So we’re faced with a pay-per-view with an anemic card, stop me if you’ve heard this before.
Kick-off Match:
Dolph Ziggler vs Damien Sandow
Why is this happening? I honestly couldn’t tell you because I don’t have the slightest idea. We all keep hoping for something big with Ziggler and we saw glimpses of it during his quick time in the WHC picture. After that, practically nothing in spite of getting solid reactions from the crowd as a newly established face. As for Sandow? I can’t remember a weaker MitB case-holder. Will it be a decent match? Sure. Will anybody truly care? Probably not.
Divas Championship Match:
AJ(c) vs Brie Bella
Under usual circumstances, I would suggest that AJ would just roll through Brie and move on with whatever non-story the Divas are running these days. However, considering how much play Brie and Daniel Bryan’s engagement got, including the ending of Raw, I wouldn’t be surprised if Brie won here. There’s an instant story with AJ’s history with Daniel Bryan and also, Brie could get the DB treatment and be including in the corporation “best for business” story.
Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns
Because WWE doesn’t really care that they just gave Usos the #1 contendership only a few weeks ago but I guess the Tag titles only matter when the PPV gimmick dictates that they matter. Besides that, I’m excited for this match because we know Goldust can still pull out good matches, we know what Shield can do and well love it. Finally, we saw in his match against Orton, Cody can put on a pretty good show when he has something to fight for. It would be easy to point towards some sort of interference that would cost the Rhodes boys the match and careers but we’ve yet to see any sort of interference in any other of Cody’s chances. I think this would be a good time to bring Cody back while the story is still hot. There’s a chance the momentum of the story could be maintained until Hell in a Cell but I wouldn’t gamble on that.
World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio(c) vs Rob Van Dam
Again, it’ll be a fine match but nobody is going to be emotionally involved because there’s nothing going on at all with this feud. The WHC doesn’t really seem to get much airtime on it’s own show on Fridays (not that I actually watch Smackdown these days). I think it’s time to take Alberto off the championship scene and give it a rest for a bit. Not saying that ADR’s ringwork hasn’t been good because it’s been really good but there’s no draw into the feud. And of course, RVD is just as much to blame because it’s not like he’s much of storyteller himself.
CM Punk vs Ryback
There’s really one thing to consider when trying to predict the outcome for this match. Punk has been getting the raw end of the deal for the past 3 PPVs. Punk got a ladder to the head courtesy of Heyman at Money in the Bank, met a brick wall named Brock Lesnar at Summerslam, and was blind-sided by Ryback and lost to Heyman. Basically I’m saying that a CM Punk win would be a nice change-up and what better way to do that than put him opposite of Ryback, the guy with a terrible PPV win-loss record. Of course, WWE is probably saving that big Punk win for whenever he finally tops Brock in their next match (it really should happen). Like Blair mentioned on last week’s Classy Ring Attire (follow us on twitter @CRAttire), it feels weird that there’s this big struggle against the authority figure going on and Punk isn’t involved at all. Of course, it’s all a vehicle for Daniel Bryan and WWE doesn’t want someone like Punk to absorb any of DB’s spotlight. Still, it feels weird.
WWE Championship Match
Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton
Expect more shenanigans with this match, especially in a feud that’s constantly oozing with swerves. We haven’t gotten the point where Randy has actually pinned Bryan so we probably will see a swerve that will lead to that and then see DB on Raw the next night with proof to link the fast count at NoC directly to Randy and/or HHH and lead into a continuation at Hell in a Cell. This is one of the feuds where I don’t really want to over-think it anymore because I’m enjoying it for what it is and I don’t want my own smarkyness to get in the way of it. For once, let’s all just lay what we think we know about the wrestling business and just enjoy the pants off Daniel Bryan’s continual rise.
As always, be on the lookout for Classy Ring Attire coming to you later in the week but if you missed last week’s with Blair, here’s a taste. Also, you’ll definitely want to subscribe to Classy Ring Attire on iTunes as we continue to go through each Wrestlemania every week leading up to WM30!
Finally, a friend of mine has recently joined Pulse Wrestling so go over and check out Jeff Heatherly’s new column “Guys and Divas” if you haven’t done so already. He’s a great dude and I’m glad I can read all of his great wrestling insight here rather than scrolling through his twitter feed.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice,
Chris
