\ On a
night when we are reminded that WWE has too many championships, it’s
interesting to note some of the expected names not on the card. John Cena is injured, as is Mark Henry. Sheamus is still out with his injury. Cody Rhodes is storyline fired. Big
Show is a background character now, but hey, Santino returned on Raw, so we
have that to look forward to… or something.
Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship Match)
This is
booked as the main event with all of the HHH drama going on, but it’s the
easiest match on the card to predict.
Randy Orton will somehow retain and Daniel Bryan will continue the
chase. For all we know, Daniel Bryan
could have to earn his Wrestlemania match by winning the Royal Rumble, and thus
he becomes champion at Wrestlemania. I
normally don’t think that WWE books that far ahead, but why not this time?
Obvious
choice: Randy Orton retains, the kid stays in the picture.
Alberto Del Rio (Champion) vs. Rob Van Dam (World
Heavyweight Championship Match)
I
really love the message that WWE sends by having challengers get title shots
based on… managers? Wasn’t Rob Van Dam
in a MITB match that he lost? Yet
somehow he now deserves a title shot because he somehow stole ADR’s
manager? Whatever, I’ll never be able
to explain WWE’s logic.
As with
all matches, this can go one of two ways.
One man wins, the other loses. Should
RVD lose, it really doesn’t do anything to hurt his character because he’s
still RVD. Should ADR lose, well, he’s
lost enough that it doesn’t really seem like it’d bother his career too much
either.
At this
point, it seems like the WHC is in a game of hot potato. Whoever holds it must do something pretty
awful because no one seems to really want it.
Oh, and then there’s Damien Sandow with the briefcase yet he’s on a
losing streak.
The
MITB briefcase is still a good hook for Sandow, so I don’t see him cashing in
tonight. I’d say that we have to wait
for Cody Rhodes to return before we see Sandow as champion so we can have that
Sandow/Rhodes blow off feud.
That
means one of R-Rod’s men will be champion at the end of the night still. If
RVD loses, he’ll probably go back to doing whatever he was doing after he lost
MITB. If ADR wins, hopefully he’ll take
R-Rod back so we can put an end to that awkwardness.
Obvious
choice: Alberto Del Rio retains when
Ricardo Rodriguez turns on Rob Van Dam and goes back into the arms of ADR. Then
we wait for that ADR/Dolph Ziggler match where Ziggler finally becomes a
meaningful champion.
C.M. Punk vs. Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman (If C.M. Punk
beats Curtis Axel, he gets Paul Heyman one on one)
First
off, the Intercontinental Champion is not defending his title on Night of
Champions. Seems just wrong
somehow.
As much
as I would like for this Paul Heyman drama to be over with, it does not end
tonight. We will have a Paul Heyman in
a cage suspended above the ring match before this feud can end.
So how
does WWE book this? Well, C.M. Punk
beats Curtis Axel because this new gimmick is just not playing out the way it
should. C.M. Punk is then entitled to
get his hands on Paul Heyman, as the stipulation points out, but before Punk
can get to Paul E, we meet the new Heyman Guy: Matt Morgan.
With
Brock Lesnar out of the picture for a bit, Paul Heyman needs a new
monster. Heyman can say Axel couldn’t
get the job done and fire him as a client.
This can leave Axel either as a babyface, as an IC Champion in that
magical land Kofi Kingston lives in or written off and then
repackaged/released.
Then we
can expect at least another month or so of Punk vs. Heyman, only with Matt
Morgan as the new monster. Hey, some
wins over C.M. Punk should give Matt Morgan a reason to challenge for the title
eventually, and John Cena vs. Matt Morgan seems inevitable, so let’s go with
it.
Obvious
choice: C.M. Punk wins the battle, but
the war is far from over.
A.J. Lee (Champion) vs. Natalya vs. Brie Bella vs. Naomi
(Diva’s Championship Match)
Here’s
what I know/care about the participants in this match. One of them is half of the
Funkadactyls. One is half of the Bella
Twins. One is the only female wrestler
WWE has left. And the final one is the
only one in this match not on a reality series.
If
Natalya wins this match, it would be the best choice because she can actually
wrestle. It also might help with the
whole “Total Divas” thing, should that get a second season, though based on
ratings right now it probably won’t.
I’m not
sure which Bella twin dates who, but wouldn’t it be cool if Brie was dating
Daniel Bryan and they both won gold on the same night? Yeah, WWE probably wouldn’t do it anyway.
Obvious
choice: A.J. Lee wins and the Diva’s
division continues to float around aimlessly ala Chris Benoit before he went
all crazy.
The Shield (Champions) vs. Tag Team Turmoil Winners (Tag
Team Championship Match)
On the
pre-show there will be a tag team turmoil match featuring The Usos, Prime Time
Players, 3MB, Tons of Funk and the Real Americans. 3MB and Tons of Funk are just jobbers at
this point, so they should just be happy to be on the (pre)show. Real Americans need a gimmick change, i.e.
to spotlight Antonio Cesaro more without him being whatever his character is
now.
That
really brings this match down to the Uso Brothers and Prime Time Players. I most recently remember the Usos having a
title shot, so let’s say they don’t get it because another Shield/Usos match
isn’t that intriguing (at least this month).
So that leaves the PTP by default.
Either
by DQ or clean, the Shield will be victorious in this match because, well, they
are the Shield. PTP will have to fend
off four other teams just to get to this match, so that can be the story they
tell in the actual match. Maybe if it
was a straight up PTP vs. Shield match, PTP could win, and so we’ll go with
that for some time down the line.
Obvious
choice: Shield wins because BELIEVE IN
THE SHIELD.
[Update] And following Smack Down, Dean Ambrose (Champion)
vs. Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship has been added to the
card. If you think for one second that
The Shield is losing any gold tonight then you have not been watching WWE long
enough.
