Night of Champions Preview

Call me crazy, but I can't wait for this one - a great single-show gimmick, a guaranteed heavyweight title change, and a clean four-week break since the last show. I'm sold, folks.

Live from Dallas, TX at 8pm!

Regardless of how disappointing One Night Stand ended up being - and believe me, it was quite disappointing - I think the WWF is going to set itself back on track with this show. I love the gimmick, and the dropping of the "Vengeance" name, which takes a huge step towards shedding the dodgy history of last year's first NOC on the weekend of the Benoit tragedy.

As always, the picks, in projected match order:

WWF Divas Championship (rumored)
Natalya Neidhart vs. Jillian Hall

Ee gads. We really need two women's titles? Let's hope this one gets relegated to the dustbin.

Winner: Natalya, if it happens
My Pick: Natalya. Gotta love the Harts.

WWF Intercontinental Championship (rumored)
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels

They might announce Michaels as a "mystery opponent", and who knows, they might even go with someone like Lance Cade or Kofi Kingston as the mystery opponent. Regardless, Michaels surely feels that this belt is beneath him, and correctly so.

Winner: Jericho if Michaels is the opponent, Mystery Opponent if he isn't
My Pick: I don't care as long as they at least have the belt defended on a PPV for once. There's no excuse not to defend it on this show.

WCW United States Championship
Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guerrero
So it looks like this belt will actually stay on ECW, which seems odd. The upper midcard on Smackdown is officially stacked, I don't know if they can just do without a secondary title (maybe they pick up the IC title with a mystery opponent?)

Winner: Matt Hardy
My Pick: Matt Hardy, but hopefully in spite of MVP interference; I'd love that to become a career-long game of one-upsmanship for both guys. It's not like MVP is doing anyhting else here, and he's too valuable to waste (ditto Kennedy and Punk, neither of whom are in matches).


World Tag Team Championship
Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase Jr. & Mystery Partner
The World Tag Team Championship? Defended on a pay-per-view? Is this 1996?

I love seeing this defended, and since the DH Smith thing seems to be out the window, my guess is Cody's the mystery partner, turning on Holly mid-match. Awesome.

Winner: Team DiBiase
My Pick: The same, with the long-rumored Second Generation faction to form immediately. Come on, Vince. We need some factions pronto.

ECW Championship
Kane vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry
None of these guys winning would shock me here - Kane's the current champ, Big Show is on Smackdown (with its aforementioned grave need for secondary titles) and Henry is not only on the program that's the championship's namesake, he's also a victim of some recent, very public discrimination on the part of a prominent WWF higher-up.

Winner: Kane to Retain
My Pick: Mark Henry, since having the ECW champion on a show that isn't ECW reeks of late-WCW stupidity more than anything else. Also, he seems like a genuinely good guy, not that the other two aren't or anything.

WWF Tag Team Champions
John Morrison & The Miz vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle
Oh good lord. From what I've read, this may become a serious, long-term feud. God knows ECW needs to fill as much airtime as they can with Punk and Kingston gone.

Winner: Finlay & Hornswoggle
My Pick: Please, not Finlay & Hornswoggle

WCW Championship
Edge vs. Batista
One reason this seems to be such a unique card: While I honestly have no idea who's going to win this match, or the WWF title match, the winner of this will make the latter quite obvious. I don't think there's anyone out there who genuinely believes that both belts will be staying on Smackdown; of the two heavyweight belts, there will be one, and only one, title change. I don't think this is it.

Winner: Edge, since they just gave him the strap last month.
My Pick: Edge

WWF Women's Championship
Mickie James vs. Katie Lea Burchill
In an effort to prove that the Women's Division isn't that bad, the WWF has launched a corollary "Divas Championship", with a match likely to be earlier on the card. So, rest assured, this will be the best women's match you'll see all night.

Winner: Mickie James, because this show's already going to be loaded with title switches
My Pick: Mickie James, because she's quite gorgeous.

WWE Championship
Triple H vs. John Cena
The main event of the night, regardless of what the result of Edge vs. Batista is booked to be. As I said before, we'll know the result of this as soon as that match ends, and the hotshotting of this match was a dead giveaway that one of these two would be switching brands (Note: We picked Cena. We were wrong.). One title needs to stay on Raw, and my guess is that it's the one with the spinner on it. Trips loves short title reigns anyways, and since that goddamned spinner is still there, this one's going back to Cena. I may have to contemplate moving my viewing habits to Smackdown. This one should be good though, both from an in-ring perspective and an "Insane Crowd Reactions" perspective.

Winner: John Cena
My Pick: Cena, I hate the spinner but this belt belongs on the A show.

Recommendation: Watch this one via illicit means. It has the epic feel of an old-timey Great American Bash card, and the championship gimmick is a neat change of pace. Cena-Trips should probably be worth the time by itself.

Enjoy the show, folks, and here's hoping that (0.0001% chance, I know) we see the return of WarGames at the actual Bash next month.
Read more!

Full Post...

Supplemental Draft

Full results later on, but for now we recommend that you head on over here for the afternoon, they're doing a quality job with this. Picks every ten minutes, in no apparent order and with no explanation as to who's making them or how, but it's still fun.
Read more!

Full Post...

One Night Stand Preview

Are these awful stipulations or what?

Not to toot my own horn here, but I was pretty much on the money two weeks ago when I predicted a One Night Stand card full of the same matches we've seen over the past few months. Tonight, we have seven matches, and of those seven, three (the two title matches and the Cena-JBL tilt) are Judgment Day rematches, with a fourth being a rematch from Backlash.

What's worse than that is that One Night Stand used to be a special event. The 2005 edition was one of a kind, sure, but by keeping it with an ECW home crowd in 2006, the WWF delivered an UNFORGETTABLE main event with Cena dropping his belt to Rob Van Dam at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

This year? We've got seven stipulation matches, all of which seem to be somewhat bogus stipulations. Last Man Standing? First Blood? A Stretcher Match? I'd expect a few of these, but geez, you need to throw us a bone with a cage match or something - TLC just isn't enough. For anyone who didn't realize it two years ago, ECW is dead and buried. It's gone, it's never coming back, and tonight is a great microcosm of "what the WWF thinks that ECW fans want to see". I'm not quite sure it's what anyone wants to see. Then again, don't listen to me, since I will actually be watching.

Live tonight (on a slight tape delay for me) from the ECW Arena in South Phil....errrr, the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, CA:

Falls Count Anywhere
Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga
Methinks Umaga might be moving to Smackdown, which will make for some fantastic promo wars with the Undertaker

Undertaker: "Rest in Peace!"
Umaga: "BUELAOLDUAGGAGAGAGGAAKOGKOEAA!!!!"
(repeat thirty times)

Winner: Umaga
My Pick: Jeff Hardy

First Blood Match
John Cena vs. JBL
Hope that this comes closer to their Judgment Day 2005 match than their awful outing last month.

Winner: John Cena
My Pick: JBL, since I'm sober tonight. It had better be bloody though.

Singapore Cane Match
Big Show vs. CM Punk vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. John Morrison
Ick. This could be the worst of the evening, women's match excluded. How great would it be if CM Punk cashed in MITB for one of the major titles tonight, though?

Winner: Tommy Dreamer
My Pick: I loves me some Big Show

Stretcher Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Batista
I really, really liked their match at Backlash, and I totally bought the knee injury as legit when it happens. Behold the power of Michaels, I bet this hits ****.

MAYBE POSSIBLY ACCURATE SPOILER ALERT!!!!

The interwebs are buzzing with rumors of Batista and the Undertaker taking long vacations after tonight. I believe it for the former, not for the latter. Could easily be wrong on this one.

END OF MAYBE POSSIBLY ACCURATE SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Winner: Shawn Michaels
My Pick: I love Michaels. However, I also love Bret Hart, so I can't actually ever mark out for Michaels. I'm just not capable. Sorry. Batista's the pick here.

I Quit Match
Melina vs. Beth Phoenix
An "I Quit" match? Really? They couldn't have just done an "Extreme Lingerie" battle or something? They had to waste one of the cooler stipulations on a time-killing crowd cooler?

Winner: Beth Phoenix
My Pick: One and the same, in under 3 minutes please

Last Man Standing Match
WWF Championship
Triple H vs. Randy Orton
Okay, Trips, now I'm getting peeved. The terms of our deal were very clear - you get the belt in return for a redesign away from the shit Cena Hip Hop thing. You've done nothing to further this - meanwhile, young Randall has new theme music that's quite awesome, and he's apparently real-life pals with the legendary Santino Marella. I'm not turning on you yet, because I think there's still some hope here. However, you best fix this by Vengeance and enter the Night of Champions with a belt that's actually worthy of one.

Rant over.

Winner: Triple H
My Pick: Triple H, begrudgingly

TLC Match
WCW Championship
Edge vs. The Undertaker
This is the one that I'm watching the show for, and I assume the one that others are buying the show for. The title's vacant and must change hands, and I can see this one going either way, especially with the aforementioned rumor about the Taker. Expect heavy Guerrero involvement in an excellent blowoff to an excellent feud.

Winner: The Undertaker
My Pick: Edge


Recommendation: Watch this via illicit means if possible. A lot of blowoffs, a lot of stipulations, and yet puzzlingly, not a whole lot of excitement going into it.

Oh, I can't wait to see what the draft will bring.
Read more!

Full Post...