wrestling / Columns
Can They Be Champ? 03.30.08: Good Prediction, Bad Prediction
The first Can They Be Champ? was published on this site March 31, 2007. In that first article, I went through the eight participants of that year’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and tried to predict who I thought would and wouldn’t someday be a world champion. You can see that original article here.
It’s now been a full year. Well, minus a day, but its close enough. My column is a year old. Now, I primarily make predictions here on this column, so I thought it would be fun to raid the Can They Be Champ? archives and see how many of my predictions came true, and which ones were totally off the mark.
I know that WrestleMania 24 is today, and perhaps a column themed around that would be more prudent. Honestly though, I’m not sure what’s left to say about it at this point. There have been a lot of columns on the subject, talking about everything from predictions, analysis of the build, weather predictions, historical significance, and everything in between. All I’m going to say is that I am excited for the show, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Next week, I’ll start looking at the post WrestleMania WWE landscape. For now, let’s get to our look back at a year of Can They Be Champ?, which I’m pretty sure is still the only 411 column with a question mark in the title.
Of course, podcast plug comes first.
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I’ll place everything in one of two categories; Good Prediction or Bad Prediction.
Good Prediction: Orton will be a champion again in 2007.
Can They Be Champ? 03.31.07: Money In The Bank Participants
Here are some clips of what I said about Orton way back then in my first column, when he was still coming off of the Rated RKO thing:
Cena/Orton could be really hot, and if built up properly, could headline a WrestleMania even. Let’s not forget about HHH, the man who took Orton’s first world title. A new program between these two could definitely last longer than a single PPV.
Don’t be surprised if Orton gets the belt sometime this year.
So, not only did I predict that Orton would be a champ, but I also called his programs with Cena and HHH. I even almost predicted this year’s WrestleMania’s main event. Of course, programs with HHH and Cena with a champion Orton are pretty much gimmes. Still, I did make this prediction at a time when Orton was a little more directionless than he is today. I remember that he even was showing some face tendencies going into WrestleMania 23. I actually thought he was going to win MitB, but that ended up going to Kennedy. Anyways, it wasn’t long afterwards that Orton started kicking people in the head, including HBK, RVD, Dusty Rhodes, and Sgt. Slaughter. The return of the Legend Killer persona in full force lead him on his path to the championship, and a surprisingly good title reign. I know I’m definitely a bigger Orton fan now than I was this time last year.
Bad Prediction: Orton won’t be the one to take the belt from Cena.
Can They Be Champ? 4.23.07: The Next Champs
In that column, I was predicting who would be the next person to hold each major title. When it came time to pick who I thought would end Cena’s third title reign, I thought Shawn Michaels, HHH, and Edge were likely candidates. Here’s what I said about Orton:
Now one man I may have considered to be a candidate until recently was Orton. But after being sent home from the Euro tour, I have to imagine that he’ll be in the doghouse for a while. Of course, he has gotten out of said doghouse pretty quickly in the past, so who knows.
For those who forgot, I was referring to the incident where Orton trashed his hotel room. Now, I was correct in predicting that he wouldn’t be in trouble with the WWE for long, but I still thought there were more likely candidates to take Cena’s gold. Of course, I didn’t realize that Edge would go to Smackdown, Shawn would get injured, and HHH would never wrestle Cena upon his return. Nor did I think Cena’s reign would last as long as it did.
Bad Prediction: At least one world title will change hands at SummerSlam.
Can They Be Champ? 8.14.07: The SummerSlam Championship Matches
The world title matches for SummerSlam were Cena vs. Orton, Great Khali vs. Batista, and John Morrison vs CM Punk.
So yes, I think Orton has a pretty good chance at winning the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. I’m going to say 75%. That other 25% is the Cena factor. He has held onto the belt for a freaking long time. It would be dumb to bet completely against the man.
I’d say the Batista has a 50% of winning the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam.
I’m going to say Punk has a 90% of winning this match.
It would turn out that all three champions would retain. Orton only got the title when Cena was injured before No Mercy. Batista eventually won the title in a Triple Threat match with Khali and Rey Mysterio. Punk won the ECW Championship on an episode of ECW due to Morrison being suspended.
Good Prediction: MVP will be Smackdown’s break out star.
Can They Be Champ? 8.28.07: Break Out Wrestlers
I think the title is self explanatory. Here’s what I said:
MVP has been doing a great job as the mid-card heel. If he continues being as solid as he is, I don’t see any reason why he can’t move up to the main event. Hopefully he’ll get a good match at WrestleMania 24, maybe even a spot in Money in the Bank. Heck, maybe he could even win Money in the Bank. It’s hard to think of someone who would fit the moniker of Mr. Money in the Bank than MVP.
Sure, he’s not in the main event, but like I thought, he did get a spot in this year’s Money in the Bank, and there are people who think he could win the match. I’m not sure if I think that, but it does look like he’ll be feuding with Chris Jericho soon, which will be good for him. Either that or we’ll see the return of the Matt Hardy program.
Bad Prediction: Every Raw prediction from that column.
Can They Be Champ? 8.28.07: Break Out Wrestlers
I tried to predict Raw’s breakout stars as well. It didn’t go well:
The safest choice is Mr. Kennedy. It’s been heavily rumored and hinted at that he’ll be Vince’s illegitimate child, and such an alignment is sure to give him massive, massive heat. Plus, this could lead to a feud with HHH. Getting involved with people like HHH and Vince McMahon is always good for your career.
The next pick is a bit more risky, and depends on various factors, but I’m going to say Hart Foundation 2.0. Yeah, I know, they haven’t even debuted on WWE television. Still, the name alone is going to carry this group to the top of the tag team division almost instantly. And if they get Bret Hart involved, well, that’ll only speed up the whole deal.
Another tag team choice I’m going to make is London and Kendrick. Although they’ve been pushed out of the spotlight since coming to Raw, I think that a bit of Renaissance is heading for the Raw tag team division, and I expect London and Kendrick to be a big part of that. They were WWE Tag Team Champions for a very, very long time. I think they have a good chance of being World Tag Team Champions at least once by this time next year.
Another obvious choice is Lashley. Before his injury, he was being pushed to the moon, and even got to look strong in a championship match against Cena. I think it’s a very safe bet to say that Lashley will be a world champion again before the end of the year.
We all know how well the illegitimate child thing went for Mr. Kennedy. If he doesn’t win MitB this year, they’re going to need to think of something really creative to get him into the main event. Hart Foundation 2.0… man, what was I thinking? I actually had faith in Teddy Hart to not be a total screw up. I’m going to go ahead and call that the worst prediction I’ve ever made. London and Kendrick have been turned into a jobbing machine. Can someone please send them back to Smackdown? Remember the great matches they used to have there? Lashley, of course, would never come back from the injury I brought up. Probably for the best.
Good Prediction: Edge will be the champion going into WM24.
Can They Be Champ? 11.06.07: Survivor Series Title Matches
I first brought this up when I was talking about Batista and Taker’s Hell in a Cell match at Survivor Series, right before Edge returned. Now, I did predict Batista would win that match, though it would have been really impressive if I predicted the Edge interference. Anyways, here’s what I said about Edge:
Will Edge win the title from Batista? Well, this is a bit far in the future to accurately predict, but I think so. I’m guessing that we’re going to see Edge as the WHC going into WM24.
Ok, that wasn’t the most risky prediction. People were calling for Edge vs. Taker almost as soon as WM23 ended. Still, I did say that Edge was going to be the champion going in, and I did say that he would win the title from Batista.
Bad Prediction: Maybe Not.
Or course, the next week I would ruin a perfectly good prediction with this:
Maybe we’ll see a triple threat match between Taker, Batista, and Edge. Honestly, those three men make up the entire title scene at the moment, so I don’t see what choice they have. Somehow, I think Taker will win the belt back, and I think Edge will win the 2008 Royal Rumble. That’ll get us to the Edge/Taker match at WrestleMania 24.
Well, at least I called the triple threat match that those three had at Armageddon. Too bad I had to ruin it and say that Edge was going to win the Royal Rumble. Oh well, at least I can be happy knowing no one predicted the winner of the rumble right. And at least I wasn’t dumb enough to not predict the Edge/Taker match at WrestleMania 24.
I might like to add that there was a period of the column after this where I constantly swore on my life that HHH would win the Royal Rumble, and assumed that Cena would not be involved in WM24. Whoops.
After that, we’re too close to the present to accurately see how my predictions pan out. I hope you enjoyed this analysis into my clairvoyant powers. We’ll have to do this again next year. Now, feel free to mock me in the comments.
I want to thank everyone for the kind comments I received concerning last week’s column about my anxiety issues. I got an especially nice e-mail from Cheryl.
Hi,
Just a quick email to tell you how much I enjoyed this weeks column and appreciated the bravery involved in talking so frankly about anxiety and depression. Though living in England I have never had the experience or chance to attend Wrestlemania I did have a similar experience when attending my first and to date only live WWE event. I have suffered from depression and panic attacks for several years, since my early teens and would freak out in any kind of crowd or social situation. It stopped me from attending school for almost two years. Despite this I worked a crappy job cleaning after college to save £200 about $400 for front row tickets for a Smackdown taping a couple of years ago. I, like you was hesitant about going, even after spending so much money. Once I was in there though my heart was beating fast for an entirely different reason. I still suffer from attacks but I still remember being able to be there and be okay and as I’m sure you know it can be quite empowering.
The matches didn’t matter, the atmosphere of a live event is just so strong that nothing else matters.
Great column and Happy Anniversary,
Cheryl Yates.
Thanks for the happy anniversary wish. Seeing WWE live really is special, especially if it’s one of your first times, or if you’re going to a big show. Glad to see you too got to enjoy the experience.
A lot of people with similar issues wrote on the comments board last week. Again, it’s great to hear from all of you. I know that anxiety can be a depressing thing, but I truly believe that with a strong will, and with a little time (and maybe the help of some good prescription drugs), it’s something you can hope to get over.
Alright everyone, enjoy WrestleMania. I’ll be back next week to predict the future of Raw up to SummerSlam.
