Roster
THQ recently announced most of the roster for the 2011 installment of the Smackdown vs Raw video game. With over 70 stars, it’s one of the largest rosters to date in a wrestling game.
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SmackDown roster:
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RAW Roster:
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It's that time of year again...
As March begins, wrestling fans around the world eagerly begin the trek on the ‘road to WrestleMania.’ This year’s offering from World Wrestling Entertainment’s sports-entertainment extravaganza on March 28 includes match-ups that are new and fresh, pulling away from the rather stale we’ve-seen-this-before feeling of seeing the same matches every week on Raw or Smackdown.
This year’s Super-Bowl-of-professional-wrestling boasts not one but four main events. Fresh off a Royal Rumble victory in January, Edge challenges former tag-team partner Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship, Smackdown’s main event title.
The main event for the Raw brand’s title is John Cena challenging ‘the Animal’ Batista for the WWE Championship. In a pay-per-view environment, this match has only happened once before: SummerSlam 2008, not including the 10-second squash match at Elimination Chamber. This time, the WWE Championship is on the line. ‘The Animal’ won their 2008 match-up and stole the WWE Championship in their short match last month. Will John Cena finally gain the upperhand and regain his championship?
Jeff Hardy retained his title...
Judgment Day 2009: 2/7: .286
All-Time: 13/24: 0.542
Well, I was somewhat correct in my predictions for the title changes, but they still didn’t turn out the way I expected. If you are looking for unpredictability in modern wrestling, WWE has been delivering quite well lately—unless it’s a John Cena match. Extreme Rules featured four title switches and some surprise moments.
I’m not going to go into too much depth on these matches as I have not yet gotten a chance to watch the pay-per-view, but here are some rough results compared with my picks.
CM Punk def Umaga (Samoan strap match)
My pick: Umaga
Extreme Rules 2009: 0/1: .000
All-Time: 13/25: 0.520
John Cena def Big Show (submission match)
My pick: John Cena
Extreme Rules 2009: 1/2: .500
All-Time: 14/26: 0.538
AGAIN?!
It’s June, and time once again for the now-annual all-gimmick WWE pay-per-view event, Extreme Rules. Last month’s pay-per-view event, Judgment Day, resulted in a shattering blow to my prediction percentages, but hopefully I can boost it back up again with some good calls on this month’s event’s match-ups.
Judgment Day 2009: 2/7: .286
All-Time: 13/24: 0.542
The matches:
CM Punk vs Umaga (Samoan strap match)
John Cena vs Big Show (submission match)
Kofi Kingston vs MVP vs William Regal vs Matt Hardy (US Title)
Christian vs Jack Swagger vs Tommy Dreamer (Hardcore rules, ECW title)
Vickie Guerrero vs Santina Marella (hog pen match for ‘Miss WrestleMania’)
Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho (no holds barred, Intercontinental title)
Edge vs Jeff Hardy (ladder match, World Heavyweight title)
Randy Orton vs Batista (steel cage match, WWE title)
CM Punk vs Umaga
This isn’t a bad feud; but I can’t say I understand where they are going with it, and I have a difficult time caring. Unless there is interference, I can’t see CM Punk winning this one legitimately. I mean, Umaga is 350 pounds, so I don’t see Punk dragging him around the ring to touch all four corners. The weight difference makes this a perfect match type for this feud, however. I don’t think we will see a Sting/Vader classic, but we will be pleasantly surprised, and Umaga will pick up the win here (I hope).
Works for me!
Sunday night brought WWE fans the eleventh annual Judgment Day pay-per-view event, featuring a stacked card with three main events. Was justice served?
No Way Out 2009: 2/5: .400
All-Time: 11/18: 0.611
CM Punk vs Umaga
The Samoan Bulldozer takes on the 2009 Money in the Bank winner CM Punk to kick off Judgment Day. Punk comes out to the ring to a pretty decent pop from the 14,822 hometown Chicago fans in attendance. The match was pretty much one-sided, with Punk getting manhandled and desperately trying to land a random strike or two. It was reminiscent of a standard Rey Mysterio match, but far more believable (no 619s here, folks). In one pretty ‘old-school’ spot, Punk attempted to scoop slam Umaga, and Umaga fell on top of Punk for a two-count. It reminded me of the Legends of WrestleMania game, if you try to scoop Andre as Hulk when you don’t have a level 3 chain. (You would have to have played it…)
Judgment Day 2009
Judgment Day is here, and it’s tonight! I have been a little out of the loop and have only seen Friday’s Smackdown show but have been keeping up on storylines and developments. Here are my predictions for tonight’s show.
No Way Out 2009: 2/5: .400
All-Time: 11/18: 0.611
Shelton Benjamin vs John Morrison
In what I think will be the opening match, Shelton Benjamin will pin John Morrison. WWE clearly has some plans in mind for John Morrison, but this will stretch out for a bit longer because John Morrison needs that momentum to be built up to successfully be put over in his first angle as a face. I was surprised to see the match announced but pretty happy because it’s the first step in pushing John Morrison. I mean, it’s a non-title pay-per-view singles match, and I can’t remember if he has had one of those yet–especially not as a face. Shelton will win,this feud will continue, and possibly include someone else.
My pick: Shelton Benjamin, the Gold Standard… who… has no gold…
I'm OK with Punk losing if it means we'll see Punk vs Jericho...which we will!
Last night, I said that Jericho’s World Championship win would get viewers to tune into Raw. While I cannot say for now if this is true, as it is a bit soon to check for ratings information, I can say that at least one person tuned into Raw for once: Me.
While I missed the beginning of Raw, I did catch Adamle’s awkward-sounding announcements for the main events of Raw for tonight and next week. I probably missed a great introduction promo by Chris Jericho, but I have been entertained with nearly everything I have seen since the beginning moments. (more…)
WWE Unforgiven 2008
It’s time, once again, for a WWE Pay-Per-View. This month’s show is “Unforgiven.” The card will feature five title matches and a non-title match. Three of the matches are guaranteed to be 20 minutes long, which could be a great thing, or a terrible thing.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX_loyzPB8Q
For starters, here is where I stand on my predictions:
Career: 6/8: .750
Not too shabby, because even though wrestling is a scripted sport, you can’t always assume they are going to pick the most ‘logical’ choice. Everyone gets a swerve, once in a while.
As a wrestling fan of over 10 years, one would think that I would have ordered a Pay-Per-View by now. Unfortunately, anyone who shares that belief would be incorrect. August 2008 was no different than any other August, as I did not order WWE’s main summer event, SummerSlam. Thanks to the magic of newsgroups, however, I was able to view this event today and bring you the results.
SummerSlam 2008
The first match on the SummerSlam 2008 card was Jeff Hardy versus Montel Vontavious Porter: two United States Championship contenders in a match at a “big four” pay-per-view event with the actual champion left off of the card. Supposedly the original plan was to have a title match between Shelton and Kennedy, but with Kennedy becoming injured they decided to change the match to Hardy vs MVP. Apparently a Triple Threat was out of the question.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI3GdppPPLQ
In August, wrestling fans know they can look forward to one thing: the 21st annual extravaganza, SummerSlam.
SummerSlam 2008 is right around the corner.
This year’s SummerSlam has a pretty stacked card, and here are my predictions.
While it’s rather unlikely to predict the exact order in which the matches will take place, it’s safe to assume that the most likely opener is Mark Henry versus Matt Hardy for the ECW championship. Surprisingly, the world’s strongest champion has been giving us a reason to watch ECW week after week ever since winning the title from Kane. With the addition of Tony Atlas the program the two have been working with Matt Hardy has made for great TV. I’ve always hated Mark Henry but surprisingly I hope he retains the title. I think that he will because Matt Hardy does not need a title in order to be over. Mark Henry, on the other hand, does. It’s near impossible to care about Mark Henry, unless he has a title around his waist. It’s also way too soon for him to drop the belt. My pick: Mark Henry. To see how Matt Hardy earned the title shot, check out the clip at the end of this post.
I think that the winner take all tag team match for the Intercontinental and Women’s titles will take place next. This is another angle that has been truly entertaining. I expect Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella to walk away with the win because Kofi Kingston and Mickey James have both held their respective titles for long enough and the power couple of Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella will make for more great television. Santino is also far more entertaining than Kofi given the fact that Kofi has yet to even cut a single promo. My pick: Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella.
