The Fink’s Payload 05.29.08: Night of Champions

Hey there!

Don’t look around for somebody else. I was talking to YOU.

No, you don’t have to say hello in response. I’ve been rejected before. I can take it.

This week, we’re taking a trip into the future to give y’all our predictions for the second-annual “Night of Champions” pay-per-view show at the end of June. We evaluated the current title situations and brought you several different opinions on the possibilities. There’s just one rule – don’t be boring! With that, let’s get to your ideas…

Opinion #1: Daniel Wilcox
“Everybody Loves a Tournament”

Instead of having all the titles defended, I’d mix things up a little bit with the card. Let’s say the following title changes take place between now and the pay-per-view –
Jeff Hardy beats Chris Jericho for the IC Title.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat Rhodes and Holly for the tag titles.
The World Championship would remain vacated, while Vickie Guerrero would be stripped of her position as GM.
A World Championship tournament would be set up for the show.

And the card would look like this:

Women’s Championship Six Diva Challenge
Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Melina vs. Michelle McCool vs. Victoria vs. Natalya

WWE Tag Team Champions vs. World Tag Team Champions
The Miz and John Morrison vs. Paul London and Brian Kendrick

Intercontinental Champion vs. United States Champion
Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy

Tournament Match
Undertaker vs. Edge

Tournament Match
MVP vs. Batista

ECW Championship Match
Kane vs. Big Show

WWE Championship Triple Threat Way
Triple H vs. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels

World Championship Match
Undertaker vs. MVP

Here’s how the show would go down. Edge and Taker kick off the show with their match. Taker wins in about 15 minutes.

MVP vs. Batista is next. MVP wins following shenanigans in a brief 12 minute match.

Both of sets of tag champions collide next, and Miz and Morrison get the win in around 10 minutes.

Kane vs. Big Show have a terrible match as we’d expect, but I think it’s inevitable. It’d only go about 6 minutes and would probably end in a double DQ sort of fashion.

Next, Randy Orton comes out and cuts a promo about how ludicrous it is that he’s not on the show, because everybody knows he’s the only true champion in WWE. Chris Jericho interrupts and runs him down. They go back and forth on the mic before having an impromptu match. Orton wins with the RKO in about 8 minutes.

Hardy vs. Hardy is up next. The pair have a really fun competitive match that goes 15 minutes before Jeff misses the Swanton, and Matt hits the Twist of Fate for the win.

Up next, Natalya Neidhart wins the Women’s Championship in a 10-minute match. As a result, she becomes a Raw Diva.

In the World Heavyweight Championship Match, Taker and MVP go a good 18-minutes before Edge spears Taker, allowing MVP to score the huge upset win to become the World Champion.

The main event is a personal dream match of mine, as HBK, Cena, and Triple H tear it up for a good 20-25 minutes. Triple H would come out on top.

WHAT DO I THINK?: The HBK-HHH-Cena dream match is certainly something that I would mark out for as well. I think I remember an old edition of the Fink’s Payload (from the pre-Clark era) where I booked that match to happen as the payoff to Triple H’s 2007 comeback. However, I can’t say I’m as big of a fan of the tournament for the World title. I am normally all for tournaments – they give credibility to the eventual winner because he had to win several high-stakes matches to get the belt. But we just had the “King of the Ring” and, to be honest, it was such a joke and disappointment that I’m kind of spoiled on the idea for right now. The push for M.V.P. is surprising but I don’t have any problem with elevating new talent if it makes sense. Does this mean we have to sit through more Edge/’Taker matches? I’ve had enough, thank you.

Opinion #2: Kevin from Baltimore
“Ringing in the New (Champions)”

WWE Championship – HHH vs. HBK: Don’t start, I know it’s been done before, but it always delivers. With HHH in his current capacity as the company’s top face and Michaels amid a highly successful run as a tweener, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for HBK to make a full heel turn for a run at the title. It can seamlessly transition as a continuation of the Ric Flair retirement angle. At One Night Stand, Michaels continues to play dirty and defeats Batista, injuring him in turn. Say, a broken leg or something to that affect. The next night on RAW, HBK makes another appearance on the Highlight Reel and Jericho questions his motives. Michaels snaps explains how this has all been part of his plan to get at one man: HHH. Flair was always HBK’s idol, but ever since the Nature Boy arrived in WWE following the purchase of WCW, it’s been HHH stepping in his way. It’s HBK that crafted his style after Flair, but instead of being able to run alongside the Naitch, it was HHH styling and profiling while Michaels played the support. He expected HHH to be the one to get in his face after retiring Flair, but instead, he had to go through Jericho and Batista and did what he had to do to get it done. Now, since HHH is too dense to recognize a subtle call-out, he’s here to make it clear. He wants HHH and he wants the WWE Title.
Winner and New WWE Heavyweight Champion: HBK, Michaels cheats to win in a Flair-esque manner. With the refs back turned, HBK low-blows HHH, steps back and delivers the sweet chin music.

World Championship (with a twist) – Edge vs. The Undertaker: Edge wins the title at One Night Stand with assistance from the Edgeheads, the Rmy, whatever you want to call Ryder and Hawkins. Weeks before, Undertaker wins a No. 1 Contenders elimination style match against MVP, Matt Hardy and Finlay, but during the match, Undertaker debuted a new submission hold in his victory. As a result, Vickie Guerrero announced before the match at Night of Champions that The Undertaker has forfeited his right to participate but using another “illegal chokehold.” Edge and Vickie stand in the middle of the ring and laugh. Just when it appears there will be no World Title match, CM Punk’s music hits, he comes down to the ring and says that since he wasn’t schedule for a match tonight and he doesn’t want the fans to feel ripped off, he’ll cash in his Money in the Bank against Edge.
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk

Grudge Match – John Cena vs. Randy Orton: This should have been the straight up main event for Wrestlemania, but instead, we had to get HHH in there and throw in a screwy ending. This feud here still has legs as Orton has never been a stronger character and Cena been floundering.
Winner: Cena via DQ, like I said, this feud needs to continue. No belt is necessary here if it’s booked properly.

ECW Championship – Kane vs. Big Show: Big Show wins the No. 1 Contenders Match at One Night Stand to earn a shot at the title. This big-man match up will get a good crowd reaction as both performers are incredibly over.
Winner and NEW ECW Heavyweight Champion: Big Show, Kane just isn’t a top champion and Big Show deserves a strap after jobbing to Floyd Mayweather at Wrestlemania. The fans want to cheer Big Show, so let him carry the belt as a face for a bit before turning heel after SummerSlam.

US Championship – Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry: In the back, after Matt Hardy fails to earn a shot at the World Title on Smackdown, he runs into the Silverback. Henry laughs at Hardy for trying to bite off more than he can chew. Hardy takes offense at Henry’s jeers and gets in the big man’s face. Henry throws him to the ground, but Matt Hardy will never die.
Winner: Hardy, right now there isn’t a perfect feud for Hardy and we don’t want to see more redundant MVP-Hardy matches, even though they are always great. The next time they should see each other is in the main event. Henry is a good transition into something bigger heading toward SummerSlam.

Intercontinental Championship – Ladder Match, Chris Jericho vs.. Umaga vs. Kennedy vs. JBL: This is one of those matches where you take some of your best performers, put them in a match, make the title look strong and deliver a potential MOTN candidate.
Winner and NEW IC Champion: Kennedy, Jericho needs to move up in the card. Umaga and Jeff Hardy should feud longer and Kennedy could use a lengthy IC Title feud to strengthen the belt and further develop his new “faceness.” A few successful title defenses against JBL could accomplish this goal.

Tag Team Championship unification – Miz/Morrison vs. Holly/Rhodes: While I’m positive most of these matches won’t happen, this is the one that has the least chance of occurring. Miz/Morrison are a hell of a tag team, but the division is overall, very week. By unifying the belts, they will have a deeper pool.
Winners: Miz/Morrison, I forgot Holly/Rhodes still had the belts before I started writing this. Miz/Morrison are great and could have great feuds with several teams including London/Kendrick and Cryme Tyme.

Women’s Championship – Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix: Forget Awesome Kong and Gail Kim. These two are just as good and while I won’t say there is “money” in this feud, it deserves airtime and a place on the card of any PPV.
Winner: James, with interference from Melina, Mickie gets the clean victory. She gets the belt and rolls out as Melina jumps on Phoenix and points at James saying she wants a shot at the belt.

WHAT DO I THINK?: Interesting that you put the women’s match last. Do you think it should close the show? That would be the swerve of a lifetime. Things that stand out here are all the title changes, which is great because I complained about the lack of that at last year’s show. Kennedy could use the Intercontinental Championship to go with his current push, so I’m cool with that. Plenty of midcard talent that he hasn’t worked with yet to create title programs for him throughout the summer. Big Show could take the ECW title as a trophy and I’m pretty sure that some up-and-coming superstar could take it from him on their way to a huge push (a la Lashley… who?…. Yeah, I almost forgot, too). Does anyone else think it’s weird that Shawn Michaels hasn’t held a world title for more than a month since 1998? The guy works fucking hard and he’s only got half as many title reigns as Triple H. The highlight of your prediction, of course, is an innovative MITB cash-in scenario. I’d love to see Punk use the briefcase on Edge since the Rated R Superstar has become pretty synonymous with the MITB in the past. A nice little bit of irony there.

Opinion #3: Rob Williams
“The Ayatollah Challenge”

Below is my booking starting after One Night Stand:

Raw Tag Team Titles
Santino Marrella & Carlito say they were screwed in there tag match with Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly, this leads to new GM Teddy Long giving them another title shot which they win, New raw Gm comes out and says that there is going to be a tag team tourneyment for the Titles with the winners going to Vengeance to face the International superstars.

First Round
1st Match – London and Kendrick Vs Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes – Winners London and Kendrick
2nd Match – The Highlanders Vs Trevor Murdoch and Val Venis- Winners Murdoch and Venis
3rd Match – Cryme Tyme Vs Colin Delaney and Dreamer – Winners Cryme Tyme
4th Match – APA Vs Lance Cade and Burchill – Winners Cade and Burchill after Bradshaw walks out on Farooq

Semi Finals
1st – London and Kendrick Vs Cryme Tyme – Winners London and Kendrick
2nd – Murdoch and Venis Vs Cade and Burchill – Murdoch and Venis win after a roll up by Murdoch on Cade, Murdoch and Venis get beaten down after the match

Final – Santino and Carlito are on Commentary
London and Kendrick Vs Murdoch and Venis – Winners London and Kendrick, Venis and Murdoch still hurt after being beaten down

Smackdown Tag Team Titles
Week 1
Morrison and Miz and walking around backstage when they bump into Jesse and Festus. Jesse is his usual upbeat self which Miz and Morrison don’t like so they knock out Jesse with the title belts and Festus just stands there

Week 2
Jesse is seen talking to Festus backstage saying why didn’t you stick up for me last week etc.. Festus just stands there.
Miz and Morrison have a title match with the Rated Rmy set up by Gm Vicky
Jesse and Festus come out first and they sit down with Foley and Cole, When the bell rings Festus goes crazy and enters the ring and clears house
Rated Rmy are backstage with Vicky and they demand another title shot because Festus ruined there chances she makes a match next week for the no. 1 contenders Rated Rmy Vs Jesse and Festus

Week 3
Vicky comes out before the match and says it’s going to be a No DQ match
Before the match starts Hawkings takes the bell and they beat down on Jesse while Festus is just standing there, they soon realise for them to win the match they have to ring the bell so they hit Festus with a chair and then cover Festus while the other gives the bell back.. When the bell rings Festus immediatly kicks out of the pin and kills Ryder and Hawkins with multiple chairshots then he pins one of them.
Miz and Morrison come out and they talk trash on Jesse and Festus

US Championship
Week 1
Matt Hardy comes out on Smackdown and says that since he beat MVP no-one has even challenged him for his United States championship, Vladimir Kozlof them comes out and says challenges him to a match at Vengence, Hardy accepts the challenge because he knows that he is better than him

Week 2
Hardy Vs Finlay, Hardy wins with a TOF
Vladimir Vs MVP, Vladimir wins with his new finisher the Kozlof Slammer (Brainbuster)

Week 3
Hardy and MVP Vs Vladimir and Finlay, Vladimir pins Hardy with the Kozlof Slammer

Intercontinental Championship + WWE
Week 1
Jeff Hardy comes out after beating Umaga at ONS and says that he wants his Intercontinental championship back. Jericho appears on the titentron and says theres no way in hell he is getting another shot that easy he has to earn it. Hardy goes and talks to Teddy Long and says that Jericho was right and sets up a non-title match between the two and if Hardy wins he gets his title shot.

Week 2
Jericho beats Hardy after he Hardy misses a Swanton and Jericho wins with a Lionsault. After the match Jericho says he doesn’t have a challenger for Vengence. Teddy Long comes out and says that he has a challenger for him, the WWE champion Triple H

Week 3
Jericho comes out and cuts a Heelish promo saying that he will become only the 3rd man in WWE history to hold both Intercontinental and WWE titles at the same time. Triple H comes out and says that he was the second man to do it and he says that he’s going to be the first one to win both titles twice, Jericho hits HHH with the Intercontinental title and holds both titles.
Teddy Long comes out and says the main event tonight will be HHH and Jeff Hardy Vs Jericho and Umaga.
Jericho and Umaga win after Umaga hits HHH with a samoan spike and Jericho hits the Lionsault Jericho holds up both titles as Raw goes off the air

Vengeance
Raw Tag Team Titles: London and Kendrick beat Santino and Carlito to win the Raw tag team titles
US Championship: Matt Hardy beats Vladimir after a kicking out of a Vozlof Slammer then hitting a TOF out of nowhere, proving that the US is better than Russia
Smackdown Tag Team Titles: Jesse and Festus win after a Powerbomb (Festus) / Double knee backbreaker (Jesse) combination on Miz
IC/WWE: Jericho wins with the Walls of Jericho after working on HHH’s legs (quads).

WHAT DO I THINK?: I think it’s an intriguing concept to take the “night of champions” concept and use it to create champion/champion matches rather than champion/challenger matches. Doesn’t both me at all! The only problem is that, since both guys are titleholders, you might have to be more careful not to bury one of these guys at the expense of the other. Of course, to think that Triple H would take a fall to someone like Jericho (does the lesser title holder ever win these things? Ultimate Warrior Warrior Ultimate Warrior doesn’t count because he’s crazy) is just a little bit off the deep end. It would sure make me hella happy, though. The tag title matches are good but they just don’t scream PPV-quality – for some reason, Lond-rick and Jes-tus feel-good-moments don’t do it for me. Hardy over Vladmir… eh, it’s just kind of there. You tried to spice things up with a Cold War revival, but it didn’t win me over.

Opinion #4: Steven Straka
“More Money in the Bank Magic”

At One Night Stand, Undertaker and Edge face off yet again for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Edge’s match strategy, rather than trying to win, is actually to put himself into the gogoplata position as much as possible to try and get Taker to use the move. Taker eventually does and immediately afterwards Hawkins and Ryder run in and save Edge who recovers in time to hit three spears and an Edgecutioner for the win. The SmackDown afterwards, Vickie says that although the match was technically no-DQ as per the PPV stip, Undertaker used the illegal choke hold and as such he has been suspended indefinately. In reality, this is so Taker can rest up. Vickie says that Edge will defend his title at Night of Champions as per the stip and that a #1 contender match will be made later in the month. On June whenever when Raw is 3 hours again, a draft is held resulting in Taker moving to Raw (and immediately reinstated by new GM Teddy Long) and Umaga (among hopefully many others, namely Kennedy and possibly Orton) goes to SmackDown. Vickie and Edge immediately begin putting Umaga and Batista against each other, resulting in a #1 contender match the SmackDown before NoC. The two beat the living hell out of each other and the match goes to a no contest. Edge says that it means he doesn’t have to defend his title and Vickie agrees. However, Vince McMahon comes out and says that Edge must defend his title against someone or Vickie will be fired on the spot. At the PPV, Vickie is scrambling around trying to figure out who to put in the match when someone knocks on the door. New ECW Champion CM Punk, despite winning the ECW title on the PPV, cashes in his MitB shot and, with Chavo and Neely neutralizing Hawkins and Ryder, scores with the G2S for the win.

WHAT DO I THINK?: I’m going to assume that Chavo and Bam turned on La Familia, a move they have been teasing for a while. While I hate to think that Punk and Chavo would just bury the hatchet no questions asked, let’s also assume that they built some sort of explanation for that association. I’m going to skip over your draft choices (see below) because they don’t seem to have much to do with the actual Night of Champions event. As for CM Punk, ECW/World Champion, see my response to Opinion #2.

Opinion #5: Jay in CT
“Hardcore Renaissance”

Andy, here’s my card for the PPV. I came up with the card and then re-read your criteria about every title being defended. Every title isn’t defended but every champ is on the show.
Leading up to the event, have Vince announce the “official” merger of SD! and ECW. ECW will no longer be a brand but the ECW on Sci-Fi TV show will remain as part of the SD! brand. Because of this, at the PPV there will be a World Championship unification match. This automatically gives the event a match of historic proportions. Leading up to it, you can include countless video footage of both title’s histories and show interviews with former champs on the impact the titles have had, what it was like to hold them and who they think will win the unification match.

Because ECW is no longer a brand, Estrada will no longer be GM and will request and be granted his release from the SD! brand to return to Raw. Once there, he’ll reunite with his Samoan Bulldozer, Uuuuuumaga!

Then, have a battle royal on Raw to determine a #1 Contender. Have Umaga win. He can challenge Triple H at the PPV. He’ll have Estrada to speak for him and add heat to the feud (which will already be physically intense as we lead up to the match). Estrada will also be a factor during the contest as he’s in Umaga’s corner and possible interference could increase the Samoan’s chances of winning the title.

Since SD’s roster has “officially” increased to include superstars once a part of “Extreme” Championship Wrestling, reinstate the Hardcore Title and crown a new champ at the PPV.

Here’s my card:
World Title Unification Match: Taker vs. Kane
WWE Title Match: Triple H vs. Umaga w/AAE
I.C. Title Triple Threat: Jericho vs. Hardy vs. Kennedy
End of A Rivalry: U.S. Title: Hardy vs. MVP (This will be the last time these two can compete one on one in a U.S. Title Match for at least 6 months.)
Tag Champs vs. Tag Champs (NOT a Unification Match): Miz/Morrison vs. Rhodes/Holly
1st Ever Women’s Championship Ladder Match: James vs. Phoenix
10 Man Hardcore Free-For-All to crown new Hardocre Champion!
Falls Count Anywhere – First Man to score fall wins the title
Finlay vs. Shelton vs. Kofi vs. Dreamer vs. Knox vs. Palumbo vs. Henry vs. Kozlov vs. Yang vs. Moore
Eight Man Gauntlet Match (Winner Receives World Title Match at next PPV)
Because everyone’s a former champ, you can name it something fancy like “The Showcase of Champions” or “Gauntlet for the Gold” or “The Return to Glory Gauntlet” – you get the idea.
The participants are (in no particular order): Batista vs. Edge vs. CM Punk vs. Big Show vs. HBK vs. Cena vs. JBL vs. Orton

I think it’s a great card with a huge impact. You have all champs on the card, 8 matches, 7 titles on the line (counting the ECW and SD! titles separately), and you’re guaranteed two new champions (the unified champ and the hardore champ). The title Unification match will again add to the historic significance of this event. So will the 1st ever women’s title ladder match. Lastly, even without knowing the winners, you have matches with outcomes that will have a significant impact on the immediate future. For example:
#1 contender for the next PPV will be determined, there will be a new Hardcore Champ facing his first challenge and given the stipulation for the U.S. title match, you’ll have a new contender for that belt as well.

WHAT DO I THINK?: The multi-person gauntlet match and hardcore matches are good for cramming the entire roster onto the card, but both of these matches could easily deteroriate into clusterfucks (especially the latter). I give you credit, though, for getting almost everybody currently under contract into this event. Triple H and Umaga have been done to death, and so has Hardy/MVP, but the Brothers of Destruction Unification match gives the PPV some added drama and the triple threat IC title match could be a show-stealer. A women’s ladder match? Now I’ve seen (heard?) everything.

Opinion #6: Joe Hoferer
“Double Fatal Four Way Fun”

WWE Tag Team: Hawkins/Ryder vs. ©Miz/Morrison
Does SmackDown/ECW even have a tag team division? Jesse/Festus seem to have fallen of the face of The CW, Jimmy Wang Yang/Shannon Moore wouldn’t be bad, but I want to go with the antithesis of the Main Event and go ahead with a heel vs. heel match up. I would set it up with Edge and Vicky wanting more gold and sending The Edgeheads after the tag team belts, and could be a decent little rivalry and even make Miz/Morrison semi-face in the process. I would have Miz/Morrison retain as they are a damn good team and the ‘Major’ loss could be the beginning of dissention in La Familia.

World Tag Team: Four Corner Elimination: ©Rhodes/Holly vs. Santino/Carlito vs. London/Kendrick vs. Crime Time
The week after WrestleMania began the renaissance of the RAW tag team scene. With the loss of Cade/Murdoch the division is very loaded in the face department. I say put the belts on Santino/Carlito to begin a chase for London & Kendrick, or keep them on Rhodes/Holly and have a respect angle between the two teams leading to a match down the road.

Women’s: Beth Phoenix vs. ©Mickie James
After several multi-competitor matches involving these two they finally meet in a one on one match. Beth could win back the belt here setting up a GAB or SummerSlam rematch for Mickie to get her win back.

United States: Triple Threat: Elijah Burke vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. ©Matt Hardy
Just because I like all three of these guys and they could work an innovative match. Matt needs a new crew of mid-card guys to eye his US belt. Unless Gregory “Hurricane” Helms makes a surprise return, then I would choose him. But with Burke and Benjamin you know you can get a somewhat decent match and give them a place to fit on SmackDown/ECW. Successful title defense for Matt Hardy either way.

Intercontinental: Mr. Kennedy vs. ©Chris Jericho
We all know that this one will happen sooner than later, so why not now and in a title match. Once Jericho gets taken out of the HBK/Batista feud he begins running his mouth about being an 8 time Intercontinental champion and how he feels that no-one can take his belt away from him. Enter Mr. Kennedy. He eyes the belt and simply states “That belt you got there, I want it” poking it with his gum-chewing, cocky smile. Simple enough of a build, you have something of importance, now I want it. This should be set up right away so we can get at least two weeks of mic work between the two leading up to the PPV. Kennedy takes the belt off of Y2J and post-match proclaims that becoming IC champ will skyrocket his career much like those of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Beginning of Kennedy Push #4, let’s hope he won’t F this up again.

ECW: Big Show vs. ©Kane
By looking at the current match at ONS, Big Show seems to be the favorite going in, based on the ass kicking he gave on ECW on Sci-Fi this past week. While most people aren’t looking forward to this, Big Show is a bit quicker than the last time he and Kane paired up/feuded. This could be run in your typical fun big man match that could go either way.

World Heavyweight: Fatal Four Way: Batista vs. M.V.P vs. C.M. Punk vs. ©Edge
Undertaker as champion apparently isn’t a good idea according to corporate, so I suppose the belt on Edge isn’t a bad idea. Too bad Edge/Taker at ONS isn’t a Casket or Buried Alive match, to put a hold on the feud without completely ending it. I would love to see more of the Taker mind games especially if he was fucking with Edge and Vicky from “beyond” for months, but I digress.
This match serves the purpose of pushing M.V.P and C.M. Punk into the ‘top tier’ on SmackDown. Batista/Edge is the original match, but C.M. Punk decides that he’ll cash in his MITB contract after a few altercations with Edge. M.V.P uses his clout as ‘the highest paid competitor in SmackDown history’ and a win over Batista to get put into this match by G.M. Vickie under a promise to ‘help’ even the odds for Edge, while realistically just doing it for himself. Can we say character development? C.M. Punk can become the first MITB winner to lose on his contract, but it would at least lead to some suspense as to whether he can take the belt off of Edge and lead up to either a feud going into SummerSlam or a fall program to chase for the title. Why I put Batista in? I’m not sure, Fatal Four Way just sounded like a good idea and he needs something to do.

WWE: John Cena vs. ©Triple H
After teasing the possibility of this match for One Night Stand, I believe that once Orton and JBL are out of their respective ways, Triple H and Cena will cross paths for Night of Champions. Similar to face vs. face matches such as Warrior/Hogan from WM6, the crowd will be divided between the two, plenty of YAY/BOO punching cheers and “Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks chants throughout. Triple H goes over clean to retain the belt. May or may not lead to a program, but would at least be a decent main event for Night of Champions. If all else fails HBK could be inserted into this as well to get him back into the title picture.

WHAT DO I THINK?: Epic fan-favorite title match? Cena/HHH, check. Multi-contender vacant-title match? World Championship, check. Ring-veteran-gives-a-rub-to-up-and-comer match? Y2J/Kennedy, check. Vince’s big-man orgasm match? Show/Kane, check. Yeah, this one has everything.

Opinion #7: Jeremy from Palmdale
“The Punk and the Phenom”

Alright the ECW title match is basically set. Kane vs. Big Show, simple enough.

Women’s Title- A few weeks before the PPV (June 2nd Raw?) New Raw GM, Teddy Long announces that there will be tri-branded diva beat the clock sprint involving Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian Hall, Kelly, Maria, Layla, Michelle, Cherry, Victoria, Natalya, Maryse and Ashley. The winner will face Mickie at N.O.C. One match each show for two weeks. On the final qualifying show, (Smackdown, June 13th ), with Beth Phoenix in the lead, the final qualifying match is Victoria vs. Cherry, Cherry surprises Victoria with a rollup and qualifies for the title match. She appears on the next Raw (June 16th) and is announced as the challenger. Teddy Long is interrupted by Beth Phoenix who tells him and Cherry that Cherry does not deserve the match because not all divas had a fair shot. Beth goes on to explain that one diva was left out of the tournament and she deserves an opportunity. Teddy makes a match for later in the night, Cherry vs. Mystery Diva. If Cherry wins she gets the title shot, but if the other diva wins, she gets it. Cherry’s opponent is Katie Lea Burchill. Cherry gets annihilated and Katie gets the title shot. We then find out later in the night, the Paul Burchill did some favors for Beth to get her to endorse Katie to get the title shot. Leading to a love triangle angle and then eventually after Katie wins the title, a feud between Katie and Beth.

World Tag Titles – Cryme Tyme come out to the ring one night and say that they never received the title shot they won over a year ago and they want it at Night of Champions. Cryme Time leaves with the title.

WWE Title – Triple H defeats Orton at One Night Stand with some controversy, JBL (with help from an interfering Triple H who accidentally hits Cena) defeats John Cena. Shawn Michaels defeats Batista. T-Lo makes a 5 man match between HHH, Orton, Cena, Shawn, JBL. After an FU from Cena, Orton takes the fall and Triple H walks out again with the title (HHH ducks a Clothesline from Hell and Cena gets nailed). Hopefully this will eventually lead to a John Cena heel turn and feud with Hunter. (the turn will be based on the fact that Triple H is consistently costing him matches).

WWE Tag Titles – Miz and Morrison defend in a 4 way match with The Edge-Heads, Shannon Moore & Jimmy Ying Yang [/miz] and Jesse and Festus

IC/US Title – Chris Jericho has MVP as a guest on the Highlight Reel, MVP says that he never has received a rematch against Matt Hardy. This brings out Jeff Hardy who says that speaking of rematches, he has yet to receive one and he deserves one against Jericho more than MVP deserves one against Matt Hardy. After a few (2) weeks of calls for rematches by both MVP and Jeff Hardy and denials for them by Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho, it is announced that at Night of Champions, Chris Jericho and MVP will face The Hardys with the stipulation that if MVP’s team wins MVP because the US Champion and if the Hardys win, Jeff becomes the Intercontinental Champion.

World Heavyweight Championship – This one is simple. After Undertaker defeats Edge at One Night Stand in the TLC match, CM Punk comes out and redeems his previous loss earlier in the night and defeats the Undertaker for the title. Though I would prefer Punk to cash it in on RAW, I can see this happening and it would serve several purposes, prevent another Edge vs. Undertaker match, create a new heel on Smackdown and continue the streaks of the MITB contract being cashed in successfully with involvement from a spear by Edge. Undertaker wants a rematch at Night of Champions. He gets it. (He ALWAYS gets it)

ECW – Kane © vs. The Big Show
Womens Title – Mickie James © vs. Katie Lea
World Heavyweight Championship – CM Punk © vs. Undertaker
World Tag Titles – Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly © vs. Cryme Time
WWE Championship – Triple H © vs. JBL vs. Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena
WWE Tag Titles – Miz and Morrison © vs. Jesse and Festus vs. Edge-Heads vs. Moore and Yang
Intercontinental Championship vs. United States Championship – Matt Hardy (US ©) and Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho (IC ©) and MVP

WHAT DO I THINK?: I don’t know if it’s a foregone conclusion but most of y’all think that Teddy Long is destined to be the new GM of Raw. Until I wrote this column, I didn’t really think it was that obvious… but they have done a little bit of foreshadowing in that direction. Hmm. To start off with a negative comment, since I’m feeling feisty, what’s up with all the multi-person matches? Five-man WWE Championship, eight-man tag championship, four-man IC/US tag match… aside from the girls’ match, there’s only two one-on-one contests on this show! And one of them is Kane/Big Show (bleh). But maybe that’s just an issue with personal taste. As for good news, I give you credit for pulling the trigger on Punk vs. Undertaker, a feud that I have long thought would be a crazy contrast in styles and fun to see. But why does the Punkster just suddenly want the title so bad that he doesn’t mind going through the Phenom to get it? I’m happy to see the heel turn; I just wanted to know more. Oh, and the John Cena heel turn isn’t going to happen… but its fun to dream, isn’t it?

Guys, it happened again. We got too many entries and I couldn’t fit them all on the page. Isn’t that ridiculous and sad at the same time? I apologize to all who didn’t see their ideas printed here today and I assure you that these seven entries were chosen at random from the group that included several others. If you plan on writing in again for this week’s topic, I’ll be sure to post your ideas next week… scouts honor.

Now, onto my predictions, off the cuff…

“Fresh Faces, New Places”

June 1, 2008: One Night Stand:
Triple H def. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing) to retain WWE Championship
Undertaker def. Edge (TLC) to regain World Championship
Big Show def. Chavo Guerrero (Singapore Cane Match) to become ECW #1 Contender
John Cena def. JBL (First Blood)
Jeff Hardy def. Umaga (Falls Count Anywhere)
Batista def. Shawn Michaels (Stretcher Match)

PPV High Notes: Batista fulfilled his promise to injure Shawn Michaels by absolutely destroying his knee with a steel chair before strapping HBK to a stretcher and shoving him off the edge of the entrance ramp. Chavo Guerrero interfered at the end of the TLC match and accidentally struck Edge with a chair when he swung it at ‘Taker, who responded by chokeslamming Chavo and climbing the ladder to victory.

Weeks Leading up to the Draft: McMahon announced that he was bringing back the draft to please the fans and give them new rivalries and new champions, among other things. This won’t be a “GM’s Choice” Draft (like in 2002) because Raw doesn’t have a GM and Vickie’s time may be running out on Smackdown as well; it also won’t be a “Random Lottery” Draft (like last year) because those are freaking stupid and kayfabe is dead — nothing is random, and everyone knows it. I anticipate that McMahon will be keeping a close eye on all three brands over the next month in order to assess which superstars should be chosen to switch brands and receive new opportunities. Maybe this will require him playing less of a heel and more of a guy who is looking out for the best interest of all three shows, but things will probably progress slowly while we wait to find out who is coming and who is going.

On Raw, Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton will both cite injuries received at ONS as reasons for their extended leaves of absence. Jeff Hardy will approach the increasingly-arrogant Chris Jericho for a title shot. WWE Champion Triple H, meanwhile, will find himself in a shaky alliance with John Cena against JBL, Umaga, and Snitsky while being forced to keep one eye on his partner and future challenger.

On Smackdown, Batista will make a half-heel turn to give new life to his brutal “The Animal” character. The Chavo-Edge issue will heat up and these two will put Vickie in a tough spot while her GM position is in jeopardy. The Undertaker will be forced to defend his title against the Big Show, but Kane will interfere to further anger his colossal number one contender. Hawkins and Ryder will win the tag team championship from Miz and Morrison with the help of the Rated R Superstar, but Chavo and Bam Neely will immediately challenge them. Vicki Guerrero, however, will make the match into a handicap match by adding her boy toy to the mix. Finally, M.V.P. will cheat to win a four-way match and become number one contender to ‘Taker’s title.

June 23, 2008: WWE Draft 2008: I’m just using the draft to build my Night of Champions card, so let’s go ahead and put words in Vince’s mouth and give this thing a few rules. I didn’t want to get carried away (see next week’s homework and you’ll understand why…) so I limited the transactions to two from each brand. Also, because I care about your sanity in more ways than Vengeance ’05 ever will, let’s keep the champions out of the lottery. Here’s my quick stab at it:

Raw to ECW: Carlito
Raw to SD: Umaga

SD to ECW: Vladmir Koslov
SD to RAW: Batista

ECW to SD: John Morrison
ECW to RAW: CM Punk

Between the Draft and Night of Champions: They won’t have much time to put together matches, but I think Vince can take care of this by announcing some kind of “incentive” for the superstars who were forced to switch brands — the newest RAW guys will meet the newest SD guys, with the winning team receiving separate title shots against the world champion of their new brand.

June 29, 2008: Night of Champions
WWE: Triple H (c) vs. John Cena
WORLD: Undertaker (c) vs. M.V.P.
ECW: Kane (c) vs. Big Show
INTERCONTINENTAL: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
UNITED STATES: Matt Hardy (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Finlay
WORLD TAG TEAM: Ted DiBiase and D.H. Smith (c) vs. Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes
WWE TAG TEAM: Curt Hawkins and Zac Ryder (c) and Edge vs. Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neely
WWE DRAFT CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER MATCH: Batista and CM Punk vs. Umaga and John Morrison

The winners? In reverse order from above: Batista/Punk, Rated Rmy, DiBiase/Smith, Hardy, Hardy, Big Show, Undertaker, and new WWE Champion John Cena. What do y’all think?

Next week’s homework… due on Tuesday, June 3 @ 11 PM
The WWE Draft was announced this week. Go all out and prepare a mock draft with whatever rules and regulations that you deem appropriate (since Vince was, typically, vague about everything). If you want, go ahead and tell me what feuds you think will be built after the superstars switch it up. Have fun!

As usual, send your entries and thoughts to [email protected]!