Opinion by S_D

ANGER MANAGEMENT

June 13th, 2003

WWE Bad Blood Preview

The WWE puts on their very first American brand-only PPV this Sunday, with WWE Bad Blood taking the place of the now-deceased and not missed King of the Ring. I always liked the idea of King of the Ring, but WWE just has never had the creative capacity to make it good. Sort of like the current bradn extension. They had their best chance in 2000 with 6 tremendous workers in the tournament in Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Val Venis, and Crash Holly before he made the transition to "worthless comedy act". He was only halfway there at the time. We only had two very tremendously bad workers in the tourney, with Rikishi and Bull Buchanan. And, despite a 25% chance, one of those bad workers found their way to the finals. With that being said, I for one will not be missing King of the Ring. But will I be missing it after this first-ever American RAW only PPV? Remember, Insurrexion '02 and '03 were RAW-only PPVs, and Rebellion '02 was a Smackdown-only PPV, so don't believe WWE when they say these are the first single-branded PPVs ever. I guess that shows how much they care about their UK audience. As if the fact that not a single match had been announced up to the MORNING of the PPV wasn't enough of an insult.

WWE RAW Heavyweight Championship
Hell In A Cell
Mick Foley is the Special Guest Referee
Triple H (c) vs. Kevin Nash
On April 7th, Kevin Nash returned to RAW. By June 7th, we're already sick of him. This feud has dragged on and on since April, and it's tanking everything (as if things weren't tanking already). But this certainly is not helping. The 6 man match at Backlash was only watchable when HHH and Nash weren't in the match. And sure enough, it was those two oafs that WWE chose to stretch out two main event PPVs with. Their match at Judgment Day was, to put it nicely, absolute garbage. So, WWE decides to place the Hell In A Cell around it to try and mask HHH and Nash's very limited abilities. Then, however, projections were being made about a possible overtaking of WrestleMania 15's Undertaker\Big Bossman HIAC match as the worst HIAC match ever. Enter Mick Foley. Never one to give up a good quality book plug, WWE drug Foley out of whatever hole he lives in now as the special guest referee for the match. Despite the cell, don't look for this match to be anything special. Even with Foley in there, instead look for this match to indeed take over UT\Bossman's not-so-coveted spot. Personally, I'd love to see two snapped quads in this match. Just as a sidenote, this was the PPV in which Triple H was supposed to face and job the RAW Title to Goldberg, but with a few quick humps to the right person, he got his way and got the HHH\Goldberg match delayed until Summerslam. What a shock, right?
Prediction: Triple H retains the title

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
A match 12 years in the making. Two legends collide. WWE has done such a great job building up this match (HBK & Flair have certainly done their parts too), I am more interested in seeing this match than I am the main event. I'm sure everyone would agree that this match should be the main event, period. The last time these two met in the ring was in November 1991 when Michaels was still a part of The Rockers with Marty Jannetty, and Flair was still the REAL World's Champion. The promos and the on-screen emotion between these two has been nothing short of gripping. Flair and Michaels, despite their ages, still have tremendous working ability, cut good promos, and are two of the best fundamental American wrestlers in the history of the business. And look where they are; lackeys for two talentless goofs like Triple H and Kevin Nash. What a strange world that WWE is. Look for this to sorely outshine the main event. Since Flair's leit motif lately has been putting people over, I pick HBK to go over.
Prediction: Shawn Michaels

Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg
This rivalry goes back a long way farther than the WWE locker room. It goes all the way back to the WCW locker room. For those of you that don't know the history (and why don't you? WWE put Jericho's side of the story on their Bad Blood website), Jericho wanted to work a program with Goldberg in WCW during Goldberg's WCW Title reign, and all the big wigs in WCW, namely Bischoff, Hogan, and Nash, told Goldberg to refuse to work the program. This effectively peeved Jericho and this sparked an understood rivalry between the two. The legit rivalry lingered until it exploded a few months ago backstage when Jericho and Goldberg got in a brief scuffle. A scuffle which, by the way, saw Jericho completely own Goldberg with a front face lock. Stu Hart teaches them well. Sarge apparently doesn't. The TV interraction between these two has featured Jericho always getting the upper hand on Goldberg, so, expect Jericho to get slaughtered as Goldberg makes his way to Triple H. Unless Triple H humps someone some more.
Winner: Goldberg

WWE RAW Intercontinental Championship
Christian (c) vs. Booker T.
At Judgment Day, Stone Cold Steve Austin sanctioned a battle royal for the returning Intercontinental Championship. The battle royal came down to Christian and Booker T. Christian, probably paying tribute to Stone Cold's method to his 1997 Royal Rumble victory, came back in after he was eliminated outside the view of the referee and eliminated Booker to capture the IC Title. Booker's looking for revenge too, bah gawd. Ever since Christian won the title, he's constantly jobbed. Most recently to Goldust in a non-title match and to Booker in a tag match. Last week, Christian attacked Booker in the Spinaroonie contest, which featured some of that crack WWE camera work. Since we're in Houston for this PPV, and taking WWE's insistence on making hometown heroes look like total garbage into account, look for Christian to beat Booker. I predict this will be match of the night.
Winner: Christian retains the title

Winner gets Stacy Keibler's Managerial Services
Test vs. Scott Steiner
How the mighty have fallen, right Scott? You get brought in for two World Title matches on PPV, and then you don't even make the WrestleMania card, have to job to two very very green horns on PPV, and then forced to feud with Mr. Unrealized Potential himself, Test. I bet Scott saw his brother Rick on that WWA PPV last week defeat Mark Mercedes, and shed a tear watching the fans pop for Rick and actually complete his catchphrase for him. Anyways, after Test's failed face push #629, Test became Macho Man reincarnated and started being all mean to Stacy. And Steiner started being all, "Don't do that." And Test was all, "She's under contract to me." And Vince Russo was all, "Hey! They stole our Kid Kash\Trinity angle! I am the God of Wrestling!" And I was all, "..." This match will blow. Steiner wins and Test tries to grow his hair back.
Winner: Scott Steiner

WWE RAW Tag Team Championship
Rob Van Dam & Kane (c) vs. La Resistance
What a doozy we have here. RAW's tag team division is so thin that we are taking two very green young boys and already slapping them on PPV against the Tag Champs. Smackdown isn't so innocent either. I mean, is Roddy Piper & Sean O'Haire really the best you can do? Anyways, can someone tell me how these guys were able to bypass OVW? Wait, I'll take this time to humorously answer this question myself. I guess Pat Patterson was very impressed by the muscular ability of these two fellow French Canadians. But which muscular ability? Har. I normally would write off The Resistance until Kane became a wild card. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, Steve Austin came out on RAW two weeks ago and basically called Kane a pussy. And now, Kane and RVD have been at odds with each other. Look for the Frenchies to take the straps, while Kane turns on RVD and begins heel run #62. Because, of course, the solution to WWE's problems is giving Kane another push while ignoring those no-talent mid-card heels like Chris Jericho and Christian.
Winners: La Resistance wins the titles

The Dudley Boys vs. Rodney Mack & Christopher Nowinski
This will be Christopher Nowinski's first match on a PPV not called Royal Rumble. Of course, he was due to face Maven on Armageddon '02, but the wonderful organized company that is WWE dropped the match with no explanation. This will also be Rodney Mack's PPV debut. Ever since Theodore Long started the White Jobber Challenge (which, by the way, I was in attendance during the debut of this incredible segment) and Spike Dudley was the White Boy of the Week, a rivalry of sorts started between Mack and the Dudley Boys. One week, Mack faced Spike. The next week, Mack faced Bubba. The next week, Mack faced fellow "brotha" D-Von. During the D-Von match, Christopher Nowinski inexplicably ran-in on behalf of Mack. And now, we have an insta-feud. Looks like they are recycling the angle Nowinski did with D'Lo Brown before Brown was sent packing. And just like that angle, it was never explained why Brown and Nowinski became buddies. Except, of course, this angle has the added advantage of Hatorade.
Winners: Rodney Mack & Christoper Nowinski

I would have rather seen Orton vs. Hurricane done on the PPV and then Dudleys vs. Mack\Nowinski on RAW. But what does my opinion matter? I'm just a customer that has potential to put money in WWE's pockets. No big deal. The only matches I'm looking forward to is Flair\HBK and Christian\Booker. If you're wondering why I'm not looking forward to Goldberg\Jericho, who wants to watch Jericho get killed again? Not me. Oh yeah, there's some Redneck Triathlon thing going on between Bischoff and Austin. But the NBA Finals are on, so screw that.

S_D
©2003, WrestlingDB.