Thursday, March 30, 2006
Mysterio's Time to Shine?
WrestleMania Big Time Countdown: 0 days.
As I exclusively predicted last week, RAW in Omaha was a roaring success with the crowd. They should go to Omaha whenever they need a hot crowd before a PPV. Come to think of it, they should go there whenever they have a Smackdown PPV to shoot; then we wouldn't have to sit through such sleep-inducing events as No Mercy, Armageddon and No Way Out with a dead crowd. I'm reliably informed that the Vince McMahon vs. John Cena main event drew one of the highest ratings for a single match in a few years, at 4.99. No doubt the anti-Cena lot will ignore that, for obvious reasons.
Smackdown was also a good show, if not quite an unforgettable climax to the Road to WrestleMania. Kansas City was another blistering crowd (of UK proportions, I might add), and there was almost no need for the ludicrous fake noise they pipe in on a weekly basis. Lashley continues to mature in the ring, and is building up momentum to a level I haven't seen since the meteroic rises of Batista and Lesnar. My earlier fears of a Lashley vs. Sylvan match in Chicago were thankfully not realised, and "The Real Deal" has a shot at winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. This guy needs handled with care, otherwise his connection with the fans will disappear before you can say "Austin vs. Coach at Taboo Tuesday".
Lashley: Building Momentum
Performances of the Week :-
Joey Styles. Let's face it, to turn up at RAW after getting pulled from WrestleMania on your company's website - that takes some serious swallowing of pride. I feel he should be praised by default.
Lashley. See above. The company needs a guy to come out, pull mean faces and beat up everybody. He's their best hope at the moment.
John Cena. Excellent pre-recorded promo on RAW. Were it not for the rampant hatred from the hardcore fans (and the fact HHH saunters round looking cool, thus deflecting all the cheers), this would be enough to make him the babyface going into Mania. As it was, it was probably too little, too late.
Rey Mysterio. He really has the fans behind him at the right time. His promo on Smackdown was so rabidly cheered by the Kansas City fans that they ended up booing the frig out of Kurt Angle, the face champion. Angle will get a lot of support in Chicago, but I still see Mysterio being the fan favourite. The WWE simply HAVE to capitalise on this, as they've missed the boat on far too many occasions before (Invasion, ECW, nWo, Goldberg, Bischoff etc). Install Rey as the champion, see what happens to the ratings and attendances, and take it from there. See, wasn't that hard to organise.
I'm rapidly running out of time, so it's only right I give a rundown of the card with my predictions on the winners and losers respectively:-
Big Show & Kane vs. Chris Masters & Carlito - World Tag Team Championships: The young guns could well cause an upset here. Someone has to stop the monstrous 820-pound duo, and the gimmick of the tag champs not getting along has been experimented with before. That is, of course, assuming they want to do a darned thing with the tag division. That could be asking too much.
Booker T & Sharmell vs. The Boogeyman: Boogeyman in a short match. Anything else is asking for trouble.
JBL vs. Chris Benoit - US Championship: JBL. It's been a long time since he tasted gold (is that a phrase?), and Chicago could be where he finds success again. This has the potential to be a FAR better match than you'd think.
Candice Michelle vs. Torrie Wilson - Playboy Pillow Fight: Candice. If Stacy Keibler doesn't return after the match, then WWE have just wasted the opportunity of a lifetime for some positive publicity. But then, they've probably not even thought of that idea, as it doesn't involve Survivor Series 1997, HHH or Vince McMahon's ass. Some things will never change.
Publicity: Keibler
Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James - WWE Women's Championship: The best built women's feud in years reaches its climax. Mickie has to win, for logic's sake. For any WWE employees, that's logic - L. O. G. I. C.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: By process of elimination (like the Chamber), Lashley or Flair have to win. But my good friend Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (put it this way - he's printed my e-mails before without a hint of disagreement) says RVD could take the briefcase all the way to ECW One Night Stand to challenge HHH for the WWE Title. I know, it makes no sense to me either. Even though a Lashley victory makes a little more long-term sense, I'd say Flair. He may well have one more run at the top left in him.
Undertaker vs. Mark Henry - Casket Match: Undertaker. That's it, really. Everyone will go in expecting a stinker and be surprised by the match quality. Mark my words.
Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels - No Holds Barred: I know they tried to get Bret involved for three months and he refused at every opportunity. Vince probably didn't have much of a Plan B, so expect a dramatic bloodbath and a Michaels victory in the face of Shane interference.
Edge vs. Mick Foley - Hardcore Match: Foley desires that one legendary WrestleMania moment, and he has every chance of pulling it off here. Edge has to win, but then they cut off his momentum in January, so they could easily do it again. Lita will be at ringside for a good 20 minutes, so the match is already a classic in my eyes.
Triple H vs. John Cena - WWE Championship: This is where it gets tricky. Until the weekend, I'd predicted an emphatic HHH victory. However, HHH has committed nothing short of career burial in his promos on Cena, so WWE might well spring a surprise and give the Champ a stay of execution. Wither way, the "King of Kings" is getting re-coronated by Backlash. Cena will be booed mercilessly, possibly on an unforseen scale.
Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle - World Heavyweight Championship: The other half of the jigsaw, to so speak. Vince loves to end Mania with a babyface victory (the only time a heel won, in 2000, The Rock gave The People's Elbow to the entire McMahon family to placate the fans), so Mysterio could end the show in floods of tears surrounded by Benoit, Chavo and even Dean Malenko. It's the picture-perfect end to the show, for obvious reasons, and as a tribute to Guerrero, it's a million miles from the "Eddie's in hell" debacle. But I was led to believe their long-term plans were to give Orton the belt. Either way, either Cena or Mysterio will most likely end the show celebrating. But since Cena is bound to be booed of of the All-State Arena, the matter is confused further. The order of the card will be very telling in deciding how the two main events go and, ultimately, how the company goes after WrestleMania. Rumour has it that plans have changed half a dozen times over the weekend, and that Vince doesn't have a clue where the comapny goes from here. He's clearly been too busy trying to look all macho in his 'Muscle and Fitness' shoot.
But however the cookie crumbles (proverbially), WrestleMania is bound to be a frig of a show. Will Hogan or Austin show up? Will the impossible happen (a Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels punch-up? Will the scriptwriters finally remember who Stacy Keibler is? Whatever happens, it's sure to be a pretty unforgettable night. For better or worse, it's been that sort of year.
As I exclusively predicted last week, RAW in Omaha was a roaring success with the crowd. They should go to Omaha whenever they need a hot crowd before a PPV. Come to think of it, they should go there whenever they have a Smackdown PPV to shoot; then we wouldn't have to sit through such sleep-inducing events as No Mercy, Armageddon and No Way Out with a dead crowd. I'm reliably informed that the Vince McMahon vs. John Cena main event drew one of the highest ratings for a single match in a few years, at 4.99. No doubt the anti-Cena lot will ignore that, for obvious reasons.
Smackdown was also a good show, if not quite an unforgettable climax to the Road to WrestleMania. Kansas City was another blistering crowd (of UK proportions, I might add), and there was almost no need for the ludicrous fake noise they pipe in on a weekly basis. Lashley continues to mature in the ring, and is building up momentum to a level I haven't seen since the meteroic rises of Batista and Lesnar. My earlier fears of a Lashley vs. Sylvan match in Chicago were thankfully not realised, and "The Real Deal" has a shot at winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. This guy needs handled with care, otherwise his connection with the fans will disappear before you can say "Austin vs. Coach at Taboo Tuesday".
Lashley: Building Momentum
Performances of the Week :-
Joey Styles. Let's face it, to turn up at RAW after getting pulled from WrestleMania on your company's website - that takes some serious swallowing of pride. I feel he should be praised by default.
Lashley. See above. The company needs a guy to come out, pull mean faces and beat up everybody. He's their best hope at the moment.
John Cena. Excellent pre-recorded promo on RAW. Were it not for the rampant hatred from the hardcore fans (and the fact HHH saunters round looking cool, thus deflecting all the cheers), this would be enough to make him the babyface going into Mania. As it was, it was probably too little, too late.
Rey Mysterio. He really has the fans behind him at the right time. His promo on Smackdown was so rabidly cheered by the Kansas City fans that they ended up booing the frig out of Kurt Angle, the face champion. Angle will get a lot of support in Chicago, but I still see Mysterio being the fan favourite. The WWE simply HAVE to capitalise on this, as they've missed the boat on far too many occasions before (Invasion, ECW, nWo, Goldberg, Bischoff etc). Install Rey as the champion, see what happens to the ratings and attendances, and take it from there. See, wasn't that hard to organise.
I'm rapidly running out of time, so it's only right I give a rundown of the card with my predictions on the winners and losers respectively:-
Big Show & Kane vs. Chris Masters & Carlito - World Tag Team Championships: The young guns could well cause an upset here. Someone has to stop the monstrous 820-pound duo, and the gimmick of the tag champs not getting along has been experimented with before. That is, of course, assuming they want to do a darned thing with the tag division. That could be asking too much.
Booker T & Sharmell vs. The Boogeyman: Boogeyman in a short match. Anything else is asking for trouble.
JBL vs. Chris Benoit - US Championship: JBL. It's been a long time since he tasted gold (is that a phrase?), and Chicago could be where he finds success again. This has the potential to be a FAR better match than you'd think.
Candice Michelle vs. Torrie Wilson - Playboy Pillow Fight: Candice. If Stacy Keibler doesn't return after the match, then WWE have just wasted the opportunity of a lifetime for some positive publicity. But then, they've probably not even thought of that idea, as it doesn't involve Survivor Series 1997, HHH or Vince McMahon's ass. Some things will never change.
Publicity: Keibler
Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James - WWE Women's Championship: The best built women's feud in years reaches its climax. Mickie has to win, for logic's sake. For any WWE employees, that's logic - L. O. G. I. C.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: By process of elimination (like the Chamber), Lashley or Flair have to win. But my good friend Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (put it this way - he's printed my e-mails before without a hint of disagreement) says RVD could take the briefcase all the way to ECW One Night Stand to challenge HHH for the WWE Title. I know, it makes no sense to me either. Even though a Lashley victory makes a little more long-term sense, I'd say Flair. He may well have one more run at the top left in him.
Undertaker vs. Mark Henry - Casket Match: Undertaker. That's it, really. Everyone will go in expecting a stinker and be surprised by the match quality. Mark my words.
Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels - No Holds Barred: I know they tried to get Bret involved for three months and he refused at every opportunity. Vince probably didn't have much of a Plan B, so expect a dramatic bloodbath and a Michaels victory in the face of Shane interference.
Edge vs. Mick Foley - Hardcore Match: Foley desires that one legendary WrestleMania moment, and he has every chance of pulling it off here. Edge has to win, but then they cut off his momentum in January, so they could easily do it again. Lita will be at ringside for a good 20 minutes, so the match is already a classic in my eyes.
Triple H vs. John Cena - WWE Championship: This is where it gets tricky. Until the weekend, I'd predicted an emphatic HHH victory. However, HHH has committed nothing short of career burial in his promos on Cena, so WWE might well spring a surprise and give the Champ a stay of execution. Wither way, the "King of Kings" is getting re-coronated by Backlash. Cena will be booed mercilessly, possibly on an unforseen scale.
Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle - World Heavyweight Championship: The other half of the jigsaw, to so speak. Vince loves to end Mania with a babyface victory (the only time a heel won, in 2000, The Rock gave The People's Elbow to the entire McMahon family to placate the fans), so Mysterio could end the show in floods of tears surrounded by Benoit, Chavo and even Dean Malenko. It's the picture-perfect end to the show, for obvious reasons, and as a tribute to Guerrero, it's a million miles from the "Eddie's in hell" debacle. But I was led to believe their long-term plans were to give Orton the belt. Either way, either Cena or Mysterio will most likely end the show celebrating. But since Cena is bound to be booed of of the All-State Arena, the matter is confused further. The order of the card will be very telling in deciding how the two main events go and, ultimately, how the company goes after WrestleMania. Rumour has it that plans have changed half a dozen times over the weekend, and that Vince doesn't have a clue where the comapny goes from here. He's clearly been too busy trying to look all macho in his 'Muscle and Fitness' shoot.
But however the cookie crumbles (proverbially), WrestleMania is bound to be a frig of a show. Will Hogan or Austin show up? Will the impossible happen (a Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels punch-up? Will the scriptwriters finally remember who Stacy Keibler is? Whatever happens, it's sure to be a pretty unforgettable night. For better or worse, it's been that sort of year.
