LIVE Armageddon Blog

00.59am
Welcome one and all to Armageddon! The night the world comes to an end. Perhaps Vladimir the pseudo-Commie really does have nuclear arms! Or maybe Sheik Abdul Bashir is planning on using his WMD (a DDT, no less!) in a shock attack! Or maybe Mark Henry will have a 4-star match and hell will my Gawd freeze over.

But worry not, because although this night signifies the world ending, Judgment Day is some time away thanks to WWE’s protracted PPV calendar. Yay!

Anyway, I’m sort of feeling ok going into this since I have no real expectations. I feel that most of the matches ought to be easy to call, at least in terms of who’ll win, but it is a couple of people’s performances away from being terrible or superb. Let’s prey for the latter.


01.02am
Haha, thats hilarious. JR refers to tonight being about battles of "Perceived" good and evil. I love that. We can't say "good and evil", it's 'perceived'. It's like if you read about wrestling on Wikipedia and it explains everything to you in stupid depth and tells you how things are pre-conceived and NOT REAL. I wonder what Santa's wikipedia page is like. Maybe I'll go edit it.

"Santa Claus is a jolly fat man (not Brother Love) who wears red suits and symbolises Christmas. His image and clothing is often (falsely) rumoured to have been inspired by a Coca-Cola advert.

He has a brother named Xanta Claus who lives at the South Pole. Xanta bears a striking resemblance to Balls Mahoney. He will bring presents of oranges and graffiti-ed steel chairs in December, and knows if you have been good or (Axl) Rotten. "

Or something.

01.08am
Oh right, there's a show on. I forgot. Koslov and Hardy are on first. Koslov is dominating with what Striker calls Sambo offence.

Todd tells us that the greatest US v Soviet Union battle ever was some 1980 Hockey game. Yeah, screw the Cold War, Hockey is far more important.

They say Vince tells the announcers what to say - do you think Vince knows the Cold War is over? I'm guessing he saw Nicolai Volkoff do an indy show and still thinks it going on. Hang on, what am I saying? That would never happen. Vince knows nothing of indy feds. Stupid of me.

01.15am
Formula heel domination and babyface fire match, which ends with Koslov winning comfortably. Have that ECW - the best you have is beaten by someone who has set foot in ECW.

This would be a great time for an advert for some old DVDs of stuff, because the match was straight out of like 1990. Koslov would have been over big-style 15-20 years ago.

Trouble is, it's 2008, and it doesn't really work. There was nothing particularly wrong with this, but nothing that intersting either.

01.19am
Finlay tells Hornswoggle to stay backstage for his Belfast Brawl later tonight. Is that safe? Fit, have you checked to see where Mike Knox is? He hates people under 5ft9. He will slaughter l'il Horny. Wait, why am giving advice AGAINST that?? Mike Knox might become a babyface based on that!

01.23am
LILIAN DOESN'T READ WWE.COM!!! She announced Punk as a tag team champion, despite the fact that he and Kofi lost to Miz and Morrison last night.

Both Kofi and Rey got decent cheers, with maybe Rey's being slightly louder. This should be good.

If you want to contribute, by the way, to this blog, you can. email me at robthegreen@hotmail.com with any observations, jokes, questions or whatever, I'd love to hear from you.

01.29am
Decent match thus far, although I'm wishing it was a Smackdown match, since Cole and King are ruining it. Rey flew through the air and got very high on a moonsault - but missed. King called it perfect. Punk they caught Rey with a gorgeous fast powerslam - Cole not only called it a scoop slam, but King repeated it, then Cole said it again!

01.35am
I really enjoyed that. As an early card match it wasn't quite as good as Matt Hardy and Evan Bourne, but still very decent.

Punk caught Rey a beauty with his GTS. Rey went really high on it and took a knee genuinely right in the schnozz.

Good God, what is it about Regal? He wrestled about 400 matches straight where his nose ended up bleeding like a tap/fawcett (delete depending on what country you come from) and now simply standing outside the ring he causes Rey to spill the claret.

Cole gives a list of about a dozen wrestlers including Hart, Michaels, Rock, Austin, Edge, Triple H and others who won the IC strap. Yeah, but they all won it BEFORE becoming World champion, didn't they. Punk not getting the slow burn has affected him longer term. I look forward to Punk v Regal though.

01.43am
A rundown of the JBL/HBK programme so far (well, the last third of it, but never mind) before JBL's music hits and out comes the limo. Damn, I was hoping that Michaels might have been the chauffeur. That would have been awesome.

Anyway, this doens't appear to be a match, but a JBL promo. I'd moan about promos on PPV, but in the past they have been some of the better segments.

01.50am
Terrific promo from HBK. I mean, it belonged on Raw, but it was terrific. He even coerced the audience into a "You sold out" chant which was impressive. JBL as the menacing figure was also very good, and now we have just two things to wait on. One is what exactly Shawn's job is (is he going to shill Mamajuana like he does DX gear?) and the other is when he will get bored and kick JBL's million dollar teeth down his throat.

Hang on, what about Triple H here? Can he not lend his buddy a couple of bucks? He is The Game, isn't he? The cerebral assassin, the smartest man in wrestling. He must have some money lying around.

01.55am
Someone (maybe with a poorly arm) recently pointed out to me about Cody Rhodes and Manu. They may be the two most lisping wrestlers of all time, and they have found each other. But get this, what's their stable name?

Priceless - a word with two 's' sounds. Prithleth? You bethcta! (/Yosemite Sam)

02.03am
Just had a thought "The Legathy" isn't much better, is it? Finlay and Henry isn't that bad, by the way......

02.07am
Hornswoggle out to interfere but gets knocked down to the floor. When Tony Atlas goes to see him, though, he has gone under the ring. Leave him alone Tony! That's where he lives with the Bella Twins! It's very adequately heated as well, handy at this time of year when it is very cold? How do I know it is heated? Think about when Edge went through the ring. Flames! Very toasty.

02.09am
Finlay wins, and you know why? Henry used a bin to try to squash the Ulsterman and Grisham called it a Trash Compactor. That's Duke Droese's move! He didn't win a match for years. If you are going to steal things, Mark, steal the Worm! That dance and weak forearm was DEVESTATING!

02.13am
That was the strangest four minutes of TV ever. Did I see a a bunch of divas, Charlie Haas as Santa, Boogieman in a gift box, Santino screaming, Goldust under mistletoe, Boogie and Goldie starting a song off, Jesse and Festus turning up, followed by IRS and Mike Chioda? You saw it too? Good. But where was Ron Simmons? Damn!

Then, up pops Mr Kennedy pops up to tell us to buy his DVD. I would totally have gone to the cinema to see it but......for some reason......anyway, Mr Ken Kennedy Kennedy (Hang on, Mr KKK? That's not so good) urges everyone to drink responsibly and to not do drugs. Ken f'n Kennedy is speaking out against illegal substances. I'm hoping that was deliberate irony.

What Ken meant to say was to not do drugs, but if you do, like about it in several interviews and go on Nancy (Dis)Grace to defend the company's honour.

Then get busted for being a liar.

Liar.

Batista Orton next.

02.18am
Orton emerges with Cody and Manu. So are they now an official group. How the hell will they explain this further when DiBiase returns?

02.33am
Plenty into the match, and we get to see what Ric Flair REALLY taught Batista. He taught Dave exactly how to climb to the top rope and do nothing until someone else comes to nail you with offence. Woooooooo!

02.37am
Let's start with some positives. Batista wins, which means although I got the prediction in my mind I got a surprise finish at least. The finish was VERY creative, with a nice couple of transitions to get Orton in the position he needed to be for Batista to finish him off. Finally, the pacing of the match was excellent, as the brawl picked up insensity nicely to develop uncertainty of just who the victor would be.

Negatives? Well it wasn't gripping. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, and it could have been a lot worse, but it never really engaged me until near the end.

I don't see why Orton lost. To me he is the more marketable wrestler moving forward, and I have seen more than enough of Batista challenging for titles to last me several lifetimes. Does this mean it's Batista v Cena at the Rumble?

02.43am
Standard Divas filler next to settle the crowd before the double main. Do you want me to comment on the wrestling or the outfits. Both are barely there.

02.48am
Since the commentators are just having a chat and occasionally being vaguely offensive ("lets all talk about Jews for a bit" seemed to be their instructions), with Matt Striker taking every opportunity for a little alliterations, I'll got to the mailbag. Imran writes:

Great commentary again

How on EARTH Batista has been allowed to pin Cena AND Orton cleanly and Jericho Semi-cleanly in the same year I will never know... I mean its of course its down to the fact that some reason he's very popular with the fans (though not in Manchester in November!) and Vince/HHH like him... but really, I don't think there's been anyone of recent times who has had a higher in-balance of wrestling ability with position on the card/in the company.... He's slow, sloppy and has such a limited move-set that it makes most of his match's dull... and those that aren't usually involve people who are quality wrestlers... such as Jericho and Orton.

Take your point, Imran, but you spelled out your own answer. His response is generally good, and he has been marketed well as a babyface, so he stays where he is. I don't care greatly for him, but as long as Vince does (and Trips does), then we get him more often. In fact I think you'll see Batista v Triple H before very long, with one of them being a heel.

02.55am
The diva nonsense ends with Michelle doing a weird looking Styles Clash after tagging herself in. Tazz makes a great call comparing Maria's boots to John Nord (Beserker).

Impromptu Khali Kiss-cam post match, with Michelle storming off. (Yeah, that'll make her a huge heel, not kissing the big guy) Mae Young eventually comes out to lock lips with the big lug, with me partly expecting Trish Stratus when Ranjin was talking about a back-up plan.

That took up a lot of time. I hope we don't get a chopped down couple of title matches now.

03.07am
The Narcissist Chris Jericho? Is that what Cole called him? So Mark Henry is Duke The Dumpster Droese, Maria is John Nord and now Jericho is Lex Luger? Hmm, doesn't bode well. He's bound to choke in this title match then.

I'm interested in this match going on second to last. Don't get me wrong, I saw the Triple Threat at the real main event, but they'll typically end with a babyface win, or maybe a shocking conclusion. The two are not mututally exclusive.

03.19am
Right, there are two ways of looking at this.

One is from the point of view of someone like me. I watch this and simply don't buy most of it because in my heart and mind I know Cena is going to win. Sometimes I hate knowing stuff or even understanding too much because common sense told me Cena was going over.

The other thing to do is place yourself in the position of the Cena (I don't like this word but I'm going to use it) marks who, possibly, are drawn in by the man alone as opposed to the product generally. They would likely have really enjoyed that match because Jericho is a credible opponent who looked like he might usurp the Champ. Then, when Cena pulled it out, they would have gone crazy. I think. Thing is, it's at times like this I feel for the WWE creative, because although I know my wrestling I am not their typical fan or their prime target audience.

I thought this match was the same as basically all the PPV so far. Passable, could have been better, could have been worse. The finishing sequence was excellent, and having Jericho kick out of an FU (albeit after a pause) was interesting. This was better than Survivor Series in my opinion, and certainly made Jericho retain some strength coming out of this one.

03.48am
Right, lets get one grievance out of the way. There was no need for Koslov in that match. They could have done the match without having he and Matt turn up, frankly.

Aside from that, the main event DELIVERED as far as I am concerned. I wasn't crazy about the proliferation of standard triple threat spots with one man selling minor moves forever. However, from the moment they spilled outside for the protracted sequence of events leading to Edge spearing Hardy through a table this match lit up. A whole bunch of false finishes set a great pace, and Hardy was set to capitalise on situations plenty of times. I bought each one, so after about three I thought he was done.

When I noticed that Trips had Pedigreed Edge in the corner my mind changed, but they had me by then. That was classic storytelling, with one annoying blip. Jeff has earned the belt, and earned the right to do it without Koslov costing Triple H. Hope you enjoyed the show and the live blog. I thought it was a decent to good PPV. No matches stunk the place out, but then only a couple went above average. I really enjoyed Punk v Mysterio, and felt that the triple threat was nearly masterful. General thumbs up.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!
December 15 2008.
WWE Superstar Jeff Hardy has failed a third Wellness Policy Test and has had his contract with WWE terminated. We wish Jeff well will his future endeav............

Stop it, Rob -enjoy the moment!!

Armageddon preview

When PPV Sundays come round these days, I often have a mixture of emotions.

It’s usually a mixture of trepidation that bad booking decisions will be made, that the card is too weak, but also that the PPV output is often very strong.

Tonight, I can’t help get the feeling that the last PPV of 2008 will follow the same formula.

Last time we had a PPV it was a very strange affair. The wrestling was possibly the worst this year, but there were very intriguing storyline developments.

We have a real blend of matches, certainly. Triple H, Edge and Jeff Hardy has the potential to be excellent, so long as it doesn’t fall into the trap of being a typical formulaic three-way match. Cena and Jericho is also a potential good’un, while Rey Mysterio and CM Punk could have a blinder if both men are allowed the freedom to shine.

On the other hand, there are two ECW contests which don’t appeal. You have to feel for the excellent workers Finlay and Matt Hardy for having the task of getting a match out of Mark Henry and Vladimir Koslov respectively.

Batista v Orton is a wild card. Batista matches are often a cause for puzzlement. Sometimes he looks a lumbering, paint-by-numbers lug, and at others contributes to some sterling matches. The obvious answer is that when Batista wrestles a so called “ring general” (maybe Triple H or Undertaker) you see a far better match then when he goes up against others. That is not to say that people like Michaels or Jericho are not great wrestler, because they truly are, but some people get good performance out of others, and some don’t. I look forward to seeing which of these Randy Orton is tonight.

Onto predictions and pseudo-booking..............

Rey Mysterio v CM Punk
I can see this one opening the show. Don’t forget, although it is a tournament final, it is not for the Intercontinental Championship, but for the right to beat, dah, I mean FACE William Regal. But whoever wins this will beat Regal, surely. Otherwise why book a tournament to build up a contender?

I’d probably put Regal on the commentary team for this one, should he feel up to it. As well as being a great wrestler he is so talented in a vocal role, so you could get a nice blend of humour and analysis from him.

Punk is the most likely victor, and two big things underline that. One is that Regal said from the very first match of the tournament that he wanted to face Punk, so you can’t help but feel that something was being teased. Secondly, Punk and Kofi Kingston lost the tag titles to the brand-defying Miz and Morrison at a house show this week, suggesting to me that Punk’s future lies in his singles title push, not in a duo.

The match itself has huge potential. I am not the world’s biggest Mysterio fan, but it’s not that I don’t like him – I just don’t rave about him as much as some do. I find some of his offense too unbelievable, and consequently find it harder to buy into what he is offering me.

That being said, he is an athletic guy, and although very short, his outing with Punk’s ally Kofi was very good. Punk is pretty adaptable, and as I alluded to before, if these guys are afforded some leeway to just go out there and have a hell of a match, then it stands to be a good one.

Prediction: CM Punk

I would book......Punk to win, and maybe even a best of three series with Regal. Regal and Punk are talented enough to wrestle three different matches.

And another thing......Both men are babyfaces – I’d expect some early fireworks to try to get the crowd pumped up, since they may not have an automatic favourite.


Eight Divas Tag Match – Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Kelly Kelly and Maria v Maryse, Natalya, Victoria and Jillian

So important that WWE.com have not got it on their card, this is a Santa’s Little Helper match. Presumably the octet of beauties (well, septet and Jillian) will wear barely there wrestling gear consisting of red and white fluffy stuff and exhibit all the wrestling technical ability of my Nan. And her arthritis is playing her up again.

Poor, poor Natalya, who JR actually said can rival anyone on the company for wrestling smarts, but was forced to job to the Bella Twins, who don’t make it onto this show. Mickie, of course, is also pretty reasonable, so hopefully she and Nattie will take centre stage.

I’m thinking it better that the heel team wins, and Michelle McCool furthers her turn by costing her team the match, or vice versa. However, I don’t see it. It’s a fun match because of the clothing stip, so I’ll take the babyfaces.

Prediction: The babyface team.

I would book..........well I wouldn’t have booked to start with, but you may as well book something, anything that will further story. I’d have Michelle walk out on her team or reveal an alliance with one of the other heels.

Then I’d make sure Victoria, Natalya, Beth and Mickie were all on the same brand, so we can watch better quality WRESTLING from the more talented girls.

And another thing........on the graphic promoting this match on dotcom, Michelle is at the front of her team while Maryse is prominent for hers. Shows you who they value highly.


Finlay v Mark Henry (Belfast Brawl)
The last “Belfast Brawl” was at Wrestlemania, with Finlay taking on JBL, and on that showing it is just a Hardcore match, with no other stipulations attached.

I supposed if we have to see Mark Henry and pay for the privilege, then at least making it something other than an ordinary contest makes sense. Finlay is very good, but not a miracle worker, so I figure we will see him bumping around for a while trying to make Henry look good.

I’d figure that Hornswoggle will try to help Finlay get the win (when is the last time Finlay won a match without his little buddy or a shillelagh shot?) but Atlas will KO the former little bastard, drawing the ire of Finlay. Fit might get a shot in on the former Saba Simba, but Henry capitalises to get the win.

Prediction: Henry, in a short but brutal one.

I would book.........again, not this. But if forced into it, I’d have Finlay win. A strongly booked Finlay could help so many other wrestlers, because he can make a decent match good, and an average worker look a million dollars.

And another thing.......could this match be billed as Fit v Unfit?


Matt Hardy v Vladimir Koslov – non title match.

Why in the world would you make this non-title? We just saw these two wrestle at Smackdown a couple of weeks ago, so why do we need it again?

Also, this doesn’t help anyone. If Hardy wins, he beats a guy the fans don’t care about and damages a streak of sorts. If Koslov wins, then the ECW champ looks weak and the belt trivial (well, more trivial).

I don’t see a classic by any stretch, and I could possibly see a schmozz ending too.

Prediction: If we are talking clean victories, it is more likely to be Koslov. But I have a fancy for Matt to win by DQ after Koslov just keeps on battering him and getting himself in hot water. Koslov is then ‘undefeated’ in the WWE Universe which means only pins and submissions register on the radar.

I would book.........I’m not sure. I understand the nature of keeping people strong. I’d be tempted to put Koslov over but to have hardy dominate the match, perhaps almost total offense but then a huge headbutt out of nowhere.

And another thing.........I’d still like Matt to have something to do with Jeff’s mysterious attack. Perhaps Matt could appear in the three-way later on, ‘inadvertently’ costing Jeff?


Batista v Randy Orton
This is clearly going to be another case of throwing two people together to keep them in the public eye, as opposed to making this count. Randy Orton v Batista could be enormous if built up, but it’s been a real afterthought.

As outlined above, I’m not sure about how good it could be. This would quite possibly be a better title match than a regular match if you play to the old formula over heavily booking the contest with ref bumps and the like.

I think Orton is most likely to go over here, since Batista has spent the last year choking at various points, and it hasn’t greatly affected him. Plus Orton’s momentum is good right now, and I don’t think it makes sense to curtail that.

Orton also has the other issue of Cody Rhodes and Manu, and possibly Manu. What is the situation? Are they “The Legacy” now? Are they still Priceless and sans Orton? Who knows. There are plenty of possibilities, although I think they should probably play out down the line, and not tonight.

Prediction: Randy Orton, probably with an RKO out of nowhere, and perhaps some assistance from Cody

I would book.......definitely Orton to win. I’d quite like him to do so cleanly really, because I really rate Orton as both a worker and a character, and I would love him to be kept strong. He must be a leading contender to face Cena at the Rumble.

And another thing......will Ted DiBiase Jnr return tonight? And if he does, where will his loyalties lie?


World Heavyweight Title match – John Cena v Chris Jericho

I don’t know about you, but I think Cena might win this. Isn’t that an outrageous view?

There will be a few Cena haters out there who won’t be happy is The Champ is still there at the end of the night, but I’m fairly sure he will be. It just doesn’t make any sense to switch it back over the Jericho, as much as I love him and as much as his Superstar of the Year Slammy was justified.

Call it a coincidence if you wish, but ratings have risen since Cena has been back on Raw, so it only makes sense to give him a long run on top once again.

The match itself? I wouldn’t expect much to be that different from what we saw previously, to be honest. I would love to see Jericho work a leg and put some psychology into it. The only issue would be if Cena could sell effectively enough.

Prediction: John Cena, clean as you like.

I would book.........the very same, but I’d like to see Jericho be given a nice shine and for him to continue to look great.

And another thing........If Jericho were to win he’d be a SIX TIME champion. Funny when you consider that for a lot of his career you feel he has been held back!


WWE title match – Edge v Triple H v Jeff Hardy
This is the biggest match on the card, and the one that the PPV could live or die by. If this match lives up to it’s potential then it could be an absolute cracker.

When you have Triple H in a triple threat then you can’t help but think about his encounter with Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania. I don’t expect this one to be as good as that, but when you look at the talent in the line up it is fair to expect a decent bout.

I can’t see past Edge winning, to be honest. I think that his ultimate opportunist tag has been played up a great deal, so we’ll likely see Triple H and Jeff Hardy batter each other once again, with Edge capitalising on a well-struck Pedigree or Swanton Bomb.

Prediction: Edge

I would book.......probably Edge too. I don’t know what the direction is for the Jeff Hardy attack, but I really do think it has the potential to be a big storyline. I’d book this match to set up whatever is coming with Jeff, too.

And another thing.......If Jeff’s assailant is neither Edge nor Triple H, then those two may very well meet at the Royal Rumble.


Well that’s the show in my opinion. Two others things to think about are the absence on the scheduled card of Shawn Michaels and JBL, as well as Santino Marella and his girlfriend Beth. I don’t see how Michaels and JBL fit in, but I’d be disappointed not to see Santino at some point.

Enjoy the show everyone, and remember I’ll be covering the show with LIVE updates here on the blog. I hope you will join me, and feel free to email me on robthegreen@hotmail.com to share your own feelings on the show.