Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
Fun little Stardust/Goldust promo. I expect a solid match at NoC.
Fine match to continue to set the stage for the tag team title match. Are we in for new champions?
The Usos really stood tall there. They're on quite the roll as tag team champs.
Fine post-match. WWE's kind of an auto-pilot for the last show before the PPV, not really rocking the boat.
Good match between Slater and Rose as far as setting up the next stage of the rivalry. Whoever's playing the bunny is pulling out some great moves. I hope it is Darren Young if he's working that hard. It could also be a background player from NXT, but Young makes sense to come back to fight Titus.
Fine enough Rusev/Lana promo. His match at NoC should be a war.
That match was better than I was expecting, considering I was expecting Big Show to dominate. I think I'd legitimately be OK with never seeing him again.
Not a great Reigns promo. I think he is becoming rather one-dimensional.
I liked Paige vs. Nikki pretty well. It will be interesting to see how that title match turns out.
I liked the post-match to set up the NoC bout.
I think it made sense to have Bo even up the series here. Swagger's a much more accomplished wrestler, but they don't want to kill Bo's momentum.
I'm liking the Bo/Swagger angle, and that post-match continued that.
I'm looking forward to Brock vs. Cena again.
Good promo from Henry. I don't see him winning, but he's done a great job as the babyface.
I didn't expect a clean ending there, so the match was fine. Obviously neither man is a great technical wrestler, but I think both have important attributes for getting over.
Nice ending to the show. I can't wait for NoC!
More wrestling coming up.
NoC predictions:
ReplyDelete- I can see Nikki winning the Divas Title, as disappointing as that would be. Nikki vs. Brie's definitely continuing for a while.
- I'd honestly be a little surprised if Goldust and Stardust take the tag team titles, but there's not a lot else for The Usos to do unless WWE's going to have them lose the titles to The Ascension from NXT.
- WWE's been high on Sheamus since forever, so I think he'll retain.
- I'd be surprised if Ziggler lost so soon into his reign, to the person he beat for the title.
- Rusev will almost certainly beat Henry. I think they might try to keep him undefeated until WM31 season. Could we see Rusev vs. Angle?
- It looks like Reigns could be out of the mix. I wouldn't be shocked if we got Bo vs. Swagger or Show vs. Wyatt to replace his match. Bo/Swagger would be iffy, but I highly doubt Wyatt would beat Show clean.
- Orton will almost certainly beat Jericho, since Y2J's finishing up at the PPV.
- I see no reason for Brock to lose the title until WM31.
Logical predications.
ReplyDeleteIt's inevitable that the Bella Twins will have a match/continue their "feud." The only real difference this match tonight will have is if it's for the divas title or not. I personally will say Paige will retain due to some sort of interference by Brie to cost Nikki. Overall, the spotlight/aftermath will be on the Bella Twins and not the title, in my opinion.
I will say Goldust/Stardust will take the match/titles, but I'm not totally sure. My justification is centered around the team gaining a lot of traction (heel turn, new gimmick, and a lot of promo/airtime). They also bring a lot of intrigue to the title picture. The Usos having the titles for such a long time doesn't help their cause, either.
I say Sheamus will retain. As you said, WWE is/always has been very high on him. I like Cesaro and think he has a lot to offer, but I don't see Sheamus dropping the title. The only question is who will take the title from him? Having a midcard title in addition to WWE being very high on him make it tough to have him drop it any time soon.
I say Ziggler will win. The "him winning this match due to him just winning the title" is always a decent justification, but my only refute to that is that Miz lost his title so quickly. Overall, I say the title change won't happen as quickly again, however.
I also see Rusev winning again. It's clear that WWE is high on him. Henry has gotten a lot of momentum in this feud, but I don't see that as him going to win the match as much as I see it as WWE wants to see Rusev as a guy who is challenged by a tough competitor and can step up to the plate to be victorious.
Had Reigns been in this match without that surgery, would you have picked him to upend Rollins again? Two losses in a row for Rollins may squash any "cash in" predictions and may halt his momentum a bit, so it would have been very intriguing to see that match's outcome.
Wyatt/Big Show would be a nice fill-in match. The one negative about adding that match is that it may be considered more of a "throw-in" match, as it didn't have a ton of time to build any suspense. I would understand if WWE pitted Dallas/Swagger as a replacement and gave Wyatt/Big Show more time.
I'm more certain about the Orton/Jericho outcome than any other match's outcome. That Jericho run was so short this time around that it really eliminates any chance that he will gain any sort of traction, especially at the end of his run. This is also a way for Orton to gain some momentum, as he's been faltering a bit lately.
The Lesnar/Cena bout will definitely be a closer outcome. The "rumors" that Vince wants to make Cena built even stronger make it interesting. Cena losing two pay-per-views in a row definitely is something that may decrease his firepower a bit in the WWE, so it's definitely interesting. I will say Lesnar will win, but Cena will somehow find a way to stay strong, or at least he should!
WWE definitely cares about the Bellas more than the title.
ReplyDeleteI'm also curious who will beat Sheamus. Rusev? It'd be hard to take the title off him, though.
I could see Reigns beating Rollins. The end goal was probably just to set up Ambrose coming back while keeping Reigns strong.
Wyatt should be facing Jericho, but they want more focus on Orton.
I don't doubt Cena remaining booked strongly!