Tag Archives: Kofi Kingston

May 19

WWE Extreme Rules: What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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Welcome back to our monthly look at the big WWE Events. This month we get the former Backlash as Extreme Rules rolls around. In the past, this card tended to feature a series of Wrestlemania rematches. This year we get three, although there were only supposed to be two, so we can give them a bit of a pass on that.

This card has been built around the Steel Cage match between Brock Lesnar and Triple H, as well as the WWE Title Match between John Cena and Ryback. If we can think back a scant 8 months ago, Ryback looked like he was all set to be a huge face for the company and they even hot-shotted him into a title match with CM Punk. Yet somehow or another, he has yet to win a PPV Match against any regular WWE talent, even his match against Mark Henry, which seemed like it was custom made for him to win. His heel turn has yet to really and truly take off, so it seems unlikely that they’ll give him the win, but that didn’t stop them from giving the title to JBL almost ten years ago, and that one turned out just fine…

Enough with the preamble, let’s get to it. As always, matches are in the order that they should occur.

YouTube Pre-Show Match
The Miz vs. Cody Rhodes

What SHOUD Happen: This match was clearly just thrown together with little to no reason. Wasn’t The Miz feuding with Wade Barrett? Anyway, there is some potential here, but it is a bit of a stretch to bare with me. The Miz is rolling along just fine ready to win and Damien Sandow runs in to give Cody the win. The Rhodes Scholars continue to torment The Miz in the coming weeks. Miz searches for a partner to take these guys out, trying people like Zack Ryder or Justin Gabriel to no avail. Finally in a month or so, he find the perfect partner to take them on: John Morrison!

What WILL Happen: The Miz returns from an injury that nobody knew he had and Cody seems to be treading water, expect The Miz to win this one.

Match #1
Randy Orton vs. The Big Show
Extreme Rules Match

What SHOULD Happen: Man is Randy Orton ever boring! This feud does nothing to me, but they are both big names and fighting in a match that shares its namesake with the event, so it’s most likely to jerk the curtain here. There have been rumours of an Orton heel turn for months so let’s have that plan start here. Big Show gets extra ruthless and wins after choke-slamming Orton off the stage, or something else equally sadistic. After taking a few weeks off Orton returns with more of a killer instinct and starts to return to his heelish ways before finally snapping on someone, like say Sheamus to kick off a later feud.

What WILL Happen: Randy Orton is the master of filler PPV Matches, just ask Alberto Del Rio. Orton will win this one and fairly cleanly too.

Match #2
Kofi Kingston vs. Dean Ambrose
United States Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: This is one of the most predictable matches on the card. Ambrose wins this one, and hopefully cleanly. After the match, let’s have Reigns and Rollins come out to try and give Kofi a beatdown only for team Hell No to come ut and chase them back through the crowd.

What WILL Happen: Ambrose will probably win after some kind of cheating.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: As The Shield celebrate their first title win, Teddy Long comes up to them and says that if Ambrose gets involved in the tag title match alter that he will be stripped of his newly won US Title. The three members of The Shield remain remarkably calm with that…

What WILL Happen: John Cena makes poop jokes about Ryback.

Match #3
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger
I Quit Match

What SHOULD Happen: Really, is there anything other than an Alberto win that can happen here? Swagger really needs to serve his 30 day suspension, and this is the perfect time to do it. Have him locked in that cross-arm breaker until he quits and his “injured” for a while. Right after Alberto wins, we can even have Ziggler and Langston come and deliver a beatdown to both Alberto and Rodriguez, leaving people to wonder if Ziggler was faking it or not.

What WILL Happen: Del Rio will win, he has to right?

Match #4 
Sheamus vs. Mark Henry
Strap Match

What SHOULD Happen: This match sort of depends on what the long term direction is for both main belts. It looked for a while like we were going to get a Cena-Henry feud, and we still may. However, Sheamus is a logical challenger for Ziggler. However, Ziggler seems to have plans for the immediate future, so let’s go with Henry getting the win to get him into a feud for the WWE Title soon enough.

What WILL Happen: This is similar to Orton-Show, and when in doubt with this company, go for the face or the bigger name. So expect Sheamus to get the W here, especially since Henry stood tall on Monday. Expect Sheamus to reenter the World Heavyweight Title scene soon.

Match #5
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

What SHOULD Happen: First off, this match should be given a gimmick, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Fandango should look strong here and get a cleanish win. Hopefully he can recapture some of the excitement that surrounded him only a month ago.

What WILL Happen: Fandango will probably win, but I imagine he will look weak in the process, much like he did at Wrestlemania.

Match #6
Team Hell No vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns
Tornado Tag Team Match for the WWE Tag Team Title

What SHOULD Happen:...and so it ends. Easily the most entertaining tag team title run since Edge & Christian is out of time. The Shield are certainly very worthy to tag the belts here. This match should be fantastic and will be a strong contender for match of the night. Remember a while back I said that Dean Ambrose should be banned from ringside? Well let’s have a run in by a mysterious newcomer to help The Shield win the title. Later it can be revealed to be Connor O’Brian from NXT, who would be a great addition to this stable.

What WILL Happen: The Shield will win and should come out looking very strong. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kane and Bryan have some miscommunication to lead to their loss here, possibly with some Ambrose interference.

Impromptu Match/Segment #2

 What SHOULD Happen: Antonio Cesaro comes out to complain about not having a match only to get interrupted by Wade Barrett who says that he should complain, since he is Intercontinental Champion after all. The two heels banter for a moment only to be interrupted by a returning Christian! He tells them both to stop boring people and is able to clear the ring. Next month we can have a triple threat match for the IC Title.

What WILL Happen: Surely a Diva’s match of some sort, right?

Match #7
John Cena vs. Ryback
Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title

What SHOULD Happen: Yet again, the company has booked themselves into a corner here with Ryback. Coming fresh off a hell turn, he really needs a win, but he’s clearly not ready for the WWE Title, especially since Cena just won it. The stipulation gives a perfect out, a double KO. Ryback looks strong, Cena keeps the title, ta-da everyone wins…or at least fails to lose. Next month we can get a four way match with Ryback, Sheamus, and Mark Henry all challenging for the title which could allow Henry and Cena to pair off after.

What WILL Happen: This match is going last for sure and it will end with Cena overcoming his ankle injury and getting the win for sure.

Match #8
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
Steel Cage Match

What SHOULD Happen: Here we are, the rematch that nobody asked for…again! The first match at Summerslam was decent, the rematch at Wrestlemania was absolutely boring, so hopefully this one will be somewhere in the middle, at the very least. I don’t understand how Brock Lesnar has been worth it for the company at all, especially since he has gone 1-2 against already established stars. Lesnar needs this win in a bad way, as he clearly can get more mileage than Triple H.

After Lesnar wins he and Heyman should yell out “BEST IN THE WORLD” as the show ends…

What WILL Happen: Lesnar will win on the account of interference, possibly from a returning CM Punk.

 

For those keeping track the card for WWE Payback in Chicago next month SHOULD include:

  • WWE Title Match: Cena vs. Henry vs. Sheamus vs. Ryback
  • World Title Match: Ziggler vs. Del Rio
  • IC Title Match: Barrett vs. Christian vs. Cesaro
  • The Shield (including Connor O’Brian) vs. Kofi Kingston, Team Hell No and Randy Orton
  • Diva’s Title Match: Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee
  • Jericho vs. Fandango in a gimmick match
  • CM Punk calls out Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar (setting up Lesnar-Punk at Summerslam)

 

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?

Mar 03

Seriously, What’s the Plan for Wrestlemania XXIX?

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After watching the WWE product in recent weeks, I can’t help but feel like the WWE has the card written down on a napkin somewhere and it must read something like this:

Cena and Triple H need some big wins back

Undertaker wins if he wants to

Hey let’s make fun of the Tea Party and make a Mexican the Champion

Figure the rest out later

 

As it stands right now we are five weeks away from Wrestlemania and only two matches are booked. Clearly, Triple H-Lesnar in the rematch nobody asked for will be made official this week, and it’s highly likely that The Undertaker will challenge CM Punk, especially after Punk called himself God last week. That brings us to four matches that should be official by this time next week.

That in and of itself may not sound too bad, there is time to flesh out the card after all of these stories take care of themselves. The problem though, everything else is kind of a mess is it not?

Let’s see we have a multi-month feud between Cesaro and The Miz that seems to have ended only for The Miz to confront The Big Show, only for The Big Show to somehow get involved with The Shield. Speaking of The Shield, they continue their feud with Ryback, Sheamus gets added into the mix and so do Orton and Jericho, but then so does The Big Show. Sheamus, not content to feud with only three men, makes an alliance with Orton to fight The Shield and meanwhile is verbally sparing with Wade Barrett, not over his title but instead over Collin Ferrell. What happened to Bo Dallas by the way? Mark Henry squashes people left, right, and centre with the only The Great Khali standing up to him for some reason. Oh and the most promising surefire main eventer, Dolph Ziggler, loses again and again with no real direction. But hey, at least that’s better than Kofi Kingston who get saved by Truth to maybe set up a reunion for their team as they take on the Rhodes Scholars but that gets forgotten and Cody ends up maybe setting up a relationship with Kaitlyn the Diva’s Champion who really has nothing to do here. The only guys outside the main event with any real direction are the Tag Team Champions who will either finally have a match at the big event or possibly have to defend their titles with their torsos tied behind their backs.

Add in the fact that apparently the company is rumoured to have Sheamus-Barrett and Jericho-Henry on the show and it’s hard not to scratch your head. Sure they started to hint at Sheamus-Barrett last week but Chris Jericho and Mark Henry haven’t been in the same place, outside of the Elimination Chamber, in a pretty damn long time. Sure it would be a fun match, but it doesn’t exactly fit the story.

Pardon the pessimism, but it’s hard to care about the big event when the company clearly doesn’t. Of course the four surefire matches carry some intrigue, and it’s hard not to be excited about the possible Kane-Bryan match, but what about the rest? Wrestlemania is the chance for the future stars of the company to get some big time attention and be able to become main eventers in the future. It sort of boggles the mind.

So let’s say that those two matches do in fact happen, that gives us six matches with a lot of talent not booked, throw in Kane-Bryan and we’re up to seven. We would still need to get The Shield, Ryback, Big Show, Miz, Orton, Cesaro, Rhodes Scholars, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth, and the entire Divas division on the show. To make it worse, in the past several years Wrestlemania has tended to top out at eight matches, while having up to ten once in recent years.

So do they do The Shield vs. Ryback, Orton and Big Show as one match and the ten millionth Cesaro vs. Miz encounter in the other? That seems like the most likely option, maybe to add a mixed tag with Kaitlyn on one side and The Rhodes Scholars on the other, which should bring us up to ten matches to make it look like this:

The Rocks vs. John Cena – WWE Title Match

Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger – World Title Match

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

Mark Henry vs. Chris Jericho

Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus – Intercontinental Title Match

The Shield vs. Ryback, Randy Orton, and The Big Show

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz – United States Title Match

Rhodes Scholars and Tamina vs. Kofi Kingston, R-Truth and Kaitlyn –    **Possibly with the Tag and Divas Titles on the Line

 

Does that seem like it’s worth the money to you? What about Ziggler?

Feb 17

Elimination Chamber: What SHOULD Happen vs. What WILL Happen

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The Least Misleading Poster in WWE History – 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.

Here we are at our annual Speed Bump on the Road to Wrestlemania. In recent years this event is occasionally a predictable place holder and occasionally a complete curve ball. Anyone else remember 2009 when Edge lost one title and won another in the same night, completely screwing up everyone’s fantasy card? How about in 2011 when no titles changed hands and the man who everyone thought would win the Rumble went out and won the right to challenge for the top title anyway?

As usual this event could land somewhere on this spectrum. Will we get the path set for Rock-Cena II, or will they get things set up for a Triple Threat match? What about the rest of the card? There is not a ton of direction for the World Title at the moment, so expect to see something come up soon.

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
Rhodes Scholars vs. Brodus Clay and Tensai


What SHOULD Happen: Why is this match happening? They really could have used some build here, especially since both members of Rhodes Scholars were squashed on TV this week for no real reason. Clay and Tensai are clearly the flavour of the month for the WWE and do have some potential as a fun comedy/monster team going forward. However, there is a ton of money in the Rhodes Scholars so they should get a win by nefarious means.

What WILL Happen: The Hip Hop Hippos are clearly going to win and dance here and nobody will remember this match in the future.

Match #1
Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz
United States Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: The outcome of this match really depends on what the companies plan is for Jack Swagger of all people. Swagger, especially with his current gimmick, is tailor made for an extended run with the US Title and The Miz could be a perfect transitional champion. If they company wants Swagger to win the belt at Wrestlemania then Cesaro needs to drop the gold here. However as was stated in our most recent Wrestlemania card predictions, we have that happening next month, so let’s have Cesaro retain possibly by being disqualified or counted out.

What WILL Happen: The Miz has been struggling in recent weeks so expect Cesaro to keep the gold here, maybe even moving on to a new program for Wrestlemania.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title —With all due respect to Kofi, he kind of doesn’t matter here. The important thing is that Barrett gets a match against someone who is not Bo Dallas and Kingston and Sin Cara are the biggest faces not already booked so they are the most credible opponents. Barrett needs a good title defense and then a post-match confrontation with Bo Dallas afterwords.

What WILL Happen: Wade Barrett vs. Bo Dallas  for the Intercontinental Title — It wouldn’t be at all surprising if they book this match to happen so soon and with so little hype. Hopefully Barrett retains for now.

Match #2
Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show
World Heavyweight Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: Not sure if this is interesting or sad that they go from having the final match be a straight-up encounter after having two gimmick matches to start the feud. Has that ever happened before?

These two have had some very compelling matches and there’s no reason to think that this will be any different. Since we predicted a fatal four-way for the big gold belt at Wrestlemania let’s have the match end in a no-contest when both guys are down and Ziggler and Langston run in and deliver a beat down before Ziggler cashes in and leaves the night with the Big Gold Belt.

What WILL Happen: Ziggler has to cash in, doesn’t he? This means that he probably won’t. Let’s have Del Rio winning with some Guerrero level trickery while Ziggler runs down to cash in but Alberto somehow escapes before the match starts.

Match #3
John Cena, Ryback, and Sheamus vs. The Shield
Six Man Tag Team Match

What SHOULD Happen: How awesome would a Cena heel turn here be? Man that would be all kinds of brilliant, sadly though – that ain’t happening. The next best thing we can hope for is to have The Shield win either by Brad Maddox crockery or by some new debuting member of The Shield like Connor O’Brian or Cassius Ohno.

What WILL Happen: The Super Team will stand triumphant with Cena getting the fall and The Shield will need to regroup a bit. As a slight aside, I wonder if the WWE will have Ryback and Sheamus have some sort of a miscommunication which would lead to a Wrestlemania match. Please say this doesn’t happen, these two should be having a Title Match at next year’s Wrestlemania, so leave them apart for now.

Match #4
Kaitlyn vs. Tamina
Diva’s Title Match

***This is copy/pasted from last month when this match was rumoured to take place…move on***

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.

Impromptu Match/Segment #2

What SHOULD Happen: Rhodes Scholars have a segment with Booker T, the team agrees that “Due to popular demand” they will reunite and demand a tag title shot after their huge win in the pre-show. Booker denies them and they storm out only for Cody to bump into Goldust who mocks his brother and gets beaten down two on one….yeah I really want that tag match to happen!!!

What WILL Happen: Uhhhh….The Rock gets a big promo and makes sure to talk about Cena as well, clearly looking past Punk.

Match #5
Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kane
Elimination Chamber Match

What SHOULD Happen: As stated in the Wrestlemania card, I really think that a four way match for the World Title is the best option, so Jericho winning here to further his feud with Dolph Ziggler makes a ton of sense. Let’s have Bryan and Kane start in the ring and argue before each of them tries to steal a pinfall. Orton can come out next and hold his own against those two while tensions mount with Team Hell No before Swagger comes out fourth. Finally Bryan and Kane snap at each other allowing Orton to RKO Bryan and Swagger to lock the ankle lock on Kane, eliminating them both. Swagger and Orton fight before Jericho comes out and then finally out comes Henry who goes on a tear, eliminating Orton cleanly, then pinning Swagger before Jericho is able to pull out a lucky win – ta da!

What WILL Happen: This is probably the hardest important match to predict in recent memory. Clearly Kane and Bryan aren’t winning the match, but a strong case can be made for the other four! Orton is the top star of the bunch and would be the biggest draw at the top of the card at Wrestlemania, Jericho has a bunch of momentum on his side and a history with Ziggler, Henry would make a great opponent for Del Rio since he clearly works well against monster, while Swagger has the most long term potential and his “Real American” gimmick makes him tailor made to feud with Del Rio. If Ziggler doesn’t cash in, then let’s go with a Mark Henry win. A feud between Henry and Del Rio would be interesting and it’s not like the secondary world title will add too many buyrates.

Match #6
The Rock vs. CM Punk
WWE Title Match
The Rock loses the Title on a Countout or Disqualification

What SHOULD Happen: How great would it be if The Shield run down and attack Punk, giving him the win by disqualification? As unlikely as it is to happen, what the hell, let’s do it that way. This is my column damnit and I want a Triple Threat match at Wrestlemania!

What WILL Happen: The Shield or Brad Maddox will come down and tease the spot stated above but Cena will make the save, The Rock will win and the show ends with a Rock-Cena staredown.

 

Let’s see what actually happens!!

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.

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…

Oct 28

WWE Hell in a Cell: What Should Happen vs. What Will Happen

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Halloween Contest Runner Up 2012 Will Defend His WWE Title- 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.

This event has been one of the most talked about non-big four event in recent memory. It looked like the company was set to give the epic multi-year Punk-Cena feud a great showdown inside their ultimate blowoff gimmick match. Instead, Cena’s elbow gets injured and they pull a substitute. Instead of taking an established name like Randy Orton or pull out a lovable veteran like Mick Foley, the company decided to take a big gamble and trust relative newcomer, Ryback, into the top billing. Ryback has been booked as an unstoppable monster, so the question seems obvious, which do they value more, their new star or the longest running title reign in six years? Is Punk-Rock set for the Royal Rumble, or could Ryback-Rock be more engaging? Add in the fact that we have an apparent resurgence in both the tag team and intercontinental divisions and an intriguing big man showdown for the World Title, and we have ourselves some very interesting possibilities.

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
John Cena Speaks

What SHOULD Happen: Cena takes questions from fans, announces that he has recovered from his injury. Paul Heyman interrupts and the two have a dueling promo which ends with Heyman reminding Cena that he’s never beaten Punk and so he had better hope that Ryback wins or else he’s not getting another sniff at the title. He then goes on about how much it must upset poor Vince McMahon to have a Paul Heyman guy hold the belt for so long, and that Vinnie Mac had best get used to it.

What WILL Happen: Cena takes forever to announce that he’ll be at ringside for the Main Event. Nothing else of consequence takes place.

Match #1
Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz
Intercontinental Title  Match

 What SHOULD Happen: These two have yet another fun, fast paced match to get the crowd going. Lots of near falls make both men look great and Kofi Kingston hits the Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere to get the win. Both men move on to new feuds starting on Monday. As Kingston is celebrating we cut to the back and see Sheamus lying backstage having clearly been attacked.

What WILL Happen: That sounds about right there, although both men getting new feuds may not happen exactly as hoped, and the part about Sheamus seems unlikely.

Match #2
Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio

 What SHOULD Happen: Randy Orton finds his 2011 workrate and these two tear the house down. Alberto wins after the Prime Time Players interfere to both hype their match on Main Event, to potentially set them up as allies for Del Rio, and more importantly to frustrate Orton enough to potentially turn heel down the line.

What WILL Happen: Orton wins in a relatively one-sided match that gets maybe 8 minutes.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. The Prime Time Players - Immediately after the PTPs help Del Rio win, the luchadores run down to save Orton. Teddy Long interrupts the pull apart brawl to book the match. After some back and forth action, Orton interferes and lets Rey and Cara win, but the dishonesty doesn’t sit well with Rey.

What WILL Happen: The same match is booked at the last minute but it ends with the luchadores winning totally cleanly and with no reference to the six-man tag scheduled for this week.

Match #3
Sheamus vs. Big Show
World Heavyweight Title Match

What SHOULD Happen: Big Show takes a microphone before the match and wishes Sheamus a speedy recovery. He says that a lot of guys backstage were with him when Sheamus got jumped so he has no idea who it was. The two have a good match but Sheamus is still clearly injured from his earlier attack. Eventually Show connects with the WMD and wins. Ziggler comes out to tease a cash in, but decides to run off and leave Show to celebrate.

What WILL Happen: Sheamus retains, Ziggler runs out and eats a Brogue Kick for his troubles.

Match #4
Eve vs. Kaitlyn vs. Layla
WWE Divas Title  Match

What SHOULD Happen: These three compete in a back and forth match. Kaitlyn gets the upper hand and looks poised to win, Eve then heelishly steals a pin on Layla to put heat on a match for next month.

What WILL Happen: That actually seems likely, does it not?

Impromptu Match/Segment #2

What SHOULD Happen: US Title Match: Antonio Cesaro vs. Justin Gabriel – The two have a heated back and forth match. Gabriel climbs up top to set up for the 450 Splash when Aksana grabs his leg allowing Cesaro to get the US Title Belt and hit Gabriel in the face, knocking him out of the ring in a nasty bump and getting disqualified in the process. Ta-da! Big US Title feud going forward.
What WILL Happen: Either a very long Cena promo or that same match with a clean win for Cesaro.
Match #5
Team Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars
WWE Tag Team Title Match
 What SHOULD Happen: After a very competitive match, Kane chokeslams one of the two, Bryan tags in, hits a diving head but for the win. While they are arguing over who is the tag team champions, the Rhodes Scholars look to each other and say that it’s time for Plan B with Cody saying they should have gone with it from the start.
What WILL Happen: Team Hell No will retain and argue, they are way too hot to not be champions at this point. Rhodes Scholars can win the title next month when the team finally does explode.
Match #6
CM Punk vs. Ryback
WWE Title Match
What SHOULD Happen: Brace yourself, this one will be a bit long and fantasy booky…
John Cena joins the announce table and spends the match putting over how great of a champion Punk is and how Ryback has got to be the person who can end this reign, especially since Heyman is looked out of the Cell.
Punk fares decent against Ryback, but of course he cannot compete with Big Hungry’s strength. Ryback throws Punk all around the Cell and looks ready to finish him.
When the match seems dire, Heyman waves his hands and yells out “NOW!”. Suddenly Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes jump from the crowd carrying bolt cutters. They hit Cena with them, knocking him out.  All of this distracts Ryback and Punk tries to crawl away. Ryback starts to chase him when all of sudden, Big Show erupts from under the Ring (just like his debut with the company). He and Ryback stare at one another and start to duke it out.
Meanwhile Sandow and Rhodes are able to open the Cell, and jump in with Heyman. Heyman pulls out another chain to lock them back in while Sandow and Rhodes go and attack Ryback. The three men are able to take him down long enough for Punk to come and score the pin, retaining the title.
We have a new super heel stable established and potentially a huge five-on-five Survivor Series match in Punk-Show-Sandow-Rhodes-Lesnar vs. Cena-Ryback-Sheamus-Kane-Bryan. Tell me you wouldn’t pay to see that?
What WILL Happen: Honestly, this is the toughest match to predict in a very long time. There is a huge amount of money in Punk-Rock at the Rumble, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan for Ryback to face anyone at Wrestlemania. This logically implies that Punk will leave with the title, however Ryback needs to look strong. Perhaps some sort of stunted no contest with either Punk falling into the ring like Mick Foley, or maybe even having the Cell collapse on them or something equally strange. Either way, Ryback will look like a monster and Punk will leave with the title.
They of course open the cell.
Jun 27

What the Summerslam Card Could Look Like

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With Summerslam a little over two months away and rumours starting to flow, it’s time to start to speculate on how the card will look. So far there have been rumblings of a CM Punk vs. John Cena title match, to go along with the Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar Main Event. Obviously there is plenty of room on the card for the newly returned Chris Jericho, the soon to return Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, and Wade Barrett as well as the rising stars like Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. With a little bit of speculating, the card may look something like this…

Christian, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth
vs.
Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, Kane, and Cody Rhodes
Pre-Show YouTube Match

This match is taking a page from last years six-man bonus match involving all of the upper-midcarders that just missed the main match. No reason for something like that not to happen here. Of course this could be added to the main card if they put some sort of stipulation to it or just wanted to give all of these big names a pay day.

Fireworks! Explosions! Biggest Party of the Summer!

Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan

One of these two is due for a faceturn and a feud between these two could be entertaining both in and out of the ring. This could be the obligatory match to get the internet geeks excited and pop the crowd to start the show.

The Big Show vs. Brodus Clay
No DQ Match

While these two had a brief match on Monday this pat week, the feud seems to be a ways from over. Hopefully they can have Clay cost Show his Money in the Bank Match and have the feud kick it from there. These two could have an entertaining match and the stipulation would really help cover up both of their in-ring flaws. Plus, anything that helps get newer talent on the big card is a good thing.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

These feud between these two was not quite finished back in the winter when Barrett went down with his arm injury. Both of these two are due to return soon, and it makes sense to have these two come back and pick things up just where they left off. A big victory over Orton could make Barrett’s return a huge deal.

Prime Time Player (c) vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara
WWE Tag Title Match

This is a bit of an off the board prediction but it certainly makes some sense. Titus O’Neil and Darren Young are very likely candidates to be the next Tag Team Champions. If the company is serious about rebuilding the division it seems like they need to give them a spot on the major card. If Mysterio is returning soon, the obvious feud for him is with Sin Cara, but it would be easy to rush that feud, so why not have them team up? Give them an extended run with the Tag Team Titles before they split and face one another at Wrestlemania. It makes perfect sense, does it not?

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Sheamus
World Title Match

Another slightly off the board prediction, but it seems like the feud between these two is not over. Ziggler is completely and totally ready for a run with the title. It seems like he could take it from Sheamus at Money in the Bank, or possibly sometime after (maybe with the briefcase) so let’s have the Irishman try to reclaim the gold at the big event.
Layla (c) vs. Kharma
Diva’s Title Match
Kharma has to be ready to return now, and win the Diva’s Title only to have Beth PHoenix try to chase her, right? Right?
CM Punk (c) vs. John Cena
WWE Title Match
This was already discussed on this week’s Plus/Minus. There is some clear intrigue to this match, especially if they tie into last summer’s epic feud. The obvious line was drawn this past Monday, since Cena can win his Money in the Bank Match and do a pre-announced cash-in for a change. This can really help slow the dilution of the Money in the Bank Briefcase. There have been far too many surprise guaranteed cash ins during recent years, so having Cena announce he is going to challenge Punk on the one year anniversary of losing the the title to him makes plenty of sense.
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
This match is all but booked at this point, and what’s not to love? We didn’t see this showdown during Brock’s first run with the company, no matter how many times they tried. Obviously Lesnar needs to win this one, and in a pretty convincing fashion.
Jun 17

WWE No Way Out: What Should Happen vs. What Will Happen

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We’ve all been there Mr. Bryan, we’ve all been there – Photo from Wikimedia

With the WWE putting on their monthly extravaganza this Sunday, we will have the second of a regular series here at Blade Jobs of Steel. 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.

While this event at first seemed like it was set to be a rip-off of TNA’s Lock Down, and feature only Steel Cage Matches, things took a different turn with only one match set inside the cage. The Big Show-Cena match has gotten a decent build and now seems to have some lasting implications with either Cena or Laurinitus’s jobs being on the line. However, the other matches all seem to be rather thrown together, although the Ziggler-Sheamus rushed build is hardly anyone’s fault. Still though, we get two world title matches which are sure to be entertaining at the very least, and an Intercontinental Match which could full well steal the show.

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 Match
David Otunga vs. Brodus Clay

What SHOULD Happen: Hopefully the company has not given up on Brodus just yet. There is still mileage to be gained from him, especially if they put him in a tag team with someone like Santino or Ryder. Clay should get a big win here to help him get back on track after being sacrificed at the altar of The Big Show.

What WILL Happen: Clay wins in less than five minutes

Match #1
Christian vs. Cody Rhodes
Intercontinental Title  Match

What SHOULD Happen: These two are given between ten to fifteen minutes to put on a great match to get the crowd going and put over the value of the title. In the end, Christian gets the victory, barely, allowing Cody to look towards a different title.

What WILL Happen: Actually that sounds about right.

Match #2
Layla vs. Beth Phoenix
WWE Divas Title  Match

What SHOULD Happen: The match starts out fairly competitive but Beth begins to take a clear upper hand. As she is about to hit the Glam Slam, in runs Kharma who absolutely destroys these two. She beats up Beth so badly that she needs to be taken off TV for a while. This lets Kharma feud with Layla for June and July, winning the title along the way, before Beth Phoenix makes a huge return in time to set up a money match at Summerslam.

What WILL Happen: Layla will win from some sort of a rollup, Kharma won’t show up since we are all expecting her to.

…yes both of those are copy/paste jobs from last month.

Impromptu Match/Segment #1

What SHOULD Happen: Tensai vs. Kofi Kingston — Kingston seems like he could be put into a feud with Laurinitus’s crew, what with Big Show knocking out his partner and injuring him. This seems like a logical way to continue and maybe even add some fuel to the Main Event. This match could have Tensai throw his all at Kofi only for him to keep kicking out before finally leaving after a few Baldo Bombs (or whatever this is called) to make both guys look great. This could also lead to a Big Show-Tensai Twin Towers type tag team having a run with the belts.
What Will Happen: Ryback kills two jobbers…again.
Match #3
Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler
World Heavyweight Title Match
What SHOULD Happen: An extended feud between these two could be a ton of fun. Ziggler is ready for prime time, and it’s a shame that his first world title reign was such a waste. These two have wrestled several times on Raw and Smackdown already in 2012, with every match being quite good. Hopefully an extended match between these two takes place with Sheamus retaining, possibly by a disqualification to set up Ziggler winning the title next month.
What WILL Happen: This is a very difficult match to predict what they will do. The company seems quite happy with Sheamus as champion, but if you look up and down the card, every champion is a face so surely one of the belts needs to go to a heel, and this seems as good as any.  Perhaps Ziggler wins a shocker only to drop the belt back to Sheamus in July.
Match #4
Santino Marella vs. Riccardo Rodriquez
Tuxedo Match
What SHOULD Happen: Is this match not happening an option? Well if it is set at happening, perhaps we could have Santino win the match only for Damien Sandow to come out and rant about the state of the industry and how much he wants to save us from such filth. This will set up a US Title win for Sandow in the near future.
What WILL Happen: Santino wins after a very excruciating and boring match.

Impromptu Match/Segment #2


What SHOULD Happen: Ryback kills a jobber or two, only to be confronted by Vader. The two have a pull apart brawl setting up a nice monster passing of the torch feud through the summer.
What WILL Happen: Sin Cara beats Hunico or Epico in a quick match.
Triple H Promo
What SHOULD Happen: H will get interrupted by Paul Heyman. The two will verbally spar for a bit before agreeing to a match to take place at Summerslam between Triple H and Brock Lesnar.
What WILL Happen: Probably pretty similar, but expect H to ramble a lot at the beginning before Heyman cuts him off. Also, expect Triple H to somehow verbally bury Lesnar for some stupid reason.
Match #5
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane
WWE Title Match
What SHOULD Happen: The build for this has been quite intriguing as AJ has most certainly made her presence felt. While Kane’s addition should bring the quality of the match down compared to last month’s classic between Punk and Bryan, it should still be a fun encounter. The addition of Kane makes it seem like we can have a title change and extend the feud a few more months, so let’s go with that. AJ and Bryan get back together when AJ distracts Punk long enough for Bryan to pin Kane and win the title.
What WILL Happen:  That actually seems kind of likely, does it not?
Match #6
John Cena vs. Big Show
Steel Cage Match
What SHOULD Happen: Cena wins a good clean match to get Laurinitus fired. He can lead some sort of invasion in the summer to try to reclaim his job and.
What WILL Happen: Laurinitus will win after a whole series of interference from everyone under the sun, including quite possibly Vince McMahon. Cena will be fired, take a week off and find a way to return in time for the 1000th Raw on July 23.