Well, Tonight we get to see the fallout from Summerslam and move on to Unforgiven in three short weeks. I have read the spoilers and UGH, not too thrilled.  I get to see my HHH of course.  The Rated R Superstar is living in Hell of course. For how long we will see. Anyway, this does give different guys a chance to shine so in a way that is good and when Edge does return, and he WILL, Edge will be fresh.  Everyone needs a break every now and then.  I will miss him. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what Undertaker does to La Familia for their role in banishing him.  :)  Stay tuned!

This time, I am going to post a non wrestling related blog.  Today, it was announced that NFLPA Director Gene Upshaw passed away at the age of 63.  I am a huge NFL fan and I am so sorry to hear of this news. He started 207 consecutive starts for the Raiders (when the Raiders were an awesome team way back when). Of course, being the Steeler fan I am, I wasn't the biggest fan of his, but I am keeping his family in my prayers. 

Upshaw's sudden death of pancreatic cancer does cast a pall over the NFL season and puts the Collective Bargaining Agreement situation with the owners and that whole mess in disarray just two weeks before the season starts. 

RIP Gene Upshaw

Well, as alot of you who have read my blogs, you know I have praised Edge's work to the high heavens. Well, I hate to dump on an Edge match but this Hell in the Cell Match was not all that it was cracked up to be. It was a very , VERY good match. I am not saying it wasn't. It was a very good CAGE MATCH. It was NOT a great HELL IN THE CELL MATCH which is what it was SUPPOSED to be. This is why:  I think it should have been booked as maybe a TLC rematch of some sort or a regular match or a NO DQ match and you would have gotten the same effect as this match did.  What you got was a TLC match inside a huge cage.  I do not think it generated much heat either. The Cena/Batista match and the Khali/HHH match generated more heat.  The PG rating of the PPV also hurt the match as there was one element that was lacking : NO BLOOD!!  Ok, Edge and Taker bled accidently. Woopee. That is NOT what I am talking about. Now, maybe I am a bit of an old schooler and maybe I expect too much, but when I hear that a HELL IN A CELL MATCH is going to be booked, the one thing I EXPECT is ONE or BOTH participants BLEEDING!!  Fans like me expect blood and holy **** moments. None existed. I can not point out one spot in this match that I would say is particularly memorable, that fans would remember years down the road. There were a couple of cool spots like the spear through the panel and Edge being slammed through the tables, but everything else pretty much, I have seen before.  I felt the match plodded along and everything set up for the next spot. I do not feel it deserves all this praise on the net that I am seeing and I think the ending was hokey, even though I am hearing rumblings that Edge is possibly taking some time off. 

My other thing is that there is no consistancy. Why was Michaels allowed to bleed all over the place in the last PPV but no blood in a match where you EXPECT BLOOD?  Why was setting Edge (presumably) on fire OK and family friendly (after all, WWE wants to be family friendly and all that ), but no blood in a Hell in a Cell match? Why was JBL trying to KILL Cena with a car on Raw and then setting a car on fire with Cena inside on PPV Ok and family friendly, but you can not have blood in a Hell in a Cell match?  You either book the match correctly or do not book the match at all.

This HIAC match is nowhere near the best of the HIAC matches like the Taker/HBK, HHH/Batista, HHH/Foley, Foley/Taker ones. Even the Taker/Orton one was better than this one. Besides, Taker and Edge had better matches: WM24 and ONS. 

Sorry, but I am not as ga ga over this match as alot of people seem to be.   

I was there live. It was pretty much a near sellout. I would give the show a
thumbs in the middle. The show was ok. It was a lackluster card to begin with,
but I hoped it would be like WM22 when that card on paper was, IMO, so-so but
that PPV turned out to be very good. HOwever, this particular PPV turned out to
be what I expected...a so-so PPV. It was just ok. Nothing special with the
exception of the last three matches which I thought were just good, not great.
The only thing that was great was the one segment with HBK so here goes:

Best Match/Segment:  HBK announcement. Yes. This was the best thing on the
whole card, in my opinion. Michaels and Jericho were GOLD. Loved seeing
Michaels announcing he won't wrestle anymore due to injuries and talking about
all his issues like Montreal,etc, etc with his wife Rebecca by his side.
Jericho comes out to try to make HBK admit that the reason HBK can not wrestle
anymore because of what he(Jericho) did to him. That was awesome. HBK cuts that
great promo and Jericho winds up punching Rebecca when HBK ducks and all the
aftermath. Great, great stuff. This is what I loved the best on the show.

Worst Match: No brainer here: Henry vs Hardy for the ECW Title. What kind of
nonsense was that? Atrocious match.

Everything else was ok to good.

MVP vs Jeff Hardy was fine. Decent opener. Nothing blew me away.

Santino/Phoenix vs James/Kingston was a fun match.  I like Santino and Phoenix
a lot so I am glad they won.  It was ok for what it was.  It was just there.

Punk vs JBL: Relived that Punk won CLEAN over JBL.  Solid match. It was fine.

Khali vs HHH: Not one of Hunter's very best matches,considering the opponent,
but I thought it was a very good, well worked match, and I thought Hunter has
done a great job getting a good match out of Khali. Tons of fans chanting "You
can't wrestle." at Khali during the match. I thought it was a good match
though.  I liked it.

Cena vs Batista: This was a very, very good match. I really enjoyed this match.
Both men did a great job in the ring.  Batista, in particular, did a great
job.

Now, the Hell in a Cell Match. This was a good CAGE match. I do not think it
was a great Hell in a Cell match. It was a pretty good Hell in a Cell match. I
was not blown away by it like I was other Hell in a Cell matches.  I felt it
just was slow, and it plodded along. The guys worked hard. I love Edge to
death, especially, even though I love Taker as well. I thought they were just
setting up stuff for the next spot. There were a few cool moments where Edge
speared Taker through the cage or whatever and they fought on the outside onto
the tables. Those spots were cool.  I didn't think though that this particular
match was anything special like it had been built up as. Another thing that
hurt the match in my eyes was the lack of BLOOD!!!  This is a Hell in a Cell
match. Every other Hell in a Cell Match that I have seen, one or both of the
participants bled!! Now, I knew the company is going PG family friendly but
come now. Let's get real here and let's be consistent. Why was it "ok" or
"family friendly" for HBK to bleed like a pig last PPV but no blood in a Hell
in a Cell match the next PPV? Anyway, the lack of blood really took away the
intensity and brutality of this match, at least for me. This match was as tame
as a puppy dog. I mean, why book the match in the first place if there is not
going to be any blood used. As for the ending,it is typical Undertaker style
goofy ending.  Sorry. I was not a huge fan of this match.

Terri Bey
Lexington, KY

I would like to quickly comment on the releases: Sorry to see Cherry go. That is too bad. I had no use for Delaney. Not surprised. Sorry to see Stevie Richards go also. The Highlanders, bah.

NOW, to the main point: Summer Slam predictions. I am giving them early because I will be at the event and I will be back Monday to give a review so here goes in no particular order:

CM Punk vs JBL for the World Championship:  Tough for me to call but I say Punk wins this. Alot of people backstage are not too high on Punk, and Punk is not getting a great push as champ as you can see, but I think Punk wins.

Santino/Beth Phoenix vs Mickie James/Kofi Kingston in the Winner take all for the IC/Women's Title:  I think James and Kingston retain. That is what I predict here.

Matt Hardy vs Mark Henry for the ECW Title:  I am going to say that Henry will retain this semi-snoozer. Matt will work his butt off to make Henry look decent but not much you can do with Henry.

I also predict Shawn Michaels who will make an announcement will announce he will CONTINUE his career.

Jeff Hardy vs MVP (I think) : I think Hardy wins. (I may have to edit this)

Khali vs Triple H for the WWE Championship: I predict this match will be a struggle to be passable. LOL Hunter will have to bring his carrying shoes to get a half way decent match out of Khali.  Khali was great in "Get Smart." He is far from a great wrestler, however, and I do not understand why Umaga or MVP could not have gotten this spot. Anyway, I say Triple H hangs on to his belt here. No brainer.

Cena vs Batista: This one is not very hard to predict. Of course, Cena wins this puppy.  I am thinking they may do a Batista heel turn here.  We will see if they do. With Orton gone another three months, supposedly, and JBL and Kane pretty much being the only top heels, Raw could use another one.

Now, to the presumed MAIN EVENT: HELL IN A CELL: Oh my goodness gracious:  Undertaker vs Edge, the Rated R Superstar.  Well, even senile Al Davis (owner of the Oakland Raiders) would agree that the Undertaker is going to win this match. No ifs, ands, or buts.  That is for certain.  This will be a brutal match , and I expect both guys to give an awesome performance.  I can not wait for this match.  I have seen a Hell in a Cell match: the one between HHH and HBK at Bad Blood 03 in Columbus, OH.  That was pretty good.  I have never seen one with the Undertaker, and this match is his match as this will be his 9th one. WOW.  Of course, the best one is the first one in 97 between Taker and HBK and the most famous one is the 6/98 one between Taker and Foley. I am sure this one will be great as well.