Choke's WWE Raw Rant and Smackdown Preview 6/30/2014 - 7/4/2014
Posted by: choke Jul 2, 2014 | 1722 views | 3 comments
It feels good being able to put AJ back in the featured wrestler spot on my stories.
MITB/RAW Rant
I really enjoyed both MITB and this week's RAW. Sure MITB was extremely predictable (even though I got 3 matches wrong in my predictions. shut up), but both MITB matches and the tag title match were exciting and I left the show thinking I'd gotten my money's worth ($9.99!) RAW was full of surprises and surprises in this day and age are good. I was happy that neither return was spoiled for me. Could be that I'm not reading the right sites to hear about them beforehand. But yeah, good stuff. Lots to cover in rising/falling obviously with those returns (and Great Khali!), Emma's arrest, firing, and re-hiring, Barrett's surgery, Bryan's possible surgery, and more!
Smackdown Preview
1. Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio for the US Championship: Naturally as a person who has Sheamus on his team, they're going to finally have him defend the belt on the night before the biggest trade window ever in this game. If he wins clean and retains, odds are I wont be getting either AJ or Y2J :( And that's what I'll predict, Sheamus goes over clean here.
2. Bo Dallas vs Diego: More easy points for Bo.
3. Cesaro vs Big E: Theory time! So Cesaro lost to Kofi Kingston during a commercial break causing the greatest controversy in recent memory here on Drop the Belt. Then he gets pinned by Ziggler on Main Event. I think Cesaro loses to Big E, and then proceeds to lose to several other Battle Royal participants for Barrett's vacated belt. And you know what that will mean, Cesaro for the IC title at Battleground seems likely.
4. AJ Lee vs Eva Marie (non title): Weird first match post Divas title win. Did she really turn face and did Paige really turn heel? I get turning Paige heel to maybe try to evoke some emotion out of the fans outside of the hushed silence she gets ever since she won the belt (or was that just due to the fact everyone was in the bathroom?). AJ just doesn't work for me as a face though. What can I say, I like bad girls. So basically I'll probably be the biggest Paige fan within a month. Anyway, Paige will probably come out and do something, but not after AJ gets the win.
5. Dean Ambrose vs Randy Orton: Well Randy won't be taking a loss since he's in the World/WWE Title hunt right now, so maybe Rollins causes Dean the win? Seems logical.
OVERALL: Only 5 matches, and 2 of those 5 feature Diego/Eva Marie. Yikes. Supposedly the following also appear on the show, but not sure at what capacity: Jericho, the Miz, Rusev, Swagger. We do get a title defense which is always nice, and AJ Lee who looked better than ever. I'll stick with the 3 shots of jameson for this one
RISING
1. AJ Lee: Went back and forth a bit on whether this should be AJ or Y2J. Ultimately the belt and the fact that Jericho looks to be immediately thrust into a feud against Wyatt made me go with AJ. I'm a little concerned that there aren't really many opponents for AJ outside of a newly heel Paige and maybe a newly heel Cameron. But worst case you know they'll be having her out on the show every week if only to sit in on commentary or talk on the mic.
2. Chris Jericho: Always a solid point getter when on the roster. If you land him, you want more matches against Miz than you do Bray for points. I'm thinking he trades wins/losses with Bray with ultimately Bray getting the rub at the end.
3. The Miz: I'm going to put him third here but honestly I wouldn't touch him unless you're still carrying around El Toritos worthless ass on your roster or something. When is the last time Miz had a decent season pointswise? He's pretty much brought out just to be mocked and/or beaten up by celebrities or other more important superstars. The fact he came out to be ridiculed by Y2J who was then confronted by a wrestler in Wyatt that they knew the fans would actually care about shows where he is on the WWE Totem pole.
4. Kofi Kingston: As user BrockLesnar so eloquently said in the RAW Results comments: "If you have Kofi Kingston on your team, you're doing it wrong." I would have agreed, but he does have 66 points this season (more than Alberto Del Rio and Damien Sandow) and he's being featured almost weekly. I actually give him a dark horse shot of winning Barrett's belt. I don't think he'll keep it long if he does win it, but there's that Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber chance.
5. Great Khali: OH YOU LAUGH, but hear me out. Khali is in the rumble, and they still like to portray him when he is in matches as being some huge threat. They just had him beat Sandow with a chop on Raw FFS. I think until the PPV he might get a few more of those, and if my theory holds correct he still has to beat Cesaro (and on that day, we all should weep)
Also: Cameron still has great potential for more points this season with the whole heel turn angle still playing out.
FALLING
1. Daniel Bryan/Wade Barrett: With Barrett, I feel you have to drop him at this juncture. He JUST had surgery, and on air they straight up said "several months" I really can't see him back before Summerslam. Bryan is trickier. He brought up the potential for more surgery, but obviously it's not looking good. You'd have to hate yourself if you dropped him now and found out in 2 weeks that things were on the upswing and he would be back on the RAW after Battleground though. I dont know, I'm leaning drop him if you got him. Thankfully I dont have to make that call
2. Emma: This is such a bizarre story. She forgot to pay for a $20 iPad charger at a Wal-Mart? The WWE released her? Then they reinstated her 2 hours later? Yeah, drop her if you got her.
3. Paige: It's customary for me to put champions who lose their belts here. I do think she's worth holding onto until we see what happens with 1) her rematch and 2) her heel turn. Even if she loses the rematch, maybe she'll become the new bad-ass Diva heel. And then I fall in love. That's how this works.