Wrestlemania Week: Raw Emotion

I don't have a great deal of time today, so rather than go too deep into Wrestlemania stuff - I still want to talk to you about my favourite Wrestlemanias and my thoughts on this year's show yet - I thought I'd offer a few thoughts on Raw this week.

I was hugely impressed with some many facets of this week's Raw. From the build - they expressly told their audience that Rock and Taker would be on the show - to the execution, the show delivered in nearly every way. An extra positive to it will be if a buyrate comes in and Mania has eclipsed recent editions and perhaps jup back about that magic one million mark.

A lot about the Raw this week was about the timing of certain things. I watched Wales v England at the weekend, and I was surprised at how negative the reaction was to England's performance. I felt England were dominant, in control and played some nice football. However, most of their chances and exciting play came in the first half. The second half, I'll admit, was nowhere near as exciting as the first. I think if the halves had been reversed, and England had played their best stuff in the second half, people would have gone away thinking better of the performance.

A month or so ago, The Rock returned to WWE and reminded us all of how (go on, I'll say it) electrifying he is, and ignited a feud with John Cena. A week later, the well built Undertaker cabin segments came to a head with Taker's return and Triple H's surprise involvement. Their initial, silent face-off was captivating.

Both feuds, though, lost a bit of steam after that. HHH/Taker in particular was only kept alive by virtue of some wonderful video packages. However good those initial scenes were, there was a danger of Wrestlemania arriving without the fans recapturing that excitement level which naturally dwindled after the opening gambits.

This week, though, both feuds suddenly became current, interesting and relevant again. I personally can't wait to see what happens on Sunday.

A big return on a TV show often offers conflicting views on how you promote it. Do you keep it quiet and enhance the surprise, yet risk not adding extra viewers? Or do you plug that Superstar X will be around but lose that surprise factor in an attempt to add 0.1 to your rating?

Shawn Michaels appearing on Raw was a terrific moment, and the fact that the promise of Rock and Taker on the show had already done the work of bringing in the people made it all the easier. HBK, hall of fame or no hall of fame, is so massively respected by the WWE Universe that anything he is involved with instantly lends it more credibility. The fact that one of the big Mania matches happens to feature his best friend and his best opponent makes things all the more perfect.

When three men and a microphone can make a 10,000+ crowd go 'ooooh' several times in a promo, you know you are onto something. HBK's "what make you think you can do what I can't?" to Hunter was good. Taker's "ask him" in reference to Shawn hit the spot too. That crowd had forgotten they were at a pro wrestling show and had suspended their disbelief. That's when wrestling is at it's best.

I wasn't expecting The Rock to get physical before Wrestlemania. In fact even at Mania I was only expecting a Rock Bottom and a People's elbow. On Raw he got attacked, hit a comeback, nailed a fabulous DVD. I would say he hadn't lost a step if wasn't for him stumbling when nipping up. He even took an Attitude Adjustment from Cena. The beatdown of Miz might not have helped him too much, but it isn't like Miz has been built as a phenomenal wrestler. He's an opportunist and an annoying figure on the mic, and can easily get his heat back. Being involved with Rock for a few months won't do him any harm at all.

Rock's physical work, especially the last bit, with Cena attacking him, means that now speculation for his involvement on Mania centres on a different purview entirely. I, like many others, had it down that Rock would find his way into this match and find an excuse to attack Miz, either pre- or post-bell, and symbolically pass the torch to Cena. Now though, I'd see this as a letdown. Rock needs to look strong in reacting to Cena.

In another Blog entry later in the week I'll discuss what I think might go down in the matches in Mania as a whole, but just quickly I think there is a possibility that Rock promises, during the night, to not get involved at all in the match. He lives up to his word, save for maybe getting rid of Alex Riley forcibly, and after Cena reclaims his belt, The Rock attacks him.

On Raw, you could go with one of two things, depending on how involved Rock wants to get. He either challenges Cena for the title (highly unlikely, still, though, I feel) or offers Cena his hand in respect. The latter incident could either mean a handshake to try and get Cena over with Rock fans, or Cena viciously attacks Rock and turns properly heel. It would make a fantastic post-Mania, first Raw angle.

I liked a lot of the rest of this week's Raw, too. I particularly liked the Punk v Orton action, with Punk getting a great deal of heat back and creating a story for their match. Really, really solid and logical booking creating a situation where you want to see a match.

The Mania line-up is an interesting one. Almost every contest has a chance to be good to very good. It's how much they live up, and how many potentially good ones make it to the great level.

But that is all for another day...............

Fire Up the Brand

Brands are important in wrestling. I'm not talking about the Hardy's and their pals putting the word at the end of their Twitter name. I'm not talking about John Cena wearing Nike sneakers, either.

Many wrestling fans are amazingly loyal to the wrestling organisation they prefer. ECW is a classic example of this. ECW had it's own style, it's own ethos. You can say what you want about your preferences and whether you liked ECW or not, but the fact is there was an aura which surrounded it. And continues to.

Four years after the company closed it doors and promoted it's last official card, a DVD of it's Rise and Fall broke merchandise records. It was successful to the extent that a Pay Per View event was commissioned, which was a critical success. The ECW brand was revived to a lesser degree, and fairly obviously was not such a success.  Just last year, TNA produced a PPV, Hardcore Justice, dedicated to the memory of ECW.

Although not all of the above was financial, critically or morally successful, the fact that almost a decade removed  from the death of ECW it's ghost still haunts wrestling is a remarkable example of brand loyalty and awareness.

You can see a similar thing with many small wrestling organisations. From ROH to Dragon Gate to CZW, small wrestling companies have core, loyal audiences that have a devotion to one organisation as opposed to the wrestling business or an individual wrestler.

And then there is TNA.

I would liken TNA's brand identity to that of the opposition party in politics, or a local rival team in football. If I was being particularly brave I might even compare to people from Scotland or Wales. Let me explain why.

I am an Englishman, and a proud one. I have many, many Scottish relatives, and I have friends who are from Wales. There is, though, an undeniable dislike, or perhaps disdain, for the English from these nations. Whatever those reasons are, I think getting caught up in how much they dislike us stops people appreciating their beauty and positives traits. Both Wales and Scotland are fine countries, which great traditions and values, but too often their national characteristic is hating the English. I can't make them like us, but I wish they'd promote themselves rather than bash us.

Politics is the same.You seldom hear a Labour politician talk at length about how great his or her party is, extolling the virtues of their manifesto and explaining why their collective outlook is best. Instead, their rhetoric is far more likely to be comprised of cheap shots and attacks on their Conservative counterparts and where they believe their faults to be. And before anyone brings it up, the opposite is true. The Liberal Democrats haven't typically been embroiled in this to the same extent, but they are exempt from blame either. In short, it isn't "look at us, we are awesome", it's "don't look at them, they're awful".

And it goes on with football. Pick your team and listen to the fans songs during one game. There will probably be just as many "We hate Arsenal" songs at White Hart Lane as there are pro-Tottenham songs, and the pattern is repeated whether the teams are Wolves and West Brom, Southampton and Portsmouth, Burnley and Blackburn or any combination of heated rivals.

I don't think it is necessarily TNA as a company that provoke the reaction, but I see a lot of TNA fans as not particular pro-TNA but anti-WWE. They dislike Vince McMahon's juggernaut of a corporation and see something they hate, whether it's the cheesy comedy, PG tone or flat out bad wrestling. They might not have the access or the inclination to seek out more niche products like ROH or similar, and TNA have international reach, so it's a bandwagon to hop on.

If you are a major WWE cynic then it's not the worst bandwagon in the world, I guess. TNA have things WWE don't have.. Individuals like Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy, who fans are familiar with and respect, wrestle in TNA. There are big-name stars like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, WWE midcarders that didn't get a run like Elijah Burke/D'Angelo Dinero and Matt Morgan. There is blood and bad language and raunchier girls. In short, it's everything WWE was eight years ago.

It's one of the reasons I worry about TNA. If they had any identity, ever, it was with the X-Division and the Knockouts. I'm not saying the way to overtake WWE is with that, but the niche they used to at least try to occupy still exists.

I went to all three of their UK tour shows last week. They were great fun. I had loads of people say to me that they had been to WWE house shows, and the TNA ones were way better. And I endorse the view. However, there was nothing on these shows that had me thinking "TNA are different". Back in the day, if you'd seen an ECW live event, you'd have left knowing it was different. I am absolutely not endorsing gratuitous violence and danger, but it was different. If you get to an ROH show, you'll leave thinking you've seen some of the best wrestlers in North America, or the world. Similar could be said of a Dragon Gate style organisation, with the inclusion of Japan in the unique selling point.

Taking out any frustrations we (mostly) all have about TNA's booking, what are the differences between them and WWE? Take an episode of Impact and an episode of Raw. Are they really that different? They share lots of the same conventions. The shape of the ring; a pair of announcers; hype videos for matches; backstage segments; music to greet a wrestler; a pose on the ramp; numerous belts; match length; monthly PPVs; a ring announcer; similar rules of matches and outcomes of matches; in-ring promo confrontations; and more. Now I am not saying that they should scrap all of those things. Quite the opposite - wrestling has survived for decades on many of these staples - but they need, I think, to differentiate themselves in some many other ways, to make them feel special.

They have tried with the use of more violent matches and stronger language. I don't so much have a problem with them doing this, but to me the execution of them is so poor it makes them look second rate. Washed up has-beens like Ric flair or never-beens like Tommy Dreamer bleeding everywhere all the time cheapens the moment when ten minutes before the end of a crucial title match on a major PPV RVD bleeds to sell jeopardy.

As for the language and edgier content, I think they may have a slightly better job than with the blood, but it feels like it is there for the sake of it. Steve Austin, if you talk to him in real-life, drinks beer and cusses when he talk to you. That's the way he was built. He's a brash Texan who likes a good time and says what he feels. Stone Cold worked because of it. It felt organic and it felt natural when Austin told you he "couldn't give  damn about the some bitch. I'll kick his ass, the rat bastard.

But Eric Bischoff is an executive. He's a smooth talker and a clever businessman. He may be a foul-mouthed guy in real-life - I haven't met him - but his on air character has been a smarmy heel for his whole career, virtually. I don't feel it when he swears. It just seems like it is being forced.

And enough already with Velvet Sky saying "bittch". That's not a typo, she stresses two 't's in the word. "Where's Winter? I'm going to make that 'bittch' pay". And then there is a Abyss who is such a cartoon you can't take him seriously anyway, so his use of 'bitch' (one T for him) also feels like it is being placed in the show to attract people who like swearing. The stress on the words is so ultra deliberately it makes the show feel low rent.

Anderson I can deal with. Ken has developed a way of talking in and out of the ring that means I can live with him calling his fans 'assholes'. I think it's kind of funny. It works for him. And I know it is his idea because he used the "nice guys finish last, thank God I'm an asshole" line on Wrestlecast in about 2006. But because needless cursing all over the show simply waters down what he says.

Perhaps TNA finding a brand identity might have to do with what their ambitions are. I can't speak for anyone at ECW or Ring of Honor, but I imagine that, certainly to begin with, their intentions were not to attempt to be the number one wrestling organisation in the world. They had different visions. Ring of Honor was to be a product which catered to "wrestling" fans. They brought in the 'pure' title and showcased technical wrestling that wasn't on show anywhere else. Not on national television in the US, anyway. ECW wasn't just about hardcore wrestling. Their underground success was just as much about the featuring of great wrestling, such as that demonstrated by Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, and the import of wrestlers from Japan and Mexico.

Even somewhere like Shimmer was founded on the basis of giving female workers somewhere to ply their trade, since they were not being appreciated on the biggest stage. The founders of Shimmer were, I'm sure, not doing it to become millionaires or to take over the wrestling world. I'm sure if they make a few bucks from it they'll be happy. But the point was to offer something new. Something different. A brand that has it's place in the world.

It wouldn't hurt TNA to take a look at a bunch of the smaller, niche, but interesting indy promotions that exist. Study how they draw fans in a different way, what makes the viewer tick and the ticket-buyer view. Don't copy one, but use some of those methods to help your own product.

An example? Look at how ROH makes wrestling matter. ROH is not an major international wrestling company for many reasons, including but not limited to lack of funding, substandard (compared to the big guns) production facilities and an in built lack of appreciation in the general populous for the art of pro wrestling. They are not big enough to re-educate, but they can provide a service to those and want it. And what a service.

ROH take care to make their guys look as though they care about what they do, that they have a reason for being in the ring. TNA have Shannon Moore spreading the word of DILLIGAF and Robbie E pretending to be Jersey Shore. That's fine in their own world, but tell us WHY they are in a wrestling company and not on a reality show. Shouldn't they want to be the best, to win titles, or at the very least earn money? ROH is somewhere that tries desperately hard to make it's matches count, and often delivers. If TNA took a quarter of the energy ROH does and put it into making wrestling matches count, they'd start getting something back from their audience. It would take time, but they can do it.

This doesn't mean having way more wrestling matches on the show. The opposite, in fact. Rather than having 5 x four minute matches and one ten-minute main event to total half an hour of wrestling, have just three matches and have two go eight minutes and one of them go twelve. Twenty-minutes of action, but so much more meaningful. Talk about the importance of those matches the week before and talk about the consequences of those matches the week after. It wouldn't be hard. It fact it would cause them less stress because there would be less to book.

And make the matches simple. No need to for throwaway gimmicks to pop 0.02 of an extra rating point. Using a ladder match stipulation randomly on Impact without hyping and with no real need, storyline-wise, for it to occur, means that people will simply not pay for this down the line. Why should they? You've told them it doesn't matter. You're always telling them it doesn't matter.

(TNA aren't the only ones guilty of this, by the way, as WWE can fall foul occasionally, but WWE are not the ones kicking unbelievably hard just to stay afloat. They are still making millions of dollars each month, just not as many millions as they were a few years ago.)

They could put more emphasis on X-Division action by occasionally theming a show to feature more X-Division wrestlers, including matches and profiles. Maybe even flashbacks to classic matches. They could do the same another week with the Knockouts. They could sign X-Div style wrestlers and female indy workers to one week contracts and simply bring them in to work a match here and there. It would indicate that it was the most prestigious belt of it's nature that people flocked to try and win. It would be different, it would make TNA stand out.

Perhaps you could got the same route with Tag Teams? You could even diversify into different weight classes (Though that's a blog for another day.) The point is to develop a television product which people put on their TV and say "I've never seen that before." It's what happened when Scott Hall walked into Nitro for the first time. No-one had seen a wrestler from a rival stroll in and take over. It was compelling. It happened when Austin starting flipping off Vince McMahon and raising hell. Wrestling had been homogenised for decades, and when this uncouth redneck told his boss where he could stick and did what he wanted to do it struck a chord.

TNA can't switch to a new style and double ratings overnight. Hell, they may even lose a few viewers to begin with, and this is I think is they main reason they wouldn't do it, because Spike would freak out if they experimented and dropped to below 1.0 again, like they did by going to Mondays. But that is the entire point in a nutshell. TNA went to Mondays and failed to offer anything different. The novelty of seeing Ric Flair and Ken Anderson and Jeff Hardy and Hulk Hogan in a different environment soon wears off, and while some will stick around for some blood and cursing, many more will flip back to WWE and watching something that is often very ordinary but occasionally displays class and logic, something TNA almost always misses the boat on.

I find myself getting into blogs like this with such passion because I actually care about TNA. I spent loads of time with them last week. They are nice people almost to a man and woman. They make you feel so welcome, and make you want to see them succeed. Which I do. And which is why I find myself making pleas to them to change because Impact simply doesn't work. Not as a viable, long-term alternative to WWE which is what they claim to want to be.

The audience for them is there. They have seen spikes in ratings on January 4th, the night after Bound for Glory and other times when they have announced a surprise or booked something intriguing. But they always lose that audience, because that audience wants to see something remarkable. Either the same as WWE but better or something different and equally as interesting. They won't still about for something which can't touch WWE in some ways, and is infuriatingly illogical in others.

TNA's brand identity could be so much. You could go two ways with it. It could be that TNA is the place to go to find the most diversity in wrestling. We got high-fliers, we got technical wrestling, we got funnymen, we got legends, we got girls, we got it all. In some ways they probably think they already have it. But they don't they. They have watery versions of each of them, which collectively add up to very little. If you don't think you can have X-Division style action and more, then ditch it. Forget it. Consign it to history. I think it would be a mistake but you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Don't go half-heartedly, give it your all. If you don't think it draws, bin it.

But I don't think they need to. As long they treat something - anything - with respect, they can get it over. Don't pretend the other brand doesn't exist, then in the same breath say it sucks. Do the opposite. Acknowledge WWE's existence. Even go so far as to publicly say the WWE is great. But then make you can say "WWE is great, but in our opinion we something a little different, and a little better" and then PROVE it. Because at the moment it is all words.

I wonder if TNA have a mission statement, or a constitution which defines who they are and why they are in the wrestling business. And I wonder how accurate it is. Because right now there is no way in the world a loyal TNA viewer could explain to you why they watch the show without referring to WWE. "I watch TNA because it is better/different than WWE" as an opinion statement is fine, but when you try to put meat on the sandwich there is nowhere to go. I'll be willing to bet that the follow would include either "I'm a huge AJ Styles/Jeff Hardy/Samoa Joe fan" or "I hate the fact that WWE is PG". Neither would be able, I'm sure, to say what they like about TNA. Both statements suggest that if something minor changed they'd be off like a shot. If WWE signed AJ or scrapped the PG thing, those fans would have their head turned.

But if you create an environment where the whole show has an exciting, fresh, different feel, and use this to create some top individual stars which can draw money (real money, not Impact Zone pops) then people might start saying "I love TNA because you know you'll get a great match every week" or "TNA is the best because they never phone it in" or "I never miss Impact because there are so many guys I care about" or "My whole family watches Impact because there is something for everyone".

As it is, TNA might as well be called NWWE, as in Not World Wrestling Entertainment. And the sad thing is that with a Brand vision there is unlimited potential for a company that makes fans care again, and has the finances, exposure and production set up to capitalise.

There is only one wrestling organisation that can do this.

We're still waiting.

(Modern Day) Raw Thoughts - September 13 2010

• Man, I hated that opening segment. Cheesy, goofy Cena. Making a (recent) former Women's champion look like absolutely nothing. And mostly booking a tables match, negating most of my interest in the main event.
• No new music then, despite "season premiere"? No new logo, either.
• I don't know who the guest star is, (well, I understand, they've explained, but I've never heard of him) but there is plenty of interest and noise for the opening. Seems like a good booking.
• I love that music for Ochocinco. I'm sure that means something in the US, but it reminds of a) a show called Superstars (not the WWE one) and b) Lawrence Taylor at Wrestlemania
• Miz was.....well......awesome in that opening segment. That, my friends, is crowd heat.
• Great shirt, too.
• Hang on, isn't this the first week of Monday Night Football in the States? Does it really make sense to have an NFL star on? Won't people see him and go, "oh yeah, I should see what the score is" and flip over?
• Why haven't they explained why Alex Riley is still around? Didn't he LOSE? What's the point of trying to win NXT if runners up are about the place?
• King actually used the word "Cole" and not Michael. He never does that. I wonder if he was told to, to play up the differential between the two.
• There will be some that didn't care for that first match (or matches) but I thought the booking was really good. I might have given Bryan two more minutes dissecting Riley, to show his dominance, but that match made me want to see Bryan v Miz, and that is the point. Well done.
• Sometimes you can't explain why something is funny. Edge and Jillian made me laugh out loud then. (a true use of the phrase 'lol', I guess. I hate that little thing. And what's worse is that I use it. How often does one use 'lol' and actually mean it. If you were texting in on the train and actually laughed out loud everytime you put 'lol' people would think you were a nutter.)
• Henry/Edge/Bourne - ludicrous. Break that down, and it helped nobody. That made Bourne look like nothing, then Henry squashed Edge, who wrestles for the world title this week. If that is meant to be ok for Edge because he'd already had one match, then a) tell us and b) if you aren't going to tell us, book it obviously, and give it more than three minutes.
• I really don't like the divas spinning the wheel. I wouldn't mind if it were Divas who don't wrestle doing it, but it devalues them as athletes. Maybe the Bellas should do it.
• The 'song and dance' thing was largely complete nonsense and a waste of TV time.......until DiBiase started singing. I won't lie to you, I thought that was hilarious. DiBiase has awesome comic timing, and Maryse's mannerisms were good too. I'd still wipe this segment given the opportunity, but that did get me. I liked King's Patterson quip too.
• As much as I love William Regal, you know the show is going nowhere when he is on it these days. Miz v Bryan aside, has anything come even close to making me want to see the PPV so far? Not at all.
• Wow, you know what I'm about to say is a rarity but..........I think WWE could learn something from TNA with that John Morrison segment. I think fans need a reason to relate to their WWE superstars, and want to know more about them. You could have presented a pre-produced, 60-second video package on John Morrison using Parkour to train. But doing with weird camera angles, zoom and a robotic Cole voiceover, it felt soulless and pointless; at odds with the seriousness of the match. TNA's reaction approach would have worked here.
• We're at the top of the hour. Nexus haven't even been mentioned yet, by the way.
• Sheamus v Morrison just saved Raw. That was a terrific brawl, showing you can book an arena wide No-DQ match without excessive use of weapons, and with a liberal sprinkling of athleticism. That match could not have been done by anyone else in WWE but Morrison.
• There is a hint of the Jeff Hardy about Morrison right now. Seriously, if they get hold of him and push in the right manner, continue having him do things like jump off the tron and so forth, he can do what Jeff Hardy did. When Jeff wrestled Randy Orton (I think it was at Rumble 2008) he got over in about three weeks. He was amazing in the build to that match. Morrison needs a build to something at the next PPV, and a big win.
• LOL (really) @ Jericho having a pop at Cole. (twice)
• He's a quick typer, the GM, isn't he?
• I'm not crazy about a handicap match (I'm writing this before it happens) because it can't help anyone, but I did enjoy that exchange between Cole and Jericho.
• WOW - That was one hell of a finish with Jericho and Tyson Kidd. If you didn't see it, I almost can't describe it. Tyson Kidd went for a Super Huracanrana, but Jericho somehow dropped down, clutching Kidd. It looked like a piledriver, but Kidd stopped short, and it transitioned into a Walls of Jericho.
• Of course, WWE ruined it by not even showing a replay!
• Were Pete Rose's (grand)kids wearing Zack Ryder headbands? Cool!
• Regal as Goldust was funny, but these two could actually have a really decent match if presented with the opportunity.
• An overbooked main event that realistically suggested that only Cena or Orton would be able to defeat Sheamus, although we probably knew that anyway. Nexus were booked as idiots again, suggesting time may soon be up for them. Barrett hit his finisher on Cena, though - I still think there is money in them wrestling one on one. Perhaps if Cena wins Nexus disbands, or something.
• I don't think Orton winning means anything really, but I did like the creativity of the finish, turning an Attitude Adjustment into an RKO.
• This show was on the negative side of OK, just about. There were some bits I liked (I thought the FCA match was excellent) but a lot of it will hurt them long term, and I didn't really think they hyped the PPV well.

Raw Round Up

I've written a Raw report which should at some point go live on The Sun Wrestling, but I wanted to address a couple of things here which I would like to go into more detail about.

To catch you up if you haven't seen the review yet, perhaps because it is not yet live, I thought Raw was good this week, after a couple of poor episodes. Not sensational, but good. I make judgement not simply on the quality of entertainment in a two hour period, but on assessment with how this can affect the issues both short and long term. In respect to further storylines and building stars, I thought this was an effective show.

I'd say Daniel Bryan, Justin Gabriel and John Morrison were all greatly helped by the booking on this show. And the beauty was that the booking did not hurt anyone. Gabriel gave his best promo at the start of the show, they put over his finisher and he gave Cena a decent run for his money. Cena ultimately won, but Gabriel was still assisted. Bryan showed plenty of poise and character with a verbal debate with Miz, who of course gave as good as he got, meaning both men, plus the feud were helped.

Morrison's win over Jericho doesn't hinder Jericho too much as a character, because a) he is wildly over anyway (as he said, he's a main eventer even if he is jerking the curtain) and b) it plays into his storyline of being disillusioned anyway. For Morrison, it might spark a revival in fortunes, as he has been in the cold a little of late. I thought he had a game face on, and showed a touch more charisma than usual. Maybe that was a spring in the step knowing he was booked to win.

I was more than a little surprised to see Darren Young return on Raw. I thought that of all the eight season one NXTers he was the one with the least going for him, in the sense that he didn't seem an outstanding wrestler, wasn't a great talker, nor did he a very marketable look. I certainly didn't gauge that the fans felt bad for him, or got behind him when he spoke towards Barrett. The pop for him getting RKOed was telling, because the fans simply love that move. Certainly they care about seeing that way more than seeing Young.

While it was a better show, I think even WWE must realise they have no major hook for the upcoming PPV. No-one is going to buy this on the strength of Miz v Bryan or a Divas unification bout, so realistically they need a strong title match. They haven't got one. Even Cena on commentary was basically saying it's a bit of a lottery. I think his words were "It's a crap shoot."

I highly question the logic of booking a title match (That's a WORLD Title match) where one of the participants says "eh, anyone could win this." Surely the whole point of paying to watch title matches is to see a fair contest. After Sheamus already won the belt in dubious circumstance, you are watering down the belt even more by having Cena say anyone can win. How can you get behind a champion if the only reason he is the champ is by a fluke? I suspect this was their way of having Cena be self-deprecating so that when he loses it was in a lottery, and not a fair fight. If and when Cena regains the gold, it'll be one on one, I suspect.

I think you can have this kind of multi-man match for a 'lesser' title, especially if you have workers involved. To do this for, say, the IC title, and involve Ziggler, Kofi, Christian, Drew, Swagger and MVP, for example, would be really interesting. Or you can do it when you have an extra hook, like the Money in the Bank matches. But to have a bunch of guys devaluing the WWE title I think is a shame.

The way they spoke about things on Raw, I wouldn't necessarily expect a replacement for Jericho. They didn't talk about "I wonder who his replacement will be", although I wouldn't rule out them changing their mind next week.

I enjoyed Edge's interaction with Zack Ryder. I'm not as high on Ryder as some, but I do think he has promise, and I wonder whether he will suddenly rebel and prove he isn't as useless as some are making out on TV. I love paranoid, plotting Edge. It's such a compelling character.

Credit to Cole for calling the issue in the Great Khali/Edge match. Khali stepping over the top in an over-the-top match was odd, but I wouldn't haven't been surprised for the commentators to just ignore it. I liked Cole making this point.

On the GM front, I've often said that I haven't really seen the piece of paper supposedly on Cole's laptop when he is 'reading' a GM email, but it was very clear this week when Edge was threatening to destroy the laptop that was a big piece of paper with writing on it. If Cole is the GM, they can say this is a clue.

On the Cole for GM front, did you notice that they worked out a way of having Miz accept a Daniel Bryan challenge, rather than the GM forcing the match to take place. If the GM had forced Miz into it, then it would have either ruled Cole out, or made his reveal nonsensical if it does happen.

Very interesting to see the "This week in wrestling history" refer back to the first ever Impact, and with, might I say, a very fair assessment, too. That night, debuting with a strong Nitro, the Luger defection and so much more, really changed this industry forever.

I thought Sheamus did really well on guest commentary. He could easily have been overshadowed by the personalities of Edge and Cena, but he wasn't.

I like the tease of Cena v Orton for next week. Is it possible they are giving away big Orton matches before he goes to Smackdown for the SyFy launch?

Raw Thoughts - May 31

• Interesting start to Raw. Not something you want to do every week, but fun to start on a different concept.
• I like crazy, paranoid Edge. It was too hard to take sensible, contrite Edge seriously. He should now stay heel forever.
• Jericho doesn't win a lot now, does he?
• I hate it when Lawler says (or is forced to say) imbecilic things like never having seen the Walls of Jericho countered into a small package before. Of course we have. That kind of comment helps no-one, because the fans watching will just think Lawler is a fool because they have seen it before and will now think they know better. The point of a commentator is to act as an expert, not come across as having the memory of a goldfish.
• Nice pop for Truth when he won, by the way, and the match itself was really tidy indeed.
• Quite the hot crowd in Austin, TX. Popping for Koslov turning on Regal? Especially considering it was an appalling chokeslam.
• That was pretty dumb. Why would they have Ashton Kutcher come up with the idea for next week and make Bret look like a chump?
• This Raw has really dragged. After a great match early on, there was been basically no action, and very little star power, at least after Vince appeared.
• I LOVED the elevation of Evan Bourne. It will probably only be a short term thing, but the way they orchestrated the whole thing on this show was tremendous. Really sound booking of the attack at the start of the show, the endorsement from Cena and then allowing him to hit his (very over) finisher. Textbook.

Over the Limit live blog

1:00am
Evening/morning all. Over the Limit then. Should be fun. Hasn't be a great build up, but it's a reasonable card.

For anyone wondering about the LiveChats we've being doing on The Sun's website, we're probably going to be doing them on the PPVs that are free on Sky Sports and the Big Ones (i.e. Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam).

01.04am
Intro video done - usual classy effort - and we're off. Cole in excited mode, intro's King and Striker, and hands over to the Spanish boys. Hey, Hugo looks increasingly like Jabba The Hut. I fear he will imprison a Diva and make her wear a bikini at some stage.

Kofi v Drew up first.......

01.11am
Reasonable match thus far, but a bit wrestling-by-numbers. Kofi hot start, Drew turns around, slows it down, Kofi making comeback. Mind you, they pulled off a spot rarely done well. Drew off the corner and Kofi getting his feet up, but it actually looked realistic.

Commentators annoying me already. They don't actually call a match do they? They spout generalisations and dull facts about each wrestler then go 'ooh' when a move it hit.

01.14am
Well then, we have a new IC Champ. Kofi wins a decent opener. I love his SOS finisher, which he hit after missing Trouble in Paradise then avoiding the FutureShock DDT.

Surprised that we got a clean win......wait, Drew has the mic.......

01.16am
Drew calls for Teddy Long, gets Matt Hardy. Would have liked to have seen an actual fight there rather than Hardy simply hitting one move then leaving. If he is so angry about his previous beatdown would he simply hit a Twist of Fate and leave it at that?

01.19am
Punk backstage with a "mirror mirror" promo talking about beating Mysterio tonight. Slightly odd to see Luke Gallows lightly hug him at the end.

KR Kwik-Truth is next, to face Little Ted.

01.21am
Happy to post your comments on the show - email robthegreen@hotmail.com or Tweet me @RobMcNichol

01.22am
Hey, Virgil got another gig! How permanent is he going to be? I like how they have ignored completely the fact that Virgil turned on DiBiase Snr NINETEEN YEARS AGO.

01.23am
I wish they'd add a little bit to this. For example talk about how much these two dislike each other, but also talk up a competitive rivalry about standing in the company. Suggest that by winning this match they get closer to a US title match or something.

01.28am
Hey, they did it again. Another counter spot which looked real. DiBiase off the top with a double axe-handle and Truth with a shot to the stomach, but it looked great. Not the usual "I'll just jump while you hit me with something"

01.32am
Just a very, very odd ending to that match. Either they tried a bunch of innovative stuff that we missed, they botched a couple of thing that made it look bizarre, or Ted got injured and they had to improvise. Or perhaps a combination of the three.

01.39am
Rey v Punk now. Truth won the last match, by the way - I should have said. There just were very few near falls etc, he just a hit a couple of moves and won.

Striker suggests that Punk losing his hair might be "Herculean" and he'll lose his strength. Isn't that Samson?

Two babyfaces over so far - three in a row? Nice call by Lawler stating that Punk's message (i.e. no drugs) is ok, it's the way he does it why people dislike him. I think they should stress that way more often.

01.46am
Really cool spot with Punk throwing Rey under the ropes and into a barber's chair at ringside, but we have to wait forever to carry on with Punk having been cut on his hairline. Great work by Punk to straightaway add some pace into proceedings as soon as we restart.

The hold for the blood was really long. Why isn't the trainer to sort this kind of thing at ringside?

01.49am
Punk is bleeding again it seems, but no second stoppage. Ref has a glove on.

Don't kid yourself Charles (Robinson) - Cowboy Bob has a cast on his arm, didn't stop him catching a dose.

01.52am
Some nice back and forth action. Not a classic - its quite slow paced, seems these two are suffering from being restricted with they can do being in the first hour again - but what they are doing is very, very crisp, and the crowd (especially those with higher voices) are right behind Rey and his near falls.

01.55am
Counter follows counter follows counter. Rey (fittingly) gets Punk in a mini-crucifix to roll him and win. Really, really nice closing two minutes filled with drama, beautiful wrestling and near falls.

02.03am
The SES, including the masked guy, hit the ring to attack Rey. They are on top but Kane of all people evens the odds. I guess they'll try to save him next.

SES had brought handcuffs to the ring, and when Rey got the better of Punk he cuffed Punk to the ropes. Ooh, was that a deliberate "Christ on the cross" metaphor. Could upset some people (for the record, it doesn't bother me.)

Rey shaves Punk (badly) and we get the usual heel being terrified when he sees his (badly) shaved head in the mirror.

Do you know what the biggest irony off all this is? The blood helped. Punk was bleeding still when Rey was shaving him. Not copiously, but enough to make it noticable, and it actually helped. It wasn't gratuitous, but it made it feel like a proper fight.

02.07am
Backstage to Big Show with Jericho, jaw-jacking each other, then a very uneasy cut to King's face. There is something just a little off about tonight.

Hart Dynasty (with Nattie but not Bret) are out to face Mizicho next. Interestingly Miz and Jericho with separate entrances. No amalgamated theme like JeriShow or ShoMiz.

02.11am
I was concentrating on typing so missed it slightly, but I'm fairly certain Cole just had a little go at Bret Hart, basically saying he should disappear. Striker said "Welcome aboard."

How interesting that Cole should pick on Bret, who is feuding with Miz. Just like he has been picking on Danielson, who also has a problem with Miz. Might be nothing, but you never know. One to watch.....

02.14am
Some interesting mid-match points - one is that Jericho got quite a big Y2J chant. Might WWE have to turn him at some point (perhaps a babyface run when he has to promote the book?).

Another was a lovely counter by Kidd from a back body drop and landing on his feet.

Lastly, Striker with a hell of a line. But not in a good way. David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd, according to Matt Striker, have been teaming together since they were TEN YEARS OLD.

Remember, don't try this at home kids!!

02.21am
Harts retain in a more than serviceable match. Another match where the finish (and false finishes) were really nicely paced to create excitement and more importantly intrigue, since it was hardly clear who would go over.

Four matches, four babyface wins by the way. I'm fairly sure I've got every single prediction wrong too. Hmm.....

02.29am
I meant to say previously, The Hart Dynasty just weren't quite over to the level they might be. I don't think the crowd have quite bought them as the sudden tag champions simply because of their association with Bret.

02.44am
Ok, this is turning into an odd show. The blood stoppage of CM Punk and a possible injury to DiBiase may have hurt those earlier matches.

Now, After an Orton v Edge match that never really got going, Orton blocked a Spear by Edge and went into his normally pounding the mat routine. He then basically stopped, having surely injured his arm.

They dragged for a couple of minutes, eventually drawing a double count out with Edge missing a spear and running into the guardrail.

There was no way that finish was booked. If it was is incompetence beyond belief. I think we'll find very soon that Randy Orton tore a bicep or something very similar.

02.56am
Swagger and Show ongoing. I'm still thinking about Orton, and some of the strange incidents tonight. It reminds me of New Years Revolution in 2005 when Eugene and Lita both injured their knees in matches.

02.57am
There are a couple of reasons why I don't like Big Show's finisher, the KO punch. One is that it is technically illegal, so shouldn't be allowed. Tonight, the reason it annoyed me was that Show had hit Swagger and waited for him to get up. When he did, Show grabbed him round the throat for a a chokeslam. Why didn't he just punch him?

03.00am
Match ends when Swagger gets fed up and hits Show with a title belt. I have no real problem with that ending in isolation, but in context - i.e. straight after a double KO finish - it felt wrong and definitely pissed the crowd off. I'm not necessarily blaming them, because booking is booking, but it just added to a sense of unease about the evening.

Post match, Swagger nailed Show with a couple of chairshots (to the back) which Show withstood. The Big guy then beat the hell out of Swagger.

03.04am
This is interesting. In the next update I will reprint two Tweets that I have just seen. See if you can guess who wrote them. WARNING - some adult language here.

03.05am
TWEET NUMBER ONE: "I have one thing to say. Kharma is a MOTHERFUCKER."

TWEET NUMBER TWO: "And it couldn't have happened... To a NICER GUY."

03.06am
Any guesses? It was Ken Anderson (formerly Kennedy). Reading between the lines thats a shot at Randy Orton. It has been alleged that Orton was someone who backstage complained that Ken was dangerous to work with.

He spelled Karma wrong, by the way, not me.

03.11am
Maryse v Eve (not bad, not great, BTW) is a secondary story here. Ken getting some grief on Twitter. Just tweeted "I've been watching no such thing" presumably in response to people asking if he is watching Over the Limit.

Eve wins. Not bad at all.

03.12am
Would just like to point out a very annoying couple of minutes of commentary at the start of that match.

Striker said that the Diva's title had never changed hands in Detroit. The Divas title is about two years old and has changed hands what? Three times?

Cole said that at Fatal Fourway the champion has a 25% chance of retaining. Well, that's not really fair because that doesn't take into account talent. If the four competitors were Cena, Undertaker, Triple H and me, would I have an equal chance to the others? Of course not. I would love to see a stat of every Fatal Fourway title match in WWE history and see how many times the champ has retained. I'd bet it was over 50%.

Lastly, Cole said about WWE being watched all over the world......globally. Just an annoying turn of phrase, so I'm being picky.

03.40am
I'll update what us happening in a minute. Frankly, it's ludicrous.

03.43am
I don't know what to think. WWE just did the best ending of a PPV in a long time, coming after twenty minutes of more bizarre behaviour.

Let's start from the start. The Cena v Batista match wound it's way through an understandable route of added bells and whistles to augment the matches they've already had.

Cena forced Batista to faint through pain in the STFU, but rather than the ref stop the match, Cena poured water to wake him up. Batista made the comeback, they went to the outside and this ended with Dave powerslamming Cena through the announce table. Cena was busted, but not as bad as Punk from earlier.

They fought into the crowd, Batista took a tumble from over a barrier which I assume was padded beneath or some people caught him.

They eventually made the stage, and it started to get stupid. Batista beat Cena down, and put him against the side of the Tron. I should mention that there was a car. (Don't ask me what kind, but it was a flash, Fast and The Furious kind of motor) Batista got in the car, started it.........hang on.......

WHY WERE THERE FUCKING KEYS IN IT? THAT MAKES NO SENSE. ZERO SENSE WHATSOEVER. WHY WOULD THEY LEAVE KEYS IN THE THING?

Anyway he reversed it, and after a pause lasting forever it appeared that he missed Cena. They didn't show the right camera angle, which was daft because they know that we could have seen it from a previous shot. Just made the director look daft.

Cena battled up, hit an Attitude Adjustment on the car bonnet. Then lifted Batista on his shoulders in the roof of the car, causing Batista to quit through fear. Cena through him off anyway, and Batista went through the stage. If you are going to go, I guess......

Cena celebrated for a while, and after the announcers had said goodnight and the little graphic that always closes the show came up, Sheamus snuck up behind Cena and hit the kick. Awesome way to finish the show, but I'm annoyed that it won't be Cena v Sheamus at the next PPV, because they have to crowbar in two others.

03.55am
Oddest PPV I've seen in ages. Very odd indeed.

Raw Thoughts - May 10

It's been a while since I did this..........

- How long has Kofi been on the opening video (you know the "yes sir we promised you a great main event" one)

- Of all the people I didn't expect to interrupt Randy Orton, Meat Loaf may have been the furthest from my mind.

- Was Meat auditioning for the Hunchback of Notre Dame?

- I'm getting flashbacks to Honky Tonk Man and Kane at Royal Rumble 2001?

- A new permanent GM? Wow. That's hotshotting. They could have built that up a little.

- Mind you, Vickie might have been a bit of a let down. She does admittedly have a lot of heat, but I think her act is played out now, and so is the heel GM

- Would a board of directors in a multi-million dollar organisation really pick someone like Vickie Guerrero to run their main show? No they wouldn't. It made sense when it was Slaughter or HBK or Foley or even William Regal.

- Two one one? Ugh. I hate handicap matches, but especially when Orton and Edge are due to meet one on one. If Edge can't beat Orton easily with help, why would he have a chance when on his own?

- So if Jericho beats DH Smith he and Miz get a title shot? Why? Why would a) a singles match contribute towards tag rankings and b) why would Mizicho be anywhere near the top of those rankings when they have never teamed before?

- This is something I've continually blasted TNA for, and praised WWE for their good logic. If they start being slapdash with their thinking we're in trouble.

- Normally I might complain that Jericho v Smith was short, but I really do think Smith is limited in there. Miz v Kidd might be fun, though.

- My understanding is that next week's Raw is commercial free. Why the hell are they not all over this and promoting it before and after every ad break? Didn't it do like a 4.5 rating last time?

- Flavor Flav is talking and I have literally no idea what he is talking about. Utter nonsense.

- Carlito and Primo with Ted DiBiase jnr? I can live with that. If they are going down the Fortunate Sons route with a stable that includes a tag team I quite like that idea.

- I really liked the little Eve video, it was a good way of helping her get over, but I didn't like the Maryse segment in the ring with a martial arts instructor at all. Why? Because she threw him three or four times, and he just got back up and didn't sell! She'll do that in the ring her opponent will sell it like it hurts. If he is ok, then whats the point?

- I'm cool with the Cena/Batista/Sheamus/Henry slot. I'm guessing we get a tag match between the teams, and then Sheamus to beat Henry to put him over even more.

- Edge talking to Vickie was the best acting I've seen from Vickie, she was very good, and I do like Edge's logic. He is doing something most heels don't do and that is explain his actions as a babyface. Last week he talked about why he turned on the fans, and this week explained to Vickie that he said bad things about her to draw her some sympathy. Flimsy, but its an explanation, and for that I applaud them.

- Oh no, I've just realised something. They are not saying that if MIz loses to Kidd he has to wrestle a member of the Hart DYNASTY. They are saying a member of the Hart FAMILY. Miz v Bret?

- I swear I wrote that before Miz said it.

- Didn't care for the short match, but I understand why they did it.

- As a nice little aside, remember when Miz was "The Calgary Kid" for one night? I wonder if they'll bring that up?

- There will be plenty of people who were down on the 'comedy' segment, but Regal could sit and read the telephone directory and he'd crease me up. His rapping was hilarious I thought.

- I'm genuinely sad that Batista may be departing soon. I think his heel persona is terrific right now. I loved the sullen look on his face sitting on a chair before attacking Henry with it.

- Slightly all over the place closing segment. Just felt disjointed, and I'm not keen on Orton getting the best of Edge again. Makes Edge look weak that with a partner and a GM on his side, Orton still stands tall.

- I'm happy that Vickie isn't going to be permanent GM. She was entertaining for one night, but I feel her act would grate if on Raw every week.

The WWE Draft

This week saw a draft episode of Raw, and although these have a history of being actually quite dull despite the surrounding hype, this was a pretty good show.

Mind you, I had to block out a great deal of nonsense through my well-developed, patented McNichol Wrestling Filter, which is available from the same company that make my McNichol Eliminator. McNicholShopzone.com – (don’t try the URK, it isn’t real)

An irony with the fact that Michelle and her Simply Flawless moniker would end the first Draft match, as this concept and match was completely flawed.

I can’t believe they are persisting with the Raw v Smackdown, whomever wins gets a draft pick routine. It makes no sense. Why would you want to win and bring more competition to your spot? That is even more apparent with the Divas, because the division is so much smaller.

Then, to add to the feeling of this, Maryse refused to tag Eve at the first opportunity. Storyline-wise this is because they dislike one another, but it immediately made you think that she doesn’t want to win the match because of the draft, rendering the rest of the show pointless.

The first draftee was Kelly Kelly, and that’s a reasonably sensible move. It just mixes things up a little, and Kelly Kelly is a likable enough figure to go to Smackdown for LayCool to oppose.

After CM Punk beat Evan Bourne in one of those matches which just about gets you warmed up then ends, Smackdown gained Big Show, who got drafted to Smackdown. To be honest, I thought he was on Smackdown.

(Hang on, you did try that URL, didn’t you? You fool. I did tell you not to.)

I guess it’s my peculiar paranoia over certain usage of words, but at this point I’d like to declare my annoyance at the word ‘decimate’ or a variant of it used three times in the first hour. Technically, decimated means to kill one person in ten, and although modern usage just has the word to mean ‘almost destroy’, I still don’t like the overuse of it.

Back to wrestling.......and John Cena declares that the only person who can name a number one contender is the champion? Really? Really? (/Miz) Since when, and why, does the champ have that authority? He could just pick Hornswoggle and be done with it.

Is it just me, or when the five Smackdown superstars were walking backstage, did it look like McIntrye was holding Rey Mysterio’s hand?

R-Truth, Morrison and Edge were all superstars moving to Raw which were foreseen, but they mostly make sense, so no complaints. Morrison might be the man who comes out worse, because after shining on Smackdown, there is a chance he could be in Evan Bourne country, maybe not losing as much as Bourne, but wrestling three-minute undercard matches and not the lengthy ones in a nice spot as he was on the blue brand.

Kofi Kingston was next to switch, moving to Smackdown after Chris Jericho beat Christian in a really tidy TV match. Kingston’s switch is, to me, the most logical of all. I’ve been talking about Kofi going to SD for months, because I really feel it will reignite him, and he has a better chance of being taken seriously as a wrestler. Great move.

After another very good match – Swagger v Morrison – SD got themselves another pick after The World Champ got his hand raised, and Christian headed to Smackdown. I’m not crazy about that, I have to say, mainly for the fact that Edge just went to Raw. They seem hell bent on making sure there is absolutely no association between Edge and Christian and I have no idea why.

As the draft wore on, the commentators kept updating the viewers on the moves that wrestlers had made. Good call. They also talked up the individuals who were moving. Again, nicely done. Sensible behaviour.

However, they suggested that both brands had done well. How exactly is that possible? If one brand has picked up some great superstars, it means the other has lost some. So why would other brand be happy? They would either both feel things are fine, average, mediocre, ok.....or one is doing better than the other.

Nice little backstage segment with Ted DiBiase, Carlito and R-Truth, with a hint that perhaps DiBiase was trying to recruit Carlito as part of a ‘fortunate sons’ stable as has been heavily rumoured. I liked the interaction with Truth, and thought DiBiase showed a lot of character and is developing nicely as a heel.

Dolph Ziggler v Hornswoggle? Really? (Ok, I have to stop doing that.) You know what, it wouldn’t have bothered me if Dolph had lost because he was jaw-jacking with fans or acting cocky outside, but it was the fact that Hornswoggle was allowed to throw a helmet at his opponent and not be disqualified that bothered me. I should learn to lighten up, really.....

A reasonable triple threat closed the show, with Batista inserting himself into the already booked match between Randy Orton and Sheamus for the number one contendership. It wasn’t a stunning wrestling match, but it was exciting to watch by virtue of the fact that it was very hard to pick a winner.

In the end, Edge interfered and speared Randy Orton, allowed Batista to drape an arm and get the win. I assume that’s the Edge heel turn that desperately had to happen, and it was a surprise to see Batista get the win and the number one contendership. Career on the line, anyone?

Better than usual draft, if you can get past some head-scratching logic throughout.

Elimination Chamber Live

01.02am
The usual deep-voiced dude tells us how the Elimination Chamber is the most demonic structure in WWE, which is exactly what he said at Hell in a Cell.

It looks like The Chamber is dropping. We're going to kick off with WWE (i.e. Raw) Chamber match. Sheamus's chances just got bigger. Get the heel win out of the way early on.

01.04am
Cena out first. He goes into a pod then. DiBiase second to arrive.

01.07am
Randy Orton next, to a major babyface pop. Are WWE now in a massive corner? Can they keep Orton as a heel?

01.09am
Time to play the game now, so that means Kofi and Sheamus to start the chamber. Sheamus to made into a monster for surviving the full length of the chamber match and winning, or is it giving him an 'out' for not getting it done?

01.16am
Big RKO chant makes me wonder even more about Randy as a babyface - and then I realise. We are in St Louis, hometown of the Legend Killer. Kofi and Sheamus are back and forth, with Kingston jumping around like a lunatic. Third man coming soon.......

01.20am
It's The Game, and we get a great visual of him smiling but with his face glowing with the light shining through the perspex of the pod. We have a big staredown with he and Sheamus, and then the fight is on. Are we having a Mania preview?

01.25am
Orton in now, and he is all over Sheamus and then Triple H. The story of the last five minutes was mainly Hunter getting the best of the Irishman, and then Kofi bursting into life with his double leg drop over the top onto Triple H.

Orton, since I've been typing, has dominated, but Kofi dives onto all three others to take them out, before a springboard is met by an amazing Orton dropkick.

01.30am
Here comes.........DiBiase. Will he go after Orton?

01.31am
Not yet. DiBiase offers Orton his hand, helps him up, and they double team Triple H. One will turn on the other, but which one?

01.33am
Scary looking visual of Orton and Ted putting Kofi's head between the chains and then applying a boston crab. Unique.

01.35am
DDT on Triple H on the steel outside the ring, and the Legacy buddies, like Lions stalking an injured impala, await John Cena outside his pod.

01.37am
All six men in with Cena on top. Attitude Adjustment on DiBiase to the outside, but Orton intercepts.

01.38am
Cena with the STFU on Ted, but Orton saves him. Cody to ringside as Orton is stalking Cena, and Rhodes puts a lead pipe into the fray. Ted gets it while Cena hoists Randy onto his shoulders. Ted swings, nails Orton and then Cena. A moment of doubt before DiBiase pins his mentor. I think Legacy may officially be over.

01.40am
Here come the eliminations. Kofi swings into Trouble in Paradise on DiBiase to pin him, and then Sheamus hits the pump kick and the Razor's Edge to see bye-bye to Kingston. Three left - The Champ, The Game, and The Marine.

01.42am
Small question. Why didn't Orton lie in wait for DiBiase and jump him when he exited the chamber?

01.43am
Low blow and pedigree to Sheamus. 1......2........3. We'll have a new champion - Triple H or John Cena.

01.45am
Lengthy STFU and.......it's over. Wow, I wasn't really expecting that. John Cena is the new WWE champion.

01.46am
Wait, it's Vince......

01.47am
Vince has demanded that Cena has to defend right now against Batista. Yes, you read that right. Whether you like this happening on PPV or not, it's actually logical follow-through booking. This is why Batista hasn't been interested in wrestling lately, it's why he didn't want to get into the Smackdown Elimination Chamber, it's why he helped Vince attack Bret Hart (i.e. to get into Vince's good books and get a favour in exchange.)

I'm not crazy about the belt bouncing around so freely, but I don't mind the surprises and the storytelling.

01.54am
Quite a long round-up of the Bret Hart 'injury' on Monday. Solemn reaction from the trio on commentary, and it's up to Tony Chimel who says it's IC Title time. Here's Drew and his bizarre new entrance (I quite like the concept, don't like the music). He'll face Kane.

02.09am
An okay IC Title match. McIntrye retains in quite a long battle with Kane. Right result, but match was just there, really.

02.13am
Maryse and Gail argue backstage after Ms Kim reveals that she speaks French and realises that Maryse was bad mouthing her all the while. That didn't work.

Justin Roberts in the ring announces the "Finals" of the Divas tournament. No, Justin, it's the 'final'. Singular. Prat.

02.16am
We've got a tag match on our hands. Vickie Guerrero 'postpones' the Gail v Maryse match in favour of the two of them teaming up against Michelle and Layla. No-one cares.

02.18am
Gail has wrestled the whole match so far, and is being dominated by the Smackdown heels. No-one cares.

02.19am
Maryse pie faces Gail when she reaches for a tag, allowing the SD duo to get the win.

No

One

Cares.

02.20am
All that isn't a knock on the girls themselves. It's just that this was a ridiculous spot of rebooking and the girls are treated as such an afterthought.

02.23am
Trailer for NXT is followed by an interview with the Miz. Miz basically cuts a promo on Daniel Danielson or Bryan Bryson, what ever he is called. He calls him an "Internet sensation" and "King of the Indies" but says he has no personality. The more I think about Miz and Danielson, the more I think the combo is genius.

MVP interrupts and cuts a short, smiley promo on Miz, and informs him that they are having an IC title match shortly. Another match announced at short notice. Really?

02.28am
Regal to the ring, telling people to respect him and so forth, basically to hype the NXT show a little. Interruption by Edge, who tells Regal and the world that he'll announce who his Mania opponent will be on tomorrow's Raw. And then spears Regal for a laugh.

02.30am
This has been the oddest show so far. The first chamber match was pretty good, but we've seen plenty of better ones. The Vince intervention and incursion by Batista was unexpected. Since then it has felt like a TV show. Decent IC title match, but rebook on the women's match, late addition of Miz v MVP (again. By the way, who booked that? Raw doesn't have a GM tonight.), Regal promo only to get speared by Edge. Odd stuff.

02.34am
Miz and MVP in the ring now. The first Chamber basically took 45 minutes from start of intro music to the final pinfall, not including Batista action post-match. This match probably has fifteen minutes if needed. That's plenty.

02.36am
I've mentioned before that there is a subtle trend of Jerry Lawler defending the Miz, and once again he does so, saying that it is a little unfortunate for Miz to have this match sprung on him. Also a reference to Miz's home town being Cleveland, which Cole refers to as King's adoptive city. (Lawler is a big Cleveland Indians fan. Browns too, I believe). It might be nothing, but it's noticeable.

02.40am
This isn't sparkling, thus far, although it's just fine. The focus is on the commentary, where they have spent a LOT of time talking about Bryanal Danson. Maybe the American Dragon is going to get a fair rub after all. They haven't mentioned any other NXT guy by name. Even when Regal was in the ring he didn't name his protege. I wonder if he'll mention his affiliation with Danielson.

King just called a slow-count by the ref that affected Miz, by the way.

02.46am
Cool visual as Show sends Henry crashing through the guard wall over where the announcers live.

Miz was busted open in the closing stages here, but they ended the match before he got treatment. Miz retains with an assist from a Big Show KO punch to MVP behind the ref's back. Show was a really good act during this match, playing the 'second' role very well.

The match was pretty good. Better than average without being truly standout.

02.53am
Massive review of the earlier Chamber match (without showing the Ted/Randy iron bar clip) to fill some more time.

02.55am
Rey into a pod and now Morrison is out here. Mention of his kayfabe injury, but no visible limp. Incidentally, I don't think Shawn Michaels has been mentioned all night.

02.58am
Jericho is next to step into a pod, followed by The Undertaker. That means Punk and Truth will kick us off.

03.08am
Punk gets beaten up by R-Truth for quite some time, but pulls out a GTS and pins Killings. Punk uses his stare time for his usual mic work. Good stuff.

Rey is next, and he is taking it to the Sermonator.

03.15am
There goes my pick. Punk is eliminated by Rey after a really fun five minutes (maybe a little longer) with a rana from the the top rope to the outside steel, followed by a springboard splash. Jericho is next. Much better chamber so far.

03.20am
Morrison is in, breaking Jericho's submission hold on Rey. That was dumb. Looks like Taker gets the dream spot. No sign of HBK.

03.25am
Morrison gets rid of Rey Rey - this crowd are very quiet. Strange. Pace has slowed a bit. Waiting for Taker......

03.32am
Still going with three here. Morrison isn't winning this, but he's done very well thus far. Starmaking performance? If there is a Money in the Bank at Mania, JoMo might be a contender now.

03.40am
Well, whaddaya know? It seems that Chris Jericho is the World Champion, and that Shawn Michaels cost Taker the match. Michaels popped out from underneath the metal floor outside the ring to leap up and superkick Taker.

Morrison had since been dispatched having hit a Chuck Kick but having a Spiral Ta.....dah, I mean, Moonlight Drive blocked by the knees of Undertaker, then falling to the Deadman with a massive chokeslam. Jericho and Taker fought in a great series of moves and exchanges before Taker hit a Last Ride. Setting up for something else, that's when HBK intervened.

Let's not complain that it was predictable. Maybe it was a little - we all called it - but it's still good booking. They shouldn't alter it just because a few Internet guys called them on it. They've invested too much in Taker/Michaels II to just drop it, and this made sense.

Batista's opponent is an interesting one. I can see a Triple H v Cena v Sheamus v Batista four-way, which isn't that appetising.

Overall, a strange show tonight. The last match was the best by a long, long way. The other matches, bar the Divas tag, were okay but not standout PPV quality. The storyline action from Shawn and Batista will carry this PPV a little bit further, though.

Shawn to explain himself and Edge to pick his poison tomorrow night on Raw, with a hint of Cena being pissed off at Vince and Sheamus wanting a rematch. Sounds good.

Good day to you.

Elimination Chamber Preview

Tonight it is the Pay Per View formerly and formally known as No Way Out, but now dubbed the Elimination Chamber. Just for those who couldn't judge the subtlety of a name which didn't include the featured match.

Tonight is the last PPV before we get to the grandest stage of all in five weeks. The Road to Wrestlemania is truly stretching out in front of us, and a great many clues to the final line up will be provided tonight.

Surprises can happen. Two years ago we didn't know Big Show would return and we didn't know Floyd Mayweather would be present to break Paul Wight's nose. A Wrestlemania match was on at that point.

The developments we are looking involve Shawn Michaels as he pursues his Mania match with The Undertaker. Will HBK cost Taker the chamber match tonight?

Developments may involve involve Batista. Big Dave has been trying his hardest not to wrestle in recent weeks, and is wanted by John Cena. Batista will appear on Raw tomorrow night, but perhaps he'll have some inetraction with Cena tonight before Raw rolls around.

There may be some involvement by Vincent Kennedy McMahon. With only four matches booked at this point, it seems an appropriate time for Vince to address what happened to Bret on Raw last week, so perhaps an in-ring talking segment to forward the Vince/Bret programme will occur.

And there is the notion of Edge hovering over the show, surveying the scene and plotting his own path to Mania. I'd make him a major focus of this show. Certainly being at ringside or on commentary or at the top of the ramp for both chamber matches, and an in-ring promo if there is no other non-wrestling stuff taking place there during the night.

There are only four matches announced as I type this.

Kane v Drew McIntrye is one, and I feel we are unlikely to see a title change hands here. Unless there are some backstage shenanigans that we don't know about - and that is NOT inside info, that is merely a wild statement - I don't see that Drew drops his strap here. Filler - and a retention.

I'm surprised that Maryse and Gail didn't feature more on Raw last week. In fact I'm not sure they featured at all. That's a shame because I'm really curious to where they are going with the 'Maryse being nice' angle. I have some faith that this will be a reasonable match, because Gail is such a solid hand and Maryse's character is strong.

I don't really see WWE believing in Gail Kim. Think about the time in which she has been back, and think about interview time she has been given, or any character development, There has been zero. Some people don't need it, but I think you do when you are getting one two minute match per month to get over.

I'd say Maryse wins this, and then in a week we've forgotten it ever happened.

Tonight's show has an element of Royal Rumble about it in the sense that the only things I'm looking at are the Chamber bouts, and the undercard is irrelevant.

The Chambers, though, are very interesting. Let's start on Raw, where we have Sheamus defending against Triple H, John Cena, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase and Kofi Kingston. I've written the names in that order, because I think that's the order in which I rank them, with Sheamus being the most likely to win.

I think a win for him in the chamber is a strong retention, and sets him up really nicely, It's likely Triple H will chase him to Mania, and I think it is set up better with Trips chasing the belt than vice versa, mainly because a babyface title switch elicits a better reaction than a babyface retaining, and also because if Sheamus wins he'll look even stronger keeping the belt away from the Mighty Hunter.

Support is growing for the Jericho title win on the Smackdown side of things, but I'm not so sure. I don't think WWE, even with his great past couple of years, sees Jericho as a title holder going into Wrestlemania. I have no problem with it if he does win, but it is just a little bit foreshadowed by so many predicting it and even the last couple of weeks on Smackdown with it looking like Jericho beating Taker is possible and Edge saying he'd like Jericho to win.

I like CM Punk as an alternative. I just think that he is the heel with the most momentum right now, and with a belt around his waste he could be even more pious than he is is right now, and play up his role to the hilt. Edge would be a great foil for that, and I see Edge v Punk being a great feud. Maybe it will happen post-Mania, but I'd quite like to see it at the big one.

The biggest problem with that is where it leaves Jericho - i.e. without a match for Mania. We don't know at this stage if there will be a Money in the Bank match because of the new PPV later in the year, so he might not be able to go in there. There has been a natural build to Punk and Rey, with the last couple of weeks seeing these two at loggerheads, so perhaps Jericho wins the belt, leaving Punk to meet Rey at Mania.

Jericho is the best option, prediction wise, but I just like to be different, so I'll stick with Punk. Gives me a heel-like chance to say I'm smarter than you and "I told you so" if I'm right!!

Enjoy the show, I'll be doing my usual live commentary throughout, so come back to this page and keep refreshing during the three hours.

Don't forget to subscribe to the One Sided Ring. Either search for it at iTunes, or put robmcnichol.podbean.com/feed into your RSS player.

Royal Rumble Live Notes

00.51am

I have nervous ten minutes or so ahead of me - problems ordering the PPV have led to ringing up the technical people and ordering it in a different way to normal. I fear my screen will suddenly go blank just as the show starts. Keep your fingers crossed for me..........

01.00am

Looking good folks. Thanks Sky. Let's Rumble.

01.02am

Tag line is "I am the one", it seems. Billy Gunn to return? :-)

01.03am

Interested to know who you think will be a surprise entry in the Rumble tonight. There usually are a couple of folks appearing unannounced. Sometimes a returning superstar (either from an injury or returning to the company), sometimes a big debut, sometimes a star from the past.

Last year RVD turned up, a couple of years ago Piper and Snuka popped up in MSG. Any thoughts, let me know.

01.18am

Christian retains in a more than adequate opening bout for the ECW Championship. Good pacing to the match with Christian's speed earning an early advantage, Jackson's power being matched only by Christian's resilience, then a constant shift in momentum until Captain Charisma hit the Killswitch.

This won't be remembered even by the time the Elimination Chamber rolls around, but it was plenty good enough to kick the show off. Perhaps the only slip was Zeke not taking a reverse DDT very well, but he did it while in the back of frame in a double feature.

01.23am

A long skit backstage involving Cryme Tyme and Khali along with Teddy and Tiffany goes on for a while and involves US TV references I don't understand. Miz interupts and Teddy tells him he'll have to defend against MVP next.

Now I don't have a problem with this being on the show, but I fail to see why it wasn't mentioned ahead of time. Presumably they've only just made their mind up, but it didn't take a genius to see there was only four matches apart from the Rumble.

01.26am

Miz on his way for his defence, and my goodness Justin Roberts's inflection is wild tonight. Miz to drop the belt and blame it on not being ready?

01.30am

A few suggestions in so far for surprises entrants in the Rumble include Booker T, Bryan Danielson and RVD. All possible, but the first would be most likely in my mind. RVD has been at the WrestleReunion show in California yesterday, and he was a surprise entrant last year. Danielson wouldn't be perceived by WWE as a big enough star to debut cold in the Rumble. (I wouldn't be surprise to see Regal berate Zeke on ECW and bring in Dragon as his new protege to take on Christian, though)

Booker is a possible. If he is coming back its the right time to bring him in.

01.36am

That felt purely like filler on the show. I would liked them to have held off, promoted this for a couple of weeks and made it a Raw main event. This didn't really take off, but it was fine.

I liked the ending, though. Miz winning with a small package was the right kind of booking, because it was him winning fairly, but sneakily. I hate it when heels have to defend titles with feet on the ropes and foreign objects. Good stuff for the Miz.

Also liked hearing Lawler side with Miz, along with Striker, on commentary. I like colour guys heeling it up. Lawler is backing Miz a lot at the moment.

01.43am

Randy Orton has now had two backstage segments, with first Cody telling him good luck, but confiding that Ted is talking about winning the Rumble and beating Randy at Mania. Later, Ted catches Randy and tells him Cody is acting weird, and talking about winning the Rumble and meeting Sheamus at Mania. Nice storytelling and creation of intrigue. WWE is very strong with it's subtle stories right now.

01.46am

Sheamus and Randy in the ring. I'm thinking a 90 second gap in the Rumble this year. Two minutes means a 70 minute or so Rumble over all, whereas you are looking at 50-55 for 90 second intervals. I can't see them leaving 70-80 minutes in the show, since it's taken us three quarters of an hour to get to the opening of this one.

Fans are chanting "Randy", by the way.

01.49am

Freaking awesome. Dropkick by Orton, then he (literally) slithers away from Sheamus. Great visual.

01.53am

Orton working on Sheamus' leg, the Irishman has injured Orton's arm. Nice logic. Crowd sitting on their hands right now, but the match is solid enough at the moment.

01.54am

Had another mention for a return in the Rumble - Edge. Has to be a shout, remembering what happened with Cena being officially injured but appearing ultimately two years ago. robthegreen@hotmail.com with your suggestions, remember.

02.00am

Ok, we got half of the result we were expecting. Randy Orton was disqualified because of outside interference, but it was by Cody Rhodes and not Ted DiBiase. As I type Orton is getting pissed off and about to face Cody..........

02.02am

So, Orton punched Cody, rammed his head into the mat a few times, and this brought out DiBiase. Orton hit him too, and beat them down a little. They begged off, Orton spun around and Sheamus nailed a "Pump Kick".

Well done post-match segment, because Orton didn't beat the shit out of them, he just hit them a few times and was basically trying to reprimand them. Expect some fallout on Raw. I'd think they will still be a unit for a bit, then break up. The question is really who will be babyface and heel. The crowd popped for Orton hitting Cody, but not so vociferously for him nailing Ted. Interesting.......

02.10am

A long recap of the Michelle v Mickie angle. Hopefully it is a heightening of the sympathy for Mickie, and we'll get the right closure to the angle and retribution for Mickie.

02.14am

I'm not happy with that. I'm glad Mickie won, partly because it was right, and partly because I called it, but she should have won a wrestling match, not just ambushed Michelle and Layla, and hit one move to win. Michelle has improved, and Mickie can really go. I would have much rather have seen this go seven minutes and not seen Miz v MVP. Never mind.

02.17am

Elimination chamber promo with Triple H. Suggests he will be in a chamber match - does this discount him from winning the Rumble?

02.19am

An anonymous emailed suggests Bret Hart to enter the Rumble! I doubt it, but you never know I guess.

02.23am

Midway through Taker's 27 minute entrance. Rey was taking of his necklace when the Gong struck. Rey stopped and looked up, nervous. Brilliant work from Rey, and even more impressive when you realise that the mask doesn't help facial expression.

02.39am

The Undertaker wins after a last ride, and after a very reasonable contest. It wasn't amazing, but it pretty good. If you saw the Kane v Rey matches, it was better than them, but the same sort of thing. Rey took a whole bunch of bumps and kicks and so forth which looked cool as hell because he's a tiny little guy and Taker is massive, basically.

Rey slapped in a couple of kicks early in the match, and I assume they connected because Taker's upper lip was soon covered in blood, possibly from a broken nose. Taker did look eerily human after that.

02.48am

Rumble preview vid ends 73 minutes from the end of the PPV. It's 90 seconds.

02.49am

Don't expect too many frequent updates during the Rumble match. I'll comment on big moments, entries, surprises and so forth. Ziggler and Bourne to start.

02.52am

Woah, Punk in at 3. Gets rid of Ziggler and Bourne, and gets some heat on the mic. Could be a long stay for Punk - or he'll eliminate a couple of people then a babyface will get rid of him, sparking a feud.

02.54am

In comes - and there goes - JTG.

02.55am

Uh-oh. Khali. Go on Punk, convert the big guy. Chop, vice grip, and number 6 - Beth???

And she's eliminated Khali! Plants a kiss from the apron and pulls him over the ropes! Punk hits the GTS, she's history, and here comes Zack Ryder. Punk starts his spiel but smashes Ryder with the mic.

Turns out I can update quite a lot. What do you know?

Has to be someone to smash Punk now.......Hunter?

03.00am

Yep! Score one for me.

It was Hunter, and they square off and exchange a couple of moves. McIntyre is next, and slowly approaches. Drew is number 9, by the way. I suggest the ring may start to fill now.

03.02am

Or perhaps not. Punk is history. That's a shame.

03.03am

DiBiase is next - crowd are dead right now.

03.04am

Morrison is next, and has a little exchange with McIntyre. Number 12 is.....KANE!

03.06am

Cole says Kane has made a career out of the Royal Rumble. He's been in eleven prior to this and never won it. Wow, Cole, what a career!

03.08am

Domination from Kane, and Cody is is 13. Saves Ted straight away. Lets keep and eye on Legacy then.

03.09am

MVP at 14, but Miz appears behind him to smash him with the US belt. MVP lies in the aisle. General brawling in the ring occasionally punctuated by Morrison doing something flashy. MVP never made it to the ring, referee helped him away. That was poor. He could at least have struggled down there and been thrown out straight away. Or maybe they could have explained pre-match that you have to get to the ring during the 90 seconds or you are DQ-ed.

Carlito in at 15, and nails several people with the Backstabber, including the Game. And now it's Miz time.

03.12am

Wait, here is MVP. I spoke too soon. He lunges at Miz and takes both of them out. Seven men in the ring, HHH has been nearly out a couple of times.

03.14am

Number 17 is Matt Hardy. Perhaps a small punishment for the elder Hardy brother as Kane gets rid of him quickly. Trips comes up behind Kane and gets Big Red out of there.

03.15am

Multiple combatants work on Hunter's leg - but here comes Shawn. Straightaway eliminates Carlito. And Cody. And DiBiase. I was expecting more Legacy breakup teases than that.

03.16am

HBK gets rid of Morrison too, and it leaves McIntrye alone with DX. They rid the ring of the scotsman, and it's only Shawn and Hunter........for ten seconds.

And here........comes..........Cena.

03.17am

Cena comes in a house of fire, hits his big shoulders and when hitting the spinning suplex on HHH genuinely lands him on Shawn's head. Hope he is ok.

He looks it. Trips nails Cena with a Pedigree, and Shawn hits a Superkick to eliminate Hunter. Basically no follow up though. No reaction shot of Hunter or anything. Shelton next but doesn't last long. Poor Rumble so far.

03.21am

Tatsu in and quickly out. I'm getting sick of this, people coming in and out. This is a great forum for getting a few guys to last a long time and build rivalries. It's way to spotty thus far. Show is in now, and he is 22. A couple of teases of HBK getting rid of Show using leverage, and then Henry is 23.

03.22am

Only seven guys left. No Batista or Jericho yet. No Swagger, Masters.......who am I forgetting?

03.24am

Here is the Masterpiece to a sitting ova.....I mean apathy. Still time for Edge? Masters is gone, and I've realised I forgot R-Truth. Commentators all picking Shawn - too obvious now maybe?

03.25am

And here is Truth at 25 - pushing Henry and Show out while they were locked up on the ropes. Only Truth, Cena and Shawn in the ring, plus five to go including Jericho, Batista and Swagger. And two more I can't think of.

03.27am

Here is Swagger. Dominating so far.

03.28am

Four men left to enter the Rumble and crowd is silent. I wouldn't be surprised to see Orton at 30, you know. Damn, I forgot Kofi, who is number 27. Jericho, Batista + 1 (Edge? Orton?)

03.29am

Kofi switches momentum on Swagger. Truth, Kofi, Shawn and Cena in the ring, plus the last three men to come.

03.30am

Jericho! And Truth won't be getting rid of Jericho, because Kofi deposited Truth. Only six can win. Jericho, Cena, Michaels and Kofi in the ring, Batista + 1 to come.

03.31am

Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise on Shawn, then Cena throws Kofi out. AND ITS EDGE! ITS EDGE!

03.32am

Jericho is out of here after spears to all. Batista will be here shortly, only four possible winners. Michaels still most likely, I think.

03.34am

Batista did it. There goes Shawn. Big pause. Are they selling the shock or was Shawn supposed to hold on and slipped? I think the former. Shawn is playing it up. He's thrown down one ref, got back in the ring and superkicked Charles Robinson. All the focus on Shawn leaving.

03.38am

So, Batista, Edge and Cena. Scratch then, Batista is out. Two left. Edge measuring Cena.

03.40am

And Edge wins!! It's the surprise return and victory for the second time in three years.

Very, very lacklustre Rumble in my opinion. I think it's a Rumble that might be appreciated now for it's shock value with Triple H's exit, Shawn's exit and Edge's return. However, you won't go back and watch it over and over, because it wasn't gripping enough. It killed the crowd, who were reasonable during the night until the big one.

Very quickly - where do we go from here? Edge v Taker? Hmm. I don't see it. Not again. It doesn't make sense. Edge v Sheamus? Doesn't grip you. Edge v Christian???? That could happen, but would you win the Rumble and choose the ECW title?

So, it's Edge to hold back and one of the titles to change in the Chamber. Jericho to win the Smackdown chamber is a possibility. Orton could take the WWE title and then we have Edge v Orton, but then Orton may as well have won the belt tonight. I can't see Edge v Shawn or Edge v Hunter. Edge v Batista has no ring to it. Edge v Cena again?? Hope not. Edge v Punk? Punk could pull out the chamber match, and Straight Edge v Edge is a possibility. But they have been there before, just with the babyface/heel roles reversed.

I can only really see Jericho getting the World Title next month, setting up Mania to be:

Shawn v Taker

Trips v Sheamus

Edge v Jericho

Randy v Cody v Ted

Cena v Batista

Vince v Bret

Show, Kofi, Miz, MVP, Kane, Punk, Morrison, Rey for Money in the Bank?

We'll see.

Overall, average show. Decent undercard, but no standout matches, then below par Rumble in my opinion. The last few Rumbles have been very good, so this was a letdown.

Royal Rumble Preview

Tonight it's the Royal Rumble. I'll stop a little short of saying the Rumble is my Favourite Pay Per View (though I have said that before) because Wrestlemania has such an aura these days. However, it is without a doubt the best concept event ever created, and a highlight of the year.

Say what you like about WWE, but they have done a marvellous job of getting to the turn of the year and making us all believe in "the Road to Wrestlemania". We're all thinking ahead to the big March PPV, and the build to that heightens the importance of this and No Way Out or Elimination Chamber or whatever we are calling it now.

The trouble is with me going into this show is that I start fantasy booking the next three months, and getting way ahead of myself. I've chosen a winner of the Rumble partially based on a storyline I'd like to see, but also as a sort of hedging of bets.

That I'll come to in due course. Let's get a couple of undercard matches out of the way.

ECW Title - Christian v Ezekiel Jackson

I'll be honest, I'm not expecting a classic.

On the one hand here, I'm seeing this as a good opportunity to take the belt away from Christian, since Big Zeke is a credible guy to have beat Christian, possibly with a little assistance from William Regal. I think Christian is destined for bigger things than ECW, is a lock to go to Smackdown in the next draft, and probably ought to be in the Money in the Bank match at Mania.

On the other hand, if you take the belt off of him, the ECW title picture loses instant credibility. People who don't watch ECW will likely have forgotten who Ezekiel Jackson is (He's the big scary black dude who used to be bodyguard for Kendrick, by the way) and with ECW ratings tanking, he might not be the man to have at the helm.

How about a screwy finish to this match? I can see an old fashioned double pin or something leading to the belt being vacated. That's an out for Christian to lose the belt without having to lose a match, and the "new ECW" crowning a new ECW champion. Who that'll be I have no idea.

Prediction: Christian loses the belt, if I'm sitting on the fence. Whether that is clean to Zeke, via interference from Regal or a disputed ending, Christian's run with the belt is up.

Michelle McCool v Mickie James

Every critic, his dog, his nan, his next door neighbour, his next door neighbour's nan, his next door neighbours nan's milkman, and the bloke who the milkman met in the pub the other night all think Michelle is going over because Mickie is in the doghouse. Everybody seems to think this whole angle is shockingly demeaning.

Is it not just a wrestling angle? Is it not just an old fashioned 'heels are bullies' storyline? And is it not finally an angle for the girls to get hold of rather than just shitty number contender matches leading to three minutes every two weeks before the champion beats Alicia Fox or someone in a shockingly crappy match?

Many of you will know that I am a strong critic of Michelle McCool, and I still think she is overrated in the ring. But I'll give her this; she has been very effective as the bitchy girl in school that no-one likes, and they always have a toady little friend sucking up to them too, don't they?

I've enjoyed this storyline a lot, because it's shown strong heel qualities, build up sympathy for a Babyface, and also included other girls. Layla as the sidekick, Maria last week sticking up for Mickie, and a conflicted Beth eventually siding with the heels.

The thing is, though, good storylines need good payoffs. I'm holding out for one here. Mickie MUST win this match. Wrestling, at the end of the day, ought to play out in favour of the babyface at the end. Especially in areas of the show which isn't selling tickets. No-one is buying this show tonight to see what happens to the Women's title, but every match that is on the show, both in episodes and on a PPV, must play it's part as a cog in the wheel. There is an opportunity for a really big babyface moment tonight, for an over female babyface (you don't hear anyone say that very often) to beat a heel who deserves her comeuppance.

Prediction: Mickie James. Please.

Right, back to the point in hand, which is realistically who is going to win the Rumble, and I'll address this here because the winner affects the two title matches.

Royal Rumble Match

*You can go back a couple of posts to see a more detailed (some would argue too detailed) analysis of Royal Rumble contenders.

Basically, I believe there are three contenders, with possible arguments for three others, but weak ones. The three favourites have to be Cena, Michaels and Triple H. The other three are Batista, Punk and DiBiase.

I'll start with the weak ones. Batista is a contender so that he can a) face Mysterio if Rey beats Taker. That would fit with HBK costing Taker the title, either now or at the next PPV, allowing Rey to get the strap. That, though, wouldn't help Rey in particular, and Rey and Batista have enough of an issue that if they want that match at Mania, they can do it anyway. The second way for Batista is that Cena could win the Raw title in the Elimination Chamber, and Batista chooses to face him. I think both matches can be achieved without Batista winning the Rumble, though.

Second weak argument is CM Punk. The man is on a roll right now, and winning a Rumble would give his whiny, self-righteous character more to brag about. It would also fit his character, having won two Money in the Bank matches, to have a title shot through drawing a late number and capitalising on a personal issue between other. Like McCool, Punk now has an effective, heatseeking character who people might just pay to see get beat. The drawback, though, is that he hasn't been given the credibility to hang with the elite tier of WWE (Who I'd say would be Cena, Orton, HBK, Hunter, Taker and probably Edge) and he doesn't have an obvious opponent, although you could again argue the idea of Shawn costing Taker so that Rey has the belt, then go Rey v Punk.

Final weak shout is Ted DiBiase. Although you could argue a case for Cody Rhodes, it's generally assumed that Ted is the longer term prospect as a major player. Personally I don't believe he has the skills to be a top babyface, but then neither did Orton, and he's done ok since he went back to his heelish ways a few years back. DiBiase is only a contender if Orton wins, as DiBiase v Taker, Rey or Sheamus makes no sense. While on one hand it would be very cool for an outsider to win the Rumble, as a prediction it is deeply flawed, because WWE like to have a marquee winner, generally. It probably isn't Ted's time.

The big three all have a good argument for. Shawn Michaels' is rather obvious. He may need to win so that he can wrestle Taker at Mania. And it could well happen. Although it may seem too telegraphed, WWE aren't known for subtlety or nuance, and it certainly would be a popular choice. It'd be fun TV, too, watching Shawn trying to protect Taker's title before Mania. It may be too obvious, but then it might be a double bluff.

John Cena should never be discounted when thought about in conjunction with a big match. His particular route to Mania, should he win the Rumble, could take many forms. Maybe he could swerve us all, including HBK, and go after the Undertaker. They could follow through with this, do Cena v Taker and use it to facilitate the DX break up. What if we came down to the last three, Shawn and Hunter fight, and Cena dumps them both. Cena heads for the Deadman and DX explode at Mania, a la the Mega Powers. I'd absolutely love this outcome, and I think it's what I would book, but it does leave too many other questions, especially re: Sheamus and the WWE title.

Another route could also be Cena choosing Taker, but Shawn costing Taker the Chamber match, and Batista winning, giving us Cena v Batista for the title, Shawn v Taker as a grudge affair and still leaving room for Trips v Sheamus and Orton v Ted. This could lead to a few weeks of teasing various combinations, and also a tense stand off between Shawn and Cena, which could give a really nice Raw main event at some point. Finally, they could simply go Cena v Sheamus for the easy title match. The problem with that is, assuming Shawn v Taker, that you are left with Hunter being a spare wheel, unless he wrestles Batista.

All these combinations are giving me a headache......

Finally, we come to my pick, Triple H. He's my pick because I feel he is due a big win as a single again, and like Cena they can go many ways with him. You could have Hunter declare he wants Taker. I'd love that, as it would really piss off the HBK character and lead, you'd feel, to the inevitable DX break-up, especially if Shawn forces a title change, taking not only the belt from Taker but the Taker match from HHH. Hunter could then have the option to switch to Sheamus or go with the winner of the SD title, which may well be Batista.

Or, they can go the other way, and have Hunter tease going after Taker, but choosing Sheamus, and having the Triple H character say that he is doing it so Shawn can still chase Taker.

Ultimately I'm choosing Hunter over Cena and because I think there is more they can do with Hunter in that position. But it's very open. If any one of them wins there is a multitude of ways they can go in storylines.

You could complain that it's bad that only three out of thirty guys can really win, but I'd argue that some years it's only two, and others only one. At least we have three strong choices.

So then, the title matches.........

Sheamus v Randy Orton

It doesn't really make any sense for Orton to win this. I know it seems obvious to say that Cody/Ted, or just Ted, costs Orton the match, but sometimes obvious = sensible. It keeps the belt on Sheamus, and Sheamus v Hunter or Cena is more sensible than either of those babyfaces against Orton, which we've seen before.

If Ted costs Orton, Randy can go into a chamber to try and get back in the picture, while Ted v Cody can be booked down the card, if Ted makes the break on his own.

Prediction: Sheamus. Because it just makes sense.

Undertaker v Rey Mysterio

There is an issue with the positioning of this match, because if Rey is to win, then it ruins the Rumble for Michaels. If you are booking Rey to go over, then this match has to go on after the Rumble. I don't want that to happen, and I suggest WWE don't either. But if the Rumble isn't on last, expect Rey to win.

I don't think he will though. I think Taker has to win, although I think the match itself will be built around Rey having a million near falls but not quite getting there. Taker winning makes all three of my main picks, Cena, Hunter and Shawn, much more viable options.