WWE Night of Champions 2011 PreviewBy Chris Blackwood| September 18, 2011 WWE Blogs Well hey you!! Firstly and foremost I just wanna say a quick thanks to you, the lovely, lovely person who’s taken time out of their hectic schedule to read this article, and those of you who read my Summerslam preview. Thanks to good folks like yourselves, Kam’s given me the opportunity to do more of these little articles. Which is pretty darned sweet, so thanks. Right, let’s get on and see what’s going down tonight shall we? Divas Championship Match Kelly Kelly © vs. Beth Phoenix Ooooooooh, now I was quite impressed with my prediction last time for their Summerslam match, but this one I’m a bit unsure about. I mean this has to be where Beth takes the title, right? Right? The Divas of Doom (or whatever their finally going to settle of being called) have been amazing since Nattie and Beth got together. They set things up so nicely for them, with pretty much identical heel turns within the same week, and since then I’ve just been enamoured with everything they’ve done (and good lord…THOSE dresses. You know what I mean). It seems to me that the next logical step to this whole Divas of Doom angle is that Beth has to take the title. Where it goes from there, well your guess is as good as mine, but I’m guessing that no doubt at some point down the line there’s going to be the HUGE fallout between Nattie and Beth that’s inevitably going to make Jimmy Redman cry. But that’s not happening any time soon, so I say we sit back and enjoy Divas being entertaining as all heck right now. Just for a quick word on Kelly Kelly, is it just me, or has she been a little bit too smug since Summerslam? Like, a month ago I was totally pulling for her to get the “impossible” win against the Glamazon as the babyface in peril, but man, ever since then all I’ve wanted to see is Beth and Nattie wipe the smug looks off her and Eve’s faces. How fickle am I? Let’s make some predictions shall we? Once again we’ll head down the “who I think will win / who I want to win” route. Who I want to win: Beth Phoenix. It just makes sense. This should be the starting block for the Divas of Doom to really start a swathe of destruction through the Divas Division. Who I think will win: Hmmm…interesting. They could go with Kelly again, and maybe try and prolong the angle. But then we fall into the territory of waiting too long to pull the trigger, and the win doesn’t mean as much as it could have done a month or so previous. Screw it, I’m gonna say Beth for this as well. WWE seem to have been doing a slightly better job of taking care of angles recently, so I’ve got faith they’ll do (what I consider) the right thing in this match. WWE Tag Team Championship Match Air Boom © vs. The Miz & R-Truth TAG TEAMS!!! Seriously, you cannot believe how excited I’ve been about the sudden re-emergence of tag teams recently (that’s something for my next article, if you’re interested), and my favourite team as of this very moment? Why, it’s Miz & Truth of course! For some reason this just works soooo well. Miz just seems to be built for tag teams, and now Truth has a straight man accompanying him, it makes his crazy schtick so much greater than it already was. Take this past Monday on Raw for instance, they just looked and felt like a real team. Two guys on the same page, with the same agenda, working towards the same goals. Then they go and compound all of that by performing each other’s catchphrases, and having a “team pose”. Yes. Just a million times yes. And Air Boom are a fine little babyface team too. They’re still finding their feet, but they too are trying to put all the little touches in to show their a team. You know what would do them wonders? Their own proper tag team music. At the minute they look a little bit awkward on their entrance, get them some shared music so they can enter together as a team and they’re laughing. So yeah, we have a Tag Team Title match on PPV, and frankly I couldn’t be more excited. TAG TEAMS, PEOPLE!! TAG!! TEAMS!! Who I want to win: Miz and Truth. Come on, these guys as Tag Champs? That’s just made of brilliance. Who I think will win: Miz and Truth. No doubt by some nefarious means, and giving us our first tag feud of this bold new age. Excited? I am. United States Championship Match: Fatal 4 Way Dolph Ziggler © vs. Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison I’m firmly Team Ziggler for this one. Right now in my eyes Dolph can do no wrong. He’s a bumping machine that just makes everyone he’s against look great, his promos are coming along nicely, and he’s worked hard on his ringcraft, which has seemingly paid dividends. All this from “that guy from the Spirit Squad”. Well done sir. I’m probably gonna get flayed by some of you folks for saying this, but for me Ziggler is this generation’s Mr. Perfect. The clue is in the entrance music! This should actually be a pretty cool match, I’ve just got this niggle that Alex Riley could end up walking out as US Champ, which is waaaaaay too soon to be putting a belt on that guy. He’s doing a fine job at the moment as a new babyface, but I don’t think he’s ready for a title run yet. What slightly worries me is that I can see this match just being an extension of the Dolph/Vickie/Swagger triangle that’s going on. I’m completely expecting Swagger to cost Dolph the match after Monday night’s shenanigans, and Riley to pick up the win. I’m pretty much certain that Jo Mo isn’t winning. He’s gonna get his usual parkour spot in, then no doubt get taken out. Let’s see if we can’t make some predictions on this one. Who I want to win: Dolph Ziggler. I want Dolph to win, and maybe even ditch Vickie Guerrero in the process. It’s about time that young man struck out on his own and started getting his own heat. Who I think will win: Alex Riley, due to the above reasons. In fact, as long as it’s a short title reign (which is ended by a reinvigorated solo Ziggler) then it wouldn’t be that bad, I guess? Intercontinental Championship Match Cody Rhodes © vs. Ted Dibiase You’ve got to feel for Ted Dibiase. Left in limbo for two years, struggling, treading water, being made into a lackey for the guy everyone thought was gonna be the “Jannetty” of Legacy. Poor Ted. But at least their finally following through with a babyface push for him (two years too late, but hey). Now this match I’m hoping will bring about something of a resurgence for these two gents. I’m hoping we get a babyface Ted, who the crowd can get behind. I’m sure there’s some personality in there just waiting to burst out, but if he’s gonna make it happen for himself, he needs to do it quick. I’m also hoping that a decent feud with Ted will bring Cody back into his own, giving him something to focus on other than the (now tedious) paper bag schtick. This should be a match of two guys who know each other implicitly, finally colliding to thrash out ill feeling and resentment. This could potentially be a fantastic match, and a much needed shot in the arm for both guys (fingers crossed). Who I want to win: Hmmm…Cody I think. Just to give Ted some babyface sympathy, and to get the crowd behind him. Who I think will win: Probably Cody, again to get some audience support for Ted. World Heavyweight Championship Match Randy Orton © vs. Mark Henry Go back 12 months and imagine if I said to you “World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry”. You’d have laughed in my face, right? Well not anymore folks. Tonight could very well be the night that Mark Henry becomes World Heavyweight Champion. Why? Have you been watching the shows for the last few months? Mark Henry is on the streak of his life. The last few months have erased 15 years of mediocrity out of my mind. I buy into Mark Henry as a legitimate threat this time round, and watching him destroy everything in his path recently has been a joy to behold. After the push Henry is riding high on at the moment, I honestly can’t see any good reason not to put the strap on the guy. In fact, Henry’s heel run has to culminate with him winning the title, as it just offers up so many opportunities to create a great babyface story and build up whoever they wish to push into the main event next. To be absolutely honest with you, I’d much rather see a nice program between Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan leading up to DB cashing at WMXXVIII against the Monster champion who’s undefeated in however many months it will have been by ‘Mania season, over watching Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the title. Smackdown needs a dominant heel that a face can be built up against, and for better or worse Mark Henry is that man. It’s a chance for WWE to build a face up to overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, with John Cena nowhere to be seen. I’m all for that, and it’d inevitably mean we get another Sheamus vs. Mark Henry match, which isn’t a bad thing at all… Who I want to win: Mark Henry. The dude’s earnt it. Who I think will win: Mark Henry. If he was ever to win the Heavyweight Title, now is the time to do it. WWE Championship Match Alberto Del Rio © vs. John Cena I don’t know why, but I’m not feeling this feud. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it, I’m just not into this as much as I thought I’d be. I’ve been waiting for Del Rio to be champ for a while, and now he is…I dunno, it just doesn’t feel as awesome as it should. It’s not even as if it’s ADR’s fault, the guy has done everything right, but I can’t seem to get motivated for this match. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t seem “real”? We’ve gone from Punk and Cena having this epic feud that just blew most people’s minds to…this. It’s like Cena’s trying to apply Jimmy Redman’s “we’re all shootin’ brother” philosophy in absolutely the wrong feud. In fact if there was ever a feud where John Cena needs to just stick to being good ol’ PG-13 John Cena, then it’s this one. ADR isn’t the kinda guy you try to shoot on with snidey lines about “his car’s are all really rented, LOLZ”. We know this John, but we choose not to pay attention. It’s not really dropping a “pipebomb” is it? All we need from the feud is Del Rio being the cocky brash champion, and John Cena being regular old John Cena. Well there you go, I never thought I’d say John Cena should just stick to being “5 moves of doom/hustle loyalty respect/merch shifter extraordinaire”, but seriously that’s all I think this feud requires, instead of him over thinking it and trying to get “insider” in a situation that doesn’t warrant it? Right, let’s get my predict on. Who I want to win: ADR. Del Rio needs to cement his title win, and beating Cena would help to lend some legitimacy to his reign. I don’t expect him to win cleanly, but it’d be kinda cool if he could. Who I think will win: There was a time where I’d have probably said “Cena, again (sigh)”, but this is the brave new WWE, where they actually seem to be making an effort now to build for the future. I think they’re gonna go with ADR too. No DQ: If Triple H loses he resigns as WWE COO HHH vs. CM Punk CM PUNK!! CM PUNK!! I think we’re all aware I’m a HUGE mark for CM Punk by now, so obviously I’ve got a bit of fan bias going into this thing. Plus, I wasn’t expecting to be writing a prediction for this particular match for another couple of months. But ho hum, we are where we are. So Nash is out, Hunter is in, and we’re getting what was no doubt to have been the final chapter of this saga very early on in the proceedings. Sure the angle has petered out a little. Sure the face off on last week’s Raw was a bit…well…meh, to be honest. But I’m still into this, we’ve still got some mystery going on, and I think this match could set the whole angle off again, just on a slightly different tangent to what we all originally thought. Let’s take a look at this rationally. If Hunter loses this match, he loses his position as COO. Who could reap the rewards of Hunter going, and who would want him to stay exactly where he is? Who could cost Trippers the match, and who could be looking to help him out? There’s most definitely gonna be some kind of shenanigans going down, but who’s going to be trying what to whom? (Confused yet?) Let’s look at potential suspect number one, Johnny Ace. Sorry that’s *adopts croaky voice* Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Lauranaitis. You just know John boy has his eyes on Hunter’s job. And what’s all the business with Nash in the limousine? You gotta think if anything goes down, Johnny Ace has to be the mastermind behind it. But will he get away with it? You have to imagine that Steph has a vested interest in this match. Right now her and her hubby dearest are THE power couple in the WWE, but if Trippers loses his place as COO, well all that will change quickly. Is Steph desperate enough to take measures to make sure her husband wins? If previous history is anything to go by, then yes, yes, a thousand times yes. What about Nash himself? Not only does Big Daddy Cool have issues with Punk, but he’s now got have an agenda with HHH after being fired by his supposed best friend. Could the man who was formerly Oz get involved in this match, and if so who is Nash gonna be gunning for? This is all so damn confusing. Literally anything could happen. The no DQ stip means that anyone could appear at anytime and attempt to end the match to suit their own needs. I honestly have no idea who winning, what’s going to happen, or how this will change things within the WWE, but it’s gonna be one hell of a ride finding out. For the third consecutive PPV a CM Punk main event is gonna have me on the edge of my seat, and I couldn’t be happier! Right, let’s get some predictions up in this bizzle. Who I want to win: Come on now. Who d’you think? CM PUNK!! CM PUNK!! CM PUNK!! Who I think will win: Pfft. I dunno? Flip a coin, that’s probably as much use to you as my “educated” guess. I’m gonna say Trippers, but whoever wins I have not a single doubt in my mind that it’s only going to come after some of the craziest shenanigans you’ve ever seen. So there you go. Night of Champions in a nutshell. Are you hyped? We’ve got two ACTUAL Tag Teams competing for the Tag Team Titles like they’re worth a damn. We’ve got a resurgent Divas Division looking like it’s about to get a shake up. We’ve got Mark Henry about to become THE baddest man on the planet, and we’ve got Punk and the boss going toe to toe. My name is dsrchris, and I officially love the WWE again. 😀
