WWE Raw preview (October 13, 2014): The Devil went down to Georgia

What you need to know

Just when you thought you couldn't get any more teary eyed about Smackdown's quinceañera, that lovable lug Big Johnny shows up.  While he didn't have his scooter, he was still repping People Power.  And to prove it, he made the people pleasing tag match of Damien Mizdow & Cesaro vs. Sheamus & Jack Swagger (confirming that someone in the back still thinks Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter are babyfaces).

Faster than you can say "hold on a minute, player", Theodore Long appeared to start a tag team arms race, adding Bo Dallas and Mark Henry to Laurinaitis' contest.  This went on until Stephanie McMahon showed up to and told them to just make Team Teddy vs. Team Johnny for the title of GREATEST GENERAL MANAGER IN SMACKDOWN HISTORY.

The Exotic Express tried to convince Steph not to be a lemon, but she was kind of sour about the whole thing.  That lead to a match with Kane for Adam Rose, and a long overdue one-on-one loss.  This also made it crystal clear that Bunny is not only the Rosebud with the most upside, he's also the smartest one of the group, as he bailed while the Big Red Exec decimated Rose and the other 'buds.

Divas champ AJ Lee outsmarted her rival Paige, beating the Brit's best pal Alicia Fox with her Black Widow submission, and then using Foxy as a weapon to fend off the post-match beatdown.

Also losing by submission, after bumping like crazy, of course, was Intercontinental champ Dolph Ziggler.  The Bulgarian Brute and honorary Russian Rusev got him in an Accolade, then his social ambassador Lana threw some barbs at The Great One.  Rocky was at Smackdown, live via pre-tape from Brooklyn, to remind everyone how great it is when the company has multiple stars developed at the same time - unlike the majority of the last ten years.

Tom Phillips face went into a birthday cake amidst numerous video packages highlighting those halycon days when Smackdown was must watch TV.  One good thing this anniversary show did was provide a reason for Creative's habit of throwing everyone whose feuding with each other into one big tag match, and the babyfaces pulled out the W for Team Teddy, sort of advancing those feuds (Bo Dallas vs. Mark Henry, Slater-Gator + mini-Gator vs. Los Matadores + El Torito, Mizdow vs. Sheamus and Dusts vs. Usos...plus Cesaro and Jack Swagger, since Ziggler had already worked a match and Tyson Kidd doesn't merit believe in People Power, I guess).

I'm still bummed that no one went one on one with da Undertaker, though.

The main feud for Hell in a Cell was advanced amidst all the festivities.  Seth Rollins sent a message to whoever ends up facing him the main event with a victory over Kofi Kingston (observed closely by Stooges 2.0).  Then Dean Ambrose and John Cena addressed their issues with each other on Miz TV.  Both men agreed that they want a shot at the Architect, and that they dislike the owner of the Moneymaker.  So they kicked the Awesome one's ass, and Cena used that opening to give the Lunatic Fringe an Attitude Adjustment to repay him for the double-arm DDT from Raw.

What to look out for

WWE goes down to Georgia, where things hopefully go as well for us fans as they did for Geno Mrosko's Chicago Bears against the Atlanta Falcons yesterday.

Not only will Nene Leakes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Todd Chrisley of your nightmares Chrisley Knows Best be on Raw, but they're already teasing an interaction between Chrisley and Adam Rose.  It can't be worse than Kathie Lee and Hoda, right?  Who am I kidding?  It's freaking Chrisley...this is gonna suck.

His one week diversion with the Brahma Bull behind him, Rusev has called out Big Show to challenge him face-to-face after the World's Largest Athlete's insulting actions toward the Russian Flag.  Did the big Bulgarian take out all of his frustration on the IC champ last Friday, or does he have some extra pent-up rage left for Show?

Are tag champs Star & Goldust going to keep feuding with Jimmy & Jey, or will someone else step up?  Are the Wyatts - the "set free" Luke Harper and the "fixed" Bray Wyatt - still working as a unit?  Is anyone else left?

There will most likely be some Bella family drama, and at least the Total Divas tie-ins are giving us a chance to see Tyson Kidd work these days.

What else will we see, with two weeks to the next pay-per-view (PPV)?  Tune in at 8PM Eastern to find out!

What they should do

As mentioned above, one of the reasons it was so great to see Trips and Rocky go nose-to-face one more time was because it was a reminder of a time when the WWE main event scene wasn't just a rotating cast of characters facing off against one man.  The Game, The Rock, Stone Cold, Mankind, The Undertaker...these were a championship scene of more or less equals.

The company could have a similar logjam at the top with Bray Wyatt, the trio of men who were in The Shield, a returning Daniel Bryan, at least two or three of the rising stars coming up from NXT and possibly others (Rusev and Cesaro immediately come to mind).  But these guys need to be booked well (and strongly), and they need a chance to main event big shows - in order to both learn how, and to educate fans that they're deserving of that spot.

Big names from the past are great, but they shouldn't dominate your programming.  And that includes names like Big Show, Randy Orton and, yes, John Cena.  The latter two are being used to make younger stars look great.  Cena does this from time-to-time...and it's time for him to do it again.  Dean Ambrose is on a similar path to the one Bryan took last year (although under different circumstances and a due to an entirely different kind of appeal), and his next few months are crucial to his development.

If they want to have breadth and depth to the main event, those next few months could be crucial to the entire company.

What we're afraid they will do

50/50 booking over the next couple of weeks leads to the start of the John Cena redemption program at Hell in a Cell, and we have to wait at least until next summer to see how high Ambrose and Rollins can soar.

If The Rock showed up last week, who might pop up this week?

Find out with your fellow Cagesiders, and stick around for all the reactions and analysis after the show!