WWE Monday Night RAW 01/20/14

-The Authority come out to introduce Batista, but Orton comes out pissed. Stephanie lights into him for attacking John Cena's father when the most eyes were on the WWE. Steph threatens to fire him if he cannot come under control and respect the rules of the WWE. Orton whines about being put in the rematch with Cena and the return of Lesnar and Batista. The Authority believes in Orton but they believe he has lost faith in himself. Triple H is giving Orton chances to right some wrongs by facing Kofi Kingston and showing where Cena will come into the arena, but he will have to do it along. Now this whole thing has taken place while chants of Batista have broken out, when his music finally hits the crowd erupts. Batista kisses the ring and gives everyone a hug because everyone (even The Authority) is happy Batista is back except Randy Orton. Batista is back to headline Wrestlemania, Randy Orton is not happy.

Cody Rhodes, Goldust & Big E Langston vs The Shield

It is not possible for the Brothers Rhodes and Shield to have a bad match, throw in Big E and this was fantastic. Cohere were some neat moments in this match like Cody holding Rollins in a high hanging vertical Suplex position before face planting him into the mat. Big E had a moment where he was breaking out Ultimate Warrior moves. Roman nailed Cody with a vicious right cross in mid air on his second disaster kick attempt, after the first kick sent Reigns into a daze. The Shield won with Seth Rollins curb stomp. This is a TV MOTY canidate, great stuff!

-Daniel Bryan is out to say he had a plan when he joined the Wyatt's and has exposed them. Bryan then says he and Bray Wyatt have signed for a match at the Royal Rumble. Bray shows up on screen with another creepy promo telling Bryan to kiss his mother because all the pain he will feel is his fault for being a traitor.

Fandango vs Xavier Woods

These two have a completely pointless match that Fandango won in about a minute with a top rope leg drop. The only thing this seemingly did was to foreshadow a possible Emma/Summer Rae/Fandango feud as she is shown in the crowd with her #EMMAtaining sign following the Fandango win.

-The always amazing Brad Maddox is in his office with Kane taking credit for bringing Batista back. Steph excuses Maddox and verbally blasts Kane for chokeslamming CM Punk last Friday on Smackdown. She knew promoting him was a risk but he needs to get ahold of himself. He can no longer put his hands on wrestlers and needs to apologize to CM Punk, to which Kane was not happy about.

-Kane is out to apologize to Punk. Punk claims he cannot hear so Kane repeats himself in a slow condescending manner. Punk hears his apology then apologizes himself with FORARMS TO THE FACE!! Maddox stops Kane from retaliating as Punk will have an official match with one of the the New Age Outlaws.

CM Punk vs 'The One' Billy Gunn

Instead of calling Billy Gunn 'Mr A' Michael Cole should call him 'The One' which was his moniker as a singles wrestler. Punk and Gunn go out and have a good TV match. It is amazing how good Billy Gunn is, he may have aged but his game hasn't. The NAO are in a perfect position at this point in their careers. They are fun to watch and are competent in the ring, that is all I ask. Punk jumping the announce table to attack Road Dog mid match got a huge reaction. Punk gets the victory with the GTS.

-Maddox comes out but Kane interferes and says Punk is the #1 entrant into the Rumble. I love The Authority storyline. Kane is finally getting how to get back at an enemy in a corporate setting, not by force but by making life difficult for him. In return Punk garners much sympathy making him a better babyface.

-The old Scott Keith jokes work here: Brock Lesnar IS HERE, and Brock Lesnar IS WALKING!!

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Alberto Del Rio

At one point in this match I thought it was the end of Rey, Del Rio was just destroying him top to bottom. Maybe it is a credit to both men in this match but while Rey's comeback wasn't what I call epic, it came from being farther down than normal. He already came into the match with an injured arm and there was a little attention put on it. Del Rio blocked a 619 and Mysterio kicked out of a pin after a superkick. These two know each other so well, but Rey makes a mistake off the top and Del Rio counters to the cross armbreaker and that was that. Pretty good match between these two.

-Batista comes out post match and powerbombs Del Rio who has been talking about Batista in weeks leading up to tonight's show.

-Big Show comes out and makes fun of Paul Heyman before the Lesnar confrontation. Brock comes ringside but motions that Show isn't worth it and walks to the back laughing. Lesnar comes back and has the nose to nose showdown with Show. They put over Show's size and strength in that Brock cannot manhandle him like other opponents. Show tosses him out with ease which stuns and angers Brock who throws a tantrum and grabs a chair to which Show steps on to end that attempt. They jaw back and forth as Lesnar backs down the ramp. This match has a fantastic build with something we have not seen with the new Lesnar. He has never been put in a situation where he is not the biggest or strongest in the ring. Should be an interesting fight Sunday.

AJ Lee & Tamina vs The Funadactyles

Naomi is tagged in and has some fantastic offense but eats a boot from Tamina. AJ is tagged in and immediately rolled up for the pin. Horrible finish, just lacks creativity and the WWE does it all the time.

The Usos vs The Wyatt Family

The Usos and Wyatts wrestle this big slobberknocker of a match. It was a pretty good brawl nothing more. Daniel Bryan runs interference while the Usos roll up Harper for the win.

Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston
Kofi comes into this with a little confidence from last week's win and a drive from comments that his win was a fluke. Kingston was a house of fire until crafty Orton took over on the outside. John Cena arrives right at 11pm which must mean he is apart of the crew taking down the ring or he would have shown up during the actual show. Orton has a choice of being Kingston or fighting Cena and he takes Cena giving Kofi the DQ win.

-Post match Cena and Orton fight into the crowd with Orton ultimately jumping into a waiting SUV and escaping any more damage from a fight he was obviously losing.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was a good show with a great match, a pretty good match and segments that built towards the Royal Rumble. That is all I ask of a wrestling show.