Judging the Sentimental Champion
So it’s time for little Rey Mysterio, the jobber from Smackdown to make his first ever PPV defence. Could a title change be on the way? Time to preview ‘Judgemet Day.’
World Heavyweight Title: Rey Mysterio v JBL
See where sentiment gets you Vince? You’re lumbered with a World Heavyweight Champion who probably got nervous when he heard the juniors were being cut. Mysterio as champ is just a joke, he belongs in the cruiserweight division or better still sent to ECW so he can try and recapture those classic matches he had in that company, then again looking at his match at last year’s One Night Stand he’s probably not even capable of that anymore.
See where sentiment gets you Vince? You’ve turned me into someone who wants to see JBL win the title. That’s from someone who hated his previous run as champion and can’t stand all this racist crap that comes out of his mouth.
Since Mysterio became champion thanks to a great star passing away, he’s had a good match with Kurt Angle ridiculously cut short by yet another Mark Henry interruption and little else. In fact he’s been totally humiliated by Henry, Khali and Kane which is hardly the way to treat a champion is it? It’s not even as if his opponents have been really cheating to get the upperhand, Khali just destroyed him and this is the World Heavyweight Champion!
The terrible fact is though I get the feeling that JBL might not win the title this Sunday. Surely Vince is just making Mysterio the ultimate underdog who continues to surprise us and win when it matters. Hey, it just dawned on me Rey Mysterio is the Mikey Whipwreck of the WWE.
This could be a reasonable match if not predictable. Rey will get his 619 in, JBL will bleed a lot and Mysterio probably get a surprise victory at the end. See where sentiment gets you Vince? I’m even looking forward to the return of Batista now!
King of the Ring Final: Booker T v Lashley
What a mess this tournament has been. Take a look at the Bret Hart DVD and the KOTR where he had to wrestle throughout the night and still put on some great matches. This tournament has been wrestled on Smackdown and I can’t see why the semi-finals could have been on the PPV if they really want this to mean anything at all.
It started to go wrong when Kurt Angle had to withdraw, why the heck put someone who has injuries problems anywhere near Mark Henry? If Angle is fit to wrestle Henry at this PPV, a decision to have the semi-finals of the KOTR tournament at Judgement Day would have meant he wouldn’t have had to withdraw from the tournament. Why not let him delay the semi, after all he was up against the King of the injury claim, Booker T.
So we’re left with Booker v Lashley and it looks as if Booker is going to get the title and then go onto feud with the returning Batista. Then again what if Batista was to turn up at Judgement Day and cost him this match? To be honest I’d rather see Lashley win as that gives him so momentum perhaps even a crack at the vacant US Title if JBL were to win the belt.
WWE Tag Titles: MNM v London/Kendrick
OK answer me this, why have MNM the tag champs continually embarrassed on Smackdown? Like Mysterio it just weakens their position. All you needed was the usual non-title win by London/Kendrick leading to the title shot at the PPV. Why are London and Kendrick in the tag ranks anyway? Shouldn’t they be in the cruiserweight division?
This should be an ok match and part of me wants to see MNM lose the belts so they could jump to Raw. Heaven knows the Raw tag division needs some help and also it would put Melina into the women’s division. However I see MNM keeping the titles but they’ll lose them soon.
WWE Cruiserweight Title: Gregory Helms v Super crazy
Well at least the belt gets defended on the PPV which is good news. It was gaining a bit of momentum before Helms got injured but seeing a Number one challengers match just used to try and persuade us that the Great Khali is a threat wasn’t impressive.
This should be a decent match and hopefully will start a series of matches between the pair unless the challenger is off to ECW. I go for Helms to keep the belt.
The Undertaker v The Giant Khali
Aren’t we the lucky ones eh? The Part-time Taker is actually going to make an appearance against the Giant Grunter. What is it with Undi? Smackdown is still struggling in my mind and needs all the big names it can get at the moment. With Orton suspended, Batista still out and Angle often injured Undi can’t be appearing about once a month.
This has been an oh so typical feud. Undi has a chance to win the title, out comes a manager who doesn’t like him with a new monster who proceeds to beat Undi up. Cue commentator saying “I’ve never seen anyone do this to the Undertaker”, well apart from Kane, Bundy, Gonzalez, Henry etc etc. Then he takes time off with his lovely wife and everyone wonders if we’ll ever see him again. Hey a PPV cheque usually drags him out of bed (coffin?).
So what can we expect from this match? Well, in my book The Giant Khazi, sorry Khali, is the uncrowned World Heavyweight Champ after what he did to Mysterio but that’ll never be followed up as this man has no future in the company. Undi will beat him that’s for sure and make Mysterio look an even weaker champ. What next for The Undertaker? How about resurrecting the feud with Kurt Angle, now that really is entertaining.
Kurt Angle v Mark Henry
So one minute Angle is champion and now he’s in mid-card against the useless Mark Henry and no future feud planned as yet. I can’t get excited about any match that includes Henry, can’t they just find him a tag partner and shove him into that division. I go for Angle to win but just pray his idiot opponent doesn’t injure him somehow.
Chris Benoit v Finlay
This should be a great match if you’re a fan of wrestling. Most WWE fans don’t totally fit into that category so the merchandise stands will do well during this match. Benoit needs a win to give him some momentum and hopefully he’ll get it here unless this match sees the debut of the evil leprechaun that is!
Melina v Jillian Hall
A bit of a time filler for sure and with so few women on Smackdown it doesn’t exactly herald the beginning of a women’ division. This means very little unless used to build up the tag match. I go for Melina to get a dodgy victory.
All in all this isn’t a bad PPV. The title matches look ok and Benoit v Finlay could be entertaining. An appearance by Batista would be interesting too.
Stephen Ashfield