WWE Night Of Champions 2012 Predictions

Dolph Ziggler v. Randy Orton

It's something of a classic (or cliche) set up with both men having a pinfall victory over the other, the proverbial "rubber match" coming this Sunday. That being said, Orton's spinning his wheels and doesn't need a win here while Ziggler's still struggling to make his name a main event threat. I'm throwing WWE's usual logic to the side for this one, Ziggler NEEDS this.

On another note, it turns out that this match comes after Sheamus v. Del Rio, so this may be a World Title match as well if Ziggler cashes in and wins. Same logic applies though: Orton's preparing for another film and spinning his wheels on WWE TV. Hot-shotting the belt from Ziggler to "The Viper" would be a mistake.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Divas Championship

Layla (c) v. Kaitlyn

Since the botched ending to the battle royal, they've tried to show Kaitlyn suddenly emerging as a semi-powerful threat with tag victories over more experienced divas and an "upset" singles win over Beth Phoenix. Problem is, no one honestly seems to care about the Divas Title and a win over Phoenix doesn't mean much since she hasn't been a viable, visible threat in months. 

The one remotely interesting part about this (and that's not saying much) is Eve, who's been glad-handing all she can to seemingly get in on the match, so we could see it being made a triple threat at the last minute. If that's the case, either Kaitlyn or Eve would be a welcome change, as Layla's reign has been like her return: Uneventful.

Winner and NEW Divas Champion: Eve Torres

United States Championship

Antonio Cesaro (c) v. Winner of Battle Royal

 My original pick on 411Mania for the winner of the battle royal, Christian, was shown on Smackdown in an arm sling because of nerve damage from the Brogue Kick, so he's out.

That being said, if WWE's really getting behind Antonio, he needs to look dominant against a semi-serious opponent (Anyone BUT Santino) to look good in his first PPV title defense. Who better than a former United States Champion? You know it!

Cesaro's Opponent: Zack Ryder
Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Intercontinental Championship

Fatal Four-Way Match

The Miz (c) v. Rey Mysterio v. Cody Rhodes v. Sin Cara

 A multifaceted match (Ironic with Sin Cara in it) that has a number of interesting twists. Miz is looking to further establish his comeback and rise back into upper mid-card status. Cody is looking to regain the gold he "brought honor and prestige back to" in 2011.

What's really key here will be the interaction between Sin Cara and Mysterio. It's the first time they face off as foes and with their rumored match for Wrestlemania, it'll be interesting to see if WWE sets the wheels in motion for that match here.

In the meantime, neither of them really seem to be as serious in gunning for the belt as Rhodes is, and a heel-heel feud for the IC belt could be an interesting dichotomy with Cody and Miz's personalities.

Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes

WWE Tag Team Championship

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) v. Team Friendship 

 A face team that has been stagnant as champions for the last few months versus probably the best sociopath, comedic team I've seen in recent memory. It may mean they get bumped down to the mid-cards, but Daniel and Kane have been the best, funniest thing in WWE for the last few weeks and not giving them the belts here would be a mistake. Do it for Dr. Shelby, do it for Anger Management, but most of all, do it for FRIENDSHIP, YES, YES, YES!

Winners and NEW WWE Tag Team Champions: Daniel Bryan and Kane (TEAM FRIENDSHIP!)


World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus (c) v. Alberto Del Rio

The supposed wrinkle in this match is the banning of the Brogue Kick, but Sheamus has pretty much negated that by bringing out the Texas Cloverleaf (Four-leaf?) and has still been dominant, which isn't a problem, and under normal circumstances, I'd give Sheamus the win to finally put Del Rio away and bring this feud to a decisive end

However, WWE Management has become higher and higher on Ziggler to the point they're seriously considering having him cash in tonight. The only consequence Sheamus faces for using the Brogue Kick is being stripped of the title. What would stop him from nailing Del Rio with it if Alberto won?

Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Alberto Del Rio...One Brogue Kick and Cash-In later...DOLPH ZIGGLER.


WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) v. John Cena

WWE's seemingly tried everything to make this a sort of role reversal of last year's MITB from Chicago, the biggest reversal being that NOC is in Cena's backyard of Boston. My problem with this is that the crowd in Boston is just as split over Cena and Punk and snarky as the Chicago crowd, I can attest to that as a proud Massachusetts native. I'm definitely not 100% that ALL of Boston will want to see Cena cinch a hometown win.

That being said, these two haven't really lost a step on the mic going up towards this match, especially this Monday where Cena TORE into Punk and his crusade for his "respect." I have no doubt it will be another great match, but I'm not completely sold that Cena takes it here. If it goes on last, I see Punk retaining through some nefarious means to keep the feud going, possibly culminating at Survivor Series in some kind of stipulation match.

Winner: CM Punk

  


  

 

TNA No Surrender 2012: Predictions and Analysis

 

With the "Bound For Glory Series" winding down to its final four participants, Bully Ray, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe, one of these men will have to endure double duty on Sunday night; they will have to go through two tough opponents in order to become the Number One contender to Aries' World Title.

For Joe, it's about getting back to his glory days as TNA's top man and top destroyer, regaining the gold he once held years ago.

For Bully Ray, it's about cementing his status as the "Baddest Mofo" in TNA and legitimizing his livelihood as a singles competitor.

For Jeff Hardy, it's about redemption, the opportunity to prove that if he can become champion this time around, he will do TNA and wrestling itself proud as a more mature and capable person.

For Storm, it's about finding that spark again, the spark that made him TNA Heavyweight Champion in the first place, the spark that drove him against Bobby Roode when the title was taken from him, and the spark that drove him to come back and tear up the "Bound For Glory" Series.

X Division Championship:

Zema Ion (C) v. Sonjay Dutt

This one is a good example of a great-sounding match, but little to no build-up behind it. It was only announced recently on Impact Wrestling, but given Aces and Eights and the Bound For Glory Series have been the center points for the last few weeks, I can somewhat understand how this could fall by the wayside.

Anyway, Zema had a solid defense against Kenny King at the last PPV. Now, while King is a outstanding athlete and competitor inside the ring, he hasn't been in the X Division for long. Now, the returning Sonjay Dutt has major X-Division experience and is someone who can really legitimize Zema as its champion if Ion can pull off a victory here, and I believe he will.

Winner: Zema Ion

 

 RVD v. Magnus

Another match made with last-minute build-up when Magnus lambasted RVD, recently out of the Final Four after a loss to Bully Ray, over the notion that Van Dam can't make the jump on those competitive "hurdles" like he used to, inciting a violent reaction from the normally cool and collected Master of the Five-Star Frog Splash.

I can see this match is more or less a stepping stone for Magnus in terms of his slow-burning feud with Samoa Joe, but it's a  good one for him regardless. He's starting to establish himself in the singles division as a cocky, smarmy young competitor trying to undermine his more veteran opponents, saying they can't quite reach the big time like they used to. It's a touch cliche, but it's garnered the attentions of Joe and RVD. Magnus really would have to take the win here, otherwise his words would just be that, words.

Winner: Magnus

TNA Knockout Championship:

Miss Tessmacher (C) v. Tara

A teacher-student feud that hasn't exactly shown a whole lot of promise on Impact Wrestling in recent weeks, given how sloppy their non-title match was a couple of weeks back. For all intended purposes, it's shaping up to be a friendly rivalry, but more friendship that rivalry. No animosity, no hints of heel turns or one-upsmanship...people are either not going to know who to cheer for or just not care.

Tessmacher recently won the championship back from Madison Rayne and I frankly don't see her losing it this quickly to Tara. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rayne and/or Gail Kim interfere to cause a DQ and open up the possibility for a Triple Threat or Fatal Four Way for the Knockout Title at Bound For Glory.

Winner: Tara by DQ

Non-Title Fight:

Austin Aries (C) v. "The Big Guy" (Aces & Eights)

TNA has done a good job of putting Aries at the center of the company's feud with "Aces & Eights" because, of course, he's the champion, the top man in the company, and the right choice to lead it against invading forces like this.

Now. it's somewhat unclear as to whether this will be a regular match or one with Street Fight stipulations, but either way, Aries has shown recently that he can have just as nasty and violent a streak as any member of the Aces & Eights can. You can certainly expect some outside shenanigans in this match, but I expect Aries to eke out a close win here to maintain his momentum towards his eventual title match at Bound For Glory. Given the buildup, I also wouldn't be surprised if we get a good idea of who's behind the faction of Aces & Eights either Sunday or the following Thursday on Impact.

Winner: Austin Aries

TNA Tag Team Championship:

Daniels & Kazarian (C) v. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle

Hearing about this match honestly took me by surprise. Considering AJ's online comments before the show last night, I would've been expecting a stipulation match of sorts between him and Kazarian this Sunday, then have the tag title match at Bound For Glory. Don't get me wrong, this was an awesome match two months ago, but I just figured they would save a big money rematch for their big money PPV. Ah well, it'll be fun anyway.

The way I could see this one going is more less a month of revenge for Styles. He and Kurt could win the tag titles here, AJ comes out the following Impact and says winning the titles isn't enough: He wants to end this with Daniels, once and for all, possibly in a Ultimate X or Steel Cage match with their individual careers on the line. 

Over the next month, Daniels tries and avoid AJ at every turn, even ducking out of his tag title rematch, leaving Kazarian to the proverbial wolves. Either Kazarian tries to halt AJ himself and gets destroyed, or turns for real and leaves the selfish Daniels to AJ's mercies, culminating in what I'm sure will be another four or even five-star match to cap off their historic rivalry.

If all of that is to happen, AJ and Angle will have to win here in what I expect to be the show-stealer of the night, and I'm certainly hoping that is the case.

Winners and NEW TNA Tag Team Champions: AJ & Angle

Bound For Glory Series Semifinal:

Samoa Joe v. Jeff Hardy

We saw this week on Impact that Hardy, even at this advanced point in his career, can still surprise his opponents, getting what many call an upset submission victory over the Samoan Submission Machine. It makes all the more the sense to have this rematch, as Joe will know what to expect this time, or will Hardy surprise him again with another unexpected tactic?

Joe has more or less dominated near the top of the leaderboard while Hardy's had to surge in recent weeks to climb his way into the Final Four. Now while Joe's also been having issues with Magnus in recent weeks, I don't believe the cocky Brit will make himself known until later and I'll explain why in my prediction for the Finals. 

Winner: Samoa Joe

Bound For Glory Series Semifinal:

"The Cowboy" James Storm v. Bully Ray

Now this match is one that has numerous possibilities and questions surrounding it, one being Ray's status with the company. If he remains with TNA, I would not be surprised to see him get pushed to facing Aries at Bound For Glory, as the two have shown to have remarkable chemistry in the ring and on the mic. 

Storm's been making big waves since his return a couple of months back, breaking Crimson's undefeated streak and surging to the top of the Bound For Glory leaderboard, never really losing that spot. A match with him and Aries could also be a show-stealer, but the big question on my mind in relation to Storm: Where's Roode? We haven't seen hide nor hair of Storm's former tag partner since his loss to Aries and loss of future title shots. I believe the question will be answered with Roode costing James his match with Bully, keeping "The Cowboy" away from "his" championship and reginiting the feud between the two former friends.

Winner: Bully Ray

Bound For Glory Series Final (Predicted):

Samoa Joe v. Bully Ray

Remember how I said Magnus would factor in against Joe later in the night? Well, I see Joe narrowing in on the victory here when Magnus comes out and distracts Joe, ultimately costing Joe the victory against Bully, so that Magnus can say Joe fell just short of his dream, just like Magnus did against Joe. 

In turn, this will set up a hot-blooded personal match between the two former partners for Bound For Glory, while Bully reaps the rewards and moves on to face Aries for the championship.

Winner and #1 Contender: Bully Ray

...and that's all I have to say about that!