PPV Predictions – WWE Unforgiven 2005

Quick note: I’ll post my results for the debut episode of Friday Smackdown on the site Monday, as well as a couple of other things.

So tomorrow’s another crappy PPV from World Wrestling Entertainment… I shouldn’t be negative; I’m sure Unforgiven will be a great card with lots of good in-ring action and… I shouldn’t kiss ass either, so let’s get this done.

For those who don’t know how this works, it’s simple: I predict who wins what announced matches. After the event has come and pass us over, I post the results and my own witty comments on the website. Nothing necessarily amazing, but we’ll see.

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Friday Night Thursday Smackdown Thursday (and also RAW)

No, this ain’t no lie. This is not a figment of my imagination. Straight from canada.wwe.com comes a reasonable facsimile of this image (before I destroyed it) confirming that Canada will be getting its share of Smackdown ONE DAY EARLIER than our neighbors down south. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky. Anyway, some quick thoughts… So RAW has come and passed. And since it was Labor Day yesterday, I got the day off and was able to sit down and watch the show. And what did WWE give me for this rare event? That’s right, boys and girls: a crappy show. Not in the sense that it was bad, but… the show has actually caused me to fall asleep! Never before had a wrestling show had caused me to fall asleep… save for a couple shows which made want to relieve myself in the commode. But seriously… to think this show was pretty decent a year ago, even with Crapper H on top. Not even the knowledge that we’re getting Smackdown a day earlier than UPN will make up for a pathetic RAW show. Which, I guess, brings us to the whole point of this post. Friday Smackdown Thursday – Debut Episode Predictions
 
Okay. I wouldn’t normally do something like this, but since the debut episode of Friday Night Smackdown already has a full card booked, I’d thought I throw in my predictions for the match. Just so you’d know, I posted this around 12:00 pm Tuesday morning, long before any spoilers get out. And even though I might check out spoilers when they get out Wednesday (or even on Thursday when the Score, a Canadian sports channel, shows Smackdown one day earlier), I’ll delay the actual posting of results until Sunday. So yeah, Friday Night Smackdown (or Thursday Smackdown Thursday in Canada – no, that’s not the real name, moron!) has a full card booked and a decisively difficult challenge ahead: presenting PPV-caliber matches within a one-hour block. Will it be a successful outing? Who knows? Of course, since we don’t the details of how the booking will be now that the show’s been cut in half, I’ll just list out the card as announced. If any matches get cut, we’ll find out. In any case, here are my predictions. Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan in a SUMMERSLAM REMATCH for the United States TitleMy pick is obvious: Chris Benoit. He’s been on such a roll lately: first he beats OJ for the title in half a minute, then defeats the coffee cup, then defeats the commode, and beats OJ again! All under a span of two minutes. So let’s up the ante a bit. Not only will Benoit beat OJ, but he will also beat him in LESS than 23.4 seconds! I guarantee it… since they somehow have to fit the match in a one-hour slot. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio in a Steel Cage SUMMERSLAM REMATCHWho’s your PAPI?! Nuff said… win, Unca Eddy, win! LOD2k5 (Animal and Heidenreich) vs. MNM (Mercury and Nitro) in a SUMMERSLAM GREAT AMERICAN BASH REMATCH for the (Teddy Long’s Smackdown) Tag Team Championship Heidenreich was reported to have left for Louisianna to find his family who have gone missing in the Katrina disaster. If this match happens, we might expect new tag team champions. Batista vs. John Bradshaw Layfield in a Bullrope SUMMERSLAM REMATCH for the (Teddy Long’s Smackdown) World Heavyweight Championship I’ve said it before… DAVE WINS. That’s it, now leave me alone! Later.

A Word on Power Rangers SPD

Didn’t get a chance to watch much of SPD so far. Sadly, a lot of it has to do with the ABC station pre-empting the show with alternate programming means and I don’t have the Family channel that normally houses these things otherwise. However, I did gauge a few reactions to the show and some of the… interesting edits made by the new creative head of sorts, Bruce Kalish.

More comic book style transitions is what I’m hearing… not sure if that’s the case because I’ve not seen any of this stuff myself, but that looks to bring this further into camp territory than it’s already been. I would have thought the near-future timeline of this series would have put a damper on that piece of business, but then I’ll read a recap and somewhere along the way, there’s mention of someone named Bridge being obsessed with butter.

I don’t know, guys. Am I really missing anything here?

Further Thoughts About This Bret/WWE Deal

Yeah, so I had a few more thoughts on this surprise deal with Bret Hart and WWE… and there are some concerns.

So there’s the fragile peace that exists between Bret and Vince, seemingly for the sake of putting together a DVD set of Bret Hart’s career. I’d imagine this is part of Bret’s motivation for participating in this project, since he was always conscious of how his legacy in the business would be perceived. I also have to imagine that Bret might have some inkling as to how WWE would have presented him had he not done the deal. After all, we all know about the Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD that WWE released recently – a glorified burial of Warrior that seemed a bit extreme. It wouldn’t have been outside the realm of possibility that a similar project would be in the works for Bret.

Later on, I’ve learned there were rumors regarding a possible title for the Bret set: “Screwed: The Bret Hart Story.” Somehow, I don’t think that title is going to stick if they want Bret to stick around… then again, I wouldn’t put it past Vince to be that petty.

 

The Handshake That Froze Hell

Hear that, kids? It’s the sound of Hell freezing over.

Now, you see that picture above? That’s the thing that froze Hell.

From WWE.com:

It was a sight many fans never thought they would see again, until now. Bret Hart and Vince McMahon met face to face today before shooting began for the upcoming DVD chronicling the Hit Man’s career.

During shooting, McMahon and Hart both talked about Bret’s beginnings, SummerSlam 1992, the historic Owen Hart-Bret Hart rivalry, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the infamous Montreal incident, Bret’s jump to WCW and much more.

Afterwards, the Hit Man said he was “happy with how everything went today,” regarding the Bret Hart-WWE joint production.

Should be interesting going forward.

The Death of McWrestling (Or Is It?)

(2019 Note: You know, this was the 105th post on the original DTM Blog and yet it has graced this new unified site as the overall 100th post. In all honesty, I could not think of a better “landmark” posting to mark the occasion. For the record, I’m using the expanded version that was later posted on the Webstation and not the blog original, which is shorter.)

Sometime in March 2001, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) had purchased all related assets of World Championship Wrestling from AOL-Time Warner after the company had lost close to $60 million in the previous year.

I’m not going to tell the story of how the company, who had reinvigorated the wrestling industry with the creation of the New World Order angle, went from top of the world to the bottom of the comode, since that story is well documented in the book entitled The Death of WCW by RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez. However, let’s go on with the fallout of that purchase… based on various internet sources, said book, and my own (vague) recollections. Some of this might be inconsistent, but I’m not in possession of a time machine.

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