Opinion by S_D

World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Benoit vs. Triple H

Chris Benoit:
4-0 on PPV in 2004

Triple H:
1-2-1 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: This is a feud that stretches back to January, although it’s had some downtime recently while HHH dealt with Shawn Michaels. Benoit won the Royal Rumble, and through a legal loophole, jumped to RAW the next night. Benoit eventually went on to the main event of WrestleMania XX to defeat World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and Shawn Michaels in perhaps the greatest triple threat match in company history to claim his first world title. Benoit bested both men again in their rematch at next month’s RAW PPV Backlash, held in Benoit’s backyard of Edmonton, Alberta. HHH splintered off with HBK for a while before setting his sights back on the Rabid Wolverine. But this feud has a new twist. Eric Bischoff gave HHH the shot in return for eliminating his “special” nephew, Eugene Dinsmore, from RAW. HHH had other ideas. HHH saw the admiration and love Eugene had for him, so instead if eliminating Eugene, he made him his friend. However, months earlier, Benoit had cemented his friend status with Eugene by choosing to be Eugene’s partner in a match against Garrison Cade & Jonathan Coachman. HHH used his power to strike away the respect between Eugene and Benoit, despite Eugene visibly not wanting to. Over the past few weeks, HHH has made Eugene one of the boys; an honorary member of Evolution. Eugene has showed loyalty, hesitant as it may be, as he has done HHH’s bidding against the likes of Benoit and Edge on RAW. It will be interesting to see what kind of factor Eugene plays in this main event. Will he turn on HHH, realizing that The Game is just manipulating him for his own desires? Will he assist HHH in becoming a world champion for the 10th time? Will he remain largely indifferent? Eugene’s allegiance, or lack thereof, will more than likely decide who walks out of Vengeance as the World Heavyweight Champion.

NON-KAYFABE: All right, so the big question here is whether or not Benoit’s reign is going to come to an end here. Despite saying they wanted Eddie Guerrero’s WWE Title reign to be long-term, it wasn’t which shows you that they simply book week-to-week. The possible options for SummerSlam here are HHH winning the title and defending against Edge, or Benoit retaining and facing HHH in a rematch with HHH winning the strap. Also, it’ll be interesting to see if they pull the trigger on some sort of definite stance for Eugene. Wrestling logic says, since HHH pinned Benoit on RAW, Benoit should retain at the PPV. But HHH has before shown that he is bigger than wrestling logic. This should easily be the best match of the night.

WHAT I WOULD DO: Edge simply isn’t working right now. What I would do is have Benoit retain the title on a whim, with Eugene still showing no alliance. HHH comes out on RAW the next night and viciously deceives Eugene and Eugene stands firmly behind Benoit for SummerSlam. But HHH overcomes and wins the title back, thus setting off a chain of events with Eugene and Evolution eventually leading to the big showdown between HHH and Eugene. Eugene is red hot right now and I think it needs to be capitalized on.

PREDICTION: Chris Benoit retains the World Heavyweight Championship
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Intercontinental Championship
Randy Orton vs. Edge

Randy Orton:
3-0 on PPV in 2004

Edge:
2-0 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: Randy Orton is the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion since The Rock’s 2nd reign from December 1997 to August 1998. Edge was on the sidelines for over a year until he came back on the night of the Draft Lottery, making his much-speculated jump to RAW official. Edge has let it be known since returning that he’s sick of the way things have been going on. A few weeks ago on RAW, Orton defended his strap against the enigmatic one. That match and every encounter therein has seen Orton get the upper hand with some sort of outside interference from the legendary 16-time World Champion and fellow Evolution member “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Edge last week made his motives clear as crystal in a confrontation with HHH. Edge has grown tired of Evolution running the show and plans to begin his single-handed destruction of RAW’s power-wielding super stable this Sunday at Vengeance by taking the Intercontinental Championship from Randy Orton.

NON-KAYFABE: The original main event for this show was supposed to be Benoit vs. heel Edge for the title, but he’s not, which shows you WWE lacks confidence in him main-eventing at this point. Judging from Edge’s promo on RAW, the next step for him seems to be HHH. Even though SummerSlam is in Toronto this year, I still don’t think its Edge’s spot to be in the main event of that show. I’m sure this match wouldn’t even be these two guys if Shelton Benjamin had not gotten injured.

WHAT I WOULD DO: Edge is a hard case right now. I don’t personally know what I would do. I think it would be fair to have Evolution (HHH in specific) screw him out of the title, which would send Edge on a chase (which he would fail at) after HHH wins the belt back from Benoit, whether it be at Vengeance or SummerSlam. I know that putting him in a high-profile feud with HHH and him losing might kill his credibility as a future main-eventer, but I just don’t see Edge as a world champion right now.

PREDICTION: Randy Orton retains the Intercontinental Championship
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World Tag Team Championship
La Resistance vs. Ric Flair & Eugene

Sylvan Grenier:
0-2 on PPV in 2004

Robert Conway:
0-3 on PPV in 2004

Ric Flair:
2-1 on PPV in 2004

Eugene:
1-0 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: HHH over the past weeks has manipulated Eugene into thinking he’s one of the boys by making him an honorary member of Evolution. Last Monday on RAW, Eric Bischoff was away on business, so he made his nephew Eugene the acting General Manager of RAW for one night. During this night of power, Eugene decided to take advantage of his ability and made a match with one of his new friends. After watching La Resistance successfully defend their World Tag Team Championships against Rhyno & Val Venis, Eugene decided to create his own title match for Vengeance. La Resistance will defend against Eugene and his chosen partner, Ric Flair. How will Flair & Eugene co-exist? Better yet, what will happen if they end up winning the titles?

NON-KAYFABE: This is more than likely going to be your comedy match of the night. With Flair thrown in the mix, it’s sure to be some entertaining stuff. The match should be all right as long as Conway sees most of the work in the match.

WHAT I WOULD DO: Definitely keep the belts on La Resistance. We don’t need to bring back the wacky-tag-champs-who-hate-each-other gimmick because we just had that on SmackDown! with Rico and Charlie Haas. I think what needs to be played up here is the fact that all of Evolution really hates Eugene except for HHH. They’ve danced around it recently, but I think it needs to be turned up.

PREDICTION: La Resistance retains the World Tag Team Championship
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Chris Jericho vs. Batista

Chris Jericho:
2-1 on PPV in 2004

Batista:
2-0 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: A few weeks ago during a tag team match, Batista knocked out Chris Jericho with a deadly clothesline that sent the King of Bling-Bling reeling. Jericho had to be taken out of the match by referees, leaving his tag team partner Edge all by his lonesome. When RAW returned to the homestead of Jericho in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he was invited with a plethora of other superstars to partake in a game of musical chairs, set up by acting RAW General Manager, Eugene. Jericho ended up being the sole survivor, and Eugene rewarded Jericho’s musical chair prowess with an Intercontinental Title match with Randy Orton. Jericho had Orton in the Walls of Jericho, and seemed to be a few moments away from achieving a record-breaking 7th Intercontinental Title reign (Jeff Jarrett and Jericho are tied for the record at 6). That is, until Batista involved himself and allowed Orton to score a quick roll up victory. Nothing will be on the line in this match, except a good sense of pride; perhaps a little blood too.

NON-KAYFABE: Jericho’s got quite the miracle to work here. Batista has been involved in a lot of good matches lately that he was a part of, but those were tag matches. He really hasn’t stood out really in a singles match yet. Perhaps he could in this one, with a general like Jericho.

WHAT I WOULD DO: Jericho must go over here. After coming off the loss to Orton on RAW, he needs his heat back. Batista’s going to have to take the fall here, but he can afford it, given his look and who his running buddies are. But Jericho needs the win here.

PREDICTION: Chris Jericho
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No Disqualification
Matt Hardy vs. Kane

Matt Hardy:
0-0 on PPV in 2004

Kane:
0-3 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: A few weeks ago, Kane began stalking Lita. It eventually culminated into Lita having sex with Kane to keep him away from Matt. Lita now finds herself pregnant, not knowing who the father is. While that may not be known, what is known is that Matt Hardy does not like Kane, and Kane does not like Matt Hardy. The bad blood between these two will erupt at Vengeance in what is definitely Matt’s highest-profile PPV match in his long WWE career. The intense hatred these two men have for one another was the inspiration for putting them into an environment where there are no disqualifications; anything goes. As Gordon Solie used to say, “In this match, a chair shot is as legal as a wristlock.” Perhaps another Solie-ism will see itself come to fruition at Vengeance, that being one of the crimson mask.

NON-KAYFABE: It’s becoming well documented on the sheets that Matt Hardy has a pretty big-time knee injury that needs to be fixed surgically. I’m expecting this to be a bad match because of which.

WHAT I WOULD DO: Kane goes over here and destroys Matt in some sort of worked injury angle (it doesn’t necessarily have to be the knee). Then, have Kane point out that Lita’s now all alone on RAW without her boyfriend to protect her. This will sent Lita off with Matt to get a couple months out of this pregnancy angle out of the way, if they are indeed going to do it over a legit 9 months.

PREDICTION: Kane
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Victoria vs. Molly Holly

Victoria:
2-1 on PPV in 2004

Molly Holly:
0-2 on PPV in 2004

KAYFABE: This match is one that was tacked on literally at the last minute due to having to fill a match quota. It wasn’t even announced on RAW, but on WWE.Com in the middle of the week. Of course, Victoria was the woman responsible for Molly’s current lack of hair. Victoria’s successful Women’s Title defense at WrestleMania XX meant Molly’s head had to be shaved bald. Victoria has long since lost the Women’s Championship, but Molly cares not about belts. She cares about gaining revenge on the one who is responsible for the insults she still hears about her lack of locks.

NON-KAYFABE: Seriously, why does WWE wait until the last minute to announce some matches? You saw how that seriously hurt the Great American Bash and made that one of the worst PPVs ever. I’m not saying Vengeance is going to be anywhere near GAB because it won’t (HHH vs. Benoit or Eddie vs. Bradshaw? Please). But when you’re trying to get your customers to shell out over $100 for three PPVs over a six-week span, junky throw-away matches are not going to get yourselves in their wallets.

WHAT I WOULD DO: What is there to do? The women’s division is getting really repetitive. The same people are fighting the same people. Granted, it’s in different situations, but still, it’s the same people. Just like JBL being WWE Champion. Sure, it’s an entirely different character, but IT’S STILL THAT BRADSHAW GUY. So, who really cares about the women’s division anymore? I don’t, and obviously WWE doesn’t either.

PREDICTION: Victoria