DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – JDay Predictions, Swerves + My New Side Project
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 1:13 AM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #269

Welcome one and all to the 269th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

This feels a little strange on a weekend. For years now I have humorously given myself the title of Mr Wednesday Morning because that is when I almost always post my column here on LOP. But Mr.Saturday Morning just doesn't have the same ring to it I think. Maybe because I very rarely know that a Saturday morning exists. Ahhh, weekend sleep-ins, you gotta love them.

Speaking of weekend sleep-ins, I am practically off on vacation as soon as I log off on posting this column. I mainly will be taking it easy up in the northern half of Australia where it is hopefully a lot warner than it is in my home city of Melbourne right now. So you will not be seeing my column for a few weeks on any day of the week.

The date you are likely to see edition #270 of 'DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu' is the final day of this month; Saturday the 31st of May. If all goes to plan, I will have my predictions for 'One Night Stand' and possibly my 'Judgment Day' review in that column. No promises though.

In the meantime, I am asking readers to NOT send any feedback concerning this column to me. I don't want that in conjunction with the huge amount of spam I get to fill up my Inbox. I am certain you understand my predicament.

On with the show.....


APPETIZERS

Swerves for the Sake of Swerving

This is another column topic I have been meaning to write about since WrestleMania 24. At the time it was probably going to be a predominantly positive piece about 70-30. But now, I'm not so certain on that. In fact, it may have even slipped back as far as 50-50 with regards to how positive I am on the subject and the section heading probably suggests even less than that. Like a kid with a new toy, I wonder if WWE just haven't got a little too caried away with the swerves they have handed us fans of late.

Let us take this one step at a time beginning from January of this year. Of course, towards the end of that month, a show called 'The Royal Rumble' took place and I have prematurely called the main-event the match of 2008 already! The most obvious reason for that was the shocking return, and ultimate victory, of John Cena. To say it was one of those magic moments that wrestling fans remember for a long time is an understatement. And I specifically recall even Cena haters praising WWE for the way they went about it all to pull off such a memorable moment.

Apter from the fact that most people thought that Cena was still 3 months away from returning, I think there was another major factor which made his return so effectively memorable... The fact that there had not been such a surprising return for quite some time (Matt Hardy would have been the previous off the top of my head).

If we think back during the history of WWE, I can assure you that there have been times where they have overused a certain strategy, whether that be returning wrestlers, heel or face turns or whatever else. Hell, even smaller things such as referee bumps can fall into this category as when I saw one at a crucial stage of the WrestleMania 24 main-event between Edge & The Undertaker, I actually stopped & thought for a moment as to when the previous ref bump had occurred! As with most things in professional wrestling, when something is being overused, it simply doesn't have the desired impact & effect on the audience.

But the main concern I have at the moment with WWE is the fact that they may have gone overboard with regards to some of the latest match results. While I use the word "swerve" very broadly as by definition it can also include turns & the like, I actually feel that it is also relevant with some of the match victors of late. Don't get me wrong, there have always been unpredictable results and I have always been strongly in favor of unpredictability in wrestling, but I can't help but get the feeling there have been a few too many logic-defying swerves of late.

Exhibit A is clearly Randy Orton's victory at WrestleMania 24. For weeks, reports had suggested that the triple-threat match for the WWE Championship would be the main-event of the evening. That almost automatically meant that either Triple H or John Cena would win the title. Yet, Orton won. And then he lost the title to Triple H 4 weeks later! What was the purpose of it all? Well, in my opinion, it was pure and simply to swerve the fans into thinking that sometimes they are just plain wrong (recalling that only 8% of fans answering a poll question thought that Orton would retain his title).

To a lesser extent, there have unfortunately been further examples of this worrying pattern. Mickie James' defeat of Beth Phoenix to win the Women's Title in London! And the latest being William Regal winning 3 separate matches to win the King of the Ring tournament. How long did it take Regal to win his preceding 3 matches? 6 months maybe.

Don't get me wrong in thinking that I have anything severely against these occurences in isolation, because I don't. On their own and removed from the other instances, they are just fine and indeed add to the unpredictability of WWE's product. But when grouped in a cluster as they have been, I can't help but get the feeling that they are not only diluting the effectiveness of each situation, but actually being counter-productive to the product as a whole as realism and logic are arguably thrown out the window.

So if the WWE is reading, I implore them to space these surprises out more so that when they do occur, their impact can truly be felt by us fans. And if these happenings are better reacted to by the fans, then who is to say that it cannot actually make or break a wrestler then and there!


MAIN

'Judgment Day' Predictions

JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ vs KANE & CM PUNK for the WWE Tag-Team Championships: It seems that ECW's latest trick is to simply book matches out of pretty much nowhere. This could actually be a terrific feud had it involved weeks of storyline leading up to a ppv match. Having said that, it still could be rather good in the ring if given the appropriate time. The tag champs have continued on their impressive way of late, while the 2 faces both bring a variety of offense to the table which should mean that this bout will not get bogged down too much. The randomness of this match-up leads me to believe that WWE has an idea they are heading towards here. I am not too confident as to what it is, but I am thinking it may be to put the tag titles on Chavo & Bam, so... Winners: Kane & CM Punk

SHAWN MICHAELS vs CHRIS JERICHO: This is another storyline where I really am unsure where WWE is heading. We all know that these 2 can get it done in the ring as we saw them put together a fine match on the biggest stage of them all not so long ago. But will the angle of HBK's injured knee allow this to be anything too special...??? I do NOT think it can. Either Y2J gets a relatively easy win here or HBK gets beat down for the majority of the bout until pulling Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere for the victory. I will go with the latter! Winner: Shawn Michaels

JBL vs JOHN CENA: I actually don't mind the way that JBL is being booked strongly at present, but like his ascent to SmackDown main-eventer a few years back, it has all been done way too quickly for my liking. So at this stage of his push, I just don't find myself anticipating this kind of match-up with Cena as much as I should. Hell, I even think it is under-using Cena to a large extent. This bout could actually be a train-wreck of sorts and it is difficult seeing it being too entertaining due to the wrestling styles both men bring to the table. Furthermore, if the crowd predominantly boo Cena here, then the dynamic of this match could also be thrown out to make matters worse. It will be interesting to see how WWE bok this bout. Result-wise, anything could happen... Even a DQ or No Result kind of finish, but to play it safe... Winner: John Cena

THE UNDERTAKER vs EDGE for the World HeavyWeight Title: While quite a lot has happened over on SmackDown in the World HeavyWeight Title scene over the past month, the result is another title bout involving these two. Fair enough I suppose as the storyline justifies it. That storyline has now moved towards the banning of Taker's new submission choke-hold. Such angles over the past few years have either resulted in awkward matches where a stipulation has been overplayed or excellent psychological bouts where both men have used the stipulation to add interest. Let's hope that these 2 can adapt to the latter and improve on their last 2 showings which were both strong without being sensational. The fact that Edge gets yet another title shot and everything surrounding the vacant title & choke-hold leads me to believe that the title may go back to the heel. Winner: Edge

TRIPLE H vs RANDY ORTON in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship: This was the obvious direction that this feud was heading in and past years have proven that we usually see some kind of cage match in either May or June leading on from WrestleMania. It makes sense, even if it means that the bout will be kind of predictable. Thankfully, it is usually predictable in an entertaining & brutal way though and I think both H & Orton can get the job done here rather well. There is no questions at all about who will emerge victorious though..... Winner: Triple H

Ok, so as of the time of posting this column, those were the 5 matches which Joey Styles' wwe.com had officially listed. While the big superstars are all there, I can't say that the match-ups do a great deal for me, especially when it comes to JBL vs Cena and HBK vs Y2J. Obviously, there will be at least 2 further matches added to the card and possibly a third. I am thinking that Matt Hardy may defend his U.S Title against MVP once more. If so, Matt will retain. Mickie James may also defend her Women's Title against Beth Phoenix, which she will also retain. I also believe that The Big Show vs Mark Henry has a good probability of taking place and TBS will definitely win that bout. That only leaves Batista to force his way on to the card, but don't be surprised to see him included in the HBK vs Y2J match in some fashion.


DESSERT

DaveyBoy's Album Reviews

Last week I promised to reveal a side project of mine that could provide some of my readers with further reading while I am away on vacation over the next 3 weeks and here it is; DaveyBoy's Album Reviews.

Now those that pay attention to the very end of my column over the past year or so will already have noticed that I have dabbled in reviewing music albums. I actually did so for about 6 months last year in the LOP Forums as a little test run. That's what is so good about the LOP Forums; They provide an avenue for pretty much anyone to write about anything. It doesn't have to be about wrestling. It could be concerning music, television, movies or general news of the world. So if you are not already a member, sign up and take a look around at www.lopforums.com.

Those early reviews of mine were very rough and had a rather formulaic track by track structure that verged on being rather boring to read. Some would also think that I had no idea what I was rambling on about at the time which is probably a fair argument. But I would like to think that I was steadily improving as each review went by.

Later in the year, I was asked to provide the occasional monthly album review to a fledgling website by it's webmaster. Upon taking that opportunity, I have overhauled my reviewing structure and been very pleased to see the results. I still to this day contribute to that website and if you have some spare time up your sleeve, don't hesitate to head on over and check it out at www.feeltheword.net/magazine. It has reviews (music, film, literature, etc...), creative writing, interviews and a whole lot of other goodies which means that there should be something for everyone.

However, I recently decided to attempt to improve my album reviewing skills by writing them more frequently. It only seemed natural to do so since I have always listened to a lot of music, while this wrestling column of mine that is now approaching 6 years old proved that I didn't mind writing my opinion for the masses to read.

I suppose it should be noted that while I have listened to a lot of different types of music over the years, I am currently in more of a rock music stage. So if you can't handle hearing a guitar and techno or rap is the only thing you can handle, well there might be nothing for you to see here. And when I use the word 'rock' by the way, I do mean it very broadly to also cover all other associated genres such as Alt-Rock, Punk, Post-Hardcore, Pop-Rock, Pop-Punk, Indie Rock, etc...

Anyway, enough babbling from me. It would be much appreciated if you can head on over and check out some of the album reviews I have already written. The following link is to my own page of the website which I have chosen to write for. Scroll down for all of my reviews and simply click on an individual album name to read the relevant review. The magic link is http://www.sputnikmusic.com/user_reviews.php?memberid=268913


Bye Bye to #269 of 'DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu' and bye bye to cold & wintery Melbourne for a couple of weeks as I head north to seek out some sun. I am pretty much heading off in the next day or so and will NOT be checking out my emails until I return at the end of the month, so I am actually asking readers to NOT send any feedback concerning this column to me. If you want to email something general and can wait a few weeks before I reply, then go ahead I suppose, but keep it to a minimum as I don't want that in conjunction with the huge amount of spam I get to fill up my Inbox. In fact, for that reason, I would actually prefer if you left such general feedback or questions in my feedback thread of the LOP Forums, so if you are an LOP Forums member, you can do that at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=159.

As I mentioned at the top of my column, all going to plan my next column should be posted on the last day of this month, Saturday the 31st. Apart from my predictions for the 'One Night Stand' pay-per-view, I am hopefully going to be in a position to review 'Judgment Day'. If that doesn't come to fruition though, I have absolutely no idea what #270 will contain. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


And remember DaveyBoy's Album Reviews can be viewed at: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/user_reviews.php?memberid=268913


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2008

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