DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Regal To Raw, SmackDown + ONStand Predictions
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 1:32 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #233

Welcome one and all to the 233rd edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Well, well, well, it appears as if we will be seeing the return of an old friend in a couple of week’s time. From all reports, the draft lottery is back after a year’s hiatus. Why it wasn’t held last year is still a mystery to me! But I must say that its return at this time does surprise me a little…

Firstly, I wouldn’t have thought that the recent policy of having their pay per views tri-branded would have lent itself to a greater need to have wrestlers switch brands. But more importantly & to the point, half the wrestlers switch brands on a weekly basis anyway. For example, who can remember which brands Bobby Lashley & Matt Hardy belong to? If you answered Raw for both of them, you are incorrect in both cases.

Despite these arguments against a draft lottery at this time, there are still way too many positives that can be achieved from it to not have it take place. So, even if it is a one-off ratings ploy, then good on the WWE for bringing it back. It’s always great for fan conjecture & for that reason, I may indeed have to waffle on about it in more detail next week.

Enough of the draft lottery for now & on with this weeks show…..


APPETIZERS – Regal To Raw?

Actually, this topic is linked to the draft lottery in some way as William (don’t call me Steven) Regal may very well make a move from SmackDown across to Raw during the draft lottery in a couple of weeks time. This has stemmed from a rumor/report that there has been talk of Regal requesting a move to the Monday night brand where he would subsequently be given a mini-push.

Now, as with most rumors floated around the internet regarding professional wrestling, I took the initial report with a grain of salt. However, whether Regal’s move occurs or not, the consistency of this rumor seems to suggest that there is some truth behind it & there is at least some thought of moving the man who was once the General Manager of Raw.

In some reports, it has been stated that Regal’s move has the blessing of Triple H, who has apparently played a greater part in creative & personnel decision since he has been out injured. While I hadn’t previously heard that HHH & Regal were close, it would not surprise me as Regal has been known to get close to the top guys in the business previously (EG: Austin & Foley), while being very respected backstage for both his work ethic & abilities.

So does DaveyBoy feel it would be a positive move for Regal to move to Raw in the near future…??? Personally, I am neutral on the potential transfer from Friday to Monday nights & actually feel it will have very little effect either way. As much as I know he has his fans, can still wrestle a great match & is still good on the mic, I don’t feel that Regal is as relevant to the industry as he was 5-10 years ago.

I wouldn’t say he has been jobbed to death over the past 3-5 years, but he has done a sufficient amount of jobbing to make any sort of push fall way short of the main-event. Furthermore, there is his old-school mat-based wrestling style that fits in on the Raw brand about as well as Mark Henry fits into the cruiserweight division! He has been decent on SmackDown of late as there have been the likes of Benoit & Finlay to play off, but any possible angle or feud on Raw would seem to be better placed backstage rather than in the ring to me.

Presuming that the WWE don’t return him to the position of General Manager (& I can’t see much point in that), the only positives I can really see from moving Regal to Raw is if Dave Taylor were to move with him & they were to compete in Raw’s tag-team division instead of SmackDowns. I suppose that does balance the heel/face tag-team ledger of the brands presuming Cade & Murdoch are actually slated to turn face full-time & the new country bumpkin team on SmackDown debut as heels.

So, in closing, I believe that a potential move to Raw for William Regal would be rather ineffectual & insignificant. While there may be some short-term gains from a storyline perspective, I actually feel it could be a medium-term negative due to the shorter match length & wrestling style prevalent on Raw.


MAIN – SmackDown Review

LOP’s SmackDown recapper Rudi has had some misfortune of late regarding his computer & wasn’t able to post a SmackDown review this past weekend, so here I am sort of filling in with my own unique take on everything that is Friday Night SmackDown. Actually, Rudi’s lack of a recap wasn’t the only reason why I wanted to post this… I actually really liked the show & wanted to highlight a few things. So, as always with my television show reviews, get ready for some point form & no ratings of any sorts.

- It wasn’t a bad opening promo from Edge, but it wasn’t anything special either. In fact, his promo the week before on SmackDown was one of the worst I have ever seen him deliver & reminded me of some of Triple H’s worst promos from back in the day. I think he is still finding his feet on a new brand & with a new World HeavyWeight Title reign, so I do expect that he will improve consistently. GM Teddy Long comes out to help by announcing a crowd-popping fatal fourway main-event for the night & a steel cage title match for the upcoming ppv.

- Our first match of the night is an unofficial #1 Contenders match for the WWE Tag-Team Titles between London/Kendrick & Regal/Taylor. Champs Deuce & Domino come out to watch proceedings & they get to see a very solid & passable entertaining bout that ends when Domino gets the heels disqualified by attacking London. This results in a great, if unoriginal, little brawl at ringside to set up a triple-threat title match for this coming Friday.

- A funny little backstage segment sees Edge struggling to catch up to Hornswaggle who has stolen his title. Edge obviously needs to work on his speed!

- Jillian Hall comes out & sings before getting wormed by Old Man Boogey & Little Boogey. This was a terrible segment & a huge waste of time. Both characters have run their course.

- Teddy Long then announces Vicki Guerrero as his new assistant. I’m interested where this storyline is heading & I think the WWE are too as my guess is that they are making this up as they go along.

- We are thankfully back in the ring for our 2nd match of the night that pits Matt Hardy vs The Miz. This may be a ridiculous statement, but Matt is almost turning into Chris Benoit with his ability to get good matches out of practically anyone. This was another good one that lasted above 10 minutes. Miz worked over Matt’s arm for a while before numerous back & forth sequences resulted in many false finishes towards the end. Matt looked great once more & even Miz proved that he was worth persevering with. The only concern here is Miz’s lack of a crowd reaction… He needs some sort of heel trait to get him fully over.

- Yet another in-ring segment follows, but what could have been another stinker practically turned out to be the highlight of the show! It was a celebration ceremony of sorts for MVP following his US Title win at Judgment Day. It was the usual podium, balloon & convertible type of set-up. But what wasn’t in any way usual was MVP’s mic work. To say that he totally blew me away with this performance is an understatement. Whether he was talking to the crowd or to Chris Benoit, he added intensity to his cocky character that not only served him well on the night, but should do so in the future as well. He was just so comfortable & clear on the mic, while adding extra dimensions to his character. Of course, without saying a word, Benoit assisted the segment well.

- Timbaland’s music video is up next & I actually like it as I am a bit of a fan of The Hives. The comic book video is half decent as well. Of course, I didn’t really need to see it 3 times in the same week!

- Holy cow… It’s a singles match for the cruiserweight title. I haven’t seen one of those since… Well, I can’t remember when the last time was. As it turned out, this ended up being a non-title bout. And as soon as we found that out, we knew that Jimmy Wang Yang would defeat Chavo Guerrero here. The tri-branding of ppvs may mean that this type of match is left off those events, but if you are going to have such a bout as this on free tv, at least give it some build up & hype. As for this particular match, it was pretty ho-hum with Chavo keeping the bout mat-based for the most part.

- The Fatal Fourway main-event where Batista defeated Kane, Finlay & Mark Henry to earn a title shot at One Night Stand was solid in every way. It was perfectly acceptable for a television main-event & probably provided a touch more than that when all was said & done. Batista received a strong face reaction throughout so that probably thwarts any imminent heel turn that some fans may have been hoping for. Let’s just hope that he & Edge can now do better than their Judgment Day performance within the confines of a steel cage at One Night Stand.

Overall, I felt this was an above-average episode of SmackDown, despite the fact that there weren’t as many matches as usual. There was quite a bit of stuff thrown at the wall in terms of promos & while most didn’t work, it was saved by the excellent MVP/Benoit performance. Of the 4 matches, only the cruiserweight bout fell flat & even that wasn’t all that bad. So all in all, I can’t ask for anything more than what we were served up here on free television.


DESSERT – One Night Stand Predictions

Please note that at the time of posting, only 8 of the below bouts had been officially announced. However, the match I have listed as the ppv opener has been rumored to take place on this card over the past week or so.

MVP vs CHRIS BENOIT for the United States Title: Their fantastic promo on SmackDown & involvement in a tag match during Saturday Night’s Main Event suggests that these 2 will lock up once more. This will probably be the last match between the 2 for the foreseeable future & I am expecting some sort of gimmick to be added to fit into the pay-per-view. Although, I am unsure what that gimmick is. Maybe it will be an Inferno Hell In A Cell Buried Alive match! Whatever it is, their consistency suggests that this match is likely to be as good as their previous encounters. And I am also fairly confident that MVP will emerge with his title reign intact. Winner: MVP

TOMMY DREAMER, CM PUNK & THE SANDMAN vs ELIJAH BURKE, MARCUS CORVON & MATT STRIKER in a 6 Man Tag-Team Tables Match: Decent enough match-up & while the ECW originals vs New Breed storyline has been put on the backburner of late, it is still sufficiently fresh in our minds to give reason to this bout. Furthermore, we haven’t seen a tables match for a while, so it should play out freshly enough. And there is no reason why this can’t be decent as long as Dreamer, Sandman & Striker are used as bit-part players to pop the crowd in short bursts. It would be wise for Punk, Burke & Corvon to carry the workload. Hopefully, this will also be given at least 10 minutes, or else it may come off purely as filler similarly to the Wrestlemania 23 bout that involved a few of these guys. The result also has some unpredictability about it. The balance of this particular card (& the fact that Punk won at Judgment Day) suggests a heel win, but I would have to think that the angle involving Striker & the New Breed has to be moved along now, so I will go with gut feeling here. Winners: Dreamer, Punk & Sandman

ROB VAN DAM vs RANDY ORTON in a Stretcher Match: I am betting that this match practically came about by accident as I think that RVD vs Snitsky would have been the planned match-up originally. But since the WWE came up with the Randy Orton/HBK concussion angle in order to explain Shawn Michaels’ absence from the ring for many months, they have obviously thought to run with the angle for Orton. RVD will pretty much get pummeled into oblivion here & it wouldn’t even surprise me if this played out similarly to the Orton vs HBK bout from Judgment Day. My guess is that it will be a touch longer though. Winner: Randy Orton

THE HARDYZ vs CHARLIE HAAS & SHELTON BENJAMIN in a Ladder Match for the World Tag-Team Titles: I still think a match-up such as this deserves a whole lot more build-up & hype than the feeble amount it has received. But I suppose I should be thankful that we are getting good quality tag-team title matches in the division full stop! This bout could very easily steal the show, especially if Benjamin is in a mood to prove the WWE wrong & give stepping up another shot. Of course, who knows how handcuffed he will be here… If the reports are correct, there will be no shooting star presses or 450 splashes, so who knows what other moves he is forbidden to perform! The result is fairly predictable here as if Cade & Murdoch are to turn heel once more, I can’t see it being done here. Winners: The Hardyz

KANE vs MARK HENRY in a LumberJack Match: This was the obvious feud to keep Mark Henry busy upon return, but you can hardly call this a feud. It’s more like a last minute match out of nowhere. And with separate title matches involving Batista & The Great Khali elsewhere on the card, I would hardly think that the WWE are going to go out of their way to make anything about this bout special. So folks, settle in for one boring big man match coming your way. As for the result, I would expect Henry to be built up for an upcoming feud with Batista. Winner: Mark Henry

VINCE McMAHON vs BOBBY LASHLEY In A ‘Streetfight’ for the ECW World Title: It may sound strange, but this one on one match-up has more chance of being a total clusterf**k than the 3 on 1 handicap bouts that we have witnessed at the previous 2 ppv events! Every man & his dog should be expected to run in here & I think we may be asking too much for Lashley to finish off Vince in a minute the way he did to Shane at Judgment Day. This could be really entertaining or really bad. As for the result, nothing would surprise me since Vince & ECW are involved in the same sentence, but surely it is best to put the title back on big Bobby! Winner: Bobby Lashley

MELINA vs CANDICE MICHELLE in a Non-Title Pudding Match: Oh boy, I don’t know what to think about this one. A pudding match sounds like something that could go down in history for all the wrong reasons! The fact that this is a non-title match tells me that it is a preview to a feud that will most probably culminate at the Vengeance ppv with a title bout. So that means that Candice wins here. Winner: Candice Michelle

JOHN CENA vs THE GREAT KHALI In A ‘Falls Count Anywhere’ Match for the WWE Championship: This is sort of a clever idea from the WWE, although the end result will be bad. This is the way I look at it; This match will practically be the same as their bout at Judgment Day… Except that it will be stretched out a little because they will brawl through the crowd, with fists, fists & more fists. Now how does that sound familiar? That’s right, the numerous over-rated similar matches that the original ECW used to have like that. So, then when the ECW faithful say this is crap, the WWE can come back with “But you ate exactly the same thing up when it was Taz & Bam Bam doing it”. Anyway, Cena wins here, most likely with the aid of a weapon shot of some sort. Winner: John Cena

EDGE vs BATISTA in a ‘Steel Cage’ Match for the World HeavyWeight Title: Call me naïve, but I actually feel this match has a good shot at being the main-event of the night… Of course, it probably won’t be as it has nothing to do with the Raw brand! Unfortunately, during the SmackDown episode reviewed above, nothing further was really added to this feud, so whatever story Edge is attempting to convey with that confusing look of his when confronted by the Animal is doing nothing but confusing us. Hopefully, something positive concerning this feud will come out of this Friday’s episode! The cage match gimmick here should help the quality of the bout as it suits Batista’s style, while Edge has taken part in quite a few good quality cage matches previously. On a sidenote, imagine the reactions received by each man if this match had taken place in Toronto. As it is though, Batista will likely get a huge pop, but it will all be to no avail when it comes to the result. Winner: Edge

Ok, so there is the third stand of ‘One Night Stand’ as it currently stands. That’s practically too many stands in the same sentence to stand! 8 matches should round the event out, but I have listed a 9th just in case. On the night, the show may turn out just fine as the match-ups aren’t exactly terrible when viewed in isolation. But in reality, there simply wasn’t sufficient time to build this event up appropriately & that could weaken the effect of some of the bouts. I am guessing that this short time between pay-per-views is also partially the reason as to why this card has been turned into an all-gimmick match show & that is probably a wise promotional move by the WWE. Conclusion: Anything can be the result & I have my fingers crossed that it will be good.


That is all for column #233. 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, and I am sure that my thoughts on William Regal & SmackDown will also have some relevance. 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=6.

And while you are on the LOP Forums, why don't you check out my weekly contributions to the Album Review thread. So far, I have reviewed 2 albums each by groups such as My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rise Against & Razorlight. Just click on the following link & scroll down: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=99&page=2.

I have gone from struggling to find enough topics to write about one week to having too many to choose from in coming weeks. So I can’t guarantee anything next week in 'The Wrestling Menu', apart from my ‘One Night Stand’ Review. The lure of the draft lottery may be too difficult to refuse writing about presuming it appears as if it will go ahead. If so, that may mean that discussing these so-called “tri-branded” pay-per-views may have to wait yet another week. 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

Exclusive To LordsOfPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com










***DIRECT LINK*** The BILLION DOLLAR HOTTIE! Stephanie McMahon - HUGE NEW HOT GALLERY!!

• Quick Links -
  [Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]