DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu #215 – WM23, Readers 2007 + RRumble Predictions
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 12:20 AM EST
THE WRESTLING MENU #215
Welcome one and all to the 215th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.
I really have to stop asking for reader feedback… It ruins my week! Hehe… Well, it’s fair to say that my Inbox was bombarded once more over the past week. This time it was with reader predictions for the year ahead. There was fat chance I was going to keep them to 25 like I did last year! Anyway, if you haven’t yet had the time to read my annual predictions, you may still do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007/articles/1169010236.php
I can’t say I have that much more to add wrestling-wise here. I could talk about the WWE’s roster cuts, but I figure if I wait a week or two that there will be more, so I may as well be patient. I could also talk about Brad Armstrong’s unbelievably bad commentary on ECW, but it’s really not worth our time… So I will just move on…
Personally, I’ve been busy getting my hands on concert tickets by whatever means. Bottom line: I have 3 concerts to attend next week (My Chemical Romance, Muse & The Killers)!!! I think I haven’t been to 3 concerts in the past 3 years & now this! It’s crazy, but I guess I’m in a rocking type of mood.
So..... Let’s Rock!!!
APPETIZERS
Changed WM23 Plans?
Ever since Triple H injured his quadriceps at the ‘New Years Revolution’ pay-per-view, I have had consistent emails from wrestling fans asking me how much this injury is going to affect the WWE’s WrestleMania 23 plans. Most people’s initial thoughts were that this was a disastrous injury that could practically ruin the event… Or at the very least have plans imbalanced so much that we would not have seen as good an event as what was originally planned.
But to be honest, right from the injury, I have NOT been as worried. Don’t get me wrong, losing Triple H from such an important card obviously isn’t going to help it (well, it could, but I will explain that in a moment). But to me, Triple H shouldn’t have been the centerpiece for this year’s showcase anyway. Of course, everyone’s definition of centerpiece has to be examined there for the full effect to be told. Anyway, to prove what I am going on about, you will have to recall my original WrestleMania 23 card (as predicted on December-6): http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2006_/articles/1165381443.php
If you recall, I had Triple H in a non-title match against Edge. Personally, I felt this could have gone close to being the match of the night, so it’s almost silly to say the loss of Triple H won’t have an adverse affect on the card. But is it? You see, also on my card, I had Shawn Michaels in, what some would say, was an under-used position!
I personally liked the dynamic of having such an experienced superstar as HBK in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match, but readily admit that it could be seen as a little below him. So without Triple H, all that has to be done is to promote HBK to a singles match against Edge. It still makes sense booking-wise & could still be the match of the night… In fact, it probably has a better chance to! It doesn’t affect a Cena vs Orton title match or SmackDown’s title match, while there are a few candidates that could easily fill HBK’s spot in the Ladder Match. Super Crazy was one I have previously mentioned that would more than do the bout justice!
As for that little throwaway line that I mentioned earlier about the card possibly being better because Triple H won’t be at WrestleMania, well that comment was alluding to the rumors that the WWE were thinking of going with a second consecutive John Cena vs Triple H WrestleMania main-event. Personally, I disliked that idea. Not only would the face-heel dynamic be even stranger than last year (if that could be believed), but I just couldn’t see what they could add to their first effort to make it worthy of such a huge match-up.
Many readers have thrown the idea of Cena vs HBK into the hat. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of that either, but wouldn’t complain as much if that match-up occurred. Whether it’s because it’s fresher or would just be better quality (due to HBK’s involvement), I wouldn’t be as against that bout as long as it didn’t affect the balance of the other matches too badly.
But to conclude, I’d keep it simple & have Edge vs HBK backing up Cena vs Orton (still requiring accompaniment… possibly Vince McMahon & Donald Trump) on the Raw side of things. The only other option I see is to throw all 4 of them into a Fatal Fourway, but I’m guessing the WWE doesn’t like doing that for WrestleMania. A fourway wouldn’t be too bad, but the 2 singles matches will suffice, especially if the clever little build-up for a potential Undertaker vs Batista World HeavyWeight Title match continues as it has started, as that bout would most likely pick up a little of the promoting/selling load for the card
MAIN – 2007 Reader Predictions
Like I said at the beginning of this column, I wanted to choose the best 25 predictions for the coming year that were sent in by my readers. But I got so darn many emails that this was going to be impossible right from the beginning. So that number has blown out to 50!!! I have left out many obvious & duplicate predictions & gone with the following. Please note that they are in no real order, although I have (poorly) attempted to group them to some extent.
- Kenny to turn face & become Flair’s Protégé (Meddings_3)
- Kennedy will move to Raw & win the WWE Championship (NowThatsCool316)
- Kevin Thorn & Ariel will move to either Raw or SmackDown (Mr Darkside)
- Chris Masters will move to SmackDown & feud with Batista (Donnie)
- Either Jeff Hardy or Johnny Nitro will be moved to SmackDown where they will get a push that possibly involves main-event matches. (Mark T)
- Vicki Guerrero will be involved in a match, but won’t be in the WWE by years end (Mr Darkside)
- Christopher Daniels will end up in the WWE (IH8HulkHogan)
- Umaga will turn face & feud with The Great Khali who will be managed by AAE (Ziggety)
- When someone defeats John Cena for the WWE Championship, the WWE will revert to the old-style belt. (Brian W)
- John Cena will lose the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, turn heel & not regain the title (Brett P)
- HBK will win the Royal Rumble, lose to Cena at WM23, but defeat him in a rematch. (Geoff)
- For the first time since 1999, the Royal Rumble winner will not win a World Title at WrestleMania (Sean C)
- Kurt Angle will suffer a major injury & blame the WWE upon his return (Ryan N)
- The Big Show makes a triumphant return to Raw & wins the WWE Championship. (Jack J)
- Booker T will ditch the King Booker character & Sharmell will turn on him. (Sean)
- Kane will defeat Batista & have a short World HeavyWeight Title reign. (Sean)
- Matt will turn on Jeff during their feud with MnM (Sean)
- Little Ba$tard will turn into Little Boogeyman (Jason Jrg)
- Kevin Federline will run out of money & return to the WWE (Matt B)
- CM Punk will still not be allowed to pedigree an opponent off the top rope. (Mark D)
- Ron Simmons is in the Hall Of Fame class, headlined by Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage. (Brett P)
- Owen Hart to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame (Mark D)
- Ric Flair will be inducted into the Hall Of Fame while still being an active wrestler. (Stu N)
- Hall of Fame inductees will include Sgt Slaughter, Arn Anderson & Dusty Rhodes. (Mark T)
- Neither Randy Savage or The Ultimate Warrior will be inducted into the Hall Of fame. (Nicholas R)
- The Zombie gets an ECW Title shot at a new ECW PPV called “May To Dismay”. (Brett P)
- Another title will be introduced in ECW & CM Punk will be the first to hold it. (ThePeoplesPeep)
- Mick Foley will play a big part in helping to resurrect the ECW brand. (Bryan A)
- The Hardcore Title will return on the ECW brand. (Jason)
- Coach will get demoted after a stunt to make Vince happy goes horribly wrong. Coach will likely be involved in ECW as the possible GM while someone else will eventually assume the GM title of Raw. (GVI)
- Ric Flair will retire after Survivor Series (Marek)
- Batista & Rey Mysterio will be SmackDown tag-team champions. (Jamie A)
- The Rock will return towards the end of the year & wrestle against John Cena (DeWayne)
- Chris Jericho will return to the WWE as a top heel & feud with the current World Champ on Raw (PhillyPhan12)
- A Junior Hart Foundation will form consisting of Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart & Teddy Hart. They will feud with Vince McMahon. (Starkman88)
- There will be no first time WWE or World HeavyWeight Champions in 2007. (Homero)
- Mark Henry will move to ECW & win the World Title. (Tigger7)
- Joey Styles will be fired. (Jaysun L)
- An old WCW PPV name will take over from a current WWE PPV. (Jaysun L)
- DaveyBoy’s tag-team of the year is NOT currently a tag-team. (Jason F)
- The Miz will win a title & quickly lose it. (Jason F).
- Triple H’s return will be built up as the biggest thing of the year. (Dan M)
- WWE fans will endure the most tragic title run of all time as The Great Khali wins a major title. (Nobby)
- Batista will turn heel & end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania winning streak. (Richard G)
- Whoever win the Money In The Bank match will not win the title upon cashing it in. (Mr Darkside)
- CM Punk will be brought in to replace Triple H as the new member of DX. (Snowman)
- Melina & Mickie Jame’s real-life feud will set back the Women’s Division to the point that Kevin Dunn suggests that women should only be eye candy. (SickFixx)
- Either Benoit or Batista will turn heel, setting up a program with each other for the World Title. (Olav S)
- The APA will re-unite… They'll have a few matches, but it will mainly involve back stage skits. (Naz250)
- ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin returns for a short period to promote his movie & has an interesting turn of events with John Cena. (Lance B)
DESSERT
Royal Rumble Predictions
THE HARDYZ vs MnM: I’m almost certain that this match will open proceedings & it should be a damn good bout too. In fact, without a stipulation or gimmick as such, I can see this being fairly similar to their ‘December 2 Dismember’ opener from about 6 weeks back. If anything, there will be more storyline involved here, with the obvious face scarring angle being prominent. Hopefully, that allows the match more time to play out, but doesn’t put too much of a dampener on the pace & acrobatics of this bout. I think the correct balance can be achieved, presuming that Joey Mercury is indeed fit enough to wrestle near full capacity. As for the result, if it has any relevance at all, it depends on whether or not this feud(s) will continue in some way, shape or form. I say it will on SmackDown at the very least & the best way to go is a heel victory. I think it is MnM’s turn to win anyway. Winners: MnM
BOBBY LASHLEY vs TEST for the ECW World Title: I really have no idea why the triple-threat match involving Rob Van Dam wasn’t left until this event, but anyway… Test has continued to surprise with his quality of performances on the ECW brand & I really don’t feel he is out of place in this title match here. In fact, his matches with RVD during the latter half of 2006 were surprisingly some of the best of the year on free television! Can he do the same with the different style of Lashley? Probably not, but I think this could still be half-decent. This wouldn’t want to be too long of a bout, but also needs a sufficient duration to let some sort of a story play out; 10-12 minutes sounds about right to me. As I mentioned last week in my annual predictions, I see Lashley holding the title for the first 6 months of the year, so he obviously retains here. Winner: Bobby Lashley
JOHN CENA vs UMAGA in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship: There is a slight chance this could main-event the card, but I personally don’t think it should. I have been a critic of ‘Last Man Standing’ matches as I really am not a fan of seeing countless 8 counts throughout a bout. Plus, it sort of contradicts normal matches as someone may kick out of a move at 2, where-as they stay down for an 8 count in this type of match. But when used correctly, they can be effective & this may turn out to be one of those cases. It really stacks the odds against Cena seeing as though he got a quick rollup victory at NYRevolution. Does that make it a little unrealistic that he could earn a 10 count here? Well, that depends to what lengths he goes to. If Cena can match his TLC performance from Unforgiven ’06, then this may just come off. I’m not totally counting out a short Umaga title reign, but it’s hard to go against SuperMan… I mean Cean… here. Winner: John Cena
BATISTA vs KEN KENNEDY for the World HeavyWeight Title: This also has a small chance of being the main-event of the night, especially if The Undertaker gets involved. The way the WWE have built up this little 3 way tussle between Batista, Kennedy & ‘Taker has been quite clever & very effective… Especially if it leads to a Batista vs ‘Taker (or even a triple-threat) title match at WrestleMania 23. The previous PPV match between these 2 was actually quite decent as they put some psychology towards it. Can they do that again with a little variety? It will be difficult, but Kennedy seems to have this knack of providing successful results. They wouldn’t want to drag this out too long though. As for the result, I really don’t see Kennedy winning the title this early on in 2007. Winner: Batista
ROYAL RUMBLE BATTLE ROYAL: I am not a strong supporter of this match always main-eventing this pay-per-view, but I believe it should this year due to the unpredictability factor. For once, there have been no leaks as to the winner & I genuinely believe that at least 4 men have a strong shot of emerging victorious. Those wrestlers are Edge, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker. With a card looking heavily stacked towards face wins, either member of Rated RKO should theoretically have a great shot of winning here. While the fact that the event is in San Antonio immediately puts HBK up there with a strong chance.
All 4 are possible winners when looking at potential WrestleMania match-ups, but looking specifically at my WM 23 card (switching ‘Taker for Kennedy), I will have to say that the winner will either be Orton or The Undertaker. It’s a real toss-up too, as I think the other will simply earn their position through a mini-tournament or something similar. Since SmackDown had the last one, I suggest that it is Raw’s turn next. Therefore, I’ll predict the dead man to win his first ever Royal Rumble & add to his already impressive repertoire. Plus, it makes more sense when setting up a reason for a face vs face match. No matter the victor, this will be as fun to watch as always. Winner: The Undertaker
Ok, so there is the Royal Rumble as it currently stands. There will either be a filler match (which I have no idea what it could be… maybe a Woman’s Title match) added to the card at the last moment, or (as the event has had a history of) some kind of long segment that I will have to rate. The Royal Rumble was very disappointing last year, so hopefully it can bounce back in 2007. With the line-up as it stands, I couldn’t see why not & am definitely anticipating a fun & entertaining show.
That is all for column #215. If you would like to send me feedback on any of the 3 topics that I have discussed today, you may do so by emailing me at DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. My PPV Predictions are always popular in discussion. As per usual, I will reply to everyone. But if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=2
Next week in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will obviously have my ‘Royal Rumble’ Review up for all to read. I may also throw in a Raw review for the night after, as I can see the road to Wrestlemania really kicking into gear on that show. I’ve got a couple of ideas floating around for a 3rd topic, but am still to decide what will eventually make the grade. As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.
DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007
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