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Sunday 26 October 2008

Cyber Sunday preview

Cyber Sunday Preview

I want to get two things off my chest.

Firstly, I do not like the concept of this PPV. To be, the skill of promoting a Pay Per View is to put together a show that people want to see, and then they pay for the privilege of watching it. Simple.

The trouble is, people in this situation do not know what they are going to see. After the last one was so good, I’d like to see Jeff Hardy v Triple H again. I think that would be another good match, and although it is likely to happen, it is not certain. I do not watch to have to pay to watch Triple H v Vladimir Koslov, which I do not envisage being a good contest.

Similarly, a high flying babyface match for the ECW title would be fun to see. Hardy v Bourne. Matt v Not Matt. But Evan Bourne might not win. It might be Finlay or Henry who is picked. Finlay is/was a great wrestler, but you can’t help but feel Hardy v Finlay would very much a “WWE-style” match, meaning action we’ve seen a million times before. Hardy v Henry again? No thanks.

I understand that the idea is then to contribute towards the matches you would prefer, but I’m still not crazy about not knowing exactly what you are paying for.

The second annoyance is the constant use of the term “WWE Universe”. It is meaningless and simply smacks of being corporate buzzword. I hate it, and refuse to use it.

So then, on with the preview.......

Shelton Benjamin v ???? (US Title, pre match show)
Choices are K-Truth/R-Kwik OR MVP (More Victories Please) OR The Fake Kane, Freakin’ Festus.

The second string titles are often defended and sacrificed on this show to ‘prove’ that anything can happen. I seem to recall Shelton himself beating Chris Jericho in the opener one year for the IC strap.

Judging by his recent push on Smackdown, Ron Killings looks the most likely candidate. It’s possible that the kids vote will be for Festus as the wacky character, but I’m guessing that RK-TruthKwik will be voted in. And I’ll say that he takes the title, too.

Divas Halloween Contest
Unless one of them is dressed as Lady Godiva I’m not interested.

Pick the Tag Team Match
Choices: Jamie Noble & Mickie James v William Regal & Layla OR Cryme Tyme v Miz/Morrison OR CM Punk & Kofi Kingston v Rhodes and DiBiase
This is one of the least clear cut scenarios, I think. I would firstly dismiss the first option as a likely occurrence (and I don’t even need to dig out the patented McNichol eliminator!) mainly because it has hardly been mentioned on TV at all the last couple of weeks.

Of the other two, though, it’s a tricky one. Since the voting this year is US only and text only it does skew the voting to a younger demographic I would think. Personally I would like to see the team of Punk and Kofi take on the current champeens, and last year I would have been confident this option would win out, but perhaps the heavy promotion of the WWE.com-based rivalry of Cryme Tyme and Mizorrison might have swayed the youth.

If its the latter, then I’d take Miz and Morrison to win by foul means, mainly because Cryme Tyme are so ridiculously over they don’t seem to need to win. If Punk and Kofi get a shot at the gold then they might just win it, you know. I’d take them to be victorious but for the Priceless duo to regain the belt on Raw.


Santino Marella v ???? (Intercontinental Title Match)
Choices: The Honky Donkey Man, Goldendust or Rodney the Piper
This is another tricky one really, because although the entire theme of this is Santino being booked to mock HTM for about 10 straight weeks, Piper is an extremely popular legend.

As I said earlier, this may well be predominantly kids voting, and I don’t think Honky has been seen in WWE since 2001, when Kane eliminated him from the 2001 Royal Rumble. If you speak to Jim Cornette he will tell you about the seven year rule, whereby the viewership has changed enough in seven years that you can reuse ideas.

By a similar token, if the viewers have changed significantly in the last seven, nearly eight years since HTM was seen, they may not be familiar with the “Great Intercontinental champion of all time”.

Piper, however, has been featured as recently as May this year, in the admittedly weak series of skits involving Jimmy Kimmel and Santino Marella. He was in the Rumble this year, too.

In the last three years, he has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, had a brief feud with Bob Orton on TV, done a bunch of Pipers Pits, appeared at Wrestlemania, appeared on Mr McMahon appreciation night, sung Happy Birthday to Matt Striker and even won the Tag Team titles along with Ric Flair at this very event two years ago.

So, there could well be a spanner in the works if they expect Honky to walk this. Goldust, by the way, will not be chosen, but I could see him featured win a backstage skit with Cody, perhaps.


Rey Mysterio v Kane
Choices: Falls count anywhere, No Holds Barred, 2-out-of-3 falls

The first thing to say here is that I can’t believe this one is still dragging on. This simply has not worked, and aside from one cool Raw visual when Kane kicked an airborne Rey, has had very little in the way of memorable moments.

The match choice here is a tough one, because they haven’t necessarily gone for something that will always be chosen (Like a Cage) or something that has been featured in the feud.

2-out-of-3 falls seems too basic and unspectacular to be chosen by the masses, and to be fair No Holds Barred and Falls Count Anywhere are largely the same thing, except the latter is more liberal on pinfalls.

I’d say FCA will get the nod, and I’d suggest Rey will have to win by virtue of a barmy stunt or some such action. Makes no sense to have Kane beat him silly and destroy Mysterio.


Undertaker v Big Show
Choices: Knockout match, I Quit match, Last Man Standing

I think there is a fair chance that the selection here will be a blind one. What I mean by that is that the whole feud has been based on the power of Show’s right hand, so I can see the Knockout stipulation being the winner here. I just hope that doesn’t mean that the combatants have to dress like the ladies from TNA.

Personally I would like to see an ‘I Quit’ match, since they could essentially then have a wrestling match with a twist. It would also open up the Undertaker to use his gogoplata choke, gaining a victory which Vickie could then strip him of. Maybe somehow we lead to a Casket match at Survivor Series?

Matt Hardy v ???? (ECW Title Match)
Choices: Finlay, Evan Bourne, Mark Henry
I’ve outlined some thoughts on this one up in the opening paragraphs.

I’d like to see Bourne, personally, and I think he will get the nod, though I don’t think he’ll win the title. There is no way people will vote for Henry, but perhaps an outside chance for Finlay due to the Hornswaggle factor. I’ll stick to a valiant losing effort for Bourne, though.

Triple H v ????? (World Title match)
Choices: Jeff Hardy, Vladimir Koslov or both
I really cannot see Koslov or the triple threat being sanctioned, so we’ll assume that Jeff gets another crack at Triple H. It seems strange to book the same match (i.e. Trips wins, Hardy goes close, respect...yadda, yadda.) but then this is predictable old WWE, isn’t it?

I can’t see them putting the belt on Hardy, what with his recent and not-so-recent-history, plus the fact that he is on two strikes. So the obvious pick is for Triple H to keep the belt, but I’m going to say that they ruin this with a run-in, with Koslov battering both men and drawing the double DQ.

Personally, I’d love to see Jeff get a title win and a run on top, no matter how brief, but I accept why it wouldn’t likely happen. I also would state that him winning the title would mean absolutely nothing if it is due to Koslov interfering.

I wouldn’t necessarily want to see a run in, but I also do not see how this can be booked without drawing criticism.


Chris Jericho v Batista (WWE title)
Choices for special referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels.
Well, clearly it will be Austin, as per usual. Will he get involved? I’m not too sure. Part of he contract is a Stunner to someone, so that’s more of the game – who does Austin stun tonight? Its likely Jericho, isn’t it?

On the title front, you have to look beyond this match for a contender to guess the winner, but that’s not an easy task. You’d look at Orton or HBK, really, but theoretically it would mean HBK v Jericho again, but that’s not likely. Orton being number one contender says Batista v Orton, but that’s a) rumoured for Mania and b) Orton should face Punk, I would think.

Therefore, I’d look at Jericho v Batista to happen again at Survivor Series, not that it sounds appetising. Let’s go for Jericho for win, via some sort of bizarre means – maybe a low blow with Austin unsighted – but a post-match Stunner and an Adamle declaration on Raw that Batista gets another shot, perhaps in a cage, at Survivor Series.


Hope you enjoy Cyber Sunday, I’ll of course hit you all with my thoughts seconds after the event finishes.

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