Choke's WWE Raw rant and Smackdown Preview 9/23/2013 - 9/27/2013
Posted by: choke Sep 25, 2013 | 1770 views | 0 comments
I take a look back at RAW, and preview this week's Main Event and Smackdown shows.
Welcome back! I was all amped up for the beginning of the season, my first season in drafting where I truly set aside all personal preferences and mixed in a handful of faces with my favorite heels. So what happened? Heels absolutely crushed it for the most part(minus Daniel Bryan, obviously).
Overall it was an okay show. These are sort of the dark days of the WWE with these PPVs which feel unimportant and a lot of dragging of the feet waiting until Survivor Series. This is why we have Drop the Belt to make your Fandango vs Santino match more exciting right?!
Let's go to a preview (my predictions) of Main Event and Smackdown (no match result spoilers, as I dont know them), before getting into my rising and falling for the week:
As always, my previews are from www.prowrestling.net
Main Event
1. Big E Langston and Fandango vs the Usos - Interesting pairing of Big E and Fandango, but since the Usos have the tag title shot they should get the easy win barring some sort of Shield run in causing them a loss or a DQ win.
2. Big Show vs Damien Sandow - Seems like a Raw or Smackdown quality match. Sandow should continue the woes of having the MITB case and Big Show should get the KO for an easy win
3. Curtis Axel vs Justin Gabriel - perhaps a feud to come with Gabriel kind of becoming mildly prominent in the storyline against the corporation? Or maybe they'll embarrass him for a few months for his making every female across America who watches Total Divas go "isn't he a little too old for Jojo?" Axel gets the win
Smackdown
1. Alberto Del Rio vs R-Truth - Loved how the Chicago crowd pretty much booed R-Truth when Triple H and/or Stephanie announced his name amongst all the other faces. But really, why should we cheer? Then lost all respect for said crowd when it sounded like 75% of them did the "What's up?!" call and response. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Del Rio with the easy win. LOCK OF THE WEEK
2. The Real Americans vs PTP - Tough call for me. On the one hand I thought PTP might actually win the tag belts soon, but then they crushed them at Night of Champions and went right back to the Usos for the 414th time in the last 6 months. So now what? Will they go away from PTP getting shine? Will Real Americans get built up more from here on out? The entire tag division is a mess really. I'll flip a coin and say they Real Americans get the win to build them up against the obvious feud with Los Matadores debuting Monday.
3. Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler - This is for the US Belt right? Hard to see it exchanging hands on a Smackdown. Is Dolph officially mid-card again? Doesn't really seem like he needs this belt to me still. Ambrose retains, probably due to Shield interference (again) leading to maybe some sort of stip match for the title at Battlegrounds
4. AJ Lee vs Cameron - Hm, seems like an easy win for AJ, and I'd still go with that as a prediction but with Natalya and Brie Bella (see rising list) both getting wins over AJ lately (albeit in tag matches), maybe they're trying to make the case for several Divas to be "#1 contenders" I don't know, the Divas is as much a mess as the tags. BTW, of all the Divas semi involved in the WWE, Cameron is probably the least deserving of the title. I'll say AJ wins and there's a resulting gangbang fight with all the total divas cast attacking her
5. 3MB vs Khali and Santino - I hate the WWE. I dont even want to predict this. Okay Khali and Santino. God dammit.
6. Randy Orton vs the Miz - please please please have this be a write-off for the Miz. And have him take R-Truth with him. Orton has to win (right?)
Rising/Falling
1. Brie Bella - So as I said, the Divas division is in shambles, with AJ being underutilized which is a shame since she's the most interesting and talented Diva the WWE has had in years. Storyline wise it's a tough sell right now. She's a heel, and yet Stephanie is riding her ass like she's a face. The main reason I'm putting Brie #1 on the rising list isnt because she got the pinfall on AJ which might result in her getting a title match which I very much think she can win, it's because they're straight up pinpointing the fact that she's Bryan's gf in the story! It makes perfect sense to give her the belt and then have Stephanie toy with her simply for that fact. I think we'll be seeing the WWE make the effort to have Brie be THE face of the Divas division, as she goes against corporate with her bf. BONUS PREDICTION: Nikki will continue to do nothing
2. Primo/Epico - If you missed the vignette on Monday, Los Matadores are set to premiere this coming Monday night on RAW. They have to get a win right? There's a rule in the WWE that if you get more than 5-6 promo spots throughout RAW and Smackdown, that you have to win your debut match (note: unless you're Johnny Curtis). Even though overall I think the gimmick will be a failure, it's hard to imagine them losing a lot early on.
3. Goldust - Interesting spot with Cody and Goldust attacking the Shield Monday. We all knew Cody would be back, but are they possibly bringing Goldust back with him? ARE THEY GOING TO TEAM THE RHODES TOGETHER FOR A TAG TITLE RUN? Even if not, might be worth a chance if you did something foolish like draft David Hart Smith
Falling:
1. Wade Barrett - He went undrafted in my recent 35 man team. SOMEONE TOOK ZEB COLTER INSTEAD. (sarcasm) Shock that his Fight Club gimmick didn't really take off (/sarcasm)
2. Big E Langston - What happened? He went from being involved indirectly with the World Title and Dolph/Del Rio/AJ, and now is teaming with Fandango on Main Event? Hasn't had a match on RAW or Smackdown in months.
3. Natalya - I was starting to become convinced that Nattie might be next in line for a Diva's title shot after she got some victories in 6 diva tag matches earlier this month. Now with what looks to be the Brie storyline possibly going forward, I think she'll get lost in the shuffle. No one will probably notice though honestly.