Choke's 2015 WWE Night of Champions Predictions / Fall Classic Season thoughts
Posted by: choke Sep 20, 2015 | 1760 views | 1 comments
Wrestlemania season is finally here! Congratulations, you made it through Extreme Rules and hopefully tonight's NOC, and we can all bask in the fun the Rumble and Mania fantasy season provide. I'll get to that later. First let's wrap up the offseason with some predictions for tonight
NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS PREDICTIONS
Preshow: Neville and the Lucha Dragons vs Stardust and the Ascension: This one is easy to predict. Neville has gotten the upper hand over Stardust in almost every major event they've wrestled in that I can remember, so I think they have to give Stardust and the Ascension some shine. Boy do the Ascension need it. I think this feud has some potential, but it works better with the heels exerting dominance first Stardust and the Ascension win
Seth Rollins vs John Cena for the US Championship: Tough to predict what Seth Rollins walks away from NOC with, if anything. I find it highly unlikely that he'll lose the WWE title by Mania, but I think the US belt is much more likely to change hands, as there's simply more money in having those split up, especially if Cena is carrying one for the next several months. If there's going to be Authority interference or any outside interference, I think it'll happen in the main event with Sting, and therefore Cena has a good shot to walk away winning clean, leaving Rollins in a desperate position against Sting, and leaving Cena to move on in the months approaching Mania with a belt to defend. Cena wins the US championship
New Day vs The Dudley Boyz for the Tag Team Championships. Boyz? Really? Head vs heart decision here. It'd be a damn shame if the WWE takes away the titles from the New Day right now when they're arguably putting in the best work of their careers from the last few years. I do think Dudley Boyz will (and should?) get the tag belts, but is now the right time? I'd say no. I fear the WWE disagrees. I'll still go with my heart. New Day retain the Tag Team Titles
Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev: I like the in-ring work these two put on in their matches, but this storyline has suffered badly with Lana's absence of late. Obviously this was probably supposed to be a mixed tag match at this juncture, but her injury prevents that, so now we have some poorly thrown together storyline about Summer Rae and Dolph Ziggler again? It just doesn't make sense happening so soon. WWE was in a tough spot in how to proceed as this feud has seemingly taken 6 months of our time already. One thing is certain, it really needs to stop, and soon. The only way to get that done at this juncture is with a Ziggler win due to Summer's (inadvertent?) help. Then they leave each other alone until Lana returns Ziggler wins
Ryback vs Kevin Owens for the IC Title: I love Kevin Owens, and I like that he's just targetting titles early on his main roster run, but I do wish there had been some better storytelling leading to this feud. Ryback hasn't done much with the title and in my mind doesn't really need it, and with Owens as champ it opens up some more interesting possibilities in the future against Cesaro and several others (Neville? ZAYN eventually?). Yeah those sound a lot more exciting than Ryback vs Big Show or Miz for the 10th time. Kevin Owens wins the IC title.
Charlotte vs Nikki Bella for the Divas title. So I, along with the rest of the world, think that Paige will turn heel against Charlotte eventually. I was pretty sure I was going to predict Charlotte to win the title tonight, developing a feud against Paige, and ultimately shifting the entire division towards the new blood with Sasha, Becky, etc getting involved after. Then the WWE added the stip that Nikki would lose the belt if she lost the match in any way. I'm sure I'm overanalyzing things, but now I think she retains. I think Brie and/or Alicia will get involved, with the announcers mentioning how if the ref calls Nikki for a DQ that Charlotte will win the belt. Paige will respond by "helping" Charlotte and getting her DQd, allowing Nikki to retain and planting further seeds of doubt between the PCB. Yes, definitely overanalyzing. Nikki retains
Ambrose/Reigns/Mystery partner vs Wyatt Family: Man I really dont want the mystery partner to be Rowan. Please don't let that be the case. Then again there are very, very few people I can think of that I WOULD like it to be. I actually would just prefer this not be on the card as the feud has done absolutely nothing for me. The Wyatt family has gotten the better of Reigns and Ambrose, and this is all just filler before Ambrose and Reigns move onto what I feel is the inevitable Triple threat with Rollins for the title. It's time to move on. PLEASE. Ambrose/Reigns/Sgt Slaighter win.
Seth Rollins vs Sting for the WWE title. Since I predicted Seth to lose the US title, and really don't think he'll walk out empty handed, I have to go with a retention here. We've got Hell in a Cell next month so it wouldn't surprise me to see Seth cheaply retain the belt this month, and have "no escape" from having to face Sting next month there. I know, I can hardly contain my excitement. Seth Rollins retains (probably cheaply)
SOME RANDOM FALL CLASSIC FANTASY SEASON THOUGHTS:
Top Picks
I love Ambrose and Reigns going into this season. I think either/both have a great shot at winning the Rumble. Both are easy 1st round picks, and maybe 1/2 respectively. The Dudley Boyz might be the most appealing tag team from a draft standpoint I've ever encountered, ESPECIALLY if they DON'T win the titles tonight as those points for winning the titles instead of retaining are so massive. If you're say, in a 4 team league, and you have 4th pick and the chance to draft both, that'd be very difficult to pass up IMO. I also love Kevin Owens' potential for the full Mania season. He's already shown he belongs and I think a lengthy IC run is in the cards. Other obvious top choices as usual: Cena, Sheamus, Rusev. Neville was one of my favorite "sleeper" picks last year and it paid dividends. I think he has the great combo of being kid friendly as well as shows enough technical ability to be over with "smart" fans. Love his potential as well.
Falling
PTP will not be able to replicate their magical season of last, and I'm not huge on Ryback either as I think he Drops the Belt soon. New Day I think will do better than PTP this season, but with the Dudleys coming on board, their points will be somewhat limited. Still worth a mid round draft. With the arrival of the NXT Divas, I think Nikki and Brie's value will plummet this season. Bad News Barrett seems an afterthought by now.
Others
I predict it every year, but I truly think Wyatt will get more points this season than he has been recently. I think the NXT Divas (Charlotte, Sasha, Paige, Becky) are tough to draft too early because there are simply too many of them. That being said I think all of them will do solidly on points, but I expect that title to change hands a few times during the season, so might not be wise to gamble on a specific Divas early.
Happy Drafting!