a tag team with a guy very much like The Show Off...
Why not give them a chance? Maybe The Awesome can rediscover some of the snark that made him a popular up-and-coming heel, while Dolph can be freed to get over with his remarkable athletic gifts without struggling to use someone else's script to connect with the WWE Universe.
And with the star of Hot in Cleveland set to guest star tonight, there's a built-in fan-friendly way to link up the angry East Ohioans in front of a Tinseltown crowd.
What we're afraid they will do
The former star of everything from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to The Proposal is an American treasure, so we'll give her a pass. In addition to birthing a new tag team, the potential is their for some fertile comedy with The World's Strongest Man and that handy bastard of his.
But the era of the Raw guest hosts is still fresh enough that we don't want to relive that pain. So break a leg, Betty, but don't give the powers-that-be any ideas, okay?
Will even combined powers of Sue Ann and Rose be able to channel fan sentiment in WWE's direction?
Let us know what you expect tonight, how you feel about The Cleveland Steamers tag team or anything else that's on your mind heading into tonight's show in the comments below. Then join Rex and a cast of thousands in tonight's Live Blog!