Randy Orton confronted Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels vows to do his job properly when he acts as special guest referee between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton at Hell in a Cell.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Ol’ HBK is at it again, but local boy Randy Orton wasn’t about to let this particular show be stopped quite so fast. Addressing the WWE Universe in anticipation of his special guest referee appointment at Hell in a Cell, Shawn Michaels promised to officiate the contest fair and square despite the involvement of both his protégé Daniel Bryan and his best friend’s chosen champion, Orton. The Viper, however, wasn’t buying what HBK was selling and quickly made himself known, vowing to take “Mr. WrestleMania” out for good if he should “screw” the former WWE Champion at Hell in a Cell.

Photos: Orton confronts a Legend | Watch HBK's promise to Orton

Orton’s fighting words didn’t lead to an actual fight, as The Apex Predator barely missed a Superkick from a resistant HBK. And, to top it off, his potential retaliation was cut off by an awesome sneak attack from The Miz, whose long-awaited shot at payback against Orton had finally given way to a bona fide match.

Randy Orton def. The Miz

The Miz and Randy Orton go one-on-one on Raw until The Wyatt Family appear in the arena.

The Miz waited for a long time to repay Randy Orton for his hometown beatdown in Cleveland last month, and thanks to Bray Wyatt, he’ll have to wait until the next pass through St. Louis to do it. Hoping to humiliate the native son in his stomping ground, The Awesome One attacked Orton with reckless abandon and left himself vulnerable to sloppiness as a result. The Viper took advantage of Miz’s rage to goad him into mistakes that swung the momentum, although it wasn’t enough to dispatch Miz for good.

Watch: The buzzards circle The Awesome One | Photos: Miz strikes back

A timely counter of Orton’s hanging DDT led to an "awesome" resurgence, yet right at the moment of truth, the arena lights cut out and The Wyatt Family materialized atop the entrance ramp. Orton capitalized by striking with the RKO, yet The Viper dispensed with his celebrations and made himself scarce when Wyatt addressed Miz for the second time.

“I do not wish to see you suffer,” said Wyatt, “I’m just gonna put you down.”

Fandango def. Santino Marella

Santino Marella and Fandango clash on Raw.

A dancer is only as good as his partner, and it seems that Fandango’s found his step again thanks to a timely move by Summer Rae with a match on the line. The dancing Superstar’s opponent in question was Santino, who had an extra pep in his step on the holiday honoring his countryman, Christopher Columbus.

Photos: Fandango dances with The Cobra

Alas, national pride wasn’t enough to carry The Italian Stallion, and the dancing devil promptly took Santino for a different kind of swing than he’s been used to lately. The former Intercontinental Champion briefly bounced back and unleashed The Cobra, yet Summer’s timely interference averted Santino’s strike, and Fandango took advantage with a roll-up pin.

Los Matadores def. 3MB

Los Matadores clash with 3MB on Raw.

Make it tré! Los Matadores brought their hot streak to a hat trick on Raw when they took on the third combination of 3MB – Heath Slater & Drew McIntyre – and notched a victory that was just as impressive as their previous two. The Matadores’ athleticism gave them the early advantage, and some help on the outside from El Torito seemed to seal the deal with time to spare.

Photos: Los Matadores play a tune | Watch El Torito at work

The rockers were able to reclaim the momentum, and Drew McIntyre very nearly handed the toreadors their first loss single-handedly. But Diego swung the match back the Matadores’ way when Fernando tagged his partner in, and the rest was history: One double-team later and Slater was down for the count, and El Torito provided the proverbial cherry on top by assisting the two in a post-match pounding of Jinder Mahal.

Triple H & Stephanie McMahon addressed Big Show’s attack

Triple H is none too pleased with Big Show's actions from last week's Raw.

Mr. McMahon once famously warned Superstars not to “cross the Boss,” and it would appear that The Chairman’s mentality has been passed down in full to his daughter and son-in-law. Following Big Show’s firing by Stephanie and subsequent knockout of COO Triple H, “The Authority” not only pressed charges but vowed to reclaim anything of value the giant calls his own. Triple H in particular promised to make his detractors "grovel" at his feet, to say nothing of anyone who chanted the word "YES!" after Big Show had KO'ed him.

Photos: "The Authority" promises payback | "You better pray"

As if on cue, Daniel Bryan arrived to fan the flames of his celebration over the flattened COO the previous week by leading a massive "YES!" chant, but he was quickly attacked from behind by Alberto Del Rio. Sensing a business opportunity of sorts, Stephanie capitalized by scheduling Bryan to face “Mexico’s Greatest Export” later in the evenin while Triple H chanted "YES!" Call it a seal of approval.

Ryback def. R-Truth in a Beat the Clock Challenge

Ryback attempts to defeat R-Truth in the quickest time possible.

There are no two ways about it: A lot was riding on Ryback and CM Punk’s dueling Beat the Clock Challenges. With the chance to pick the stipulation of the Punk-Ryback rematch at Hell in a Cell at stake, the margin for error was small for Paul Heyman’s humungous minion, and “The Big Guy” certainly came through in the clutch with a brutish defeat of a wily R-Truth.

Photos: Truth pesters "The Big Guy" | Ryback sets the pace

The former U.S. Champion’s battle plan was, as it turned out, to not even battle. Truth buzzed around Ryback like a fly, picking at “The Big Guy” before ducking under the ropes and high-fiving the WWE Universe to milk the clock and give his buddy Punk an easy time to beat. Heyman’s timely interference all but handed Truth to Ryback on a platter but Truth refused to give in till the very end, fighting Ryback tooth and nail until he finally fell to Shell Shocked at 5:44.

The Real Americans def. Tons of Funk

Brodus Clay & Tensai step inside the ring with The Real Americans.

Zeb Colter’s comments about Los Matadores and their “little pet” currently running rampant in WWE were certainly ominous, but not so much as what his soldiers Jack Swagger & Antonio Cesaro did moments after The Founding Father had finished his lecture. Battling through the funky fury of Tons of Funk, The Real Americans deployed a coordinated power strike that saw them slowly dismantle their monstrous opponents punch by punch.

Photos: Funk gets a fight | Tensai goes for a swing

Brodus Clay provided Tensai assistance at the 11thhour, yet it wasn’t enough to slow down the patriots’ momentum: With a helping hand from Swagger, Cesaro executed the Neutralizer on The Funkasaurus. Even after the pinfall was counted, though, the former U.S. Champion couldn’t resist one last demonstration – perhaps to Los Matadores– by hauling Tensai up for the Cesaro Swing.

Tamina Snuka def. Brie Bella

Brie Bella goes one-on-one with Tamina Snuka while Divas Champion AJ Lee watches from ringside.

Brie Bella may have briefly sidelined AJ Lee from action, but the devious Divas Champion got some measure of payback against the future Mrs. Bryan by dispatching Tamina Snuka to discipline the latest, most persistent challenger to AJ’s Divas Title. Brie put up a tough fight against Tamina, dazzling the Superfly Diva with quick kicks and leaps to the outside, but a big boot to the face put Brie down for the three-count.

Photos: Tamina administers punishment | AJ strikes after the bell

With Brie prone on the mat, Tamina & AJ decided to make a demonstration of their own. First, Tamina plastered the former Divas Champion with the Superfly Splash, and AJ followed up by locking in the Black Widow, refusing to break the hold until Nikki Bella, who had been banned from ringside by Stephanie McMahon, finally came to her sister's aid.

CM Punk def. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel in a Beat the Clock Challenge

CM Punk wants to earn the right to name the stipulation for his match against Ryback at Hell in a Cell.

Advantage: CM Punk. Not only did Curtis Axel fail to win second Beat the Clock Challenge against Punk, but as a result Paul Heyman will now find himself trapped in the most ungodly of situations against his estranged prodigal son.

Photos: Beat the Clock concludes

Axel’s task was relatively simple: Survive five minutes against the former WWE Champion and give Ryback the home field advantage at Hell in a Cell. But Punk came into the match like a man possessed, immediately peppering Axel’s sternum with strikes and chops against the turnbuckle. The titleholder gave as good as he got, bringing Punk to the precipice of the time limit with the Perfect Plex, but The Second City Saint countered with the Go to Sleep with seconds to spare.

Watch: Punk taunts Heyman

Punk’s stipulation? Not only would he meet Ryback inside Hell in a Cell, but Heyman would join Ryback inside the Cell against him.

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio def. Daniel Bryan via Count-out

Daniel Bryan finds Randy Orton to be a major distraction when the bearded superstar faces World Champion Alberto Del Rio.

There’s almost nothing that can make Daniel Bryan stop competing and willingly abandon a match. Almost. Despite coming within a beard hair’s breadth of victory, the “Yes!” man willingly abdicated his bout with Alberto Del Rio when Randy Orton made his most brazen move yet and lured his fellow No. 1 contender away from combat.

Photos: Orton's deception costs Bryan

That this even happened would have taken a truly atrocious act, since Bryan was hell bent from the get-go on making Del Rio pay for his earlier sneak attack. The ensuing contest wasn’t so much a wrestling match at first than a fistfight, and a perfectly-scouted one at that: Del Rio was well-prepared for all of Bryan’s moves and refused to yield the advantage. And yet, Bryan eventually did just that, pummeling Del Rio with a missile dropkick … until, that is, Randy Orton appeared on the TitanTron entering the trainer’s room, evidently attempting to threaten Brie Bella.

Watch: Bryan to the rescue

Bryan quickly abandoned the match and ran to his fiancée’s aide, only to be attacked from behind and thrown headfirst into the trainer’s tub by Orton. The chivalry not only cost him his health, but the bout, via Count-out, to Del Rio.

Cody Rhodes & Goldust def. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns to become WWE Tag Team Champions

Cody Rhodes & Goldust compete against Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns for the WWE Tag Team Titles in the main event of Raw.

Looks like The Shield will be stuck at No. 5 for a while: Their Tag Team Championships are no more, property of Cody Rhodes & Goldust thanks to the No Disqualification stipulation that Triple H thought would ensure The Shield’s victory, but instead helped the Rhodes brothers – and a surprise sympathizer – to relieve the corporate Hounds of their gilded collars.

Photos: New champions crowned

With Dean Ambrose prowling at ringside, the threat of a 3-on-2 beatdown loomed large for the duration of the bout, yet the brothers kept the match even until Goldust found himself separated from his brother. The Bizarre One didn’t fall quite so easily to the numbers game, though, fighting his way back to Cody and letting baby brother run rampant. The prodigy did not disappoint, but chaos erupted when The Shield swarmed Cody and the match degenerated into an all-out brawl.

Watch: Unlikely interference dooms Shield

With Superstars strewn everywhere, Ambrose rolled Roman Reigns in position to score the pinfall, but salvation arrived in the form of Big Show, who stormed the barricade and knocked the Hounds out, one by one, and left Cody to cover a pulverized Reigns for the pin. While the brothers celebrated and Triple H arrived to stew in his fury, the giant retreated into the WWE Universe and led a “YES!” chant in his first instance of post-firing disobedience. Whether it’s his last is the biggest question of all.

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