Royal Rumble Preview

Hello Readers of Wrestling

                Happy new year! I know it has been a long time. You all know what I am going to say…..I am busy, I have kids, blah blah blah. So instead of saying all of that, I will just get right back into it. Guys, you know that this is my favorite time of the year. We are beginning the road to WrestleMania with the 1^st stop on that ride being the Royal Rumble.  

                Now you all know how this works so I will not insult any of you (all one of you at least for now) by going over the rules, knowing that you will hear the rules a million times tonight, and you all know that the winner gets a shot at the title of their choosing, either the WWE or Universal. Add on top of that a Woman’s Rumble match and other matches that will happen, and we will have a jam packed night.

                Without further ado, I will jump right in to predictions. For the predictions of the Rumble I will do something I try not to do when it comes to this blog, I will bring up some of the rumors I have heard, because they make for a pretty interesting show if they come true.

                Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus for the WWE (Raw) tag team Championship:  The champions were a thrown together team to continue two storylines. One of Jason Jordan turning into the spoiled entitled son of the Raw GM Kurt Angle, that we are all looking for him to turn into. The other is trying to keep the Shield relevant while Dean Ambrose is hurt. I think that this would be a great time to break up the champs that don’t seem to go together, and get the belts back on Sheamus and Cesaro, who have been a great tag team, and have been champions 3 times. So I will be picking Sheamus and Cesaro to be the new tag team champions.

                The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, 2 out of 3 falls for the WWE (SmackDown) Tag Team Championship: I don’t think I am alone in saying that the Usos may be the best tag team in the world in the past year. If not the world than most defiantly in the WWE. Gable and Benjamin have been on a good run lately. It took them a while to catch their footing, but I think they are finding their stride. It also looks like they are turning into more of a heel tag team. And with these teams going 2 out of 3 falls I think this has the chance be the match of the night. I think that Gable and Benjamin will make great champions, but not right now. They could possibly get the titles at Mania, but tonight I pick the Usos.

                AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn 2 vs. 1 match for the WWE Championship: Here we have an interesting match. On one side you have the WWE Champion AJ Styles, who is possibly the best wrestler in the world, and who puts on the best matches we have seen in a long time, versus not one, but two men, in a WWE Championship match. So if Zayn or Owens wins, both of them will be the champ (I think). Owens and Zayn have been carrying SmackDown every week with their mic work, and their feud with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan. But I don’t think you want to take the title off of AJ and send the title down a path that really won’t make much sense, leading to Mania. I think it will be better to have the championship stay with AJ going into Mania. AJ with the win.

                Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane triple threat for the WWE Universal Championship: This seems like the type of match where the whole ring implodes. Three of the biggest monsters we have seen. I have to be honest and say that I think we all know how this will turn out. When was the last time that Brock has lost a match? Survivor Series ’16? So I don’t see him losing before Mania. All of that is before you add in what the internet says the main event at Mania will be: Roman Reigns Vs Brock Lesnar. So with that said, Brock retains tonight.

                The Royal Rumble: Now this is what we are all here for. I think that the Rumble is entertaining most every single time. Again you all know how this works, 30 men enter the ring, you toss the men out over the top rope, and the last man standing is going to WrestleMania to face the champion of their choosing. Now every year they get all of the main guys, then they bring back a few legends to fill out the rumble. So since we are not worried about the legends, who is going to win? This is going to be weird. I normally don’t do this. Normally I have an answer and I stick with it, but today I have 3 winners. I think it could be Roman Reigns. Like I said the internet says Reigns and Brock will headline Mania again this year. So it could be Roman, or it could be Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura could win the Rumble, and go to Mania to face AJ Styles in match that will make the whole internet wrestling community lose its collective ish. Or lastly, it could be Daniel Bryan. Bryan wants to wrestle again, and for all intents and purposes, he has been cleared to wrestle by every other doctor except for the ones in WWE. So if he comes back, it could be in the Rumble. And if he comes back in the Rumble, you have to think that he is coming back for the win. Now I will admit, this one is straight from the internet. But if I had to narrow it down, I pick Nakamura.

                The Women’s Rumble: Tonight we have the pleasure of seeing history. The 1^st ever women’s Royal Rumble. This is a major opportunity for these women to make their mark like their male counterparts. I think in this Rumble we will see many legends. I think we will see Trish Strauss, Lita, Jacqueline, and we may see some others like Molly Holly, maybe Torrie Wilson, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Velvet Sky, or someone else from another promotion. I think that Nia should be the female Braun Strowman, so I would love for her to destroy all of the women in this match and win, but I don’t think this is happening. So if I have to choose, I will pick Asuka to win and go to Mania to take on Alexa Bliss. Though I could also see Ronda Rousey win the Rumble, and go on to face Charlotte at Mania.

                Well people, that is what I think. Let me know what you think. If you want to reach out to me you can catch me on twitter @the_varible. I will be doing more content from blogs to twitter to other mediums. If you like to hear someone who is a fan speak positively about wrestling, and not act like wrestling owes me anything, or I am smarter than the people who have been giving us wrestling since before most of us have been born, then please reach out, leave feedback, and let me know what you want to talk about. Enjoy the Rumble.

SummerSlam

Hello watchers of Wrestling

                It is time for the biggest wrestling event of the summer, SummerSlam.

It looks to be a jam packed show tonight, and you know that I like to do predictions for the pay per view (the big 4 at the very least), and with tonight’s show being so large, I am going to jump right into it.  

Akira Tozawa (C) vs Neville for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship:

I love Titus World Wide; I am hoping that I can join the group soon (holla at your boi Titus). Since joining Titus World Wide Tozawa has become a more well-known wrestler. He has worked his way up the ranks in the cruiserweight division, and on RAW he defeated Neville, and won the Cruiseweight Championship. Neville is having his rematch tonight. Now I would have thought that Tozawa would win the title tonight but he won on RAW, I wish they would have waited for the win to come at SummerSlam, but that is what they decided. I think Tozawa should win. Neville does not need the belt back yet, now in a few months after a few more cruiserweights have come along to become true contenders, then we can have him win it back.

The New Day (c) vs the Usos for the Tag Team Championship: (Sorry, but I hate making a distinction between the SmackDown and RAW championships. What is the need for that? The Champs on RAW, are on RAW, and vice versa)

This is another title switch that took place before SummerSlam that would have made more sense to wait until now. The New Day won the titles at Battleground a month ago. Now the way this feud was going, they could have waiting until tonight to make the change. Like I was saying about the last match, it does not make sense to have a change tonight, which is sad because their last few matches have been great, maybe the best on the pay per views, but I am afraid that again taking the belts off of them too early is going to take away from what would have been a great moment that they would have had on the SummerSlam stage. With that said I will pick the New Day.

The Hardyz and Jason Jordan vs The Miztourage:

This show is so full that a match that has the Miz on it may be on the preshow and it may only get a few minutes. This is a shame because I think that Miz and Jordan could have done somethings, with the Miztourage helping Miz out and him narrowly escaping. This maybe something that they do later with those guys, but again they were rushing to get these guys on the show. But this prediction blog, so I will pick the Hardyz and Jordan for the win.

Big Show Vs Big Cass:

This will be a popcorn match for me. I have to say I think that if Big Cass was going to fight anyone at SummerSlam it should have been Enzo. I don’t have much to say about this match, since there hasn’t been much thought put into it. So I will pick Big Cass to do what he has been doing since he and Enzo split, and that is kick someone in the face, and win the match.

John Cena vs Baron Corbin:

No offense to Corbin who may be a wonderful human being, but I think he is absolutely boring, and I am so glad that he does not have the “Money in the Bank” briefcase anymore. I do not think at least right now, that he is championship material. Nothing about him says that he is ready to be champion, and I for one, am glad that we don’t have to worry about that now. You know I don’t like to be negative, but I had to be honest. In this match I am picking John Cena.

Randy Orton Vs Rusev:

For all of my old blog readers (both of you), you know that I used to be the biggest Randy Orton fan. I used to love the old viper, the can’t be trusted, kick you in the head Randy Orton. And I know the rest of you on the internet will say he never did, but the Orton who seems to care a lot more than he does now. This guy just does not seem to care. That being said, it would be nice for Rusev to get the victory, and put him back on track to being somebody, but I don’t see that happening. Orton for the win.

Finn Balor Vs Bray Wyatt:

Think about this…..a year ago almost to the day, Finn Balor was crown the 1^st Universal Champion. And about 6 months ago Bray Wyatt won the WWE Championship. And now these 2 are in a much just because. I have no idea why they are fighting, and I don’t know what this does to bring either of them back into the main event scene. This does not make much sense, but I guess you had to do something with these 2. And they had a match on RAW where Balor lost and got covered in blood. I think we all can tell that tonight the “Demon King”, will show up. And since Bray won on RAW I pick Balor.

Naomi (C) VS Natalya for the Women’s Championship:

I think a lot of us see the writing on the wall when it comes to the Women’s Championship on SmackDown. We all think that it does not matter who wins this match because “Ms. Money in the Bank” Carmella will cash in and win the title, but since that is not a definite we will talk about this match. I think that Natty will win the match tonight. I think that she has a new attitude and she is going to take it out on Naomi tonight.

Cesaro and Sheamus (c) VsThe Shield for the Tag Team Championship:

The Shield, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins reunited on this week’s RAW. I don’t know if I told you all this, but I have never been the biggest fan of the Shield. I did not think they were a great faction. They would always jump people. They did not have great matches until right before they broke up. That being said I am excited to not only see these two back together, but I would love to see another member join them, but we talk about that later. So with all due respect to Sheamus and Cesaro, I pick the Shield to win.

Alexa Bliss (C) Vs Sasha Banks for the Women’s Championship:

This match was determined this week because of an injury to Bayley. So in her place Sasha is getting the title shot. I think if Bayley did not get hurt, she would have still lost the match, so I think that the same thing will happen. I think these two will have a good match but I think that in the end Little Miss Bliss will retain the title.

AJ Styles (C) Vs Kevin Owens for the US Championship:

Another 2 guys that 10 months ago were the world champions on different shows, now they are both on SmackDown, that is good, but they are fighting for the US title, which kind of takes away from the WWE title, if you ask me. I think these are the top guys on SmackDown, so why would they have a match for anything other than the world championship. But again, I will make my prediction. I think this will be a great match, and I think that AJ Styles will win tonight.

Jinder Mahal (C) Vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship:

Let me be one of the few to say this, I love Jinder as the WWE Champion. I think he is the Indian version of JBL from 2004-2005. I think he creates so much hate from the crowd which makes you always want he to get beat. And let me be the 1^st to say this, and I know you internet nerds will hate me after this, but hey I have to get my honest opinion without being mean, Nakamura is boring on the main roster. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t find him that great to watch on SmackDown, and him getting this title shot, may not help any. Now I think it is a mistake to take the title off of Jinder right now, especially for Nakamura, but I think that is the way it is going. So Shinsuke will win it.

Brock Lesnar (C) Vs Roman Reigns Vs, Samoa Joe, Vs Braun Strowman in a Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Universal Championship:

Now this is a SummerSlam main event. You have the 4 biggest figuratively and literally guys on RAW all fighting for the biggest title on RAW. I could see a scenario where all 4 men could win this match. I could see Strowman winning and continuing to dominate RAW for the next few months. I could see Joe winning, and choking everybody out, and if a certain someone gets back in shape, maybe they will have another set of matches like they had before. I could see Roman winning, and the Shield reuniting to run RAW but this time as baby faces and with championships and with purpose, unlike last time. And I could see Brock winning, and leaving WWE to fight Jon Bones Jones, in the UFC, and still have the Universal Championship. Now I could see all of that happening, but my prediction is………Roman Reigns will be our new Universal Champion!

Alright guys that is it for predictions. I am thinking about doing some new stuff with the blog, so if you could stay plugged in and let me know what you think about the new stuff. Enjoy SummerSlam everyone.

GBOF Predictions

Hello Watchers of Wrestling

                Today I am doing “Great Balls of Fire” predictions. I don’t know about you guys, but I have truly enjoyed watching the lead ups to this pay per view. I know that the consensus is that SmackDown is the better show, and it has the better storylines, but we I think we can all agree that there are some very interesting matches on this card.

                Let’s start with Neville vs. Akira Tozawa for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

                I have loved watching Titus O’Neal become the leader of his group with “Titus Worldwide” (though I have to admit, I miss the “Titus Brand”). Tozawa is the newest member of the group, and because of Titus, he is now the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight title. Neville has been champion for a long time. I don’t see him losing this match, but I think it will be entertaining for Titus Worldwide if nothing else.

                Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass

                This break up was in the works for a while. Like I said before I think that this is the same formula that we have seen from most tag teams, the Rockers, The Prime Time Players, Crime Time. Now I think that WWE could have gotten a lot more out of this group as a tag team, I mean they haven’t even won the tag team titles yet, but I guess WWE wanted to get these guys in singles competition as quick as possible. Now I as far as this watch, I think that these two can have matches from here until SummerSlam, so for them to do that, I think that Enzo wins either in a count out, or in a roll up pin of some kind, and Cass will not be happy about that.

                                Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

                Alexa has been on top of the Raw women’s division (you all know I hate that). After the gauntlet match on Raw 2 weeks ago I thought the other dominate woman on the (Nia Jacks) Raw would be in this match, but alas we are stuck with Sasha Banks getting yet another title match. I think these two will work well together since they are both about the same size. I predict Alexa will win this match just because I don’t see a reason for Sasha to have the belt. So I will take Alexa.

                                Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt

                Honestly this is my popcorn match. I don’t see why these 2 guys are having a match. It seems like they just put 2 guys together that they had nothing for, and they needed to put in a match. So with that said I really don’t have much of an opinion either way how this match will turn out. I will say Seth will win.

                                The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

                As you all know I am not a fan of Dean Ambrose. I think he is bad on mic, in the ring, and everything else. So I will make this short and sweet, I think Miz is going to win. He does way more for the IC title than Dean does. Don’t get me wrong, Miz is so deserving of another World title run, a long one at that, but if he does not have the IC belt, then the IC belt is meaningless (Think John Cena with the US title in 2015).

                                Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in an Ambulance match

                This is the match I am looking most forward to. As much as I do not like these kind of matches, I think that these two guys have amazing matches. They are just two big bruisers who are just going to beat the crap out of each other, and I will love it. I think Roman will win this match (sorry haters). I think Roman is headed to the main event at SummerSlam so I think he has to win tonight.

                                Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Samoa Joe Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

                They have been doing a lot to make Samoa Joe look super strong. He has super kicked and choked out Brock Lesnar. I am sure we all think that Brock will retain the title, and that is my official prediction, but I think that have made Joe look so good, that there is a small(20%) chance that he could win this match. But again Lesnar for the win.

                                Cesaro and Sheamus (c) vs. The Hardy Boyz 30-minute Iron Man match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

                Everyone thinks that it is time for the Hardy’s to become the “Broken Hardys” that we saw at the end of their TNA run. And now is the time that I predicit that this happens. I saw Cesaro and Sheamus win this match and the Hardys get hurt, take some time off and come back broken.

                               

                All and all this should be a great night. looking forward to it!