Night of Champions Review

Night of Champions was last night and, considering the last two PPVs have been really good, will it get to that same level? Let’s take a look.

The WWE Tag Team Championship was on the line first as Air Boom were challenged by The Miz and R-Truth. I’m a big fan of The Miz’s theme music but it’s very funny seeing him and R-Truth do their duet telling the Buffalo fans that they suck. The match was good but the referee Rod Zapata made 3 questionable decisions that annoyed Truth and Miz. The first was when the he was distracted by Truth missing the fact that Bourne didn’t get tagged in by Kingston. The second and third was when Zapata missed Miz tagging in Truth and while he was arguing with Truth, Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Bourne and the referee didn’t get to make the count for a good 10-15 seconds, by that time Bourne had recovered and kicked out. At that point Miz spat the dummy (Scottish way of saying that he lost his temper) and shoved the referee, getting disqualified and giving Air Boom the win. Truth and Miz didn’t take that decision by Zapata very well and continued to assault him then went on ranting about a conspiracy against them. On the basis of the referee’s decisions, they kinda have a point.

Predictions: 1 for 1 (good start!)

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line as Ted DiBiase challenged the wrestler formerly known as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. DiBiase throughout the match kept on attacking Rhodes’ mask. The end was when DiBiase took the mask off and tried to hit Rhodes. However, Rhodes countered it into a roll up for the win. Lawler was saying that Rhodes had a handful of tights, but it didn’t look like it and hey, what’s wrong with the bad guys winning clean occasionally?

Predictions: 2 for 2

Before the next match, Christian came out to demand a match against the winner of the World Heavyweight Championship. Christian, face it, you’re out of the title picture for now. Move on. Sheamus came out and struck a deal in that if Christian gets his match and wins, he will be the first challenger. Christian agrees and Sheamus proceeds to brogue kick his head off. I don’t know about you but I guess the deal’s off.

The next match is a fatal 4-way match between US Champion Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, John Morrison and Alex Riley. Riley tried to do a crossbody on Ziggler, which turned out to be a bad idea as Ziggler stepped out of the way and Riley hit the steel steps. The rivalry between Ziggler and Swagger flared up for a while, then Vickie helped out Swagger by putting his foot on the ropes after he got hit by Riley. There was a really good bit near the end where Ziggler had Morrison in a sleeper hold and Swagger had Riley in the Ankle Lock. I thought that it would have been interesting if they both tapped out at the same time, making Ziggler and Swagger co-champions. The ending had Swagger powerbombing Morrison, and Ziggler, who must have reading Edge’s manual on how to be the ultimate opportunist, pushes Swagger out of the way and pins Morrison to get the win.

Predictions: 2 for 3

Next was Randy Orton defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Mark Henry.  Orton had a strategy at the beginning of frustrating Henry and slowing him down. Henry managed to start to get the upper hand when he stretched Orton’s body round the ring post. Henry was quite dominant throughout the match, which started to make me think that Orton would probably pull a RKO out of nowhere and win it. Orton kicked out of the World’s Strongest Slam and then a bit later on tried to hit a RKO but Henry pushed him off, hit him again with the World’s Strongest Slam and got the win. Wow! I know that I have predicted that Henry would lose in his PPV matches and it’s nothing against him, I just thought that it was going to be another failed push. However, I’m so happy that Mark Henry is now the World Heavyweight Champion. It’s a shame that due to the fact he’s now 40 years old, he might not be the champion again. I hope that he has a bit of a run with it. With the exception of the Undertaker, wrestlers that are over 300lbs and look physically dominating in the WWE either don’t become champion or rarely do. Regardless of whether I enjoyed a match or not, if I got the prediction wrong, I would be a bit gutted. Not this time. It might be because I’m not really an Orton fan but I’m happy I got this wrong. So once again, congratulations to Mark Henry on becoming the World Heavyweight Champion for the first time.

Predictions: 2 for 4

Next up was the Divas Championship with Beth Phoenix in her home town of Buffalo hoping for second time lucky by beating Kelly Kelly. Beth Phoenix seems to bring out the best in Kelly Kelly and it was a decent match. There was a good bit where Natalya pulled Beth out of the ring to help her recover. Eve attacks Natalya and Beth grabs Eve’s hair and slams her to the floor. The ending had Kelly Kelly winning by reversing a powerbomb into a sunset flip. Normally, that would be fine. However, the fact that a) she did a similar move to beat Beth at Summerslam and b) Cody Rhodes won with a roll up over an hour earlier did annoy me slightly. A lot of people were thinking that Beth would win this but she didn’t so it could do in a couple of different ways. Either Beth will go for third time’s the charm and possibly go the way that the Orton/Christian feud went earlier this year; or maybe Natalya will get a chance basically saying to Beth “if you can’t beat Kelly, then I will!” The fact remains that if the Legion Divas of Doom want to save the Divas division; their plan’s going to fail at the first hurdle if they can’t defeat the fucking Divas Champion.

Predictions: 2 for 5

The final title to be defended was the WWE Championship, John Cena (yet again!) challenging Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio walked out to the ring with Ricardo Rodriguez announcing him as usual. Wait; hang on, what’s wrong with this picture? Isn’t Del Rio supposed to come out in a luxury car? Well, he would have if Cena haven’t stolen it and drove it in himself. Ok, then, that’s more heel behaviour but you’re Cena, you can do what you want. This match was pretty good and then Del Rio had Cena in the cross armbreaker. Normally, that would be great and thought that it was over but this is Super Cena we’re talking about here who never submits. Ever. It was pretty cool how Cena got out of it by basically lifting Del Rio up in the air into a modified powerbomb. Cena then put Del Rio in the STF and he tapped out, making Cena a 12-time champion at the age of 34. Ok, really?! Really?! Really?! What. The. FUCK?!?!?! It’s shit like this that the WWE Creative department pull that fuck a lot of people off! I’m going to stop for a second before I go on another rant like I did at Summerslam. Give me a minute...

...Ok, I’m back. As you can tell, I don’t think that (along with the fucking majority of wrestling fans) Cena should have won the WWE title. I’m not a big Cena fan and it’s because of shit like this. Due to the fact that the WWE are going to Mexico in a couple of weeks, it was generally thought that Del Rio would still be the champion then. Anyway, I could go on and on but I need to focus on the rest of the article so, congratulations to John Cena, the prick.

Predictions: 2 for 6

Now to the main event of the evening, CM Punk versus Triple H in a no-disqualification match, which seems ironic that the main event of Night of Champions is not a title match. This had an interesting beginning with Punk attacking HHH during his entrance. Punk, I know I’ve recently become a big fan of yours, but you can’t do that to my favourite wrestler. The match went in and out of the ring. Punk managed to elbow Triple H through the Spanish announcers table, and start to get the upper hand. This is where the match becomes a massive clusterfuck and a lot of shit happens, so read this carefully and try to keep up. The Miz and R-Truth come out and take out both Triple H and Punk, draping Punk’s body over Triple H. However, HHH kicks out and, understandably Miz and Truth get into it with the referee Scott Armstrong and beat the crap out of him. John Laurinatis comes out and Triple H and Punk temporarily join forces to get rid of Miz and Truth. Triple H hits the pedigree on Punk and when another referee comes out, Laurinatis gets him to tend to Armstrong instead of making the count. However, when Punk recovers and hits the GTS, Laurinatis gets the referee to make the count, in which R-Truth stops by pulling Punk off him. Yes, you read that right. R-Truth, who 2 minutes ago, tried to get Punk the win then does the complete fucking opposite. That makes no fucking sense whatsoever. Punk then kicks out of another pedigree. Laurinatis decides to stop tending to Armstrong and starts texting someone on his phone. Gee, I wonder who that could be? Yes, you guessed it; Kevin Nash comes in through the crowd and attacks both Triple H and Punk. Nash goes after Triple H again and gets hit by a sledgehammer to the head. Triple H then hits another pedigree on Punk and gets the win.

Predictions: 3 for 7

I was enjoying this PPV until the Divas match then it started to make no sense to me. Firstly, hometown gal Beth Phoenix loses another chance to become Divas Champion; Super Cena becomes a 12(!!) time World Champion, and the main event became more similar to TNA main event with the amount of interference that was going on.

After Money in the Bank and Summerslam, they have gone a massive step backwards with this one. There are only 2 weeks until Hell in a Cell in New Orelans, and the question has to be whether they can bring it back up to that level again.

Night of Champions Preview

Night of Champions will be this Sunday and like the last two Pay-Per-Views, I’m quite looking forward to it. Six (maybe seven) matches are on the card and, after Summerslam; I hope I do a lot better in my predictions. Let’s look at the card:

Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne, also known as Air Boom, defend their Tag Team Championship against The Miz and R-Truth. I like the team of the Miz and R-Truth and, while I would love them to win it, I don’t believe that they will. Therefore, I think that Air Boom will retain their titles.

Dolph Ziggler will defend his US Title against John Morrison, Jack Swagger and Alex Riley in a four corners match. Dolph has been an enjoyable champion and I think it’s time for a new champion. While the push has been stalled slightly, I think that Alex Riley will win his first championship.

Beth Phoenix has a second chance to win the Divas Championship against Kelly Kelly. I have nothing against Kelly Kelly because I keep on predicting that she will lose and she goes on to win. However, it’s time for the Legion Divas of Doom to rule the roost and I think that Beth Phoenix will win.

Randy Orton will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Mark Henry. I’ve been impressed with Mark Henry over the last few months and, if it wasn’t for Christian continually getting rematches, he would have probably had his chance a bit sooner. However, I don’t think that he will win and while I’m not an Orton fan, I think that he will retain although I won’t be too gutted if he loses.

John Cena will be challenging Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship in what will most likely be the main event. This is a tough one to call and I see Cena being WWE Champion again (yawn) but I don’t think that will happen and I’m going for Alberto Del Rio to still be the champion.

And now the match has been the main focus on RAW for the last few weeks, CM Punk vs Triple H in a no-DQ match. This is also a tough one to call. There is no doubt in my mind that Kevin Nash will be involved. However, he could go out to help Triple H or hinder him making him an X factor in this match. I’m a big fan of both these guys but I did say in an earlier article that Triple H will win and I still think that. Expect the Game to win and continue this feud for a bit longer.

While it’s been not announced when I wrote this, I think that Cody Rhodes will defend his Intercontinental Championship against Ted DiBiase. It wouldn’t be Night of Champions if all the titles were not being defended. I like DiBiase, however, his attempt to be the 21^st century version of the Million Dollar Man failed miserably when they could have done something different with it instead of rehashing the same gimmick that they did with his father. I think that it’s too soon for DiBiase to be champion so I think that Cody Rhodes will retain.

The last two WWE Pay-Per-Views have been thoroughly enjoyable and I hope that this one will continue in that vein.

CM Punk: We’re Still Talking about Him

The summer period is sometimes a time when the WWE would experiment with new things with the Nexus being a recent example. This year, we have had one of the most exciting storylines in recent memory with the feud between CM Punk and John Cena. The main thing that I have liked with the main storylines on RAW over the summer is that they seem to have gone in a really good direction involving so many people and it seemed so organic the way that they have gone with it. It has now slightly branched out with the feud developing between Cena and Del Rio having its origins in this storyline.

Now that Punk is focusing on what happened to him at Summerslam, I have been seeing people talk about the fact, while Punk has been talking about change, it hasn’t really happened. The personification of this has been John Cena, who has been involved in every PPV main event this year, and is at Night of Champions will be involved in his 7^th consecutive WWE Championship match as champion or challenger on PPV.

While I agree with some of that, Cena is not the main storyline on RAW despite the fact that it involves the WWE Championship. RAW has started over the last few weeks with the aftermath from what happened at Summerslam between Triple H, CM Punk and Kevin Nash. That has been the main storyline and they are still articles being published about Punk all over the internet.

Night of Champions on Sunday is the only event of the year where all the championships in the company are on the line. However, the main talking point of the event is not any of the title matches, it’s CM Punk vs Triple H, which has no title on the line. That shows to me how highly the WWE regard CM Punk in that he can be in a storyline that has no championship to fight over with two of the best storytellers in wrestling. Yes, CM Punk is not involved in the WWE title picture for now but he doesn’t need to be to be what everyone is talking about and that shows what a good wrestler he is.

It's Not Over Yet

Last Monday on RAW, Triple H managed to find out, via security footage that the Staples Center people had forgot about, who had texted Kevin Nash on Triple H’s phone with orders to “stick the winner for me”. That person was...Kevin Nash. Yeah, Kevin Nash texted himself to beat up the winner of the CM Punk /Cena match. Does that make sense? Of course it doesn’t. I find it bizarre that, after Triple H gave him tickets to Summerslam, that Nash decided to “make the WWE cool again” by carrying out this plan. Therefore, Triple H fired him and CM Punk wished him luck with his future endeavours.  Kevin Nash’s firing was also reported on wwe.com.

However, two things make me think that we have not seen the last of Nash. The first is that John Laurinatis is still supporting Nash by the fact that they left the arena together. There is still the possibility that Laurinatis will find some way to keep him and Nash in the picture.

The second thing is you didn’t see the security footage and the whole crowd are basing it on Triple H’s word. While I agree that Triple H has been a good guy as the COO so far, let’s not forget that this is the cerebral assassin that we are talking about here. This could be a ploy between Triple H and Nash to get at Punk for all the things that Punk has done to him. For those people that think that Nash’s firing was real because it was reported on their website; don’t forget that Punk’s suspension was reported on their website as well. The WWE are using their website to help build their storylines as they are doing with the Legion Divas of Doom.

This has made Triple H’s match with Punk at Night of Champions all the more interesting and it seems to have more hype to it than all the other matches on the card. A lot of people are thinking that, with Triple H’s COO position on the line, Punk will lose. However, the last two PPV matches involving Punk have had stipulations added to it that make you think that WWE are going the safe route with Punk losing and he won. I think Triple H will still win, not because of the stipulation of his job, but because I can see Nash coming in to help him.

Wasn’t it Supposed to be CM Punk vs Kevin Nash?

The events of last week’s RAW determined the main event of Night of Champions with Alberto Del Rio defending the WWE Championship against John Cena. Cena defeated CM Punk to become the No.1 contender. However, the way that Cena wasn’t exactly a clean win with Cena taking advantage of CM Punk being distracted by Kevin Nash to get the AA.

With Nash costing Punk the WWE Championship and then the chance to become the No. 1 contender, you can understand that Punk wanted to get revenge. Unfortunately, Nash was not (in storyline) a WWE employee until it was revealed on RAW that John Laurinatis gave Nash a contract. Punk was thinking “problem solved” and it seemed a match between Punk and Nash was on the cards.

At least that’s what we thought. At the end of RAW, Triple H said that he would face Punk at Night of Champions instead. Wait, what?! As a big Triple H fan, I was looking forward to seeing him wrestle again although I didn’t think that I would see that for another month or two. However, I was struggling to see how we had gone from Punk vs Nash to Punk vs HHH.

Luckily, instead of waiting til Friday to see Smackdown, we only had to wait 24 hours instead at the contract signing between Punk and Triple H, which hoped to explain things. Triple H explained that he made the decision after speaking to the board of directors. Then he goes to explain that he’s not happy with the way Punk has been acting towards himself, his family and the comapny. That seems fair especially since Triple H could have told Punk to get out when he gave him the contract before Summerslam. It seems to go down to the basic fact that Triple H, after all he’s done to try and make it work, is feeling a bit unappreciated by Punk, a fact that the crowd seem to understand judging by the reaction.

There are rumours going round that Nash might not be ready for a full-on wrestling match. That may be true since he hasn’t properly wrestled for almost a year (the Royal Rumble doesn’t really count) and he’s 52 and will be wrestling against a man 20 years younger.

When it was going to be Nash vs Punk, it was obvious that we would cheer Punk and boo Nash. Now it’s different. I think that Triple H is one of those few people (Ric Flair is another) that, it doesn’t matter if he’s a good guy or bad guy; you’re not really going to boo him.

What about Nash, you wonder? Well, he will be a X-factor in this match. I have no doubt that he will try to interfere but will he be stopped by Triple H, or will he let it happen in order to get the win? Only time will tell but I, for one, will be really looking forward to this match.

The Summerslam Conspiracy

The ending of Summerslam with Kevin Nash attacking CM Punk and then Alberto Del Rio cashing in his MITB contract to become the WWE Champion was one of the most unpredictable endings to a Pay Per View in ages. The following RAW, despite Triple H’s denials, Kevin Nash said that he received a text message from Triple H asking him to “stick the winner for me”. It looks like there are conflicting stories going round and I can’t see this being solved for another couple of weeks. So, how are the suspects in asking Nash to attack CM Punk?

Triple H

It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it? Kevin Nash received the text message from his phone. He may have intentionally missed Cena’s foot on the rope to make sure that Punk won the match. However, while he can be angry at CM Punk for effectively holding the company to ransom; if it wasn’t for Punk, Triple H wouldn’t be the COO now. I don’t think it’s him and he’s being used as a scapegoat, but there are rumours going round of a Punk/HHH feud going into Survivor Series, so you never know.

Alberto Del Rio

Alberto Del Rio was the RAW MITB contract holder. However, each time he tried to cash it in, it didn’t go well. Del Rio probably needed to make sure that the next time he would try to cash it in, his opponent wouldn’t be in a position to recover. The best way to do that is to get a hired gun (Nash) to do that for him. It would be something different. Each time, except for Rob Van Dam, the MITB contract has been cashed in, it has been when the holder has taken advantage of an attack on the champion. Del Rio has the money to hire someone to take out the champion and then he can come in and pick up the pieces. However, I believed him when he said that he saw the opportunity and took it. It’s possible but unlikely.

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley

Stephanie probably wanted revenge for what happened to her father and she has the ability to get access to Triple H’s phone (being married to him and all). It’s a long shot but more likely, it wasn’t her.

John Laurinatis

John doesn’t like either Punk or Cena. He could have gotten access to Triple H’s phone and it could be that he could use this situation to his own advantage to get more power. It’s possible but unlikely.

And the most likely suspect is...

...Vince McMahon

If you think about it, it’s perfect. Vince has beef with Punk, Cena and Triple H. Punk held the company to ransom, Cena got the match at MITB back on while Punk was suspended when he threatened to quit, leading Vince to employ desperate measures at the Money in the Bank PPV to ensure Punk didn’t win. First, he tried to get Laurinatis to ring the bell when Punk was in the STF, which was foiled by Cena. He then tried to get Del Rio to cash in his MITB contract, which Punk foiled before running off into the sunset. Vince’s actions meant that the board had to get him to step down from the day to day operations and let Triple H take over. If Vince let all of that slide, then I would be very surprised. Vince probably wasn’t there but he could have got Laurinatis or even Stephanie to send the text message to Nash on Triple H’s phone, creating a scapegoat.

So, there are the suspects. We will find out soon enough who the culprit is.

Summerslam 2011 Review

It’s Summerslam baby! I’m watching bits of this inbetween doing 12-14 hour shifts at work so my apologies for putting this up a few days after the event. Will all the hype surrounding this event be worth it and will I improve on my 50% prediction record from Money in the Bank? Let’s see.

After a guitar version of the Star Spangled Barrier by Adam Jones of the Tool, the Awesome One kicks things off and could Michael Cole be anymore excited?! I mean, I love the Miz as well, but I’m not on the verge of an orgasm whenever I see him. The Miz is teaming up with Alberto Del Rio and R-Truth to take on Kofi Kingston, John Morrison and Rey Mysterio. It was an enjoyable match with some impressive teamwork between Morrison and Kofi on the Miz, and Kofi getting worked over by Del Rio and the Miz. At the end, Rey Mysterio got the pin by splashing R-Truth and giving him, Morrison and Kofi the win

Predictions: N/A

Backstage, CM Punk gives a mocking apology to John Laurinitis over what happened at the contract signing on RAW and Stephanie McMahon returns to wish Punk luck in the match.  Good segment and it was nice to see Stephanie back.

Sheamus vs Mark Henry was next and Sheamus was dominant at first before Mark Henry threw him out of the ring and was dominant for a little while. Eventually, Sheamus brogue kicked Henry out of the ring, went out after him (never a good idea) and Henry slammed Sheamus onto the ring post and then through the barricade giving him the win by countout.

Predictions: 0 for 1

After a mini concert by Cee-Lo Green, Beth Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly for the Divas Championship was next. I was expecting a 3-4 minute match with Beth destroying Kelly but I was pleasantly surprised by this match. Kelly Kelly, while nowhere near as strong as Beth, is a lot quicker and she put in a good performance against her, getting the win by reversing an attempt at a Glam Slam into a small package.

Predictions: 0 for 2

Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett was a very entertaining wrestling match. Daniel Bryan’s style of wrestling is always enjoyable to watch and he and Wade worked well together. Wade Barrett got the win by hitting the wasteland.

Predictions: 0 for 3

Right, once again, I’m not doing well with my predictions. However, I’m hoping like last time that I get some right with the World title matches. Randy Orton vs Christian V for the World Heavyweight Championship is no holds barred and, whilst I’ve been enjoying their matches on Pay-Per-View, it would be nice to see a different World title match next month. Christian revealed his secret weapon in the match to be Edge! However, any plan for Edge to help Christian in his match was ruined by Edge saying he wasn’t happy with what Christian had become and walked out. It’s ok, Christian, you don’t need your best friend to defeat Randy Orton.  The match was enjoyable, taking me back to some of the matches that you had during the Attitude Era. Some of the highlights include Christian using a kendo stick on Orton, and Orton finally mastering the art of putting people through tables by RKO-ing Christian through the Spanish announcers table. I thought Christian won it with the killswitch but Orton kicked out. Orton then sent Christian through two tables and DDTed him onto a dustbin. At the end, Christian attempted a move from the top turnbuckle and got RKOed onto the steel steps, giving him the win. Ok, I’m sorry but what the fuck?! Why does Orton have to become the fucking champion again?! That sucks! That really really sucks! I mean, seriously...

...ok I’ve calmed down now. My apologies for that rant. As you can tell, I didn’t want Orton to be the World Heavyweight Champion again. I don’t see why he has to be the champion right now. Ah well, bad luck Christian. It looks like you might have needed Edge to help you after all. You will be champion again, just (hopefully) not next month.

Predictions: 0 for 4 (wtf?!?!)

Now it comes to the main event CM Punk vs John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship with Triple H as the special guest referee. This was a great match. It’s hard to say whether it was better than their match at Money in the Bank but it will be up there with some of the greatest Summerslam matches ever. There were lots of great bits in the match, one of them was when both guys were out on the floor and Triple H counted up to 9 and then got both Cena and Punk back into the ring to prevent a double count out to the cheers of the Staples Center crowd. Punk kicked out of the AA and then Cena kicked out of the GTS. At the end, Punk hit the GTS again and got the win even though Triple H, who had been completely neutral up to this point, missed Cena’s leg on the bottom rope. I’m sorry Cena, while I see your point, Triple H didn’t see it and CM Punk is now the undisputed WWE Champion.

Predictions: 1 for 5 (alleluia!)

Hang on a minute, Kevin Nash has come to spoil the party and powerbombs CM Punk. What was that about?! And then, Alberto Del Rio, taking a leaf from Edge’s manual to how to be the ultimate opportunist, takes advantage and cashes in his MITB contract. One kick to the back to the head later and Del Rio is the new WWE Champion. CM Punk becomes the second person to have not only cashed in the MITB contract but to have him cashed in on him. What an awesome ending!

Overall, it’s hard to give an opinion on this Summerslam. Summerslam, like Wrestlemania, will be compared to not only the last Pay-Per-View, but also the last Summerslam. Is it better than last year’s Summerslam? Most definitely. Is it better than last month’s event, Money in the Bank? It’s hard to say. Money in the Bank was, in most people’s mind, the perfect Pay-Per-View. Summerslam this year seemed to be more polarizing to the fans and I tend to agree. I really enjoyed the event but I don’t quite see why the WWE decided to go with some of the results. I may have to look at the bigger picture to see how the aftermath of this event will go.

Oh, and Kevin Nash, prepare to have CM Punk get his revenge on you. 

Summerslam Predictions

Summerslam is this evening and it’s shaping up to be a good show. I was 3 for 6 at Money in the Bank. Will I do better this time? Let’s take a look at the matches.

Sheamus vs Mark Henry will be a very physical contest. Mark Henry has been destroying wrestlers (and WWE technicians) over the last few months very impressively. However, I think that Sheamus will win this match and complete his face turn.

Beth Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly for the Divas Championship should be interesting with the recent heel turns by Beth and Natalya. If Beth Phoenix doesn’t win this, I’ll be very surprised.

Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett should be a good match and thoroughly entertaining. I’m going to go for Daniel Bryan to win this and start a feud between the two over the autumn.

Randy Orton vs Christian V in a no holds barred match for the World Heavyweight Championship should be a good contest. While their matches have been good, I think that this will be the last match between the two for the foreseeable future. For that to happen, I believe that Christian will retain the title.

CM Punk vs John Cena to determine the undisputed WWE Champion will be the biggest Summerslam main event in years. There’re rumours going round of a potential CM Punk/HHH match at Survivor Series and with the Game being the referee, my shenanigans sense is tingling. However, I think that CM Punk will become the undisputed WWE Champion.

I know that Cee-Lo Green is playing, but unless he’s performing a concert, I don’t get why there are only 5 matches are on the card for the second biggest event of the year and the Awesome One is not taking part (Boo!). Therefore, expect one or two bonus matches in this event. Unfortunately, due to work, I won’t get to watch all of it for a few days, so you won’t get the review until during the week. I’ll find out the results and publish them first before I write my review. Hope you enjoy the show.

My First Ever Summerslam

Summerslam is less than a week away and the second biggest WWE event of the year is shaping up to be an enjoyable show. I thought that I would take a slightly different route about it and write about the first Summerslam that I ever saw.

The first Summerslam that I ever watched was in 1992, which was extra special for me because it took place at Wembley Stadium, London. Due to the fact that I didn’t see the event live, I had to wait almost 4 months to watch it on VHS. The way the video releases work in the UK is that we have to wait 3/4 months after the event before it’s released on DVD. The commentators were Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan, who was pretending to be the King of England, and they were good, I just missed the excellent chemistry that Heenan had with Gorilla Monsoon.

Even though I have not seen the show for over 15 years, I still remember so much about it. The Legion of Doom going down the aisle to face Money Inc. in motorcycles and wearing white shoulder pads; the Natural Disasters defending their tag titles against the Beverley Brothers; Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel fighting over who should take a fainted Sensational Sherri back up the aisle; and the WWF Championship between Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior with Ric Flair and Mr Perfect teasing them over which corner they were going to be in.

The most abiding memory is the main event with the British Bulldog challenging Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. I still think it is one of the best matches that I ever seen and it was a pure technical masterclass in wrestling, which is something that you don’t really see anymore. You had Diane Hart, Bret’s sister and Bulldog’s wife, watching the match and the cameras constantly cutting to her to see her reaction to certain buts of the match. The ending was amazing with Bulldog reversing an attempt at a sunset flip by Bret Hart to get the win.

From what I remember, it was a really good Summerslam. After that, it was 7 years until I saw my next Summerslam and another 11 until I first saw a Summerslam live on TV. While everyone looks forward to Wrestlemania, I look forward to Summerslam with the same amount of enthusiasm. I thought that this year’s Wrestlemania was slightly disappointing, and I hope that Summerslam 2011 will be an awesome show.

“Enough is Enough, and it’s Time for a Change”

Sorry that I haven’t updated this blog. I’ve been working in Edinburgh for the last week without access to a computer. I finally had the chance to see last week’s RAW and Smackdown yesterday and I’m interested in what’s happening with the Divas so here’s an article about it.

While I like women’s wrestling, I feel that in the WWE, it has seemed to have stagnated over the last few years. At the minute, they seem to have 4-5 minutes on TV and have the occasional Divas title match. If you look at TNA, they seem to have a better women’s division because not only do they have a decent roster, they seem to do wrestling and they have actual storylines. In the WWE, you have the Bella Twins saying that women their own size are fat and behaving more like bitchy teenage schoolgirls than women in their mid-20s.

There were signs that that could change with the arrival of Kharma in May. She was destroying Divas almost indiscriminately and, without having a match, was proving to be the dominant alpha female. Her pregnancy meant that the storyline could not continue and it looked like the Divas would continue to do the same old thing for the foreseeable future.

That all changed last week with the battle royal on RAW to determine the No.1 contender to the Divas Championship on Summerslam. Champion Kelly Kelly was on commentary and, until the end, I wasn’t liking it. Most of the field were eliminated within 90 seconds and the commentary seem to consist of Kelly Kelly and Michael Cole bickering. The ending was good with Beth Phoenix putting both Bellas on her shoulders and throwing them over the top rope. Kelly Kelly, in an act of sportsmanship, congratulates Beth for winning. Beth does her own act of sportsmanship by completely destroying Kelly Kelly. Later that week on Smackdown, Natalya destroys Kaitlyn after beating her in a match and announces that she is aligning herself with Beth and announces that: “The days of the cute, perky, little princesses are over!”

I’m excited to see how this plays out. Beth Phoenix is undoubtedly the strongest women in the WWE since Chyna, and she has competed in two Royal Rumbles. Natalya comes from possibly the most successful wrestling family ever, and, having been trained in Stu Hart’s dungeon, the most technical women in the division. I can see them dominating the Divas for the near future with either one of them being the champion and that could develop into a fued between the two.

If I have a slight gripe, it’s that I wish that they were two women’s titles. You could have Beth being the Divas champion and Natalya being the Women’s champion and being completely dominant. Then Kharma can return, destroy them both and you can unify the titles that way.

These events and the fact that the Divas title is being defended not only at Summerslam but for the second consecutive Pay-Per-View means that the women’s division seems to be coming more than just a sideshow. I hope that it will continue to progress and be enjoyable again, especially when Kharma returns.