WWE Vengeance Results & Draft Picks

Time to see how my Vengeance picks turned out:

Match 1 - Intercontinental Championship - Carlito(c) vs. Shelton Benjamin - I picked the opener, the same as I did WrestleMania, which is something. I also got the winner right. Carlito took advantage of Shelton still suffering from the fall he took on Monday and when Shelton went for the Stinger Splash in the corner, Carlito moved and he hit the exposed turnbuckle. Carlito then went for the pin. 1/1

Backstage - Triple H and Ric Flair arrive for the title match tonight. Triple H looks like he raided Brother Love's closet with the white suit and red shirt...

Match 2 - Victoria vs. Christy Hemme - Not the match I would have put next, but here it is. As always, I think Christy, while a pretty girl, should NOT be wrestling. She was not hired to wrestle. Look at Stacy; she is very pretty, but she knows she is not a wrestler. Christy is not a wrestler and should be a valet or manager or something like that, not wrestling a multi-time champ in Victoria and giving her enough trouble that Victoria had to use the ropes for the pin. No sign of Trish, sadly. 2/2

Backstage - An interview with John Cena regarding his match tonight. Nothing special, but good buildup for the match and some extra WWE Fantasy League points for me.

Match 3 - Kane vs. Edge - A pretty decent bout with some back and forth action. Kane surprisingly gets the win after overcoming interference from Snitsky and Lita. Good to see Kane come out on top finally. 2/3

Backstage - Shawn Michaels says vengeance will be his tonight and I agree...

Match 4 - Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - I'm surprised this is so low on the card, nice to see the WWE and World title both get the highest spots. Another excellent bout from these two, but I give the edge to their WrestleMania bout. Michaels wins with TWO superkicks, one of these being from when Kurt comes off the top rope (what aerial offense does Kurt have again?). I would wager we see the rubber match to break the tie and SummerSlam. 3/4

Backstage - Batista is being interviewed by the Coach. Coach says that Batista was lucky to be champ due to the bad officiating at Backlash. Batista does the same speech they did at the contract signing (going to hell...etc...etc). Triple H shows up and they have a stare down and have to be separated by security.

In Ring - Lilian Garcia comes to the ring looking beautiful as always. She has to be one, if not the, most elegant diva on WWE TV right now. She calls Viscera down to the ring and sings for him. She then gets down on one knee and proposes to him. GODFATHER’S music hits (you read that right) and comes down with some ho's. Godfather asks Vis if he is going to be happy with just one woman or if he wants to ride the "HOOOO TRAIN!". Vis looks over the ladies and lets us know his decision by saying "All aboard the HOOOO TRAIN!". He leaves with the Godfather and the ho's. Lilian is left in the ring crying. I have to again give her credit, she was really crying. Interesting end to this angle. This could be setting up for Lilian and Trish to get together and get revenge on Vis maybe...

Match 5 - WWE Championship - Triple Threat Match - John Cena(c) vs. Christian vs. Chris Jericho - In a great match, John Cena retained the WWE Championship via a FU on Christian. This was a great match and showed that Cena can work with faster guys. A lot of his matches with JBL were a bit slower based on JBL's style. It was nice to see him hang with Jericho and Christian. It's also always great to see two high caliber stars like Jericho and Christian go at it. Also, so much for my draft theory that had Christian showing up on SmackDown with the WWE Title... 3/5

Match 6 - World Heavyweight Championship- Hell in a Cell - Batista(c) vs. Triple H - To everyone's surprise that I was watching with, Batista defeated Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. This match was ok. Triple H had to carry Batista through most of it. It's sad when it seems Batista is out of steam 5-10 minutes into a match. Some decent spots in the match, but nothing special with the cell. This match could have been without the cell and have done as well. One nice spot was the spinbuster by Batista to Triple H on the lower part of the stairs. The end saw Batista go for a Batista-bomb and Triple H had the sledgehammer to hit him in the head, but Batista hit the bomb faster than Triple H could swing. A surprise ending for sure. 3/6

Final score - 3/6 or 50% - Not too bad, a little lower than my WrestleMania score, but with fewer matches, it's to be expected.

Now, for my draft picks:

Raw gets Charlie Haas - Raw got Carlito and he won the Intercontinental Title. Not a bad addition to Raw, as they needed a decent mid-card heel.

SmackDown gets The Rock - I knew I would be WAY off on this. SmackDown got Muhammad Hassan & Daivari. I assume they come as a package deal. He didn't make too many friends right away on SmackDown. He verbally ran down JBL, Booker T, Chris Benoit, and the Big Show. He did pick up a win over Big Show, but with the help of Matt Morgan.

This week, each show gets two picks, which makes for a lot of possibilities.

Raw gets Eddie Guerrero & Rob Van Dam - After losing to Rey again last week, I don't think there is anything left for Eddie to do on SmackDown and he can go after Batista. RVD is a pick from a few weeks ago that I still expect to happen, even if it's after the draft.

SmackDown gets Chris Jericho & Triple H - People will most likely think I am nuts for saying that Triple H will go to SmackDown and I doubt it myself, BUT he did say that the Hell in a Cell match would end the feud between him and Batista...so now what does Triple H do? Jericho is more of a sure bet since now Raw has both his Highlight Reel and Carlito's Cabana. The Highlight Reel and the extremely expensive Jeritron 5000 will find a good home on SmackDown.

This week will bring us a lot; including a new champ on SmackDown...my pick is either JBL or Booker T.

Take care all.

GrzeTim Books... - WWE Vengeance

I'm cutting it a bit close here with this one seeing as Vengeance is about five or so hours away, but here I am. I'm reserving making my draft picks until after the PPV. When the WWE announced the draft, they said the last week would have two picks per show. They haven't mentioned that since, so I want to wait and see if they are still going with that or if they are staying with one each. Then, I will make my picks.

To the PPV:

Intercontinental Championship - Carlito(c) vs. Shelton Benjamin - I could see them opening with this one. Carlito has really gotten to be a great heel so he can get the crowd fired up. I don't see Shelton getting the title back here. There are way too many guys Carlito can feud with.
Winner - Carlito wins with a handful of tights or the ropes as he did on Monday.

Kane vs. Edge - This one is a hard call. There have been so many rumors and whispers about all the Matt Hardy / Lita / Edge stuff being a script to get the fans into it, but I doubt it.
Winner - Edge with some help from Lita.

Victoria vs. Christy Hemme - In my opinion, the only reason for this match is the return of Trish Stratus. She's going to interfere to cost Christy the match.
Winner - Victoria via the Widow's Peak after Trish attacks or distracts Christy.

WWE Championship - Triple Threat Match - John Cena(c) vs. Christian vs. Chris Jericho - This should be a good one. It's always good to see Jericho and Christian mix it up and adding Cena will keep the crowd live and into it.
Winner and NEW WWE Champion - Christian. This ties into my draft theories, which I will post tomorrow if this comes true...

Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - This is, again, going to be a classic and match of the year candidate. I see Michaels taking this one to make it all tied at 1-1 and we'll have the rubber match at SummerSlam.
Winner - Shawn Michaels via a superkick out of a reversed Angle Slam or Ankle Lock.

World Heavyweight Championship- Hell in a Cell - Batista(c) vs. Triple H - This will be a mess in the sense that they will both be bloody and beaten to a pulp. I see Triple H coming out on top of this since he has not lost a Cell match before. With the draft, there are some new challengers for him to face.
Winner - Triple H via Pedigree on the Cell or on the floor.

Check back tomorrow to see how I did and enjoy the PPV.

Batman Begins, WWE Draft, and more...

Greetings True Believers,

We'll get started with the draft results from this past week in the WWE:

Raw gets Rob Van Dam - Turns out I was right but a week too soon. This past week, Kurt Angle made the jump to Raw. In the last 10 minutes of Raw, two matches for Kurt's first week on Raw were made. Tonight, he fights Batista in what I assume will be a non-title match and a nice opportunity for Triple H to beat down Batista before the PPV this Sunday.

SmackDown gets Shawn Michaels - In a surprise and not a surprise at the same time, SmackDown gets Randy Orton. If I had seen that Undertaker was back on the roster, I would have picked Orton in a second. Thus continues the feud from Wrestlemania.

This week is tough, I have to get at least one right, don't I?

Raw gets Charlie Haas - I'm having a hard time making a pick for SmackDown this week. I don't know what they'll do since Raw has a PPV this weekend and they won’t want the draft pick to overshadow that. I think moving Haas would be a great thing. Beyond all the people for him to work with, it puts all three members of Team Angle back on the same show and makes for the opportunity for feuds or reunions.

SmackDown gets The Rock - I am most likely 110% off on this, but Rock is still listed on the Raw roster, and I think this would be a big boon to SmackDown. Also, that's the Rock's show remember?

I saw Batman Begins over the weekend. All I have to say is see this movie NOW. This is how Batman should be. I did like the first two original Batman flicks, but this is nice and dark and part of it was filmed here in Chicago, so you can't beat it.

Well, since I'm at work, I better get back to...you know...work.

Be excellent to each other (what is with me and the 80s refs today?).

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, ECW, WWE Draft Pics...

A busy week here, so let's get to it.

I saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Friday. This is classic summer cinema...fun and just long enough. The beginning is a bit slow, but once it gets rolling, it's a fun little ride. This week, Batman Begins opens and I can't wait.

Now to WWE business, my draft predictions from last week were way off:

Raw gets Kurt Angle - In a shocker Raw gets John Cena and the WWE Title. This is an interesting choice since it leaves SmackDown without a heavyweight champ. Tonight, Cena has his first match ever on Raw.

SmackDown gets Tajiri or Christy Hemme - After being off the show for over a year, Chris Benoit was back on SmackDown. Part of this was to get Benoit on both shows to play into the ECW angle. Benoit left SmackDown after winning the Royal Rumble in 2004 to face Triple H at Wrestlemania 20.

For this week, I'm going with:

Raw gets Rob Van Dam - I see this as a good move. Get RVD on the show where he can continue his "no storyline" storyline.

SmackDown gets Shawn Michaels - I think this is a good move; there are a lot of folks on SmackDown who could use a good feud with a face like Michaels.

I saw the ECW PPV last night, and while it wasn't the worst thing I have ever seen by far, it wasn't the "A+ - Best PPV Ever - Cure For Cancer" that people are saying it was. IN most reviews, it seems that the "best match of the night" was the Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka match. I honestly don't think two men almost killing each other is a classic match when Benoit and Eddie have a match and it gets boring chants. "ECW fans aren't bloodthirsty and love mat wrestling"...right.

I think a lot of this comes from who I watched the PPV with. My family is VERY pro-WWF/E. They have watch WWE, and only WWE. They only saw one WCW PPV that we taped for an uncle and they never saw a lick of ECW beyond the little bit we've gotten on WWE TV. As fans of WWE, they order the ECW show only for the WWE stars they knew, who were then beaten down in a rather lame brawl at the end. While the ECW PPV made a lot of the Internet loyal happy, I don't know what it did for the majority of the fans that are not "Internet marks".

I realize that these are harsh words, but I hope that this was ECW's "blaze of glory" because it burned a great deal of WWE loyal fans.

Have a good week.

Back From The Dead...Again

At least I am consistent in my inconsistency to update this blog. I do for a month or so, then disappear for a few, then come back, etc, etc, etc. I hope that this time (yes THIS time) to stick with it more.

I saw Star Wars on opening weekend and all I have to say is if you ever liked Star Wars or ever saw a Star Wars film, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. It's good for even the casual Star Wars fan. This film sparks a whole new set of Star Wars debates and answers some questions that fans never thought would be answered:

1. Why is the Emperor all disfigured?
2. Why do the Jedi fight like they're in the Matrix in the prequels but Luke and Vader duel like old men?
3. What did happen to Luke and Leia's mother (Padme)?
4. Why is Yoda seem to have a hard time moving in Empire Strikes Back but kicked the hell out of Count Dooku in AOTC?
5. What happened to Darth Vader that he is confined to his suit and chamber?

This and more is answered in Revenge of the Sith...an interesting title that friends of mine know I called long before they announced it. The original title of Return of the Jedi was Revenge of the Jedi, but Lucas changed it late in production since revenge is not a Jedi trait. There is actually a teaser out there for the film with the name Revenge of the Jedi. It's hard to find, but cool to watch.

Also tonight starts the draft lottery in the WWE. For those not into the storyline, each week for the whole month of June, each show will get one random pick off the others with the last week offering two picks to each show. NO ONE is immune. I will try and post my picks for each week. For this week:

Raw gets Kurt Angle - It'll sting Booker when he can't get his hands on Kurt anymore since he is on Raw. I would expect to see Booker POSSIBLE come to Raw at the end of the month either via a trade or the last pick on the last week.

SmackDown gets Tajiri or Christy Hemme - If it's Tajiri, it'll add more to the Cruiserweight division, which has been hurting. With a new Diva Search starting, unless they are going to do the obvious old winner vs new winner storyline, Christy has done all she can on Raw and moving her to SmackDown would allow her to feud with one of the most consistent non-wrestling Divas - Dawn Marie. I call it here, in 10-15 years, Dawn Marie's will be spoken of in the same light as Sheri Martel. Just you watch...

Well, since I'm at work, I should get back to work...enjoy Raw or whatever else you do on Monday Night.