WWE Superstars Give Three Guys a Chance this Week – Plus More

On the next episode of WWE Superstars the crowd could be drawn as a decent Number One Contender’s match for the Intercontinental Title is taking place. The combatants are Mike Knox, Finlay, and recent Summer Slam Intercontinental Challenger Dolph Ziggler. One of these men will be qualifying for the new WWE Pay-Per-View “Breaking Point” to face Rey Mysterio so let’s break down what’s at stake.

For Dolph Ziggler we already know. He put forth a valiant effort against a seasoned WWE vet in Rey Mysterio at Summer Slam. If he wins this Number One Contender’s match, he’ll undoubtedly need to beat Mysterio this time to move further in his notoriety.

For Finlay it would be a spot back in the limelight we call Pay-Per-View. This fellow has been knocking on the ECW Championship’s door but never gets the chance to be put over. Perhaps a crack at the Intercontinental gold will be it for him.

Finally, for Mike Knox, it gives him his real first shot at glory. Up until now he mainly suffices as an exhibitionist. However, if any of you remember his feud with Rey Mysterio not too long ago then there is definitely reason to believe that he could cash in on this opportunity.

Aside from this main event, the show will be featuring The Hurricane in a grudge match against Paul Burchill and a highly intriguing matchup between Primo Colon and Jack Swagger. Swagger and Colon’s styles are very different and it should make for an interesting night along with the Number One Contender’s bout.

Extreme Rules Outlook – Seems Somewhat Bland

This year’s One Night Stand, which has been preposterously renamed to “Extreme Rules,” seems to feature a bunch of matches with extra stipulations under the cover of an “Extreme” labeling (although nothing was worse than renaming John Cena’s “FU” to the “Attitude Adjustment”).

The matches include WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Batista in a steel cage, Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in a no holds barred match, World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match, Miss Wrestlemania Santina Marella vs. Vickie Guererro in a hog pen match, John Cena vs. Big Show in a submission match, CM Punk vs. Umaga in a Samoan strap match, and ECW Champion Christian vs. Jack Swagger, vs. Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat hardcore rules match.

Of all these matches, only no holds barred and the hardcore triple threat are truly extreme. I think in honor of Tommy Dreamer the latter ought to be the main event of the night. I doubt it will be though. I also am not too happy with the send-off for Dreamer being a triple threat. Let the guy go toe-to-toe with one man for his final bout. If you want to create real drama, have it be against another good guy… Christian (like Ric Flair’s final match against Shawn Michaels).

If you want to get old ECW fans interested (because I doubt they’ll truly ever be won over), don’t cop out of going over the edge with a bunch of rare matchup stipulations being held under an old ECW card. Oh well.

Thoughts on This Year’s WWE Draft

Last night on Monday Night RAW the WWE “shook things up” as they’ve been calling it by holding a draft wherein any random wrestler can end up being drafted between the three brands of RAW, Smackdown and ECW (in order of significance of course). Even though the draft is a complete crock where you almost always see big names come back to RAW like Batista and Rey Mysterio did last year, and chump jobbers like Vladimir Koslov (ECW’s only draft pick) go to the land of extreme, it is still interesting.

I thought it was a great idea to get Jericho and Mysterio over to Smackdown now that Triple H is back on RAW because of one simple great reason; every championship contender on Smackdown now actually looks like they matchup. In fact, the only guy that doesn’t match up other than the other true superstars (Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Edge, and perhaps a few others) is Kane who also was drafted from RAW to Smackdown. None of those guys would be much more than transitional champions as long as Triple H were around. Plus, Kane is a bum and can be used to create some awesome “David vs. Goliath” type matches. And honestly, let’s not get started on Great Khali. He could be thrown in to stir some ratings, but no title for him. I also think that the moves make way for guys like Shelton Benjamin and R Truth.

Another thing I liked was the switch between the middle titles; Rey Mysterio takes his Intercontinental Title to Smackdown, and MVP takes his US Championship to RAW as he was drafted from Smackdown last night. In all truth, I think that US title is the sweetest looking belt of all the WWE and will look much better on RAW than on Smackdown. Finally, you got that chip off the big chin block Vladimir Koslov over on Sci-Fi where he can scrap it up a few matches and make others like Christian, Jack Swagger, and Finlay look good. I wouldn’t mind seeing Koslov go at it with Tommy Dreamer either.

All in all, I think it was a decent draft, and there weren’t really many head scratchers. Pretty good job WWE.

Why TNA Stinks

In this day and age, the WWE has one main rival. That rival is called TNA. And it sucks.

I’m going to write this article for those who know more or less about each franchise in pro wrestling. For those of you who know, TNA did have a solid stretch of success and intrigue in their story lines not too long ago, when they had guys like Jay Lethal and AJ Styles gaining some notoriety.

But now, they’re a bunch of bums running on their last legs. They keep trying to lure disgruntled WWE stars to go to their show, and once they do, they immediately make an impact over the homegrown TNA talent.

Remember when Kurt Angle first came on the scene? What did he do? He faced the undefeated Samoa Joe for the “whatever” title they call it down there and won. What’s even more is that guys with lots of potential like AJ Styles had been relegated to follower duty behind Christian… another former WWE mainstay.

It’s stupid little desperate moves like this that make TNA look like it may be dwindling down. One thing I cannot stand is their match choreography. Sometimes it seems like the wrestlers are so busy doing flips and moves that showcase their athletic ability, but when they make a hit on someone it’s just too unbelievable. The only guy who makes crazy moves like that in the WWE is Rey Mysterio, when he flips guys like Kane solely with the force of his legs wrapped around his opponent’s necks.

Anyways, TNA will go down hard because they don’t have faith in building up their own guys, and keep trying to lure WWE vets like Angle, Christian, Booker T, Rhino, Sting, and others to boost up their ratings (Looks like Christian wised up and got out).

Oh, and somebody needs to introduce Shark Boy to Stone Cold. I don’t think he would like little Shark “Ass” Boy too much.

Predictions for John Cena’s Opponent at the 2009 Royal Rumble

After the December 22nd edition of Monday Night Raw, the pool of possible opponents to challenge for John Cena’s World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble dwindled down to four. Shawn Michaels Super Kicked Kane in the face and got the pin. Then JBL was about to be 619’ed before his newest “employee” Shawn Michaels pulled him out of the ring and slapped him in the face to get JBL the win by having his opponent Rey Mysterio disqualified for interference. Then the douche bag, Randy Orton advanced by default because apparently his punt on Batista on the last Raw was too much for him to handle. After that, Chris Jericho advanced by way of a mid-air Code Breaker on CM Punk.

Now the four winners will meet next week on Monday Night Raw in a Fatal Four Way match where the winner will face John Cena at the Rumble. Of the possible four, you have to eliminate first and foremost, Shawn Michaels. He has been relegated to the role of puppet to JBL, and will be forced by his new master to do everything in his power to help JBL win. The next man out is Chris Jericho. He has already had the opportunity to beat Cena in the last two Pay-Per Views, Armageddon and Survivor Series. The WWE Universe does not want to be subjected to the obvious outcome of a Jericho loss again.

Finally, we have two men left. JBL and Randy Orton. This is so tough to call. First of all, the Randy Orton and Cena feud was never able to come to fruition as Cena suffered his first of two pure injuries prior to last year’s No Mercy, where he was set to face Orton in a Last Man Standing Match. However, Orton wouldn’t be a bad pick to win the Rumble for that same reason so that he could face Cena at WrestleMania (Truth be told, I think Batista will win it).

JBL on the other hand is a good option because we know he’s not going to win the Rumble, and he would obviously lose to Cena if they fought because there is no way the bookers would let Cena put JBL over. At least not yet. Furthermore, the Royal Rumble is the king of all WWE Pay-Per Views where the title-holders retain their belts.

So for me, I am going to say that the big-talking New Yorker from Texas will be coming out victorious on next week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Then after that it will be some showman trash talking mic skills being spewed from JBL’s mouth on John Cena for almost an entire month as the Royal Rumble won’t take place until January 25th, where he will eventually, and undoubtedly, lose.

Feud Brewing between Mysterio/Bourne Combo and Kane/Henry Duo

On the latest installment of Monday Night Raw, the WWE showcased the high-flying talents of Evan Bourne and his childhood wrestling hero Rey Mysterio when the two faced off on the canvas. The two “little engines” that can went volley for volley when Mysterio finally reversed a roll up and got the three-count for the win. The two shook hands and showed that there were no hard feelings.

 

The same could not be said for Kane, who lost to Mysterio in the no-holds barred match at Cyber Sunday, and Mark Henry, Bourne’s ECW roster mate. Shortly after the Mysterio and Bourne match, the two oafs came down to the ring and put a hurting on both competitors. This could mean that an intriguing tag team match up will be booked between both would be tandems at Survivor Series. If that happens, it could shape up to be a very compelling match.

To witness two wrestlers under feet and five inches tall going against two 300 plus pound behemoths, one over 7 foot tall (Kane), and the other a former World’s Strongest Man Champion (Henry), in a ring is usually a good draw for ratings. It would be a classic of two “Davids” going against two “Goliaths,” and the choreography for this kind of contest has a lot of promise.