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.

WWE Wrestlemania XXV (2009) - Preview & Predictions

This is the biggest show on the WWE's calendar, so big that it gets a whole extra hour to play about with, making it a 4-hour show. This is the event that the company has been building towards since the Royal Rumble back in January. It should also be noted that they are doing their annual brand draft just one week after 'Mania so there is a good chance many of these feuds will continue, but we'll get to that later.

They have been billing this as the "25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania", which is obviously wrong. Yet no-one seems to have copped on or they have been saying it way too much that they can't be bothered fixing it. It's even on the official poster for crying out loud. Anyway, let's see what is in store this year.

The Card

WWE Championship
Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
(Additional Rules: If Triple H gets intentionally disqualified or counted-out he loses the title; If Triple H shows up with a sledgehammer he automatically loses the match and the title)
Triple H won the title at the last PPV and this is Orton's title shot for winning the Royal Rumble. The build to this match has been excellent and really personal. Orton systematically went beating through the McMahon family (owner Vince and his children Shane & Stephanie). Triple H then revealed the worst kept secret in wrestling in that he is married to Stephanie. Publicly acknowledging the marriage was an interesting move but it made sense given the set-up to this contest. Plus some of the events preceding this match (home invasions with a sledgehammer and man-on-woman violence with Orton beating up Stephanie) also pushed the boundaries of WWE's new PG rating. It was really rather funny that WWE are trying hard to promote their show as family friendly, yet they do stuff like that.

Realistically Orton should be winning this as he has had so much momentum and heat these past few months. But Triple H needs his day in the sun on possibly their biggest PPV ever, so he will be retaining and they will need something to make the majority of the fans 'happy'. And they can't really have this belt change hands for the 5th PPV running. It should be a fine match with most likely some interference from Orton's Legacy. But the problem is that overall it isn't terribly exciting as they have done this feud so many times before so it isn't exactly new.

Interestingly this is actually the Smackdown title, but Orton is on Raw and that is where most of the build-up has been happening. But the upcoming draft should change all this. So I reckon, Triple H retains, gets drafted to Raw which allows this feud to continue and Orton gets the title in the next contest.
Prediction: Triple H to retain

World Heavyweight Championship match
Edge (c) vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena
Conversely, this is technically the Raw title, yet Edge took it over to Smackdown when he sneaked a win last show out under bizarre circumstances. The build to this match has been embarrassingly bad, so the less said about it the better, but it was originally meant to be an Edge/Show match which would have been great as there was plenty of background to it and also it would have been something fresh. But Cena, who is meant to be a good guy, weaselled his way into this contest by blackmailing the GM and Edge's on-screen 'wife' Vickie Guerrero with perverted, voyeuristic material, and then proceeded to show it to everyone. It was simply awful. The addition of Cena has single-handedly ruined a perfectly good feud.

That said he looks a near certainly to win. Much like in the other match, it would give the fans a happy moment, plus he got a big loss and beatdown this past week on TV. Using the logic of 'reverse booking' whereby whoever looks weak going into a PPV usually picks up the win, it means there will probably be a new champion. However, again like before, I can see Cena getting drafted over with the title therefore leaving each of the main shows with a big title and also allowing this feud to continue.
Prediction: John Cena to win the title

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
This one falls into the category of 'dream match' and should be a great contest which in all honesty should be the main event. But I fear it may get buried down somewhere near the middle of the card so the crowd aren't burnt out when the two title matches come around. Anyway this one has developed nicely with both guys trying to get inside the other's head. Plus these two have rarely met in recent time so it is fresh and exciting.

The outcome is pretty predictable as The Undertaker has a win/loss record of 16-0 at Wrestlemania, but that does not really matter. It should be a thrilling bout and should well be match of the night.
Prediction: The Undertaker

Extreme Rules
Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy
The two brothers clash in singles competition for only the second time and it is hard to know what to expect from this one, but it should be a very good match. The hardcore rules can only play to their advantage and I'd guess that ladders will come out and join the party. To his credit, Matt Hardy has done a pretty good job at getting himself over as a heel and his promos have been the strongest in a long time, perhaps ever. Jeff has been playing the sympathetic character as usual and it has all come together very nicely.

Except it should be far more intriguing than it has been. Something just isn't clicking here but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because everyone assumes Matt will be back as a babyface in a while, probably by the end of the year. It is unclear how long this feud will be drawn out too, you could get away with taking it through to the middle of the summer I think. Anyway I think Jeff will probably win to continue the theme of 'happy' victories.
Prediction: Jeff Hardy to win

Money In The Bank Ladder Match Christian vs. MVP vs. Fit Finlay vs. C.M. Punk vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry
(Winner receives a main title shot they can use anytime they want over the next 12 months)
This is the annual spotfest which is usually just a good excuse for carnage to occur. But this is the 5th year they have done this, and the shine is starting to wear off. The anticipation is not as great as it should be especially given the luxurious prize that the winner receives. It has not been helped this year by some bizarre selections to be in this match such as Mark Henry, who weighs near 400 pounds. Although the image of him climbing a ladder is pretty amusing.

As for winners, well the two obvious candidates are Christian and MVP. Christian will most likely be getting drafted off ECW, the C-show, and him winning the briefcase will offer plenty of storylines. But I think it might be a bit too early for him yet as he has only just returned to the company. So I'll go with MVP; a solid mid-card guy, been around for a few years, good on the mike/promos, and he currently has the US title which should help him to be built strong as a main eventer.
Prediction: MVP to win

Tag Team Titles Unification Match contested under Lumberjack rules
(World Tag Team Champions) The Miz & John Morrison vs. (WWE Tag Team Champions) Carltio and Primo
So the powers that be have finally decided that having 2 separate sets of titles in unnecessary. Pity they are only about 3 or so years too late. But this move should be the start of creating a competitive tag team division, although that will take a fair bit of work yet as most of the teams are made out to be jokes at the minute. Plus I guess the champions will be free to float around any of the 3 shows so that kind of makes the ideas of separate brands (TV shows) surplus to requirements.

This feud has been excellent and it really showed what could have been done if creative had bothered to put a bit of effort into this area of the roster. Both teams have beaten each other a couple of times without one being able to gain the upper hand. Plus each team is now accompanied by one of the Bella twins (who fought and split), which has added an extra dimension to things. The TV matches have been very sound so hopefully they will take it up another notch here. The 'lumberjack' element is just that everyone who isn't on the card gets to go to ringside and potentially interfere. Unnecessary, yes, but it's a nice way to get the whole roster onto the show.

The Miz and in particular John Morrison seem set for big things and so they should be locks for this match. But I can see this feud continuing with Carlito & Primo eventually triumphing.
Prediction: The Miz & John Morrsion to win the Unified titles

Intercontinental Title
JBL (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
Bit of an odd match as both of these two guys have been on the fringes of the main event bracket for a while, yet they are fighting over the mid-card belt. JBL only won the title a few weeks back and there has been very little effort put into the set-up of this match. Unbelievably so, they actually gave it away on TV this past week with Mysterio winning in a non-title match. Which means that JBL will be retaining. A few years back this would have been an 'excellent' match but the best we can hope for is 'good'. Should be fine though.

What is possibly more important is that JBL has promised a "historic announcement". All sorts of rumours have been going around from him retiring as an undefeated champion to him buying the Money In The Bank briefcase off the winner and cashing it in later on that night. I'd go with the former as the most likely as he is apparently struggling with back problems.
Prediction: JBL to retain

Handicap Match
Chris Jericho vs. Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka & 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper with 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair and Mickey Rourke at ringside
(Additional Rules: The Legends only need to score 1 victory; Chris Jericho must defeat all 3 opponents)
This match is a complete waste of the excellent Chris Jericho and he has been on top form of TV, which unfortunately means he will have the indignity of losing to a bunch of pensioners. WWE like to have some kind of celebrity involved with Wrestlemania each year, which no doubt means that Rourke will get involved and punch Jericho, probably costing him the match.

WWE have a "Hall Of Fame" each year and this time around the incredibly awesome 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin is the main entrant but he has been conspicuously absent these past few weeks so I'd guess he would show up here (or at some stage) and raise hell, especially given that 'Mania is in his home state of Texas.
Prediction: Steamboat, Snuka & Piper to win

25 Diva Battle Royal
The winner gets crowned 'Miss Wrestlemania', but no-one really cares about that. Or this match, as the vast majority of the swimsuit models, erm, I mean 'wrestlers' are not talented enough to carry off a passable 2 minute match on their own. This is going to be a complete waste of time. Oh well, at least there is no Playboy bunny lingerie bra & panties pillow fight match this year.

They are using up all the women they have on the roster (18 or 19) and then filling the rest out with past workers. It's hard to call a winner, and they really should pick some current female to give them a meaningful push which could harbour future storylines, but I say it'll be between Trish Stratus (a joint record Women's title holder who will probably show up for a one-off appearance), Beth Phoenix (an excellent, dominant wrestler [one of the few talented workers they actually have]) or Michelle McCool (is banging The Undertaker and he has tons of backstage influence).
Prediction: Trish Stratus to win

Last Man Standing or Counted-Out?
Well it's really hard not to recommend Wrestlemania as a general rule, and it should be pretty good. The card is solid and you would like to think that all the wrestler would be bringing out their top-game given how big the occasion is. Hopefully WWE will hold-off on the swerves, the only ones that spring to mind are shock appearance from Batista or even 'Macho Man' Randy Savage. So yeah it'll most likely be okay. But it just doesn't feel like like the show has been built-up enough. The excitement levels should be going off the the charts, and yet, they aren't.

WWE No Way Out 2009 - Preview & Predictions

Opening Promo
No Way Out is unfortunately scheduled in-between 2 of the WWE's 'Big 4' PPVs of the year. It is only 3 weeks after the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania follows in the first weekend of April. Also they can't really afford to shake things up too much with this show as they will need to build the champions/challengers up strongly ahead of their flagship event.

So No Way Out is regarded as nothing more than filler. In order to combat this, for the second year running the show is centred around a gimmick match, in the form of the Elimination Chamber. This is a huge steel dome with 2 wrestlers starting and then 4 others coming out of glass pods situated inside the ring every 5 minutes. These matches are usually pretty good, especially if you have the right mix of people in them. The problem is, the card is light on matches, yet there will be 2 contests fought inside the Chamber. To me that is overkill. By the time the second one comes around the excitement won't be there, but hopefully they will have the sense to space them out.

The Card

Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship
Edge (c) vs. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker vs. Vladimir Koslov vs. The Big Show
This is the Smackdown title, which is the B-Show, but it should be the main event as it has much bigger names in the contest. And it should be a very good match. You can rule out The Undertaker winning the title as there are plenty of other options for him at Wrestlemania. Koslov too can be ruled out as he still looks a bit dodgy at times and switching the title from one heel to another would be strange. They have been teasing Big Show getting involved in something with Edge for a while now and he is in the midst of a babyface turn, but it is unlikely he will win the title. Jeff Hardy definitely won't win it back again after only just dropping it last month. Which leaves Triple H as the only likely contender, but I'd be sure they are saving that for 'Mania.

What is interesting is how they will book this one in regards to making guys look strong. Koslov has been portrayed as very dominant throughout his career so I'd guess that he might get a big elimination in the form of The Undertaker, who can get rebuilt easily enough. Big Show might be made to look weak enough as he has very little momentum. Jeff Hardy will probably get screwed out of it by his brother Matt, which would be fine as it keeps Jeff sympathetic and gets heat on Matt. Triple H most likely will be made to look especially strong, because that's how he will decide on things. He might even eliminate 2 guys all on his own.

So it'll come down to Edge against Triple H or Jeff Hardy, with Edge sneaking a win somehow. Which is fine enough with his gimmick being he seeks out opportunities to win. Should be very entertaining.
Prediction: Edge to retain

Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs. Mike Knox vs. Kofi Kingston
This is the chamber for the flagship show, Raw, but strangely it is considerably weaker. This one is much easier to call since Mysterio, Kane, Knox & Kingston will most definitely not win due to them either being directionless for the past while or that they are mid-card talents. So that only leaves Jericho, but they been setting him up with something else for 'Mania and him winning, while awesome, would be really odd.

It's going to come down to Cena and Jericho with Jericho unfortunately putting the champion over yet again. Plus Randy Orton has a shot for a title at 'Mania and he needs a babyface to fight with, so Cena is going to retain. I have low expectations for this one due to the bizarre choice of talent that got chosen to be in the Chamber.
Prediction: John Cena to retain

ECW Championship
Jack Swagger (c) vs. Fit Finlay
These two have had a couple of good matches over the past month or so and I am fans of both of them. So I am really looking forward to this contest. Swagger only got the title a month or so ago which means he will probably retain the gold.

Now it is worth mentioning that Christian made his highly anticipated return this past week as a member of the ECW brand. This was strange because it was a surprise, and I'm not sure what to make of it. Christian is far better than being on the C-show, yet at least for the moment it allows the opportunity to re-establish himself as a singles guy without being lost under the presence of Cena or being known as his on-screen brother Edge's lackey on either of the other shows. He came out and confronted Swagger, so it looks like them two facing off for the title seems likely in the near future.
Prediction: Jack Swagger to retain

No Holds Barred
Randy Orton vs. Shane McMahon
This is more or less Shane getting revenge for Orton kicking his father in the head a few weeks back. I'm expecting a crazy match and one which should be very fine indeed. Orton is solid enough and in the past Shane has given it his all in these types of contests, which usually results in at least one major, insane spot.

There should be weapons galore and possibly run-ins. I wouldn't rule out Vince returning and screwing either side out of the victory, or even his daughter Stephanie doing the same thing. But Orton will be winning here as he needs to get built up strongly if he is to look like a credible challenger for the title.
Prediction: Randy Orton

All Or Nothing
Shawn Michaels vs. JBL (If Michaels wins, he is free from JBL's contract/If JBL wins, he owns Michaels name & likeness)
Yes, those are some pretty stupid stipulations. But then again, this whole storyline has been dumb. Hopefully this match will see the end of their program but I doubt it. The bout will probably be decent, though Michaels will have to do most of the heavy lifting. It makes sense that Michaels will win seeing as how he has been treated like crap for months by JBL. Plus it would allow them to have a rematch at 'Mania in Texas, making it an all-Texan affair. If JBL wins, I just don't know how they will pull off him owning Michaels' image. Unless he ends up making Michaels advertise all sorts of rubbish just so that he can get the money from it, but that would just be silly.
Prediction: Shawn Michaels to win

Last Man Standing or Counted-Out?
Well, this card appears to be lacking in depth and it wouldn't surprise me if they threw on an extra match to bulk it out a bit. Maybe a women's match or something just as filler. Of the matches, Orton/McMahon and the Smackdown Chamber will probably be the two standouts. However, it all looks really predictable which makes it slightly unappealing. That is of course unless WWE continue their hard-on for the technique of 'bait-and-switch' in order to create some unexpectedness. But that would probably be counter-productive seeing as people need to look credible and there needs to be some stability leading up to Wrestlemania. On the whole, it probably won't be essential viewing.

WWE Royal Rumble 2009 - Results & Review

Catch up with the preview if needs be and then get back here because “the road to Wrestlemania begins here”. Ugh, I feel like Vince McMahon now. I need a wash.

Entrance Video
They showed a really nice highlights video recapping the past Rumble winners and how big an achievement it is to actually win it. They then replayed Randy Orton kicking Vince hard in the head.

Raw commentators Michael Cole & Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler greeted us and they used their ‘quiet voices’ as there is was serious matter to be dealt with. They told us that nothing has been disclosed about McMahon’s condition...except he has at least a concussion. Yes, quite. Fireworks then go boom!

The Matches

‘The All-American American’ Jack Swagger defeated Matt Hardy to retain the ECW Championship
Really solid match to open things with and it was given time which was a bonus. Swagger played a good heel by at one stage waiting outside in order to waste time and catch his breath back. There was some good psychology as Swagger worked over the arm of Hardy nicely and the commentators played that up to good effect. Hardy hit a terrible looking moonsault for a near fall but Swagger won with a Gutwrench Powerbomb. Very fine showing from Swagger in his PPV debut. Afterwards Matt Hardy looked really despondent as he sat on the ring steps for a wee rest. Wonder what he was pondering?

Melina Perez defeated Beth Phoenix to win the WWE Women’s Championship
Well, this surprised me. It was a clean victory too after a roll-up and there was absolutely none of the outside interference that was expected beforehand. The match was sound, I actually wouldn’t have minded them give it a bit more time as these two work well together. Phoenix looked really strong, so while the loss was big; it didn’t hurt her credibility as much as it should have done. Really crazy part where Phoenix bent Melina’s leg back up so it was touched her head and then used Melina’s own leg as a weapon against her opponent. It was something you would expect to see in SHIMMER, which instantly made it awesome. The problem with the title change though is that Melina is short on credible challengers, but there is value in this feud yet.

John Cena defeated JBL to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
The match was what you expected; slow, boring and dull. All the focus was on what Shawn Michaels would do from ringside. What he did do, after a referee got taken out, was plant a Superkick on both JBL & Cena before throwing JBL on top to get the pin. But a second referee came running down and Cena kicked out at two (like they always do with the new ref) before he quickly won with his finisher. Michael’s actions made me a bit more interested in this story, which is more than I was expecting.

Edge defeated Jeff Hardy to win the WWE Championship in a No-Disqualification Match
Hardy came out in some silly facepaint that made him look like an alien. Before the match Vickie Guerrero came out and announced it was now a no-DQ match. Chavo Guerrero accompanied Edge to the ring for some bizarre reason. Oh wait, he is just carnage fodder as Hardy jumped off a ladder sending both of them through the announce table. It was more dangerous than it looked as the ladder buckled at the very last second. Hardy hit his finisher but Vickie came in and broke it up. Matt Hardy then came down and grabbed a chair before striking his brother in the head with it! Ahh, so that’s what he was thinking earlier. Matt sold his betrayal brilliantly with no emotion while the crowd didn’t know how to react. Edge then covered for the easy win.

The problem I feel with the heel turn is that Matt was insanely over with the crowd and ECW is really short of babyfaces now as he was transferred to Smackdown to be on the same show as Jeff. Also while they are on the same show, Matt will NEVER be the better of the two as Jeff does more high-risk moves which the fans eat up. Even so, really solid match, Matt’s heel turn was a surprise (typical ‘bait and switch’ by WWE though as everyone was expecting Christian to appear) and Edge has the title again, so I’m happy.

Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble match
They set the time limit so that a new guy entered every 90 seconds. Triple H was due to be #1 but for some strange reason Rey Mysterio and John Morrison started things. MVP came in at #4 and was pretty good. He is in the midst of a babyface turn which is something different; I’m not entirely sold yet but he played his role well in this one. Vladimir Koslov entered at #6 and was on fire, eliminating a few guys. He quite frankly looked awesome. But then Triple H came in and dumped him out. Damn. Randy Orton then entered after followed by Ted DiBiase, who immediately teamed up as part of their ‘Legacy’ faction. Chris Jericho came out at #11; lots of big guns in early. Orton went crazy dropping everyone with his finisher. Triple H threw out the tag team champions, The Miz & Morrison, further showing that WWE don’t care about their tag team division. Mysterio also went out but used people as stepping stones to stay alive which was pretty nifty. Cody Rhodes then entered to complete Legacy.

Bong! The lights go out and the crowd went mad and The Undertaker made his way down to the ring. The ring was pretty packed as there were barely any eliminations. At #25 there was surprise entrant...Rob Van Dam! The arena went absolutely nuts, and rightly so. RVD put in a really good showing of himself overall getting all his trademark moves in. The final entrant was The Big Show. But there was 15 people left in the ring which is way too many at this stage. Eventually it got down to The Legacy, Big Show, Triple H & The Undertaker. Show & ‘Taker fought on the apron before Show got knocked off by Orton and then he pulled ‘Taker down to the floor. They then fought and I really hope they don’t do these two guys in a feud again. So the final four were Legacy and Triple H. If you can’t see how this one ended then you need your brain checked. Triple H dumped DiBiase & Rhodes before being tipped over by Orton who celebrated as fireworks went off and Legacy posed in the ring.

The fun and randomness of the Royal Rumble was there and I really liked how Orton held up Rhodes’ & DiBiase’s arms with him at the end. But there should have been more people thrown out earlier, it just got too clustered in the latter stages.

King Of The Ring or Jobber?
This was a very solid PPV, none of the matches were below their expectations and Edge/Jeff Hardy probably took it up another notch than from what was predicted. I’ve no problems with any of the winners to be honest so the booking was spot-on. It was an entertaining watch on the whole with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. A fine start to the year then for the WWE.

WWE Royal Rumble 2009 - Preview & Predictions

Opening Promo
The start of 2009 has not been much fun for some people that worked for WWE as a large number have been laid off. The whole of their Pacific offices in Sydney has been shut down, 10% at the main office in the US have been let go, referees have been sacked, many wrestlers have been cut (mainly veterans & young developmental guys). They also got rid of Val Venis, a favourite of many, whose gimmick was that he was a porn-movie actor, who was pretty much the last remnants of the excellent Attitude Era where they would regularly push the envelope in bold new directions. Oh how I pine for another one of those eras, heaven knows the industry could use one. They also literally jobbed the excellent Victoria into retirement, an excellent wrestler who has been wasted for years probably because she wasn’t considered pretty enough. Hopefully she will show up in TNA or SHIMMER in the near future so she can truly showcase her ability. The worst case though is probably referee Mickie Henson has lymphoma and was promised that his job was safe because he didn’t have health insurance, yet he was let go. Promises apparently mean nothing to Vince McMahon, who to the joy of many got a stiff kick in the head this week. Karma? I’ll let you decide.

Enough with the doom and gloom. Now, the Royal Rumble is one of the traditional ‘Big 4’ PPVs of the year and they use it to start to build to their flagship show Wrestlemania in a few months time. This event is famous for having a huge battle royal. Expect an extra large fireworks display given that Vince now has some spare change to burn.

WWE Championship
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Edge
They finally pulled the trigger on giving Hardy the title last month after many, many months of teasing and he won it off Edge, who is using his rematch clause here. In all honesty, the thought of Hardy as the champion repulses me. As a singles wrestler, he is hugely over-rated in my opinion and can’t cut a decent promo to save his life. He is awful when given a microphone. He has taken to wearing some facepaint as well for some strange reason but it looks really silly and makes it hard for him to be taken seriously as the top guy. Edge on the other hand is one of my favourites and it was particularly annoying to see the belt taken off him after he only won it in November, which not only made Edge look weak by not having one successful defence but also devalued the title. But hey, titles in WWE these days are meaningless and nothing more than fancy decorations.

They have been running a story whereby a mystery person has been trying to kill or seriously injure Hardy. This started with the rather tasteless story of Hardy (who has a history of drug problems) being found unconscious in a stairwell. Then someone tried to take him out in a hit and run and last week his fireworks went wrong. It is widely assumed that it is the returning Christian Cage and he will cost Hardy this match to help his on-screen ‘brother’. But is this just too simple? WWE have been in the habit recently of trying to ‘trick’ fans and going in directions other than the obvious. I know who I want to win, but I’m not sure what will happen. I’d go for Edge to win, do the rematch next month and then be set Christian/Jeff Hardy match at Wrestlemania. But the problem is, Hardy is already being portrayed as too sympathetic and screwing him out of the belt would be perhaps going overboard and in fairness, he hasn’t done anything terribly wrong to warrant it being taken off him nor has had a chance to showcase what he can do as champion. It’s a coin-toss really.
Prediction: Edge to win the WWE title

World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) vs. JBL w/Shawn Michaels
Recently Michaels has become an ‘employee’ of JBL as he has wasted all his money away and is now broke. And this storyline has been a huge flop because firstly is it just unbelievable given Michaels is one of the best paid guys in the WWE and also the shows are meant to be a form of escapism, not more depression and it is a bit insulting to all the workers that got sacked.

Cena is a wrestler I hate. He is average in the ring, average on the microphone, yet he sells lots of kid’s merchandise which is why he gets pushed to the stars more often than not. JBL is poor in the ring, but he is very good at talking so it wouldn’t be the worst case scenario if he won although historically JBL/Cena matches have not been great. In all honesty, Cena should be retaining to build him as a strong champion for 'Mania but again it is not so simple. There is the inevitability of Michaels turning on JBL by the question is: when? Michaels could help his ‘boss’ win the match and then build to them over the title at ‘Mania with JBL thinking he will have it easy. Which would be fine but they could do that anyways without the belt, the story is in place. They would use the tagline ‘Texan vs. Texan’ because ‘Mania is, surprisingly, in Texas. Best case scenario, Cena retains and JBL then berates Michaels for not helping him, pause for tension, then JBL get a Superkick in the face.
Prediction: John Cena to retain

Royal Rumble Match
30-Man over the top rope Battle Royal with the winner receiving a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship shot at Wrestlemania
This is the one that gains the majority of the interest and is usually fun enough with 2 men starting and then a new one entering ‘randomly’ at set intervals. There are usually plenty of false finishes particularly near the end. This one should be the main event, but it was necessary to get some back story in above. If you win, it also allows you to jump to another show in order to take a shot at a main title of your choosing. Let’s take a look at some of the more likely winners along with some made-up odds...

Batista – He is currently injured and not expected back for a few months yet...but so was John Cena last year and he made a miraculous recovery to enter at #30 to win. This was, admittedly a pretty big, unexpected surprise. I could see some rationale in it seeing as people wouldn’t expect the same thing two years running but I doubt WWE will pull the same stunt again and Batista probably is legitimately injured, so I’d say it is very, very, very unlikely that this will occur – Odds: 1000/1

Christian – Assuming he comes back and helps Edge win the belt, he may be rewarded with a spot in the Rumble as a reward and at time of writing there are still 7 spots to be filled. Though they are usually reserved for ‘Legends’ who get rolled out every so often. Still it would be an interesting twist and could lead to a dream match between Edge & Christian over the belt at ‘Mania – Odds: 20/1

Edge – Yes, he is in the title match but say Christian does not show and Edge loses the match then the Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, Edge’s on-screen ‘wife’, could secretly grant him a spot. Imagine a situation whereby there is one guy left and the buzzer for the #30 entrant rang yet no-one showed. Edge then creeps out from under the ring and dumps the guy over the top rope to win. I wouldn’t totally rule it out as it would keep in line with Edge’s ‘Ultimate Opportunist’ gimmick whereby he seeks out any method to win – Odds: 10/1

The Undertaker – He won it 2 years ago but I doubt he will make it 2 times in 3 years. But if he were to win then he would probably go on to win the title at Wrestlemania for the third year running and he already had an excellent feud with Edge last year, so it as much as I like him, it wouldn't be as interesting as someone getting the nod – Odds: 9/1

Big Show – He is a heel, which would be a good foil for Hardy if he were to retain. But Big Show could turn face quite easily too as there is some tension boiling between him and Edge, which could set up their match – Odds: 8/1

Chris Jericho – He was fired on Raw two weeks ago yet begged and grovelled for his job back this week and it was granted. Again, with so many people in general losing their jobs due to the current economic climate, this must have been a hard pill to swallow watching it on TV. But Jericho is in limbo at the moment. He is just off an excellent year, even if his 2 title reigns were disgracefully short and is without a storyline currently. Which is why he looks a good outside chance as he could face off against Cena, although they half-heartedly did that a couple months back. Or he could jump ship to the Smackdown brand and square off against Jeff Hardy which would be fresh or even turn face and fight Edge which would be all the better. Jericho is one of my favourites as he is so sound in every department and excels at playing both a good and a bad guy. One to look out for in the match – Odds: 5/1

Shawn Michaels – As previously mentioned, JBL ‘owns’ Michaels and has forbid him from entering in the Rumble. Now if JBL were to win the title then he could reverse this in the hope that Michaels would win and thus giving him an easy title defence. Or Michaels could break ranks and enter this match himself somehow. Rumours are that this may be Michaels last ‘Mania later on and given it is in his home state as well, they might want to give him a big send-off and one last title run. There has also been stories of him facing The Undertaker at ‘Mania too. If he does win the Rumble, it also opens the possibility of him renewing his rivalry with John Cena over the title. So, Rumble victory or not, at least they have options with Michaels – Odds: 3/1

Randy Orton – He has been one of the top heels for a while and he is just so ‘hot’ at the minute he gets a reaction whatever he does. He also is the leader of his own stable so this year is obviously going to be a big one for him. And he has also got the biggest momentum going into the match, after kicking his boss in the head. He looks a very solid pick to win the Rumble and set up a match with John Cena. But because there is so much focus on him at the minute, they are not in a rush to build his Wrestlemania match, so the victory won’t be as essential to him as it is to other wrestlers, as they have outs with Vince coming on a warpath at him. Definitely one of the favourites though – Odds: 2/1

Triple H – I think it is fair to say at this stage that whatever happens, he will be closing out the historic Wrestlemania 25 holding a newly won title. Hell, he loves himself that much, he is the owner’s son-in-law, and his wife is the head story writer, it’s almost a certainty. How he gets there is the question but I think this is the ticket. A bit of focus has been on him in recent weeks, but he has suffered a couple of losses and has no momentum. Which is why he is such a great person to win. WWE tends to reverse book things meaning whoever is on top going into a PPV generally loses their PPV match, it is the opposite here. Plus all sorts of obstacle have been put in his way that he is entering at #1. And if Triple H were to win it from being the first man in, it would finally allow WWE to lay to rest the spectre of Chris Benoit’s achievements at the Rumble at few years back when he won from being #1 and completely wipe him out from their history at this event, which they are keen to do. WWE would use their favourite son to re-write the history books of being to last man to go straight from the start to the end of the match. Triple H has been at loggerheads with Vickie Guerrero and an Edge/Triple H feud would be very new. Triple H is my pick to win and he will definitely be there or thereabouts, I’d almost guarantee he’ll make the last 3 men left – Odds: 15/8 (favourite)
Prediction: Triple H to win the Royal Rumble

ECW Championship
‘The All-American American’ Jack Swagger (c) vs. Matt Hardy
Hardy lost the title two weeks back and so this is his rematch. Them switching the title admittedly surprised me as I knew WWE were high on Jack Swagger, he is still undefeated in singles competition, but I didn’t think they would push him so hard, so fast. But even though he has only been on the main roster for a few months, Swagger has already shown tons of potential. He has a good look to him, is athletic, has a nice cockiness/arrogance about him and seems comfortable enough on the microphone. I really this guy and he just seems to have ‘it’, and if he keeps his head straight, he can really go far and become a huge star. He makes the most of all the opportunities he gets on TV and seems to be improving each week and had a really good match with Fit Finlay recently.

Matt Hardy is, in my opinion the superior of the two Hardy brothers, yet creative don’t seem too fond of him. They play him up well as a babyface chasing the title, but when he ultimately gets the belt, they just shove him into boring feuds and don’t capitalise on everything they have built up. I don’t see him winning, it’d be silly to switch the title soon and a PPV defence would make Swagger look good. Especially if it is a clean one and there is no real reason why it should not. It’s hard to tell how Swagger will cope in his PPV début, but from every indication so far he should be fine. He might even revel in the big-time atmosphere. And Hardy is a very fine, dependable, worker so there will be no problems from him. I’m looking forward to this one.
Winner: Jack Swagger to retain

WWE Women’s Championship
Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Melina Perez
This feud has been built up very nicely and on paper looks a very solid contest. Phoenix is excellent and can hang with absolutely anyone in the world while Melina has come on nicely and is good enough, one of the better WWE women wrestlers in fact. These two work well together which is a bonus. But it is unlikely we will get a clean match between the two. Recently a ‘fan’ Rosa Mendes (FCW developmental wrestler Milena Roucka) has been planted in the crowd proclaiming to be Phoenix’s #1 fan and has interfered in matches when Melina is beating down her idol. She got ‘banned’ but Phoenix’s on-screen boyfriend Santino Marella has convinced her to take her on and train her. All well and good but I can see this angle ultimately failing. From all accounts Mendes/Roucka is not a very good wrestler which means the pay-off with her fighting either Melina or Phoenix will be really poor. Also this type of angle has been done to death in recent years; they introduced Mickie James in this fashion and also Phoenix herself the first time around. Even TNA managed to do it successfully when they had Tracy Brooks ultimately get confronted by Rain. (Yes, TNA done something right. They deserve credit for it.)

What will probably ultimately happen is that Santino will dump Phoenix for the new chick, which would be fine enough. Phoenix’s partnership with comedy figure Santino has helped get her over, so the pairing has been a success. They could then release Santino (who I hate; he's crap wrestler and his routine got old after two weeks) and Mendes/Roucka (just another pretty face with little ability) for all I care. Right back to the match then, Phoenix is going in with all the momentum so I doubt she will win cleanly. What I’d guess is that Melina will be on the verge of winning but Mendes will interfere to save Phoenix her title. It keeps the babyface looking strong, gets heat on the heels, you have grounds for a rematch soon, and the storyline ticks over. Or the other option is that Mendes and/or Santino messes up the interference and costs Phoenix the title, which could happen as Phoenix has had the belt for 5 months so we are about due a change. I'll go with the former.
Prediction: Melina Perez to win (via DQ)

Last Man Standing or Counted-Out?
This show looks fine on paper and some of the matches should be worth a look. Edge/Hardy will probably be very good, the ECW match looks potentially very exciting and should be solid at least. The other two should come in average at the very least. I’m expecting one title to switch and I’d say it’ll either be the WWE Championship or the Women’s belt. Changing more than that might be overkill. The Rumble match itself should be highly entertaining; there is something about not knowing who is going to appear next that gives you a nice thrill. Plus the card looks really unpredictable with the potential for lots of surprises, which is great and should make for a good watch.