WWE is in Richmond, Virginia tonight for a rare Sunday night SmackDown taping. Prior to the SmackDown taping, the following matches were taped for next week’s WWE Main Event & Saturday Morning Slam broadcasts:

WWE Main Event (Airing 1/2):

* US Champion Antonio Cesaro vs. The Great Khali

* Wade Barrett competes in a Gauntlet Match

Saturday Morning Slam (1/5):

– Sheamus vs. Michael McGillicutty

* PICTURES: JOHN CENA & DANIEL BRYAN Spend Christmas With The BELLA TWINS

SaukValley.com has an article up profiling Alex “Zander” Jones, who recently signed a three-year developmental deal and is moving to Tampa, Florida this week to begin training at NXT.

While he was working on his masters in strength and conditioning at USC, Jones met former WWE superstars Rikishi and Gangrel at the Los Angeles Fitness Expo. They convinced him to start training at the KnokX wrestling school and just a week later, he was met John Cena at the USC weight room when WWE was in town for a RAW taping. Cena was so impressed with Jones that he invited him to a WWE tryout camp this past August.

WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Gerald Brisco were so impressed with Jones that they told him he could be a top WWE superstar one day. Jones told SaukValley.com:

“They all said, ‘You could be our guy. Look at John Cena. That could be you.’ Now, anything less than being a champ would be a disappointment.”

Jones can be followed on Twitter at @TheZanderJones.

– WWE will tape next week’s WWE Main Event and SmackDown broadcasts tonight from the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. Main Event (airing 1/2) will feature US Champion Antonio Cesaro vs. the Great Khali, who won a battle royal on last week’s show to earn the title shot.

SmackDown (airing 1/4) will feature World Heavyweight champion Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio. The advertised dark match main event will see Big Show teming up with Sheamus against Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio.

– Here is the latest episode of “WWE’s Are You Serious?” featuring Josh Matthews and “Road Dogg” BG James:

Laugh alongside Road Dogg and Josh Mathew as they share more ridiculous clips with the WWE Universe, including one from The Gobbledy Gooker and Tugboat. Watch “Are You Serious?”

WWE taped Monday night’s New Year’s Eve edition of RAW on Saturday night from Washington, D.C. Here’s a spoiler-free preview for the show:

* There will be a special “Champion’s Choice” theme, where WWE champions get to pick their opponents.

* The Miz hosts Miz TV with his guest, John Cena

* John Cena & The Miz vs. Team Rhodes Scholars

* World Heavyweight champion Big Show vs. An opponent of his choosing.

* US Champion Antonio Cesaro vs. An opponent of his choosing.

* Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston vs. An opponent of his choosing.

* Team Hell No vs. Opponents of their choosing.

* Divas Champion Eve Torres vs. an opponent of her choosing.

* Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler

* Ryback vs. The Shield in a 3-on-1 match.

Plus, there will be a special New Year’s toast with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee – and John Cena is invited.

*SPOILER* MAJOR Title Change At Saturday Night’s RAW Tapings (Picture)

– It was announced at Saturday night’s WWE RAW tapings from Washington, D.C. that RAW will return to DC on April 1st, 2013 – the final RAW before WrestleMania 29. An online pre-sale begins later this week with the password WWERAWDC.

– One of our correspondents at Saturday night’s WWE RAW tapings from Washington, DC noted that arena staff members confiscated a large “END THE PG ERA” sign.

– Next Friday’s SmackDown (1/4) will feature World Heavyweight champion Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio.

* The Miz kicks off RAW by announcing that Vickie Guerrero has declared that tonight’s show will have a “Champions Choice” theme, with “all” titles on the line tonight (except for CM Punk’s WWE title) and the champions getting to pick their opponents.

* The Miz hosts MizTV with his guest, John Cena. Cena starts talking about the holiday season but is interrupted by Team Rhodes Scholars, Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. Cena points out that Washington Redskins quarterback RGIII, who was featured on WWE RAW several weeks ago,is in the crowd. It’s announced that The Miz and Cena vs. Rhodes Scholars will be taking place next.

* John Cena and The Miz defeated Team Rhodes Scholars in a long match after Cena hit Sandow with the Attitude Adjustment and got the pin.

* United States Champion Antonio Cesaro comes out and cuts a standard anti-American promo. The opponent he decides to defend the US Championship against tonight is none other than: WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter.

* US Champion Antonio Cesaro defeats Sgt. Slaughter after hitting him with the Neutralizer. After the match, Cesaro hit Slaughter with a second Neutralizer to add insult to injury.

* It’s announced that later in the show, there will be a special New Year’s Eve toast between Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee – with John Cena invited to join in on the celebration.

* Later tonight, The Shield will face Ryback in a 3-on-1 handicap match.

* Backstage, Team Hell No announced they will defend the WWE Tag titles against 3MB.

* Kane & Daniel Bryan defeated Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre. Jinder Mahal was at ringside for the match. After their win, Kane & Daniel Bryan mocked 3MB by doing “air guitar” in the ring, which the crowd popped big for.

* WWE Champion CM Punk comes down to the ring, along with Paul Heman and a doctor. The doctor verifies that CM Punk is indeed unable to compete due to injury and x-rays of CM Punk’s surgically repaired knee are shown on the Titantron. Punk says that due to the condition of his knee, his doctor won’t medically clear him to wrestle Ryback in a TLC match on the January 7th RAW, so the match is off. “No Chance” hits – and out comes WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Vince says it doesn’t matter what the doctor says – a TLC Match will take place on January 7th. Vince questions what CM Punk’s relationship is with The Shield and Brad Maddox and says that if doctors determine that Punk isn’t medically cleared to face Ryback in a TLC match on 1/7, then Paul Heyman will take his place.

* Sheamus defeats Dolph Ziggler by disqualification after The Shield runs down and attacks Sheamus. The Shield stand tall over Sheamus and then exit through the crowd.

* A backstage segment takes place with CM Punk and Paul Heyman. Brad Maddox approaches them and asks Paul Heyman for a job, but Heyman tells him to leave.

* Another backstage segment takes place with WWE Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett.

* WWE Divas champion Eve Torres comes out and says she wants to defend against Mae Young, who is not there. Kaitlyn comes out and says she’ll wrestle in place of Mae Young and winds up attacking Eve in the ring. Eve escapes and runs to the back without a match taking place.

* World Heavyweight champion Big Show defeats Ricardo Rodriguez by disqualification after Alberto Del Rio interfered and attacked Big Show. In a bit of comedy, Del Rio came down to the ring in a suit before the match and Ricardo came out driving a fancy sports car.

* Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston by pinfall to capture the Intercontinental championship for a second time. After the match, Josh Matthews interviewed the new champion. Barrett warned the WWE locker room to watch out for the Barrett Barrage in 2013.

* The Shield vs. Ryback in a 3-on-1 match never officially took place. As Ryback was making his entrance, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns attacked him on the ramp. Sheamus and Randy Orton ran out to make the save and The Shield escaped through the crowd. Ryback, Orton and Sheamus celebrated in the ring.

* Up next is the New Year’s Eve toast. Dolph Ziggler came out first in a tuxedo, followed by AJ Lee in a dress and Big E Langston in his wrestling gear. The three of them toasted while showing clips on the Titantron of several moments from 2012 that John Cena would like to forget, including Brock Lesnar attacking him, Big Show delivering a knockout punch and more. Ziggler announces that Cena has been un-invited from the New Year’s toast and orders Langston to guard the ring.
As Ziggler begins to make out with AJ, Cena interrupts. Cena admits that he had some tough times in 2012, but that’s nothing compared to all the WWE superstars that AJ was romantically linked to this year. Cena talks about all the illegitimate children AJ has with various wrestlers and shows pictures on the Titantron of several babies with the faces of WWE superstars and legends Photoshopped onto the bodies.

Cena announces that he’s officially entering himself into the Royal Rumble and promised to win the WWE Championship again in 2013. Cena toasts AJ & Ziggler as what appears to be human waste falls from the arena roof into the ring, covering the heels. AJ & Ziggler freak out as Cena’s music hits and the show goes off the air. Quite a way to end the final RAW of 2012.

* PICTURE of WADE BARRETT Celebrating With His NEW Intercontinental Championship Belt

WWE taped the January 4th episode of WWE Superstars on Saturday night from the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Here are the results:

Dark Match

* Alex Riley beat a local wrestler.

WWE Superstars

* The Usos beat the Prime Time Players after hitting double top rope slashes and pinning Young & O’Neal at the same time.

* Brodus Clay beat Primo. The Funkadactyls, Epico and Rosa Mendes were at ringside. After the match, Brodus Clay danced in the ring with several children.

I had the pleasure of attending Thursday night’s WWE Holiday Tour live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City with the Solomonster and Bryan Blade.

Pictures From WWE’s MSG Holiday Tour Live Event

Here are results from the show:

* Vickie Guerrero opened the show by welcoming everybody, wishing us a happy holiday season and running down the top matches for tonight, including Ryback vs. Paul Heyman in a NYC Street Fight and John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler in a steel cage match.

* The New Age Outlaws defeated Team Rhodes Scholars after Billy Gunn hit the Fameasser on Cody. This was a hot opener with the crowd very into the Outlaws. Even though the Outlaw’s ring entrance was modified to say, “Oh you didn’t know? You better call somebody” – both men had many non-PG moments during the match, including Billy Gunn encouraging the crowd to chant “Suck it” and doing crotch chops during the match.

* Brodus Clay pinned David Otunga after a big splash in a relatively short match. Otunga posed in the ring before the match. After it was over, Jack Swagger interrupted Clay’s victory celebration and challenged him to a match. Clay defeated Swagger in another short match and danced in the ring with the Funkadactyls and several children afterwards.

* WWE Divas champion Eve Torres defeated Kaitlyn. The crowd was dead for this one.

* Santino Marella defeated Tensai. As per the match stipulation, Tensai was forced by Vickie Guerrero to sing either Jingle Bells or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Fans voted via Twitter and text messages which song they wanted to hear – and Rudolph won. Tensai grabbed the microphone and said he doesn’t know how to sing these Christmas songs because he’s Jewish like Paul Heyman and ring announcer Justin Roberts. He warmed up by singing the first verse of Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song” before singing Rudolph. It was pretty entertaining, with Tensai screaming at the crowd to shut up while he was singing.

* The Shield defeated Team Hello No & The Miz after The Shield hit a 3-man powerbomb on Miz. This one started off with The Shield entering through the crowd and it immediately turned into a wild brawl. The general theme of the match was that the babyfaces would get the upper hand but then the Shield would outnumber them 2 on 1 or 3 on 2.

* Intermission.

* The Usos defeated the Prime Time Players after a double top rope splash & a double pin.

* Unites States champion Antonio Cesaro defeated Zack Ryder by pinfall after hitting the Neutralizer. Both men were very over, with Ryder coming close to winning towards the end. Unfortunately, no Swiss Death European uppercut from Cesaro.

* Ryback defeated Paul Heyman by pinfall after hitting Shell Shocked. Paul Heyman came out first and ran down NYC, including their sports teams and the WWE legends who “built” Madison Square Garden, including Superstar Billy Graham, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Steve Austin. Heyman declared himself the “Baddest Dude In New York City” when Ryback’s music hit and the place erupted.

With both men in the ring and the match about to start, The Shield hit the ring and attacked Ryback 3 on 1. Ryback got some offense in but they left Ryback laid out as Paul Heyman watched the attack from outside the ring. The Shield set up a table in the corner of the ring but never got to use it, because Kane, Daniel Bryan and The Miz ran down to even the odds. The 6 men brawled and eventually left the ring, with Ryback still laid out from The Shield’s attack.

Heyman got back in the ring and tried to attack Ryback, but literally within 30 seconds, Ryback got him up for Shell Shocked and got the pin. Ryback celebrated and was leaving the ring when he realized there was a table still set up. Ryback returned to the ring, picked up Paul Heyman and gave him a running speer through the table. Heyman sold the effects of the attack for several minutes outside the ring.

* John Cena defeated Dolph Ziggler in the Steel Cage match main event after hitting the Attitude Adjustment and getting the pinfall. The crowd was red hot for this one. AJ Lee and Big E Langston accompanied Dolph Ziggler to the ring and got physical at several points during the match, including Langston slamming the cage door in John Cena’s face. There were several spots where Ziggler came very close to escaping the cage by climing up the top, but Cena would always catch him. At one point, Dolph Ziggler was escaping through the cage door and John Cena climbed the top of the cage and slammed the door in his face from the outside. Towards the end of the match, both Big E Langston and AJ entered the cage, with Langston giving Cena his running body tackle move & his finisher. AJ slapped John Cena in the face as well, with Cena responding by grabbing AJ Lee and giving her a big kiss on the lips. Lots of close pinfalls towards the end and the place went bananas when Cena eventually won.