WrestleMania XXVI Predictions

First blog in a loooooonnnnnnngggggggg time, but I do love WrestleMania and this year’s looks like it is going to be absolutely epic. So yeah, I know you aren’t reading this bit, so let’s go straight to my predictions.

Money In The Bank

Every year this is a fun match, full of spots with no rhyme or reason, intended to get the crowd out of their seats and worked up for the major matches on the card – but the ending is always significant to the next year in WWE. Last year it triggered CM Punk into become the most awesome heel WWE has had since Edge first became the Rated R Superstar, and hopefully we’ll get something like that this year. I just wonder who though. I don’t think any of them are ready for the next level, except for Christian and Kofi, but of course, Christian hasn’t done much lately, and Kofi’s push seemed to go cold really quickly. That said, last year CM Punk was doing little, but he still won. That said, I think it is a case of WWE having better things to do because they can wait till after MITB to build someone up. I think Kofi Kingston will take this one then, but Christian is a strong possibility. Also, let me just remind you of the scenario everyone seems to want: Christian wins and cashes it in on Edge.

PREDICTION: Kofi Kingston.

Also, watch for Dolph Ziggler. The guy always throws himself into spots, so I can see him taking lots of bumps.

10-Diva Tag Match

I’d be much more interested in Beth Phoenix versus Michelle McCool, but I guess they wanted everyone on the card. I’m not at all bothered about this match though. Seeing as it is Mania, and WWE need to be building Beth up for a title shot, she’ll get the win for the Faces.

PREDICTION: Beth, Mickie, Kelly, Eve and Gail.

Mysterio/Punk

Potential show stealer here. Punk has been consistently amazing since he turned heel, and everything he has done with Mysterio has been golden. Mysterio has also been on form this year, as you can see by that poll I haven’t gone back to for a while, he can seemly have a good match with everyone. I consider these guys two of the best workers in WWE, so I am expecting only great things. Mysterio will go over, I think, unless WWE wants to pull out a shocker. This match just screams Face-Wins-Heel-Gets-Comeuppance though.

PREDICTION: Rey Mysterio.

Legacy Triple Threat

Okay, I don’t care at all for this match. The entire Legacy storyline went stale a long time ago and at this point I just don’t care. That said, I’m not sure which way they’ll go at all. Orton is definitely a face at this point, so I think based off that he’ll be the one getting his hands raised. I’ll be looking at Ted and Cody though; will they come out together? If not, will they both have the same theme music? Also, if one of them is to win, it’ll probably be via screwing the other one, and in that case, who does WWE  want to give the push to? All I am certain about here is, come the annual Draft, Legacy will be separated.

PREDICTION: Randy Orton.

Triple H/Sheamus

We all know the story of these two being workout buddies and all, and I am sure there is a million smarks out there saying “HHH GONNA WIN COZ HE HAST O GO OVA AT MANYA!!!!111eleven!!1” but they can all fuck off. The result all comes down to Sheamus’ standing with WWE. Are they confident in him? Or have they gone sour? I hope it is the former because I really like Sheamus and a win here will make him. Fingers crossed he goes over, but if the last 6 months are anything to go by I am wary of a quick HHH victory and WWE thinking they are doing something good by it.

PREDICTION: Sheamus.

Tag Title Match

I have the feeling this’ll be really good. I’m still peeved that Morrison and Miz didn’t get in MITB, but this’ll do. Miz and Show do really well together (I hope they get a promo opportunity early on). It is no secret that I’m not a fan of R-Truth, but I’ll tolerate him here, because I think he’ll be a good crash-test-dummy for Show to do his stuff on. I predict a simple build-up, hot tag, faces look like they’re to win, Miz rolls Morrison up, and the heels steal it. That is all that is required here, to be honest, and all four guys can make that work just fine. ShowMiz needs to keep those titles, for my sake.

PREDICTION: ShowMiz.

Hart/McMahon

We won’t be seeing much here, due to Hart’s injury history and the apparent deal he has with his insurance company and everything he does having to go through them. What I think we’ll see is a simple: Vince comes out looking buff, he charges into Bret’s fist, Bret locks in Sharpshooter and wins. The problem if that though is, what was the need for the No Holds Barred stipulation? Considering that, we’ll probably see Hart chasing Vince around the arena, occasionally hitting him with a weapon and a punch. I wouldn’t be surprised if this match took all night with just cut-aways to the back between matches.

PREDICTION: Bret Hart.

Batista/Cena

Really excited for this one. Such simple, old school booking that translates to “I don’t like you, and you have the title I want, lets fight!” We know these guys can work together really well, they have great chemistry, and we know they always pull out their best for Mania (Batista/Taker anyone? Cena/Michaels anyone?). I would say Cena will win here, but I don’t think he should. This feud will go on after Mania, I can guarantee that, so Cena does not need to win. Batista winning though will fit the storyline, he would have finally beat Cena on the grandest stage and stole his spotlight. It’ll be interesting if Cena does lose, because he has won a title at every Mania he’s been at.

PREDICTION: John Cena.

Edge/Jericho

There is only one conclusion here, and that is Edge, the winner of the Royal Rumble, to get his fairy-tale ending and win the title. This will probably wind up being one of the night’s best worked matches. We’ll see Jericho working over Edge’s Achilles and a constant switching in pace, ending of course in a SPEAR SPEAR SPEAR!

PREDICTION: Chris Jericho.

Taker/Michaels

Here we have what will probably be Match of the Night, Match of the Year, and Match of the Decade (I may be getting ahead of myself). I can’t put into words how much I’m looking forward to this match. Word of warning for anyone unlucky enough to be in the room when I’m watching this: I’m probably going to cry. I am pretty sure Taker will win, but as they did last year, they will work it so I start second and third guessing myself. I will be blown away, I know I am, and I know how emotional I’ll get when Michaels retires :(. If this doesn’t finish the show I’m going to be pissed.

PREDICTION: The Undertaker.

Okay, Predictions done. 4 hours till MANIA BABY! Enjoy all, I know I will.

Week In Wrestling Review (Feb 19th - Feb 25th)

Sorry I'm a little late, fell asleep while watching Impact the first time round and only watched the rest today. 1 PPV, 4 TV WWE shows (one of which is new) and TNA Impact. Straight to business this week.

WWE Smackdown (19th February)

Same as usual besides a few bumps along the road (such as the Maria/Matt Hardy storyline and Ziggler/Kane), I also think the whole thing with Mickie James and Michelle McCool has rode right off the cliff and I can't believe it is being continued only with the added ingredient of Vickie Guerrero. Where is Beth in all of this? The usual suspects where awesome as always (Punk/SES, Jericho, Edge, Taker). One week later though I can't really say anything jumps out at me as amazing. 

WWE Elimination Chamber (21st February)

This was like someone put bad tuna in my sandwich. I loved both the RAW and Smackdown Chambers, both where booked in very different ways meaning what one lacked the other had, every fan would be satisfied with the Chambers for that reason, and in this sandwich metaphor they are my bread. The tuna was most of the stuff in between. The Diva's Title Match that became a Divas Tag Match for no reason whatsoever, the forgettable at best Kane/McIntyre Intercontinental Title Match, the random appearance of William Regal that just seemed to be to get Edge on screen. The last-minute thrown-together Miz/MVP match though was really good and in this scenario I guess it is the rather nice cheese that is also in my sandwich. 

WWE Monday Night RAW (22nd February)

I thought this was a fun RAW with ShowMiz versus A Bull being my favourite part - that stuff was hilarious considering it was one of the few times the guest hosts were on screen. I believe Jewel also had the pretty good "My yodelling will destroy you" line, so they didn't do bad on reflection. Elsewhere, Jericho cut an awesome promo which almost made promo of the week ahead of CM Punk's promo at Elimination Chamber, but the promo that won that honour was Michaels/Undertaker, despite Taker looking a bit like a tranny due to all that burn ointment. I'm liking the Cena/Batista/Vince/Hart stuff, I can't wait to see what WWE has in store for Mania. In stark contrast, I am very meh about the Legacy stuff. Quick note about Batista: he has been EXCELLENT lately.

WWE NXT (23rd February)
This with an awesome show. From the camera angles to the talent, I liked everything about it. I say everything, I didn't like Michael Cole during the Chris Jericho/Daniel Bryan (did you hear every smark 'gasm? I did) because he went way over-the-top. I will continue to watch this every week.

**Side Note: Why are smarks and dirtsheets refusing to call Daniel Bryan by the name Daniel Bryan? It is retarded. I'm sure they think it makes them feel smarter than those "kids" who watch WWE, but it doesn't, it just make them look like twats.**

WWE Superstars (25th February)
Swagger and Regal versus Santino and Masters was good. Zack Ryder versus Primo was good. Luke Gallows had a squash match and some promo time, it was okay. Hart Dynasty versus Hardy, Maria and Khali was good. Nothing else to say.

TNA iMPACT! (25th February)
I like Abyss, I always have, and I am glad he is getting a nice push, but I don't think this is the right way to do it. If Abyss gets over from it, and that bit of Hulkamania every wrestler could do with rubs off on him, I'll stand up and admit I was wrong. Hogan should never put on wrestling boots again, but everyone has said that for a while. Other than there wasn't anything too bad here to be honest. TNA still has a lot to do in the way of production and presentation, but the raw materials of wrestling and general angles is okay.

Show of the Week: WWE NXT
Wrestler of the Week: Chris Jericho
Non-Wrestler of the Week: Vickie Guerrero
Match of the Week: Smackdown Elimination Chamber (21/02 WWE Elimination Chamber)
Promo of the Week: Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker "Streak versus Soul"

Week In Wrestling Review (Feb 12th - Feb 18th)

I've had a very busy week so no full review. Basically, Smackdown was awesome, RAW was better than most people seem to be saying (the Jerry Springer skit was funny as all hell), the final ECW lived up to my expectations, Superstars was typical Superstars with good matches, and Impact was not watched by me but I saw Against All Odds and thought it was really boring with the exception of D'Angelo Dinero related stuff.

This week I'll only be giving out my weekly awards. Also, you only have 5 days to vote on the poll to your right, because the best matches from the last four weeks will be up.

Show of the Week: Smackdown
Wrestler of the Week: D'Angelo Dinero
Non-Wrestler of the Week: Jerry Springer
Match of the Week: Rey Mysterio versus CM Punk (February 12th)
Promo of the Week: Christian "Last ECW Champion"

TNA Moves To Mondays

That is all I want to post.

If you came here for news go to NoDQ or something.

Week In Wrestling Review (Feb 5th - Feb 11th)

A quick week for me, saw the live stream of RAW but didn't watch anything else until Thursday/Friday. This week I will return to reviewing ROH on HDNet, and also I will be reviewing the FCW from Sunday which featured such small matches as  ... Bryan Danielson versus Kaval (formerly Low Ki).

WWE Friday Night Smackdown (5th February)
I'm sorry to say this was somewhat of a forgettable Smackdown this week. I don't get why, taking a second quick look through the show an it all seems perfectly in order. Jericho and Edge were both on form, allowing them to deliver a kickass opening segment. The show seemed to focus mainly on the Elimination Chamber (that's a good thing) and that brought us plenty of good action. Morrison/McIntyre/Kane was a very enjoyable match, Hardy/Jericho was great, and Mysterio/Ziggler was fantastic. Truth/Knox was okay, but I'm one of the guys that isn't blown away by Truth, though I can see was the fuss is about. Very interesting what they did with Batista, having him walk out of his match against Punk; I look forward to the explanation. I guess my beef with it all was that aside from the Triple Threat and Punk/Batista, everything was very predication, no way were Hardy, Knox and Ziggler getting in the Chamber considering their opponents. I don't really like Mickie on the mic, but it is good to see the Divas still getting the attention and the segment + match ended up being good overall. The Cutting Edge, with The Undertaker, was awesome, mainly due to CM Punk interrupting proceedings, but it is very good to see WWE keeping everything open in terms of who Edge will be facing at Mania.

Flordia Championship Wrestling (7th February)
That match, Danielson/Kaval, was very bad. This was not Danielson's fault, he got very little offence in and generally was made to look weak in comparison to Kaval. Kaval though, who I am not a fan of, went through this match kicking, kicking, kicking, oh some form of takedown? No, another kick. That is all he did, and it got boring quickly ... in fact it never got exciting in the first place. Danielson worked with what he could, but you can't polish a turn, as the old saying goes. Other matches included The Dudebusters (I am hoping they bring that name to ECW, pending Barette and Croft don't get released) versus Joe Hennig and Brett DiBiase; I seem to be one of the few who like Croft and Baretta, so this match was okay to me, Hennig and DiBiase aren't nearly ready enough to step-up yet. Justin Angel versus Iforgothisname Tarver was decent as well, I see a lot of potential in Angel.

ROH on HDNet (8th February)
Surprise surprise, this was boring as hell. I'm not going to berate ROH for thinking Tyler Black and Roderick Strong cutting dual promos is a good way to open the show, because I think that goes without saying. I couldn't be less interested in this Tyler-versus-Aries-for-the-Title-if-there-is-a-time-limit-draw-it-goes-to-the-judges, because it is a terrible idea. My God though, I might be looking forward to a future episode, because we've been promised The Briscoes versus The Young Bucks for the Tag Titles, and they are two of the best tag teams on the Indy scene right now - when will The Briscoes get signed by TNA or WWE? Even the Bucks couldn't drag the blackhole of charisma and showmanship, Davey Richards, to anything more than an okay match. In closing, Steve Corino has gotten fat, I think he should be thinking about an announcing job, or something in creative, very soon, he looked awful tonight.

WWE Monday Night RAW (8th February) 
Okay, this was awesome. By far the best RAW of 2010 so far and it just illustrates how WWE steps-up its game going into WrestleMania. I don't even know where to start, so I'll go with the best bit: John Cena. This is shaping up to be the year John Cena shuts up all his critics and becomes legendary in his own right. His "Money, or the Moment" promo will go down as his defining moment, and it was a promo no one could have done better, including The Rock. Bret Hart was good when he wasn't tripping over things, but we are going to let that slide. Not a fan of ShowMiz getting the Tag Titles, but I am a huge fan of their name. Obviously, I don't know what WWE has planned, but The Straight Edge Society seemed like THE team to put the Unified Tag Titles on, but I am sure even without them they'll continue to be golden. Christian turning up was fantastic, and Sheamus also did very well in their match. I think Christian must have a hidden talent because he always seems to do his best with and gets the best out of bigger guys. Some complain that Christian lost, and though I'd have liked to see him win against anyone else, Sheamus needed to defeat someone who wasn't a jobber. I don't think it was very smart to completely destroy Ted DiBiase when he is the one in the Chamber match, but they also made Cody look good, making me believe they just can't decide on which one they want to push. The guest host was good this week as well, mainly because he was used sporadically, but at least he could talk. I going to get Jared from Subway.

ECW on Scyfy (9th February)
I thought this was a good ECW, just a shame it only has one week left. I have seen potential in Croft and Baretta for a while, but their match with Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust makes me hold onto hope that the transition into WWE NXT will not result in their release; they have a lot more to offer. The match itself was really good. Squash match by Ezekiel Jackson was what it was, and we get an Extreme Rules match, him versus Christian, for the ECW Title next week, so I am not going to complain. Benjamin/Archer wasn't as good, I thought both guys missed big time on this match, not really taking advantage of the No DQ/No Countout rules. In the end, Shelton went over, which makes me suspicious that we will be saying "Bye" to Vance Archer in the next few weeks, which I don't really like.

WWE Superstars (11th February)
To make things quick, all three matches (Swagger/Santino, Christian/Ryder, Ziggler/JTG) were really good. Santino never seems to fail in entertaining me, and he was certainly on form in his match with Swagger. Christian versus Ryder was a good match on all levels, they can play off each other really well and Ryder is proving himself to be a capable worker as well as a charisma machine, and damn, Christian has been awesome this week with two great matches. I love Ziggler, and really like JTG, so no prizes for guessing what my thoughts were here.

TNA iMPACT! (11th February)
Here's me thinking this way the night they made Eric Young (remember him? TNA's Global Champion? Supposed to have an alliance with Kevin Nash) relevant, misleading me with him coming out and cutting a promo alongside Hogan in which he said he was going to go after Hall and Syxx outside the Impact Zone ... only for Kurt Angle to talk him out of it later on. Come on, please, just try, please try to make some of your created stars look good. A lot more terrible stuff on this episode, including the Knockouts to my surprise, but that is because The Beautiful People haven't been interesting in a while, Tara has become terrible at getting responses, and Love has completely lost her momentum in record time. Not all bad though, Desmond Wolfe continues to cut promos the quality no one expected (Super Maxi Pad!) and AJ Styles had a pretty perfect line in the segment with Joe. Also, I'm glad Eric Bischoff is back on TV, say what you want about him personally but you can't deny that the man in entertaining.

Show of the Week: RAW
Wrestler of the Week: Christian
Non-Wrestler of the Week: Eric Bischoff
Match of the Week: Rey Mysterio versus Dolph Ziggler (February 5th)
Promo of the Week: John Cena "Money, of the moment?"