Smark Out Moment

Though the card is a bit strange, there's a chance this ppv could be rather good, but as always, the execution is where we'll be able to decide that. Will the WWE put on a good enough ppv that they can brag about it, or will they have no right to when it's all said and done? Who knows? Will I think of a better way to work that pun in there next year? Maybe so. Let's get into it!

Nice effect having Lawler's name encased in red, Striker's name encased in blue, and Cole's name 50/50 as he's in the middle and on both shows. I love little details like that. The ropes are half blue and half red as well as the ring posts.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan
As much as I think Bryan is overrated, I love "Ride of the Valkyries", and I hope he keeps it for a long while. Lots of mat wrestling so far. Bryan jumps over Vickie and hits Ziggler with a flying knee. What I'm liking about this is that everything seems crisp and energetic without going overboard and getting haphazard. Striker refers to the couple as "Jiggles and Ziggles" (haha). The crowd is PUMPED tonight, and this match is surely helping out with that. Bryan goes for a back suplex from the top rope but Ziggler reverses it into a crossbody cover, gets a two, and Bryan reverses that into a two-count of his own. Bryan escapes the Sleeper and they collide with a double crossbody attempt. There's a series of different pinning attempt reversals followed by Ziggler getting the three, but Bryan's leg is on the ropes. After some bragging, Ziggler ends up trapped in the LeBell Lock and has to submit!

WINNER: Daniel Bryan via submission.
Now THAT was a great match. We should have that caliber match for every opening of a card. That was very, very good. One of Ziggler's best matches and one of the better matches I've seen in a long time. If Bryan keeps up this level of performance, then I'll admit that I was wrong about him, because this match was fantastic. Great start to the ppv. 

Backstage with the Miz and Alex Riley
Miz says Bryan owes his success to his training and Raw's off to a great start. Sheamus questions Miz's authority. Punk says Miz is "barely Captain Crunch" let alone the Raw captain. Santino asks where the snacks and beverages are. Sheamus says if anyone gets in his face, he'll kick his head off. Riley says Miz needs to get things together, that Santino thinks its a cocktail party and calls Sheamus "the Keebler elf".

"Dashing" Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre
The tag champs hit the ring and get on the mic. Rhodes says that the ppv name is appropriate for them to come out because they have a lot to brag about. Lawler makes fun of McIntyre's accent (and rightfully so when he says Smackdooon). They claim nobody wants to face them. Raw's GM sends a message (cue the chorus of boos, haha, I love the anonymous GM thing with Cole). Raw GM says there IS a team that will challenge them tonight. Out comes Wade Barrett! He says he's going to win the title tonight and introduces "one half of the next tag team champions...David Otunga, and his partner, John Cena". Cena BOLTS to the ring.

Tag Team Championship: Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre vs. John Cena & David Otunga
Crowd's a bit confused about who to cheer for, outside of Cena, of course. The audience energy hasn't dropped though. Cena basically takes care of them for most of the match. He then wins the match by making Rhodes tap out to the STF. Otunga celebrates and Cole points out that he's been living off other people for his whole life and did the same here with Cena. Great little tidbit to throw in there. After the match, Cena gives Otunga an Attitude Adjustment.

WINNERS (and new tag team champions): John Cena & David Otunga via submission.
The match wasn't stellar, but it was good enough not to kill things. They kept the momentum going and we're rolling to the next segment easily.

Backstage with DiBiase and Maryse
Josh asks Ted how he'll get back his Million Dollar championship. Maryse spits out a bunch of French nonsense and Ted shuts her up to answer Josh, saying Goldust doesn't belong in the ring or even the same tax bracket as him. He'll beat him tonight, take back his belt, and then have Aksana deported.

Ted DiBiase vs. Goldust
Why isn't Maryse trying to get the belt while this match is going on? Striker - "Michael Cole is wearing jewelry, ladies and gentlemen, the rumors are true." Ted's getting a lot of close 2.5 counts so far. "Patented Goldust" from Cole, since according to him, he's used "vintage" already. NOW Maryse goes to attack Aksana. This distracts Goldust, allowing DiBiase to get a DDT and a quick pin on him. Maryse takes the Million Dollar title but Aksana attacks her (and has to readjust her dress so her ass doesn't hang out, unfortunately). She then flirts with DiBiase long enough for Goldust to hit the Final Cut on him. Goldust and Aksana walk away with the title still in their position.

WINNER: Ted DiBiase via pinfall.
Not a bad match. I hope with this and the tag title match, it doesn't take too much time away from the 7-on-7 match or the two world title matches, but it wasn't bad.

Divas Championship: Layla vs. Natalya
Layla and McCool do the typical "make fun of the local people" stuff and cut another terrible promo. Natalya has a good spot where she's keeping Layla up with a vertical suplex and actually doing squats in the process. Natalya's quickly proving that if they give her the chance, she's easily the best wrestler they've got out of the women. Layla tries to leave, but Natalya cuts her off and throws her back in the ring. While the ref isn't paying attention, Michelle kicks Natalya in the head. Layla gets the pin.

WINNER: Layla via pinfall.
If Natalya never gets the title, that's ridiculous.

Josh Mathews in the Grave
Josh gives a rundown of the Buried Alive match while standing in the grave area.

World Heavyweight Championship [Buried Alive Match]: Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
Brock Lesnar attacks the Undertaker! Just kidding. Taker goes after Kane before he can even make it to the ring. Paul Bearer stays far away. If I heard them correctly, the fans were just chanting "we want blood". Taker and Kane are now fighting amongst the fans. Undertaker starts throwing chairs into the ring...and the top of the announce table. But they go back to the fans. Then back inside where Kane starts hitting Taker with one of the chairs. Kane chokeslams Taker, but as Cole points out, it doesn't matter, as he's a long way away from the burial spot. Kane chokeslams him again. Kane starts carrying Taker towards the grave, but Taker strikes back and now they start fighting around the ramp. Taker wins the punch-for-punch competition. Kane scrambles around the grave and Taker signals the end. Kane throws dirt in his eyes, though, and gives him a big boot to the face...and knocks over a microphone. Undertaker locks in the Hell's Gate and Kane taps out, but it doesn't matter. He passes out, but Paul Bearer is sneaking around. Taker pushes Kane into the grave, then sets his sights to Paul Bearer, who begs for mercy. Taker pushes his face into the dirt, then gets ready to chokeslam him in. The Nexus comes out (sans Cena) and attacks Taker. While Slater, Gabriel, Otunga, and Barrett gang up on the Undertaker, Kane comes back out of the grave and hits Taker with the urn. Kane throws the urn into the grave along with the Undertaker and the Nexus starts shoveling in the dirt. Kane tells them to get out of there. He then does his pyro taunt and the construction crane dumps more dirt in the grave. Kane wins.

WINNER: Kane via...burial.
Hm. Hearing about the possible shoulder surgery with Taker kind of spoiled it (which is by no means the WWE's fault, it's our fault for reading the spoilers), but I'm surprised at how things came out, especially with the Nexus being the reason Taker won.

After the match, Taker's music plays and a cheap lightning effect happens, with Taker's logo being displayed on the tombstone. They try to play up the eerie feel...and when we cut backstage, Josh Mathews is grinning like he just got a blowjob from Kelly Kelly hahaha. What a weird transition.

Backstage with Randy Orton
Orton says if Cena interferes, he'll take him out.

Smackdown vs. Raw 7-on-7 Bragging Rights Elimination Match: Team Raw (The Miz, CM Punk, John Morrison, Ezekiel Jackson, Santino Marella, R-Truth & Sheamus, with Alex Riley) vs. Team Smackdown (Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Tyler Reks, Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, & Edge, with Hornswoggle)
Long enough title for you? When Morrison comes out, the pyro's set up at the wrong spot, completely off-screen. Reks comes out to absolutely zero reaction. Chimel's voice naturally cracks when he introduces Edge, as it always does. Morrison starts things off with Reks. Santino is tagged in. Expect his elimination soon. Santino goes for the Cobra and yup, Santino is eliminated by Reks. In comes Ezekiel. In comes Big Show, who overpowers Ezekiel. Mysterio comes in and soon tags in Kofi. Both of them are overpowered by Ezekiel, who then tags in Sheamus. Kofi takes it to Sheamus and hits the SOS, but Sheamus gets his hand on the ropes to break up the count. Sheamus hits the High Cross powerbomb. Kofi Kingston is eliminated by Sheamus. In comes Mysterio. Sheamus tags in Punk, who gets a huge set of cheers from the crowd. Del Rio arrogantly tags himself in and mere moments later, is thrown into Mysterio. Del Rio then throws Mysterio into the security railing. Big Show yells "have you lost your damn mind?" Mysterio is being taken away by the trainers. Swagger's in now with Punk (who is still getting cheered heavily by the audience). Morrison, from the OUTSIDE, flips into the Starship Pain! Swagger is eliminated by Morrison. Reks comes in, attacking JoMo. Sheamus is tagged in and after Morrison distracts him, Sheamus kicks Reks in the head and eliminates him. Big Show comes in. Sheamus pushes Hornswoggle to the ground and they start fighting around the ramp area while the ref is counting. Both Big Show and Sheamus are counted out! We're down to Edge and Del Rio on Smackdown against R-Truth, John Morrison, the Miz, CM Punk, and Ezekiel on Raw. R-Truth misses the Ax Kick and Edge spears him. Edge eliminates R-Truth. Morrison misses the Starship Pain and possibly tweaks his leg (though that may just be kayfabe), allowing Edge to spear him. Edge eliminates John Morrison. CM Punk comes in and Del Rio tags himself in. CM Punk eliminates Del Rio with a backslide! Edge is alone (unless Mysterio comes back out) against Punk, Ezekiel, and the Miz. Lo and behold, Mysterio comes out, attacks Del Rio, and re-enters the match. Edge is passed back and forth amongst the Raw superstars, unable to tag in Mysterio. Punk misses the knee in the corner, allowing Edge to give him an electric chair. Rey is tagged in. Rey and Punk reverse each other into a series of two-counts. Rey then hits the 619 and eliminates CM Punk! Ezekiel comes in immediately and levels Rey. Edge for some reason isn't on the apron. Ezekiel is eliminated by Mysterio, despite kicking out. Everyone's confused. Something went wrong. Riley protects the Miz from a 619. The Miz counters and gets a two-count. Edge is tagged in and spears the Miz. The Miz is eliminated by Edge! Team Smackdown wins!

WINNERS: Team Smackdown via pinfall.
Good match. It didn't go as I thought it would in a lot of ways, which made it better. The only people that really looked bad in the process were Santino and to an extent R-Truth.

Striker celebrates afterward, boasting towards Lawler and Cole. Mysterio, Edge, and Hornswoggle celebrate in the ring with the trophy. Cole points out that he's a part of Smackdown, too.

WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett
Before the match starts, Barrett gets the mic and tells Cena that if he doesn't win, he's fired. The fans chant "fire Cena" (lol). Pretty even contest so far (which makes Barrett look like a legitimate main eventer). Well, we all saw it coming, and now the ref is knocked out. Barrett is ordering Cena to come into the ring. He's knocked off the apron, though. The rest of Nexus attacks Orton. Cena attacks Slater, Gabriel, and Otunga. Barrett asks him what the hell he's doing and Cena says if Wade gets DQ'ed, he'd lose. Wade sets Orton up for Wasteland but Orton gets out of it. Cena comes into the ring and gives BARRETT an Attitude Adjustment. Wade wins by disqualification. Orton gives Cena an RKO. Orton retains the title, but lost the match. Orton then gives Barrett an RKO.

WINNER: Wade Barrett via disqualification.
Well...it wasn't the best way to end the match, nor was it the best way to end the ppv. Once the disqualification happened, all the energy in the audience just completely evaporated. The match wasn't bad, but that ending kind of fucked it up.

Though the ending of the ppv was lackluster, overall, Bragging Rights 2010 was great. Not a single match on the card was bad and there were some good twists and turns in there. Very, very good overall. This was one that you shouldn't have missed.

The A-Show versus the B-Show. The Red Show versus the Blue Show. 3.1 ratings versus 1.7 ratings. USA versus SyFy. The...ok, I'll stop. The point is, it's time for Bragging Rights, my absolute favorite of the newer gimmick ppvs. I was a big fan of this concept (though I still think it would play out much better if they did it as the ppv directly after the draft and further away from Survivor Series) and I hope that this pay-per-view delivers so they keep it. Also, notice the Cena vs Taker nod in the poster above? Yet another sign they may be going with those two for WrestleMania. Anyway, sidetracks aside (see what I did there?), what are we looking at for this year's WWE Bragging Rights?

WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett
It feels too soon to take the title from Orton. Also, with Survivor Series being a good ppv to end factions, I don't think Barrett's winning the title and dragging Nexus on any longer than that, especially with the Miz waiting in the wings. I'm thinking what we'll have here is a situation similar to what the Cena/JBL match was at the Royal Rumble when HBK was under JBL's employment. Cena will be told he has to help Barrett win the title, and he'll do some sketchy stuff, but Orton will end up winning anyway, partially from Cena stalling or whatever.

PREDICTION: Randy Orton retains.

World Heavyweight Championship [Buried Alive Match]: Kane (c) vs. Undertaker
A buried alive match?! Awesome! Ok, so it isn't the most technical, fast-paced, action packed match out there. But hey, how often have we had this match? There's been some buzz that this will put one of them out of commission for a while so things can possibly heat back up around time for WrestleMania, but to be honest, I don't really expect that to happen. Plus, how can they top this match afterward? Inferno match at WrestleMania? A simple casket match won't do. If this is the end of the feud, Undertaker definitely wins. If this sets up Undertaker/Kane for WrestleMania, then I'm assuming Taker wins because he just went out on injury and would look kind of weak doing it again. If this feud continues until Survivor Series...well, I still think Taker wins here and that just becomes a rematch. UPDATE: Apparently according to several websites, the Undertaker is in need of shoulder surgery and quite possibly will be taking time off after this pay-per-view. That being said, if it is indeed true, then Kane has to win here. They can't take the title off him and then have Undertaker vacate it in a week or something. Kane retaining can build his momentum up even more and could really put him in the best spot he's been in since 1998. Depending on how long Taker is out, I don't know how they can end the feud, or where, but the possibility of a WrestleMania rematch certainly isn't out the window anymore with Taker leaving.

PREDICTION: Undertaker wins the title if he's sticking around. If not, Kane HAS to retain.

Bragging Rights Match: Team Raw (The Miz, John Morrison, Sheamus, CM Punk, R-Truth, Santino Marella, & Ezekiel Jackson) vs. Team Smackdown (Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, Rey Mysterio, & Jack Swagger)
Mark Henry's mystery spot goes to Ezekiel Jackson, hopefully because of them wanting to do that rather than being forced to, what with Mark's brother's health problems. Three names in this match are kind of confusing for me. Ezekiel is one of them, but I can see why they'd want him to come back to a resurgence and I have no problem with that. The other two are Santino and Reks. If Santino stays on the team, he'll just be quickly eliminated. I can't see any way around that. I still think there's a possibility that Santino WON'T stay on the team, though, and will be replaced by Triple H, though there have been absolutely no reports indicating anything close to that. Do I expect it to happen? No. But its a possibility, and it feels like there must be SOME reason they put Santino on the team instead of...well, almost anybody...so it has to be one of the two. On Smackdown's side, they chose to replace Kaval (who could have provided some energy and fun spots to the match, as well as received a bit of a push in the process) with Tyler Reks of all people. I have NO idea what they're doing with that. Reks had nothing going for him during his very short ECW stint and hasn't been seen basically since July of 09 outside of a few dark matches, and he wasn't even injured. I speculated for months that he would be released at any time, especially after supposedly freaking out on an airplane during a flight, but apparently they see something in him enough to not only keep him all this time but also put him in this big match over the likes of MVP, Kaval, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, and others. Very surprising. I still don't think he'll play any part whatsoever in the match outside of a quick elimination.

PREDICTION: The big factor here is Triple H, though even if he comes back, I don't think it is necessarily a lock that Raw wins it. With Smackdown having just moved over to SyFy, I wholeheartedly expect them to try to give the benefit of the doubt to the B-show and make Smackdown look better and competitive to their new network.

Divas Championship: LayCool (c) vs. Natalya
Again, I really don't see them taking the title off Michelle and Layla yet. They seem to love their whole gimmick. I'm not exactly sure why...since they're so awful on the mic...but when they like something, they stick with them despite that (cough*Sheamus*cough). Thus, Natalya has no shot here. I'd be utterly shocked if she won the title.

PREDICTION: Natalya comes up short again.

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler
Its a non-title match, not a unification, so it doesn't REALLY matter who wins. They aren't even doing the three match tally like last year, so this won't even count towards a Smackdown or Raw point. Because of that, I'm expecting Ziggler to cheat and win.

PREDICTION: Dolph Ziggler wins via Vickie distracting the ref and Kaitlyn helping, or something.

I don't think we'll be seeing any more than this. Chances are, they'll have a dark match (probably something like Goldust/DiBiase or Cody and Drew against some tag team, maybe the Hart Dynasty) but that'll be it. Nothing else will be added to the ppv itself, since they'd be running over the time limit. The Nexus will probably just be in Barrett's corner and not get involved in anything else.

Keeping up with WWE's new pay-per-view lineup, we've got Bragging Rights. Which is the better show, Raw or Smackdown...since the red headed stepchild ECW isn't even on the ppv in the slightest bit? Let's put it under the microscope.

The Miz def. John Morrison
Surprised that Miz got the win. I predicted Morrison as I figured they'd want to open up the ppv with a face winning, AND that Raw would win the divas match to even it out. Very, very solid from top to bottom. This was a great match. If you saw this and you still think that both the Miz and Morrison aren't the future of the WWE...then, I don't know what to tell ya, because these guys were great and are just ready to break out into what their full potential has. With Miz winning by a real cheap method (but still, nonetheless, winning without interference or anything), it helps BOTH these guys out. Now you may think, "how does Morrison benefit from this?" Think about it this way: if Morrison would have lost in a different way, he'd have looked weak, unless it were a DQ or whatever, in which case Miz would look weak. Both guys came out of this situation looking strong.

Backstage Segment: R-Truth, Cody Rhodes, & Big Show
Rhodes tells Truth that Smackdown sucks, Truth tries to remember his lines, and Big Show reiterates that Raw is better. Necessary type of build, but could've been done better. Any time you put R-Truth in a segment, it downgrades it lol.

Smackdown Divas (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, & Natalya) def. Raw Divas (Melina, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim)
McCool is taking the hooded entrance from AJ Styles as well as one of his moves? Lol. McCool needs to show off her body, as it's one of her high points. Nice to see Natalya get some ppv time, as she's one of the few divas that can actually do some moves correctly lol. Ugh, Melina and Kelly with their screams. They need to knock that shit off. What else to say about a women's match?

Backstage Segment: R-A-W, Rah Rah Rah

Swagger asks, "do we really need this little rah-rah speech"? Meh, you sort of do on a ppv like this. Plus, it was kind of fun. A reference to Mark Henry's angle with Mae Young (with Henry saying "nobody still thinks of that"...shot at the IWC?), explaining how Kofi isn't going to be Jamaican anymore (which is ok), telling Hornswoggle to wash his face which we've all been thinking. HHH and HBK did a good job acting as the captains of their team, and it made perfect sense that they'd use the phrase "are you ready" for a rallying up segment.

World Heavyweight Championship (Fatal Four-Way Match): The Undertaker (c) def. Batista, Rey Mysterio, & CM Punk
Oh yeah, didn't I say that we'd have Taker retain and Batista attack Mysterio afterwards? SO obvious that that was going to happen. And you know, I'm ok with the way they did it. Normally, if you put the mic in front of Mysterio or Batista, I have to groan. However, I think them having that little mic section post-match helped the heel turn so much more than it would've been if Batista would have just attacked Mysterio afterwards like they do so often. The post-match beat down was forceful enough looking that it succeeded in turning Batista heel. Match itself, let's see what notes I wrote down...oh, here's one, why does Punk say "it's clobbering time" on the way to the ring? CM Thing? Lol. I like it better when he says "it's nap time" as it works with his GTS finisher. Sounds like the crowd was completely behind Taker, which was to be assumed anyway, as he's the man. Throughout the match, I felt Mysterio was used rather well. Instead of trying to give him some domination, he was merely used for little spots here and there. Essentially, if the entire match can be summed up as a sentence, he was the accent marks and apostrophes. That's how Mysterio works best. He takes lots of brutal moments where he looks weak, hits some quick things out of nowhere, and then leaves. Pretty decent job of keeping it a multi-man match with the offense, including Batista spearing Taker while he was busy with Mysterio. Plus, Batista launching Mysterio was fun to see lol.

Team Smackdown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, Finlay, & The Hart Dynasty) def. Team Raw (DX, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, & Jack Swagger)
Team Smackdown has 58 championships compared to Raw's 59...how? Oh yeah, Jericho lol. The fans that they interviewed ahead of time were so lame haha. Still, that was kind of fun to do something out of the box and have their predictions, so it's ok in my book. DX's pyro was fucked up. Why was HHH the only person not wearing their team's shirt? Special treatment again? Lol. I do have to point out that I liked how they filmed the two teams from the reflection of the trophy. That was a very, very nice touch that will go unnoticed (or unappreciated) from most. Nothing really amazing about this. You had to know that Big Show would screw Raw out of it. Again, it was so obvious. This gives DX more of a reason to challenge JeriShow for their tag titles.


Backstage Segment: Cody Rhodes Attacks Kofi Kingston
Rhodes says Kofi was the weak link and attacks him. They starting a singles feud between the two? I'll watch.

WWE Championship (Iron Man Match): John Cena def. Randy Orton (c)
I'll admit it. I thought they'd put on an absolutely horrid match, but they weren't too bad together. Though, even fans of this match and of Cena have to admit that Cena was extremely limited here. It was not only obvious that Orton was calling the shots in the ring but there is also more steam for the "Cena only knows 5 moves" argument. How many times did he repeat the same offense instead of trying something new? I mean, hell, he won FOUR (five if you count the double count RKO thing) out of his SIX decisions by using just the STF and the Attitude Adjustment. The other was a roll-up. Give me a break, man. You're the top guy in the company and you can't learn some variety? Have Jamie Noble teach you something...lord knows he's not too busy lol. Cena gets busted early on but then it stops. What, he doesn't even sell BLEEDING anymore? Haha j/k. Since when was this a Falls Count Anywhere match as well, instead of just being no-DQ and no count out? Idk, but it helped the match greatly. Why did it take so long for Legacy to come down instead of having them show up at the very beginning? Then again, its WWE, you're not supposed to think of that. Good to see Kofi come out though, as that gave him some more time on this pay-per-view, and it'll burn into the minds of the fans, which will upgrade his status on the WWE hierarchy. Dreamstreet gives Orton a pinfall, so I'm thinking maybe DiBiase can say something along the lines of how he gave him an extra decision but Orton still lost the match, so it clearly wasn't Ted's fault, but it was solely Orton's. The pyro stuff was pretty stupid. Sure, if it were real, it would be devastating, but they never do a good job rigging those things to look realistic. You can always tell how fake they are, and that hurts the angle each and every time they try to pull it off. Orton's DDT on the outside was a good way to utilize a pinfall as that looked rough. But then I thought, again, why wouldn't Orton just take advantage of Cena being down and punt him? If that apparently puts people out for months on end (unless you're Cena or HHH of course...allow me to roll my eyes) then why not do it and get a few pinfalls? Not supposed to remember that, either lol. A bit unnecessary having the referees taken out, unless they want to say that Orton had another pinfall on Cena but screwed himself by taking out the ref. Cena wins, as expected, with the STF in the final moments. Meh. I really hope they don't talk about this match too much as it certainly wasn't great by any standards - it was just better than I had thought it would be.

Overall thoughts on Bragging Rights? Well, I liked the nice touches of having the ring ropes as both the colors, and it makes perfect sense to have a trophy, but I doubt that they'll have Smackdown showcase the trophy for the rest of the year or something, so it most likely will be about as prestigious as the king of the ring scepter and throne lol. So, did you notice that in all the brand matches, the heels won? I mean, sure, you can say that Team Smackdown wasn't a full on heel team, but who got the pinfall? Jericho. Smackdown had 4 heels and 3 faces, with 2 of those heels being captains, compared to Team Raw which had only 3 heels and 2 face captains. The Miz and Morrison had a great match, the divas had...well, a divas match, the fatal four-way was kind of fun, the tag team match was ok, and the Iron Man match was ok. That balances out to a massive "meh". About as C+ or B- as you can possibly get, I think. Still, the next pay-per-view is Survivor Series which is always something to look forward to.

And so we cast aside the voting polls from Cyber Sunday and usher in a new pay-per-view wherein a tag team match is the gimmick of the show: Survivor Series...wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, and so did the WWE. That's next month as this Sunday is Bragging Rights, wherein the brands of the WWE will face off to determine which of the two are better, because apparently the WWE doesn't realize that there's a third brand in ECW. What do we have in store for the debut of this new ppv concept?

Six Diva Tag Team Match: Team Raw (Melina, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim) vs. Team Smackdown (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, & Natalya)First off, thank god they put Natalya on here instead of Layla, and Kelly and Gail instead of the Bella twins or Eve. Clearly they've continued the "Raw is face, Smackdown is heel" motif here. Really, it doesn't matter what happens as nobody will care.

PREDICTION: Team Raw wins.

John Morrison vs. The Miz
I'm head over heels excited for this match. Both Morrison and the Miz are two of my favorites in the WWE right now and two guys that I think we can all agree will be on top of the company in the future. There's lots of comparisons lately about the Shawn and Marty duo, but I'm actually looking at this match in a different light. You know what this reminds me of? Steve Austin versus The Rock for the Intercontinental title...before either man made it as a main event star. I wholeheartedly expect these two to put on one hell of a show and leave us looking back a few years from now, while they're headlining WrestleMania.

PREDICTION: John Morrison defeats the Miz.

World Heavyweight Championship (Fatal Four-Way): The Undertaker (c) vs. Batista vs. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
I think we've all discussed this already...Batista is going to turn heel. This angle where they're repeatedly drilling home the point that he and Mysterio are friends, alongside him being frustrated from losing recently, just spells that Batista will somehow lose this match and lash out, probably on Rey. Rumor has it that the WWE wants to do another program between Batista and Taker and I can see them doing that for Survivor Series while Rey and Punk start a program together. Look for Punk and Rey to try to quicken the pace while Taker and Batista do a power struggle a lot. Could work, could be a snooze.

PREDICTION: The Undertaker retains and Batista goes nuts afterwards.

WWE Championship (Iron Man Match): Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
As excited as I am for the Morrison/Miz match, I'm equally NOT excited about this match. I have absolutely no faith that these two will pull off a decent Iron Man match. Why? Because I don't feel like watching 40 minutes of headlocks from Randy Orton and I don't want to see the Five Knuckle Shuffle performed 12 times from Cena. Sure, Cena receives a lot of criticism about "only knowing five moves", which is a bit of an exaggeration, but he certainly is no Shawn Michaels when it comes to variation. He's got his leg drop, his punches, his STF and his Attitude Adjustment, but not much more than a handful of other moves. Plus, Cena has a trouble selling pain for more than thirty seconds, so I wouldn't be too surprised if this match looked like it made no sense. The main problem I foresee with Orton is pacing. He wrestles very slowly...and walks...very...slowly....and....talks...very....slowly....and that will become boring as all hell if you're watching it for a straight hour. Another thing that bothers me about this is that its so obvious that Cena will not be losing. Do you really think they'll move their top guy in ratings and merchandise to the show that some people don't even get on their cable networks? Not a chance. So far, the WWE has had their Iron Man matches with the outcomes of 1-0, 6-5, 5-4, and 4-3. Want to go with the pattern and say 3-2? I'm hoping that's not the case, as I think the more exciting conclusion would be if they had lots of decisions.

PREDICTION: John Cena wins the title. I'm hoping with something like 8-7, but knowing the WWE, it'll probably end up being 3-2 lol

Bragging Rights: Team Raw (DX, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, & Mark Henry) vs. Team Smackdown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Cryme Tyme, Drew McIntyre, & Eric Escobar)
First off, let me say that I'm all for giving pushes to the younger guys, but I think its a major, major mistake that they put McIntyre and Escobar in this match. I also think its a mistake that Cryme Tyme is in it. I don't see what's so great about McIntyre that he's getting this push, nor do I think Escobar even showed enough in his match against Matt Hardy to warrant being on the main roster. Cryme Tyme...just give me a break. You can't tell me that Smackdown wouldn't look more formidable with the likes of Knox, Hardy, and Finlay instead of three of those four I just mentioned. But therein lies why they did it, I think. Nobody expects Smackdown to win, which is why they will. I will be utterly shocked if somehow this match ends with anything other than Big Show having conspired with Jericho to sabotage Team Raw and let Jericho score the winning pinfall against either Shawn, Kofi, or Mark Henry. This opens the door for DX to be pissed at those two and have them challenge for the tag titles at Survivor Series, or possibly, reestablish their "teams" in Survivor Series format with Team DX against Team JeriShow. Hoping for the former, though, as I'd rather see the Survivor Series elimination match be comprised of other people.

PREDICTION: Team Smackdown is victorious.

*UPDATE: Now that Team Smackdown has changed to be Jericho, Kane, the Hart Dynasty, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, and Finlay...actually, I still think that Team Smackdown is going to win from Big Show screwing over Raw. However, I no longer think that the odds are so heavily in favor of Raw, as now, the teams are pretty evenly matched up (all things considered).

As noted earlier, I'm afraid that this pay-per-view will cheapen the effect of Survivor Series since it is taking place directly before it. They need to tread a fine line here to make it appear different enough that the fans don't feel like they're being given the same thing twice. With no ECW representation, an Iron Man match that I feel is doomed to fail, a divas match that nobody will give two shits about, and only three credible members of Team Smackdown (*Update: With Team Smackdown changing, it upgrades the match to watchable), I think the only two crown jewels of this whole card are the Morrison/Miz and Fatal Four-Way match. I guess we'll just have to see.

What are your predictions? What are you looking forward to/not looking forward to? Which brand are you rooting for? Leave your comments.