Chokes WWE RAW Rant and Smackdown Preview 7/8/13 - 7/12/13
Posted by: choke Jul 11, 2013 | 1834 views | 0 comments
My review of RAW, and preview of this Friday's Smackdown (no match spoilers)
Wasn't huge on the Raw from an entertainment perspective. It felt important, which I always appreciate, and I liked the Wyatt clan debut, but the rest just didn't click with me. Still I'm looking forward to Money in the Bank because there's a lot of unpredictability surrounding the show which is my favorite element to any PPV.
Here's what's coming up on Smackdown (no match result spoilers). By the way, prowrestling.net did not post the no spoilers version, so I ended up having a friend read me off the matches without the results. If anything is inaccurate, that's why
1. Daniel Bryan vs Christian: Okay this article is going to blend a little with my MITB preview and predictions which will be posted in the next few days, but the WWE is CLEARLY trying to make us think that Bryan is the favorite going into Sunday. He has to win here in order to continue the story they're selling us. Spoiler alert to my MITB preview: Daniel Bryan will not win at MITB
2. Seth Rollins vs Jey Uso: Do the Usos have a chance Sunday? Not really. Do they have to let Jey Uso get a win Friday in order to make us believe that they do? Probably. Or there will be schmozz and a DQ, but even in that case, the Usos will be left standing at the end of the match and the Shield will be retreating or laid out in the ring.
3. Chris Jericho vs Curtis Axel: The Axel loss was a surprise on Monday, this is where he gets it back, and more than likely due to Ryback's interference. By the looks of the next match the Miz could be out there too by the end of this thing...
4. Ryback vs the Miz: Hard for me to see either taking a clean loss here leading into MITB. Since it's happening right after Jericho and Axel, maybe we see more schmozz. That's what I'll go with. A no contest.
5. Fandango vs Wade Barrett: Where is Dean Ambrose? I feel like this match should end up in a giant brawl with all the MITB participants for the "smackdown" version. On RAW all the competitors minus Ambrose were present to spat with each other. I've talked myself out of Rhodes or Colter's team winning MITB. I actually think whichever of these two loses this match will be the favorite. Or like I seem to predict for every match, this will just be schmozz leading into the big brawl I mentioned earlier. Everything is schmozz
6. Sheamus vs Orton: Much like Bryan is being portrayed as the big favorite, Orton has lost to Bryan, Kane and Punk in consecutive weeks. I think we close the show with him taking another L, leading to his big W on Sunday. Naturally we'll see another brawl to close out the show, probably with Bryan leading the charge and giving us a final glimpse at the heavy favorite going into Sunday.
Rising:
1. Randy Orton: All the stars are aligned for him to win MITB Sunday IMO. He's lost 3 matches in a row on RAW, which makes it seem like he has zero momentum going into Sunday. Yet they also showed him give an almost heel-ish promo about how he'd consider using the case on a fallen Cena if given the chance Sunday? I like that possibility. WWE needs a big heel, and a heel Orton would be huge for Summerslam
2. The Wyatt clan: Outside of the Husky Harris chants, a very successful debut. The crowd was eating it up, and I like that they came right in against a major player like Kane and took him out, potentially even out of MITB which would be a big impact. Over the weeks to come I think they'll rack up interference and attack points, and maybe even some stretcher or ambulance points
3. Fandango/Barrett: Several weeks ago, I thought each and every contestant in this MITB match had a shot. Since then I've started to reconsider things which I'll explain in the MITB preview later. I'm down to one of these two, with a slight lean to Fandango. This is very difficult for me to even type because I'm not much of a fan of either.
Falling
1. Kane: I'd still hold him, but I think for the Wyatts to be taken seriously, Kane needs to really feel the effects of this attack they put on him. Whether that puts him out for a while, or whether it just starts a feud with him and the Wyatts, I think he'll take his licks for the weeks to come and limit his points potential through Summerslam.
2. Kaitlyn: Now that MITB is upon us with Kaitlyn's likely loss to AJ, I just feel that the WWE will probably go in a different direction after.
3. The Usos: I mean really who do the WWE think they are kidding. Onto the next feud for the Shield hopefully after MITB.