The WWE presents its annual biggest PPV of the summer this weekend -
SummerSlam. The show takes place Sunday 8pm est from the Conseco
Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. While this is usually a show with a lot of
build and high profile matches, this years offering seems a bit
lacking, despite the fact they have thrown some major superstars
together in trying to draw a big buyrate. With that, here is the
breakdown for the show.
Edge vs Undertaker (Hell in a Cell) - This will likley be the main event, and for what it's worth - it
should be. It will be the first time we've seen Taker since he
"retired" a few months back after a loss to Edge at One Night Stand.
Now he's back thanks to Vickie Guerrero, and this should be a blood
bath. Both these men work well together, and they are wise to put this
on as the main. Both these guys are at the top of their game, and this
one should be a very solid main event despite not much on the line.
World Heavyweight Champion C.M. Punk vs JBL - We've seen this one before, as Punk took on JBL the night he won the
strap, so they must feel they can keep it fresh. Keeping JBL in the
title picture is a bit of a head scratcher, but they must feel that he
still has value and can give Punk a solid match. No way I can see JBL
winning the belt here, as Punk walks out with a successful defense of
the World Heavyweight Title.
WWE Champion Triple H vs The Great Khali - Let's hope they keep this one short. With not much else going on in
the title scene, they threw this together in hopes of making it legit,
but not many are buying Khali as a serious contender for the belt, and
for good reason. The company gave HHH some time off to be with wife
Steph McMahon for the birth of their second child, and because of that,
we have to deal with this, which should be a short 7-8 minute squash
with HHH winning clean.
ECW Champion Mark Henry vs Matt Hardy -
Hardy dropped the US Title at last month's PPV offering to set up this
feud that we knew was coming when Hardy was moved and Henry got the
belt. The ECW brand has been a bit better with the infusion of young
talent, and while Henry does not deserve to carry the torch of this
title, look for a win here to simply continue this feud till Hardy
finally does win his first major heavyweight title.
Batista vs John Cena - They are pushing this as the "first time ever" for these two, and
many felt we wouldn't see this till Mania. I predict we still might, as
I can easily see a no-decision here, allowing them to keep this fresh
as the build for Mania 25 starts in full in the next two-three months.
From here I see a slow build for Batista going back to heel to build
towards a big grudge match with a title involved with Cena at Mania.
MVP vs Jeff Hardy - These two just had a match at a PPV a few months back, but this time
they are actually going though with a program, so I wouldnt' doubt if
they drag this out a little. On the other hand, this could be a "one
and done" and then they could move Hardy into the title picture with
Triple H after he takes care of Khali. Down the road Hardy will have a
title shot, and I think it's going to be sooner than later, meaning he
wins clean here.
Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella vs Kofi Kingston and Mickie James (IC and Women's Belt on the line) - Kind of a silly way to have two belts decided, but for whatever
reason they decided to have these four in a match and put not one but
two belts up. I can likely see one of the belts changing hands, and the
way it should go down is Marella, finally admitting his crush on
Phoenix, helps her win the womens belt and forgo's the IC belt. That's
the most logical way of it playing out anyway.
SummerSlam Predictions
Thoughts and Commentary on the Great American Bash
Some thoughts from Sunday's Great American Bash show from Long Island, NY:
WWE Title Match: Triple H defeats Edge to keep the title - Well, called this one during the pre-match show that Vickie would get involved, and sure enough she and the "wedding planner" came down and got their hands dirty. Pretty standard match, with HHH getting the win as Edge speared Vickie by accident and then got pedgreed by Triple H for the win. We'll see a lot more of these two, and here was just the beginning. Overall, pretty good PPV with some interesting title changes and okay matches up and down the card setting up SummerSlam.
NYC Parking Lot Brawl: JBL defeats John Cena - I called for a lot of bumps here, and got it with a match with some rather cool visuals and effects with the fire, the cars, and the forklift. The ending was good, and a bit of a surprise with Cena getting thrown into the window and taking the loss. I have to wonder now, and hate this thought, that we're due one more stip match between these two at SummerSlam. Here's hoping that they won't, but I don't doubt they do another round of these two.
World Heavyweight Title Match: C.M. Punk and Batista battle to a Double DQ - I enjoyed this match,and hope to see more of these two. I asked if Punk could step it up in a PPV title match on one of the major two brands, and I think he proved he could. Of course the outside interference from Kane sets up a Triple-Threat between these three for SummerSlam. I have no doubts that Kane is refering to his old masked self when it comes to "is he dead or alive." Again, Punk and Batista stepped it up, and I hope that we see more of them in the future.
Divas Championship Match: Michelle McCool defats Natalya by submission to win the belt - I thought this would be a good women's match, and overall it did its job. McCool is a worthy champion, as would Neidhart would have been as well. Pretty good back and forth with each lady getting their submission holds on before finally in the end McCool made Natalya submit. Look for plenty of rematches and I wouldn't be shocked at a few title changes between these two.
Chris Jericho defeats Shawn Michaels as refs stop match after Michaels can't continue - Basically nothing more than an ending to continue the feud next month or maybe in September with a big stip match at another PPV. The storyline is that Michaels career is over after he suffered a "detached retina." Was a pretty good match and a great visual till the hookey ending. Expect some sort of "funeral" for Michaels by Y2J as he buries him for weeks till HBK returns to challenge Jericho to a big match at a PPV.
ECW Title Match: Mark Henry defeats Tommy Dreamer to retain title - Bit of a surprise ending with Colin Delany turning on Dreamer, but you saw it coming when he jumped on the apron with Dreamer as he was going to jump on Henry. Never a doubt in my mind that Henry was going to win here, but the bigger story was Delany with the turn, and where they go with it from here and if he can do anything with it.
US Title Match: Shelton Benjamin defeats Matt Hardy for the title - Little bit of a shock here, but overall I like the move, as it gives SmackDown another title and puts it on a great worker like Benjamin. Match made Hardy look a little weak, which as now he's the main guy other than Mark Henry on ECW makes the brand look even weaker. Overall a good ending and I can live with Benjamin as the new title holder.
Fatal Four Way for the WWE Tag Titles: Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder defeat Miz and Morrison, Jesse and Festus, and Hornswoggle and Finaly - Not a bad first match, and having Hawking and Ryder win the belts was not a bad decision. It was time for the belts to be moved, and giving them to a team like Hawkins and Ryder will for sure give them a big boost. Kept it a pretty straight-forward match with not a bunch of stupid comedy spots like could have been expected. We'll see now that Hawkins and Ryder have the ball if they can run with it.
Why TNA Sucks...
At Let's Talk Wrestling we pride ourselves on being a
true blue WWE site, we also realize that there is another "wrestling"
company that does exist, and it's pointless to try and pretend they
don't so here is a quick take on what was the latest TNA PPV Sunday
night "Victory Road."
This is the first time I ever truly took
in a TNA PPV, and while I don't really follow their storylines at all,
it was easy to keep up with them as they did their background promos,
much like the WWE would do if you didn't follow it and happened to
catch a PPV. While I didn't catch the whole PPV, I caught most of the
last 2 hours, which was more than enough to decide how I felt about
this bomb.
Yes, you read that right. This thing was awful. I
have had issues with TNA in the past, and this is not just because I am
sticking up for WWE. Simply put, if you watch TNA - why? I'm serious,
give me some feedback in the comments section or shoutbox to your right
as to why you spend your hard earned money watching this 3rd or even
4th rate wrestling.
I will give TNA credit for their X-division
matches, which is about the only thing on these shows worth watching.
They had the finals of the World X Cup Tourney Sunday night, with TNA,
Team Japan, Team Mexico and Team International. Team Mexico won (at
least I'm pretty sure from what I recall) and for the most part, the
crowd really seemed to care less.
I look at the X-division
matches as the WWE's Money in the Bank. They usually have 2-3 big
bumps, and are usually pretty good. Since I barley watch TNA, I don't
know how this one ranked, but it seemed like it was a little less
exciting than ones that I have been able to catch in the past. The
Knockouts Title match I caught with champion Taylor (a Mickie James
character knock-off) vs Awesome Kong (think Mark Henry as a woman) was
okay, with a fast ending with Taylor rolling up Kong for the win.
I
had so many issues with the main event, I don't even know where to
start. Booker T vs Samoa Joe for the TNA World Title was to me what TNA
was all about. They showed Sharmell (Booker's wife, in case you forgot)
easily 15-25 times during the match. I actually counted a few times
they showed her and three times didn't get past the count of five when
they would show her, show the action, then show her again. Awful.
The
ending was awful as well, with it basically being a no-contest. With
refs knocked out, they played it that Joe "snapped" and kept beating on
Booker until the ancient Sting came out and beat up Joe eventually with
a bat. Then Sharmell made a hookey three-count and Booker stole the
belt. Could this have gotten any worse?
Now I know why I don't
watch this ****. Again, I can't believe people pay for this. I have my
issues with WWE, but trust me when I say - those of you that watch TNA
are wasting your time. And money.
RAW Ending Not to my Liking...
The WWE has always had a tendency to push the envelope when it comes to the whole "death" angle, and I for one dislike it. Last night it was that monster rearing its ugly head again, as they pushed with the JBL vs John Cena sleeper feud with JLB "killing" Cena at the end of the show with ramming a car into him. Poor taste to say the least.
Who gets anything out of angles like this? JBL is a heel to say the least, and I can't see how "slamming" a car into Cena is going to draw him more heat. People already don't like him, but do they actually think his "killing" of Cena is going to get Cena over more and make people not like Layfield more? Doesn't make sense to me.
Anyone that likes pro wrestling has to cringe when they see something like this. I know in the world of Vince McMahon and the WWE it's all about entertainment, but come on, do we really need to see something like this to get an angle over? Let the two wrestlers do their fighting in the ring, and forget about this stupid backstage stuff that makes the sport look bad.
Even more, stop "killing" wrestlers. It's bad enough that real life has seen many wrestlers die over the years, but do we need it in our Monday night wrestling? I think not.
Night on Champions Thoughts and Recap
Some quick thoughts about the latest WWE PPV offering - Night of Champions, last night in Dallas. The event was lined with eight matches, all for belts, and two main event matches for the two major belts - the World Heavyweight Title and the WWE Title.
Triple H vs John Cena - Solid match, but nowhere near where their WM 22 match was in Chicago. The intensity simply was not there for this one as one would expect. The crowd, which seemed to be flat by the time this main event came about, didn't help matters. HHH winning was not a surprise, and I can see a Cena-HHH III coming at SummerSlam.
Batista vs Edge - Good match, probably the best of the night. Batista raised his game here, as matches with Edge in the past have been okay, but this one was very good. The near falls gave it a real main event feel, and it's too bad the finish was screwed by the many others getting involved. Seems like the way they played it though that there will be no rematch here.
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