Choke's WWE Raw Rant and Smackdown Preview 6/17/2013 - 6/21/2013
Posted by: choke Jun 20, 2013 | 1419 views | 6 comments
A review of what happened at Payback, RAW, and a preview of this week's Smackdown (no match result spoilers)
Wow, an excellent PPV and followup RAW. Not exactly Mania/Rumble caliber, but for a Payback? Phenomenal. So many great angles developing right now. The Mark Henry retirement swerve, Lesnar's return against Punk with the Heyman angle, Christian coming back, RVD's advertised return, The Del Rio/Dolph double turn. Just so much good stuff.
I think Henry will be a much better opponent for Cena, and it'll probably go through Summerslam, with Henry having a decent chance to capture the title. It seems as though we'll get Punk vs Lesnar for MITB, which is a little shocking considering you'd think they'd save that for Summerslam. Maybe we'll end up with Lesnar vs Cena in some sense for Summerslam and Punk in another angle. That'd mean one and dones for both feuds at MITB which seems odd considering how much the WWE likes to rinse and repeat with feuds. I think Christian and RVD could, and should be involved in the actual MITB matches. Maybe throw in a returning Evan Bourne and Fandango and we could fill one entire match with returning superstars. KHARMA. The most intriguing thing about the WWE's attempt at the double turn with Del Rio and Ziggler is how they'll handle Dolph with AJ and Langston. AJ is still playing up the heel character, so will we see a split soon? Maybe AJ with Big E vs Dolph? I'm still bummed Dolph dropped the World Title so soon, but the storyline is great so that softens the blow. Hopefully he retains before or at Summerslam
Here's a preview of Smackdown:
1. Sheamus vs Cody Rhodes - Well they're continuing with the Sheamus/Sandow feud which should keep Sheamus holders happy. Even though he lost the handicap 2 on 1 match on RAW, it's hard to see him not ultimately getting over on them both in singles matches and anyone else he faces leading up to the rematch on presumably MITB. Hopefully for those of us who don't have Sheamus in our leagues, they'll have Sandow start getting the better of him week in and week out. I'm not going to predict that here, Sheamus gets the win. Maybe we get a Sandow attack after
2. Curtis Axel vs Wade Barrett for the IC Title - Well Axel will surely retain. I dont know if this is just to get the "rematch" out of the way and set up Axel vs Miz for MITB. In fact, that's what I'll go with. If I was confident they were going to keep this feud going I'd say Axel would win in some underhanded way, but I think he'll go over clean and Barrett will move onto other things for the future. Like losing to Sheamus on Main Event (oh wait, he was doing that even as champion)
3. AJ Lee vs Natalya - Non title, but clearly they're still going with Kaitlyn vs AJ in the rematch as the main feud, so AJ has to pick up the win here, either clean or with a crazed Kaitlyn interference.
4. Alberto Del Rio vs Chris Jericho - We'll probably get some sort of Ziggler interference or an attack after the match. The WWE prior to Payback showed us some back and forth with Ziggler and Jericho, so maybe this will lead to Jericho inserting himself in the World Title picture as well. A Ziggler interference gives Jericho a "win" over Del Rio, so I'm gonna go with that and think they might go with a 3-way at some point
5. Christian vs Drew McIntyre - MY LOCK OF THE WEEK. lol Christian has to win this right?
6. Orton vs Bryan - Hm, this was advertised on Monday as Ambrose vs Bryan, so I'm not sure what will change that. Shield being punished in some sense? Orton or Bryan appealing that they want to finish the match from Monday? Either way, it's hard to picture Bryan going over clean in any way. Schmozz probably gives a nonclear winner, or something else will happy to make Bryan unable to compete or get counted out or something.
Rising:
1. Christian - Guessing there are several leagues with Christian available. Should be a solid point getter and quickly.
2. Mark Henry - He was only gone about a month, but I could see someone having dropped him not knowing when he'd come back. If anyone did, scoop him up. I see him just destroying everything in his path in the upcoming weeks
3. RVD - Well you'll get a month of solid points out of him at least.
Also, Del Rio is probably unavailable in all leagues, but most of us didnt think he had a chance to beat Ziggler and was on his way down. AJ won the belt as most of us predicted, but still worth noting here. Ditto for Axel. Brock is back which should earn some solid points and soon. Cesaro is building steam with the Colter as I mentioned last week, and Vince and Stephanie are intriguing pickups given the family drama going on. Will it end up resulting in a Vince/HHH match at MITB or Summerslam? Will Steph inject herself into the Divas picture?
Falling:
1. Wade Barrett - Dropped the belt, and I just see him being written out of the title picture for now. Time will tell but I dont know like his chances
2. Kaitlyn - Dropped the belt also. I do think she'll continue to earn decent points until her rematch, but no telling where they go after if she loses it like we all suspect.
3. Dolph Ziggler - I mean I still think he's worth holding of course, but what a disappointing season so far with the injury and now losing the first title shot since the season started? And with the turn, it's possible he'll be hunting the newly heel (again) Del Rio for a few months until he gets it back. Heel champions are cursed in this game (see: CM Punk last season). DREW MCINTYRE HAS MORE POINTS CURRENTLY
Also: Where does Ryback go from here? Jack Swagger milk carton alert, Rey Mysterio just had another (minor) surgery. Where is Big Show?!?!!?!? (okay he was part of the panel at Payback, but why?!)