Championship Scrawhat? What the hell’s a Championship Scramble and why do we get three of these? Well, that’s the newest (sort of) gimmick match from WWE labs and all three world titles are defended in those matches. How will it turn out? Continue reading for the Pulse’s staff thoughts.
WWE Championship Scramble:
Triple H (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. The Brian Kendrick
Paul Marshall: Oh, you know who’s gonna win so admit it.
Winner: Hunter
Andrew Wheeler: Alright, right off the bat let me take the unbelievably controversial position that no one else on the Pulse would dare take. I like the Championship Scramble. Wait, come back! I swear I’ll explain (this is what happens when I miss my column for a week…I don’t get to elaborate as much as I would like and am forced to overcompensate in the Roundtable). See, Unforgiven has always been a sort of lame duck pay-per-view. It’s the post-summer dead zone for the WWE, where we get this, No Mercy and Cyber Sunday back-to-back-to-back before we hit the next major show, Survivor Series. This means that nothing of any major consequence is going to happen until November. The WWE could have gone ahead and just given us a few meaningless singles title matches which would have been deprived of all suspense. Look at the options on Smackdown!. We could have had Hunter/Khali 2 and it would have made perfect booking sense. Khali dominated the abysmal feud and only got beat because Hunter was able to hit the pedigree. Khali is still a viable contender, and with Umaga out, he’s the only unstoppable monster on SD that doesn’t speak Russian. However, instead of giving us a PPV killing match, we get this…thing. Sure, it sort of tarnishes the title and seems like a mutant TNA idea, but it adds a certain amount of intrigue to what would have otherwise been the September In Your House. Any champ can lose any belt at any time and not even get pinned. This match, for example, sets up the dream scenario for the WWE. Look at who you’ve got in this match and how it can play out. Option one is obviously Triple H mows down a bunch of guys who aren’t top flight competitors, gets like 20 pins and walks away unscathed. And if the WWE wants to go that route, they are more than welcome to. None of the four competitors in this match are true main eventers. The only guy here who has had a world title match at a major PPV was Jeff Hardy. Shelton’s botched RAW push a few years ago got him at best a main event against Hunter on a Monday night. MVP is the anointed next “chosen one†(something I said in LAST YEAR’s Roundtable) and all of this brouhaha about him being in trouble with management smells like a red herring. Lastly, and perhaps the reason I actually love this concept, is The Brian Kendrick. I’m a big time supporter of TBK, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that the WWE would ever let him sniff a world title shot. This type of match allows him to have his shot. It allows all of these guys to have their shot. Smackdown! is a wide open field right now. There’s a big void left by Edge in terms of top heel, and with Umaga sidelined, it’s anybody’s game. Now, who would win the gold here? Hunter, in my opinion, cannot walk out of this match as WWE Champion. Why? Easy, the Number One Contender is hands down the Undertaker. You cannot have Hunter and Taker walking around on the same show and never come in contact. This ain’t ECW and they ain’t Sabu and Taz. If Triple H walks out of Unforgiven with the gold, he’s going to have to interact with Taker, and these two shouldn’t even breathe in the same room until Survivor Series at the earliest. By taking the belt off of Triple H, you’re freeing up the main event scene. Hunter can feud with Khali without the gold (not that I’m actually advocating seeing such a thing) and the winner of this match can go on to face Taker. That right there knocks out Jeff Hardy. Hardy/Taker is actually another money match for the WWE. Their match on RAW for the IC belt several years ago was a minor free TV classic, so they can clearly work well in the ring against one another. Now we’re down to MVP, TBK and Shelton. Shelton’s the IC Champion, and while having the “Gold Standard†hold two belts, I just don’t think the WWE wants to push him that hard and that far. That leaves MVP and Shelton. MVP’s loss to Hardy on Smackdown last week was a nice bookend for their feud. It now looks like Hardy has more issues with Shelton (who cost him his match at Summerslam), so they can go into a nice IC title feud which could fit nicely into No Mercy. I personally would love to see the WWE shock the IWC by putting the gold on Kendrick, which would be almost as shocking as when Diesel won the title from Backlund. This match would be the best way for TBK to ever hold the gold, since his size doesn’t yet make him a credible threat one-on-one to Hunter, but in a match where you need to be intelligent, how better to show that Brian’s the “smart one†than to pull it out here? While TBK would be my heart pick, my head pick is MVP. Porter has done an excellent job in the WWE (this stupid latest tiff not withstanding), and giving him the gold here would be a nice reward. Plus, if MVP walks out with the title, he’s the perfect guy to have a two month mini-feud with The Undertaker until the inevitable Hunter/Taker match at Survivor Series.
Winner: MVP
Danny Cox: You know, I wonder something with all these scramble matches…like the Hardcore Scramble from WrestleMania years ago, do the title changes that happen DURING the match actually count in the title history? Anyway, there are so many involved in this match that I’d love to see win the title. Yes, even that damn ugly title Trips has over his shoulder. This one is actually kind of hard to call considering Trips has had the belt for so long, but I think that it’s time for a change. Yet who could I pick…THE Brian Kendrick isn’t quite there yet, but it’s great seeing him in the main event. Shelton could carry it, but he’s got the US title to worry about for now. MVP or Hardy? Chubbykins was in line for it before he got STRIKE TWO so now I think we will see a change and that it will be one of the fastest rising and biggest new stars on the scene…M-V-…crap, nevermind. Trips will keep it. For now!
Winner and STILL Champ – Triple HHHaitch
Brad Curran: Huh. At least one title’s going to have to change here to make this gimmick stick (especially since we will see it three damn times in one night), but I doubt it will be the Hs. They’ve put together the best lineup of guys they can on Smackdown, but not a single one of them seems ready to hold a world strap to me, even MVP, who I is the most likely of this unlikely cast to hold world gold any time soon. Really, I’m just looking forward to what should be a fun match; I only ever thought I’d see this kind of line up in a world title Smackdown GM mode when I’m playing it. Also, I will be greatly amused if the Spanky is “interim” champion.
Winner: HHH
Raffi Shamir: They won’t make any major changes to SmackDown until the move to the new network next month. They need a big star like Triple H as the face of the brand when they debut on MyNetwork, and then they can start changing things.
Winner: Trips
Mark Neeley: I predicted as soon as the Hs went to the B show during the draft fiasco (or should I say the second birth by Stephanie Helmsley fiasco) that he would make the 12 reign a triumphant one and never drop the belt while on the inferior Friday night show. Hell, he’s already defended cleanly over Cena, Edge, Orton twice, and Khali. Why not add a new crop of younger superstars to the list? Granted the outcome, given the participants, it should definitely be an entertaining match, sans the abysmal idea. Benjamin, MVP, Hardy, and of course THE Kendrick are all great workers who have long been put on the back burner to guys like, well, the one who will still leave as Champ. I expected everyone to get some pinfalls in this and maybe for the fun of it have either Benjamin or Hardy being on top in the last minute or so before kick wham Pedigree and the show moves on. Only problem with the Hardy idea would be that, I predict the result of the match will lead to a feud between HHH and whoever is the closest, so that would be touching face v. face territory. So I’ll say the Hs pins Benjamin with little time remaining. The only other thing that could happen would be for someone (and it would have to be heel) to get a fluke pin en route to an easy 13th title win for Hunter.
Winner – HHH
Iain Burnside: This is a United States Title match dressed up in big-boy clothing, to such a ludicrous extent that we get the welcome sight of The Spanky in a major title match on PPV. However, since each of these Scrambles will need something unique to distinguish them, it seems reasonable to expect the match to get some star power through a series of what the Hs refer to as ‘run-ins’. There’s Ezekiel, for starters. More importantly, The Undertaker, Big Show, Khali and even Edge all have sound storyline reasons to get involved here – harrassing Vickie Guerrero, feeling overlooked, killing Hs or general dickheadedness. There was at one point the idea of Undertaker being granted an immediate title shot against the winner of this Scramble by an ever-desperate Vickie. That may or may not happen but this is still a great opportunity to tease the Hs/Taker match that Michael Hayes has been trying to book for years now. Well, that or a spell in a Punjabi Prison for No Mercy. In any event, there is no good reason to expect any of the four challengers to wind up with the title by the 20-minute mark. By nobody’s standards does Shelton deserve it, Kendrick is but one definitive article above Funaki status, MVP is on the cusp but needs more momentum, while Jeff has plenty of ‘could’ but no ‘should’. Besides, the theme song is by MOTORHEAD, fer crying out loud…
Winner – H
World Heavyweight Championship Scramble:
CM Punk (c) vs. Batista vs. Kane vs. JBL vs. Rey Mysterio
Paul Marshall: Unpredictable, but the result should be the same, hopefully.
Winner: CM Punk
Andrew Wheeler: Reason Number 2 why this match gimmick works: it allows Punk to continue his beating the odds gimmick. Had there been no injuries, this would have gone down as the “biggest†win for Punk, who could claim he beat Batista, Kane, JBL and Cena in one match. Now, with John down for the count, Mysterio had to bump up his return (though I’m sure the plan was for Rey to show up in the match to cost Kane the title). Here, the options for RAW are a lot more limited. They could put the belt on JBL, but I don’t think they want that much blood on their hands. Batista will be champion again, but giving him the gold in such a “cheap†way would really defeat what has been a surprisingly strong push since coming to Monday nights. Kane and Rey are about to pair off in a series of sub-par to decent matches, and their heated storyline about attempted murder and gunny sacks has enough juice that it doesn’t need a belt. Keeping the title on Punk means that the WWE can spend the next two months or so with what may be the single hottest match they have left: Punk/Jericho. Putting the top heel in the WWE against the plucky underdog champion and letting them tee off in a series of awesome matches will do nothing but elevate both guys. Then either the WWE could have heel champ Jericho face Batista or pull the trigger on Punk/Orton. Either way, there’s still money left to be made from Punk’s World Title run, and I for one am all in favor of seeing him sit on top of the mountain for a long time to come.
Winner: CM Punk
Danny Cox: Hate Rey. Hate DAVE! JBL has had one too many chances. Get the belt off Punk. He’s good with it, but he’s become kind of stale. Give the damn thing to Kane and let him feud with Rey over it since they started something up anyway. I mean, it’s not like Kane doesn’t deserve it.
Winner and NEW Champ – Big Red Machina
Brad Curran: Well, Punk has to hold on to the belt for three months to feud with Randy over it. Unless Orton costs him the belt. In that case, which seems pretty likely now that I think of it, let’s go with internet rumor and say Kane wins it and feuds with Rey over it because, really, why not? Dude should have one decent World Title run and, no, ECW doesn’t count. It’s like the Intercontinental Championship with its own show.
Winner: Kane
Raffi Shamir: CM Punk still hasn’t impressed me too much, but it would be a mistake to take the title off of him just yet. Kane and Rey seem to have their own little thing that doesn’t require a championship belt, Batista is over on his own and JBL shouldn’t be champion, plain and simple. Punk still needs to hold on to the belt and surviving a multi-challenger match l do wonders to his credibility as a main eventer.
Winner: Punk
Mark Neeley: Much like Kane was the major wildcard during the recent Punk-DAVE feud, it is obviously now after Monday, Orton. Will he flat out replace Mysterio in the match and cost Punk the title? Interference? Who knows? On the other hand I feel like they may be extending the current Punk title reign until a full-blown feud with Orton … though I did predict ever since the RAW that Punk won the title that it would DAVE to dethrone him.
Winner – Randy Orton (replacing Mysterio in the match)
Iain Burnside: The obvious hook to this Scramble is to have Punk be the only champion to start the match and survive the entire thing, rescuing his title just in the nick of time. Given what they have set up in this rather bizarre storyline, perhaps Kane can busy himself with eating Rey Mysterio’s body parts… Batista hits an epic powerbomb on JBL but sees his bestest-westest friend Rey in trouble, so he goes to sort out Kane, since he already has the last pinfall anyway… but with seconds left on the clock, a bloodied and battered Punk crawls back into the ring to get the pin on the prone JBL… Punk can claim to have retained his title against Batista, Mysterio, Kane and JBL all in one night, with Chris Jericho and Randy Orton still lined up to challenge him in the months to come. Sounds good – and I’d expect Mysterio to be the last entrant anyway, since we all know if he has to work for more than five minutes he’d probably tear his pancreas or something.
Winner – PUNK
ECW Championship Scramble:
Mark Henry (c) vs. Matt Hardy vs. The Miz vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Finlay
Paul Marshall: You can guarantee that Mark Henry sure as hell ain’t going to be involved the entire 20 minutes. I look for Hardy to pin someone that isn’t Mark Henry to hold onto the title.
Winner and NEW Champion: Matt Hardy
Andrew Wheeler: Reason Number 3 why this match gimmick works: Henry can lose the gold but keep the monster gimmick that he’s built over the last few months. Miz, Chavo and Finlay can all take clean pins and it won’t dent their characters. Matt Hardy is the anointed chosen one for ECW, so you know he’s walking out of the PPV with the gold. Him leaving with the title is the only really viable option here. I don’t think the WWE has enough confidence in Matt to pin Henry clean just yet, but having him pin say Chavo would give Henry a claim for a rematch. More importantly, the key player here is the guy NOT in this match, John Morrison. Hardy/Morrison is a big feud for ECW, and one that could dominate the fall and winter in the WWE. By pairing this up with the Miz/Bourne feud, we could get some solid tag matches.
Winner: Matt Freakin’ Hardy (which, for the record Paul, is three words, not two)
Danny Cox: I’m amazed at how much I actually give a damn about Mark Henry now. He is proving that the big guy thing really does work and can be dominating. And having Tony Atlas with him works perfectly, but it’s time for a change here as well…yes folks, this is it!
Winner and NEW Champ – Matt “Freakin” Hardy
Brad Curran: This looks like a guaranteed title change on paper. So who knows? I’ll be really lazy and choose Miz in his home town, if for no other reason than that it would set up a feud between he and Morrison down the line. The Megadouches explode! Also, he’s so hatable that him against anyone would get heat.
Winner: the Miz
Raffi Shamir: Why the hell isn’t John Morrison part of this match? WHY WHY WHY? He could have easily taken either Chavo’s or Finlay’s spots. Still, it’s Matt Hardy’s time and he will be the first of the family to hold a world championship title, even if it’s the worthless ECW title.
Winner: Matt Freakin’ hardy
Mark Neeley: Don’t see them taking it off of Mizark and Hardy is the only real contender here. Real question: Will this be the opener, first, or second match?
Winner – Mizark
Iain Burnside: …and here we have the Scramble with the lasting title change. Helpfully, Matt can get the win by pinning, say, Miz, which can lead to title matches with both a pissed-off Mizanin and a John Morrison convinced he can succeed where his partner failed – plus a singles rematch against an undefeated Mark Henry. Given that Tony Atlas has been charged with managing Morishima and Shiozaki in dark matches, it would seem that he and Henry are going to be starting a tag team or even stable, lining up the monster heels for Matt to fend off. Perfectly acceptable booking, much is the case with ECW nowadays.
Winner – MATT
Unsanctioned match:
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho
Paul Marshall: So, how are we supposed to be predicting this match? If there’s a referee then it undermines the “unsanctioned” part. If Shawn can work on one leg, surely one arm should be a piece of cake.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
Andrew Wheeler: This is an excerpt from the Super Secret Writers Forum about why this match is “unsanctionedâ€: “The purpose of the special unsanctioned contract is to protect the WWE as well as Jericho and Michaels. By signing the contract, they are not holding WWE accountable for anything that they do (perhaps a nice dig at Raven’s lawsuit, because independent contractors cannot sue for respondeat superior – which is a fancy way of saying if I do something to you in my job that you can sue my boss) and they are releasing each other from liability should one guy beat the other one to near death. Now, these contracts are normally unenforceable due to the fact that people cannot generally waive their right to not be subjected to a battery and have it stand up in court, and based on several prominent NFL cases, there is an assumption of risk element that states that when someone is entering an inherently dangerous situation (like a wrestling ring), that they are going to be subjected to potential harmful touching.†See what happens when you have a law student on staff. With that said, this match posed a large problem for the WWE before Michaels’s injury. The way the story was going, Shawn had to beat Jericho. This is a storyline that dates back to LAST year, where Flair was battling for his career in several lose and you’re done matches. HBK retired Flair, which pissed off Batista, which led Jericho to stir the pot, which led to a heel turn, which led to the death of Y2J, which led to a serious “eye†injury, which led to a fake retirement, which led to a Nitro Girl hitting the deck, which led to the match at hand. Shawn basically has to win because Jericho was the one that instigate this, he’s the one that injured him to the point of “retirementâ€, he’s the one who interrupted his goodbye speech and hit his wife and now needs to be vanquished. Unfortunately, Shawn going over Jericho helps no one. Shawn’s hurt. No one knows for sure just how hurt he is, but he’s going to need to at least sit a few weeks out. Jericho right now has assumed Edge’s mantle as the top heel in the company (and in all of wrestling, unless you count TNA’s booking committee), and as such he needs to be kept safe. Ladies and gents, Chris Jericho needs to win this match. I was excited about the Scramble Gimmick (reason #4) because they have built in time tables. Three matches at twenty minutes a pop means sixty minutes of wrestling action for the belts. Factor in another twenty minutes for intros and we’re at 1:20. That leaves a lot of time for other wrestling, which means this match could have gone on for 45 minutes and no one would have been shortchanged. Now with the tricep injury, who knows if HBK is 100%. I really want to see a pure wrestling match between these two, and hopefully the “showstopper†can pull another one out. And in the end, hopefully he does the right thing.
Winner: Chris Jericho
Danny Cox: Shawn is about to go out for a while with that injury even though I’ve heard he doesn’t need surgery because it wasn’t as bad as first thought. That did look kinda bad though. Dude just up and flopped down like a fish and landed on his face. This is going to be brutal even with HBK hurting and I think the awesome new evil bearded Jericho will exploit it.
Winner – Chris Jericho
Brad Curran: Well, Shawn being hurt certainly changes things up considerably, even if he isn’t facing surgery. I’ll take Shawn here anyway, just to give him some revenge. Have him take a beating before nailing Sweet Chin Music. Jericho can claim that Shawn got lucky or used Jesus to cheat or something. That’s what I can see happening.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
Raffi Shamir: Jericho has been dominating this feud lately and he’s done an awesome job at that, not that HBK has been slacking off. They first match from Wrestlemania was amazing. Shawn’s unsanctioned match with HHH was amazing. I believe that the injury will not hamper the match because Michaels won’t let it. Match of the night and probably MOTYC. Shawn will win but Jericho will still put him on the shelf.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
Mark Neeley: Definitely the feud of the year, now complete with a great PPV segment at SummerSlam and contract signing on last week’s RAW. MOTYC for sure, I say Michaels gets the win … ’nuff said. Can’t wait to see what Iain has to say about this match.
Winner – Shawn Michaels
Iain Burnside: What can be said about this match except “yes, please”? Fingers crossed that this is just the end of the second act, with Michaels taking some time off after this so that Jericho can go challenge Punk. That would mean no clean win for either man here, especially not Michaels, but nonetheless I shall be watching whilst touching myself, as all grateful people should.
Winner – NOT SHAWN
World Tag Team Championship Match:
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase (c) vs. Cryme Tyme
Paul Marshall: After a couple years or so…Cryme Tyme finally gets to cash their #1 Contendership for the tag titles. Sadly, without Cena – they’re back down to the lower card. Simply Priceless needs to win, especially if Orton will be their voice when he returns.
Winners: Simply Priceless
Andrew Wheeler: So now it’s Team Priceless (a.k.a. the Evolutionary Horsemen TM) going into battle (finally) with Cryme Time. The fact that CT haven’t been near the gold shows how crazy the tag belts have been handled the past few years. I like Rhodes but the fact that he still looks like an underdeveloped teenage girl doesn’t give him credibility. Teddy, on the other hand, will, as Cena said, be a main eventer at Mania in 5 years. These two as a team now have a tremendous upside. The fact that they got their belts back before the PPV makes me think that they’ll keep them, because now they’re the refocused assholes that they should be. I’m glad Cryme Time is back, but they don’t need the gold right now to stay over.
Winner: Team Priceless (The Evolutionary Horsemen)
Danny Cox: As much as I love Money Inc 2.0, they won’t be hurt by not having the titles which they’ll get back fast enough. I sincerely hope though…no wait, I’m changing my mind again but this time in mid-description. Even though they got the best of Cryme Tyme by getting their belts back, I do believe Randall K. Orton will appear and help them keep the belts leading to a really kick ass stable. The belts will come to Cryme Tyme soon enough…yo yo yo yo!
Winners and STILL Champs – Money Inc. 2.0
Brad Curran: Well, they can’t take the belts off Priceless now that they’ve shown some gumption and the legacy stable is this close to happening. Cryme Tyme’s over in a Godfather way that they can not hold the belts, and Priceless will probably cheat anyway. Also, they are the only other team on RAW, really, so a chase works perfectly well. At least build to a wacky stip match at Cyber Sunday (Dusty on a pole? Cryme Tyme disappears only to be replaced by two mysterious masked strangers who look just like them? The possibilities are endless).
Winner: Rhodes and Dibiase
Raffi Shamir: After jobbing out to Cena on various occasions, the priceless duo needs a win, desperately. Cryme Tyme have their whole shtick that keeps them over enough, but Dibiase and Rhodes have nothing right now except the belts. If they align with Orton – even better.
Winners: Simply Priceless
Mark Neeley: Taking the belts off of the kids again would only mean they will win them back on RAW and then quickly have three title reigns under their belts (no pun intended) already. Don’t see that happening though, they’ll just retain.
Winners – DiBiase & Rhodes
Iain Burnside: That could be the worst PPV match photo I’ve ever seen. The champions look like they’re scared of girls and are playing with their birthday presents, whilst one of Cryme Tyme appears to have been replaced by Hornswoggle. I look forward to Cena, Batista & Cryme Tyme vs JBL, Orton, Cuddles & Dibiase at Survivor Series.
Winners – TEAM ORTON
Divas Championship Match:
Michelle McCool (c) v. Maryse
Paul Marshall: Maryse? Where’s Natalya or Victoria? Oh that’s right…
Winner: Michelle McCool
Andrew Wheeler: Marysse (am I even spelling that right) is hands down the hottest diva this side of Maria. It is amazing how someone that hot can be kept so far under the radar, yet we now have to listen to everyone pretend that the washed up Candice Michelle is the nicest piece of ass in the WWE (yeah…she ain’t). Either way, this match has minimal buildup and there’s no reason to take the gold (or is it silver) off of Michelle. Random thought, what ever happened to Chuck Palumbo?
Winner: Michelle McCool, from Palatka Florida, a lovely place to visit if you have no concept of what the word lovely means
Danny Cox: If Michelle is going to lose the belt, it sure as hell isn’t going to be to the Helen Keller of women’s wrestling.
Winner and STILL Champ – Michelle McCool
Brad Curran: Wow, filler. McCool’s a solid worker. Maryse is very hot. This will go maybe five minutes. Maryse would be a decent heel champion, really, especially if Nattie helps her win the belt. It could be like Glamarella with two chicks! I don’t think anyone really cares about this belt anyway, so I’ll pick a title change to shake things up.
Winner: Maurice! I mean Maryse
Raffi Shamir: Michelle is facing who?
Winner: Michelle McCool
Mark Neeley: I like McCool.
Winner – Michelle McCool
Iain Burnside: The good thing about watching Smackdown online is that I get to skip over all the dross, which at the moment is basically anything not involving Kendrick, Jeff or MVP. This means that I actually have no idea who the hell Maryse is. In saying that, I did have a dream about her last night in which she wrestled this match in a mini-skirt without any underwear and bent over an awful lot. Then came the spreading…
Winner – MM
And that’s what we predict. Stay tuned to PulseWrestling for complete coverage of WWE Unforgiven.
