Week 2

More thoughts from this week in WWE history!

RAW

Great show overall. Loved the way the tournament was set up for Regal to coast and Punk to get his ass beat repeatedly. Excellent, simple way to get Regal over as a huge prick and also reinforce the fact that heels always look to manipulate their situations any way they can to work towards their advantage. Regal is great at being a jerk, so hopefully his run as King of the Ring is as prosperous as Booker's was.

The political angle was, um, not great. Amazing that the three candidates actually appeared (albeit in taped segments) on the show to try and get us hicks to vote. Of course, McCain got the main event segment, but re-used the Rock's catchphrase with not-as-good results. The match between "Obama" and "Clinton" was fast-forwarded through due to my inability to tolerate such filler. Seeing as how McCain wasn't involved in that part of the political angle, it makes me wonder if Umaga is how Vince sees the Republican party: ruthless, non-English-speaking savages with taped thumbs and the ability to deliver punishing Samoan Drops to their opponents. Either that, or Umaga was raised a conservative Republican and that was a total shoot.

Main event was once again meh. I understand that you want all of your major story lines to converge in the main event of your last flagship show before a PPV, but Edge spearing Kane - a man twice his size - for the pin? Why not have Orton RKO him? Or have Chavo deliver a frog splash after the spear for the pin? Like it either takes one big guy's finisher (the RKO) or two smaller guy's combined finishers (spear/frog splash) to take down the Big Red Missile? Whatever.

ECW

Did this show even happen? So un-memorable!

Opener saw Dreamer/Kelly Kelly vs. Knox/Layla in a tag match. Knox beatdown on Dreamer post-match. Was this because Knox was still in love with Kelly Kelly, or because Dreamer is friends with Colin Delany, who Knox pinned last week and now hates for no reason? Chances are, no mention will be given to the fact that Knox and Kelly Kelly used to have a thing (and that she seemed to fall for CM Punk . . . and then Balls Mahoney). Okaaaaay.

Yang over Morrison in a singles match. Miz on commentary burned Adamle by asking him if Yang was "Jamaican him crazy." Huge.

Speaking of Jamaicans, Kofi Kingston defeated the Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin with little effort. I guess Shelton is only the Gold Standard of wrestlers not getting pushes. So depressing to see Shelton jobbed out to Kofi, but Shelton's lack of mic prowess/charisma is really starting to catch up with him.

Mark "the Human Candy Bar" Henry over Nunzio. Seriously.

Main event saw a "rare" edition of the Cutting Edge on ECW. Love a good Promo Event. Kane had his Big Red Leg worked over with a chair courtesy of Chavo, helping to set up what will most-likely be an injury that will be forgotten when those two meet at Backlash.

Adamle was slightly better this week, but still clearly has no idea what most of the moves are, what the wrestler's names are, or who is mad at who and why. It's clear why he was the choice to succeed one of the most knowledgeable commentators in wrestling.

Smackdown

On the only non-three-letter show, things were pretty entertaining, overall.

Good to see Punk in the main event mix. His challenge and subsequent strong showing against Edge had the crowd going insane for every near fall, like there was any chance that Punk was actually going to get a win over the number one contender two days before a Wrestlemania rematch. Still a good match, though, and Edge only got the win on a distraction from Hawkins/Ryder, so Punk still looked strong. Also - it's worth noting that Edge's Spear looks good against someone his size like Punk, which is a nice same-week contrast to Kane. Finally, is Punk even on ECW anymore?

Speaking of main events, the final match on this show made no sense, pitting Batista against the Undertaker in a no-DQ match for the belt, even though Batista is already involved in that silly feud with Shawn Michaels (whose Superkick gave 'Take the opportunity to Tombstone Batista for the obvious win). So dumb. So if Batista were to win the belt on Smackdown, Edge would face Batista for the Championship and Michaels would just stand in the ring with guest-referee Chris Jericho at Backlash?

Natalya Neidhart beat up on Cherry for her first match, winning with a Sharpshooter. Funny that her finisher is the same as her dad's old tag team partner, Bret Hart. Cherry shouldn't be split off from Deuce and Domino, by the way. She was effective as the sister/girlfriend and was able to interfere nicely. She just seems too small to hack it as a Diva.

MVP/Matt Hardy segment was simple in its setup for their US Title match at Backlash. Of course, MVP blasted Hardy with the belt, because that's what you do when you're a heel champion.

Vladimir Kozlov goes four weeks undefeated against jobbers. Amazing feat! Still digging the no-entrance-music gimmick, though. He should feud with Snitsky until they both fade away into obscurity. How can you take a Russian powerhouse seriously when he's destroying guys half his size that you've never heard of? It's like Vince owed the Russian Mafia a favor or something.

Backlash Predictions

All in all, decent week from the E, and the PPV is shaping up nicely considering that 'Mania was only four weeks ago. If WWE can build a halfway decent PPV like Backlash in four weeks, think what they could do with a few less PPV's every year. I'd want to buy them all instead of just 'Mania, the Rumble, and one or two others. That sill leaves eight un-bought PPV's per year. Anywho . . . interesting that Punk isn't in a match at Backlash, but maybe they're giving him the night off after the King of the Ring tournament.

Diva tag match, Good vs. Evil
I predict the evil ladies win with some sort of heel turn.

Batista vs. Shawn Michaels
I'm going to say that Batista pulls this one out using some sort of deviousness, as they've been teasing a heel turn since the beginning of this "feud." Obviously, Jericho will be involved somehow, although it would be more shocking if he wasn't.

Kane vs. Chavo
This is a tough call. Does Kane retain and keep his "thank you" belt for a while longer or does Chavo get his belt back for La Familia? I'm going to pick Kane, and then wonder who he will feud with. Vladimir, maybe?!

Fatal Four Way (Orton, HHH, Cena, JBL)
Here's to hoping that Orton will retain and continue the Age of Orton. unsure as to why JBL is in the mix . . . maybe to give him the rub and remind fans that he's a serious contender down the line? Seeing as how this has been changed to elimination-style, I'm going to predict HHH/Orton as the final two with Orton getting the win.

MVP vs. Hardy
Going with Hardy on this one. It just makes sense that MVP and him finally end this feud and move on to other opponents.

Big Show vs. Khali
Big Show wins to remind us why he's the giant we actually like having around. Fucking fire Khali, already!

'Taker vs. Edge
Another tough call, but I predict Undertaker keeps the belt to get back his title run that got fucked due to injury after Wrestlemania 23.

Matches not on this show that should be:

-Some sort of Women's Title defense
-Some sort of Tag Team Title defense (either Holly/Rhodes or Miz/Morrison)
-IC Title defense instead of a guest-referee spot!


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