King of the Ring 2010 Predictions

Tonight is the King of the Ring tournament for 2010. Technically, it's happening live right now, but, here in Canada, it won't be on for another hour since the Score didn't want to alter their regular programming schedule. The WWE put up the brackets today, so I figured I'd give my predictions:

1st Round
* John Morrison vs. "Dashing" Cody Rhodes: This is a tough one as I could see both men going past the first round against other opponents. Part of figuring out who will advance is looking at who they would possibly be facing in the 2nd round. I'd rather see "Dashing" Cody Rhodes go over, but John Morrison seems more likely. Winner: "Dashing" Cody Rhodes
* Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio: Another tough one, but I'd rather see Del Rio advance since Bryan doesn't need the victory as much. Winner: Alberto Del Rio
* Ezekiel Jackson vs. Drew McIntyre: Wow. I look at the first two match-ups and I see two competitive matches where I wouldn't mind any of the guys advancing. Here, I see the 'Chosen One' who hasn't done shit and a muscle-bound freak that, if he won, would basically be King Mabel II. Winner: Ezekiel Jackson
* Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus: This could be a decent match, but Kingston is here to make Sheamus look good. Winner: Sheamus

2nd Round (they gave the brackets for this)
* "Dashing" Cody Rhodes vs. Alberto Del Rio: I can see Del Rio making it to the finals, but would definitely rather see Rhodes keep advancing. Winner: "Dashing" Cody Rhodes
* Ezekiel Jackson vs. Sheamus: If there's anyone the WWE could have beat Jackson without making him look too weak in this tournament, it's Sheamus. Both men are power-based, so the former WWE champ going over isn't a big blow. Plus, this could be another way to play off Sheamus as weakened by the tournament for the finals. Winner: Sheamus

Finals
* "Dashing" Cody Rhodes vs. Sheamus: I'm of two minds here. I think winning the King of the Ring could work well for Sheamus. I would have him win and, immediately, Triple H's King of Kings music hits, suggesting that he'll finally come back to get revenge, playing off that nickname and being a past King of the Ring. But, no, Sheamus gets on the mic and laughs at us, saying that that is now his music, because he retired Triple H and won the King of the Ring, making him the true King of Kings. But, that seems a little... well, outside of what the WWE would book. So, unless they're going to use this as a way toa dvance Sheamus/Triple H, why bother? Besides, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes as King would be fantastic. Winner and the 2010 King of the Ring: "Dashing" Cody Rhodes

Let's see how wrong I am...

TNA Raw: What if WWE Raw was TNA Impact?

Last night, while watching Raw, Michelle and I played a game where we took the segments and rewrote them as if this were Impact and TNA was booking these segments.

Show Opening featuring WWE Champion Randy Orton and former Champion Sheamus
General Manager Bret Hart comes out and talks about how Night of Champions was a giant success and proved, once again, that the WWE is where everyone wants to be and why the WWE is the most dominant promotion in sports entertainment. And one of the reasons why the WWE is reigning at the top? The NEW WWE Champion... Randy Orton! Orton comes out and Hart keeps going on about how Orton is the exact type of champion the company needs, how he's going to raise the bar, is the best in the world, etc. Eventually, after a couple of minutes of Hart praising Orton, Sheamus comes out and demands a rematch... which Hart agrees to. In fact, he wants nothing more than to see Randy Orton and Sheamus fight at Hell in a Cell for the WWE Championship and continue to raise the bar for everyone in the WWE and all across sports entertainment, proving again why WWE is the place where everyone wants to be. But, then, Vince McMahon comes out, talks about how great Orton and Sheamus both are, how their match at Night of Champions with Edge, Chris Jericho, John Cena, and Wade Barrett was the best match he's ever seen and how it makes him so proud to be the Chairman of the WWE... but, he doesn't think that fans deserve to have to wait until Hell in a Cell, because they're going to have a non-title steel cage match tonight live on Raw. (Said match would start with five minutes left in the show and end with both men either pinning one another or both escaping at the exact same time...)

"Dashing" Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre vs. Santino & Kozlov
With the Hart Dynasty out on commentary, they interfere in the match immediately, attacking Rhodes and McIntyre, and the match ends in a countout for some reason instead of a disqualification. Security tries to break up the brawl, but the four men keep finding new ways to escape and fight.

Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison
The match lasts a single segment instead of the two it took. Morrison still wins, but in a fluke victory that has Jericho pissed off and he attacks Morrison after the match.

Edge vs. Daniel Bryan
First off, Edge's backstage segment would have involved him talking to a documentary-style camera in the men's room, talking very quietly and seriously about how the GM is holding him back and screwing up his career -- his being booked to face Daniel Bryan being proof of this. The match itself would play out mostly how it did until the ending where Alex Riley and the Miz interfered (the Miz never cutting his promo -- he does that backstage to a documentary-style camera later in the show while he and Riley are texting on their phones) would have resulted in Edge beign disqualified, but the three men just beat the shit out of Bryan anyway, leaving him a bloody mess.

Layla vs. Melina
Everything happens exactly the same, but the match is five minutes longer. And there are more botches.

R-Truth & Eve vs. Ted DiBiase & Maryse
Nothing changes.

John Cena vs. Wade Barrett
Instead of Barrett changing it to a gauntlet match, Nexus simply tries to attack Cena, but Cena grabs the chair Barrett brought into the ring and begins to lay them all out but the show ends mid-brawl. The match that was announced at the end of Raw is actually announced online after the show is over. (I know this doesn't make sense with my change to Orton/Sheamus, but that was on purpose.)

Also, throw in some more backstage documentary-style interviews, some people walking around ranting about things that have nothing to do with the events of this episode, and something involving Goldust eating a hot dog, while looking very intensely at William Regal.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 07.12.10

Some brief thoughts on last night's episode of Raw...

* I enjoyed the Nexus randomly beating up people backstage. While they don't work as a threat necessarily against a group of wrestlers, they work well in that seven/six-on-one situation.

* The Brady Bunch parody was surreal. And funny as hell.

* Randy Orton hitting the RKO on Evan Bourne mid-Airborne was fucking awesome.

* Mark Henry is a good choice to fill-in for R-Truth at Money in the Bank and the Miz didn't look too bad against him.

* The shit with Ted DiBiase, Maryse, and John Morrison was bad. None of them delivered on the mic. Maryse can talk, but she stuck to French, which kind of defeats the point.

* Eve was awful on commentary.

* Two Divas matches on a PPV? When was the last time that happened? I checked and the Royal Rumble this year had a Divas dark match in addition to the match on the show, but that doesn't count. It was Night of Champions a year ago and that's just because the gimmick of event calls for every title in the WWE to be defended. If we set that aside, I'm not sure there ever has been one since the Divas Championship was introduced at the Great American Bash in 2008. Without the titles, is there any reason to have more than one Divas match on a PPV? What's sad is that it's much more common for there to simply be no Divas match.

* The ending was decent, but didn't wow me.

Overall, a fine episode. A few high moments and a lot of standard fare.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 07.05.10

I wasn't sure what to expect heading into tonight's episode of Raw, but it was a pretty good show overall. There were some low lows, but, for the most part, I enjoyed it.

* I love how the heels attacked the faces when they went to attack the Nexus. You know what's more interesting than two forces fighting one another? Three forces fighting one another, particularly when one of those forces would be outnumbered by quite a bit and obviously don't have the strength/talent to stand on equal ground yet. The Nexus versus the entire Raw roster wouldn't work, because there's no way the Nexus would have a chance. Plus, this is more interesting. I never bought that united front bullshit.

* The red herrings that Stone Cold Steve Austin is the anonymous Raw GM are fun, but pointless.

* Maryse works so much better in a valet role than as a wrestler. Her in-ring talent is marginal, while her real appeal is in her personality and looks. Sticking her with Ted DiBiase works well. I kind of wish she kept Morrison's robe and had Ted toss a few bucks onto Morrison's body as payment.

* The Miz taking out R-Truth was good in its execution, but it does make me think we'll just have to have more of these two and, well, I'd rather see the Miz move on to bigger and better things.

* Chris Jericho and Edge in the ring talking? Always good. Though, their little discussion of Nexus makes it seem highly unlikely that Jericho is behind it all. I thought that might be the case and that, as a part of his plan, he's the one that got in Sheamus's ear that maybe the heels shouldn't play nice with the faces. Ah well.

* The tag match was pretty good.

* The Kozlov & Santino/Regal & Khali match was shit from beginning to end. Regal deserves better. But, he does work well as a pompous foil to the comedy duo of Santino and Kozlov. They just need to write it better.

* The Usos and Alicia Fox interviews both did the same thing: pointed out to me that no one actually cares about any of those people yet. Not exactly the goal, I imagine. The Usos are intriguing, but haven't done anything to make me care beyond teasing the idea of a decent match with the Harts. Alicia Fox asked the questions no Diva should ever ask: if anyone cares about her or the Divas Championship... she doesn't want to know the answer.

* The final segment with Cena and Barrett was good with Darren Young acting as the first Nexus casualty (aside from a guy whose name escapes me right now...). I was a little confused when we saw that the Nexus guys and the faces with Cena disappeared -- where did they go? But, Cena unleashed is good.

All in all, an enjoyable episode that advanced the Nexus story and continued to build to the PPV.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 06.28.10

I'll keep this brief since I didn't think much of tonight's Raw. Aside from the Nexus beatdown and the final match, the show was pretty forgettable. The opening delayed the ongoing story in a way that made me wonder what the rest of the episode would be like and if it could be good. The John Cena/Sheamus stuff was pretty bad with Cena overacting and being stuck with some really bad 'jokes.' The booking of their match at Money in the Bank came out of nowhere. I do think that Sheamus has really improved on the mic. He's really solid there.

The Ricky Steamboat appreciation segment/Nexuas beatdown was well done. The collection of legends was pretty random, but the attack was handled well. I do think that there wasn't much point in creating the stipulation that any Nexus member who attacks a WWE superstar will be fired/any WWE superstar who attacks a Nexus member will be suspended without pulling the trigger. It could have worked well if a few guys came out to defend the legends and got big pops for risking suspension to do so.

The final match was a solid build to the Raw Money in the Bank match. I imagine we'll get some variations on the men involved over the next couple of weeks leading to the PPV.

Really, though, I found the episode largely forgettable. I did like Rob Zombie's Lou Reed t-shirt, though.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 06.21.10

I'm torn on tonight's episode of Raw as it did some things very well, others not as well, and the rest was just typical Raw bullshit. As always, any lack of a guest host is a good thing.

* The opening with Vince, Sheamus, and John Cena was strong. Vince is always good on the mic, but Sheamus really won me over. Michelle wasn't in the living room for the first bit of the show and came in asking what I was laughing at so hard. The answer: Sheamus and his little 'I don't want to win the title like that' fake-out. His delivery was very strong and shows he's really growing. I don't mind him as WWE Champion right now at all.

* I oddly hope that the anonymous General Manager is Triple H. For some reason, I'm very keen on the idea of Trips as GM to play up his McMahon connection (why not since it's common knowledge since that feud with Orton last year...), allow him to stay out of the ring somewhat, and keep him out of the title picture for the most part. That made me think that Vice was going to screw Sheamus out of the belt in the main event as payback for what he did to Trips back at Extreme Rules. But, this story is intriguing. I wonder if this is the last we'll see of Bret Hart. Probably not, but it would be weird if it were.

* Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne put on the best Raw match in a long time. The added stipulation that Jericho would leave the WWE if he lost had me genuinely worried since there are rumours of issues between Jericho and Vince backstage over Jericho hosting that Downfall gameshow (despite Jericho getting permission ahead of time). But, he and Bourne really put on a good show. Jericho won in a very Jericho fashion (outsmarting his opponent), while Bourne looked good in the process. After the match, Jericho helping Bourne up only to shove him back down was fantastic -- Bourne's reaction was great; he looked like he was about to cry. Raw was off to a very good start.

* Then, we got a taste of Natalya and Tamina in the ring and FINALLY some Divas that can actually wrestle. It's been far too long since we saw Natalya in the ring. I don't mind it too much when I think of the matches she's had with other Divas where she's obviously moving in slow motion so they can keep up. Sadly, we only got a taste of this before the NXT (or, it looks like, Nexus) guys came out.

* That Nexus promo was weak. The apologies were just awful, especially the over-the-top apology to the kids and parents. Wade Barrett's bit was the only good part.

* The Miz getting involved with the Edge/Randy Orton feud is interesting. Are Edge and Miz allies or did it just work out that way?

* Zack Ryder is a little mystifying regarding any push, but, as I told Michelle, he's easy to remember -- and standing out at all is half the battle. In the ring, his match with Morrison was average.

* The Cena/Sheamus match was solid. Not sure about Cena being so knocked about because of being thrown into the steps. That didn't fit exactly with what we've seen. The Nexus beatdown was just odd and tame compared to what we've seen. They teased Vince as the man behind it and, thankfully, didn't go in that direction. That final bit was a little too drawn out for me. It wasn't tense, it was boring.

All in all, the show started well, dragged in the middle, and had a small recovery at the end. Hopefully, we'll see more matches of the Jericho/Bourne calibre on Raw in the future, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 06.14.10

After last week's fantastic ending, this episode faltered a little with the whole NXT rookies invading. They made the rookies look too weak here -- and the WWE look too united. The opening segment was very strong with all of the rookies failing to apologise and Bret Hart firing Wade Barrett as a result. The way they handled the Bryan Daniel/Daniel Bryanson situation was fine with me -- though, if you looked at this as a coherent piece of writing, Bryanson feeling guilt over what happened last week wouldn't fit his character at all since he attacked Michael Cole numerous times and was the most vicious last week (or among the most vicious at least). But, it had to be done. Not his firing (which could be a work, but that doesn't look likely) -- a firing that just comes off as stupid pure and simple. Ah well.

The rest of the episode couldn't match that opening. Mostly mediocre to awful matches. Putting the US title back on the Miz seems odd, even if it's just a way to get another match booked for Sunday's Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view. The Jericho/Bourne match was fine for the three minutes it was given, but the finish was questionable. Why have Bourne kick out of the Codebreaker and not go anywhere with it?

The midshow Cena/NXT segment was kind of stupid. I didn't like the WWE guys who came out to fend off the NXT guys, partly because it's too soon for the NXT gang to be on the run. Partly because we're talking about an initial group that includes Santino. And, partly because it just makes me wonder why no one came out last week if what the NXT guys did was so disrespectful to the entire locker room. Wouldn't they have came charging out then?

The final match wasn't too bad. Not anything amazing, but a solid match. Was Chris Jericho on the ramp with the other Raw members? I didn't see him, but I could be blind. The shit with Bret Hart and the limo was kind of lame. A regular beatdown would have suited me fine.

Less convinced that the WWE knows what it's doing with the NXT angle, but still optimistic. Not an awful Raw, but not one that knocked me on my ass. Last minute Fatal 4-Way booking and typical short matches. The WWE's inability to book heel stables as dominant lately bothers me. That's how people get over: the heels dominate, the faces get their asses handed to them and eventually come back to win. While I don't follow CHIKARA too closely, its current Bruderschaft des Kruzes storyline is a lesson in doing that story correctly. No one cares if a weakass faction gets beaten. That's why Legacy failed and why the Straight Edge Society isn't taking off as much as it could be (CM Punk is crazy over, but the SES isn't much of a threat most of the time). Ah well. We'll see what happens on Sunday with this since that was the deadline Barrett gave at the end of the show.

Smarkass Comments: WWE Raw 05.31.10

I won't be doing proper reviews of the weekly wrestling TV shows that I watch, but wouldn't mind doing a random thoughts type of thing. Just share whatever thoughts I had on the show...

* The beginning of the episode with it starting in the middle of Edge and Evan Bourne having a confrontation made me think that the Score fucked up and that we missed the first 15 minutes of the show. (In Canada, the Score airs Raw at 9:15 after a 15-minute 'countdown' show that's just a recap. That way they have time to edit for content, which is bullshit and worthless now that the WWE has gone PG...)

* R-Truth going over Chris Jericho was the right choice and it was accomplished in an intelligent way.

* The viewer choice thing for next week's three-hour episode of Raw sounds awful. I genuinely hate the idea of viewer interaction in anything scripted. I was especially disappointed since I thought that Bret Hart might come out and announce that next week would be the 2010 King of the Ring tournament. That would have been good.

* Besides, a viewer choice episode of Raw won't yield the truly great matches. The two I would want to see: CM Punk/Bryan Danielson in a one-hour iron man match and Chris Jericho/Christian in a best 2-out-of-3 falls match. Give the four best guys they've got in the ring nice looooooooooong matches to show off their stuff. It wouldn't work for the WWE at all, but it would make people like me very happy.

* Am glad that Daniel Bryan picked up the win over the Miz, but the match was nothing. I guess they're going to build up to a bigger match...? But, yeah, Bryan needed to win here and the post-match stuff was good.

* Question: is it better to have a stereotypical Samoan wrestling character or a stereotypical black wrestling character? Because, sure, the Usos aren't the former, but they definitely seem the latter...

* Weird one-night push for Evan Bourne because...? Not that I'm complaining, but how about instead of inserting him in the main event where he won't be for very long (re: next week), why not just have him win matches against other midcarders where he'll be for quite a long time (re: the rest of his WWE career)?

* For some reason, I was expecting Triple H to return as Cena's partner and take Orton's spot in the fatal four-way match.

* The Zach Ryder/Ashton Kutcher thing was both awful and obvious.

That's all for this week. A pretty good show ignoring the Ryder/Kutcher and mixed tag match.