Looking Ahead – 20th June 2006
Hello people. How’s it going?
In 5 days time, Vengeance will be upon us, and unless somebody else can take it off my tired, weary hands, I’ll be doing the LIVE report for Insidepulse. I’ll have worked a lovely 15 hour shift before that (I finish at 00:30am.. I’ll be home for 00:45am, which gives me a nice 15 minutes to take a shower, get changed, make some food and set up the net connection/laptop downstairs… all before the PPV starts at 1am. (I live in the U.K.).
Joy.
I have a secret plan to help me though the night though. Red Bull. It gives you wings, and I’ll need them.
Speaking of wings…
Hmm. Nothing to lead into using wings. Let’s try something else.
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..
…
Speaking of something else…
Summertime Blues, News and Views – MySpace bands critiqued.
You Don’t Know Jakks – For all you Wrestling Figure lovers out there.
Ken Anderson breaks down TNA Slammiversary for us. Poor bloke.
DC News and Views from Tim Stevens.
Look on the Bright Side with Steve Murray.
Marvel News & Views from James Hatton.
The Acute Angle – A great new column here only on InsidePulse!
RAW
Next PPV – Vengeance; 25/6/06
The Announced Card
WWE Championship
Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Edge
I now finally understand how the whole World Title situation. RVD will eventually lose the WWE title, yet he’ll still be the ECW World Champ because he was given/presented the ECW title by Paul Heyman. He didn’t win it, nor re-christen it. Sorry to anybody if it was obvious, but I’ve been known to miss things like that. Whether RVD loses it here or not though is anybody’s guess. I’d bet on him holding onto it until SummerSlam.
Intercontinental Championship – Triple Threat Match
Champion Shelton Benjamin vs. Johnny Nitro vs. Carlito
At present time, both Carlito and Shelton would be wasted holding the IC title, simply because I feel both men are slightly above that level and need to have a feud with each other that ISN’T over the title. Nitro, on the other hand, would benefit greatly with a long run as the IC champ, which would give his career a boost in the right direction and help establish himself as a singles wrestler.
Two/Three Falls
Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley
The general consensus is that while the interviews and verbal segments have been outstanding, the match itself will be standard at best. While I agree that the verbal build has been great, I’ve got confidence that both Flair and Foley will step up to the plate and deliver a great old-school psychological match which has the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands.
Not sure who should go over here, but it’s just really started, so I’m looking for Flair to win here (Foley won at ECW ONS, Flair got beaten up by Umaga) because he could do with a victory more than Foley. Foley could then pick up his win at SummerSlam, returning the favour.
Handicapped Match
DX vs. The Spirit Squad
With Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch recently reuniting and stating that they’re going after the tag team titles, I’d mark out like hell if they both joined DX and helped lay waste to the Spirit Squad. There’s likely no chance in hell that that would happen, but I can always dream.
Anyway… I would bet on DX winning.
Interbrand Match – WWE Rules
ECW’s Kurt Angle vs. RAW’s Randy Orton
I don’t like it that ECW has wrestlers on the PPV (Interbrand matches should be saved for the 5 big PPV’s), but I suppose that they have 11 more weeks of ECW TV to plug, so I’ll let it slide for now. Seeing as it’s a “WWE Rules” match, look for a count-out or DQ to end the match.
Orton needs redemption from Kurt for putting him on the kayfabe shelf, but Angle’s just defected to ECW and needs to kick-start a big push, so there’s no real dead-cert to win the match. I’d put a fiver on Orton winning thanks to interference from Big Show, or somebody in ECW who Kurt could start a program with.
Interbrand Match – Extreme Rules
ECW’s Sabu vs. RAW’s John Cena
Unlike above, this match is “Extreme Rules”, which means we should have a clear winner come the end of the bout. I’d go with Cena, seeing as how I’ve read somewhere (here, PWInsider or somewhere else… I forget) that Vince views Cena as the next Hulk Hogan, so should be protected at all costs. Smart move… and jobbing him out to Sabu would be doing the opposite to protecting him, so Cena gets the win.
Singles Match
Kane vs. Retro-Kane
Kane apparently knows who the Retro-Kane is, which is a bonus as it means Creative at least know where they’re going with this storyline, which is a nice change for once. As for the winner, I’d go with Kane, who then unmasks Retro-Kane to be none other than… the UNDERTAKER!
Maybe.
Singles Match
Eugene vs. Umaga
The Eugene character is dead in the water, floating around, being eaten by flies. Hopefully Umaga will kill off the Rated Retarded Superstar and we’ll see him pop up in ECW with a shaven head, a beard and a bad-ass gimmick. And Sunglasses. Hell… given him a goatee beard and he’ll be the spitting image of Jim “The Anvil” Niedhart. That would be cool…
Speculation…
Charlie Hass vs. Viscera
I called for this to be a match a few weeks ago when Lillian first flew off the ring apron, and I’m still calling for it now. Knowing my luck, it’ll be on Heat. Still, a calls a call. Anybody keeping count, I’m 1 for 45 so far.
Women’s Title
Mickie apparently turned on Candice this Monday on Raw (I didn’t watch it). So we’ll probably see Candice challenge for the Women’s title during Vengeance. Oh dear.
SMACKDOWN
Next PPV – Great American Bash; 23/7/06
The Announced Card
No Matches Announced Yet
Speculation…
Batista vs. Mark Henry
Well this was leaked a few weeks ago, so I’m going to stick with it because it makes sense. Henry was the guy who put Big Dave on the shelf, so a win over Henry would be closure on that chapter and would also give Dave a push-start on his roll to reclaim the World Heavyweight Championship.
Rey Mysterio vs. ? World Championship
I don’t know about you guys, but Rey seems to be directionless at this moment in time. He’s got a feud with Chavo all but lined up, but it’s too soon to build any momentum with that yet (4 weeks isn’t enough time), plus the turn from Chavo needs to happen at a PPV or during a big match to get the most gain out of it.
JBL still seems to be bothered by Rey, but it might just be a character trait (like Jerry Lawler’s hatred for ECW) that never goes away.
King Booker vs. Mysterio doesn’t make sense because he’s involved with Lashley, so the only other option is… oh dear… oh no… the Great Khali.
Khali’s already beaten Mysterio once already, so beating him again wouldn’t come as a surprise, especially is Chavo was involved in the match somehow.
The Hooliganz vs. Knoble and Kash
For three weeks I’ve been banging on about this match, and nothing’s changed. Note to Creative: You had a great Tag Championship match on the last SmackDown PPV, let’s see if you can make it two in a row. Come on… pull the trigger.
Bobby Lashley vs. Regal and Finlay
A handi-cap win against Regal and Finlay would be a great way to give Lashley one big burst of momentum. King Booker could get involved in the match, but eventually would cost his Royal Subjects the match. I see big things if Booker, Finlay and Regal joined together as a stable.
On another note, Regal so needs to get a mini-butler, then a team with him and Finlay would be perfect. Well, it wouldn’t, but it’d be funny for a while anyway.
RAW & SmackDown! (& Probably ECW)
Next PPV – SummerSlam; 20/08/06
The Announced Card
N/A
Speculation…
Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero
I can’t see Rey with the World Title by this point (that’ll belong to the Great Khali) so I’m going to go with the Rey vs. Chavo match.
Rob Van Dam vs. ? for the ECW World Title
I hope that all the inter-brand crap will have finished by SummerSlam, so RVD SHOULD be defending the ECW World title against a fellow ECW wrestler. I say should, but I think we all know it’ll be against a WWE guy (Edge or Cena being the best bet)
Kurt Angle vs. Big Show
One way to get two big name ECW guys on SummerSlam. Have Big Show run in to cost Angle his match with Orton at Vengeance, and you’ve got a match set for SummerSlam. It’s not hard.
Bobby Lashley vs. King Booker
I see this feud going on for a while yet, with it ending at SummerSlam. If Lashley stays involved with the combination of Regal and Finlay for a month or so, then there’ll still be plenty of time for King Booker to get a few weeks worth of feud in before the blow-off match.
DX vs. The McMahons
We’re not going to get this at Vengeance, so I’m going to assume we’ll get it at SummerSlam. This would also be a good place to end the DX reunion, as it’ll probably have grown weary by this point.
That’ll do for now.. don’t want to blow my load in one column. More speculating next week!
Top 5… Recent Songs I Like
5. Billy Talent – Devil in a Midnight Mass
4. Jaime T – (No idea what the song’s called, but I heard it on Radio 1 the other day and loved it)
3. Lostprophets – Rooftops
2. Jamie Fox feat. Kanye West – Extravaganza
1. The Kooks – She Moves in Her Own Way
Keep it sleazy!
Danny Wallace.
