Saturday 25 July 2009

WWE Night Of Champions 2009 - Preview & Predictions

This is the second year that this event has been going under the moniker 'Night of Champions' and is unique in that it is the one night when every single title is defended.

WWE Title
Randy Orton (c) vs Triple H vs John Cena

Orton & HHH have been battling over the Raw-brand title for seemingly forever and in order to make things different (read: stop the boredom) they have added Cena. The problem is that Orton has been portrayed as a very weak champion, and I'd be surprised if he retained. Triple H has been chasing the gold for months and so will probably pick it up. I wouldn't rule out Cena, but he just seems to be in here as he is one of their top guys and they had nothing to do for him.

The most interesting thing to come out of this would be for HHH to pin Cena or vice versa to set up a feud with those two which hasn't been done that much. But I'd doubt that as Orton being the heel will most likely do the job.

Honestly, I have zero excitement for this match given it has 2 guys I strongly dislike (Cena & HHH) and another that I'm very neutral on (Orton).
Prediction: Triple H to win the title

World Heavyweight Championship
C.M. Punk (c) vs Jeff Hardy

This has been one of the best feuds in all of wrestling this year, and a true testament of just how much better a show Smackdown is even though the terrible-more-often-than-not Raw is considered by company officials to be the A-show.

Punk is in the middle of a long-needed heel turn to freshen his character up a bit. He is doing a 'straight-edge' gimmick, which made him famous in the enjoyable Ring Of Honor promotion, where he preaches about how he is "better than you" as he doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs. In real-life this is all legitimately true so there is plenty of underlying credibility here. Jeff Hardy has in the past being in trouble with drugs, and coupled with the crowd loving him along with him being a generally sympathetic character, makes him the perfect foil for this.

The best thing about this is that it is being allowed time to develop slowly with Punk cutting some great promos and Hardy playing his part well. The real beauty though is that similar to Chris Jericho's excellent heel turn last year, everything Punk is saying is the truth but the fans are booing him for it.

The match should be pretty good, and Punk should be ideally retaining. How is another matter. Hardy's contract is apparently up in 2 weeks, and if so, then Punk should be going over clean. If WWE can get Hardy to hang on for another month to their next big event SummerSlam, they could get away with a screwy finish here and then have something like a 'Loser leaves WWE' match with obviously Hardy getting beat.
Prediction: C.M. Punk to retain

ECW Title
Tommy Dreamer (c) vs Christian
Dreamer as a champion is a complete turn-off for me as he should not even be wrestling. He is old, slow, sluggish, pudgy, and just generally looks out of place on ECW, which is a show for mainly new, young talent to develop their skills. However, it would be better if he won the match.

Christian needs to get over to Smackdown, which has a worryingly low pool of main event talent. If Christian were to lose this match and stay on ECW, it would do no good. Arguably if he won the belt it would not do all that much given he has already won it once and that was all that was needed to re-establish himself since he returned to the WWE.

Right, fantasy armchair booking time - the match goes on early enough in the show, Dreamer wins via roll-up (to protect Christian), he extends his hand to shake as a sign of respect, but Christian beats him up and then just walks off turning slightly heelish (we'll come back to this in a moment).
Prediction: Tommy Dreamer to retain

Unified Tag Team Titles
Chris Jericho & ??? (c) vs Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase)
Jericho and Edge won the titles at the last show after becoming a last minute addition. However, Edge unfortunately picked up a nasty injury at house show that leaves him out of action until the New Year. Jericho is allowed to pick a new partner, but for storyline purposes, it needs to be an upper-card guy who doesn't look out of place beside him.

This is where Christian comes into play. Him and Jericho have previous history both as a team and foes from years ago and it would allow him to eventually go over to Smackdown. The only other possibility I can think of as partner would be a re-debuting Chris Masters, who WWE recently signed back and will no doubt thrust him highish on the card. But to be frank, his run first time around was a bit of a flop and I'm in no hurry to see him back.

Legacy are a strange breed. They are clearly going to be big things much further down the line. But at the minute it is hard to take them seriously as they are Randy Orton's lackeys and more or less Triple H's own personal jobbers who he beats up whenever he feels like it.

I wouldn't expect a title change as they just could have had Jericho play up his own ego and take both of them on. Plus you can play up eventual tension between Jericho and his new partner. Interestingly all 3 confirmed people are heels, it's not often WWE does heel vs heel matches, but I wish they would do more.
Prediction: Chris Jericho and mystery partner Christian to retain

Intercontinental Title
Rey Mysterio (c) vs Dolph Ziggler
One of the other reasons Smackdown is such a better show is that they put focus on mid-card talent to help elevate them up to the higher echelon, for example Ziggler (and John Morrison). Raw doesn't do this, and if Ziggler had of stayed on Raw instead of being drafted a few months ago, he would have been lucky if he had of appeared on the show let alone get a PPV title match.

Ziggler has been improving vastly and is getting better in the ring all the time, and will probably pick up the belt sometime or later, but not here I feel. Mysterio is rock solid and this should be a good match.
Prediction: Rey Mysterio to retain

United States Title
Kofi Kingston (c) vs MVP vs Carlito vs Jack Swagger vs The Miz vs The Big Show
Everyone seems to be involved in something, except bizarrely the champion himself. So they just threw a bunch of mid-carders together. They haven't made clear the rules of the match but I'd imagine it is two guys in the ring and they can tag in anyone else with one fall to a finish.

Using WWE standard booking logic, Big Show definitely won't win as he was made uber-strong this past week by laying out all other 5 guys. Carlito is involved in a feud with his brother Primo so I doubt he'll win. MVP & Swagger are fighting each other that should not need the title. So that leaves The Miz and the champ. It's a coin toss, but I think there'll be a new champ.

The guys are all decent workers at the least, but I fear the scenario may be a case of 'too many cooks...'.
Prediction: The Miz to win the US Title

Women's Title
Michelle McCool (c) vs Melina
McCool won the belt because she is screwing The Undertaker...oh, after winning last time around is the official company message I believe. This is Melina's mandatory rematch. McCool is a poor wrestler and just plain boring as a character. In an ideal world Melina should have retained last time around, and again she should win here. But that won't happen. The problem then is that the only wrestler on Smackdown capable of having a good match is the excellent Natalya, but she like McCool, is currently a heel. Ahh, we'll see what happens.
Prediction: Michelle McCool to retain

Diva's Title
Maryse (c) vs Mickie James
Ugh, 2 Diva's matches on the same show. Is this some sort of punishment for sins past? If I wanted to see a couple of women's matches (that actually feature fantastic matches & talent) in a short space of time, I'd check out the sublime SHIMMER.

Anyway, Maryse is the epitome of why I hate WWE's attitude to women's wrestling. They hire models/ex-Playboy girls and then train them as opposed to getting proven women with a bit of indy experience - it's a case of looks first, talent second.

To her credit, Maryse is a good character, but is an awful wrestler. Mickie James actually has indy background but has regressed so much since these past couple of years and is quite sloppy at times. She is good, just not as good as when she debuted. She needs to win though to draw better wrestlers in (Beth Phoenix & Gail Kim).
Prediction: Mickie James to win the title

Overall
This does not look like the best show. I have no interest in the triple threat match, any match involving Tommy Dreamer is always a bit iffy, and the 2 Divas matches will probably be a mess. Hardy/Punk, Mysterio/Ziggler & the tag titles should be fine though. Expect a few title changes, there kind of needs to be in order to make this format of a show work.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. I used to be checking constantly this weblog and I'm inspired! Very useful information specifically the final part :) I maintain such information a lot. I used to be seeking this certain information for a very lengthy time. Thank you and good luck.

My web blog - green coffee beans

Anonymous said...

much less civil Says absolutely no woman is actually experienced in order to remain in a open public location without having swaying the woman's back again through to certainly remaining. This particular exercise may be simple amongst females associated with any kind of pretensions in order to multiplying in most well-governed Says, dating back to the actual storage associated with Numbers may achieve. It's regarded as the shame in order to any kind of Claim that laws must have in order to inflict exactly what needs to be, and it is in most reputable woman, an all natural impulse. The actual rhythmical as well as, basically might therefore state, well-modulated undulation from the in the females associated with Round position is actually envied as well as imitated through the spouse of the typical Equilateral, who are able to accomplish absolutely nothing past merely drab golf swing, such as the ticking of the pendulum; and also the normal beat from the Equilateral isn't any much less adored as well as replicated through the spouse from the intensifying as well as aspiring Isosceles, within the although associated with as their loved ones absolutely no 鈥渂ack-motion鈥?associated with any sort is becoming up to now essential associated with existence. Therefore, in most class of placement as well as thing to consider, 鈥渂ack motion鈥?can be common because period by itself; and also the partners as well as son's within these types of families appreciate defenses a minimum of through cannot be seen episodes.
Certainly a Lady isn't to become inflamed so long as she's ready exactly where your woman can change circular. If you have.
Not really it should be for any second intended our Ladies tend to be destitute associated with love. However regrettably the actual enthusiasm from the second predominates, within the Frail Intercourse, more than almost every other thing to consider. This really is, obviously, essential as a result of their own regrettable conformation. With regard to because they don't have any pretensions for an position, becoming substandard with this regard towards the really cheapest from the Isosceles, they're as a result totally without the need for brain-power, and also have nor manifestation, common sense neither focus, as well as extremely little storage. Therefore, within their suits associated with fury, these people keep in mind absolutely no statements as well as identify absolutely no variations. I've really recognized an instance the place where a Lady offers exterminated the woman's entire home, as well as 30 minutes later on, whenever the woman's craze had been more than and also the pieces swept aside, offers requested exactly what is becoming associated with the woman's spouse as well as the woman's kids.











________________________________

Anonymous said...

Homer niether transported none reacted.
鈥淐ome relating to, you will boys 鈥?we鈥檒l enjoy. 鈥?
Moving your way up all the pile to make sure you Pinyon Canyon prepared an individual's face throb and additionally the person was first happy the moment normally cleared an individual's regular knocks. Like the person initiated gone, the person experienced amongst the shades push and additionally returned to make sure you sweep as soon as. It has yet basically no alternative.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking place, 鈥?Claude talked about.
Descrip . 27











________________________________