Choke's WWE MITB/Raw Rant & Smackdown Preview 7/14 - 7/19/2013
Posted by: choke Jul 17, 2013 | 1635 views | 5 comments
My recap of Money in the Bank 2013 and this week's RAW, and a no match spoiler preview of this Friday's Smackdown
MITB delivered 2 good Money in the Bank ladder matches and that's about it. The rest was relatively predictable and unexciting IMO. Raw wasn't too much better (6 matches in 3 hours?!) and I'm hoping that's not a sign for Summerslam. Shocked that it seems like they're going to try to give us Usos vs the Shield and Big E vs Ziggler for that PPV, and hoping those are just smokescreens for now. Intrigued by who they will have up next for AJ, Del Rio, and Dean Ambrose as far as defending their titles. I felt the buildup to Bryan/Cena was lackluster and could have been handled with a lot more excitement than just having Cena stand in the ring and call Bryan out. Weird way to hype. It was pretty much anti-hype to me. Anyone else get the feeling Vince will try to get that match taken off the card?
Let's take a look at the matches that are scheduled for Friday's Smackdown
1. Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger - On the one hand, you'd think Ziggler needs the win here, but on the other hand there's a good chance Big E/AJ will continue to torture Ziggler in most/all of his matches. So one of 2 outcomes: a) Ziggler beats Swagger, then Big E/AJ strike, or b) Big E/AJ strike during the match causing a DQ win for Ziggler or a loss to Swagger. I'll say they give Ziggler the win first, then we get a Big E/AJ appearance.
2. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs the Usos (I assume non-title) - I've had enough of this Usos feud. The WWE can never convince me that they deserve the titles more than the Shield at this point. I'm hoping this is more of a final match in the feud before moving onto something else, but if they do plan to give us this match again at Slam, then the Usos desperately would need a win here to show they can possibly win. With the Shield attacking Henry on Monday, I have a feeling we'll end up seeing some weird thrown-together tag team of Henry with, oh I dont know, Sheamus? that will ultimately get a tag match for the belts. The Shield will win here setting that up
3. Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett - Zero point in giving Bryan a loss at any point before his Summerslam match with Cena. Zero point in giving Wade Barrett another win before Summerslam either. You know what that means, MY LOCK OF THE WEEK - Daniel Bryan
4. Curtis Axel vs Chris Jericho (I assume non title) - Supposedly this is Jericho's last match before another hiatus. So this is why they gave him two wins over Axel last week, he's going to lay down for Axel on his final show and possibly put him out storyline wise as well. Strong contender for lock of the week - Curtis Axel
5. RVD vs Darren Young - 3 Lock of the weeks in a row! Seriously, RVD wins easy here. Might he be the next contender for Del Rio? What else are they going to do with him at Summerslam?
6. Del Rio vs Orton in a non-title match - Somewhat intriguing I guess. Dont think you can really give either a loss, so I'd think this will end in schmozz, but by who?! Or are they going to try to set up an Orton/Del Rio feud, all the while with Orton carrying the WWE MITB case? Doubt it, but I'm at a loss where they're going with either of these 2 for Summerslam. Anyone have any ideas who hasn't seen the spoilers? I'll go with schmozz or a no contest for this match.
Rising
1. Cody Rhodes - The crowd seemed to buy into his story the WWE was trying to sell from MITB and the betrayal by Sandow. Even if this big face turn into a mid-top tier face fails, he should get a lot of points out of it for the next few months
2. RVD - I know, he's probably not available in your league, but I think I might have underestimated just how much they're going to use him. Gaining a big win on Monday, and then what looks like it'll be an easy squash this Friday? This guy will be a point machine until Summerslam
3. Bella twins/Cameron/Naomi - I'm going out on a limb here, but I think with that new show, the WWE is going to start giving these 4 quite a bit of air time. With AJ possibly taking a backseat for the time being in being involved in the Big E/Dolph feud, perhaps they'll focus on these 4 Divas instead.
4. Kane - With Bray Wyatt calling him out on RAW, I think we're going to see a monstrous return from Kane. Big question here is: when?
You'll notice a lack of Sandow here. I think he'll carry the case for some time to come, and if they go the route they tend to (see: Dolph Ziggler with case), the case holder will get a LOT of screen time, but not a lot of wins. Quite simply with a "guaranteed" title victory, I think the WWE feels the holder doesnt NEED wins with it
Falling:
1. Chris Jericho - According to a tweet sent by Jericho today, he's out again. This is probably why he lost to Ryback and RVD on consecutive nights, and will more than likely lose to Axel Friday. Drop him if you got him
2. Wade Barrett - From being a lot of people's pick for winning MITB, to gaining nothing from the match and probably losing his first post-MITB match to Daniel Bryan. I dont see where they go with him in the time being that will gain him much points
3. Kaitlyn - I expect her to fall off the map for the time being.
4. AJ Lee - As predicted above in the writeup for the Bellas/Funkadactyls, and this is just wild speculation, but with no obvious opponent for Summerslam unless they give us more Kaitlyn, the focus could shift to her and Big E bothering Ziggler, while giving the Divas involved in the E! show more shine. Still worth holding until we see what's up.