Night Of Champions Predictions

Here are our predictions for WWE's September PPV 'Night Of Champions'. Looking like a really strong card and of course ALL titles will be on the line!

As always there are no spoilers and no inside information - these are just our own predictions.

RAW Rundown - 01/09

Picture: WWE.com

Whilst this wasn't the greatest RAW in WWE history, it was a huge improvement on last week's episode which we covered in our previous blog post.


The show was scheduled to begin with Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel starring special guest Randy Orton.
Orton did make his way to ringside, but with Triple H, Kane & Seth Rollins in tow - suited and booted!

Picture: WWE.com

Apparently Triple H had decided that it might not be best for business for John Cena to face Brock Lesnar at Night Of Champions, and he is considering naming a new #1 contender for a title shot at Lesnar.

Cue everyone who's everyone try and claim their place as the new #1 contender including all of the men in the ring (bar Triple H) before John Cena came stomping out to ringside to make his point.

Cena claimed that it is his legal right to rematch against Lesnar and if he doesn't get it then he will sue!

Then Roman Reigns made his way (through the crowd - obviously) to ringside to stake his claim for being the #1 contender. What? You didn't think they'd leave him out did you!?

In the end Triple H decides that all of the men in the ring will get a chance to prove themselves in the main event of RAW - Cena, Reigns & Jericho vs Orton, Kane & Rollins - Six-Man Tag.

That's more like it, WWE!

Picture: WWE.com

The first match of the evening was Dolph Ziggler & Sheamus vs The Miz & Cesaro - accompanied by Damien San(Miz)dow and a makeup artist!

The Miz & Cesaro picked up the win following some interference from Mizdow and then a Skull-Crushing Finale from the real, proper, actual Miz on Ziggler;

Next up, another tag team match in the form of Mark Henry & Big Show vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan - As we were reminded by Michael Cole - That's 1,400 pounds of human meat/Mark Henry's copious amounts of sweat.

Everything was going just fine until big, bad Rusev (accompanied by the lovely Lana) made his way way out to "observe" the match. Absolutely nothing to do with his ongoing rivalry with Mark Henry, nothing at all. He just LOVES watching wrestling...

...Oh.

Mark Henry had Harper in his arms ready for the 'World's Strongest Slam' but Rusev entered the ring and kicked Henry square in the jaw - And there was us thinking he was just innocently interested in watching the match!

Meanwhile, Rusev's old foe Jack Swagger was in singles action against Curtis Axel, forced into singles action due to the fact Ryback is out of action.

Incredibly, Swagger managed to pick up the win! Not due to the quality of his opponent, more the fact he hasn't won in about 2 years! Ok. Slight exaggeration there - but it did feel a bit like he was just being used as Rusev's punchbag for a couple of months.

These days Swagger has himself a new rival in the form of Bo Dallas. We imagine Swagger is absolutely THRILLED by this - But heck. At least he may now win the odd match on a PPV!

So anyway. Swagger picks up the win and then Bo Dallas makes his post-match appearance; 

We really didn't know how to call this next one. One of those kind of matches where there is so little between the superstars, it's just easier to sit on the fence...

...Rusev vs Zack Ryder

Rusev won - Mark Henry made his way to the ring - Rusev retreated. What a chicken! (although we wouldn't call him that to his face).

The Diva's division has just been given a brand new lease of life as Stephanie McMahon revealed that she was going to hand Nikki Bella a shot at Paige and her Diva's title.

Brie Bella was next out from behind the tron to exactly the same music as her rival twin sister. This was referenced by Steph who proclaimed that from now on the Bella's music is only to be exclusively used by Nikki Bella.
Nikki was generally horrible to her, about her and her troll-like husband Daniel Bryan - Her words, not ours. 

Then AJ came to the ring claiming that she was owed her title rematch against Paige.

Then Paige herself entered the fray as they couldn't have this conversation without the champion herself being present.

Nikki then took the microphone to suggest that her twin sister leave the WWE as a kind of sacrifice - Basically in the same kind of way she did for her husband, Daniel Bryan.
As she continued screaming at her sister to "leave", Brie finally snapped and pushed Nikki over into Paige who then dropped the Divas title, giving AJ the chance to seize the belt and skip around with it in circles!

The upshot of this being that the Divas division has just got a lot more exciting - And to think some idiots were chanting "Boring" at the beginning of the segment;

Gold & Stardust are now bona fide bad guys. We like this. It adds something to the tag team division.
For the first time in ages we have a feud between two tag teams, who actually look like tag teams! Credit where credit is due - WWE Creative did good when coming up with the 'Stardust' character.

This time round it was Goldust in action against Jimmy Uso (We think.You can never be 100% sure).
Goldust picked up the win after hitting his 'Final Cut' finisher. But despite the win being clean, what happened next was very much the opposite.
Both of the Rhodes Bros went after poor little Jey Uso's bad knee. Firstly issuing a kneebreaker and then wrapping his leg around the ring post and smashing it with a steel chair. Ouch.

Bad guys indeed;

Next up was the main event - Cena, Reigns & Jericho vs Orton, Kane & Rollins.

This match was a VAST improvement on the main event we were served up last week on RAW.
Big names. Fast paced action. Near-falls. Different Superstars finishers being hit in quick succession. This was certainly good enough to pass as a main event on RAW. Much more like it!

Both Reigns and Y2J spent lengthy periods in the ring before Cena was let loose towards the end of the match. As predictable as this is - The crowd erupted.

What wasn't as predictable was the fact that it wasn't Cena who picked up the win for his team. That distinction was left to Roman Reigns. Further proof, if it were needed, that he is being pushed on and up the WWE roster; 

As for what happens with Triple H planning to change the #1 contender - Who knows?
I would imagine that nothing will come of it and the Cena/Lesnar rematch will go ahead, as planned, at Night Of Champions.




FINAL THOUGHT:
Good on the WWE for FINALLY forward selling what is coming up next week on RAW. They always forward sell what is coming up on Smackdown, but let's face it, RAW is their flagship show.
By forward selling, I mean actively advertising what matches are coming up next week on RAW.
By doing this we now know next week will include Reigns vs Orton is a SummerSlam rematch PLUS Jericho vs Wyatt in a steel cage.

If I was a gambling man, I'd wager that by making those simple announcements, they have just added THOUSANDS more viewers onto their ratings for next week's show.

WWE Post-SummerSlam Lull

Last week was not a great one performance-wise from the WWE in our opinion.
RAW was very poor, followed by another very poor edition of SmackDown.

RAW Rundown - 25/08

Here is our weekly RAW Rundown with all the best bits from this week's show.

SummerSlam Review

SummerSlam 2014 got underway with a surprise appearance from the immortal Hulk Hogan. 

Nothing all that exciting about his appearance though, he was basically there to sell the WWE Network.
 

I understand that the WWE have a product to sell, but I do find the way they advertise it to be cringeworthy most of the time.
 

(By the way the WWE Network is just 9.99!)

The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler
(Intercontinental Title Match)

Decent match to kick off SummerSlam and the first of three title changes during the evening.
 

After some nice exchanges in a fast-paced match, Ziggler picked up the win with the Zigg-Zag.
 

For me, this was a surprise title change. But at the same time Ziggler is so over with the WWE Universe that it can't really go wrong!
 

Who knows what's next for The Miz - Are they doing a new Marine movie?

AJ Lee vs Paige (Divas Title Match)

Second title match of the evening and the second title change. Again, for me this was a surprise title change, but an enjoyable one.
 

Paige's recent heel turn added some spice to the rivalry in the build up to this match. But in the end she won clean to regain the Divas title.
 

Where this rivalry goes from here, who knows?
 

Maybe AJ will win the title back tonight on RAW! The Divas belt is seemingly becoming a hot potato between the two of them, so why not!?

Rusev vs Jack Swagger 

Flag Match

We never thought for one second that Rusev's winning run would be broken at SummerSlam by Jack Swagger. It is clear that WWE are lining him up for a push and have been for some time. 

That said, this was his biggest test to date and for once he had take part in a fairly even match where he had to sell and take bumps. 

Swagger got Rusev in the Patriot Lock before the match had even started and so the Bulgarian Brute had to nurse his ankle through the entire contest - Which he sold well and convincingly.

Rusev's ankle made it difficult for him to put Swagger in his finishing hold 'The Accolade', but once he finally did (fighting through the pain barrier) Jack Swagger eventually passed out.

Rusev wins - But Swagger didn't tap. 

We've got a feeling this one may rumble on.

Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose

(Lumberjack Match)

This was easily the match of the night and given all the hype and build-up it certainly delivered.

I think we all groaned a bit when Ambrose chose a Lumberjack Match for his stipulation, but last night the groaning stopped.

The lumberjacks all played their part and there was some brilliant brawling through the crowd between the two former 'brothers'.

The best high spot of the night went to Ambrose who dived onto the lumberjacks carrying Rollins back to the ring. In one motion he took out half of the WWE roster - Incredible!

Rollins was always going to win this one and always going to win unclean and so that proved to be the case, with a little bit of help from Kane and his MITB briefcase! 

The good news is that this feud is FAR from over and we've got a feeling Ambrose will get his revenge.

Bray Wyatt vs Chris Jericho

We haven't really been won over by this feud. 

Y2J was brought back to the WWE specifically to feud with Wyatt and to get him over even more. 

Not sure it's been entirely successful and Wyatt was certainly getting over more during his feud with John Cena. Not to mention that the Cena/Wyatt matches were better in general. 

Wyatt was always going to win this one after losing to Jericho at Battleground and so that proved to be the case, with Jericho putting him over clean as well.

With the scores now at 1-1 will we get a decider next month? Maybe we will. Either way I'm not sure the WWE Universe are sold on this feud and it will be interesting to see what happens after, particularly for Wyatt.

Stephanie McMahon vs Brie Bella

The spoilers did what they do best and spoiled the ending to this one weeks ago.

It was practically common knowledge that Nikki Bella was going to turn on her sister Brie and I found myself just waiting for it to happen.

This distracted from the match somewhat, which wasn't actually all that bad! 

Most impressive was the in-ring prowess of Steph. With the crowd chanting "You've still got it" throughout the match.

Steph picked up the win with a LOT of help from her husband and Nikki Bella. 

We fully expect this one to rumble on for a while to come.

 

Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton

Roman Reigns is the golden boy, make no mistake about it. He is being primed to become a WWE champion in the not to distant future. 

Which is exactly why he was always going to go over against the Apex Predator, Randy Orton. 

In all honesty, I'd completely forgotten about this match on the card! What with all the excitement that went before it, I was just waiting for the main event between Cena and Lesnar. 

The match itself was neat and tidy without ever really setting the world alight. It would've been nice to have seen Orton in the mood he was in a few weeks ago on RAW when he destroyed Reigns.

The most impressive spot was Reigns launching into his trademark 'Superman Punch', only to be caught by a mid-air RKO - This led directly to the best near-fall of the night.

Reigns eventually picked up the win with a Spear, and his WWE mega-push continues.

I do worry for him slightly for a few reasons. Mainly that he is still a little bit green and rough around the edges in my opinion. It does feel a bit like his push is as a direct result of his stature and looks.

But more importantly I worry for his sequence of trademark moves becoming too predictable and repetitive. I think it could end up being as boring as Cena building up to his 'Five-Knuckle Shuffle' and we all know what kind of response that gets!

Was I the only one who heard a few moans and groans directed at Reigns last night? If so, that doesn't bode well.

John Cena vs Brock Lesnar

(WWE World Heavyweight Title Match)

Wow.

We all thought that Lesnar might win this one - But I don't think ANYONE could have predicted the manner in which he won the belts.

In short, Cena was annihilated by Lesnar. I would go as far as to say that this was just an extended squash match. 

Cena received SIXTEEN brutal suplexes and two F5's before losing clean to the Beast. 

With Cena losing in this manner it does make you wonder - Is he off for a break? Or is the unthinkable about to happen? 

Is he about to turn heel?

I mean, how DO you come back from a main event defeat like that? 

For Lesnar, this sets him up for a long run as WWE champion. He looked every bit 'The Beast' last night and it does pose the question - Who could realistically beat him?

Time will tell, but one thing is for sure - Get used to seeing those two golden belts a lot less on the TV - We now have a part-time World Champ.

 

 

  

 

 

 

SummerSlam Predictions

With less than a week to go until the BIGGEST event of the summer, here are our predictions for SummerSlam.

Remember, these are just predictions. No inside info. No spoilers.

JACK SWAGGER vs RUSEV 

FLAG MATCH

PREDICTION: RUSEV WIN

 

 CHRIS JERICHO vs BRAY WYATT

 PREDICTION: WYATT WIN

THE MIZ vs DOLPH ZIGGLER 

INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

PREDICTION: MIZ WIN

AJ LEE vs PAIGE

DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

PREDICTION: AJ LEE WIN

BRIE BELLA vs STEPHANIE MCMAHON

PREDICTION: STEPH WIN

ROMAN REIGNS vs RANDY ORTON

PREDICTION: REIGNS WIN

DEAN AMBROSE vs SETH ROLLINS

LUMBERJACK MATCH

PREDICTION: ROLLINS WIN

JOHN CENA vs BROCK LESNAR

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH

PREDICTION: LESNAR WIN

New matches confirmed for SummerSlam

A few days ago we listed the matches that have been confirmed for SummerSlam and last night on RAW more matches were added to the card.
We predicted all of these a few days ago anyway, but here is a full list of the most recent confirmed matches;


AJ Lee vs Paige - For the Diva's Title;

Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton;

The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler - For the Intercontinental Title

Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose - (With a stipulation of Ambrose' choosing TBC);

Let's all hope Ambrose chooses one of these as his stipulation...

 

How do you solve a problem like Seth Rollins?

WWE pulled off a masterstroke when Seth Rollins turned on his Shield 'brothers' Ambrose and Reigns.
Not only was it one of the best heel turns in a LONG time, but also, and maybe more importantly, it has been the launchpad for the three members of The Shield to go solo.

For Roman Reigns the objective appears to be a clear one from the WWE; To get him over enough as a singles wrestler in order for him to eventually become World Heavyweight Champion.
As discussed by many industry experts the ideal time for this would be at Wrestlemania 31. Maybe against Brock Lesnar? Who knows?

The one thing we all know for sure is that Seth Rollins is currently Mr. Money In The Bank. Usually this would be a good thing for any WWE superstar to have in their possession and it may well turn out to be that way for Rollins too.
However I'm struggling to see where a Rollins title reign fits into the masterplan. And more importantly if he is ready for it yet.

Like most people, I'm expecting Lesnar to pick up the belts at SummerSlam.
If he does take the titles from Cena, can you really see Rollins cashing in MITB against The Beast?

Lesnar is one of the most dominant Superstars in WWE history. He manhandled the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. He may well do the same to Cena at SummerSlam.

So what chance does an upstart like Rollins have against Lesnar?
In my opinion; Very little chance. I just don't think I could buy into him pinning Lesnar 1, 2, 3.

If Lesnar does win at SummerSlam you would imagine his title reign will be a fairly dominant and long-lived one. Some have even speculated that a Lesnar title run could stretch right through to Wrestlemania next year, when Reigns can take the straps from him and have his moment in the sun.

So here's the question; How do you solve a problem like Seth Rollins?