Tag Archives: Dolph Ziggler

Jun 16

WWE Payback: What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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Welcome back to our monthly look at WWE Events. As part of a preview we look at the card and what SHOULD Happen and compare it to what (probably) WILL Happen.

This card feels very much like a placeholder show, but it does have some potential long-term ramifications. The power of The Shield will continue to grow, Daniel Bryan continues to (hopefully) move up the card, and where does CM Punk fit into all of this?

Things feel predictable, Cena’s going to retain, both matches involving The Shield have pretty obvious outcomes, and of course the new guy that they love is going to win the title that they don’t care about! However, the company is known to mess things up every so often just to keep us all guessing.

Will this be one of those times? I guess we’ll have to see…

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow
You-Tube Pre-Show Match

What SHOULD Happen: …wait are Rhodes Scholars together or split up? It’s so tough to tell these days. I was rather excited for this feud, as it seemed like a great chance to push Sandow, but the news that it was relegated to the pre-show sort of stung. Let’s hope that young Cody makes his appearance felt as we can keep this duo together in some meaningful way. Let’s have Cody interfere and cost Sheamus the match. Sheamus tries to look for a partner to take on his rivals before settling on either a returning Mark Henry or Big Show to create a Main-Event tag team that can help fill the void that the splitting of Team Hell No will create.

What WILL Happen: Sheamus will win cleanly, probably Brogue Kicking Cody Rhodes for good measure.

Match #1
Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio
World Heavyweight Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: It’s kind of strange to have these guys jerk the curtain but it actually makes sense. Cena-Ryback is clearly going last and Jericho-Punk is a very big match in Chicago, so they’ll need to separate this match from the other two Main Events, and they haven’t been shy about using the WHC to jerk the curtain.

There’s no way Ziggler is losing here, he hasn’t made a big time title defense on account of his injury, and it’s nice that the company left the belt on him, when they had every excuse to strip him of the title last month. Ziggler should come out as champion on the account of Langstonterference.

What WILL Happen: Ziggler wins after Langston runs in, Langston and Del Rio resume their best of 367 match series.

Match #2
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel
Intercontinental Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: It really is too bad that Fandango was injured, as he seemed primed to win the gold here. But alas, the fates intervened and they have the chance to give this title to their other flavour of the month. As much as I love Wade Barrett, he just hasn’t seemed to click since returning from injury in the fall. He feels like he’s sort of…there. He feels like he could benefit from a long-term tag team with a fellow heel, maybe someone from development could be his protegé.

As for the match, it seems like the company should get behind Axel. They have been a little stop-start with him in only 3 short weeks. Have him with the title with a clean pin and have a strong reign which includes a title defense against Triple H at Summerslam.

What WILL Happen: Axel will win after Heyman interferes then Triple H will run in and chase him off, putting a very small amount of attention on the title change.

Match #3
Dean Ambrose vs. Kane
United States Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: These two had a fun match on free tv, and seem to have similar, sadistic, styles. Ambrose most certainly will, and should retain here. Hopefully it’s clean as a whistle over the monster.

After the match, Rollins and Reigns come out to beat-down Kane only for Orton and Bryan to run down for a save.

What WILL Happen: Probably just what was stated above. Ambrose is one of the best pushed men in the company right now and my personal choice to win one of the Money in the Bank matches nest month. He’ll win, it’s just a question of if it’ll be clean or involve some sort of interference. I’ll go with clean.

Match #4
Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton
Tag Team Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: I love it when matches/segments blend together a little bit. It’s just plain fun, and here we have a great chance to do that.

The Shield should retain after some kind of miscommunication and get a pinfall on Orton, which helps settles just who is (and isn’t) the weak link. This can lead to both Orton and Bryan getting shots at Cena next month to further that story line.

What WILL Happen: Please tell me we aren’t getting another whacky-partners-who-hate-each-other. We just had several months of that.

There were rumours of a Daniel Bryan heel turn…God I hope not. He’s been very good as a goofy face and should continue to work as one. But let’s go with that happening…similar to what it says above but with Bryan snapping at Orton in the end.

Match #5
Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee
Diva’s Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: AJ is the most over woman on the roster not named Vickie. She should get a win here and maybe just maybe get some more attention to the belt.

What WILL Happen: Probably the same, get ready for a lot of matches between these two…

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: The Usos vs. Tons of Funk vs. Prime Time Players vs. 3MB: Four Way #1 Contenders Match. Apparently the company wants to push the tag team titles a bit more, so why not? They did a similar thing a year ago, and it helped with the slight renaissance we saw for the tag team titles last year. Apparently the plan is to also build up The Usos, so why not give them a win and a shot at the next PPV?

What WILL Happen: John Cena makes fun of Ryback.

Match #6
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

What SHOULD Happen: Get comfy this is going to take a minute….

There’s no way that Punk is going to get booed in his hometown, so we may as well go with this as a face vs. face match. Give them 15-20 minutes to put on a clinic, much like they did last year. After awhile both men are lying on the mat, when out walks Heyman who distracts the referee and Curtis Axel runs in through the crowd and shockingly hits Punk with his title belt. Jericho recovers and get the pin, unaware of what was going on.

Punk limps out and confronts Heyman who replies “You never should have left me, I didn’t tell you that you could”. Punk brawls with Axel for a bit and dumps him from the ring and gets face to face with Heyman when out runs Brock Lesnar who hits levels Punk with an F-5.

What WILL Happen: Don’t count on the ‘E burning one of Lesnar’s dates on PPV without an announcement, but damn would it ever be amazing. If the above were to happen it probably would just involve Heyman and Axel.

But let’s go with Punk winning after Axel interferes, not really sure what’s going to happen long term with the Heyman family storyline.

Impromptu Match/Segment #2

What SHOULD Happen: The Wyatt family is coming…

What WILL Happen: They’re coming alright…

Match #7
John Cena vs. Ryback
Three Stages of Hell Match for the WWE Championship

What WILL Happen: Ryback pins Cena, clean as a whistle, thus giving him a case against Cena again sometime in the future. Cena flukily puts Ryback through a table, much like Sheamus did to him way back in 2009. Cena pulls out some sort of a death spot on Ryback and rolls him into the ambulance to win. The feud is over and Cena can move on to feud with Orton and Bryan after they both get named top contenders somehow and Ryback can start to feud with some other big name faces before winning one of the big belts sometime in the fall.

What WILL Happen: Actually it seems pretty likely, doesn’t it?

This means that Money in the Bank SHOULD Be

- Cena vs. Orton vs. Bryan
- Ziggler vs. Jericho
- Punk (with Triple H) vs. Axel (with Brock Lesnar)
- Rollins and Reigns vs. The Usos
- Dean Ambrose wins one Money in the Bank Match
- Ryback wins the other
- Other MiTB Participants include: Kane, Sheamus, Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara, Antonio Cesaro, Big E. Langston, Mark Henry, Christian, Wade Barrett, The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and a few more people I haven’t thought of.
- Divas~~!!

Which can get us to a Summerslam that features: Cena vs. Bryan, Triple H vs. Axel (for real this time), Punk vs. Lesnar, and Rollins and Reigns vs. Undertaker and Kane

Apr 15

Wrestlemania XXX: Imagining What the Card Will Look Like

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“We support your local sports team” say the WWE – Photo from Wikimedia

With a very disappointing Wrestlemania XXIX in the books it’s time to look forward to what the big event will look like next year. For the past six years the company has been like Star Trek movies, brilliant showings for the even numbers, and dullsville for the odd ones. Hopefully next year things will continue, as the company is sure to go all out for the event next year in New Orleans.

There have already been rumours of a Brock-Rock showdown and every year there is some talk of Cena-Taker taking place, where would this leave the likes of CM Punk, Triple H, Daniel Bryan, or the star that seems to have been born in Fandango.

So with a little bit of speculation we get the following matches…

Tons of Funk, R-Truth, Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs. Prime Time Players and 3MB
YouTube Pre-Show Match

This is sort of a thrown together 10 man tag to get people who would pop the crowd on the card. They could all dance around, hit their spots and move on.

Lights, fireworks, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

Chris Jericho and Christian vs. Rhodes Scholars
WWE Tag Team Title Match

Of course this is dependent on Jericho returning, but a reunion run with Christian could be exciting. They could have a nice little run with the tag team titles and have a showdown with two of the best smarmy heels in the business. Hopefully a chance to open the big event is a big apology to the Rhodes Scholars for leaving them off the card like they did. It could be extra fun to get Edge in the corner of the blond Canadians as a nice little nod to the past.

Sheamus vs. The Miz

This match fits the “no idea what to do with these two guys on the card spot”. It’s safe to say that The Miz won’t be a face this time next year, since he’s been pretty flat in this role. He can go on and on about being undefeated at Wrestlemania and drop this match cleanly, possibly foreshadowing another first time loss at this big event…

Antonio Cesaro  vs. Wade Barrett vs. Fandango vs. Kofi Kingston 
 vs. Mark Henry vs. Kane vs. Big E. Langston vs. Justin Gabriel
Money in the Bank Match

The card this year really could have benefitted from bringing Money in the Bank back. It would be a fun match early in the card and it could get some big exposure for the mid-card names like Kingston and Cesaro. Besides the gimmick gets overdone with two a year. They could easily have a different event in July. This match could be hurt by big guys, but it could be fun to see them throw the little guys around. If Gabriel is not over enough they could replace him with a host of other talent, preferably on the face side of things.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio

Every year there is talk of a Cara-Mysterio match, but every year it doesn’t seem to work. Sin Cara does not seem to be working out in the WWE so the company strapped the rocket to Alberto in order to make a new Latin star. With Rey’s body breaking down, this could be a perfect chance to end his career on a high note in a great place. Plus they can finally do the mask record that they want, and have them all be for Rey as a sort of tribute.

Natalya vs. Charlotte
Diva’s Title Match

Charlotte is one of the bright spots in the NXT Divas Division and just so happens to be Ric Flair’s daughter. Natalya is the most talented, yet underutilized member of the Divas on the roster, and she just so happens to be a relative of Bret Hart. Wrestlemania X and XX had certain bursts of nostalgia so it seems reasonable that this could be an easy chance to have something similar happen here. If they had their Hall of Fame family members in their corners it could be pretty epic and actually make the ladies a draw at the big event.

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler
World Title Match

Wrestlemania XX featured quite possibly the best triple threat match ever for the Big Gold belt contested between three of the top workers of the era. What better way to draw back to that then have three of the top wrestlers compete for the same belt? It doesn’t much matter who is the champ going in but Punk is the most established so we may as well have him as champ going in. We would all be able to sit back and enjoy the show.

Ryback vs. Big Show

The match that was long rumoured to happen at this years event. This match should be a quick squash to put over Ryback as a legit giant. It could be a nice quick cool down after the classic that we would see right before.

The Shield vs. Evolution

Yet another call back to Wrestlemania XX when the young upstarts took on some of the hugest names in the business. Now here is a chance for those former upstarts to be the big names and put over The Shield in a huge way. There have been rumours of a Batista return and this would be a great way to use him and Triple H, plus we could get an interesting dynamic with a potentially heelish Orton. Sure it’s not that different than the six man tag from this year, but it could still be a ton of fun.

The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar

This match has been rumoured for a while now and it would be a huge celebrity match with the obvious twist that both celebrities are former WWE Champions. These two had an amazing match and feud in 2002, so they could easily draw on this as being “11 Years in the Making”. Of course The Rock was injured facing Cena, so he may be decapitated wrestling someone as stiff as Lesnar, but that’s a chance I sure am willing to take!

Hall of Fame ceremony featuring Macho Man Randy Savage and Owen Hart!

John Cena vs. The Undertaker
WWE Title vs. Streak

This is the last true dream match featuring WWE superstars, so you know it has to happen at Wrestlemania, somehow, someway. This could be an absolute gold mine for the company if they do it right. The most obvious question would be just how they would handle Taker. Could this be his last match? Would they let him retire as champion? Or could they have him win only for the Money in the Bank winner to cash in the next night or something of that sort. Or  heaven forbid they pull the trigger and end The Streak, giving that honour to Cena.

 

Sure 10 matches was too much this year as they whittled things down to 8 with one week to go. However, if they cancelled the Diddy Concert, took away one of Brock Lesnar’s 700 spine busters to Triple H, and canceled one of the videos hyping the show we were already watching they easily could have fit two more matches in with little problems. They had 10 matches at Wrestlemania XXVI and 11 at XXII, and both of those were fun shows.

Any ideas? Changes?

Apr 07

Wrestlemania XXIX: What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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“No More Than 17 Times a Lifetime…We Promise” – The far less popular tagline for this event. Photo from Wikimedia

So here we are the Granddaddy of Them All, The Showcase of the Immortals, the biggest event on the pseudo-sport calendar, Wrestlemania XXIX! The entire wrestling world is waiting with…indifference.

It’s easy to kind of see why the top three bouts feature two recent rematches and one match that seemed to be thrown together a few weeks ago with some offensive material thrown in for fun. But with some examination, this is kind of an interesting microcosm for the entire company.

On one hand we have heavily promoted matches featuring The Undertaker who is in his first match since last year, Triple H in his second match, and The Rock and Brock Lesnar who are both in their third matches since last years big event. Cena and Punk are the only real marquee draws just like last year. Clearly the company needs to build up some new stars.

However on the other hand, it looks like that’s just what they are doing. A remarkable ten wrestlers are in their first Wrestlemania, which is the most since Wrestlemania 2000, which featured a bunch of future World Champions in Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero  and Chris Jericho making their Wrestlemania debuts. Who knows in a few years we may be amazed that Ryback, Damien Sandow, and all three members of The Shield all had their first moments here at Wrestlemania XXIX. For all the doom and gloom about the over-reliance on part-timers there is a story to be made about the efforts to make some new big names. So even though this event seems blah now, it may in fact have a pretty big impact on the history of the sport.

Enough with the premable, let’s get to it!

Matches are in the order of what they SHOULD be. The numbers in brackets are the records of these performers at past Wrestlemanias.

YouTube Pre-Show
Wade Barrett (0-1) vs. The Miz (3-0)
Intercontiental Title Match


What SHOULD Happen: Is it possible to say put Cesaro in this match instead? The Miz had a nice little feud going for the US Title which never really got resolved, instead they have him start to feud with the other secondary champion who was feuding with Bo Dallas who hasn’t been seen in forever. Makes sense, right?  If they are really serious about The Miz’s face turn, which they should, then he should get the win and Barrett can start a real feud with a real main event player. Plus The Miz is undefeated at Wrestlemania, so why not keep it up? Hopefully they get 10 minutes or so to make it fun.

What WILL Happen: I don’t  think that the company cares, someone will flip a coin to determine the winner. Hey The Miz it is!

Match #1
Daniel Bryan (0-1) and Kane (6-8) vs. Dolph Ziggler (1-2) and Big E. Langston (0-0)
Tag Team Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: This is probably the best choice for an opener especially since Del Rio-Swagger will have a weird crowd reaction, Fandango is a wild card, and Ryback-Henry will probably be bad. Three of these four guys have a strong connection with the crowd and there has to be som excitement to see Langston debut, especially on such a huge stage. Hopefully we get a great 15-20 minute match with Ziggler and Bryan controlling most of the action. I think that it’s time for the amazing run of Team Hell No to end, we can have some slight miscommunication leading to the heels winning while the faces go back into therapy to recover from their loss.

What WILL Happen: It certainly won’t be 20 minutes, but this should be a fun match and I imagine Langston will come out looking like a star while Bryan and Kane explode at each other.

Match #2
Ryback (0-0) vs. Mark Henry (1-3)

What SHOULD Happen: Can you believe that Henry has only been in four Wrestlemania matches before this on and only one of those was a one-on-one match, against The Undertaker no less. Ryback makes his Wrestlemania debut and this match is really set up to give him a huge “Wrestlemania Moment”. This match should be short and end up with Henry getting marched around the ring and dropped down for the count.

What WILL Happen: Probably about the same as above, except it may be a little painfully long me thinks.

Match #3
Chris Jericho (4-7) vs. Fandango (0-0)

What SHOULD Happen: If given enough time these two could really deliver a flat out classic. Sure it may seem odd that Jericho came back to get stuck with a rookie, but we have to remember that Jericho gets to pretty much pick his spots. So the fact that Jericho picked the former Johnny Curtis says that he has high hopes for him, so the rookie gets his first big win and hopefully goes on to feud with The Miz over the Intercontinental Title.

What WILL Happen: Fandango will certainly get a win, I imagine there will be some sort of dance related shenanigans before hand.

Match #4
Sheamus (1-1), Randy Orton (4-5), and Big Show (4-8) vs. The Shield (0-0)

What SHOULD Happen: Every match that The Shield has been in has been quite good, and there’s no reason that this shouldn’t be as well, especially with the dysfunctional face team. There have been rumours of an Orton heel turn for a while now, I just hope it doesn’t happen here. There has to be a temptation to put Orton in The Shield, which would really derail the group. We should have Orton and Big Show argue most of the match and almost come to blow before Sheamus pulls them apart. Eventually Sheamus accidentally hits Orton with a Brogue Kick and The Shield go out and win. Over the course of the next few weeks or months the tension builds and we get a nice little Sheamus-Orton feud.

What WILL Happen: Orton turns heel in the match and joins The Shield as their leader.

Diddy Performs

What SHOULD Happen: Right after the song finishes out comes 3MB and thanks Diddy for being their opening act. They start to get in his face and look like they are going to attack him when Kingston and Truth run out to make the save, giving some people in the midcard something to do. Maybe they could even set up a tag team match with Diddy as a corner man at Extreme Rules.

What WILL Happen: He performs, he leaves, not much else happens.

Match #5
Alberto Del Rio (0-1) vs. Jack Swagger (2-0)

What SHOULD Happen: How the mighty have fallen haven’t they? This feud started out hot with some intrigue but has fizzled very quickly, really hurting Del Rio as a face. However, this match really isn’t in doubt is it? You can’t have the racist win the epic showdown, unless it’s Triple H, and it’s ten years ago. Del Rio should win pretty cleanly with an arm-breaker “injuring” Swagger for a convenient 30 days, standing triumphant.

UNTIL….Ziggler and Langston run down deliver a beatdown and we get the first man to ever win two different titles at the same Wrestlemania!

What WILL Happen: Del Rio will win and cleanly, they can’t be that stupid…can they?

Match #6
Triple H (7-9) vs. Brock Lesnar (1-1)
No Holds Barred Match
Triple H Must Retire if he Loses

What SHOULD Happen: The booking here is quite simple. Shawn Michaels hits an errant superkick, and F-5 later and one of the greatest of all time is forced to retire. Shawn and H can both do a special “comeback” next year in both of their last matches for reals.

What WILL Happen: This is probably the hardest match to predict what will happen. On one hand logic dictates HHH gets his win back but on the other hand do they really want their huge signing to go 1-2 in his first year? Especially since Lesnar reportedly resigned for another two years so he’s clearly on the up. Let’s go with the guy who owns the company getting the win.

Match #7
Brodus Clay (0-0), Tensai (1-1), and the Funkadactyls (0-0) vs.
Damien Sandow(0-0), Cody Rhodes (1-2), and the Bellas (0-1)

What SHOULD Happen: The Rhodes Scholars are so above this, let’s have them get the win in the bathroom break match. Let’s have Kaitlyn get invovled somehow since that was a potentially intriguing story that was completely forgotten about.

What WILL Happen: One of the biggest rules of Wrestlemania is: when in doubt, pick the face. So let’s have Team Funk get the win. 

Match #8
The Undertaker (Seriously, you don’t know?) vs. CM Punk (3-3)

What SHOULD Happen: As much as I’d love to see Punk go down as The Streak Breaker, it just doesn’t make any sense. He’s going down but damn it’ll be a really fun match.

What WILL Happen: See above, easily the most predictable match we’ll get.

Match #9
The Rock (5-4) vs. John Cena (6-3)
WWE Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: Get comfortable this may take a while…

The two have a back and forth match where Cena just can’t keep The Rock down for three. After a while out comes none other than Paul Heyman who distracts the ref and The Rock when out comes Brock Lesnar who proceeds to F-5 the pants out of The Rock allowing Cena to get the win. In an homage to 12 years ago, he shakes hands with Paul Heyman to end the show.

The next night Heyman kicks Punk out of his crew and Cena and Lesnar deliver a beat down, allowing him to take some time off and return in a few months as a face. This will set up Rock-Brock for next year, Punk-Cena at Summerslam, and probably a lot more.

What WILL Happen: No way we’re seeing a Cena heel turn. He’s clearly getting his win back.

 

So despite a pretty predicable card on paper, we have some intriguing questions. Will we see Triple H wrestle again? Will The Shield stay strong? Will they finally pull the trigger on Ziggler? How exactly will Cena get his win back?

Feb 16

Weekly Plus/Minus: European GMs, Blame Being Thrown Around, Great Matches, and MORE!!!

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After taking a week off, we’re back with a look back at an eventful week. We had our first GM casualty of the 2012-13 season. After a volatile start, some NHL teams are getting settling into where they should be, and some teams are the Washington Capitals. We had some great matches on free TV and some pretty terrible ones as well. Oh and the reigning Norris Trophy winner can barely walk today. Lot’s to talk about, let’s get to it.

Hit my banner!

Weekly Plus Minus Logo

Plus Thumbnail Breaking Down Walls: Sadly, this isn’t a blurb about Chris Jericho, that comes later. This is about of all things, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Since this team’s inception in 1998 this team has alternated between being the but of every NHL fans jokes and being completely forgotten. This franchise hit an all-time low after giving up a kings randsom for Jeff Carter, signing James Wisnewski, and thinking that would make a terrible team good. Well we all know how that worked out, especially since they couldn’t even fail for Nail.

Well in a long overdo move they decided to fire Scott Howson, a man considered among the worst general managers in the sport. In a bit of a shocking move they go out and hire Jarmo Kekäläinen making him the first European general manager in NHL history. Kekäläinen has a very strong history in player development with the Ottawa Senators and the St. Louis Blues, two teams that have pretty strong future outlooks at the moment.

John Davidson and the entire Blue Jackets organization deserves a heap of praise for ignoring the conventional ”wisdom” that you need North Americans in the front office. With the contributions that players from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia have made on the ice in the last few decades, it’s great to see someone get a chance to contribute off the ice finally.

Minus ThumbnailCooke the Blame: Do people really think that Matt Cooke injured Erik Karlsson on purpose?

Had this been almost any other player in the NHL then this would have been regarded as a freak accident and everyone could have moved on with their lives. However, it’s a player with a terrible reputation and a long history of violent, reckless behaviour.

But to suggest that he tried to sever the tendon of a player is foolish. If he wanted to hurt Karlsson he would have done in the old fashion way: with an elbow to the head. It was reckless on Cooke’s part, but not malicious, and this is coming from a Sens fans.

True story: when I heard about Karlsson missing the rest of the season all the colour left my face and my wife was worried that someone had died. “Oh nobody, just my hopes and dreams for the Spring”.. is what I should have said.

Plus ThumbnailQuality Workrate: How lucky have wrestling fans been this week?

On RAW we saw an absolute classic between Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan to whet our appetites for the inevitable PPV encounter between these two. Just when we think that we’ve seen the best free match of the week, if not year, along comes Main Event where Ziggler and Del Rio deliver poetry in the ring. A few nights later Jericho and Big Show give us a very good match, that while a step-down was still a high quality TV main event.

It’s hard not to get excited for the in-ring future of the company when you think of the absolute glut of talent that they have, with so many waiting to burst through. Now it wasn’t all perfect however…

Minus ThumbnailSquandered Time: In typical fashion for this company, they take one step forward and two steps back. They deliver some very good matches and also a fair share of stinkers.

Cody Rhodes, one of their best and brightest talents, was squashed by The Miz this week. Why on earth would they book that? He has serious potential to be a top level talent and he’s booked to lose in less than five minutes. Sure he doesn’t have to win, but he needs to be at least competitive. A similar thing happened to his “former” partner, Damien Sandow against Del Rio. Why were they not hyping up their match against the Hip Hop Hippos this Sunday? Why do they even have a match this Sunday again?

The ‘E has all the talent in the world, it’s a shame that they just don’t know how to utilize it somedays.

Plus ThumbnailChicago Blackhawks: Honestly, who saw this coming?

I mean everyone must have thought that they were going to be good, but THIS good? This team has gone 14 games now without tasting a regulation loss, and in a 48 game season, that’s over a quarter of the time.

Everything seems to be going their way right now and it’s hard not to start to believe that they will be serious contenders to get their second Stanley Cup in four seasons. What’s better: Vancouver is on quite the roll too and it’s hard not to get excited about another playoff matchup between these two!

Minus ThumbnailWashington Capitals: What is their excuse here? How on earth can a team with this much talent have less points than the Panthers and Islanders? It’s unbelievable!

It’s too soon to fire their third coach in two seasons, so it would not be surprising if they rock the boat with a big trade, if not we can expect to see George MacPee out of Washington and Seth Jones come in.

 

Prediction for the Week: The Undertaker shows up on RAW.

Feb 14

Wrestlemania XXIX: Another Idiot’s View of How the Card is Shaping Up

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Apparently they build stadiums on state borders… – photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Now that the Rumble is in the past and the Elimination Chamber is just a bit ahead it’s becoming that time when we start to get really hyped up for Wrestlemania! It seems like Rock and Cena are set to do battle, but what about everyone else on the roster? CM Punk has to fit somewhere, and so does Dolph Ziggler and his briefcase. Add in the fact that the WWE has debuted a lot of talent in the past year and the usual part-timers like Undertaker and Triple H need a seat at the table and we could have ourselves a packed card.

The last few years we’ve had eight matches on the big card but that included the ridiculous 14 man GM battle last year. Unless we get a huge match we may see the number of matches climb, so like our look ahead back in November — wait, we had The Shield facing those shmucks? — we have 10 matches on the docket and it includes a few multi-man affairs, but nothing as crowded as last year.

29 Man Last Chance Battle Royal

YouTube Pre-Show

Yes, this is a copy-paste from last time, but it just makes sense.  The winner of this Battle Royal gets a spot on the main card as the final member of the multi-man Intercontinental Title Match that we’ll talk about in a few paragraphs. Let’s have the winner be Bo Dallas to further his underdog story.

Fireworks! Explosions! God Bless America!

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

Who is the Tag Team Champions?
Special Guest Referee: Dr. Shelby

After spending the past few months building up the Tag Team Division, the company sure has torn it down, haven’t they? The Rhodes Scholars go the way of Kingston and Truth, Rey and Cara are MIA, The Shield are focused elsewhere, and every other team is treated like a joke. The money is in a singles match between these two and it would be kind of fun to have them do a match to determine the Tag Team Champions, sure it was lame when WCW did it 15 years ago, but so was everything in WCW then. Plus if both men find a partner they could feud for the title for a few months afterwards.

Wade Barrett vs. Bo Dallas vs. R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger vs.
Christian vs. Mark Henry vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara

Gauntlet Match for the Intercontinental Title

Apparently the company is considering making the Intercontinental Title the focus of Main Event and what better way to kick that off than to give it some focus on the big show? Instead of just doing a ladder match, which nobody would be opposed to, we could do a gauntlet match or something else like that. We could have Dallas pin Barrett and then he himself loses so we can transition the title away from that feud. We could also get a tease of Rey-Cara, which the company has put the nix on apparently. I’d have either Mark Henry or Christian get the big win here, but any one of them would be fine choices for champion.

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz
Flag Match for the United States Title

These two have a decent feud going and hopefully they can have them last until the big event to give us a good mid-card Wrestlemania moment. Making it a Flag Match seems like a logical blow-off to Cesaro being an anti-American US Champion so let’s go with that. Once The Miz wins he can transition the title to the pro-American heel Jack Swagger in a few months while Cesaro moves up to the top talent and works his way to hold one of the top titles within a year.

Ryback, Sheamus, Randy Orton, and Kofi Kingston vs. Brad Maddox and The Shield
Eight Man No DQ Match

I know that this isn’t that different than the match going on this Sunday, but hopefully The Shield can stay strong at the Elimination Chamber. Not to give too much away for the SHOULD vs. WOULD this weekend, but the match is totally set up to have a new member of The Shield, either Brad Maddox or a new guy like Conor O’Brian. As much as we would all love a War Games match, let’s settle for a No DQ Match where Ryback can finally get his comeuppance on The Shield.

Kaityln vs. Tamina
Lumberjill Match for the Diva’s Title

There needs to be at least on Diva’s match on the card so let’s go with the only two that anyone can name. We need a cooler match, especially after what should be a huge, crazy war. Let’s get this out of the way and maybe they can finally bring some of those talented women in NXT after Wrestlemania.

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

We all know that this is going to happen, maybe there will be some sort of stipulation related to Paul Heyman taking control of the company attached in here. Either way, we can only hope that Lesnar goes 2-0 against Triple H here.

Wrestlemania Dance-Off!!!
Featuring Brodus Clay, Tensai, Fandango, Santino Marella, Zack Ryder, 3MB, and a few legends

Ok this isn’t a match, but it could be pretty entertaining and a decent cool-down segment after that last big match and before the other three huge matches on the card.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Big Show
World Title Match

More spoilers for the COULD vs. WOULD but a multi-man match for the Big Gold Belt could just be in the cards. A simple Ziggler cash in coupled with a Jericho Chamber win could set up this very fun encounter. All four men deserve high profile matches and this is a great way to merge the two storylines and feuds. The ground work was already laid on Main Event this week as Alberto had a confrontation with Jericho and then a match with Ziggler. Hopefully Ziggler can walk in and out of Wrestlemania with the belt to look like a world beater.

BookDust vs. Rhodes Scholars

Sure the Rhodes Scholars “broke up” but we could get a great reunion match especially after the great Cody-Goldust segment in the Rumble and Cody calling out Booker T last week, we could get this as a short, fun comedy/nostalgia match.

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

This match has been rumoured for a few months now and it could be an absolute classic. With the other two high profile matches being reruns, this could get some great fresh eyes on the product. Of course The Streak should continue, but this could be highly compelling.

The Rock vs. John Cena
WWE Title Match

This match is happening, we all know it. Their encounter last year was a ton of fun, and the rematch should have some added heat to it. As entertaining as a triple threat with Punk would be, this is where we are almost certainly heading so we may as well enjoy it.

 

Obviously the card is subject to change in the next month and a half.

Jan 27

Royal Rumble: What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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FINALLY…The WWE Has Booked a Compelling Title Match!!! – Photo from Wikimedia

Welcome back one and all to an irregular feature here at Blade Jobs of Steel. With a major PPV coming up this Sunday, it is time to look at the event from both the critical and prophetic eye that all smarky wrestling fans same to have. We will look at the event and examine what (probably) will happen according to current WWE logic and trends and compare it to what, in our humblest of opinions, should happen.

The Royal Rumble is the second biggest event on the WWE’s calendar and this year the WWE has taken a slightly backwards approach to the event. Usually the company hypes up the titular match and throws together a few other matches to fill out the card. This year it seems like they hyped up the lower card matches and forgot to hype the Rumble match until this past week.

The obvious path is well, obvious, The Rock dethrones CM Punk, John Cena wins the Rumble and we get the Once Twice in a Lifetime Match at Wrestlemania. However there are a whole load of other possibilities, especially since the last three Royal Rumble winners  have challenged for the Big Gold Belt instead of the WWE Title so we could very easily see a Smackdown competitor like Sheamus, Randy Orton, or Ziggler win the match. Let’s also not forget Ryback who has been on the losing end of the last three pay-per-views, not to mention his big TLC loss to TLC. He could very well be a presence in this.

Enough with the preamble, let’s get right down to it!

The card order will be in the order of what SHOULD happen, with some discussions as to what will happen along the way.

YouTube Pre-Show
Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz
United States Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: This feud is just getting started and it would be great if they are able to stretch this out to Wrestlemania. There’s always money in the chase so let’s have Cesaro retain on the account of villainy. This can give us several vignettes of Flair trying to teach The Miz how to be the Dirtiest Player in the Game much to everyone’s rejoicing.

What WILL Happen: This could very well be the case, although it wouldn’t be too shocking if this feud is blown off at either the Elimination Chamber or some edition of Raw.

Match #1
Team Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars
WWE Tag Team Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: As great as the Kane-Bryan team has been in the past few months, it’s probably time to think about giving the Rhodes Scholars a run with the belts. Obviously there would need to be some sort of a miscommunication here that leads to the loss. This can eventually lead to Kane vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania with Dr. Shelby as the guest referee.

What WILL Happen: Probably Team Hell No losing here but it’s doubtful that they’ll get their Wrestlemania moment. If anything they will get a rematch at Wrestlemania, possibly in a multi-team match, and will snap and feud after that loss.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: A hilarious number drawing segment, those are always fun. Hopefully Daniel Bryan and Kane fight over their numbers and one is stuck with a low number and another stuck with a high number.

What WILL Happen: Number drawing segments are a mainstay, hopefully it won’t just be the big names doing it in a boring fashion.

Match #2
Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show
Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Title

What SHOULD Happen: How great has Alberto been as a face? It’s sort of shocking but it’s been working out quite well so far, especially since he won the belt in front of a predominantly Latino crowd like he did. There is little reason to switch the belt back to Show, especially since he has little reason to head into Wrestlemania as champion. Let’s have the two men knock each other out to get a draw, then have Ziggler run out and cash in his contract. The thought of him competing in the Rumble while he’s the World Champion is a pretty interesting concept.

What WILL Happen: Del Rio retains here only to lose it to a heelish Randy Orton in the Elimination Chamber next month.

Impromptu Match/Segment #2

What SHOULD Happen: The Rock cuts a backstage promo only to get beaten down by The Shield, after all it wouldn’t be interfering in the match.

What SHOULD Happen: The Rock cuts a promo and we hear the word “Cookie Puss” way too much.

Match #3
Kaitlyn vs. Tamina
Diva’s Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: No way Kaitlyn loses the title so soon after winning it. Get used to this match since there are no other Diva’s on the roster to challenge for the title right now.

What WILL Happen: Same as above.

Match #4
CM Punk vs. The Rock
WWE Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: Punk needs to retain. This may be controversial, but he’s established himself as “The Best in the World”, he can’t cleanly lose to a part-timer. However, The Rock can’t lose cleanly for obvious reasons. Let’s go out on a limb here: Brock Lesnar interferes and costs The Rock the match, possibly with a DQ ending. This can give us Punk and Lesnar vs. Rock and Cena in a tag team dream match at the Elimination Chamber which should help everyone kick off the Road to Wrestlemania.

What WILL Happen: Rock wins, celebrates and has a stare down with Cena.

Match #5
30 Man Royal Rumble Match

What SHOULD Happen: Obviously there is no interest in us doing a full play-by-play of an hour long match, but here are some of the highlights:

- Ziggler (the World Heavyweight Champion mind you) and Orton are the first two in the ring, fight for a bit maybe toss a Prime Time Player or two until Alberto comes down to get revenge on Ziggler and The Show Off is Eliminated early.

- Sheamus comes down and he and Orton can do a rehash of Orton-Benoit in 2004 where they are constantly throwing people out trying to one up another. This can go on until we get to the teens somewhere and Dean Ambrose comes down in the high-teens, followed by the other members of The Shield soon after.

- The Shield toss Orton and Sheamus after they try to work together and then they look to be running the table, eliminating everyone, including Kane and Bryan after some miscommunication. Finally in the low twenties out comes John Cena who holds his own for two minutes until out comes Ryback and they are able to toss the three of them, maybe even with interference from The Rock as well.

- Finally we end up with Ryback and Cena in the ring and eventually Cena is able to duck a meathook clothesline and out goes Ryback.

What SHOULD Happen: Ziggler won’t have the title, but he should get a nice little push here. He could very well be the Ironman of the Rumble, lasting from bell to bell. However a few things will be predictable: Ryback will eliminate the most people, Ziggler will last a long time and Cena will win. Orton and Sheamus will also have strong showings, but not strong enough. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that be the final five with Ziggler as the last man that Cena tosses before becoming only the fourth man to win two Royal Rumble Matches.

Ideally the Wrestlemania card that we think SHOULD happen is:

  • Punk vs. Rock vs. Cena for the WWE Title
  • Lesnar vs. Undertaker (Triple H as the referee)
  • Ziggler vs. Alberto for the World Title
  • Orton vs. Sheamus
  • Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz for the US Title
  • Some multi-team match involving Rhodes Scholars and Team Hell No
Jan 26

Weekly Plus/Minus: Return of the NHL, Royal Rumblings, and More!!!

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It’s been a while hasn’t it? Now that the NHL Season has launched, so can this feature. Every week we’ll look at those that have made the best and worst of the past seven days. With the NHL back and the Royal Rumble just around the corner there have clearly been some ups and downs to look at. Without further ado…

Hit my banner!

Weekly Plus Minus Logo

Plus ThumbnailHockey is Back: Now that is how you make people forget about a lockout! After months of posturing, pandering, doom and gloom the 2012-2013 season finally started this past Saturday.

The first batch of games were high scoring and incredibly compelling. Even the blowouts left us with some great questions: Are the Blues for real? Did we all underestimate the Ducks? Are the Red Wings finished? Seriously Vancouver?

While it was mostly sunshine and rainbows there was one little nagging issue…

Minus ThumbnailGary Was Right About Us: Remember a few months back when Gary Bettman said that the NHL recovered so quickly from the 2004-05 Lockout because it has “The Greatest Fans in the World”? Remember how everyone felt so offended right after? Remember all those calls fo boycotts?

If you said yes to those three then you may have been the only one. The ratings this past weekend were the highest in over ten years in the US and in Canada, over a quarter of the country watched the Leafs-Habs Games.

Bettman was right, we would come crawling back. Can we not feign disgust when he makes similar claims during the 2021 lockout?

Plus Thumbnail

Hi, I’m Dolph Ziggler Iron Man: This past week on Monday The Show Off won a very entertaining Beat the Clock Challenge to get his choice of Rumble spots, which ended up giving him the choice between being entrant 1 or 2.

This was a clear case of right result, wrong set-up. The bait and switch by Vickie Guerrero kind of spat in the face of people who were vested in the stipulation, but it will give us a great focus to the Rumble. Dolph Ziggler should get a great chance to be the Iron Man of the Rumble and it would not be at all shocking if he is still in the match at the Final Four, sure he won’t win but he should still come out looking like a star this Sunday, which is something to love for everyone.

But speaking of the Rumble Match…

Minus ThumbnailI Knew There Was Something This Weekend: While it was nice to have the Beat the Clock Challenge this week and the fun massive brawl to end the show, why on earth did it take so long?

The Royal Rumble is one of the biggest matches of the year and the past several weeks have had such little hype for the huge match. Last week we had Sheamus take on 3MB in the Over The Top Rope challenge but that was it. If they had spaced out the Beat the Clock Challenge, or better yet made it some sort of multi-week tournament they could have added focus to the past several weeks of television which, quite frankly, haven’t really had any. If any new fans happen to be watching Raw these past few weeks they would be forgiven if they had no idea the Rumble was an important thing or not and that’s pretty inexcusable.

Plus ThumbnailJustice Served: Most of the WWE Product has been directionless in recent weeks, but that seemed to change for the biggest new stars in the company. After a few weeks of non-sensical brawls with Randy Orton, Sheamus, John Cena and/or Ryback, The Shield go out and take it to The Rock.

The Rock didn’t take them down, he was beaten down 3-1 by the rookies. What on earth is not to love about this? Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns looked like absolute stars out there in punking out The Rock. One of the big problems of the past few years is that the big name part-timers like The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H and Brock Lesnar all kind of exist in a vacuum. Sure they occasionally interact with John Cena or CM Punk, but those are the two biggest stars in the company, otherwise they pretty much just stick to dealing with each other. While this makes for good business in the short term, it does little to grow the company long term.

This is what makes The Shield so refreshing. They seem to be constantly breaking down the tropes that the WWE has leaned on so much. They look strong against Main Eventers, get clean wins as heels, cut group promos, and generate a great deal of excitement. It’s hard not to get behind this trio as future big time players since the company clearly has bought what they are selling.

Did seeing The Shield vs. The Rock n’ Sock Connection at Elimination Chamber run through anyone else’s mind?

Minus ThumbnailAs The Goalie Turns: What a mess the goaltenting situation is in Vancouver! They open the season with pretty much a nightmare situation. Start Cory Schneider your new “guy” and he goes out, falters, and gets the hook for Roberto Luongo. Luongo is then serviceable in relief and Alain Vigneault decides to start Luo in the second game.

How on earth did they not go back to Schneider? It would have been a perfect way to send a message to the kid and the fans. Here is our guy, deal with it. Sure Luongo played well in his first start, but what if he was terrible? How would that affect his trade value?

Gillis needs to hurry up and trade Luongo and fast. Of course there are complications like his No Trade Clause, but they need to get rid of this distraction and let Schneider be their guy. Add in the fact that two-thirds of their second line is hurt and they need some reinforcements to arrive in a hurry, even if those reinforcements end up being Tyler Bozak.

 

Prediction for the Next Week: P.K. Subban signs a contract for in the five year $25 million range. Even Montreal can’t be dumb enough to trade him no matter what Michael Camilleri says.

Jan 12

Top 10 Likely Royal Rumble Winners

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With TLC out of the way, we’re now officially kicking the build to the Royal Rumble into high gear, which means one thing. We’re closer to the Road to Wrestlemania!

The recent winners of the most entertaining match of each year has been interesting to say the least. The last ten Rumble Winners have included: A Warrior, an animal, a viper, a metaphorical deadman, a wrestler paying tribute to his actual dead friend, one man we never talk about, two superstars returning from injury, and two guys in their first year of the company. Six of these ten men would win the world title at Wrestlemania, with the other four holding the gold sometime within the following year.

We haven’t had a repeat winner since Steve Austin won his third back in 2001 but with John Cena and Sheamus penciled in as challengers in many fantasy cards, this could be the year that gets broken. However, with two world titles and a huge glut of young talent, we could see someone surprise us. In this post we’ll countdown the most likely rumble winners and examine where that would leave them on the card for the big event.

#10
The Shield

Alright so this one is a bit of a cop-out but it could work. We haven’t had a co-winner since the very odd 1994 Rumble and this would put the trio over strong and hard. It’s simple, have them successfully play the numbers game and finish the Rumble as the last three members. They can jump out together at the same time and demand that they all get the shot at one of the champions to get us a fatal four-way against one of the champions who they decimate at Wrestlemania. It’s almost certainly not going to happen, but it would be pretty amazing if it did.

Likelihood of Happening: Are there pigs flying yet?
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: Randy Orton, Ryback

#9
Daniel Bryan

Easily the most surprising superstar for the WWE this year. He’s made the most out of losing the World Title in 18 seconds and being stuck in a tired “whacky tag team partners” gimmick. If anyone deserves their moment in the sun, it’s almost certainly him. He’s probably going to have a match against Kane at Wresltmania, which would not be for any title. However, if the company really wanted to give a match for the Smarks they could let him challenge CM Punk again or perhaps a rematch from last year.

Likelihood of Happening: It’s just too Indie-riffic to happen…
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: CM Punk, Sheamus

#8
Chris Jericho

If Edge and Cena have taught us anything it’s that the company loves to throw curve balls every so often. Apparently, Jericho has been in negotiation about coming back for a Wrestlemania match, and this would be a great way to make it high profile. He should have won last year, so why not have him get the W this time around? He could either have a rematch with Punk or he could get some revenge on the man who kicked him out of the company.

Likelihood of Happening: As likely as him not winning last year was…oh wait…
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio

#7
Dolph Ziggler

Speaking of the Showoff, he doesn’t have the worst chance of winning the Rumble. He is primed to finally win the big one and what better way to start that march to glory than to have him win the Rumble? They only thing that’s potentially holding him back is the one thing pushing him foreword, that briefcase. It feels redundant to give him two title shots, but there is a chance to do something cool there. Imagine him challenging a face like Sheamus for the Big Gold Belt, and have him beat the Irishman down with a chair and get DQed only to cash in right after. If that isn’t a #HeelWrestlemaniMoment I don’t know what is!

Likelihood of Happening: Pretty darn slim
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: Sheamus, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio

#6
Brock Lesnar

How would this be for a man’s third return in a year? This event will be the ten year anniversary of his Rumble victory so why not have him do it again? Imagine Heyman gloating about this for the next several months. Especially if we get the chance of having him manage both World Champions. He’s been a rumoured opponent for The Rock at Wrestlemania, and it would be even huger if it was for the title.

Likelihood of Happening: Brock would most certainly flake out between winning the Rumble at Wrestlemania.
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: The Rock,

#5
Randy Orton

Sure he’s injured at the moment, but it would be a nice return to have him knock out all three members of The Shield before winning the big match and moving on to try and reclaim the Big Gold Belt? He’s been kept away from the world title for a suspiciously long time, sure he’s spent long periods of the year suspended or injured, but that hasn’t stopped the company from pushing him before.

Likelihood of Happening: Likely if a brisk wind didn’t injure him walking down to the ring
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: Big Show, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio

#4
The Undertaker

Triple H did say that the Dead Man is coming back, wouldn’t this be a nice way to do the return? A match between Punk and Taker has been rumoured for a while now so why not make it for the WWE Title? Sure it may not put over some younger talent, but it’s cool to think about.

Likelihood of Happening: I’d pay to see this, just to watch the internet explode when Taker eliminates Daniel Bryan.
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: CM Punk, Sheamus, Randy Orton, The Rock

#3
Ryback

He’s scheduled to lose his fourth straight high profile match on January 7th, so why not have him throw a million people out of the Rumble and go on to finally kiss the brass at Wrestlemania XXIX? He could get his big rematch against CM Punk, have an Unstoppable Force vs. Immovable Object match against Big Show or do some sort of Face vs. Face Match against any of the other big names. He’s probably the most compelling potential winner, no matter if it will happen or not.

Likelihood of Happening: Feed Me Something More Likely
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: CM Punk, Big Show, Sheamus, John Cena

#2
Sheamus

 He’s been highly rumoured as a winner and it totally makes sense. He’s always in the World Title hunt and it makes sense to get him back there. However it doesn’t make sense to give him his ten thousandth match against Big Show or Alberto. So it’s more likely that if he wins they will hot shot the title to either Randy Orton at the Elimination Chamber or have him chase Ziggler after he cashes in the briefcase.

Likelihood of Happening: The luck of the Irish may just shine on him…
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler

#1
John Cena

Look into your heart, you know it to be true. With the Cena-Rock rematch essentially set in stone for Wrestlemania, the obvious path is well…obvious. Rock beats Punk, Cena wins the Rumble, match announced the next night on Raw. TA DA! Sure they could hold off the title change until the Chamber, but a Cena Rumble win does the same. Add in the fact that only Hogan, Michaels and Austin have won two Rumbles, and it probably makes more sense to put Cena in that category than Sheamus does it not? Plus the internet would explode and that’s kind of great.

Likelihood of Happening: You can’t see him not winning, right?
Possible Wrestlemania Title Match: The Rock, The Rock, or maybe The Rock

Dec 14

WWE TLC – What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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“Good thing that Ryback thing worked out” said the people who made this poster months ago- Photo from Wikimedia

Welcome back one and all to an irregular feature here at Blade Jobs of Steel. With a major PPV coming up this Sunday, it is time to look at the event from both the critical and prophetic eye that all smarky wrestling fans same to have. We will look at the event and examine what (probably) will happen according to current WWE logic and trends and compare it to what, in our humblest of opinions, should happen.

For the second straight month a match involving the WWE’s newest Main Eventer, Ryback was changed. Last month he was scheduled to be in a tag match opposite CM Punk that was scrapped and he was given a title shot, now this month he was scheduled for a title shot and it was scrapped for a tag match instead. Now obviously there were different circumstances, but it’s interesting none the less. This month we will see the in-ring debut of The Shield as they take on Ryback and Team Hell No. Will they have the courage to give the new guys the win? Will it hurt Ryback’s mystique to have him end up on the losing end for three straight events?

Enough with the preamble, let’s get right down to it!

The card order will be in the order of what SHOULD happen, with some discussions as to what will happen along the way.

YouTube Pre-Show
“Santa’s Helper” #1 Contender Diva’s Battle Royal

What SHOULD Happen: Is no match taking place an option? No? Well then I guess we’ll have AJ winning to get us to the eventual AJ vs. Vickie title match we’ve all been begging for.

What WILL Happen: Seems pretty likely actually…

Match #1
Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. Rhodes Scholars
#1 Contenders Tag Team Tables Match

What SHOULD Happen: These two teams worked great together on RAW a few months back and there’s no reason to think that lightening won’t strike again. The addition of the tables really plays into the luchadores style. The victor of this match will really tell us a lot about the company’s plans for the tag division. A win by Rey and Cara could point us in the direction of The Shield winning the Tag Team Titles, while a win by the Rhodes Scholars could lead to them finally getting their run with the belts. A win by either team could still lead to the split of Rey and Cara, but it depends on how they want that to happen. Will we see the two face off while they are both tag team champions, or have one get fed up after losing? Hmmm…perhaps a losing streak is in order for the masked wrestlers, let’s have it start here when some miscommunication leads to Rey getting thrown through a table.

What WILL Happen: Since Cody Rhodes vs. Kane has already been booked for Main Event next week, it seems likely that the plan for the Rhodes Scholars to get a shot has been set in motion.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: Miz TV segment with the Rhodes Scholars, where they are asked about their newly earned tag team title shot. They end up in a war of words, as a follow up to this past Monday, which breaks down and turn physical. This will lead to Morrison coming back for a big tag match down the line.
What WILL Happen: Something with Vickie and Vince, maybe to book the eventual Punk vs. Ryback match that’s rumoured for January.

Match #2
Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett
Intercontinental Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: These two will go out and give 110% out there in a 15-20 minute match with a clean finish. Either winner would be fine, but Barrett seems poised for the Main Event soon enough, so it may be best to let Kofi run a little bit longer with this belt.

What WILL Happen: Probably about the same, maybe with 10 or so minute length instead.

Match #3
John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler
Ladder Match for the Money in the Bank Contract

What SHOULD Happen: This is one of the more compelling non-title matches that the company has put on in recent memory. At first glance, this match could go last, since Cena has closed 9 out of 11 pay-per-views this year — one he was injured, and another was the Royal Rumble. However, there is quite a bit more intrigue if this match goes early, more specifically, if it goes earlier than the World Heavyweight Title match there is the possibility of a cash in on the same night.

There are so many questions for the aftermath of this match. If Cena wins, will they have him somehow use this contract to get a shot at the Rock’s WWE Title? Will they go for a Title Unification Match? Or will they have him unsuccessfully cash the title in twice? Will they have Ziggler retain the briefcase and cash it in the coming months? Or will we see a swerve like have the case switch to Cena here and back to Ziggler later?

Here’s a great chance to make Ziggler a big time player that he’s been ready to be for a long time. A clean Ziggler win would be ideal, but that’s very unlikely, so some sort of a Vickie and AJ cluster that leads to Ziggler grabbing the case would work. Plus it will lead to the potential AJ/Cena break-up that the company is pushing towards.

What WILL Happen: Ziggler will win but look like a total bitch in the process. Chances are we could see the following people interfere: Vickie Guerrero, AJ Lee, The Shield, a returning Jack Swagger, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, The 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, New Members of The Shield, and/or CM Punk. A Shield beat down of Cena would be probable, especially after the events of this past Monday.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1


What SHOULD Happen: Another “Found footage” style promo from The Shield. That one last week was golden.
What WILL Happen: Some segment between Cena and AJ.
Match #4
Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth
United States Title Match
What SHOULD Happen: These two have a longer match than they did last month, same result with a clean Cesaro.
What WILL Happen: These two have a shorter match than they did last month, same result with a clean Cesaro win.
Match #5
Big Show vs. Sheamus
World Heavyweight Title Match
What SHOULD Happen: These two have another great brawl that leads to Big Show retaining and in a very fitting moment, Ziggler limps down to the ring and cashes in. Show and Ziggler have a short little match, say 5-7 minutes long and Ziggler wins clean as a whistle to get the Big Gold Belt and a nice little face turn in the process.
What WILL Happen: Sheamus retains, Ziggler doesn’t show up, and Big Show gets his rematch at the Royal Rumble.
Match #6
Ryback and Team Hell No vs. The Shield
TLC Match
…well sort of…
What SHOULD Happen: This really should go last to make The Shield look like the new stars that they are being primed to be. Hopefully everyone in this match comes out looking strong. We can have plunder all over the place, a ton of near falls, and brawls all over the arena.
As much as we would all love a clean pinfall, that is probably too much to hope for. Let’s have CM Punk come out for commentary and continuously deny his involvement with The Shield. During the match Ryback throws Seth Rollins through the commentary table and it bumps Punk. He gets into it with Ryback and the two begin to brawl to the back. This leaves Team Hell No outnumbered 3-2, eventually they powerbomb Byran on to Kane, through a table and pin both of them. The show ends with three new stars standing tall.
What WILL Happen: The Shield will win but look bad in the process, probably on the account of Brad Maddox, crooked referee.
As much as we all want The Shield to look great, we must remember the last time a group of rookies made their pay-per-view debut in a tag team match, the show ended with John Cena standing tall.
Nov 24

Wrestlmania XXIX: Another Idiots Attempt to Predict the Card

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The big event comes to the New York area for the 37th time in 29 years! – photo courtesy of wikimedia

Now that Survivor Series has come and gone, we wrestling fans find ourselves looking in one obvious direction: Wrestlemania. Rumours have really started to kick into overdrive as questions have started to be fly. Will CM Punk still be WWE Champion? How will part-time performers like Triple H, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker be involved? Will Dolph Ziggler have cashed in his briefcase by then? How about rising stars like Ryback, or the newly debuted NXT Trio?

In this post, I’ll try to answer those questions as well as speculate on a few key matches. In a few months, once the card actually starts to shape up, we can look back and see just how wrong I was.

 

29 Man Last Chance Battle Royal

YouTube Pre-Show

These YouTube Pre-Shows seem to be here to stay, and there is no reason to think that they won’t try something big this year. The one thing I’m not certain about is if they even have 29 spare roster members to put in this match, if not it can be a smaller amount of competitors. The winner of this Battle Royal gets a spot on the main card as the 8th member of the Money in the Bank match. Let’s have a returning Christian win, but if he’s not up for it then the winner should be R-Truth or Brodus Clay with an outside chance of Evan Bourne if he’s ready.

Fireworks! Explosions! God Bless America!

Ryback vs. Big Show

On paper this may seem like a dull match to have jerk the curtain, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The Big Show is a recognizable name to the casual fans that only watch Wrestlemania and Ryback is a name that the WWE clearly wants to be recognizable. Get them out both out there right away to get people paying attention and excited. Better still, have Ryback beat the Big Show quickly. Make the match less than five minutes long, including 500-pound Shell Shock to give Ryback a true Wrestlemania moment.

Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow
vs. The Miz vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

That’s right, this is the year that the Money in the Bank Ladder Match comes back to Wrestlemania! Apparently the Money in the Bank was a plan in the works for last year, but Wade Barrett’s injury made them reschedule. So let’s assume that Barrett’s recovery leads to their original plan this should be a go. While the field is very heel heavy, it makes sense given the landscape of the company at the moment. I ranked the competitors in order of likeliness of victory, with Barrett being the obvious front-runner and Cody Rhodes as a likely second option, assuming he recovers from his injury.

Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara

The only thing standing in the way of this match is the injury bug. This is a total dream match, and is clearly the end point of their current foray into the tag team division. Apparently the company is interested in breaking the record for most masks worn at the same time, so it’s quite logical that these two would need to fight to give a great shot of everyone wearing the masks, and having everyone put the mask on would be a great cool down after the chaos of Money in the Bank. Now if the company wants to have the masks be split among the crowd, it makes sense to keep this a face vs. face match, especially since neither wrestler would make a great heel. If they want to add some more motivation they could give either wrestler one of the secondary titles, preferably the Intercontinental strap, but it’s not really necessary. Expect Sin Cara to come out on top in this match no matter the title or face/heel dynamics.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

Special Guest Referee: Charlie Sheen

There’s not doubt that this match is somewhere on the company’s horizons, it’s just a question of how soon will it happen. To me, they are at the perfect time to set it for Wrestlemania. Have them drop the tag titles in the next month, accidentally eliminate each other from the Royal Rumble, both compete in the Elimination Chamber which leads to a full blown break-up and here we are. Having Charlie Sheen involved may be a bit of a reach for this event, but it makes a lot of sense since the whole “Anger Management” thing was how this partnership started and Sheen was supposed to appear at Summerlam but they couldn’t get a deal done. Celebrities always play a role at Wrestlemania, so it’s obvious that he would come back. Whoever is the face in this match (probably Bryan) would be the logical winner here.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

World Title Match

These three men have been doing the lion share of work on the Blue Brand for a while now and should all be rewarded with a big high-profile match. Add in the fact that they all have a clear chemistry with one another and this match should be great. Ziggler walking in as champion, after the Money in the Bank cash in, makes the most sense, but if he still had the briefcase there could be an interesting side story as well. There have been rumblings of both Orton and Ziggler turning heel and face respectively, so that could very easily play into the build if need be. The winner really depends on where they want to go with any of the three being totally acceptable. I’d vote for a Ziggler win to really help establish him as a top level talent.

Eve vs. AJ

Diva’s Title Match

There’s got to be a Diva’s match on the card, and this is the only one of any interest left to do, is it not? Trish Stratus, Lita, and Mickie James: you are surely missed! I guess AJ should get her first taste of Diva’s gold in as much of a Wrestlemania moment that we can get.

Triple H (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

This match is pretty much set now isn’t it? Not really sure what the point of bringing in Lesnar to have him feud with Triple H and John Cena was, but surely there was some logic there. Their Summerslam match was quite good and the rematch should be equal to the task. Add Shawn Michaels as a corner man and the inevitable Sweet Chin Music on Heyman and it could be even better. If Lesnar is leaving the company then he would leave on his back, again, but if he is sticking around then there is the chance for him to pull out a big win in order to further some other feud.

Seth Rolins and Dean Ambrose vs. Team CoBro
vs. Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd vs. Prime Time Players

WWE Tag Team Title Match 

This assumes that the NXT trio that attacked Ryback are here to stay, and will function as a tag team. This group, potentially called The Shield could benefit from a Wrestlemania match and with the renewed focus on the Tag Team Division, a good spotlight match could be just what the doctor ordered. In my mind The Shield has the tag team titles by this point, and is able to defend them under Free Bird Rules.  The young trio could greatly benefit from walking in and out of the big event with the belts, even if the match would no doubt be cut short as a bit of a bathroom break/cool down affair.

John Cena vs. The Rock

Once in a lifetime, eh?

Since the company has all but decided on doing Rock-Punk at the Rumble, that leaves the rematch as the main option for The Great One. Their match at Wrestlemania XXVIII was fantastic, and there’s no reason to think that the second one won’t exceed it. Obviously Cena gets the win back, much to the chagrin of 70,000 New Yorkers.

Hall of Fame Spiel featuring Mick Foley and Randy Savage!!!


CM Punk vs. The Undertaker
WWE Title vs. Streak

That’s right, this is pretty much the only match that can go on after Rock-Cena. With two of the top matches scheduled to be rematches, it’s exciting to have a fresh attraction. Sure they faced off in two pretty terrible matches back in 2009, but post-pipe-bomb Punk is very different, and well this is Taker at Wrestlemania.

Oddly, the Streak has gotten to the point where being a Streak Victim really helps in the long term. I mean, think of the recent additions to the list: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Batista, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, The Big Show, Kane. These are all surefire Hall of Famers, sure Mark Henry and A-Train were omitted  but they can’t all be great. To have Punk added to that very exciting list is nothing short of amazing.

Besides, it’s a great way to get the title off of him after over a year holding it. They can easily do a tournament or whatever right after Wrestlemania when Taker leaves again, or better yet have Wade Barrett or Cody Rhodes cash in the next night on RAW, that would be pretty amazing too.

So there we have it, ten matches, which may be a lot, but it is certainly doable. The last time the company had a ten match Wrestlemania it was Wrestlemania XXVI, and that had some nice long matches, so the company can balance it out again, no thirty minute epics like we had last year, but several matches in the 12-20 minute range and we should be fine.

Obviously, the card is subject to change over the next four months…