I'm getting a little tired of updating this every time they change it. Now, Jericho is back in and it's an elimination match. There's no way, in my mind, that Edge or Jericho comes out the champion here. The only outcomes I can see happening are 1) Sheamus retains and either drops it to Orton at Hell in a Cell or starts a feud with HHH if he's ready to return, 2) Orton wins the title and retains against Sheamus at HIAC, 3) Cena or Barrett wins and they face each other at HIAC. It's a shame John Morrison wasn't placed in the match as they could have had Jericho come out and attack him, causing his elimination. It would give Morrison a main event spot, wouldn't keep Jericho off the card completely, Edge could get a pin on someone (JoMo) but Morrison wouldn't look bad in the process. Perhaps they can flip the switch on this and have Morrison backstage at NOC talking to Jericho, who berates him, angering Morrison and causing him to come out and cost Jericho the match? Either way, I'd like to see Jericho and Morrison develop into an actual feud out of this match. Frankly, I'd be happy with any outcome that isn't Sheamus retaining, but with HHH being "top creative adviser" now, I wouldn't put it past him to book himself into a world title reign asap. Anyway, I'm glad to see Wade Barrett in here (along with them remembering that he has a title shot), and even though this is your standard "Night of Champions clusterfuck title match" where they throw a lot of main event stars together, you can't blame them, as it gets a lot of important guys on the card and doesn't cut the midcarders out completely in the process. They're booking Orton to be unstoppable lately, so that either means there's a 50/50 shot at him winning. Normally, the guy with the most momentum going into the ppv loses, but at the same time, they might want to really put Orton over. If HHH isn't ready to come back, we could see Orton win here, retain against Sheamus in a rematch at HIAC, and then possibly drop it to the Miz after that match, starting a feud between those two.
PREDICTION: I really hope Sheamus doesn't retain, but he probably will because he's been booked to look like shit lately.
Even though Kane is past his prime and Taker needs to go easy on himself because of all his injuries, I still am glad they're doing this feud. It won't be as good as it originally was, but why not have one last run, especially with Kane as the champion? I would LOVE to see them throw some more references to things in here, but they probably won't. What I'm talking about is, why not have Kane win this match by hitting the Undertaker with the urn? The people that know what that is will mark out, plus it keeps up the heel persona and seems like a slap in the face. I'd love to see Kane put on his mask again, too. Everyone complains and says "the mask won't make him better and you already know what he looks like, so what's the point", but the same goes for Rey Mysterio. Nobody questions that, because of the "tradition" aspect, so why is it such a leap of faith to have Kane just WANT to put the mask back on for psychological mind games? With all the caskets they're using, we could eventually see a casket match, which naturally, I'd like as well. Here's hoping no freak accidents happen to cut this feud short and that they deliver like they should.
PREDICTION: Kane should win here. If not, the whole angle is shot. They need to build up to Taker defeating him, possibly next month at Hell in a Cell.
SUCH a good move on their part. The tag team unification did a lot to help the state of that division and since there aren't a ton of divas (and certainly there isn't a majority of them that know what they're doing anyway), it makes perfect sense to unify the titles. I'm very, very glad they're going through with this, and I've been wanting it for a very long time. Now that it's officially Michelle against Melina (which I assumed would happen as Michelle is a better performer), I wouldn't be surprised at all to see either of them win. If it had been Layla against Melina, the clear cut winner would be Melina. Now that it's Michelle, I'm not so sure. The Lumberjill stipulation would predict that the face comes out here, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that they give it to Michelle simply because Melina has no real steam behind her and they seem to blindly love the LayCool stuff. I have no idea why, as Michelle is atrocious on the mic, but really, who has been getting more focus the past few months, Melina with her return or Michelle? Either way, having the titles combined is a great thing they're doing. Naturally, we shouldn't go into this expecting a Match of the Year 5-star type of performance, because it never is with the divas, but these are basically the two best in-ring women they have right now, so this is as good as it will get. Let's just hope the new title design isn't as ugly as the tag titles.
PREDICTION: Michelle comes out the unified champion and until they create a new title, Layla holds the women's belt and Michelle holds the diva's.
No surprises here. We all saw this coming. Even though it would make sense for Daniel Bryan Danielson to win the title here, seeing as how Miz will (or, should I say, SHOULD) win the WWE title in the next few months, I'd actually like to see the Miz retain. I've spoken before how I'm not the biggest supporter of DBD and I think if he's given a title this quickly, it's going to flop. That being said, I expect the Miz to drop it here or win by some kind of cheap method so that he can drop it later on to Bryan. I don't think they're going to have the Miz hold both the US and WWE titles at the same time.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan wins the title.
Uh...where's the title? This isn't even for a #1 contendership spot or something. Kind of a waste if you ask me. I don't think this is one of those matches that will really boost the buyrates or kill the ppv if it wasn't on the card. Chances are, since Big Show won all the previous encounters, that Punk will win here, especially since it makes no sense for him to be able to beat him if he couldn't do it in a handicap match, but usually that's the kind of thing that happens in the WWE. Punk will somewhat cheat and win.
PREDICTION: CM Punk wins.
The stipulation for this match is that if Ziggler gets counted out or disqualified, Kofi wins the title. Oddly enough, this seems like a match that could go either way. Do they book Kofi to finally be able to beat the guy that kept screwing him out of the title, thereby making Ziggler look like a weak champion, or do they give Ziggler another chance to retain? It seems like they might be gearing Kofi up for a heel turn. The frustration angle usually leads to that guy flipping out and attacking someone. If Ziggler retains, his next challenger could be MVP, Christian, or the more likely Kaval. If Kingston wins, he could be defending his title against Cody Rhodes, Alberto Del Rio, and Jack Swagger. I'd prefer Ziggler to retain as I don't want his title reign to be tarnished with no clean wins, but I could see this going either way.
PREDICTION: Dolph Ziggler retains by cheating and not getting caught. Kofi subsequently attacks a referee.
WWE Tag Team Championship: The Hart Dynasty (c) vs. ???
They've yet to announce the team that will be facing the Hart Dynasty for the tag titles, as they've completely ignored them for the past two months. It's a shame that even with a limited number of people and a more concise division, they still don't have the proper time management and focus to throw the tag titles the littlest of importance. I've been expecting that the Nexus will face them, but who knows at this point. It could be Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, it could be R-Truth and John Morrison, it could be someone new, who knows?Unfortunately, it looks as though they completely ignored the Million Dollar title as well. I know, I know, it's not a "legitimate" championship, but still, I'd have rather seen that defended than the non-title Big Show and CM Punk match.
What are your predictions for the pay-per-view? Leave your comments below.
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