Heel Turn

Welcome to The Daily Slam!

As most people were expecting the heavyweight championship to change hands this past Sunday, something more impressive came to light. Batista was seconds away from becoming the new champion but came up just short after Rey Myseterio broke up a pin-fall that would have awarded him the belt.  Next, Dave telling his so-called best friend that he was going to "rip his head off" came at a complete surprise. What a perfect way for the much anticipated heel turn by taking out the person who you have won countless matches fighting beside. It appears that "The Animal" has finally snapped.

This could be the start of a great feud between little Rey and Batista. I was kind of disappointed in movement of Dave from Raw to Smackdown because I was afraid of having a second John Cena type of character on the best show WWE has to offer at the moment. This heel turn is exactly what Batista needs and the blue brand could use. Batista has become the lovable teddy bear with a big heart. But now he can feed off of his body size and just destroy people in his war path. It may even be possible to see Orton and Batista wrestling together sometime in the near future which could excite some old evolution fans.

When a person's character becomes a little stale, a face or heel turn could reboot their career and develop a new fan base. Let's see how the writers do with what they have to work with in "The Animal". In the past two year there has been two very successful heel turns; Jericho and Punk. Both have perfected the bad guy persona. Batista can now officially say "I walk alone" and it could be the best thing for him.


Until Next Time..

Bragging Rights

Raw vs Smackdown Divas Match: Melina, Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly vs Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya

This should be be a no brainier. Any team with Kelly Kelly loses.
Winner: Smackdown Stanks

IC Title vs US Title: John Morrison vs The Miz

Rivals turned friends and now back to rivals. This match is a long time coming. Both have been on a hot streak latly and while coneventional wisdom places money on Morrison Ill side with the Miz on this one. The loss here won't hurt Morrison but would the Miz and likewise Miz would get a bigger benefit off of a victory where as it's expected of Morrison.
Winner: chick magnet

World Heavyweight Title Fatal Four Way Match: Undertaker vs Batista vs Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk

Any time you have four guys that leaves a lot of room for surprises, like betrayals, heel turns and clusterfucks. This one though dose have a fun dynamic but in contrast to physical size, styles and personalities. It would be fun to see a line up of the four competitors with the 7 foot tall undertaker, a slightly smaller but still huge Batista, average sized punk and itty bity rey. The personalities are as decidedly different as their sizes clash as much as their wrestling styles. The Champion a man of few words like Batista but shares the theatrical style of Rey Mysterio. He also likes to punish the wicked like CM Punk . As for the match I expect to see the Batista and undertaker to both go after punk and may end up getting in each others ways, and punk to use the distraction to go after the man shorter than himself. Punk and Undertaker have their submission feud going on so expect that to continue here. Smart money is on Punk getting Rey to tap, but I'm feeling a little stupid. Rey will out sneak punk and bring home the gold.
Winner Rey Jr.

WWE Title Iron Man Match: Randy Orton vs John Cena

The eternal rivalry reaches its climax so we must be at the end of time. These are probably the last two I want to see go at it for an hour especially if time ends. I'll make this short in order to compensate for the match. While Cena on smackdown would be a fun swerve and I never underestimate McMahns hatred for smackdown, Cena will not leave Raw. Rhodes will probably come out to help cena but then Dibiase will neutralize him, leading to a fued between Dibiase and Orton maybe they'll make it interesting as a three way and throw in Rhoades.
Loser: The fans

Raw Team vs Smackdown Team: HHH, HBK, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry & Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, Finlay & R-Truth

HHH and friends vs jerichos army of evil doom. I smell a rat. Cuz a member of raw is really a part of jerichos army and his name is show.Big Show. I expect I'm to turn immediately and the match becomes an everyman for himself.
Winner:Jerrishow

Bragging Rights

My predictions for the new WWE concept pay per view: Bragging Rights. A ppv to show which brand, RAW or SmackDown, holds superiority over the other show, along with two title matches.

Raw vs Smackdown Divas Match: Melina, Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly vs Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya

I am going to swing my vote towards team Raw because I think there could be a good feud starting on the team SD side with Beth and Michelle. I see one of them costing the other the pin fall. If Mickie would have been apart of this match I would go the other way. The "good girls" walk away with the victory.
Winner- Raw Divas

IC Title vs US Title: John Morrison vs The Miz

Oh how all my wishes have come true with this long awaited match-up. It's time to see which superstar is greater in excellence since their departure from being a dominate tag team. This is a hard match to call a winner since I can see it going either way. Morrison gets the notch since I think Miz can work well with a loss to keep the feud going cause he is Awesome!
Winner- John "The Friday Night Delight" Morrison


World Heavyweight Title Fatal Four Way Match: Undertaker vs Batista vs Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk

I was surprised to see the Undertaker win the title at Hell in the Cell but I would be even more shocked to see him carry the belt for longer than a one ppv rein. It's nothing personal, it's his physical shape. I think it's time to see the belt return to the rightful owner... CM Punk. The straight edge superstar will probably get a screwy win by covering up someone like Rey after Taker gives him a last ride. Good champions always find ways to win.
Winner- CM Punk

WWE Title Iron Man Match: Randy Orton vs John Cena

Now this bout has some interesting stipulations in it. If Cena wins, Orton doesn't get another title rematch. If Orton wins, Cena must leave Raw for good. Well let me think about this... would Vince take his main cash cow off of his A brand show? No way. Cena gets the win but with help from none other than Ted DiBiase. That's right, this is the time for a face turn. I think Ted takes Orton out with just minutes to go in the 60 minute time limit match. Let's see how Cena holds up for this amount of time since he only has a limited amount of moves in his arsenal.
Winner- John Cena

Raw Team vs Smackdown Team: HHH, HBK, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry & Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, Finlay & R-Truth

This is it... all the Bragging Rights in one big 7 on 7 match. Can the Raw team put it's differences aside to pull out the victory? I would normally never wager against DX but I must say that having the Big Show on opposite sides of Chris Jericho makes me wonder if the world's largest athlete will help out his Unified Tag Team partner when push comes to shove. I'm going with my under card pick of the night and taking team Smackdown. Every ounce of me says Raw will prevail but it also just seems too obvious. Go blue brand.
Winner- Team Smackdown

 Until Next Time...

Guest Hosts

Welcome to The Daily Slam!

As we embark on another Monday Night Raw special guest host, I feel it's time I express my thoughts on the whole concept. I must say that after Vince bought Raw back from Donald Trump and he adopted the guest host idea, I enjoyed it to a certain point. Something different every once in awhile is a good thing in show business, but I must say that it's getting a little stale now. It seems like the hosts keep booking the same kind of matches (normally in the favor of the good guys). Most of these hosts admit they are huge wrestling fans but a majority of them pronounce some the wrestlers names wrong. I think this idea would have worked better in a sporadic time table. I would say appear on the episode of Raw before or directly right after a pay per view. That way it doesn't interfere in any kind of storyline build-ups.

The only two hosts that left an impression in my mind was Shaq, who over powered the Big Show and made SportsCenter headlines; and Trish Stratus, who got involved in some in ring action of her own by throwing around some divas. Big Ben and Bob Barker had good appearances as well but nothing impressive. Dusty Rhodes had a nice little twist at the end of his appearance by helping out Legacy but it was ruined in my mind by next week since Cody didn't even do anything to defend his father. I mean it wouldn't hurt Legacy if Rhodes or DiBiase would confront the leader (Orton) every once in awhile and have the master of the RKO put them back in their place by striking fear in their fragile hearts.

I think the guest host idea was brought upon with good intentions but has been on a downward spiral for some time. Vince can revive this concept by having Stone Cold, Ric Flair, or The Rock appear soon. I know it must be hard for them to find top celebrities to agree to host Raw but people don't watch wrestling to see the people on the cover of Star magazine. We watch because the wrestlers are celebs in our eyes already. Vince should come back to Raw on a regular basis (and stay off of SD because why ruin a good thing) and announce a new guest host every few weeks to run his job. Oh and don't get me started on allowing the hosts to do a multi-brand divas trade. How about next time make it a storyline for the switch from brand to brand.


Until Next Time...

Who Will Prevail?

Welcome to The Daily Slam!

Announced last night on Raw, at the Bragging Rights pay per view, there will be a match that many have been anticipating for quite some time. The current Intercontinental Champion, John "Friday Night Delight" Morrison vs the new United States Champion, The Miz. I can't recall the last time that I have looked forward to a match between old friends (you can't count the Hardys feud because it was as dreadful as watching the Abe Washington Show). The Miz & Morrison are in the history books as one of the greatest tag teams of all time by holding both the WWE Tag Team and World Tag Team championships. Not only do these two competitors have in ring charisma but they are flawless with their promo skills.

This match could easily steal the show since they both have been putting on great performances as of late. I must give credit due to their time spent in ECW to develop their individual characters. Morrison has been stepping up his game every week on the blue brand by defeating not only legitimate future IC title holders such as Ziggler but also by defeating top performers like Rey Mysterio (to win the belt) and even CM Punk. The Miz has had a little bit more of an interesting time since his switch to team Raw. He even lost his job at one point a few months ago. But like all good heels do, he returned with a vengeance. You might even give credit to his recent success when he switched to the black trunks. I think it gives his character a more sophisticated look by taking a chapter out of Jericho's book. The Miz has had an excessive amount of matches with Kofi, Bourne, and even his lengthy and humorous feud with John Cena. He may have gotten his ass beaten a few times by the chain gang leader, but it was a good career building move.

In a sink or swim business like pro wrestling, catching the attention of the audience on a weekly basis is the only way to survive. These two have accomplished just that task. Once a great tag team... hilarious talk show hosts on The Dirt Sheet, for which they won a Slammy Award... both former Tough Enough competitors.. and potential future WWE/World Heavy title holders. The Miz and John Morrison will no doubt put on an exciting match-up. I can only hope Vince gives them the time frame to put on the performance that they are capable of. Let's hope this ppv match builds for a bigger and long lasting feud. My prediction leads towards Morrison for a clean win but The Miz is still Awesome!


Until Next Time...