Choke's WWE Raw rant & Smackdown Preview 3/10/2014 - 3/14/2014
Posted by: choke Mar 14, 2014 | 1726 views | 2 comments
Better late than never!
RAW Rant
WWE is putting out some good product since the rollout of the network and with Mania impending. Even though a lot of people were predicting the "swerve" of adding Daniel Bryan to the Batista/Orton match, it was still a nice surprise for those of us morons who didn't think they would. Even though it was cheesy, I thought they did a good job with the situation. I might be biased as a future attendee of this year's Mania, but I think the card is shaping up nicely, especially with the addition of the Andre Rumble. Not sure exactly what the winner is supposed to get besides some trophy. I know I'm looking way into the future, but I think it'd be pretty cool to have Rusev's "debut" come after that match at Mania. Say Big Show wins, gets the trophy, then Rusev comes out and bashes his skull in with it. Would be a nice way for him to come out to immediate impact, though they should probably pick someone the fans care about and not Big Show if that's the case. Let's look at Smackdown, because it looks like a doozy....
Smackdown Preview
As always this preview is from www.prowrestling.net and contains no spoilers as I myself have not read them yet. Just predictions. If some of these matches aren't listed correctly, blame them!
1. Sheamus vs Heath Slater: RED BASTARD VS RED BASTARD. THE FIGHT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. The question is not who will win (Sheamus), but rather who will come out to attack Sheamus after? Probably Christian, but havent we seen enough of them fighting each other? Dark horse is Del Rio, who come to think of it we've seen a hell of a lot of Del Rio vs Sheamus as well. Aw fuck it.
2. Seth Rollins vs Damien Sandow: I wonder if this will be something HHH/Steph set up for Sandow disobeying them on Raw, and if the Shield will beat the shit out of Sandow afterwards. Interesting if they're going to try to turn him face this way.... Maybe he will even pull the upset on Rollins to get the crowd behind him, and then have the Shield beat him up? That's how I'd write it anyhow. I'd obviously prefer Sandow to stay a heel, but I'll take a face version over him being off TV as he has been lately. I'll say the WWE gives Rollins a straightforward win and a Shield beatdown on Sandow after
3. Big E vs Fandango: If Big E hadnt declared for the new Rumble match at Mania, I'd think maybe they start an IC feud with him and Fandango. Since that's probably not happening, this looks to be a standard enhancement match for Big E.
4. Cesaro and Swagger vs Goldust and Cody Rhodes Well the Brotherhood lost on Monday cleanly to the Shield, and there's still a chance they do a match between the brothers at Mania. On the other hand Cesaro and Swagger still seem like they're surely splitting up. Going with the sure split up and say that the Brotherhood take the win and that we get some pushing and shoving between the Real Americans after.
5. Bray Wyatt vs Kofi Kingston: Not a whole lot of intrigue for tonight's show. Enhancement match for Bray.
6. Tamina vs Nikki Bella: Argh why didn't I draft Nikki Bella last week? I was so close to pulling the trigger. Well it gets pulled tonight (amongst other things). Since Natalya lost her title shot on Main Event (which is getting better and better by the week), I think they'll go with Nikki as the next AJ opponent for the belt. And what better way to start that than by having her beat the vest throwing Tamina. Every week a new Divas title theory! This is what I promise you.
7. Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio: Alright so discard my prediction of Del Rio attacking Sheamus after he beat Slater, but I still think we'll end up seeing a Dolph/Sheamus vs Bertie/Christian tag match on Raw next week. I think Dolph got the win in their last match, so I like Bertie to take this rematch.
8. Big Show vs Kane: What an awful main event for the show. I mean I can barely make a prediction here because I'm in awe of how bad this is. Looks like they're trying their 515th attempt at a Big Show push which wont work, so Show should go over on Kane.
Overall: 8 matches is relatively exciting, but then you LOOK at the matches they're giving us and.... ugh. There's still some potential for a couple good matches though, even if some are re-treads of the same thing we've been watching for weeks. I'm still gonna stick with 3 jameson shots out of 5, even though that terrible main event is almost worth another full shot on its own.
Rising
1. Big Show: He was #2 last week, but given that I think he's the odds on favorite to win the Andre Rumble at Mania, and with the fact he's main eventing Smackdown and closed out Raw with Bryan, the push seems in full effect.
2. Nikki Bella: I had the Bellas #3 last week, but I'll single out Nikki this week. Like I said before, if Nattie is out of the picture temporarily for the Divas belt, I think Nikki is the next to take her place.
3. Damien Sandow: Depends what happens tonight and next week, but maybe his interaction with HHH/Steph/Daniel Bryan and his match against Rollins tonight will propel him into a worthy storyline. If he gets squashed by Rollins he might just be an afterthought, but worth watching to see.
Also: Is it just me or are Los Matadores kinda sorta showing up more often lately.
Falling
1. Natalya: I'm giving up on her after that loss on Main Event. I thought she had a chance to be at Mania, and let's face it every Diva does since they might put them in a 20 Diva Bikini on a Pole rumble or send them all out to dance to Flo Rida for the 20th year in a row, but I thought she actually had a chance to go for the title there. I dont know why I ever start believing that the WWE actually gives a shit about Natalya. My mistake.
2. Ryback/Curtis Axel: They're in the Rumble at Mania and more than likely dont have a chance in hell to win. Then again Ryback might get some eliminations depending on who else enters, but still. Scratch them off any potential to be in a tag title match.
3. Big E: Obviously worth keeping, but I was disappointed as a holder of Big E on my league that he'd be in the Rumble at Mania and not defending his belt. Now sure he might pull an upset and win it, or get a ton of eliminations, but odds are a title defense would have been worth more.
Also: Titus and Darren and Miz and Barrett and Brodus Clay and Xavier Woods and Khali and :( still CM Punk