DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu - Predictions for 2008 + Royal Rumble Predictions
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 12:19 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #258

Welcome one and all to the 258th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Well, I wish I could say that I'm in a better mood this week, but while the week started off promising enough, my car & insurance problems seemingly get more frustrating as the days roll by. But as the old saying goes (or the one I just made up actually), it ain't over until the witty, charming & handsome man (that's me) gets the cheque (that's "check" for you North Americans) in his hands. Either way, I hope to be driving around in a new car by this time next week, it's just a matter of whether I have to take on some short-term debt to finance it.

I am well & truly back watching each of WWE's television shows now & feel better for the little break I had over the holiday season. Take note Vince McMahon as I'm sure your employees would feel better after a break as well. One man has dominated WWE programming of late & that is Jeff Hardy. I half feel that if I look up at any time of the day & in any setting, Jeff will go flying by! Talk about taking a filler feud & making it the highlight of WWE programming!

As for my column today, I may as well just hit myself over the head multiple times. Or even better, I can talk to my insurance company! Because that's what predicting a whole year ahead for WWE can be like. It used to be so much easier & you could even put me down for about a 50% strike rate. But I think those days may be long gone now & just to prove that, I will first look at my predictions for last year & see how they went, before attempting to predict some happenings for 2008. Needless to say, my 2007 predictions aren't flattering. Following that, I will attempt something a little easier & that is to predict the upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

With all that said, it's on with the predicting show.....


APPETIZERS

2007 Predictions In Retrospect

I used to enjoy taking a look back at my yearly predictions. It sort of made me feel accountable for what I write in my columns. I have no problem with admitting that my opinions are sometimes wrong & alternately I never mind telling people "I told you so". So in the lead up to my predictions for 2008, I thought I'd take a look back at the predictions I made for the past year of 2007. As I said in the introduction to this column, my strike rate was NOT good! My original predictions will be bolded, while my present comments regarding them will follow each prediction. Remember that I wrote these in January 2007 (in edition #214). If you would like to take a look at that column in full, you may do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007/articles/1169010236.php

- Not only will the brand extension continue, but ECW will remain a separate brand throughout 2007: I pretty much make a similar prediction to this every year & get it spot on. The brand extension isn't ending any time soon folks, although I'm unsure the same can safely be stated for the ECW brand.

- Despite rumors to the contrary, Rob Van Dam will re-sign with the WWE & stay on the ECW brand: This was an outside chance at the time, but I actually had a gut feeling he would remain with WWE & not cross over to TNA. The fact that RVD has yet to switch to TNA probably states that I was sort of on the right track, but the former ECW & WWE Champion obviously wanted a break from the rigors of professional wrestling to prove me wrong here.

- Bobby Lashley will hold the ECW World Title for the first half of the year at least: Unfortunately, he did not. I say "unfortunately" because of all people, the man to remove the title around Lashley's waist at Backlash was none other than Vince McMahon.

- In an attempt to cover the loss of Triple H, CM Punk will move to Raw some time during 2007: Nope, Punk is still on ECW & has been it's champion for quite some months now. It's probably a good thing as he wouldn't get a look in on Raw with the strength of its current roster.

- Following rehabilitation on his injured knee, Rey Mysterio will also switch to Raw where he will win the InterContinental Title: Nope, for as many switches over to Raw that there were in 2007, neither Punk or Mysterio have been one of them, with both remaining & flourishing on their home brands.

- Continuing the SmackDown exodus, Jillian Hall will move across to Raw where she will win the Women’s Title: I award myself half marks on this one, as Jillian did indeed move over to Raw (where you would think she is more suited). However, it seems that her Brittney Spears-like singing gimmick has completely taken over her & is the main focus of anything to do with her at present.

- Upon return from his quadriceps injury, Triple H will remain a face for the second half of 2007, but he will not win the WWE Championship by years end: Trust me when I said that this was my biggest & boldest prediction 12 months ago. Almost everyone felt that Triple H's face run would be short-lived while not winning a world title was simply out of the question. Upon writing this comment, I was about to give myself a huge pat on the back when I recalled what went on at the 'No Mercy' ppv. It was all a conspiracy against me... I'm certain of it!

- John Cena, Edge & Randy Orton will all be WWE Champions throughout the year: Once more, I was extremely close to being correct here, but circumstances (namely injuries to a number of SmackDown main-eventers) conspired to move Edge over to SmackDown so he can win the major title there.

- Batista, Ken Kennedy & The Undertaker will all be World HeavyWeight Champions throughout the year: As above, Kennedy's injury meant that Edge replaced him here.

- Before winning the Title, Ken Kennedy will win the King Of The Ring tournament (presuming it is held): There was no title win... There was no 'King Of The The Ring' tournament... There was no correct prediction here.

- Despite growing cheers & rumors to the contrary, both Kennedy & Finlay will remain heels throughout 2007: Oooh, what do the judges think here? Well, I was definitely correct with Kennedy who has remained a heel, but Finlay is a tough one. I suppose he has technically turned face. Or has he? I think I will just mark myself wrong on this prediction.

- Paul London & Brian Kendrick will split up as a regular team before the year ends: I am sort of glad I was wrong on this prediction, but unfortunately it hasn't helped this quality tag-team out of the under-used section of the WWE roster.

- Cryme Tyme will be named my 2007 Tag-Team of the Year: Well, either that or they will no longer be employed! Gee, I was close with this one, wasn't I?

- The Highlanders will be released from the WWE, while one of Sabu & Super Crazy will also be gone by years end: 1 out of 4 is not a passing grade unfortunately. Sabu is gone, but The Highlanders & Super Crazy are still there (doing not much at all).

- Without Edge vs Triple H, the WWE will once more turn to an Edge vs Cena feud & it will be named my feud of the year for the 2nd year running: Injuries all over the place (including to both these men) conspired against this feud even becoming a possibility.

- MVP will continue to improve & be named my 2007 Rookie of the year in November. Daniel Rodimer & Harry Smith will also rate highly: Daniel who? Well, he wrestled a few times on Heat, but even that wasn't enough for me to rank him in my Rookie Rankings. Meanwhile, Smith debuted a lot later than expected & didn't qualify. MVP was a no-brainer for Rookie Of The Year though.

- Lance Cade will finally earn some sort of a push & be a contender for Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: I suppose Cade did get some kind of a push with a tag titles reign alongside Trevor Murdoch, but it wasn't as big as I was predicting. Furthermore, while he did improve a little, I did not consider him for the 'Most Improved' year-end award.

- Practically all internet fans will despise Vladimir Kozlov & his push will falter after initially getting a World Title shot: Who? Actually, I am pretty certain this guy still has a WWE contract. The fact that he wasn't promoted to one of the main rosters during 2007 should tell us something. Even still, I suppose I was very wrong on this prediction.

- Hulk Hogan will wrestle on the WrestleMania 23 card, while at least one other big name will return for the show in either a wrestling or non-wrestling capacity: Wrong & wrong, unless we can count Donald Trump as returning to WrestleMania after a ringside appearance at earlier shows.

- TNA will continue on surviving at their current rate, but their inroads into the WWE monopoly will be minimal at best: I think it's fair to state I called this one correctly. Even if you think I haven't, cut me some slack due to the terrible strike rate shown above!


MAIN - 2008 Predictions

Nothing too complicated here folks. In point form, I will state 20 of my predictions for the year 2008, most of which will probably be wrong if 2007 is anything to go by:

- TNA will continue on surviving at their current rate, but their inroads into the WWE monopoly will be minimal at best.

- Not only will the brand extension continue, but ECW will remain a separate brand throughout 2007.

- Bobby Lashley will turn heel.

- CM Punk will turn heel.

- Kelly Kelly will be moved over to Raw.

- Super Crazy & Charlie Haas will not be with WWE come the end of the year

- Candice Michelle will be the one to end Beth Phoenix's title reign.

- Ric Flair will indeed be retired, but after a hiatus away will return as an on-air non-wrestling character in some way.

- A Feud between John Cena & JBL will take up most of the middle part of the year & keep Cena away from the WWE Championship.

- Randy Orton, Triple H & John Cena will be WWE Champions.

- Rising stars Jeff Hardy, Mr. Kennedy & MVP will NOT win a major world title.

- WWE will realize the obvious & send more wrestlers from Raw to SmackDown compared to the other way around.

- Umaga & Carlito will be 2 of the names moving to SmackDown.

- Edge & The Undertaker will be the only 2 World HeavyWeight champions.

- Theodore Long returns to managing as he enters a feud of sorts against Vicki Guerrero & Edge.

- The Coach will not last the year out as color commentator on SmackDown.

- The Great Khali will survive the entire year & not be released, but will take some time off during 2008.

- Gregory Helms will return as a face after WWE documents the trouble caused by his neck surgery.

- Harry Smith will bounce back & edge out Kofi Kingston to be named my Rookie of the Year.

- Las Vegas to be named the host city for WrestleMania 25


DESSERT

Royal Rumble Predictions

MVP vs RIC FLAIR: This match-up sort of makes me feel better about my predicting abilities. A while back, I actually had a readers poll as to who would be Ric Flair's final opponent at WrestleMania 24. The idea for this poll came after I thought long & hard about who it should be. And while I actually changed my mind later (to HBK), my initial (rather unpopular) answer was MVP. The fact that this match (I wouldn't even call it a feud) has popped out of nowhere sort of makes me feel as if there was actually a thought of MVP being put over as the man to retire Flair. Having said that, he won't be doing it here & I am pretty certain that The Nature Boy will escape from this bout victorious, whether it be by hook, crook, countout or DQ. The quality of the match will be ok, but the feud hasn't really been built up sufficiently to have it end up anything special. Winner: Ric Flair

CHRIS JERICHO vs JBL: I'm thinking negatively here & predicting that at least 5 minutes will be taken up by JBL's entrance (possibly including balloons, streamers, mic work & pyro that blinds the audience for the remainder of the night). I say that because I just get this scary feeling that most of the televised time that the returning JBL gets over the next few months will be stretched out way too long. And lord help us if he ever gets into a feud with Triple H during 2008!

Anyway, back to this match-up, the mic work of these 2 over the past few weeks has been very good & brings enough heat to this feud to suggest that it will carry on through to this bout rather effectively. Y2J proved to us at Armageddon that he could still go in the ring, but how will JBL fare on his return? I'm guessing the match will be booked in a way to hide any ring rust... JBL will dominate the majority of the bout with the usual heel tactics & this should result in a solid, but only sporadically entertaining match. As for the result, I think JBL will end out on top, but will he take it too far & get disqualified. Possibly, but I prefer to predict clean finishes, so... Winner: JBL

CHAVO GUERRERO vs CM PUNK for the ECW Title: This match-up was not actually official as at the time of me writing this, but these 2 seem to be wrestling each other every week, so I'd say that there is a fair chance that this will occur. Plus, what would be the point of the ECW Champion being in the Rumble? I've written in my column about Chavo in years gone past... To cut a long story short, I believe him to be an above-average wrestler, but one which does not deserve to be anywhere near a World Title due to a number of factors. Personally, this feud has done absolutely nothing for me over the past 3-4 weeks & the fact that it literally came out of nowhere probably didn't help. Obviously, neither does Chavo’s recent title win. This will be solid, but nothing more. Hell, it may even be ordinary as ECW Title matches on ppv in the past have been rather short & Chavo is a wrestler that tends to work his way into bouts come the 10 minute mark. Whatever its quality, I'm going to rule with my heart over my head here & predict that Punk will win his title back almost immediately. Winner: CM Punk

EDGE vs REY MYSTERIO for the World HeavyWeight Title: It's sort of a shame, but we may never get a full feud between these 2 with the deserved amount of build-up. I'm not saying that it won't happen as there is even a chance it could occur later in 2008, but you just get the feeling that any pairing between these 2 in the future could be for filler or for transitional purposes. Even here, fans are wondering why the hell Edge's feuds with either The Undertaker or Batista simply did not continue to follow their logical course. Furthermore, the likelihood of Rey emerging victorious here is slim. That doesn't mean we won't see a top quality match here as the sky could be the limit with these 2. Hopefully, they are given a sufficient amount of time to show their talent. Winner: Edge

RANDY ORTON vs JEFF HARDY for the WWE Championship: If I can quote myself from the introduction to this column; "Talk about taking a filler feud & making it the highlight of WWE programming"! This feud has been a genuine surprise & a half. And while both men definitely deserve credit, how fresh has it been to see someone like Jeff Hardy not only in the main-event, but lifting his game for a main-event feud. You can't tell me that he isn't turning heads right now... Both those of the fans & WWE. Of course, around this time of year, plans are plans. So I doubt he will actually pop the crowd huge here by winning the title, but I can see that he has done enough to extend the feud (probably to a rematch at 'No Way Out').

The best way to do this may be to give Jeff a DQ or countout win... But as many of my readers pointed out last month, it is getting a little ridiculous as to how many of Orton's matches are not finishing clean of late, so I would suggest that this is not a wise way to proceed. As for the quality of this bout, the drama will surely be there, it's just a matter of these 2 wrestlers being crisp & keeping relatively error free. I am quietly confident they can do the job, especially since the main singles match at this ppv occasionally doesn't extend past 15 minutes in length (although Cena vs Umaga went 23 in 2007). Winner: Randy Orton

THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH: While the overall pay-per-view was pretty darn good in 2007, I was a little disappointed in the Royal Rumble match itself. Don't get me wrong, it was still its usual solid & entertaining self, but I felt it didn't make proper use of the first half hour to (a) start or further feuds, (b) entertain and (c) push anyone of note. Last year's Rumble pretty much revolved around the final 4 participants & was arguably one of the best endings for a decade or so. I hope WWE doesn't fall into that same trap this year though as there is so much potential in what they can do in the first half of the match. Of course, even if they do fall into the trap again, the match will still be worth the price of admission.

As for potential winners, barring the always probable mystery entrants and/or screwjob endings, I really only see 4 potential winners here; Shelton Benjamin, Triple H, Batista or The Undertaker. Benjamin is the man WWE could go with if they want to finally have a winner out of the box. It would achieve a multitude of things, but I just can't see it happening as his push simply doesn't look as if it is taking off as it should in ECW. If Triple H is in the match, he is a chance... It's as simple as that. But you get the feeling that he will be screwed out of the win by Vince & possibly cohorts. It wouldn't at all surprise me if Batista won the Rumble, especially since it would make storyline sense for him to challenge either Edge or Randy Orton at WrestleMania 24. This would give WWE weeks of programming that would literally write itself. But I'm going to be boring & suggest we will see a back to back Rumble win for The Undertaker here. It just makes the most sense to me & is too good to pass up. Obviously though, I would like to see him enter no later than #20. Winner: The Undertaker

Ok, there is 'The Royal Rumble' as it currently stands. I added in the ECW Title match on top of the 5 bouts that have already been announced. If there was to be another match added (or one instead of Punk vs Chavo), I'm guessing it would be a Woman's Title Match involving Beth Phoenix against Mickie James. If this was to be the case, Mickie's current character swing would continue & Beth would emerge with title intact. On paper the card is a sort of 2 edged sword, but that is often the case with this event. I can't say it looks a strong card, but at the same time, I may be suggesting that due to the predictability of some of the results. Maybe it is in fact a strong card as all 5 of the official matches can easily achieve a rating of 8 out of 10 if they were to fulfill their potential. But as we all know, if it doesn't all come together on the night, then a piece of paper means nothing when it comes to professional wrestling. Fingers crossed that we get a good strong show that leads us on the 'Road To WrestleMania'.


COFFEE

Calling For 2008 Reader Predictions

As I said earlier on in this column, it’s always fun writing my annual predictions. It gets the brain ticking along on numerous facets of WWE programming. And I don’t doubt that the WWE do think ahead with a lot of their booking, even though it doesn’t always show. Things such as who will be the world champions throughout the year is what I like doing. Of course, an injury or 5 can always pop up & spoil things.

Another fun aspect of this column is then getting predictions from all you guys over the following week. Amongst a few emails calling me “crazy” for some of my own predictions, most readers will throw in a few of their own. And they are always a good mix of humor, the obvious & realistic longshots. Furthermore, it gets my mind ticking over a little more in directions I may not have thought about on my own regarding WWE programming.

I recall that last year I had some absolute rippers of predictions sent in to me. Some had me laughing out loud, while others started me thinking about things that never even occurred to me previously. From memory, the strike rate of readers was just as bad as mine, so I suppose that makes me a feel little better about my abysmal 2007 predictions. But in amongst all those misses, there were indeed a few hits & some readers didn't hesitate to remind me of them during the year.

So what will 2008 have in store for us? There is no need to bombard me with 10+ predictions for this year. In fact, please don’t. Just list a maximum of 5 predictions that you feel will make for entertaining reading as such. Whether they are thought-provoking, funny or obvious, send them in & find out what I make of your crystal ball gazing. I will most probably do something similar to last year & list the 20 odd that strike the correct nerve with me. So get thinking & get typing…..


Well, that is edition #258 of ‘The Wrestling Menu’ finished up. Like I said, these annual predictions are always fun to write & I hope you enjoyed reading them today. If you would like to comment on my predictions for 2008 (I will ask you to cap that at a maximum of 5 as well please) and/or throw 5 of your own predictions at me, you are most welcome to do so by emailing me. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. 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=159

Next Wednesday in 'DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu', I will include the best of the best when it comes to predictions for 2008 from readers. I will also obviously have my review of what is arguably the most fun pay-per-view of the year to watch; The Royal Rumble. Other than that, something else will come your way 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.


Want to know what my Album of 2007 was? Simply click on the following link & then head to the ‘MUSIC’ section to look for my review: www.feeltheword.net/magazine


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2008

Exclusive To LordsOfPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com










***DIRECT LINK*** MUST SEE Gallery of TNA's ODB Doing What She DOES BEST!

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