Last Updated on: 9th May 2018, 10:48 am
We don’t talk nearly enough wrestling around here these days, so this is the first step towards changing that. If you’re not a wrestling fan, you’re free to skip this whole thing if you wish, but why you would want to take a pass on something I wrote I have no idea.
WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view will take place just a few short hours from now, and since
Salty Ham
doesn’t do Roundtables anymore, I thought I’d put my predictions up here. I haven’t done a predictions post in a long time, I know there are wrestling fans out there who read this thing and hey, posting is good, so here we go.
I’ll use the old Salty style of who should win, who will win and thoughts on the match because I got used to doing it that way and because it’s a good way of doing things.
By the way, you can feel free to leave your own thoughts on the comment board or in my
inbox,
both of which are always open for business.
WWE Championship Triple Threat Match
Champion John Cena vs. Edge vs. HHH
Who should win: Edge
Who will win: John Cena
Thoughts: They never should have taken the belt off of Edge in the first place, but they did, so there’s no point in bitching about that now. but even though he’s lost it and that’s bad, he shouldn’t win it back here. With the ECW show coming up in June and all signs pointing to RVD cashing in his title shot that night, it would be better to leave the strap on a guy like Cena who whether it be a positive one or a negative one, always gets an amazing reaction from a crowd. The ECW fans will eat that man alive, and a lot of times with Cena matches, the fan response makes things seem much better than they really are. You could make a case for Triple H, but it seems like he’ll be turning face shortly and it would be stupid to stall his momentum by putting him in a situation where he would no doubt be booed out of the building. Besides, with ECW coming back full time in the very near future, it would get things off to a fine start if one of that company’s biggest stars won a match over someone as hated by the masses as Cena.
Shawn Michaels & “God” vs. Mr. McMahon & Shane McMahon
Who should win: Michaels and “God”
Who will win: Michaels and “God”
Thoughts: If you’re one of those non-fans who decided you were going to read this anyway, no, this is not a joke. God is honestly scheduled for a match on a WWE pay-per-view. Yes, wrestling is stupid sometimes, I know. But since this match is happening, I’ve got no choice but to talk about it. I won’t say much other than that the whole thing is stupid, the feud has gone on for far too long and that I’m praying to Shawn Michaels’ tag partner that after tonight it will all be over. I’ll miss watching Vince McMahon lose his mind on live television, but if that’s the price I have to pay to get this over and done with, I’m beyond fine with that.
Intercontinental Championship/Money in the Bank
Champion Shelton Benjamin vs. Rob Van Dam
Who should win: Rob Van Dam
Who will win: Rob Van Dam
Thoughts: This shouldn’t be a hard one to call, but for some reason I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Shelton went over but Rob won back the Money in the Bank shot in a rematch somewhere between Monday and June. This one should be pretty good, and other than the title match, I think it has the best chance of being match of the night unless of course “God” or Shawn Michaels decide to work a miracle, which is entirely possible.
Kane vs. Big Show
Who should win: Kane
Who will win: Kane
Thoughts: I have no idea where they’re going with this whole Kane is hearing voices and losing it whenever somebody says the date of his movie opening thing, but unless something changes and changes quickly, where they’re heading is down the long and winding road to Thisisretardedburg. I cannot possibly put into mere words how stupid this whole thing is. I’ve heard people comparing it to WCW’s late 90’s angle where the Ultimate Warrior was haunting Hulk Hogan but nobody around him could see it but everybody on TV and in the arena could, and I can’t come up with anything better than that. By the way, for the non-fans, what I just wrote makes no sense to me either, and I’ve been watching this stuff for almost as long as I’ve been alive.
Women’s Championship
Champion Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus
Who should win: Mickie James
Who will win: Mickie James
Thoughts: This is the only storyline I can think of in the current crop that has been consistently interesting and well built over the course of several months. I like the new twist they’ve thrown in, with Trish now acting like Mickie in order to try to get inside her head and drive her as crazy as Mickie did her. I’m not sure where they can take things from here, but putting the belt back on Trish and blowing off the feud wouldn’t be a good idea since Mickie is something new and fresh as opposed to Trish holding the belt, which has been done time and time again. I get the sense from watching the shows that a lot of fans feel the same way I do, and as we’ve seen with John Cena and even Rey Mysterio to a point, the fans have no problem voicing their feelings about things they don’t like, and I’m sure that the last thing WWE would want on their hands is another face champion that gets treated like a heel. As for the match itself, it should be fun, but I doubt we’re going to see a clean win. My guess is that Trish gets herself disqualified and Mickie retains.
Carlito vs. Chris Masters
Who should win: Chris Masters
Who will win: Chris Masters
Thoughts: This is a weird one in the sense that I’m pretty sure that no one, and I include WWE Creative in this, has any idea where it’s going or how the hell it’s supposed to get there. When the angle started after WrestleMania, it wasn’t clear to anybody which of the 2 was the face and who was the heel, and while it’s still not the easiest thing to figure out, my guess is Carlito based on the way things have been booked so far. But they’ve got a long way to go if they want to establish him as a true fan favourite and if Masters loses he’s pretty much doomed, so unfortunately, Masters needs to win and this feud needs to continue for the sake of both men’s careers.
Ric Flair vs. Umaga
Who should win: Umaga
Who will win: Umaga
Thoughts: There’s not much you can really say about this match other than Umaga needs to go over fairly strong here in order to keep his new guy push and monster character going. It’s way too early for him to be doing the job for anybody, even if that person is Ric Flair. I’m not sure what happens once this match is over, but you can’t have anybody beat the crap out of a guy like Flair without giving him a rematch unless you’re going to retire him, so I guess they’ll have no choice but to find a way to continue a storyline that should have never started in the first place. It makes absolutely no sense to bring a new guy in and right away put him in the ring with Ric Flair. New guy’s job should be to kill people dead for a few months before moving on to more competitive fights once he’s established. It’s really pretty basic stuff, and I’m amazed that somebody like Vince McMahon can’t remember it considering that he used to use it so well.
Those are all of the matches announced so far, but it’s possible that another one could be added by the time the show starts since there’s no Tag title match that I’m aware of.
I’ll put up some thoughts on how things turn out once I have a chance to see it, whenever that is. I rarely watch anything as it happens anymore, so you could get your Backlash review just in time for SummerSlam for all I know. But no matter what order things get posted in, there will be show thoughts and I’m looking to do quite a bit more wrestling writing here, so either be warned or be on the lookout, depending on which side of the wrestling fan fence you’re on.