Thread: WWE RAW, Smackdown, & PPV Discussion Thread 2011

WWE Royal Rumble PPV Predictions

The most exciting PPV of the year is upon us! The Royal Rumble!!

Not many matches on the card. Just three title matches and the 40 Man Royal Rumble. I wonder if they'll sneak in a IC or US Title Match.. or maybe even a Tag Title match. It doesn't seem like it'll happen though since all those superstars are in the Rumble.


WWE Divas Championship 2-on-1 Handicap Match: Natalya (Divas Champion) vs LayCool

LayCool finally gets their rematch after losing the Divas Title to Natalya at Survivor Series. If you remember the match at Survivor Series, they made LayCool look bad because they couldn't beat Natalya despite having the 2-on-1 advantage.

With that said, I don't see LayCool winning this one. Awesome Kong is waiting for her debut... and I think she's going to help Natalya win this one. On RAW, LayCool were making fun of Natalya's weight. Who weighs more than any Diva out there? Awesome Kong. Hopefully the crowd will know who she is and react appropriately.

My Prediction: Natalya retains the Divas Championship.


WWE Championship Match: The Miz (WWE Champion) w/Alex Riley vs Randy Orton

This is the exact same match from the TLC PPV. The only difference is that this is not a Tables Match. Can The Miz hold his own 1 on 1 without any stipulations? I think so. They've made The Miz look weak so far in his title reign. Always "squeaking out" victories and getting outside help. This match could solidify him as a legit WWE Champion.

I see two situations playing out...

#1 Alex Riley will help The Miz retain here and then Randy Orton enters the Royal Rumble.

#2 Alex Riley screws up and costs The Miz the title and Randy Orton is the WWE Champion for the 8th time in his career.

I would love to see The Miz go into Wrestlemania as the WWE Champion... it may very well happen. The only thing I fear for The Miz is that he isn't going to make it past the Elimination Chamber in February.

My Prediction: The Miz retains the WWE Championship.


World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (World Heavyweight Champion) vs Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero. If Edge uses the Spear, he loses the World Heavyweight Title

I'm personally looking forward to this match more than the WWE Championship Match because we've seen The Miz face Randy Orton for a few months now. But Edge vs Dolph Ziggler? That's different!

With Teddy Long taken out on Smackdown, Vickie Guerrero is the Acting GM. She banned the Spear on Smackdown and said if Edge uses that move at the PPV, he gets disqualified and will lose his World Heavyweight Championship.

Sound familiar? When Edge was with Vickie Guerrero, she banned Undertaker's Hell's Gate finisher as well and she stripped Undertaker of the World Title. So unless Edge can come up with a new finishing move, I really think Dolph Ziggler will win the World Heavyweight Championship. This could be good for Dolph. Plus, his reign can be short where he can drop the title at the Elimination Chamber and WWE can "start fresh" with a feud that will lead to Wrestlemania.

The only problem with Dolph winning would be that a face would have to win the Royal Rumble to send the fans home happy.

My Prediction: Dolph Ziggler wins the World Heavyweight Championship


40 Man Royal Rumble Match: Winner gets a title shot at either the WWE or World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania

Really WWE? That's the "preview picture" for the Rumble? Cena eliminating Yoshi Tatsu? Bleh.

This is my favorite match of the year. There are lots of contenders and pretenders... so I'm going to type out the list of entrants along with my comments. Keep in mind that we don't know who will enter at what number, they're just entrant numbers.

#1 Alberto Del Rio: Contender (He'll look strong in this match. I can't see him winning though because it's too soon for him to headline Wrestlemania. If he gets thrown out though, expect it to be from Christian.)

#2 Big Show: Contender (Big Show needs a strong showing because he hasn't been doing much recently. He has said on Smackdown that he's pissed off now and will probably look good in the match.)

#3 Chris Masters: Pretender (Do I really need to say anything?)

#4 CM Punk: Contender (The New Nexus will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. I can see CM Punk entering early and having the New Nexus help him until Cena eliminates them.)

#5 Daniel Bryan: Pretender (I like Daniel Bryan but does anyone seriously think he's going to headline Wrestlemania?)

#6 Darren Young: Pretender

#7 David Hart Smith: Pretender

#8 David Otunga: Pretender (Otunga might get 1 elimination. He'll be the last of the New Nexus to survive before getting thrown out.)

#9 Drew McIntyre: Pretender (I just hope he doesn't get tossed over without putting much of a fight.)

#10 Ezekiel Jackson: Pretender (Big Zeke will definitely eliminate at least 4 guys. I think he'll Big Show out along with himself.)

#11 Heath Slater: Pretender (Would love to see interaction between The Corre and the New Nexus. No chance in hell of winning though.)

#12 Husky Harris: Pretender (Yeah... I don't think so.)

#13 Jack Swagger: Pretender (I love Swagger. Unfortunately, he's horribly mis-treated. He'll probably end up look silly here.)

#14 John Cena: Contender (Hometown favorite to win the match. The only person I can see eliminating Cena is CM Punk. If Punk doesn't do it, he's going to win the Rumble.)

#15 John Morrison: Contender (Morrison needs a strong showing here. He looked good in his title match against The Miz on RAW but he really needs to be in the Final 4.)

#16 JTG: Pretender

#17 Justin Gabriel: Pretender (Like Heath Slater, I hope there is some interaction with the New Nexus.)

#18 Kane: Pretender (Impressive stats for Kane. This is his 13th straight Rumble. He has a record of eliminating 11 superstars in one rumble match. Kane looked good the past few months being the World Heavyweight Champ. Unfortunately, he's not a "monster" anymore. I can still see him eliminate guys like JTG, Primo, Yoshi Tatsu, etc though just to pad his stats.)

#19 Kofi Kingston: Pretender (Like Daniel Bryan, he's not going to headline Wrestlemania.)

#20 Mark Henry: Pretender (They always mention his size and weight and how hard he'll be to eliminate but there's no chance in hell he comes close to winning.)

#21 Mason Ryan: Pretender (Mason Ryan might have as good a showing as Ezekiel Jackson.

#22 Michael McGillicutty: Pretender (Nope. Sorry Mr. Perfect's son.)

#23 Primo: Pretender

#24 R-Truth: Pretender (What's up? I know what's up. You're going to pull some flashy moves but get thrown out by Alberto Del Rio. That's what's up. )

#25 Rey Mysterio: Contender (The ultimate underdog is what they always call Rey Mysterio. He'll definitely last a long while here because he has a huge fan base. If he gets thrown out, it'll be from Dashing Cody Rhodes (if he's in the rumble) or by The Corre.)

#26 Santino Marella: Pretender

#27 King Sheamus: Contender (King Sheamus will look strong only to be thrown out by HHH. John Morrison needs a better showing than King Sheamus, that's for sure.)

#28 Ted DiBiase: Pretender

#29 Tyson Kidd: Pretender

#30 Vladimir Kozlov: Pretender

#31 Wade Barrett: Contender (The only contender out of The Corre. If he's going to feud with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, he's going to need to look strong here.)

#32 William Regal: Pretender (Damn it, I love Regal to death. I'll be happy if he eliminates ONE wrestler but I don't see it happening.)

#33 Yoshi Tatsu: Pretender

#34 Zack Ryder: Pretender

There are SIX spots left. There are rumors swirling that Booker T, Kevin Nash, Christian, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Papa Shango, and HHH are the surprise entrants.

Booker T: He might be coming back to the WWE. This might be a one time thing though like RVD showing up at the Rumble in 2009.

Kevin Nash: He's done with TNA. I really don't think he should come back to the WWE though. So this has to be a one time thing as well. What music is he coming out to though?

Hacksaw Jim Duggan: Might as well. He won the 1st ever Royal Rumble.

Papa Shango: This would be awesome. I wonder if it'll really happen.

Christian: Reports say that he'll be at the Rumble and he isn't wearing an arm-sling. They have said that he won't be healthy until Wrestlemania but crazier things have happened. If he does return, he's going to be eliminating Alberto Del Rio.

HHH: He's been healthy for a few months now. If HHH returns at the Rumble one of these two things will happen. He'll eliminate King Sheamus and feud with him or he'll win the Royal Rumble.

Keep in mind that they're all rumors. Dashing Cody Rhodes has been taken out of the Rumble because of his "broken nose" storyline with Rey. If he does enter, expect him to come in with a mask of some sort and eliminate Rey Mysterio.

One guy we all seem to have forgotten is The Great Khali. I can see him entering the rumble just to eliminate a few guys. We might also see Beth Phoenix again. In fact, I can see "deja vu" happening again where Beth eliminates Khali once more.

So there you have it! My final four will be... John Cena, Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, and John Morrison. I have a really bad feeling that Cena is winning the rumble. All I ask is that the match is entertaining.

My Prediction: John Cena wins the Royal Rumble.

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Would love to hear your predictions as well guys!

Those 6 rumored entrants make things interesting!

I got back from the PWG show about an hour ago, it started an hour late because they over sold the show and it was packed a lot of the people were upset because there was nowhere to sit and it was a lot more rowdier then the ROH show, the show was 4 hours and 30 minutes long and it ended at 1:30 am

a couple of notes while I can still remember, Helms is a an *******, he got a lot of HBK chants and he can't wrestle for ****, he wrestles the WWE way, don't know what he was doing in the WWE after watching talented guys give their all tonight he looked like an amateur.

Jake "The Snake" broke out in tears when the crowed chanted Thank You

loved seeing Essa Rios and Rey Bucanero, Rios took a nasty bump on the rail when he jumped from the corner.

ran into Shad Gaspard super cool, Raven was a total dick with everybody, the Warlord looked the same he is huge!!! looks like he can still wrestle. Kevin "Mr Wrestling" Steen is my new favorite wrestler he doesn't have the look but he knows how to work the crowd and is just a complete wrestler.

Low Ki vs Davey Richards was good but Kevin Steen vs Chris Hero was the match of the night, I saw moves tonight I have never seen before or had forgotten that you're allowed to do that in the ring.

loved seeing Essa Rios, Roddy Piper, Terry Funk, The Franchise Shane Douglas, Tito Santana and The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart just to name a few. Jim "The Anvil" Niedhart was supposed to be in the legends Battle Royale but nobody could pull him away from the bar

Generation Me was pretty badass as was the other four tag teams, after the match Kevin Steen grabbed one of the guys and did this move[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVF0k_zIoHA"]YouTube - Steenalizer to Adam Cole[/nomedia] where he threw him through the middle rope with such force that he could have killed the guy it really was a holy **** moment

It was a great weekend of wrestling and I feel like I had steak for two days and now have to eat meatloaf later on with the WWE.

and if anybody is interested here is the link to my youtube channel I have three videos up but I'll add some from tonight's show later today

WOW, both title matches are up first, there is only two other matches scheduled after Miz/Orton

Poor Diesel and Booker T. Hornswoggle lasted then them both.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I819WrSCvFk"]YouTube - Diesel AKA Kevin Nash returns in Boston[/nomedia]

WWE Royal Rumble PPV Review
My Review Score: 8/10

Pretty solid PPV. The Royal Rumble sort of lived up to the hype although I hope the 40 Man Rumble isn't permanent from here on out. All the matches were pretty good. Didn't like the Hornswoggle + New Nexus bit in the Rumble. I'll explain more below.

I only got one prediction correctly... and that was The Miz retaining the WWE Title.


World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (World Heavyweight Champion) vs Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero. If Edge uses the Spear, he loses the World Heavyweight Title

Saw most of this match in Spanish (Thanks Time Warner!) but it was great nonetheless. Great match to kick off the PPV. Edge made Dolph look good in this match.

Edge couldn't use the Spear at all or else he'll lose the World Title. Vickie Guerrero provided lots of distractions here and she slapped Edge a bunch of times as well. The turning point of this match was when Kelly Kelly came out and beat the crap out of Vickie. It was extremely... random. If they develop this story further with Kelly Kelly trying to impress Drew McIntyre on Smackdown, then I'm find with it. If they ignore it completely, it's going to bug me.

There was also a ref bump in here somewhere that I can't remember... Either way, with the ref AND Vickie Guerrero down, Edge speared Dolph Ziggler. Edge also used Christian's finisher, the Killswitch and got the pinfall victory to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

Final Result: Edge retains the World Heavyweight Championship by pinfall.


WWE Championship Match: The Miz (WWE Champion) w/Alex Riley vs Randy Orton

Interesting match. Not the best, but it worked. The Miz held his own pretty good here and Orton sold a bunch of moves which was nice to see. I personally wasn't into this match as much as I could have been. The whole time, I was waiting for the finish just to see how Miz would retain.

The finish came when The Miz down and the New Nexus (minus CM Punk) came to the ring. Orton was distracted and Alex Riley was going to sneak up behind. Orton turned around in time to throw A-Ri over the top rope and onto The New Nexus and the ref. The replay later showed that the ref didn't get hit but he took a tumble long enough for CM Punk (who came from under the ring) to give Orton the GTS. Punk then dragged The Miz and put him on top of Orton. The ref then conveniently got in the ring and counted to 3.

Final Result: The Miz retains the WWE Championship.

At the time of this match, it didn't quite make sense as to why CM Punk would help The Miz. Is it because he thinks The Miz will be an easier opponent at Wrestlemania than Orton when he wins the Rumble? But it turns out... they're just setting up a feud between CM Punk and Randy Orton.

Nexus was the one that cost Orton the WWE Title but they're having Orton feud with the New Nexus. It doesn't quite added up but we'll see where it goes.


WWE Divas Championship Fatal Four Way Match: Natalya (Divas Champion) vs Michelle McCool vs Layla vs Eve

So we all know that Awesome Kong has signed with the WWE a few weeks ago. The question was... when will she debut? The RAW GM changed the 2 on 1 Handicap Match to a Fatal Four Way Match. I thought Awesome Kong was going to be the "mystery opponent" but nope! It was Eve. Someone explain to me why Eve got a title shot? Maybe she's the RAW GM.

The match actually went about 10+ minutes. At least I think it did. LayCool didn't attack each other at all. They teased having to fight each other when Nattie and Eve were outside the ring but they didn't.

The finish came when Eve gave Layla her Moonsault finisher. She pinned Layla but Michelle pinned Natalya at the same time. The ref counted the pinfall for Eve and didn't see Michelle pin Natalya so Eve won the Divas Title.

Final Result: Eve wins the Divas Championship by pinfall.

Not sure I like the booking here because:

#1 - Eve didn't deserve a title shot. What about Gail Kim, Melina, Alicia Fox? They're all way ahead of Eve on the "list".

#2 - Really lame way for Natalya to lose the Divas Title. The point of the match was that LayCool never got their rematch clause. The RAW GM then changed it at the last minute and gave the title to someone who wasn't booked for the match in the 1st place.

#3 - Awesome Kong didn't even at least come in and destory everyone. What do they have planned for her?

I'm probably wasting my time over analysing this. The Divas division is crap because their matches can't last for more than 2 minutes on RAW. But why does it bother me so much?


40 Man Royal Rumble Match: Winner gets a title shot at either the WWE or World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania

Who doesn't love the Royal Rumble? This was a pretty good Rumble. I personally felt that it went by really fast. =o When Jack Swagger came out at #27... we were going, "Wow, if it's the regular 30 Man Rumble, this will be over soon!"

Oh yeah, looking back at the Rumble participants list... guess who got the shaft? Darren Young, David Hart Smith, and Primo didn't enter the rumble despite being announced for it. Dolph Ziggler, Alex Riley, and Randy Orton took their spots.

CM Punk drew #1 this year. Boy is he "unlucky" or what? Last year, he came out at #3.

After Punk came out, The Corre's music hit. I'm sure it confused everyone because we didn't know who #2 was. Was it Barrett or Jackson? They both came out together. Slater and Gabriel then came from the crowd and they all attacked Punk. The New Nexus stormed the ring and a 9 man brawl broke out. The RAW GM said he wouldn't tolerate this and ordered them all to the back or they'll be kicked out of the Rumble match.

I have to ask, why should The Corre listen to the RAW GM? They're on Smackdown! But I guess the RAW GM is in charge of both brands or something...

When they all headed to the back (except for Punk), Daniel Bryan entered at #2. Matt Striker made a comment about internet fans marking out to this which is awesome.

Justin Gabriel came in at #3 and got eliminated almost immediately.

John Morrison came in at #8 and had the best spot of the night. He was on the apron and got knocked out of the ring. But he jumped so far he hung on tight on the barricades. One slip and he's out, but Morrison jumped back on the steel steps and re-entered the ring. This highlight is going to be shown for years to come.

Chavo Guerrero entered at #10 and had a nice moment. He tried to put the 3 Amigos on a bunch of superstars but managed to hit 2 of each to a couple of guys before hitting 3 on Daniel Bryan. Chavo deserved this for all the mis-treatment he's gotten from Hornswoggle over the past year.

Husky Harris entered at #9, Michael McGillicutty at #13, and David Otunga at #15. This is when the New Nexus took over and they eliminated EVERYONE. Obviously, we were waiting for Super Cena to enter but they decided to stall a bit by having guys like Tyler Reks, Vladimir Kozlov, R-Truth, and The Great Khali enter one by one only to get thrown out immediately.

What's frustrating is that the faces have no brains. Why rush the ring and fight 4 on 1 when you can wait for more help? The Great Khali eliminated Husky Harris though and took control until Mason Ryan entered next and got rid of Khali.

Booker T made a "surprise" appearance at #21 and got a HUGE pop. He got his Spin-a-Roonie in which was nice to see. Unfortunately for him though, he got thrown out immediately.

After all the waiting, Super Cena finally entered at #22 and low and behold, he eliminates Mason Ryan, David Otunga, and Michael McGillicutty in 5 seconds.

Hornswoggle took up a mystery entrant spot at #23 (REALLY?!) and this is where the Rumble match went downhill. Punk gets eliminated and then we have Cena and Hornswoggle make a mockery of the Rumble. After the heels dominated for so long, they needed the kids to be happy.

Tyson Kidd, Heath Slater, and Jack Swagger were unfortunate victims of this as Hornswoggle beat them up with Cena and Kofi Kingston's help.

The Rumble match finally went back to normal when King Sheamus entered at #28. Followed by Rey Mysterio, Wade Barrett, and Dolph Ziggler. Big Daddy Cool Diesel was the surprise entrant at #32. The Boston crowd was behind him all the way but he didn't do anything.. lol

A-Ri came out at #34 and The Miz joined the commentary booth. Somewhere in the match, A-Ri got eliminated by Super Cena but The Miz stayed on commentary.

Big Show came out at #35 and eliminated Ziggler and McIntyre, only to get eliminated by Big Zeke who came out at #36. Santino came out at #37 and boy was he hilarious. He got so intimidated by Big Zeke that he turns around and got hit with the Brogue Kick from Sheamus. The kick knocked Santino out of the ring (through the bottom ropes, so he wasn't eliminated).

Alberto Del Rio came out at #38 and took his time getting to the ring. Extremely smart guy huh? He took so long that Orton came out at #39 and Orton threw him in the ring.

Finally, Kane came out at #40 but unfortunately he didn't do much. He got rid of Big Zeke but freaking Rey Mysterio of all people threw him out.

The "final four" was Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett, Randy Orton, and John Cena. Alex Riley came back to the ring and distracted Cena long enough for The Miz to throw Cena out. I totally marked out for this and was excited that Cena isn't going to win the Rumble.

Cena was livid and said "The Miz is done" to Michael Cole. Orton eliminated Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio eliminated Randy Orton.

Alberto was celebrating thinking he won the Rumble but Santino came back in the ring. Santino hit a very emotional Cobra and probably fooled a lot of people into thinking he'll actually win the match. He grabbed Alberto and before he could throw him out, Alberto Del Rio reversed it and threw Santino out to win the Royal Rumble!!!

Final Result: Alberto Del Rio wins the Royal Rumble.

I'm very shocked that they are giving Alberto Del Rio a title shot at Wrestlemania. He'll definitely feud with Edge going forward. The Miz threw out Cena which means Cena will be fighting for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania.

So after seeing the Rumble, I look back and realized why CM Punk and the New Nexus attacked Orton in his title match earlier in the PPV, it's just to set up Punk and Orton.

Overall, a solid PPV. I had a great time.

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Here's how I think the Wrestlemania card is going to look...

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (C) vs Alberto Del Rio
WWE Championship Match: The Miz (C) vs John Cena
Wade Barrett vs Undertaker
CM Punk vs Randy Orton
New Nexus vs The Corre
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Add in a Tag Title and Divas Title match and you got yourself a PPV.

Big Daddy Cool!

great job as always TooCool, I didn't get why Skanky Skanky came out to interfere in the Ziggler/Edge match, if anything it should have been Kaitlyn coming out and I that Skanky Skanky beat Vickie into a coma but she popped up like nothing after the bell rang, I'm sure there is going to be some fallout on Smackdown.

I was kind of like WTF??? when Nexus showed up and I liked that Punk helped beat Orton, I was thinking it was some sort of gun for hire thing as The Miz probably made a deal with Punk and Nexus.

I was hoping for Kong to and was surprised it was, then I thought that she was going to be the Jobber so the other three don't look bad and boy was I wrong and far as GM that would come out of left field because the GM has it out for Edge from previous encounters.

I really was down on the way the rumble played out but after further reflection, I guess the PPV wasn't that bad but that Cena and Hornswoggle jackassery really killed the rumble for me I know they did it for the kids and the rest of the Cena sheep but do that on a regular show not a PPV where people pay good money to see a wrestling show and not a saturday morning cartoon on a sunday night.

and I read that Riley wasn't supposed to go out of the rumble like he did, I wonder what the original ending of that was supposed to be

and as much as I've hated on Nash all through his TNA stint, I think having him back as Diesel and under VKM's thumb, will prevent a lot of the buffoonery from his TNA days and he knows this is his last run, so I'm sure he wants to go out like a pro.

I also liked how the Rumble added a lot of questions that will make this weeks shows fun to watch.

Looking forward to RAW tonight