Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't written anything since last Friday. I couldn't look into Blogger from Tuesday-Friday because the site was having problems. But I'm back now, with a quick look back at recent WWE developments in the past week or so.
-Over the Limit was a below average PPV. If it wasn't for Randy Orton vs Christian, that PPV would have been terrible. It's probably the second best match of the year in WWE so far, right behind Taker/HHH from Wrestlemania. It was one hell of a match. The counters were great. I loved the teased RKO spot from Christian, playing off of the finish from their match on Smackdown. These two have some good chemistry in the ring. My hope is that the feud extends all the way to SummerSlam, with Christian winning the belt back before hand at Money in the Bank, then losing it back to Orton at SummerSlam in a TLC Match. I would expect Christian to turn heel sometime between Capitol Punishment and Money in the Bank.
Cena/Miz was a stupid over-booked mess. Two guys beat down Cena the whole match, but in the end, Miz is in the STF for 5 seconds and quits right away? After a 15 minute beat down Cena just can regain all of his strength that quickly? And WWE wonders why people hate him.
As far as everything else, it was nice to see Cole finally get his. That moment was a month or so overdue. R-Truth getting a relatively clean win was nice. Sin Cara still looks sloppy in the ring. Nobody cars about the Divas besides Kharma. Can they please think of something new for the Corre? And C.M. Punk continues to look like he is on his way out of the WWE.
-So Kharma is apparently out of action for 9 months. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we all know what women go through that takes 9 months. I can't criticize Kharma for it. Sure the timing is bad, but if someone wants to have a child nobody can stop them. She's going to address her "breakdown" on RAW last week. Kharma can cut a relatively decent promo, so it will be interesting to hear what she says tonight. I fear the WWE may do something stupid with this, but I'm willing to give it a chance. My fear is that they will turn it into a "Who's the Father?" storyline if she really is pregnant. All I know is that what once looked like a promising spark for the Divas Division has taken a turn downward.
-WWE may have gotten rid of the Fatal 4 Way PPV concept, but if I had to guess, the WWE Title Match at Capitol Punishment will be a Fatal 4 Way Match. I think they will go with John Cena defending the WWE Championship against C.M. Punk, R-Truth, and Rey Mysterio. The other option I see is the RAW GM saying this week that C.M. Punk was screwed last week in their tag match by Bret Hart, and he awards C.M. Punk the opportunity to fight for the WWE Championship. It's a possibility. If Punk is indeed on his way out of the company, they might want to send him out swinging.
I wouldn't want the WWE to rush an R-Truth/Cena program yet. R-Truth's heel character has been the best thing in the WWE in the last few months. I know the WWE is going for Cena/Alberto del Rio at SummerSlam, but there could be a lot of money in a John Cena/R-Truth match at SummerSlam, especially if they continue to handle R-Truth properly. Lets say that they end up going with R-Truth/Rey Mysterio again at Capitol Punishment, with another win for Truth. Then at the MITB PPV, Truth participates in the RAW MITB match only to fall short. Then the RAW GM says Truth has proven himself enough to earn a #1 Contender's Match against someone, which Truth wins. Then the build to Truth/Cena begins. They could always have Alberto del Rio win the RAW MITB Ladder Match, and have him carry around the briefcase for a bit.
To me at least, R-Truth has been the most entertaining thing on RAW in months, and he's the best he's been his entire career. His promos have been great. He plays the psychotic heel who's been screwed one too many times well. As long as he ups his in-ring work to match his promo work, I could easily see the WWE doing Cena/Truth at SummerSlam. They could always have John Morrison return and cost Truth the match, leading to a Morrison/Truth match that should have a ton of heat added to it now that Truth "storyline' wise put Morrison out of action.
There's a lot of interesting ways RAW could break right now. I hope the WWE doesn't rush to things to quickly and gives us some proper builds to certain programs. This summer could be a lot of fun for the WWE if done right. There are a lot of fresh programs out there.
-I thought the Rapture was actually coming last week after there was a "RILEY" chant on RAW. That was a very strong segment on RAW this past Monday. I don't think the WWE was expecting such a strong reaction to that segment. I also don't know if they were expecting Riley to get the face heat from the beatdown. They may have been attempting to start a Miz face turn there, but Miz is so good on the mic as a heel that he actually gained sympathy heat for Riley.
Follow-up will be key here. WWE can't drop the ball on this one if they want to get something out of this. Yes, Riley is technically a Smackdown wrestler. But they could easily have a one-off match between Miz and Riley at Capitol Punishment. If Riley puts on a strong performance, he could move over to Smackdown as a solid mid-card babyface, or heel if they decided to turn him back. It's in the WWE's hands now.
I know people will think this is a step-down for the Miz, but it is all a part of Miz gaining some heat back, and helping to build somebody else up in the process. Miz will be back in the main event scene down the line, but I for one was getting tired of seeing him go back and forth with John Cena every week. After Riley, how about an extended program with Rey Mysterio? There's nothing else for Mysterio on RAW right now. Miz will be just fine. The WWE loves him as a PR guy. He keeps his head on straight and doesn't do anything stupid. He will be on top for a long time.
-While there's a chance they could do a Fatal 4 Way on the RAW side, I would bet on them doing one on the Smackdown side. While the Randy Orton/Christian matches have been fun, they need to take a break at some point. I would expect Randy Orton vs Sheamus vs Christian vs Mark Henry at Captiol Punishment. All four have been around the Smackdown main event scene for the last month. It's also a way for Christian to win the World Heavyweight Title without having to pin Randy Orton. It preserves Orton, which I'm sure the WWE feels like they have to do, and gets the Title back on Christian to make his fans happy again. It also puts Sheamus and Mark Henry back in the main event scene and makes them look like threats to win the World Title.
-Can the WWE please find something meaningful for Cody Rhodes. His character has just seemed to be in "PARK" ever since the Draft. He's had no one to feud with. Hopefully, the WWE lets Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan have a program and a match at Capitol Punishment. I would love to see these two get 15 minutes on a PPV. That'd be great. Cody is still my odds-on-favorite to win the Smackdown MITB Ladder Match. There's really no one else on Smackdown worthy of winning it. Wade Barrett could, but the WWE hasn't done anything meaningful with him in months. I'd love to see Cody be World Champion sometime this fall.
-Paging WWE. Please help resurrect Sin Cara. And fast. I don't know why, but his matches have been really sloppy since coming over to the WWE. I would give him the nerves factor in the first few weeks, but there shouldn't be any excuses for him now. I don't know what they can do with him to help save him. He can't cut a promo. He can't show facial expressions because of his mask. There's some work to do. Apparently, the WWE has signed another wrestler from Mexico, Averno, to come in and feud with Sin Cara. From what I've heard, the two had a successful program in Mexico and the WWE hopes they can do the same here. The WWE is gaining a lot of traction in Mexico, so they are looking to sign some talent from there to help them out as they continue to grow in Mexico. Smart move on their part.
-Tough Enough is down to the Final 3: Luke, Jeremiah, Andy. If I had to guess, I would think Jeremiah goes home tonight. He's still too green in the ring, while Andy and Luke at least can handle themselves well. I'm sure Jeremiah will get a developmental deal down the line, if he hasn't already. My guess is that Luke wins the competition. He just has the all-around look, and act, of a cocky douche bag heel. I think Andy will stick around too. If Martin had not gotten injured, I think the final two would have been Martin and Luke, and Martin could have had a real good shot at winning. But this first season of Tough Enough has been really well done. Steve Austin makes a great host. I hope he returns for a second season.
Quick Thoughts
-I really don't think the WWE has Cena hold the WWE Title heading into Wrestlemania. They could put somebody else over big if they make a separate WWE Championship Match. My guess is Cena loses it at the Rumble or Elimination Chamber. He may lose it at some point in 2011, but I think he will get back a month or two later.
-Alberto del Rio feuding with Big Show and Kane? Eh, I guess it's ok. As long as ADR goes over Kane and Big Show in the end. If the WWE decides to go with Cena/Del Rio, he needs to be built up strong going in. Losses to Kane and Big Show will hurt him.
-I thought the WWE did a good job with the Randy Savage tribute on RAW. Very classy. I can't wait to see Vince McMahon's piece on him in TIME. The first two paragraphs make it seems very good. It sounds like he will be headed into the Hall of Fame next year. It's just a shame they didn't do it while he was alive. If next year's Hall of Fame was just The Rock, Randy Savage, and Elizabeth, I'd be all for it.
-I think Cole/Lawler is done for now, but you just have to have that feeling that it will be revisited sooner rather than later.
-The RAW Mid-card is stacked with way too many young guys. Guys like Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston could be doing way more on Smackdown then they are currently doing on RAW.
-It's terrible to hear the bad shape that Scott Hall is apparently in. I wish nothing but the best for him, but the guy has demons that no one can help him with but himself. On Memorial Day in 1996, he started one of the biggest angles in wrestling history by showing up on Nitro. Hall was a good performer when he was on.
-What do I think Capitol Punishment is going to look like? How about this:
WWE Championship: John Cena vs C.M. Punk
World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton vs Christian vs Sheamus vs Mark Henry
Rey Mysterio vs R-Truth
Miz vs Alex Riley
Alberto del Rio vs Kane
Cody Rhodes vs Daniel Bryan
Thrown in a couple more mid-card matches, and it could be a good wrestling show.
That's all I have for today. I'm probably going to start working on a career piece soon. Thinking of doing one on Chris Jericho. The man deserves it.
Until next time,
Justin C
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