Choke's WWE Raw rant & Smackdown Preview 1/6/2014 - 1/10/2014
Posted by: choke Jan 9, 2014 | 1771 views | 6 comments
Welcome to another season of Drop the Belt. If you're new, or if you've been participating for a while and have never clicked my stories before, every week I do a little review of RAW, I preview the list of matches for Smackdown (without spoiling the results), and do a rising/falling list as far as the fantasy game goes. Got it? Good.
RAW Recap
I expected a lot more. Sure they furthered the storylines with the Bryan/Wyatts losing, Big Show confronting Lesnar, and CM Punk, well, I guess I don't really know what they're doing with CM Punk yet. But overall I didn't find the developments all that interesting and the wrestling they provided during the 3 hours was fairly substandard IMO. Plus I have both Bellas on my league and they lost to Aksana and Alicia Fox? Huh!? I'll cover some more specifics of the show in the rising/falling
Smackdown Preview
I get these match lists from www.prowrestling.net each week, so if something is wrong or I leave a match off, blame them. No spoilers, as I have not read them yet. These are merely my (usually terrible) predictions
1. Harper and Rowan vs the Usos - With Bryan offering to "train" the Wyatts (or however he phrased it), this could obviously go one of two ways. Either the Wyatts lose AGAIN and it will just be a storyline of him getting them "ready" to win the tag titles. Or they win and somehow Bryan gets the credit. What I hate about this all is they were doing fine before Bryan right? I mean they had to have won 90% of their matches so far at least. I guess you can say he can push them over that edge. I dunno. I guess it doesnt HAVE to make sense, does it? Anyway, I'll say the Usos win when Bryan tries to "help" them and one of them fucks it up. By the way, I still think Harper and Rowan should be the odds on favorite to have the tag belts by Mania, for what it's worth
2. Miz TV featuring Big Show - Okay so I do know the RESULT of this. So SPOILER ALERT, you might want to not read if you're one of those weirdos who doesnt even like the little things. Basically this, surprise surprise, has the announcement of Show vs Brock for the Rumble. Gee whiz, who didnt see that coming. Probably will have show challenging Brock, then Heyman coming out and accepting in a 5 minute rant that no one will understand
3. Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and Los Matadores vs Real Americans, Curtis Axel, and Ryback - Is it possible I undervalued all EIGHT of these guys on my draft board? I honestly think I might have. Not sure where this match will go. I guess Rey isnt teaming with Show anymore? Seriously is there any good reason any of these people should win? I'll flip a coin and say the faces win. I'm straight up angry I dont have any of these 8 on my main league. I'm terrible at this game
4. Randy Orton vs Big E Langston (non-title): Noooooooooooooo!!!! WWE STOP BURYING YOUR MID CARD CHAMPIONS! I really thought they were over this. Ugh. So Orton has to win right? Or maybe he cheats to win or gets DQd. Either way, this sucks.
5. Fandango vs Xavier Woods: Let's all pray this isnt a sign of things to come. I'm not sure how many times I can see these two wrestle each other in the upcoming months. Hint: it's more than zero but less than 2. Uh, I'll say Fandango gets the win. Could go either way really.
6. CM Punk and the New Age Outlaws vs the Shield: Maybe I'm just a miserable asshole, but I have zero desire to see the New Age Outlaws in the ring. I feel the WWE is so loaded with actual talent right now, that I just don't understand why I have to watch 2 dudes who are as old as my dad trying to rekindle their heyday. I mean Goldust has shocked the hell out of me with how well he's performing, but Billy Gunn and Road Dogg are no Goldust. Since Reigns picked up the win against Punk on Monday, I think we see more Shield dissention here and the faces win.
Looks like an awful show IMO. I recommend hard liquor.
Rising/Falling
Rising
1. Alberto Del Rio: Ugh. I put him 23rd on my draft board and naturally he's come back strong and is leading the league through 2 graded shows. Of course! I did mention I was gambling a bit putting him that low, but yeah, they're thrusting him right back into the limelight and it seems against Batista. Now of course when he actually WRESTLES Batista I'm sure he'll be fodder for his comeback, but in the meantime it looks like he'll be racking up the victories. Congrats if you disregarded my board and drafted him, or if you got him in a nice mid-late round.
2. The Great Khali: I'm not recommending grabbing him yet, but he's been a sneaky good pick in previous seasons, and it looks like he's starting a program with Sandow (yes, really). The bigger factor? the Rumble! Now with so many other big guys I didnt think he had much of a chance to make a HUGE impact, but at this rate it could be worth holding onto him in case he picks up any more wins, then the Rumble would be a bonus if he does anything there.
3. Natalya: I know, she hasn't even been on this season yet. Hear me out. It looks like they're starting to do some sort of weird thing with the Bellas to me, they're clearly trying to show Brie as not being focused while Bryan is under Wyatt control, then they were hyping up Nikki's injury and her "feud" with Aksana. So what does this have to do with Natalya? Well with Kaitlyn leaving the WWE, Natalya and the Funkadactyls are pretty much the only ones left to pursue the Divas title. I give Nattie the nod in that respect. Plus last season she was a points beast and didn't even win it, so maybe lightning will strike twice.
Also: The Usos are a little more involved in the shows than I expected them to be this early on, Big E is continuing to make his presence known in a Big Way, and when the hell did Aksana become a player in the Divas division?
Falling
1. Dolph Ziggler - concussed. Plus it's not like he was really lighting the leagues on fire with points before that. At the rate he's going he'll be in ROH by next year's Mania
2. Mark Henry - "fractured" elbow. I still expect him back around the Rumble or maybe the RAW after? But I'm a little concerned exactly what they'll have him doing. I know they needed to make Brock look strong in his return, but at the expense of Henry? I'm a little surprised
3. Brie/Nikki Bella - Not just because they took a loss against Foksana, but more because it looks like the storyline with Brie is going to be her not able to focus. How long will it take to work out of that funk?
Also: Brodus Clay wherefore art thou? Damien Sandow, the next Ziggler? Wade Barrett: no seriously you have to hold the mic for points.