Night of Champions Match Predictions

We are just a little under three weeks away from the Night of Champions PPV.  I thought I would close out the week with my predictions on how the card will shape up. 

WWE Undisputed Championship Match, John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio (c)

We already know this one is set, but we also know things can change without a moment’s notice in the WWE.  However, I predict this one will stand.  The only other person right now who would possibly be a part of this match is CM Punk who is busy that night anyway. 

World Heavy Weight Championship Match, Mark Henry vs Randy Orton (c)

At one point I speculated if there could be more participants added to this match but it has to go with just these two battling it out for the title.  The WWE has done a splendid job of building up this monster character in Mark Henry leading up to him finally getting the shot at this PPV.  I think this one may have more appeal right now to the masses than the Cena/Del Rio Match. 

United States Championship Match, Jack Swagger vs Dolf Ziggler (c)

The tension between the two has been building as a result of Vickie Guerrero thinking of adding Swagger to her list of clients in addition to Ziggler.  This can only be leading to a showdown between the two at Night of Champions.  The question remains who will Vickie be managing at the end of the match.  My guess is whoever holds the United States Championship.

Intercontinental Championship Match, Ted Dibiase vs Cody Rhodes (c)

Cody Rhodes has been getting in the face of Randy Orton a bit, although we didn’t see him on Smackdown or Raw this week.  I can only assume that Rhodes' interest in Orton is leading to a match or feud of some sorts between the two.  If they are going to move Rhodes in that direction now might be the time to have him mix it up with Dibiase.  Also, Rhodes beat down Dibiase recently after he lost a match to Orton.   A split between the two appears inevitable.

Divas Championship Match, Beth Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly (c)

I have made reference a few times here on this blog about how I think the Diva’s division lost some serious steam lately with what could have been a golden opportunity with Beth.  I thought she was about to blossom into a Mark Henry type monster but since her loss at SummerSlam she has done nothing.  However, she has been lurking, albeit in far less memorable fashion, so I predict a rematch between the two here.

Tag Team Champtionship Match, Air Boom (c) (ha, still find that name a little funny) Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne vs. The Miz and R-Truth (The Conspiracy Theorists??)

I’m not sure how else The Miz and R-Truth get in here.  They haven’t really moved in this direction yet even though The Miz and R-Truth have become a bit of a faction.  I don’t see anyone else for the champs to battle with right now and it gets Miz and Truth on the card.  I must admit although these teams are being slapped together, it is heating up the tag team division.

HHH vs CM Punk

This one is also set.  Again this could change with Kevin Nash continuing to stir things up.  I speculated earlier about a Triple Threat match with Nash being added to the mix.  However, I will go with the match as it is already set, but you can be sure Nash plays a role here somehow. 

Other notes

On my predicted card above there is no Sheamus and no Christian.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheamus got involved in the World Heavy Weight Championship match creating havoc for Mark Henry.   This would continue their feud if Orton retains the title and moves on to another opponent.  I am not sure what is next for Christian.  He is one of my favourites so I hope there is a meaningful storyline/feud in his future.  I would still love (hope) to see Edge to return and manage him.  Could happen. 

In the next couple of weeks we will see how the card shapes up for real.  When the WWE finalizes the bouts I will make my predictions of match outcomes. 

Enjoy your Labour Day weekend everyone!! 

Super Smackdown Live Thoughts

It’s Super Smackdown live from Wichita and it opens with John Cena calling out Alberta Del Rio, but he’s a no show.  Wade Barrett who refused to wrestle a meaningless opponent last week demands a match with Cena tonight.  Wade Barrett comes out and begins to diss Cena and it almost sounds like the crowd are about to get behind him.  A few moments later Cena makes reference to the fans and he’s getting the bigger (although still mixed) pop.

I liked the fact that the opening segment of this show did not drag on too long before we got a match.  However...wow!  That was quick, I expected more from this one.  Did John Cena even break a sweat?  I thought this might be one to put Wade Barrett over with Cena still winning, similar to what we seen last night on Raw with Randy Orton and Dolf Ziggler.  The Raw match was a fantastic opening match, this one, not so much.

Daniel Bryan and Sin Cara are up next.  Call me old school, but I would like to see the play by play guys actually call the match a little more.  I digress.....this match is decent, better than the opening bout.  What I like about this match is I am actually watching and really wondering who will win.  They seem to be pushing Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan is on a losing streak.  In the end it’s yet another loss for Daniel Bryan.  How many in a row is that now?  The kick in the face after the hand shake at the end of the match surprised me.  So I guess Sin Cara is a heel now?  Is this setting up a rivalry between these two?  Interesting.  I am suspecting a few more matches on TV maybe, but can’t see this turning into much more. 

Tag team champs Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne, or I mean Air Boom (kind of hokey isn’t it?) give a back stage interview.  I like these guys as a team and like watching them in the ring but weren’t their words just a bit too nice? 

You know I was pouring up nice glass of wine (if you’re interested) about one third of the way through the show and I am thinking, this all seems a bit too obvious.  No way Christian wins tonight, Mark Henry and Randy Orton has to be the match at Night of Champions.  And although that is what I want to see too I think it would be nice to see some sort of surprise happen here, although I don’t think it will. 

Back to the show.  Teddy Long’s “girlfriend” was there for a special ring announcer for the Diva’s match (yawn).  They missed their chance on this one a few weeks ago.

I made reference to this in yesterday’s post that as much as I love CM Punk there is just a little over exposure happening for him I think.  Tonight’s contract signing just confirmed that for me.  I was totally bored by this segment.  I understand they want to keep heat on this feud leading up to their match by it’s just endless talking going around in circles week after week.  And these guys are as crafty as anyone at pulling this off, but it’s just getting a bit much for me.  Of course it ends with Kevin Nash coming in and stirring it up, I just wish it happened sooner.  We get Nash assaulting Punk, HHH assaulting Punk then Nash with the shove on HHH.  Hmmm...maybe they’re not done here yet, a triple threat match at Night of Champions?  I don’t know, all along I was thinking it would come out that Nash and HHH are working together, but if they are trying to get me to think otherwise it’s working. 

Well it appeared there might be a split occurring between The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal a week ago but they are together tonight.  Mahal actually comes to the aid of Khali although costing him the match against Sheamus by disqualification.  The pair attempt to beat down the Celtic Warrior after the match but they come out on the losing end of that as well.  Sheamus is continuing to get a good push as a face.  What will be next for him I wonder?  I don’t see much more coming of this thing tonight with The Great Khali.  Something tells me at some point he and Mark Henry are not done with each other. 

No Alberto Del Rio again tonight.  The last time we saw him it looked like he took a nasty bump during his match with John Morrison.  I wonder if he did and if there is a week of rest here.  This is just pure speculation on my part. 

Randy Orton and Christian close the night with a good steel cage match.  These two have given us some great ones through their feud.  Just as I suspected as I was pouring my beverage earlier it ends in predictable fashion.  Enter Mark Henry after the match for the token beat down on Randy Orton.  I would love to see Henry walk away from Night of Champions with the title.  My gut right now is telling me that Orton retains.  I am looking forward to this match more than Cena and Del Rio. 

That concludes two nights of wrestling in a row. If I have time I might be back later this week with some thoughts and predictions on how I see the Night of Champions card shaping up, if not I will be posting more next week.  Enjoy the remaining days of summer everyone!!

My Mistake!!

Well somewhere along the way I got my wires crossed and made reference in an earlier post that Smackdown tonight would be coming to us live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  That of course is incorrect information.  There will be a live Smackdown tonight, but it is not in Toronto.  There is a Smackdown scheduled for Toronto in September, but tonight it’s coming to us from Wichita, Kansas. 

What an arrogant Canadian I am – haha.  No matter where it is to, hopefully it will be a great one.  Enjoy the show, I hope to have thoughts up online tomorrow.

Raw Thoughts, August 29th

The show kicks off with another opening segment featuring HHH and who else but CM Punk.  So Kevin Nash makes it official, he is back under WWE contract.  I love CM Punk but there may be a little bit of overexposure happening as of late, he was funny tonight though.  The Nash vs. Punk match is made official (for now) at Night of Champions. Nash confesses that he did lie to HHH last week about the car wreck which proves again the WWE universe is a strange place were friends only speak to each other during Raw, Smackdown and PPV events.   

HHH makes reference to the two brands combining for the foreseeable future.  Where will they go with this?  If this stays do we need two titles?

The opening bout sees the first of the brand combining matches with The United States Champion Dolf Ziggler taking on Smackdown World Heavy Weight Champion Randy Orton.   It’s Orton picking up the win in a great match and performance from both wrestlers.  I think this match really made Ziggler look good and I am wondering if there could possibly be a face run for him in the near future.  Jack Swagger watched this match tonight from backstage and later in the evening they get in each other’s faces again during Swagger’s match with Sin Cara.  These two are very likely headed for a Night of Champions showdown.  Could Vickie Guerrero turn on Ziggler, cost him the title and leave with Swagger?

Mark Henry interrupts John Cena addressing the crowd.  Mark Henry’s motivation doesn’t make a lot of sense to me here.  Anyone else he’s went after he’s either had a match with or some issue with and he got his title shot now.  In any event it leads to Christian entering the ring, then Sheamus and we got us a main event later in evening.

The Miz finally gets a high profile match taking on CM Punk.  This one ends in disqualification when The Miz's new friend R-Truth gets involved.  Last week I was wondering if The Miz and R-Truth could end up taking on the Tag Champions Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne at the next PPV.  Truth and Miz are yet to actually be in a tag match together as a team.  That wouldn‘t stop the WWE from setting up the match.  I am thinking The Miz needs to be on this card somehow and right now I don’t see how else to get him in there.  We are still a couple weeks away so this will be one to keep an eye on. 

This is the third week in a row for a Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne (to be known as Air Boom) vs David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty.  This one doesn’t go on too long and hopefully we have seen the end of that for a while.

We have a Diva's match (yawn).  See my earlier post on the Divas when I thought (hoped) it was about to get interesting.  But it's completely fizzled again.   

No Alberto Del Rio on Raw?  I know we had Randy Orton, but no Raw brand champion on the show tonight?  I guess we will have to wait to see him on Smackdown tonight.   

Right after the main event which sees Sheamus and Cena scoring the win over Christian and Mark Henry we see CM Punk and HHH interacting back stage.  The programs ends with the announcement of a change in the earlier confirmed match for Night of Champions and it will now be HHH vs CM Punk.  I have to admit that excites me more than Nash and Punk.  This should be a great match.  But you have to think Nash and Punk will mix it up at some point.  Will we see this match happen on Raw? What role will Nash play at Night of Champions?  I see him costing Punk the match again and clearly showing his allegiance with HHH. 

Certainly shades of the Austin and McMahon feud ringing through in the Punk and HHH ensuing feud.  Not the same magnitude and will not go down in history like the former but very entertaining none the less. 

There is more wrestling tonight with a live Super Smackdown.  I am looking forward to the steel cage match.  If I get time I will be back tomorrow with full thoughts.  Enjoy the show tonight!

Wrestling Memories from Toronto

Well Tuesday night Smackdown will be broadcast live, yes live, from Toronto. In hornor of that city from my wrestling memories I present the following. This one also falls under the category of most surprsing moments.

The stage was set for Wrestlemania 6, live from Toronto's Skydome, now renamed The Roger's Centre (doesn't have the same ring). A record setting crowd of approximately 67 000 gathered for a main event that at the time was breaking new ground. World Heavy Weight Champiom Hulk Hogan would face current Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, both titles were on the line.

To my knowlede we hadn't seen anything like this before. First of all, we had two major faces taking on each other. Secondly, we had someone walking away with both titles at the end of the evening. I had assumed that this was the (then) WWF's way of setting up the immortal Hulk Hogan to complete a task never before accomplished and he would be hulking it up at the end of the night with two titles raised in the air. To be honest, anticipating this outcome bored me and left me a little disappointed in the main event. Even though I was intrigued in the set up of two faces and two titles on the line I had grown tired of the same old Hulk Hogan act long ago.

Well, much to my surprise it was The Ultimate Warrior pinning Hulk at the end of the night and it would be him with both belts. It was an exciting moment. I hate to sound so hard on Hulk again but there are only a few matches he was in that I consider truly memorable and this was one of them. Of course Hulk was gracious in defeat and the next Wrestlemania he was crowned champ again. The Ulitmate Warrio's title reign was memorable but his career kind of floundered ever since he dropped the title later that year to Sargent Slaughter, which would set the stage for Hullk to win it back at the next Wrestlemania.

I am sure tomorrow night's Smackdown won't as memorable but it is gearing up to be very interesting for sure. Back later this week with thoughts on Smackdown and tonight's Raw.

Smackdown Thoughts, August 26th

Good opening segment featuring special guest GM Bret Hart, Christian, Mark Henry and Sheamus.  I’m always glad to see The Himan and happy to see Christian back.  Although I have to admit that Bret seemed a little rusty on the mic.   I’m already looking forward to next week’s steel cage match vs Randy Orton.  I am thinking Edge should be in attendance and playing a role in this one.  Edge and Christian have been dissing each other as of late, but I am still predicting a reunion of sorts with Edge in a limited role.  Manager? 

I still think Randy Orton walks away with the title next week and faces Mark Henry at Night of Champions.  Although Henry did say he wants his title shot next week, which I assume means after next week’s Smackdown, I am seeing this one as a PPV title shot. 

I am starting to forget when the last time I saw Daniel Bryan win a match.  What are they eventually going to do with the Money in the Bank winner who claims he is waiting until Wrestlemania to cash in?  They will probably sit on this one for a while until at least after the next PPV or even longer.

So Wade Barrett wants something more meaningful.  Any ideas what might be next for him?  Going after Daniel Bryan’s brief case? Intercontinental championship? Is he ready to be in the World Heavyweight Championship mix?

Sin Cara and Heath Slater give us a brief match.  I always loved the high flyers but I was a little underwhelmed by this one tonight for some reason.    

I love Cody Rhodes's creepy and psychotically toned voice....just saying.  Rhodes wants to resurrect the status of the Intercontinental Championship but didn’t last week he say he wasn’t satisfied with it? 

Good match from Randy Orton and Ted Tibiase. So does the Rhodes attack on Dibiase at the end of his match with Orton mean the partnership is over?  If not you can bet than sooner or later Dibiase will say enough is enough.   How about a Night of Champions match between the two with the Intercontinental Championship on the line?  Maybe give Dibiase a shot with it?  It seems we are eventually heading towards an Orton vs. Rhodes showdown.  Perhaps this could really heat up after the next PPV.

The ending to the Ezekiel Jackson and the Great Khali match surprised me.  Both these guys have been floundering and need something.  I was betting on The Great Khali instead it is Jackson with the win and by submission!  Although it looks like a split is in the works for Khali and manager Jinder Mahal and a match at some point.  This potential feud is already not intriguing me too much. 

Oh there was a Divas match here somewhere.  I went from being a little bit interested in the Divas division to not caring again. 

As the show is in the final stretch leading into the main event I realize we haven’t seen Bret Hart since the opening segment.  I didn’t think he would play a huge role but I thought slightly bigger than this. 

Speaking of the main event, the ending surprised me a little bit here too. Sheamus picks up the win by count out to even the score.  I guess Mark Henry wins the battle that takes place after the match.  I am now left wondering if we are heading to something bigger for a title match here.  We have Chody Rhodes eyeing Randy Orton.  We have Mark Henry owed a title shot.  I think Sheamus’s win has to count for something.  How will it all play out and will the world’s strongest man walk away as World Heavyweight Champion?  I’d like to see that title reign but I am thinking it is staying around Orton’s waste for a while. 

Overall it was a decent episode.  I would have liked to have seen a little more of Bret Hart.  More Canadian content next week.  The live Smackdown should be a good one.

Until next time...cheers!

Wrestling Memories (The Hart Foundation)

The world of wrestling has certainly changed and evolved over the years and for the most part I think that it is much better now than it was back then.  And that is no disrespect to the glory days, because I loved that time too and it’s what got me hooked on this crazy stuff in the first place. 

However, there are a few things I do miss from days gone by.  One of those is a meaningful tag team division.   I love tag team wrestling!!   I loved it when teams were teams and they entered the ring together, had their own entrance music and a unique team finisher.  It was a rare thing for one of them to compete in singles competition.  Days of the Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, Demolition, The Road Warriors and The Rockers will be hard to beat.  Recently we had Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne win the titles after just a brief time teaming together.  This type of scenario has not been uncommon over the years.  I am sure the two and their opponents will bring some exciting moments but old school tag teams just worked for me much better. 

In honour of Bret Hart’s appearance on Smackdown tonight a few words about one of my all time favourite tag teams.

In the mid 80’s the original Hart Foundation consisted of tag team partners Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart managed by “the Mouth of the South”, Jimmy Hart.  The wrestlers complimented each other well and young stars had Jimmy Hart to take care of a lot of the mic skills, although the guys weren't too shabby either.  Bret always had it in him and Jim had the trademark and almost psychotic laugh as he stroked his lengthy goatee.  I loved their promos.   They had a great finisher when the more powerful Jim would hold up an opponent in bear hug fashion and Bret would fly off the ropes connecting with the clothesline.  The two went on to hold the titles twice.  The first happened on television when they defeated the British Bulldogs and the second happened during 1990’s Summerslam with a two out of three falls victory over Demolition.  Through much of their time teaming together they were classic heels making cheating an art.  Later they would often be found with other members of Jimmy Hart’s stable including crooked referee turned wrestler Danny Davis and the Honky Tonk Man.  Of course this was only the beginning of what would be a legendary and hall of fame career for Bret Hart.

Always look forward to seeing Bret on T.V. and WWE announced on its website earlier this week that The Hitman would be the special GM for this week’s edition of Smackdown in his hometown of Calgary.  It should make for an entertaining program.  Of course later this weekend I hope to post thoughts on the show. 

Have a good one!