Last Minute MITB Predictions

Hi guys, I thought I'd do a quick post on my MITB predictions...

Money In the Bank will be taking place at the TD Garden in Boston, MA tomorrow (June 29th 2014) and it's looking like it should be a pretty good PPV. The last 3 ppv's have been a lot better than I expected (Wrestlemania 30, Extreme Rules, Payback) and this is shaping up to also, hopefully exceed expectations. The vacated WWE World Heavyweight title ladder match has undoubtedly heightened the excitement amongst fans, despite the sadness surrounding Daniel Bryan's condition, it's definitely exciting to know that tomorrow, we will have a new WWE World Champ. Although, that probably depends on who you want to win...

So let's get to it! This is the updated card for MITB and unless there's a pre-show match, which I doubt there will be, this is the final card. 7 matches in 3 hours? Hmm... 

Ladder Match for the Vacant WWE World Heavyweight Title
Cesaro vs. Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Kane

Money In the Bank Ladder Match
Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Bad News Barrett vs. Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler

WWE Tag Team Title Match
Erick Rowan and Luke Harper vs. The Usos

WWE Divas Title Match
Naomi vs. Paige

Special Referee: Fandango
Layla vs. Summer Rae

Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Stardust and Goldust

Big E vs. Rusev

Daniel Bryan will address the WWE Universe on the pre-show

Daniel Bryan addressing the WWE Universe on the pre-show is most likely an attempt to get more subscribers for the WWE Network (as I believe the pre-show will be available through Facebook/wwe.com etc.) So, a segment with him, in order to get late buys is probably necessary, I don't know what exactly will be done with him but hopefully it'll be a good angle and maybe he'll reveal when he will able to compete and be back? Who knows...

Big E vs. Rusev was recently added, we saw this on the last ppv - Payback and I thought it was a pretty good match, it was A LOT better than the recent squash matches we've been used to seeing with Rusev so this will probably be even better. Can Big E win here and slow down Rusev's momentum? I don't think so. I hope to see Big E get more offence in this match but I still think Rusev will pick up the win.

Rybaxel Vs. Stardust and Goldust has the potential to be a good match. I've actually grown to slowly and surprisingly like Rybaxel, if they're booked correctly they could grow and have a proper chance at the tag titles. Stardust is the obvious selling point here, I loved the debut but I'm yet to see something great come out of this. Hopefully MITB will be the payoff. Stardust/Goldust have to win here after Cody/Goldust's recent fallouts, so I'm going with them for the win.

Layla vs. Summer Rae with Fandango as the special guest referee was also added recently on Smackdown. It's surprising that they have 2 divas matches on a ppv with only 7 matches, even on Raw/Smackdown we've been seeing the divas get a bit more TV time, I just wish they would book them correctly, with real storylines and build their characters authentically, as is seen in NXT. But anyway, I would love to see a ladder match for this with Fandango hanging at the top, that would be entertaining, right? This whole love triangle has gotten quite boring for me and unless something interesting happens at MITB and it ends there, I'm really not interested. I'm going with Layla here for the win.

The Divas title match of Paige Vs. Naomi seriously has the potential to be an amazing female match (I hate the word "Diva"). I really hope they aren't given 5 minutes and put on straight before the main event, but with 7 matches in 3 hours, they should be given at least 10 minutes... Well, I hope. I loveee Paige but since she's comes up to the main roster, she's become stale and it really sucks, on NXT she had a legitimate personality but since being called up, she's been watered down, with no real competition or storytelling. Even in the ring, I don't think she's been able to shine properly, she is an incredible wrestler and one of the best female ones imo. Naomi is incredibly athletic, their match on Main Event just showed that they have great chemistry together, given enough time, this match should be great.  I just really want WWE to give them a proper storyline and to build their characters up! They should be given time to speak in the ring, on a mic, NOT just backstage on fallout or the pre/post-shows. I'm going with Paige to retain here, with Cameron getting involved and costing Naomi the match. I'm seriously hoping the Funkadactyls finally split, Cameron has been holding Naomi back for way too long. 

Erick Rowan and Luke Harper Vs. The Usos for the tag titles should get some good ring time. I seriously think this can go either way. The Usos haven't had a great title run, with not a lot of competition but with their recent run ins with the Wyatt Family, they've definitely become a lot more interesting as characters and have finally gotten a lot more time to speak on the mic. I'd be happy if the Usos retained but I do kind of want Rowan and Harper to get the win...

The Money in the Bank contract ladder match, I'm predicting, will steal the show! And that's not just because Dolph Ziggler is in the match. All 7 of the guys in this match are some of the best wrestlers WWE have right now and compared to the title ladder match, this one has more wrestlers who are better tailored to a ladder match than those in the title match, so I am very excited for this. Bad News Barrett received a shoulder injury during the Smackdown tapings this past Tuesday, and from watching Smackdown yesterday, it seemed pretty bad... I would be completely gutted if he wasn't able to compete. He's one of my favourites right now and with the amount of momentum he's had recently, it would really suck if he had to be out for a while. I had him to win this match but we will have to wait and see if he's even in it now. Wishing him a healthy, speedy recovery, whatever happens. Im not too interested in Swagger though... after separating from Cesaro, he has become pretty stale and I just don't see him climbing the ladder and winning. Kofi and RVD could be the dark horses here, no one is really banking on them to get the win but don't rule either out. Rollins and Ambrose have the potential to tell a great story in this match, despite it not being one-on-one, I hope to see them feud up until Summerslam. They have incredible chemistry in the ring together, working as a team, and against each other (check out their matches in FCW). I wouldn't mind either of them getting the contract. Ziggler is probably one of the favourites to win, from a fans perspective and I would be happy if he won too. If Barrett is in, he's my pick. Overall, this will be a great match whoever wins, and the one I am most looking forward to, simply based on the in-ring work.

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship ladder match is an exciting one. I'm sure the majority of fans will be extremely happy to see Cesaro/Reigns or Wyatt win - I know I will be. These are 3 new, fresh guys, who will be main-eventing and carrying the company for years to come. Do I think any of them will win? Most probably not. I don't think Sheamus or Del Rio will win, Sheamus is the US champ and Del Rio just hasn't got that momentum going for him. Cena or Orton could win this one... and lets not forget about Kane, he helped Orton climb the ladder on Smackdown but I think he's the dark horse in this match who could potentially come out of nowhere and win. Honestly, I have no clue who will win this match... but that's what is making this so great. It is so unpredictable, and unpredictability is always a good thing sometimes. It also involves ladders, so what more could we ask for?! I just hope this starts something great for the road to Summerslam.

Overall, MITB should be great, I love ladder matches so this is always one of my favourite PPV's. MITB will start at 1am here in London and finish at 4am, and I have to be up at 8am for work, wish me luck! 

Zara 

The Stereotype of Wrestling Being "Fake"

Hey guys, I’m back! To discuss the good ol’ stereotype of wrestling being “fake”

I initially posted this for thefanspodcast.com (check them out!) a few weeks ago but since I made my own blog I thought I would post it here too (which is why certain things may not be in order time-wise). If you’ve read my first blog (if not, scroll down!) you’d know that I do not know one person that is a fan of pro-wrestling... I know, shocking, right? I won’t go into that now as you can read my previous blog to find out how I became a fan, despite not having anyone to discuss it with and so on. (I will be posting a blog soon discussing what matches really got me in to wrestling when I was so young).

So let’s get into it...

One thing I will never fail to get from a person when I tell them that I’m an avid fan of wrestling is... yep you guessed it “but wrestling’s fake” or uncontrollable laugher due to the fact that I’m still a fan at 20 years old and it’s something that I should have apparently “grown out” of after the age of 10... Now after last week’s episode of Raw with that ridiculous Rusev segment, I would totally understand why someone would laugh at the fact that I’m such a massive fan (if they only watched that one segment), or even the tragic Damien Sandow moments (face palm) which have left all of us speechless...poor guy. I’m not going to lie, cringe-worthy is probably the most appropriate term to describe the above BUT let’s get one thing straight, one pointless 10 minute segment cannot take away from the entire product! The work that goes in to what these girls and guys do, not just the wrestlers but all of those people who work behind the scenes to make the WWE the massive working machine that it is, to entertain all of us CANNOT be disregarded as “fake”. If anything that’s the most degrading term to use and could not be further from the truth. There’s nothing fake about it, take for instance cutting a promo...

Cutting a promo, to me, has always been a special thing. This may sound dramatic but speaking on a mic for 10 minutes straight, holding the attention of thousands of fans in the arena and the millions (“and millions”) of people around the world, whilst making sense, not messing up and stumbling on words or thinking about what to do and say next as well as attempting to get a clear point across, to me is AMAZING. How many Hollywood actors could do that? A very low percentage is my guess. So, how can anything about that be fake? It’s on live TV, in front of a live sold-out audience of thousands, you cannot risk messing up.  If anything, that’s as real as it gets. There are no outtakes or multiple re-shots: you take the mic and GO. That is what you call real, raw talent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exDkCIZHzXg - Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns address Seth Rollin's betrayal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afedl8HylCY - Aj Lee blasts the stars of "Total Divas".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OS9wZGb_3g - CM Punk Shoot on Raw 

                                        ^^Check a few of those incredible promos out above!^^

After the Shield VS Evolution match at Extreme Rules this past May, I showed a friend the link of Seth Rollin’s jaw dropping dive off of the stands at the Izod Centre in New Jersey - something that us wrestling fans LOVE, one of those mark out moments that we thrive on and after they happen, make us realise all over again why we love and are so passionate about pro-wrestling, a moment that we will remember for years and years to come. Despite this friend not being a WWE fan, I showed him it, hoping for some kind of change of mind (in all honesty, I needed someone to understand my excitement!) ... but (to quote Dean Ambrose) NOPE... the response I received was “How can you watch this stuff... it’s so fake... it doesn’t even hurt”

WHAT?!?!  

Yep the term “gay” was even used, but that I won’t even go in to.  It doesn’t even hurt? A 200+ pound man diving over 10 feet on to 3 other men doesn’t hurt? If he messes up, or the 3 attempting to catch him fail to do so, can cause for some very disastrous consequences.  If you watch it back you can clearly see the force of that dive, how fast Rollins came down on them and how they all basically went flying like a tornado ripped through them due to the momentum. This is what they do, as performers, to entertain us. Risks are certainly involved. Getting in the ring and putting on a great back and forth 20 minute match with amazing psychology and chemistry is NOT easy. I mean, think about it; imagine getting in to a ring and attempting to pull off an amazing wrestling match with loads of different spots, keeping the excitement up and telling a story all at the same time. How many people are actually capable of doing that? It’s not until you sit down and purely think about how much time, patience and hard-work goes in to one wrestling match that you genuinely appreciate what these performers do.

The way I see it is, some people will simply never understand pro-wrestling and the art behind it... (I've even been called "manly" for watching it) but as much as I want to convert all those people I know into believers and the passionate fans as we all are, I know that not everyone will appreciate it’s art form. But one thing that I believe everyone should have for sports entertainment, is, respect. Respect for what these athletes do, what they put their bodies through day in and day out, not just in the ring, but in the gym and the constant 300 days a year travelling schedule.  

It’s under appreciated but it’s something I am thankful for. Wrestling may not be where it was at 15 years ago in terms of in wider society but one thing you cannot fault is that these individuals, whether it was 30 years ago or last week, all put their blood, sweat and tears in to putting on a good show for us and there is nothing fake about that at all. I mean, everyone knows TV shows are scripted, yet no one calls them "fake". 

If anyone who is a non-wrestling fan has stumbled across this, I hope I may have changed your viewpoint, even if it slightly. (If not, look up Edge and you’ll see how “fake” wrestling really is...)

Professional wrestling is truly a very special thing and despite the laughs or the snarky comments, I’m happy to say that I’m a pro-wrestling fan. This is partly the reason I began this blog, it’s somewhere I can connect with other people about something that I am so passionate about and something that no one I personally know of understands or will ever get. But through the greatness that is the internet! The doors have been opened to the amount of adoring fans out there that can voice their opinions and connect over a common, love that is, wrestling.

                                                               I had to add this in! Haha

Thanks for reading! If anyone can relate to this, do leave a comment below! Until the next one...

Zara 

Random RAW Review - 9th June 2014

A few weeks ago, I wrote a review of Raw for thefanspodcast.com (check them out!) for the June 9th episode. It is a few weeks old but I thought I would post it anyway, if anyone wants to have a read!

So let’s get straight into it...

Raw kicks off with the authority and their “blockbuster announcement”, which to me is always a good sign, I personally enjoy Triple H and Stephanie segments, they draw heat from the crowd and know exactly how to get a reaction from us. Rumours were rife all day about the condition of Daniel Bryan and if he would be capable of competing at Money in The Bank, our worst nightmares became a reality... a video message from the doctor who performed Daniel Bryan’s surgery was played, informing us that he would be unable to perform at MITB.  Daniel Bryan has been stripped of the title. Stephanie and HHH unsurprisingly continued to mock Bryan and his wife Brie Bella. We are then told that for the first time that the MITB ladder match would be for the vacated title and Alberto Del Rio (due to his win last week) will be the first participant in the match, and Orton would be the second because, well, he deserved it. Can’t argue with that, right? HHH then turned his attention to Rollins and announced the Wyatts VS Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns for later on tonight, which would be more of a handicap match as they had neglected themselves from the locker room over the past 18 months. This was an overall great opening to the show, despite the obvious sadness of DB’s situation and his health, we as fans, now know the exact status of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship which for the past few weeks has been completely up in the air and we are guaranteed a new champion in 3 weeks at MITB which overall is pretty exciting, depending on who the participants of the MITB ladder match are... the two participants announced so far, to me are not that exciting. I have never been an ADR fan (Ziggler would have been perfect here) and right now I don’t think that the majority of fans want the title back on Orton but then again, if this is temporary and Bryan is back for Summerslam, putting the title on someone like Orton may be a good idea, rather than an up and coming star and taking it off them, putting it back on Bryan and ruining any credibility they may have had.

The first match of the night is a MITB qualifying match - Sheamus VS Bad News Barrett. We’ve seen this champion V champion match before but I personally never get bored of seeing these two go at it. There were many times throughout this match that I thought Barrett had it but Sheamus got the pin with the Brogue kick. Seeing how over Barrett has been recently, all the momentum he’s gained and well, being a Brit myself, I would have loved to see Barrett win and in the title match but overall this was an incredible match and I don’t think this loss will ruin any of that for him or slow him down. You put these two together and you know you will get flat out brutality. It’s a straight brawl and who doesn’t wanna see an Englishmen and an Irishmen go at it and beat the crap out of each other? But at the same time, as much as I love Barrett, I do think that BOTH these titles should be defended at MITB, WWE has recently put so much time into building the IC and US title back up, why ruin it now? We now know that the US title will definitely not be defended at the PPV. Hopefully the IC title will be.

Next, we have Rusev VS Zack Ryder... do I even need to say what happened? I genuinely do not remember how long this match was, I’m pretty sure it was under a minute. I don’t know how I feel about Rusev yet, put him in a proper feud and not squash matches and fans will pay attention to him and not just Lana (who does an outstanding job might I add!) and I’ll probably feel differently but right now, I’m not interested. Putting these two in a match after Rusev has only recently debuted, we all know what we’re gonna see. Sorry Ryder.

Rybaxel VS Goldust and R-Truth is up next. I’m not gonna lie, I was not expecting to see R-Truth be the one to team up with Goldust but overall it was a decent match. Despite having my doubts straight away, I’ve actually grown to like Rybaxel as a team. Goldust losing here again just shows that maybe he was the weak link instead of Cody... I hope we get more of a depth into this storyline as it does have potential to be great.

We then have a segment with Layla getting her make-up done, insulting Minnesota and mocking Summer Rae with Summer then out of nowhere pouring milk all over her and throwing her into the table. I enjoyed this segment, it’s about time we see some backstage brawling from the women! (If you can call it a brawl...) but overall it was entertaining. Summer Rae is growing on me.

At the top of the hour we have 3MB in the ring, who attempted to rundown the Shield, with Ambrose and Reigns appearing, destroying 3MB and disposing of them like trash. Awesome. They then come back to the ring with Ambrose on the mic. This promo was AMAZING. I’ve been waiting for an Ambrose promo like this for a long, long, long time and the anticipation and expectation for his reaction to Rollin’s betrayal last week were extremely high and boy did he deliver. He is absolutely incredible, his anger and psychotic nature was all too believable and kept me on my toes, I could listen to him talk for hours (if anyone hasn’t seen his previous work in the Indy’s, look up “Jon Moxley promo” you won’t be disappointed). Reigns following up after that I imagine would have been hard but he got the job done, he has definitely improved on the mic and can only get better, the Game of Thrones reference at the end got my seal of approval to! One thing I’ve never really noticed is the chemistry that Reigns and Ambrose have together, without Rollins, they seem much more wild and untamed, bringing a fresh dimension to them that I love. I hope WWE keeps these two together for now, I’m excited to see what happens or if the heel turn for Ambrose will be coming soon... But after that descriptive promo of what Ambrose is gruesomely planning on doing to Rollins, I’d be surprised to see him turn anytime soon. Doing this promo as a babyface, was pretty awesome.

The Usos VS Fandango (with a milky Layla) and Damien Sandow is up. Damien Sandow came out in a full nude body suit, ballet slippers, doing ballet whilst twirling ribbons. I have no words. It’s crazy to think this time last year he won the MITB briefcase... I honestly feel for the guy, but kudos to him for going out there every week and doing what he does... I don’t really have much to say about this besides; it can’t get any worse next week though, can it? Oh yeah, and the Usos won.

Bo Dallas defeats Xavier Woods. I don’t know how I feel about Dallas, he creeps me out that’s for sure. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if I’m a BOliever or not. He is 6-0 now though...watch out Undertaker. But in all seriousness, we need something for us to care for him and right now, WWE just aren’t giving us that.

Paul Heyman is in the ring and cuts a promo, teasing a Brock Lesnar “Wrestlemania Victory Party” and out comes Cesaro...Paul Heyman is hilarious. I know so many people hate Cesaro’s walk, but I love it, it’s so obnoxious and awesome. Cesaro defeats RVD in the second MITB qualifying match. I wasn’t too into this match, there’s no denying, Cesaro is amazing and one of the best in the business today but his matches with RVD just haven’t been all that great and I don’t see the chemistry. Overall, I’m glad Cesaro’s in the title match, having Orton, ADR, Sheamus and RVD would have been awful. I just can’t boo Cesaro, he is too good and I’m sure that applies to many other fans as well.

Seth Rollins comes out, in a black suit, and to new theme music. I am a massive Rollins fan and after following him on twitter for a while and seeing the type of music he’s into (pop-punk/metal etc.) I definitely expected something better, something A LOT better to be honest. This music seemed way too generic and where were the lyrics??? I really hope this is just a part-time thing and he gets something awesome. Anyway, Michael Cole is waiting in the ring to interview Rollins for his actions last week. He receives a lot of boos and a “you sold out” chant. He took control over this segment and barley let Cole talk, claiming that he created the shield and without him, the shield is nothing. He went on to say that he bought in to the evolution of Seth Rollins and that Ambrose and Reigns weren’t his brothers but were his “business partners” (heartbreak). We still don’t have a concise, definitive answer for why Rollins stabbed Ambrose and Reigns in the back, but I do have high hopes for this storyline. Overall, this is keeping me excited, WWE could take this in so many different directions and I’m eager to see where it goes. I’m definitely anticipating when Ambrose and Reigns finally get their hands on Rollins. He then calls out Ambrose and Reigns, leading to Harper and Rowan appearing, with Roman and Dean almost getting to Seth, Bray Wyatt appears allowing Rollins to bail. Cena comes in to make the save and he, Dean and Roman clear the ring and we have our main event match for later on tonight (although this wasn’t said at the time). Overall, Rollins really stepped up here, he had the mic time all to himself for the first time since being on the main roster, and it was a solid promo.

Next is Paige VS Alicia Fox with Aksana in a non-title match. Paige picks up the win with the PTO. I’ve always been a massive fan of Paige since she was in NXT but the way she has been booked on the main roster, with no real feud has really weakened her credibility. She has the potential to be one of the greatest female wrestlers but that’s if she is booked correctly which at the moment, just isn’t happening. Post-match, Alicia Fox goes crazy, throwing popcorn and water all over Aksana.

Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter defeats Santino. I had no interest in this match, Swagger has so much potential but no real direction. Once again, he needs to be booked correctly for the fans to care.

Goldust is backstage, Cody appears and tells him he knows who can be his perfect tag team partner and that will be revealed next week.

The main event is up, Wyatt family VS Ambrose, Reigns and Cena. I was honestly surprised this match received so much time, but I’m glad it did. Ambrose and Reigns begin by working well together and not tagging in Cena, Ambrose gets beat down for a while but then makes the hot tag to Cena who gets a mixed reaction, until he eventually gets beat down and makes the hot tag to Reigns who runs wild, ends up hitting the spear on Harper and scoring the win. Triple H and Rollins look on from backstage. I thought this was a great way to end the show and I’m glad it didn’t end in a DQ, all 6 men delivered and I’m eager to see what happens with all of these guys now, especially Bray Wyatt.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good Raw, with a couple of pointless matches but Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins really stole the show for me and I’m excited to see where this feud heads.

Until the next one!
Zara