Royal Rumble Predictions

I am really looking forward to WWE's 23rd Royal Rumble. Unlike last year, when it was so predictable, this year it remains open with 5 guys having a realistic and sensible chance of winning (Kofi Kingston, John Cena, Batista, Triple H and Shawn Michaels).

First of all, I notice John Morrison and Drew McIntyre haven't been announced as participants in the Royal Rumble. Seeing as there has only been 5 matches made for the PPV I imagine we might get an Intercontinental Title match added last minute. If that happens, Drew McIntyre to retain. If not, oh well, the undercard matches must be getting 20-30 minutes each.

Michelle McCool versus Mickie James for the Woman's Title is an intriguing one. I am probably most looking forward to this out of all the undercard matches, as weird as that may seem. I seem to hold McCool in higher regard than most, because I do think she is a more than competent worker, so I think this match will end up being quite good. The storyline going into this, despite the criticism it is getting from other wrestling sites, is probably the best storyline WWE has going. However, that could quickly change depending on the result. I think Mickie James HAS to win this match. She has been bullied by the heels, she's been embarrassed, etc, she has to go into this PPV and give McCool her comeuppance and win the title. It simply does not work any other way, the good guy has to triumph. If not, and if McCool retains, WWE has made a huge mistake. If she wins WWE is essentially telling their young female viewership that fat is bad and you must look like skelator to succeed. Don't do that WWE, please.
My Prediction: Mickie James

The ECW Title Match, Christian versus Ezekiel Jackson will be a match I watch closely, because I really don't know what to think of Ezekiel. I think, so far, he plays his part as the big intimidating guy who also has some unseen intelligence really well, but I've thought that since he was paired with Brian Kendrick. My only indication since has been he doesn't completely suck in the ring, but he has never really had the chance to show how good he is or isn't. This makes things hard to predict quality-wise, but I am fairly confident in Christian's ability to get a good match out of almost everyone. That in mind, I think this will be a passable match at the least, and a good match at best. As for the winner, I would really be getting Christian ready to move on to RAW or Smackdown (preferably Smackdown) soon, so I think a Jackson win will work here. Regardless of the result though, I imagine they'll have a rematch at Elimination Chamber, and Jackson will win that to either retain or win the title.
My Prediction: Ezekiel Jackson

Sheamus versus Randy Orton for the WWE Title is a match I am indifferent about. Sheamus, for me, is the worst booked champion in a long time, even worse than Rey Mysterio. He gets so little TV time that it isn't even funny. This makes me think he is just a transitional champion and we will see him drop it to Orton. But, he is sort of protected by the idea that if Triple H wins the Rumble he will want to face Sheamus at Mania, but if that was the case then WHY has he been booked so badly? Make an effort if you want him in your WrestleMania main event.
My Prediction: Randy Orton

Now, I have absolutely no interest in Undertaker versus Rey Mysterio for the World Title. It might be because it has happened already for free on TV. There is a chance Mysterio will win, but if he does the only one he could face at Mania would be Batista. That is just playing Devil's Advocate to myself though, because I am pretty confident Undertaker will win.
My Prediction: The Undertaker

Finally, the Royal Rumble Match. For this, I'm not going to give a straight prediction, because the more I think the more I change my mind. I normally enter a few prediction contests for PPVs, and each one I've predicted a different winner. I mentioned earlier the five guys who could realistically win, and here is my fantasy-booker view at the five.

Batista winning: This will open the door to the likely WrestleMania matches of vs Rey Mysterio and vs The Undertaker, as well as possibly vs John Cena and vs Triple H. Batista is currently portraying the dominant monster, so I can see him coming in in the first half (10-15) and getting the most eliminations (six or seven). He is heel though, and as you can see there is not much to do. Him vs The Undertaker seems like a bit of a waste (though, they did put on a great match at WrestleMania 22), and Him vs Rey Mysterio has been done to death, so of the five I'd say he's the least likely.

John Cena winning: A win could put him against anyone. I and many others hope for vs Undertaker, there is also vs Randy Orton (I can hear groans from readers already), vs Batista, vs Sheamus, and vs Triple H (stop groaning). He is still a huge face as before, so he will always be WWE's go to guy for things like this if they have no one else, but he really doesn't have any programmes going on that makes him a clear winner. As much I'd love to see Him vs The Undertaker, I doubt they'd do it because of the amount of effort they've put into Michaels/Taker. Him vs Batista is the match I can see him having at Mania, but to make that match happen all he has to do is eliminate Batista. He is my fourth most likely to win.

Kofi Kingston winning: I REALLY REALLY want this to be the result. Him vs Randy Orton, to me, is the match that should be happening at Mania with Kingston going over as the next big superstar in WWE. The thing is, with how he has been booked in recent weeks, his momentum has completely died down, and that is WWE's fault only. He did beat Miz on the go-home RAW, which raises his chances somewhat, and I feel his win would still be hot, just not as hot as it should be. I can imagine him in the final four with Jericho, HHH and Michaels; Michaels and Trips battling on the apron, Kofi meanwhile eliminates Jericho out of nowhere (maybe takes the Codebreaker, falls back onto the ropes, ducks a Jericho clothesline and tosses Jericho out), Michaels hits the SCM on Triple H to eliminate him, turns around into the Trouble In Paradise and Kofi wins. He is my third most likely to win.

Triple H winning: Okay, this is going to sound really smarkish. This allows for vs Sheamus mainly, but with vs John Cena, vs Batista and vs Orton. Only one of them is fresh, two have been done to death, and one would be a perfectly reasonable main event for Mania. Him vs Sheamus really shouldn't be happening because of how bad they've booked Sheamus. On top of all this, HHH hasn't had a very good year, and has no reason to win. Yet, he is my second most likely to win, because he is Triple H and he has, to me, presented as most likely to win on WWE TV by looking dominant lately.

Shawn Michaels winning: This is all about vs The Undertaker at WrestleMania. 'Nuff said really. He is my most likely to win, but I'm not too confident of him winning because he can easily win an Elimination Chamber match and still get the match against The Undertaker at Mania, and another month of Michaels being angry and trying to get the match would be GREAT TV. I'd rather he did do it at Elimination Chamber, to be honest. Regardless of winning or not, I think his story is the most important going into the Rumble, so I can see him coming in early (4-6) and lasting till the end, staying in the longest.

So, to summarise, here are a few lists:

Most Likely:
1. Michaels
2. HHH
3. Kingston
4. Cena
5. Batista

Preffered:
1. Kingston
2. Cena
3. Michaels
4. Batista
5. HHH

Better Mania-wise:
1. Kingston
2. Michaels
3. Cena
4. HHH
5. Batista

Better TV-wise:
1. Cena
2. Kingston
3. Michaels
4. HHH
5. Batista

Most Eliminations: Batista
Earliest Entry: Michaels
Latest Entry: HHH
Longest Time In Match: Michaels
Other Guys To Watch For: Chris Jericho, Big Show, CM Punk, Kane, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, The Miz, Yoshi Tatsu.

Week In Wrestling Review (Jan 22nd - Jan 28th)

Welcome to the Week In Wrestling Review, once again I review the four WWE shows plus four non-WWE shows including TNA Impact, ROH, NWA Anarchy and the much liked Dragon Gate USA. Spoiler though: I might not be one of the masses.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown (January 22nd)
Once again another great show, the highlight being ... you guessed it ... the Straight Edge Society of CM Punk, Luke Gallows, and Serena Deeb (AKA Mia Mancini). I hope Serena continues to appear on TV because she performed really well. Elsewhere Chris Jericho and Drew McIntyre vs R-Truth and Jon Morrison was a GREAT match, and Drew looked fantastic; Jericho and McIntyre need to team more, they work well as a duo. I think they made a mistake with Beth; I'd have rather they kept her neutral rather than side her with the heels. This segments though saw the crowd pop for Mickie and Maria, showing they are indeed on the side of the face, which rarely seems to happen in these days of smarkism. Everything else was average or better, including Batista's squash of Finlay. I still do not care even slightly about Undertaker/Mysterio at the Rumble.

DGUSA Freedom Fight (January 22nd)
Well, you can tell it was booked by Gabe Sapolsky. It dragged terribly and the lack is psychology was blatantly obvious. They did put out some good booking. I got that BxB Hulk was a graduate of the Dragon Gate Dojo, was a fan favourite, and had tried and failed many times to get a title, and to capture the Open the Freedom Gate (what is with the lame title names anyway?) was a big deal. So, well done DGUSA for making me care, though I had a vested interest in Gran Akuma, who I have liked for a while now. When there was good though, there was bad. Jon Moxley, for example, was awful. The entire tournament layout was bad. And absolutely every match lacked psychology to the point where it seemed to drudge along with only spots holding it together.

NWA Anarchy TV (January 24th)
It doesn't feel right to review this. It is only shown on a small local station, so very few people watch it, but it is available every Sunday on the NWA Anarchy website (http://www.nwaanarchy.net). The wrestlers that are on it, and the entire programme itself is not good, per say, but has potential to be good. Some of the workers I am fans of, such as Phill Shatter, Truitt Fields, Mikal Judas and others. Of course, there are so many average or worse wrestlers, and some terrible writing, as such the quality proves volatile on a week by week basis, and this was a week in which it was pretty bad. I'm sticking with it though.

ROH on HDNet (January 25th)
I can imagine that if I were to stop watching one of my wrestling weeklies, ROH would be the first one, because I really don't care about any of it. Tyler Black is horrendous on the microphone and has the charisma of the average turtle, Austin Aries is someone I never got into, and Jim Cornette is, well, Jim Cornette. Pretty much the only guys I do like are The Briscoes, Kenny King and Rhett Titus, and one of them wasn't on the show. Absolutely hilarious stuff when they showed a tiny graphic announcing Jushin Liger versus Austin Aries at some point in ROH's event schedule ... yeah, Jushin F'N LIGER!? Doesn't that deserve some form of hype?

WWE Monday Night RAW (January 25th)
This was an absolutely awesome RAW. Dule Hill was fantastic, John Cena proved exactly why he is where he is, and the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon storyline was advanced beautifully. I have two criticisms, first being Gail Kim, as she didn't get an entrance yet she won and went to the final, WWE should be making it less obvious that Maryse will take the Divas Title, not more obvious. Going back to John Cena, man, was he on fire this week. Not only did he do so well with Dule Hill and perform an absolute masterclass in how to cut a promo but he also put on a fantastic match with Sheamus, which was probably Sheamus' best match yet (and I was really holding out to say this). My other criticism is MVP losing so fast, I don't think WWE have did a good job booking him, but MVP and Miz are certainly doing a great job at putting their feud over. I am so excited for the Royal Rumble after this too.

ECW on ScyFy (January 26th)
Good show this week, despite only having two matches. Two good and long matches, but that can still be a hinerance. Kane and Christian versus Jackson and Regal was fine, but probably should have closed the show, and the six-man tag was great but came across very get-all-these-guys-on-TV. This all worked out well though, there is not many guys on the roster and the only ones not involved in-ring-wise were Vance Archer and Shelton Benjamin, but they can only have singles matches so many times, and 4 on 4 would be a bit too much. At least Yoshi Tatsu went over. The rest of the show was mainly flogging Royal Rumble, and rightly so, because as I say WWE are doing a really good job getting me excited for the PPV.

WWE Superstars (January 28th)
What the hell? A good match featuring the Bella Twins? Yes, that is what this show brags. Chris Masters vs Chavo Guerrero vs Primo Colon was another good match with Masters winning to get his spot in the Royal Rumble. It is amazing how simply turning face could make him more interesting enough to actually get pops. I absolutely hate Truth on the microphone, but luckily Jericho saved the segment with his facial reactions. The main event was David Hart Smith vs Matt Hardy and that was also a good match. None of the matches would blow you away, but that isn't the intention of Superstars.

TNA iMPACT! (January 28th)
Impact was good this week, which is weird because it was okay last week. This week also saw another ratings increase, which means TNA are actually getting an increasing amount of viewers (based on two weeks). When I say good though I am referring to one thing, really, and that is the in-ring product. I thought all the matches on this show were okay or better, and this show did seem mostly wrestling in contrast to other Impacts recently. TNA still fails big time in how they present their product. For example, the sound guy needs to be fired, because he played both Hogan's and Anderson's music prematurely (before they had finished their promos). The commentary is still awful. Everyone seems to be a tweener, as if TNA was a shit eFed. The booking still remains confusing and the storylines border between stupid and retarded (what was even the purpose of the "Earl Hebner Screwjob"?). So, sorry TNA, I think you are improving at a snail's pace, but you I still find myself getting up to do other stuff with you on in the background.

And now, this week's honours go to:

Show of the Week: WWE Monday Night RAW
Wrestler of the Week: John Cena
Non-Wrestler of the Week: Dule Hill
Match of the Week: McIntyre & Jericho / Truth & Morrison (22/01 WWE Smackdown)
*new* Promo Of The Week: John Cena "Vince's 90th Birthday"

Week In Wrestling Review (Jan 15th - Jan 21st)

This is my weekly review of wrestling TV from this week. It goes from Friday to Thursday. 


WWE Smackdown (January 15th)
This was the usual quality of Smackdown that I have come to expect with some excellent performances. Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Luke Gallows were all particular highlights. Gallows is really coming into his own alongside Punk and it shows, and I find myself hoping they put the tag titles onto them (though with DX entering the Rumble I wonder when this will happen). The woman's division is very entertaining thanks to one Beth Phoenix, who actually looks like a legit force in the woman's division right now, which is exactly how she should be used. Props also to Michelle McCool, she gets stick but she is a good performer from time to time and this beatdown showed that, as it also did to Layla who is vastly underrated in my eyes. Kane/Ziggler is also enjoyed, though I do love Ziggler no end. The main event of Batista and Rey Mysterio was quite enjoyable too, it is a shame that their feud got really old really fast, but that happens when they face each other EVERY WEEK. 


TNA Genesis (January 17th) 
I was very split on this PPV, some bits were good and some were awful. I'll start with the worst: Whose idea was it to have Abyss vs Mr Anderson on Anderson's debut? It didn't work, and I have no idea if Anderson is supposed to be heel or face (to use a point others have made, if they think Anderson can pull of a "Steve Austin" they are wrong). Amazing Red vs Brian Kendrick gets a mention here because the match had no right to be as bad as it was, both men (especially Kendrick) are great performers yet they didn't mesh well and they blow so many spots. Nash/Syxx vs Beer Money was a match I expected to be bad, alas I wasn't surprised. The less said about Tara/ODB the better. The good: The main even was well done, though what we say on TV a couple of weeks earlier, but the ending was great, I loved that. British Invasion/Morgan & Hernandez was very good, it came off really well and was my second favourite match of the night, and maybe the week. My MOTN and MOTW was The Pope vs Desmond Wolfe, I enjoyed it so much, loved every second of it. Also, Anderson's reveal was good as well, the guy does has skill on the mic, I'll give him that much. 


ROH on HDNet (January 18th)
I haven't watched Ring Of Honor in a while and this show reminded me why. First, I'll talk about Jay Briscoe vs Mark Briscoe in a Pick 6 Qualifiers match. Before the match there was a segment in which the Briscoes said to one another than they wouldn't attack the knee (Mark recently had a knee injury) and that the winner buys the beers for the other one (there was prize money on offer), yet when the match happened the commentators said "I wonder what they'll spend the money on?", "Probably beers." and "Mark just got back from a knee injury, I wonder if Jay will attack it." This is my issue with ROH, they have no idea how to put on a TV show. There is a lack of continuity, all the matches were laggy and boring, and half the time the wrestlers don't seem to care about selling or psychology (Delirious beat Sonjay Dutt in a submission match and never seemed to work over a body part or even apply a submission hold before locking in the winning submission). That said, ROH can and will often deliver good matches with some good spots, they just didn't on this occasion. 


WWE Monday Night RAW (January 18th)
I thought it was fairly non-offensive once again. Jon Heder was a great heel and meshed with Miz and Show well enough to pull off an enjoyable main event. Jack Swagger should be used better, I think, but I must admit the over-the-top-rope challenge is fun; if it was any other dick heel I'd really like it. I'm still very sceptical about Sheamus/Orton, but the build on this show was okay. Okay is going to get repeated, because I felt the same way about Legacy vs Kofi/Cena, it didn't blow me away but at least they are keeping the two faces relevant ... they should really do something with DiBiase though. One last thing, MVP was being built so well as a challenger, but he gets knocked out at the beginning of the show and doesn't appear again ... why?


WWE ECW (January 19th)
A lackluster ECW for the most part this week. Santino was not very good at the talk show host thing, which is weird because I thought he'd be very good at it, and Vladimir Kozlov just did not get over at all. I feel a simple mention that he became an official American citizen would have worked better if they were trying to do what I think they were trying to do and get Kozlov some pops. Croft and Baretta are guys I sort of like, but I don't really have any interest in, but the match with Tatsu and Goldust was okay. Main event was also quite good, but didn't blow me away, though I will say I am really looking forward to Christian vs Jackson at the Royal Rumble. 


WWE Superstars (January 21st)
I really love Superstars, I can't believe I never used to watch it. We got to see a fairly decent match from Kelly Kelly and Jillian Hall, a good showing from both Vance Archer (yes, I said it) and Shelton Benjamin, and a very good match from Chris Jericho and Kane. Not much to say but quality wrestling right here.


TNA Impact! (January 21st)
Was okay this week, certainly better than I expected/better than spoilers made it look. AJ Styles works much better as a heel and Flair's new guitar remix music is great (I want it on ringtone), but damn, the ending to Angle/Styles was awful. Everything else was fine and dandy, Morgandez/TBI delivered again, Orlando Jordan put on a pretty good performance against the absolutely awesome D'Angelo Dinero and Angelina Love vs Madison Rayne was also pretty good. The stuff with Foley, Bischoff and Jarrett has me very confused, Mr Anderson has me confused (though I enjoyed Abyss' facials during the promo) and no Kendrick? Why? He just debuted and lost, you should be getting him out there so he doesn't look like a total waste. Also, giving publicity to Bubba The Love Sponge is disgusting after his comments about Haiti.


That's all for this week. So I'll give out some honours.


Show of the Week: WWE Smackdown
Wrestler of the Week: Chris Jericho
Non-Wrestler of the Week: Jon Heder
Match of the Week: Pope/Wolfe from TNA Genesis


Next week I will be reviewing the same shows plus a show I've been catching lately, NWA Anarchy.

Match of the Week/Month/Year

NOTE:

• This will be updated weekly.
• Weeks begin Fridays (because January 1st was a Friday)
• Every four weeks I'll ask you what you thought was match of the "month". Winners will be marked with a *MOTM* symbol.

Jan 1st - Jan 7th: *MOTM* Kurt Angle versus AJ Styles (4/01 TNA iMPACT!)
Jan 8th - Jan 14th: Kane versus Dolph Ziggler (8/01 WWE Smackdown)
Jan 15th - Jan 21st: "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero versus Desmond Wolfe (17/01 TNA Genesis)
Jan 22nd - Jan 28th: Chris Jericho & Drew McIntyre versus R-Truth & John Morrison (22/01 WWE Smackdown)
Jan 29th - Feb 4th: The Undertaker versus Rey Mysterio (31/01 WWE Royal Rumble)
Feb 5th - Feb 11th: Rey Mysterio versus Dolph Ziggler (5/02 WWE Smackdown)
Feb 12th - Feb 18th: Rey Mysterio versus CM Punk (12/02 WWE Smackdown)
Feb 19th - Feb 25th: Smackdown Elimination Chamber (21/02 WWE Elimination Chamber)
Feb 26th - Mar 4th:
Mar 5th - Mar 11th:
Mar 12th - Mar 18th:
Mar 19th - Mar 25th:
Mar 26th - Apr 1st: