Money in the Bank - The Contenders

Money in the Bank is this evening and, as usual, there will be ladder matches to determine who will get a title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship. Let’s look at the contenders.

World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match

Christian
Record: 0-4
The two –time World Heavyweight Champion and the current Intercontinental Champion is in his element in this kind of match. I know that a lot of people would love him to win it, but I don’t think he will
Chances of winning: Potential Dark Horse

Santino Marella
Record: First Time
I know that some people are wondering why the current United States Champion is anywhere near this match. I think that he has a very slim chance of winning but he was the runner-up to the 2011 Royal Rumble, so I’m not exactly ruling it out.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Lord Tensai
Record: First Time
Lord Tensai has been up and down the card since his return to the WWE. Because of that, I don’t think he will win.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Sin Cara
Record: 0-1
While 2011 has been difficult year for Sin Cara, 2012 has been so far, so good for him. I think he has a slim chance of winning and I still think that WWE would like a Champion who can, well...speak. Hopefully, he won’t get powerbombed through a ladder like last year.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Tyson Kidd
Record: First Time
Tyson Kidd is a tremendous athlete and is one of the underrated people in the WWE. It’s great to see him get a push and I think he has the potential to be a great Champion. However, I don’t think this will be that time.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Damien Sandow
Record: First Time
Damien Sandow has been a joy to watch since his debut on Smackdown and I think he is one of the best talkers in the company at the minute. It would be a massive surprise if he won the briefcase, but it would also be a nice surprise.
Chances of Winning: Er...it’s possible

Cody Rhodes
Record: 0-2
Could this be Cody’s time? Cody has been a revelation over the last 18 months with his excellent ability and character development. I have no doubt that Cody will be a future World Champion; the question is, are the WWE ready to give him that opportunity?
Chances of Winning: High

Dolph Ziggler
Record: 0-2
The question about Cody Rhodes could equally apply to Dolph Ziggler. Dolph has had chances to win a World Championship and he is (technically) a former World Heavyweight Champion. Personally, I don’t think he needs the briefcase but it could be exactly what he needs.
Chances of Winning: High

WWE Championship Ladder Match

The Big Show
Record: 0-1
The Big Show was looking good in his recent heel turn until Cena fucked that up. Now, I don’t really care. I can’t see him winning the briefcase though a feud between him and Punk could be interesting.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Kane
Record: 1-5
Kane has had the most experience in Money in the Bank matches yet he is probably the one who has the less chance of winning. Kane getting the briefcase would not help anyone.
Chances of Winning: Slim

Chris Jericho
Record: 0-3
The inventor of the match has an excellent opportunity to get the briefcase. It would be great to see. However, I can only see one people winning it and it’s not him.
Chances of Winning: Quite high

John Cena
Record: First Time
John Cena has never been in a MITB match before but he has suffered it by being cashed in on, not once but twice. He is the only one that I can see winning this match. The question is, will he do the honourable thing and actually cash it in to make a match or could this be the opportunity for a heel turn?
Chances of Winning: Very high.

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

Lo-Down Wrestling’s Fav Five: January 2012

Time for me to debut a new feature in which I name my top 5 wrestlers from WWE and TNA over the last month. I know I got this from Booker T but, unlike Booker, it won’t change from minute to minute, just month to month.

5. Kane

Kane, since he has come back re-masked, has been trying to get John Cena to “Embrace the Hate” by attacking Zack Ryder and scaring Eve Torres at every opportunity. I enjoyed the segments involving them on RAW on the 9^th January despite Zack taking decades to change the tyre, and Kane disappearing like Batman when he was attacking Cena before that. Kane, along with Cena, Ryder and Torres, are now one of the things that I look forward every week on RAW.

4. Bobby Roode

I know that I constantly mention that Austin Aries is the best thing in TNA right now (and he still is); however, he hasn’t really been on TV that much so I can’t put him in my Fav Five. The second best thing in TNA at the minute has been World Champion Bobby Roode. Whilst I would have liked his heel turn to be more gradual like Daniel Bryan’s, Roode has been performing brilliantly on the mic on Impact, pissing off everybody including Sting and his own family. I think that Impact has slowly improved over the last month and one of the reasons is because of Roode.

3. John Laurinaitis

I know that he’s not a wrestler but I have really enjoyed watching John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as he has evolved into a credible foil to Punk. What I like about Laurinaitis is the way that he kept on “inadvertently” screwing Punk over in his matches. Then Laurinaitis, aware of his job being under review, had a good role at the Rumble match then had a massive stroke of luck when The Undertaker interrupted his job review when he was about to get fired by Triple H. I’m glad that he didn’t get fired as I like Laurinaitis to continue in his role.

2. Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho was been absolutely brilliant since his return and yet he has only said one sentence since then. Jericho is excellent at playing the crowd as he showed when he returned on the 2^nd January. He spent over 8 minutes running round being happy and not saying a word then going off managing to get the crowd go from cheering him to booing him. Two weeks later, he was in a 6-man tag match with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan against Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga and Mark Henry. In probably the best hot tag ever, Punk tags in Jericho, he goes round playing to the crowd, slap-tags Bryan and goes off. He was the runner-up at the Rumble to Sheamus and is starting a possible Wrestlemania feud with Punk so the next few weeks involving Jericho will be very interesting.

1. Daniel Bryan

I know a lot of people think that Chris Jericho is the best thing going in the WWE right now. However, for me, it’s Daniel Bryan on Smackdown. His gradual heel turn since becoming World Heavyweight Champion has been awesome. Plus, I didn’t think that he had the mic skills that he has been showing in him. What I like most about Daniel Bryan is that we all know that he’s a heel, but he is at the stage that he doesn’t believe so. Bryan is using his head as well as his superb technicial skills to help him stay the Champion, provoking Mark Henry and lumberjacks in matches to inadvertently help him out. The best was when Bryan got his new love AJ to come to ringside when he faced The Big Show, and Show accidentally ran her over. Bryan sensed an opportunity and went mental at Show calling him reckless and a bastard. I have been really impressed with Daniel Bryan and I hope that he stays Champion until Wrestlemania.

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.

"How to Annoy a Crowd" by Chris Jericho

The person behind the “It Begins” videos was revealed on Monday night to be Chris Jericho. I’ve always liked Jericho from the moment he debuted in the WWE in 1999 when he interrupted the Rock. He is an excellent wrestler and probably one of the best talkers ever in professional wrestling.

As expected, the WWE crowd in Memphis, Tennessee went wild when Jericho’s music hit. It was great to see him back and I expected to explain why he had returned and display some of his excellent mic skills. However, he didn’t. Jericho, a person renowned for being an excellent talker, said absolutely nothing. That’s right, nothing. In a segment that lasted over 8 minutes, Jericho went around pandering to the crowd and then went back up the aisle with the crowd booing.

After reading the reaction on some of the blogs that I read, some people were pissed. I found it unusual and slightly weird. After a few days thinking about it, I have now realised that what Jericho did was a brilliant way to get a crowd to boo you. Jericho has stated that he didn’t want to portray a good guy again and he knew that the crowd would go mental for his return. Therefore, instead of talking or attacking a good guy, Jericho did something rather unique which is to say nothing and to keep the same face throughout. Jericho managed to get the crowd go from one end of the spectrum to the other. The time that it took was also very important. If he did that in say 2 minutes, the crowd might be disappointed that he didn’t say anything but they would still cheer him. Jericho left enough time for the crowd to realise that Jericho was being obnoxious and for them to start booing. What I would like to see is for Jericho to continue that for at least another RAW and then maybe have somebody come out to try and force him to say something.

The question is, who will Jericho face first? There are rumours about him facing The Undertaker but I think the smart money is on CM Punk. Jericho’s last character was being in the best in the world in what he does. That moniker has been since been taken over by Punk, as evidenced by his “Best in the World” T-Shirt. That sets up a perfect feud between the two with Jericho winning the Royal Rumble and challenging Punk for the WWE Championship.

I think that 2012 has the potential, if played right by the WWE, to be the Year of Jericho. I’m excited for him to be back and to show everyone why he considers himself to be the best in the world at what he does.