Lo-Down Wrestling Podcast: The Streak Playlist

As you're aware, I've spent the last few weeks doing a podcast series about the Undertaker's Streak. Due to the fact that I have not published all of them on this website, I've decided to do a playlist with links to them.

Part 1

Sawyer Paul from International Object joined me as we discussed Undertaker vs Superfly Jimmy Snuka at Wrestlemania VII as well as his debut at the 1990 Survivor Series.

Part 2

Scott T Holland was the guest as we discussed Undertaker vs Jake “The Snake” Roberts at Wrestlemania VIII.

Part 3

Scott T Holland became the first return guest as we talked about Undertaker's match with Giant Gonzales at Wrestlemania IX.

Part 4

Trey Irby, who contributes to The Wrestling Blog, was with me as we discussed Undertaker vs King Kong Bundy at Wrestlemania XI.

Part 5

Don Owens from the podcast Am I On The Air? joined me as we discussed Undertaker's match with Diesel at Wrestlemania XII

Part 6

Rich Thomas, who co-hosts the International Object podcast with Sawyer Paul, was the guest and we talked about Undertaker challenging Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania 13.

Part 7

Joe Drilling from the podcast What a Maneveur and I discussed Undertaker's match against Kane at Wrestlemania 14.

Part 8

Trey Ibry returned to the podcast and we discussed the Hell in a Cell match involving Undertaker and The Big Boss Man at Wrestlemania XV.

Part 9

Tom Holzerman from the Wrestling Blog was the guest as we talked about Undertaker's first match against Triple H at Wrestlemania X-7.

Part 10

Sawyer Paul returned to the podcast and we discussed Undertaker vs Ric Flair at Wrestlemania XVIII.

Part 11

Nick Gator joined me and we talked Undertaker taking on Big Show and A-Train, with a little (illegal) help from Nathan Jones, at Wrestlemania XIX.

Part 12

Corey Santiago was the guest and we discussed Undertaker against Kane at Wrestlemania XX, in which we saw the return of the dead man gimmick.

Part 13

Kevin Mahon, co-host of the Attitude Era Podcast, joined me as Undertaker faced Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 21.

Part 14

Bill Bicknell was the guest as we talked the casket match between Undertaker and Mark Henry at Wrestlemania 22.

Part 15

Bill Bicknell returned to the podcast and we discussed Undertaker challenging Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 23

Part 16

Sawyer Paul was back on the podcast and we talked about the World Heavyweight Championship match between Undertaker and Edge at Wrestlemania XXIV

Part 17
Corey Santiago returned to the podcast as we talked about Undertaker facing Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25.

Part 18
Joe Drilling returned and we talked about the Wrestlemania XXVI match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels

Part 19
Kevin Mahon was back on the podcast as we discussed Undertaker vs Triple H at Wrestlemania XXVII

Part 20
Don Owens, who was there live, and I talked about the "End of an Era" Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H at Wrestlemania XXVIII with Shawn Michaels, for some reason that is never explained, the special guest referee.

Part 21
Tom Holzerman was the guest for Undertaker's final Wrestlemania victory as he took on CM Punk at Wrestlemania XXIX.

As you're now aware, the Streak has ended with Brock Lesnar defeating Undertaker this year. I will be doing a podcast about it but you have to wait til just before Wrestlemania 31. Until then, I hope you enjoy listening to these podcasts and there will be more published over the year.

Fav Five: June 2012

It's time for the Booker T inspired Fav Five for June 2012. In June, we had a so-so PPV from WWE but an excellent PPV from TNA. How will it affect the Fav Five this month? Let's see.

5. CM Punk
The WWE Champion had been fun to watch, along with Kane, Daniel Bryan and AJ. There are still a lot of questions about what is going on between them all, but as long as it doesn't end in a TNA-style clusterfuck, they should  be answered soon.
4. Joseph Park
Joesph Park (brother of Chris? You know, Abyss?) has been a joy to watch over the last month. Chris Parks is the man behind both characters and it's a testament to his ability to go from portraying a man who is a psychopathic recluse to someone who is the complete opposite.
3. Austin Aries
Austin Aries (the best thing in TNA right now) has been flying high over the last month. He had one of the best matches of the year against Samoa Joe at Slammiversary and will be facing Bobby Roode for the TNA World Championship at Destination X. Aries has the ability to be a major player in TNA if they can keep him.
2. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan has been the best male wrestler to watch in the WWE with the feud with Punk and AJ becoming one of the feuds of the year. Bryan is going for third time lucky against Punk at Money in the Bank but it all depends on the AJ factor.
1. AJ
Can anyone remember the last time a woman (outside of the McMahons) has not just been the best thing to watch in the WWE, but one of the main focuses? No, me neither. AJ insane persona has been so fun to watch and, thanks to the WWE Universe, she will be the guest referee in the WWE Championship between Daniel Bryan and CM Punk at Money in the Bank. I have a sneaking suspicion that she is not as crazy as she appears to be, and if that is true, it will show that the WWE do have Divas that are "smart, sexy and powerful".

Fav Five: April and May 2012

Yeah buddy, after a month off, it’s time for Lo-Down Wrestling’s Fav Five. I never got a chance to publish the one for April; so I decided to do April and May’s Fav Five in one article.

April 2012

5.  John Cena

John Cena has been actually enjoyable to watch in his feud with Brock Lesnar. Their match at Extreme Rules was quite good with Cena pulling out the victory despite Lensar destroying him for most of the match. It made Cena look strong and managed to gain some respect from the Cena Haters. Shame he ruined it the next day.

4. John Laurinaitis

I like John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the GM of both RAW and Smackdown?) a lot. However, since he became the Supreme GM, he doesn’t seem to be as enjoyable as he has over the last few months. Despite that, I have enjoyed that he always displays the Brother Love suit that he wore at Wrestlemania and he has effectively made Teddy Long his bitch.

3. Sheamus

Sheamus became World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania and he has been fun to watch. His match with Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules was one of the best matches of the night and showed how well they work together.

2. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar has been brought in to “legitimatise” the WWE. Since then, he has been destroying John Cena, including busting him open twice. I was surprised when he lost to Cena at Extreme Rules; however, in hindsight, he didn’t really need to win. All Lesnar needed to show was how dominant he can be and he did.

1. Daniel Bryan

As evidenced by my Wrestlemania review, I was just a bit unhappy when Bryan lost the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds. However, instead of being buried, Bryan is more over than ever before and he seems to go from strength to strength. Bryan has improved so much since becoming World Heavyweight Champion and he is now the person that I most look forward to seeing in the WWE.

May 2012

5.  The Big Show

 Even though The Big Show’s heel turn was predictable, Show has been good to watch. The best heels are those that have a genuine reason to be bad and Show does. His upcoming match with John Cena at No Way Out could be a good match to watch.

4. John Laurinaitis

John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the GM of both RAW and Smackdown?) has been more fun to watch than he was last month culminating in a match against John Cena which wasn’t too bad. Laurinaitis is still uniquely entertaining along with his employees David Otunga and Eve Torres; and his bitch Teddy Long.

3. CM Punk

The inaugural LDW Wrestler of the Year has been fun to watch over the last month with his rivalry with Daniel Bryan and being the unwilling part of a triangle along with Bryan and AJ. It is starting to develop into an interesting dynamic between the three.

2. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan keeps going as strong as ever. His rivalry with CM Punk has been amazing so far with a tremendous match between the two at Over the Limit, making it one of the matches of the year so far.

1. AJ

AJ is the best Diva to watch in the WWE and she hasn’t wrestled in the last few weeks. Since Bryan blamed her for his loss at Wrestlemania and dumping her; she fucked up Natalya in a match; bitchslapped Kaitlyn into the following week where she got bitchslapped even harder; and slowly getting insane. Now, AJ has turned her attentions to CM Punk, which was been really fun to watch. 

Wrestlemania XXVIIII Predictions

It’s Wrestlemania baby! The Showcase of the Immortals! The Grand Daddy of Them All etc etc. The card for this looks stacked so let’s take a look.

Randy Orton will take on Kane in a feud that doesn’t really make sense to me. The reason that Kane is after Orton is because after a match between the two last July, Kane offered his hand to Orton. If that was the case, why did Kane attack Cena first when he returned? You know what, I don’t really care. Anyway, I expect Randy Orton to win this one.

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton

Cody Rhodes will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against the Big Show. This is the first time that the Intercontinental Championship has been defended at Wrestlemania in 4 years. I have loved Cody’s videos showing Show’s Wrestlemania lowlights. I would love to see Cody retain his title; however, I think that Big Show will become the Intercontinental Champion for the first time.

Predicted Winner: Big Show

Team Teddy will take on Team Johnny for control of both RAW and Smackdown. It’s a shame it’s not a Survivor Series type match as that could be an entertaining contest. I think that Team Johnny as I can’t see any value of Team Teddy winning. If he does, it looks like we will be having a lot of tag team matches, playa.

Predicted Winners: Team Johnny

Divas Champion Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres will take on Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos. Ok, I have a few questions about this match:

·         Who is Maria Menounos?

·         When the fuck did Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres join forces?

·         When did Natalya and Beth end the Legion Divas of Doom?

·         Why should I care about this match? Seriously, why should I?

Thanks to the WWE fucking the Divas around, I expect this match to last less than 5 minutes. Due to the fact that a celebrity is involved, Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos will win this one.

Predicted Winners: Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos

Sheamus will challenge Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship. I think that Bryan has been an excellent Champion over the last few months and Sheamus has been looking strong since he won the Royal Rumble. This is a tough one to call but I think that Sheamus will be the first Royal Rumble winner since the Undertaker in 2007 to become World Heavyweight Champion.

Predicted Winner: Sheamus

It’s the End of an Era as the Undertaker will go for 20-0 against Triple H in Hell in a Cell. Even though I’m a big Triple H fan, I wasn’t looking forward to Undertaker vs Triple H III. However, the story going into it and the fact that it’s in Hell in a Cell has made this a very intriguing contest. Plus there is the Shawn Michaels factor as he is the special guest referee and it’s all down to him. Whilst Michaels has beef with both of them, I hope he does what Triple H did when he refereed the Cena/Punk match at Summerslam and stay neutral throughout. I think that this will be a great match and, although they may be times when you think Triple H will win the match, I fully expect Undertaker to win and to go 20-0.

Predicted Winner: Undertaker

The WWE Championship is on the line as “Best in the World” CM Punk defends the title against “Best in the World in Everything he does” Chris Jericho. I know a lot of people are going to Wrestlemania to see Rock vs Cena; however, this has the ability to be the match of the night. The feud for this has been ok with Jericho playing the personal card to get under Punk’s skin, which I don’t mind. However, I just don’t think it’s necessary. This is a really tough one to call. I would be happy with both these guys winning. I’m going for Jericho to win this and become the new WWE Champion.

Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

The main event (obviously) will be The Rock taking on John Cena in the match billed as “Once in a Lifetime”. The feud has been slowly simmering for over a year and, whilst it may have dropped the ball sometimes, I, along with millions of people, am really looking forward to it. This will be an exciting match and John Cena has to win this, he just has to.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Whilst I’m looking forward to this, I won’t get to see all of it til Monday night. I hope you enjoy the show and I’ll post my review late Monday night.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Review

It’s time for the last PPV before Wrestlemania. Last year, Elimination Chamber helped to solidify the great television that we were seeing in the WWE. Will this year’s event continue in that vein?

The first match was an Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship? Wait, what? When Justin Roberts announced that, I was shocked. I thought that this match would end the PPV. Anyway, let’s put my shock to the side and watch this match. CM Punk was defending the title against Chris Jericho, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston. We all know that Jericho had a huge advantage as he was going in at number 6, and Punk and Kofi started the match. There was a couple of nice bits with Kofi leaping over the ropes and Punk slingshoting Kofi into Jericho’s pod. After 5 minutes, Dolph Ziggler entered the Chamber and went after Punk and, being the show off that he is, starting doing knee raises while hanging off the cage followed by a leg drop. There was also a cool when Kofi and Punk tried to do jumping clothelines on Ziggler. Ziggler ducked and they collided in mid air. R–Truth then enters the fray and starts attacking Ziggler. However, a couple of minutes later, Punk eliminates Truth with a Macho Man elbow drop. After Kofi hits a Tornado DDT on Ziggler on the outside of the ring, The Miz enters the Chamber and attacks Punk before concentrating on Kofi. After Kofi and Ziggler get temporarily incapacitated, we get a few minutes of Punk and Miz fighting it out.

Just before the 10 count for Jericho to come in, Punk hits Miz with the Anaconda Vice but lets go of it when Jericho enters the Chamber. Jericho hits Punk with a Lionsault for a near fall. Ziggler comes back and tries to pin Jericho with a roll up but Jericho kicked out and hit Ziggler with a Codebreaker to eliminate Ziggler. Punk and Jericho continue their fight and Punk starts to get some momentum before Jericho pokes Punk in the eye then puts himself back into a pod to get some breathing room. Unfortunately, Punk gets the pod open and they fight it out in there before Jericho starts to use the pod door against Punk. Jericho hits Kofi with a DDT then Kofi and Miz have a brief battle between each other. Punk gets back into it and there was a nice spot when Kofi climbed onto the top of a pod and hit a crossbody on Punk and Miz. A couple of minutes later, Jericho puts Kofi in the Walls of Jericho and the way that he put Kofi in the move with his knee on the back of Kofi’s head, effectively immobilising him made sure that Kofi had no choice but to tap out.

Jericho then decides to humiliate Kofi further by throwing him out of the Chamber himself. However, after he done that and the Chamber door was being closed, Punk hit Jericho with a kick to the back of the head, sending him out of the Chamber, colliding with the cameraman and hitting the aisle barrier. After being checked over, referee Scott Armstrong deems that Jericho is unable to continue. On a side note, you can tell that the referees don’t give a fuck about the cameraman as they didn’t take a look at him for a good few minutes. With Jericho unable to continue, the match is now between Punk and The Miz. Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale but only gets a 2 count. Despite the Miz’s best efforts, Punk managed to get the victory after hitting the GTS and retain the WWE Championship. I really enjoyed this match and it was a great way to start the PPV. It also gives Jericho a reason to challenge Punk at Wrestlemania as he wasn’t technically eliminated. It’s just that I’m not a big fan of World Championship matches starting a PPV (Royal Rumble excepted) and I’ll get onto that later on in my review. Anyway, well done to Punk on retaining the WWE Championship.

Winner: CM Punk                                         Predictions: 0 for 1

After a backstage segment with Santino and a video of John Cena about his match with The Rock at Wrestlemania, we get the Divas Championship with Beth Phoenix defending against Tamina Snuka. Beth decides to be a nice person and offer Tamina the chance to walk away. Tamina graciously declines by attacking Beth. Tamina tries to go for the Superfly Splash early but Beth pushes her out of the ring and starts to gain some momentum. After a while, Tamina fights back with a Samoan Drop and later on hits the Superfly Splash, in which Beth just kicks out. A couple of minutes later, Beth hits the Glam Slam to get the victory. This is one of the best matches that I seen from the Divas in quite some time and with Beth, Tamina, Natalya and Kharma, they have the potential to create a strong Divas Division.

Winner: Beth Phoenix                                   Predictions: 1 for2

Next we get David Otunga along with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) who starts to go on about Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long being possibly under review when he is interrupted by the arrival of Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio suggests that Laurinaitis not only be the permanent GM of RAW but also of Smackdown as well. If it happens, does that mean that I have to write did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, the RAW GM and the Smackdown GM? Del Rio’s suggestion gets some support from not only Mark Henry but a returning Christian. I really like the idea of Laurinaitis being the General Manager of both shows as I’ve never seen anyone do that before. This could be a great storyline with Laurinaitis now effectively having his own stable full of former World Champions. The best bit for me was when Otunga gets a picture of them and this is it:

A great moment and Otunga’s smile for me just makes it so much better.

After an interview of The Big Show by Josh “Bad Timing” Mathews, we get the Smackdown Elimination Chamber?! Wait, so we’re having the Ambulance Match as the main event?! Seriously, why the fuck have the WWE done that? You know what, I’ll bitch about that later and I’ll focus on this match. Daniel Bryan is defending his World Heavyweight Championship against The Great Khali, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, The Big Show and Santino Marella(?!) Unfortunately, my dream of someone attacking Santino during his entrance and taking his spot was unfulfilled (bollocks!) The Big Show and Wade Barrett start off the match and they were pretty decent then Cody Rhodes (reluctantly) enters the match.

Rhodes starts to go into with Show before Show sends him over the top rope onto the steel. Barrett and Rhodes briefly team up against Show before they go up against each other. Santino then enters the match and goes after Barrett before encountering The Big Show. Show sends Santino flying across the ring before we get a bit of back and forth between all the wrestlers. The Great Khali enters the match and hits the Punjabi Plunge on Rhodes then Barrett. Show then spears Khali and eliminates him. Show then decides that Bryan, who is the only one left in a pod, should enter the match a bit earlier by breaking the chains at the top of the pod and destroying Bryan inside. Bryan manages to get out of the pod with Show in hot pursuit. Show sends Bryan back into the pod by throwing him head first through the bulletproof (but not wrestler proof) glass. Eventually, Rhodes hits a DDT on Show followed by a elbow drop by Barrett to eliminate Show. Rhodes starts to celebrate but that comes back to haunt him as Santino eliminates him with a roll up. Rhodes doesn’t take that too well and hits Santino with a Cross Rhodes before leaving. After a while, we get a mini match between Bryan and Barrett with Barrett powerbombing Bryan into the chains then using the pod door to choke Bryan before slamming the door onto Bryan’s head. A few minutes later, Bryan hits a splash on Barrett and Santino pins him, eliminating him. This now leaves Bryan and Santino (?!) Bryan dominates to begin with before Santino hits the Cobra and gets a very, very near fall. Bryan puts on the LaBell Lock and, despite Santino almost powering out of it, he had no choice but to tap out, meaning that Bryan is still the Champion. Afterwards, Sheamus congratulates Bryan by hitting him with the Celtic Cross, solidifying his challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania.

The match was not as good as the RAW match but it was still entertaining. I have to give credit where it’s due and I thought that Santino was really good in this match. I feel that with a bit more skill and an evolution of his character, he could be at the upper mid card level. My one criticism was that Bryan entered the Chamber last. I feel that Bryan should have entered the Chamber earlier was it would have made him look stronger.

Winner: Daniel Bryan                                     Predictions: 2 for 3

Next we go backstage with Natalya continuing the bullshit farting gimmick with Hornswoggle followed by Justin Gabriel arguing with Jack Swagger, which was defused by Teddy Long; who made an impromptu match between the two for the United States Championship.

Hey, look at that! The match between Jack Swagger and Justin Gabriel is on now. This match wasn’t that long and it was pretty decent with Swagger eventually getting the win after applying the ankle lock.

Winner: Jack Swagger                                  Predictions: N/A

Now we come to the main event with John Cena taking on Kane in an Ambulance Match. The match quickly goes to the outside, up the aisle to near the Ambulance and Cena uses a back board against Kane. The match goes back to the outside of the ring when Kane gets thrown into the steel steps and then thrown into the ring. Kane starts to dominate the match for a while before Cena fights back with a 5-knuckle shuffle. Kane smothers Cena, knocking him out. Kane then drags Cena out of the ring and brings out a wheelchair to help get him to the ambulance. Cena comes to when he is at the aisle and tries to get out of the wheelchair and starts beating up Kane. Cena slams Kane against the ambulance, grabs the wheelchair and starts using that as a weapon. Cena then puts Kane into the wheelchair and sends him into the technical area located to the side of the titantron. They both start using various pieces of equipment against each other.

The match goes through the crowd ending up back to the outside of the ring. Cena hits Kane twice with a microphone, then hits him with a monitor from the Spanish Announcers table then the steel steps twice to the head of Kane. Cena sets up the steps next to the Spanish Announcers Table, lifts Kane up and carries him up the steps in order to AA Kane through the table. Kane manages to get out of it and chokeslams Cena through the table. Kane goes to the ambulance and grabs a stretcher planning to use it to carry Cena to the ambulance. Kane puts Cena into the ambulance and almost shuts the door when Cena starts to rally against Kane then taunts Kane to follow him to the top of the ambulance. Kane attempts to chokeslam Cena off the ambulance but Cena countered it and AA-ed Kane off the top of the ambulance to the floor (well, some padding I assume. We don’t see Kane land). Cena then puts Kane into the ambulance, closes the door and wins the match. I enjoyed the match and it made both Kane and Cena look strong going into Wrestlemania.

Winner: John Cena                                       Predictions: 3 for 4

This was a decent event. All the matches were pretty good and I really enjoyed the RAW Elimination Chamber. I was impressed with Santino’s performance and he shows how good he actually is. I was also impressed with the Divas match and I hope that this could be the beginning of building a strong Divas division.

However, this event emphasised to me how important the match order is. I always believed that the main event should be a World Title match. There will be times when other matches will be the main event (Cena vs The Rock at Wrestlemania is a prime example), but those are special matches that deserve to be the main event.

I really don’t get why Cena vs Kane was the main event. I kinda get why as the WWE wanted the last image of the PPV to be a victorious John Cena standing near the Wrestlemania logo. However, the match, while good, was not a main event. It would be nice if the last image that we had would have been Sheamus crushing Bryan and having him standing by the Wrestlemania logo. It would have put the focus back on the Royal Rumble being an important event on the Road to Wrestlemania. Because of WWE’s decision to make the Cena Kane match the main event, they made what could have been a good PPV into an okay PPV.

Elimination Chamber Contenders

The Elimination Chamber takes place at 1am on Monday morning (UK time) live from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Let’s take a look at the contenders.

Smackdown – World Heavyweight Championship

This has erm...a very interesting (?) lineup.

Daniel Bryan (Current Champion)

Record: First time

Daniel Bryan has been the best thing on Smackdown with his very scuttle heel turn. Bryan at the minute is a person who uses his head as well as his technicial skills to get out of very tricky situations. It will be hard for him as he is effectively stuck in a cage with 5 other wrestlers, including 2 7-foot giants. However, I think that he will find some way to prevail.

Chances of winning: Very high

The Big Show

Record: 0-3                            Eliminations: 3

The Big Show, while unsuccessful in his 3 matches, has the most experience in this match. He can use that to his advantage. However, Bryan has gone into his head and Show needs to focus on winning the match and not just on Bryan if he wants to be successful.

Chances of winning: Possible

Wade Barrett

Record: 0-1                            Eliminations: 0

Wade Barrett took part in the RAW Elimination Chamber last year so has some experience. However, while I think that he will be a World Champion in the near future, I can’t see him winning it this time.

Chances of winning: Potential dark horse

Cody Rhodes

Record: First time

Cody Rhodes aims to be the first person since The Ultimate Warrior in 1990 to be the Intercontinental Champion and World Champion. Like Barrett, I think that he is a potential dark horse and a possible World Champion. However, maybe not this time.

Chances of winning: Potential dark horse

The Great Khali

Record: 0-1                            Eliminations: 0

The Great Khali is a former World Champion like The Big Show. However, he is not very mobile and because of that, he is very limited. Khali was my pick to be the first eliminated until I saw what happened last Friday.

Chances of winning: No chance in Hell

Santino Marella (?!)

Record: First time (gee, wonder why?)

I know that I have been very critical of Santino being anywhere near this match and it’s nothing against him. I know that he’s a popular character due to his antics, but do you really see him as a main event player?! I pray to God that either someone takes a leaf out of Edge’s manual: “How to be the Ultimate Opportunist” and takes Santino’s place; or he is the first one to be eliminated. If Santino lasts more than 10 minutes, I will be surprised and very pissed off.

Chances of winning: What the fuck do you think?! No chance in Hell!

RAW-WWE Championship

Thankfully, the RAW Elimination Chamber looks like a more exciting contest, with the most experienced wrestlers.

CM Punk (Current Champion)

Record: 0-3                            Eliminations: 3

CM Punk knows what he is up against having been in 3 previous matches. It will be tough for him but I think that he could prevail.

Chances of winning: High

Chris Jericho

Record: 1-5                            Eliminations: 8

Jericho has been in, not only the most Elimination Chambers, but also has the most eliminations with 8. While there are other wrestlers who have taken part in this kind of match, Jericho is the only one that has actually won an Elimination Chamber (with help from Shawn Michaels). I think that it will be either Punk or Jericho who will be victorious but I’m torn over which one.

Chances of winning: High

The Awesome One AKA The Miz

Record: First time

It’s been tough for The Miz recently, being (weirdly) blamed for the lower than expected buy-rate for Survivor Series and also being winless since the turn of the year. As I’m a big fan of The Miz, I hope that he will get some wins soon. Unfortunately, barring a major upset, that won’t start at this match.

Chances of winning: Slim

Dolph Ziggler

Record: First time

I love Dolph as he is a great wrestler and an enjoyable entertainer. Along with Barrett and Cody, Dolph will be World Champion one day (I don’t count him being rewarded the World Heavyweight Championship last year for11 minutes). However, I can’t see him winning it this time

Chances of winning: Slim

Kofi Kingston

Record: 0-1                            Eliminations: 1

Kofi is a possible dark horse in this match. I think that his time will come and he could do well in this match. However, I don’t think that he will be successful.

Chances of winning: Potential dark horse

R-Truth

Record: 0-2                            Eliminations: 0

I have liked the insane (in a good way) R-Truth and it would be interesting to see where WWE go with that kind of person as the WWE Champion. However, I don’t think that will happen. How about the US Championship instead?

Chances of winning: No chance in Hell

Is John Laurinaitis Really a Bad Guy?

John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) had his job review on RAW this week and was about to be fired when he was saved (inadvertently) by the arrival of the Undertaker. While Laurinaitis spoke to the crowd and apologised for his actions, he was booed mercilessly. This led me to wonder whether Laurinaitis deserves this vitriol.

A lot of people are comparing his feud with WWE Champion CM Punk to the feud between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin but there are a lot of differences between the two. The only similarity between Laurinaitis and McMahon is that they don’t believe the current WWE Champion is the right face for the company. With McMahon, he  had to deal with a person who was a beer drinker and hell raiser who was the complete opposite of the WWE were during the late 80’s and early 90’s. With Laurinaitis, he is dealing with a person who left the company with the WWE Championship and I feel that Laurinaitis doesn’t understand why the fans are cheering a man who disrespected the company by his actions. Not only that, but Punk’s actions had extremely significant consequences involving the upper echelons of the company. In a way, it can be argued that Punk’s actions over that time were far worse than Austin ever did in his feud with McMahon. If you think about it, yes, Austin did continually embarrass Vince McMahon but did Austin ever leave the company with the WWE Championship? Did Austin ever deliver a promo in which he tore through the entire company breaking “the fourth wall”?

John Laurinaitis’ actions since becoming interim RAW General Manager haven’t really been that bad. Laurinaitis is not the head of the company. He may have a lot of power in that company but he is effectively middle management. Laurinaitis doesn’t have any beef with any of the wrestlers except for Punk and, for the reasons that I mentioned earlier, that’s understandable. Nor has Laurinaitis given any favouritism to any wrestlers recently. I know that Laurinaitis was supportive of Kevin Nash, R-Truth and The Miz last year, but that was to help him become interim RAW General Manager. Since then, especially with The Miz, he hasn’t been supporting them as they are no longer needed to help him. As for Dolph Ziggler, Laurinaitis has not shown any favouritism towards him either. Ziggler is effectively a pawn in Laurinaitis’ feud with Punk only because he doesn’t want Punk to be the WWE Champion. The only person that has legitimate beef with Laurinaitis is Triple H. It was obvious (not wrestling obvious where it’s all revealed as if we’re 5 year olds) that Laurinaitis was helping Miz and R-Truth distrupt things with Triple H, which resulted in Laurinaitis getting his current position.

Laurinaitis is not as bad as people think. I mainly think that the reason that the fans boo him is not only of his feud with arguably the number one person in the company, it’s because of his real life role as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. It doesn’t help that he took over from the extremely popular Jim Ross. One of his responsibilities is releasing people and wishing them well in their future endeavours. He has released a lot of good talent  over the years (Mickie James and Gail Kim come to mind as they’re two of the best female wrestlers around at the minute) but that’s not entirely his fault. If the Creative Department don’t have anything for you, no matter how talented you are, there is a high chance that you will be released.

In summary, I say give Laurinaitis a chance. He has made mistakes and is a jerk but what boss isn’t? At least he is man enough to admit them and try to rectify them. Plus, he has given you some good moments and matches over the last few months. How is that a bad thing?

Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions

It’s time for the first WWE Pay-Per-View of the year as the Road to Wrestlemania begins with the Royal Rumble. After getting only one match wrong at TLC, I’m quite confident about how I will do on my predictions. Let’s look at the card.

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Daniel Bryan defends his title against Big Show and Mark Henry in a steel cage. Bryan has been doing everything that he can to keep his title and it may look like that Bryan is screwed as he is confined into fighting the two biggest athletes in the WWE in a steel cage. However, one thing I like about Bryan is that he’s a very clever heel and I think that he will some way to win and retain the title.

Predicted Winner: Daniel Bryan

John Cena takes on Kane in what could be a very interesting match. We all know what Cena will be doing at Wrestlemania so the feud will not last that long. Plus, if Cena wants his match against The Rock to be for the WWE Championship, he needs one opportunity to do that, probably at Elimination Chamber.  I can see this continuing past the Rumble and I can probably see Cena winning this one. The question is, will Cena embrace the hate in the process?

Predicted Winner: John Cena

The WWE Championship is on the line as CM Punk defends his title against Dolph Ziggler with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as the special guest referee. I’ve enjoyed the feud between Laurinaitis and Punk over the last few weeks and Laurinaitis admitting to Mick Foley that he intends to screw Punk over has made it interesting. However, Laurinaitis is going through a job review by Triple H the next day so that will be difficult. I can see Laurinaitis “inadvertently” screwing Punk over. However, I can see Punk finding some way to prevail.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Now it comes to the Royal Rumble match. I think that it could be a very interesting Rumble. We all know that The Miz comes in at number 1 and I think he could last a while. Cena has to enter in order to try and get the WWE Championship for his match with The Rock. I was discussing this with my brother during the week and one thing I would like to see is The Rock to come in and eliminate Cena. I don’t think that it will actually happen but I will seriously mark the fuck out if it did. In terms of the winner, I think that it will be “the end of the world as we know it” and Chris Jericho will win and go on to challenge CM Punk.

Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

You normally get a small card for the Royal Rumble and I think that there will be another match announced, probably a Divas match. Also, we get to see the Wrestlemania XXVIII logo in the rafters for the first time and I wonder how many times a wrestler will point to it. In terms of the event, this is a good time for the WWE to set a high standard for the year, especially as we get on the road to Wrestlemania.

CM Punk: 2011 LDW Wrestler of the Year

2011 was a year in which so many wrestlers seem to stand up and be counted. However, CM Punk stood up head and shoulders above the rest with an undoubtedly tremendous year.

While Punk is more famous for what he did in the summer and beyond, let’s not forget what he did before that. Punk took over the Nexus from Wade Barrett and started a feud with first John Cena and then Randy Orton, leading to a match at Wrestlemania XXVII followed by a last man standing match at Extreme Rules.

Punk’s feud against John Cena really made Punk a massive hit with the fans. Punk was supposed to be the villain in this feud as he was threatening to leave the company with the WWE Championship. However, he was being cheered because he seemed to be the personification of people want from the WWE: change. This led to an excellent match at Money in the Bank after which Punk left running off into the sunset. He returned to face Cena at Summerslam and, even though he won, lost the WWE Championship thanks to Alberto Del Rio cashing in his MITB contract (with some inadvertent help from Kevin Nash).

This was when the WWE seem to drop the ball with Punk. While it was understandable to bring Punk back after 8 days, I feel that it would have been better if they waited at least a month before returning. After Summerslam, Punk seemed to drop out of the title picture in favour of John Cena (for a change). He was involved with Triple H in a feud then decided to ally himself with HHH against The Miz and R-Truth. During this time, Punk overtook Cena as the No. 1 seller of merchandise. WWE seemed to realise what they were doing and made Punk Champion once again when he defeated Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series. Punk has ended the year involved in a feud with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim GM of RAW?)

Punk has had a tremendous year becoming one of the most loved wrestlers in the WWE, as evidenced by the cheers that he receives when he comes out and the amount of “Best in the World” T-Shirts that are seen worn in every arena. It is hoped that 2012 will continue to be the era of Punk as it would be a nice change from Cena being in the title picture.

CM Punk vs John Cena: 2011 LDW Match of the Year

  

The match between John Cena and CM Punk for the WWE Championship was one of the most emotionally charged matches in recent memory. Punk was in his home town of Chicago and was planning to leave the company with the WWE Championship. John Cena, as the face of the company, was determined to stop him but he had the threat of losing his job over him, thanks to Vince McMahon. I can’t remember the last time that such a match outside Wrestlemania had so much anticipation. I found this to be an interesting feud between the two because in this match the roles were reversed. Cena was supposed to be the hero who is saving the WWE by defeating Punk, keeping the WWE Championship in the company. However, even though he was in Chicago, Punk was being cheered because he represented what fans wanted in the WWE: change.

There are many reasons why this match was the Match of the Year. First of all, the entrances. Punk name was being chanted all through the night and the reaction when his music (which at the time was “This Fire Burns” by Killswitch Engage) was unbelievable. Punk’s mane was being chanted loudly with signs about him all over the place. Jerry Lawler summed it perfectly when he said it was like the NFL team Chicago Bears were in the Superbowl, and it was taking place at their own stadium, Soldier Field. It was the complete opposite when Cena’s music hit as the boos were deafening. I liked the way that Cena didn’t do his salute as he was effectively in enemy territory and it showed how serious he was taking this match.

All during the match, you can see that no matter what Cena did, Punk would find some way to get out of it. He kicked out of 2 Attitude Adjustments, and managed to get out of the STF 3 times, including one time when Punk reversed it into his submission move, the Anaconda Vice. This match had you completely hooked in and it went on for a good 25-30 minutes.

The end was when the WWE made you feel that they would play it safe and screw Punk (and the crowd) over. Vince McMahon came out with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations?) and when Cena hit the STF yet again, McMahon send Laurinaitis to go and ring the bell, but he is stopped by Cena who doesn’t want the match to end that way. Cena’s decision comes back to haunt him when Punk hits Cena with the GTS to get the win, sending the crowd wild.

McMahon, obviously, wasn’t happy with that and goes to plan B, getting Alberto Del Rio (who had won the RAW MITB match earlier on) to come out. However, Punk, who had been expecting that, kicks Del Rio in the head, gives McMahon a goodbye kiss and runs off into the sunset, never to be seen in the WWE again (well, 8 days).

World renowned reporter Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave this match 5 stars. It was the first time that he had done that for a WWE match since the Hell in a Cell match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in 1997. That fact, to me, speaks for itself. From the promo video and the entrances, to the match and the ending, everything worked so well. I don’t think that I have seen such an emotionally charged match since Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 and I don’t know the next time that I will see something like that again. 

The Promo by CM Punk: 2011 LDW Moment of the Year

"This is me winning my LDW Award"

I feel slightly sorry for The Rock. When he was announced as the host of Wrestlemania in February, the reaction in the arena was amazing; and even now when I watched it on You Tube this week, it still gives me goosebumps when his music hit.

If that happened in any other year, it would have won Moment of the Year. That all changed on RAW on June 27^th when CM Punk delivered one of the best (and probably honest) promos I have ever seen. It all started just over a week beforehand at Capitol Punishment when Punk was interviewed by Josh Mathews before his match with Rey Mysterio. At the end, Punk states that he defeats Mysterio, he will do the most honest thing the WWE Universe has ever seen, which made me curious. Punk defeats Mysterio, which was his first PPV win in over a year, then he becomes No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship by defeating Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio in a triple threat match. Afterwards, Punk announces that Money in the Bank is the last day of his contract and that he will be leaving with the WWE Championship. I (surprisingly) had never seen a story like this but, while WWE can be accused with not treating their titles with the respect they deserve, and I partly agree with that; I didn’t think that they would actually do that.

Punk’s promo was only just over 6 minutes long but its reaction lasted so much longer. It appealed to the crowd, who were cheering it and there was a great moment when Punk actually criticised them for it. Punk had a point because a lot of fans might be critical of the product (like Cena always being in the title picture), they still watch the show. However, for me, Punk’s promo not only made me realised what a tremendous talent that he is, but most importantly, it made me believe that he could actually walk away with the title.

While Punk can receive a lot of the credit for this, you have to give some credit to WWE for first of all, having the balls to do something like this. The WWE have done shoot promos before with Joey Styles and Paul Heyman being the most memorable ones. However, the way they done this was really good, especially when they cut Punk off and suddenly fade to black, ending the show. That helped to really blur the line between reality and fiction. It made so many people wonder if what they had seen was real or not.

The promo made mainstream media attention with ESPN radio host Jim Rome offering Punk 45 minutes in which he can continue his promo. If the WWE can do something that can have that kind of reaction, especially in the media, you know that it is a success and that is why it is the LDW Moment of the Year.

WWE TLC 2011 Preview

It’s the last PPV of the year and will WWE end the year on a high? Only 6 matches that have been announced, so let’s look at the card.

Randy Orton will take on Wade Barrett in a tables match and there’s a possibility that this might open the show. I know people might complain that a former World Champion shouldn’t open the PPV, but he did that with CM Punk at Extreme Rules and they both ended up winning Championships. This is quite a tough one as I can see both guys winning. However, I don’t see Orton losing two PPV matches in a row, so I think that he will win.

Predicted winner: Randy Orton

Zack Ryder, thanks to a petition and some help from John Cena, gets another chance for the United States Championship against Dolph Ziggler. If you’ve seen Ryder’s show Z! True Long Island Story, you would have seen this feud develop over the last few months. I’ve enjoyed Ziggler’s reign as US Champion; however, I think it’s time for Ryder to stop introducing himself as the Internet Champion and say “the United States Champion” instead.

Predicted winner: Zack Ryder

The Intercontinental Championship is on the line as Booker T takes on Cody Rhodes. While Booker’s commentary has been...interesting, I do prefer him as a wrestler and he might be the best person to help Rhodes push onto the main event scene. I can see this feud going past the Royal Rumble. Therefore, I think that Rhodes will retain.

Predicted winner: Cody Rhodes

In a “sledgehammer on a pole (kinda) match”, Kevin Nash will take on his former friend (and COO) Triple H. Even though, he’s one of my favourite wrestlers, I can see Triple H losing. After a bit of thought, Triple H has been out for a while thanks to Nash and I think he will get revenge at the PPV.

Predicted Winner: Triple H

Big Show vs Mark Henry III is the match for the World Heavyweight Championship. I’m not really looking forward to this one but with it being a chairs match, we are at least guaranteed a winner. I think that Henry will retain and then go on to induct a new person into the Hall of Pain.

Predicted Winner: Mark Henry

The WWE Championship is on the line in a triple threat TLC match with CM Punk defending against Alberto Del Rio and The Miz. It’s good to see The Miz back in the WWE title picture and Del Rio is always a joy to watch. However, I believe that CM Punk will remain the champion for the foreseeable future. Therefore, I’m going for Punk to win.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

So there you have it. It’s a bit weird not having a PPV with John Cena in it so I expect that he will be involved at some point. Otherwise, it looks to be a decent show. I hope you enjoy it and a review of the show will be up during the week.

Hell in a Cell Preview

Instead of having about 3-4 weeks between Pay-Per-Views, we are only having 2 weeks between Night of Champions and Hell in a Cell. It might not have seemed it from my review but I thought Night of Champions was a decent event, I just wasn’t happy with some of the results, especially Cena winning the WWE title. Hopefully, Hell in a Cell will have more agreeable results.

Sin Cara versus Falso Cara will undoubtedly be a brilliant high flying encounter. I would like to thank Falso Cara for debuting a new costume because I’ll be damned if I can tell them apart. I don’t know about this one as I can see both winning but I’m going for Sin Cara to win this and the feud can continue from there.

Christian will take some time off from demanding “one more match” for the World Heavyweight Championship to take on Sheamus. This is quite a tough one to call as I can see both winning. I’m going to take a punt and go with Christian to win this one.

Beth Phoenix is going for third time lucky challenging Kelly Kelly for the Divas Championship. I believe that Kelly’s time as champion will end on Sunday and Beth has to win it, otherwise the Legion Divas of Doom would have been a giant waste of time. I’m going for Beth Phoenix to become Divas Champion for the first time.

Mark Henry defends his World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton in a hell in a cell. Mark Henry has been continually destroying people since he became champion, meaning that I believe that he will have a decent run. I can’t see the WWE giving the title back to Orton, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he regains it. Henry needs to take the momentum of being a monster heel into being a monster champion; therefore, I’m going for Mark Henry to win here.

The WWE Championship is on the line in a triple threat match with John Cena defending the title against Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. It was weird Triple H just throwing Punk into this match but I assume it’s an attempt to prolong the feud between the two by giving Punk a title match. The way that Cena’s matches have been on PPV this year, I can’t see him losing. Therefore, John Cena will retain.

Once again, not many matches have been announced for this one. Expect a couple of bonus matches but hopefully Hell in a Cell will be a good show and I get to do well in my predictions.

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.