Getting excited about Wrestlemania yet or just trying to work out if your local cable company will let you see it on PPV? Thankfully, this weekends ‘No Way Out’ doesn’t have those kind of problems attached and for once I can settle down to watch a WWE PPV, trouble is it’s a Smackdown event, or is it?
I figure at least three matches at Wrestlemania 21 will be confirmed as a result of what happens this Sunday and it’s also going to be one of the few PPV’s that feature wrestlers from Smackdown and Raw, though certain participants are most definitely not on the guest list. So time to preview ‘No Way Out’.
WWE Title: Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match: JBL v The Big Show
Can JBL make it to Wrestlemania as WWE Champion? Sadly, I believe the answer is most definitely in the affirmative. I just can’t see Big Show being given the title at this late stage. So it’s a barbed wire steel cage match for the first time in WWE but I don’t think this is going to be a Terry Funk v Mick Foley Japanese style match do you? Will it be real barbed wire? Doubt it, after all Orton and Triple H are hardly scarred to pieces after all those times being hit with a barbed wire baseball bat are they? This may be a Smackdown title match but there’s a lot more at stake than seeing if JBL can keep his title as a certain Batista is rumoured to be on his way to the PPV.
The feud between JBL and Big Show has been ok so far despite it being a three-way feud in the first place. Last weeks Godzilla storyline was clever but how many more times can we see Big Show being attacked by the crappy cabinet? In many ways Big Show is totally irrelevant in this match. He’s not going to win the belt and won’t be feuding with either JBL or Batista at Wrestlemania. More attention is going to be focused on Batista especially after his appearance on Smackdown this week. It’s becoming traditional for Raw stars to appear on this PPV, last year it was Goldberg, this time I can see as many as three poking their nose into Smackdown’s affairs.
I can’t believe Batista is falling for all this, surely he must realise that Triple H is running scared of him? I don’t for a moment believe that Batista will end up challenging JBL and the Number One challenger for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania, do you? Too much time has been spent working on the Triple H v Batista feud for him to move to Smackdown. Then again, if, as I believe, JBL will drop the title at Wrestlemania, perhaps he could then turn face and move to Raw to feud with Triple H as revenge for all the hassle he’s received.
So what’s going to happen on Sunday? Well obviously I see JBL keeping the belt but how will Batista affect the result? I expect him to interfere even though this is in a cage so look for a DQ result.
Number One Challengers Match: John Cena v Kurt Angle
Sadly I feel there’s an air of inevitability about this match but it could also herald the beginning of what is bound to be one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the year. I’m talking of course about the first ever match between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. It all began at the Rumble and after the mention on this weeks Raw, it looks as if Michaels could well be on his way to No Way Out this Sunday. If that happens of course then you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s John Cena who will be challenging JBL for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 21. Angle v Michaels, wow that could be one hell of a match as long as both are reasonably fit, you can never tell with these two.
Bu what about Cena? I’m not sure if he’s ready for the main event yet. When was the last really good Cena match? One of those battles with Booker T perhaps? Sure it’ll be a good run-up to the match with Cena constantly humiliating JBL and the champ is good at being humiliated that’s for sure. Just show him some old Bradshaw matches, that’ll do the trick. So as you might have guessed already, I’m going for Michaels to run-in and cost Angle his WWE Title shot and fulfil the dreams of thousands of wrestling fans.
WWE Cruiserweight TItle: Funaki v Akio v Shannon Moore v Chavo Guerrero v Paul London v Spike Dudley
Now Funaki has had his moment of glory in Japan, isn’t it time for the jobber to give up the belt or at least start a decent feud? Why can’t Vince spend some time thinking up a decent feud for the cruiserweight title, it just seems that he groups together all the wrestlers he has and bungs them into a title match. Having seen the London v Akio match on Velocity last week, I’d love to see Paul London be given a run with the belt and perhaps revive his feud with Kidman. Or perhaps Chavo could be given the belt again, anyone but Funaki please. As there’s been little or no build-up to this match it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen but at a guess I’d go for Guerrero to get the belt back.
WWE Tag Titles: Basham Brothers v Mysterio/Guerrero
A year ago at this PPV, Eddie Guerrero became WWE Champion, now he’s relegated to being the mystery partner for Rey Mysterio, something he’d never have if RVD wasn’t injured. What is it with the tag divisions? Do teams fight for the right to challenge for a title or do they just get formed at the blink of an eye and then given a title shot? The Bashams are of course part of the crappy cabinet and only have one gimmick, in that they look a bit like each other and can do that boring, seen it a million times swap that wins them most of their matches. I really dont care who wins this match as it grieves me how bad the tag division is. What would interest me is if there was some heat developed between Rey and Eddie. While Eddie was tagging with Booker T, Mysterio got some pins over Eddie. Now if one of the pair was to mess up this weekend and cost them the match, could that lead to a feud between the two? Now that would be interesting. I go for the Bashams to win and beg the challengers to fall out with each other.
The Undertaker v Luther Reigns
Time for another big guy to be a fallguy for the Undertaker. Where is all this leading? Well I can’t see Undi v Reigns at Wrestlemania and that rumoured feud with Angle looks a no-go as well. The talk is that there’ll be an inter-brand match between Undi/Kane and Snitsky/Heidenreich. That wouldn’t be too appalling but how do you set it up? The Raw competitors did get involved in the Undi v Heidenreich match at the Royal Rumble so perhaps Raw could be running a coach party to No Way Out and Mr Snitsky could get involved. I go for an Undertaker win unless of course outside interference comes into play.
That’s just five matches so I’m sure something else will be added on Sunday. Booker T v Heidenreich must be a possibility and perhaps another Torrie Wilson v Hiroko match. It’s not a bad card that’s for sure but most interest is going to be on who interferes from Raw.
Stephen Ashfield