Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
I missed Zeb's promos. I wish more characters had the pizzazz he has.
Rey and Show really showed some dominance there. The team's actually kind of growing on me despite their age. They fit together well. I'm a big Real Americans fan, so I didn't like seeing them getting destroyed, but I see why it was done.
I'm down with seeing BROCK LESNAR destroy Show at the Rumble. Should be fun.
Way to sell us on watching Brodus vs. Miz. Imagine a concert where a music act says something like "yeah, there will be some great music at the end of the night. But this next band really sucks." Ugh.
That was really stupid. Brodus and Miz aren't my two favorite stars on the roster who I think will headline myriad future PPVs, but both of them should be positioned better if WWE wants to make any money from them competing.
I wish I could forget that whole segment, post-match included. If Miz or Brodus feuds with Barrett, it actually brings him down to be seen as competing with someone part of an apparently dreadful match.
I guess it can be argued the Divas match continued the story of AJ as Champion, but it didn't really add anything of interest. Very much "filler".
I liked the post-match well enough. MAYBE they'll shake things up after the Rumble and we'll have something interesting going on.
Good Shield promo. Can it hurry up and be Rumble time?
Fine enough little tag match. I'd be surprised to see Ryback and Axel take the titles from Rhodes and Goldust, but you never know with WWE.
There's the "50/50 booking" people hate. One team wins the match, then the other team gets the better of them. Things are now pretty much where they were before the match began.
I really liked the Punk/Kane segment. I wonder if we'll see Kane in the Rumble match. I can definitely see the two of them facing off. It will be really interesting to see where Kane fits in the Mania picture given his new role.
DAMN. The Wyatts just destroyed PTP. Probably something WWE booked somewhat on the fly without thinking of the long-term consequences for PTP. I agree the Wyatts should get a big push, and maybe even a squash win, but I think PTP should be better set up to make a future impact. Hopefully they'll be able to recover.
Powerful post-match. I think Bryan and Bray will really deliver.
Ahh... Kofi. That big Orton feud gets further and further pushed into the past every day.
Kofi vs. Fandango was a fine little match. I think they should have cut either the Divas match or Ryback and Axel's match and given this one more time. I wonder what all the people who have no idea about her NXT character think of Emma just showing up and doing her silly dance.
That was a pretty kickass main event. I loved the frenzied action at the end.
Pretty cool ending to the show. I still think Batista's got the Rumble win down pat.
More wrestling coming up.
Rumble predictions:
ReplyDelete- Orton over Cena
- Batista wins the Rumble (leading to Orton vs. Batista at Mania. Predictable, but I think there's an audience for it.) Kane gets involved to stop Punk from winning.
- Brock over Big Show (because, really, what does it do for Show to win here?)
- Bryan over Wyatt
- Either way on the pre-show, I think we're getting some dissension between Cody and Goldust soon. I can see them winning here, then Goldust trying to win the Rumble at Cody's expense.
I agree with each prediction. I really think with Cena v. Orton, WWE hasn't done a great job at making the rivalry/match mean as much as it should. For a match billed as "The greatest championship rematch of all time," I'm a bit disappointed. They're going to the well a bit with the Cena's father storyline yet again. But yes, I see either Cena winning by DQ or Orton somehow retaining in some fashion without a title change.
ReplyDeleteThe Rumble is always VERY hard to predict (except the year Cena won it), but if pressed I'd have to go with Batista. It's a bit climatic that his re-appearance just happens to coincide one week before the match itself. I could also possibly see a Sheamus comeback to win it, and also possibly Reigns being booked strong to win it. Kane costing Punk does seem logical.
I'm pretty sure Lesnar will win. I agree a win for Lesnar (despite him being part-time and "temporary" a roster member) would help build him up for 'Mania. Also, the "he who gets the last laugh before the pay-per-view loses at it" may comes into play just to make Big Show stay somewhat strong.
I'm fairly sure Bryan will prevail over Wyatt. This match is probably the toughest one-on-one match to call, though. Wyatt has been booked strong since day one, so I definitely see WWE making him look strong, even if not winning. This win should and HOPEFULLY will catapult and build Bryan strongly to prepare for WrestleMania and finally put the Wyatt feud to bed. Do you think he could also be a surprise entry in the Rumble? If so, he could be a threat to win.
Cody and Goldust seem to be the Alberto Del Rio of tag teams in that they have been booked well in tag title matches, but have struggled in non-title matches. I think they will prevail here, but it is seeming a bit climatic that WrestleMania may signify a last match for Goldust to face his brother. I see a perfect storyline opportunity in that Goldust feels he wanted to always be a WrestleMania main eventer and upper card guy, and tries to make that happen even if it means double-crossing his brother.
Given how many times they've faced off on PPV before, it'd be really hard to make this one mean as much as it could. They've definitely had worse title matches at the Rumble (Brock vs. Hardcore Holly!?). Plus, the match is competing with big appearances by Brock and Batista. The latter hasn't wrestled in a good while and helped Raw to a big ratings boost on Monday. Cena and Orton are on TV all the time and don't have the same luster.
ReplyDeleteI know they like Reigns a lot, but I don't know if they're ready to push him THAT hard.
I don't see any reason for Show to win, but that hasn't stopped them before.
It'd be really difficult to keep Bryan's momentum if he lost again here. Now's the time to finally build to Mania (though it looks like the Authority angle might go past that. I like it for the most part, but I don't know how much they can squeeze out of it).
I'd be a little surprised if Bryan was in the Rumble, since it seems like they're going for Batista to win and Punk to be important. Bryan would be a little lost in the shuffle. I also hoped for Bryan to get a big win at Mania, but with Batista back, he's been kind of knocked down a peg.
It's not all that uncommon for WWE to book a team or individual to lose a lot of non-title matches. It's only certain people they REALLY get behind it seems.
Cody vs. Goldust has been something Goldust has wanted for quite a while, leading to him retiring in a big match at either Mania or Summerslam. I remember Goldust hoping for that when Cody was IC Champion. Goldust has had quite the journey. I almost don't want to see it end.