Money in the Bank 2018 Predictions!

on June 12, 2018 at 10:18 pm

It’s Money in the Bank time, and this year the card is PACKED. There are ten matches, maybe even eleven if the Raw tag titles are added to it. While I have no doubt that I’ll be worn out by the show at the end of the night, I really love how WWE has decided to streamline the actual ladder matches by only having one men’s and one women’s match this year, each with four participants from each brand. Not only does it add a fun crossover feel to the matches, but I don’t feel like anyone’s just getting thrown into the match because they don’t have anything else to do. On with the predictions!

Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn
I was a huge fan of Lashley’s when he was with Impact Wrestling so I was naively excited to see him show up on Raw a few month back. Since then he’s gone from being TNA’s Brock Lesnar to Braun Strowman’s set up guy to… this. The all around good guy who has sisters. Both Sami and Lashley deserve better than this. While Sami couldn’t have made a better attempt at getting this feud over, I really don’t see him winning this one, especially after he questioned Bobby’s military background. That just doesn’t seem like a line that winners cross.
Who will win: Bobby Lashley

Seth Rollins vs. Elias for the Intercontinental Championship
Seth’s the hottest guy in WWE right now and he really should win, but that just makes me worry that he’s going to lose due to some wonky guitar-hitting finish. On the other hand I’m predicting a couple of other title changes on this show, so maybe I’ll just play it safe here.
Who will win: Seth Rollins

Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal
Now that Brock’s beaten Punk’s record for being the longest reigning champion in the modern era of WWE, I think it’s safe for Roman to beat him. There’s no way anyone’s beating Roman until that happens, so I don’t think Jinder has a prayer in this match.
Who will win: Roman Reigns

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
I just want them to have a good match this time. If WWE just wants to use Bryan to put over this lumbering guy who never should’ve made it out of NXT (or maybe onto NXT in the first place?) fine, but just give me a good match.
Who will win: Big Cass. I want Bryan to win, but you can’t have 50/50 booking with Cass losing twice, now can you?

The Bludgeon Brothers vs. the Good Brothers for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
I really don’t know who will beat the Bludgeon Brothers, but I don’t see it being Gallows and Anderson. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was cut down to less than five minutes, especially since neither team even got any time on Smackdown this week.
Who will win: The Bludgeon Brothers

Carmella vs. Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s Championship
I don’t know how she’ll do it, but after Carmella beat Charlotte clean at Backlash I have little doubt that she’ll beat Asuka at Money in the Bank. She just has a great way of delivering those trollish heel promos that WWE loves to write. Sorry Asuka, welcome to everyone else.
Who will win: Carmella

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship
I have no idea why I think that this match won’t have a cop out finish like all of their previous bouts, but for some reason I feel confident in predicting that Shinsuke wins the title this time. Maybe it’s because AJ’s been missing live events and might need some time off? It’s hard to believe a year ago we were all begging for this match after seeing Styles and Nakamura face off at last year’s Money in the Bank, and now I just want this ball-punching feud to be over.
Who will win: Shinsuke Nakamura

Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women’s Championship
This is one of the most interesting matches to me, both because I don’t know who is going to win and I also can’t imagine it being halfway decent. I doubted Ronda at Wrestlemania and had to eat my words, but this won’t be a big, heavily produced match like her last one, it will be a singles match with Nia who, frankly, isn’t the best. I could easily see Ronda getting screwed over by Stephanie, but ultimately I don’t think Ronda will get her first loss this early on in her career.
Who will win: Ronda

The Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match (Ember vs. Charlotte vs. Alexa vs. Becky vs. Natalya vs. Lana vs. Naomi vs. Sasha)
I’m not gonna lie, I’m having a hard time picking a winner for this match. Charlotte, Alexa, and Sasha seem to fall into title matches left and right and Ember still seems too new. Out of the remaining women I think Becky will probably bring down the briefcase just because she’s been in a rut for a while and this would be the perfect thing to get her out of it.
Who will win: Becky Lynch

The Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match (Strowman vs. Balor vs. The Miz vs. Rusev vs. Roode vs. Owens vs. Samoa Joe vs. New Day)
It’s hard to shake off the memories of Commissioner Corbin’s underwhelming win last year, but even so I’m looking forward to this year’s match. While I’d love to see the New Day win and get a new direction in their careers, or Samoa Joe win because he actually seems like a real fighter instead of a cartoon character, I’d still be happy with most of the others winning. I predict Strowman will win though because he’ll always be a top guy that could conceivably cash in and win and I also don’t think WWE can resist that “Monster in the Bank” nickname.
Who will win: Braun Strowman

Looking over my predictions I realize just how bitter I am about WWE right now. I still watch it for the comics, and there are moments I like (Paige as Smackdown GM for one thing) but their booking since Wrestlemania has the swagger and confidence of a company that doesn’t have to care about ratings or subscription numbers. Hopefully after Backlash sucked so bad WWE will try harder for Money in the Bank, but even if not I’m sure NXT TakeOver will tear the house down.

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Ring of Honor’s Honor Club- Thoughts and Opinions!

on May 30, 2018 at 12:48 pm

As I mentioned recently in one of my comics, I just started subscribing to Ring of Honor’s Honor Club about a week ago and it’s… pretty good. I went all in on the service at the $120 VIP level, and while I stand by my original tepid excitement of it being a good way to keep up with Ring of Honor, there is definitely some room for improvement.

I’ve followed Ring of Honor off and on since Sinclair took them over in 2011, usually depending on who their top stars were, how far behind the tv show was from their most recent Pay Per View and how much free time I had to watch more wrestling than what WWE was putting out. I’ve always wanted to stay more committed though, and when I heard that RoH recently put out an app for their service I jumped on board.

I’ve subscribed to a few different wrestling streaming services so far, like NJPW and Chikaratopia, but while I enjoy them at first, I usually become overwhelmed with the other wrestling I’m already watching and quickly fall behind. I’m hoping Honor Club will turn that around due to their easy to use app, current content that’s on there, and the quality shows and wrestlers that I’ve come to know and love.

Some I love more than others.

So far what I like the most about Honor Club is how easy it makes it to stay up to date on Ring of Honor. By not only having the TV shows available right away but also pay per views and tours that they’ve filmed, like the recent UK tour, it makes the whole promotion really accessible. WWE had me switching between my Spectrum cable app, Facebook app, and WWE Network app in the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania, but Honor Club keeps things simple and easy.

The one glaring issue with Honor Club is the lack of classic Ring of Honor footage. It’s hard to find much, if anything, on there from before 2011, which is pretty shocking for a company that prides itself on a rich history of helping today’s superstars cut their teeth. While the WWE Network really feels like a celebration of WWE’s history, the Honor Club’s “VOD Vault” section barely has anything other than some matches from 2011 onwards and a few compilations about Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, and Kevin Steen. This wouldn’t bother me as much if Ring of Honor was up front about what’s on there, but on the Honor Club sign up page there’s only a vague reference to “historical footage”. I shouldn’t have to do Google searches and comb through message boards to find out what’s on there, especially when Honor Club doesn’t even have a free trial or anything.

Ultimately though I’m still glad I subscribed to Honor Club because I’ve always been more interested in what’s happening right now in promotions rather than what’s happened in the past. It would be great to watch old shows and I really hope they add them in the future, but to be honest, I rarely go back and watch old footage on the WWE Network so I’m not sure that this would be any different. If a year rolls around and they still don’t have any older content on there I might not renew, but until then I’ll enjoy the new content Ring of Honor puts out.

Maybe I should find this classically historic on tour show I went to.

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WWE Backlash 2018 Predictions!

on May 4, 2018 at 5:10 pm

Wow, another WWE PPV! Can you believe it? It seems like we just had one, but I guess since the Greatest Royal Rumble turned out to be a filler episode it doesn’t really count. Backlash should be considered a big deal since it’s the first joint brand Pay Per View that’s not one of the big four, but looking at the card it’s mostly matches I’ve seen before that didn’t leave me excited for the next one. Let’s look at each match though and see who’s gonna win everything:

Preshow Match: Bayley vs. Ruby Riott
There’s no way I’m betting on Bayley. If Nia survives her Alexa Bliss feud with the championship then she’ll need a new heel to fight with- and Ruby’s one of the few ones there. Also I know WWE wouldn’t miss out on another chance for Sasha to not help Bayley or have Bayley refuse Sasha’s help or some combination of all that.
Who will win: Ruby Riott

Seth Rollins vs. The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship
Is there any chance at all that The Miz will win? This match seems totally pointless because Seth’s already been putting on great matches with Balor on Raw and there’s no way he’s losing that belt. I guess Finn might show up at the end and turn heel with the Miztourage (Finntourage?) but that’s just me hoping something interesting happens.
Who will win: Seth Rollins

Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton for the United States Championship
So now instead of Jinder Mahal trying to mastermind a feud between Orton and Roode over the Smackdown Top Ten (RIP) we now get Miz trying to mastermind a feud between Orton and Jeff Hardy over interrupting matches. Maybe WWE should have Superstar shook up the creative team to see if they can find something for wrestlers to fight over other than being mildly slighted.
Who will win: Jeff Hardy, though I could see it going either way.

Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship
Nia’s win over Alexa at Wrestlemania was pretty definitive, so I’m not sure how Alexa will be presented as a threat to her here at Backlash.There’s no one to help Alexa either, unless Mickie is able to be way more useful than she was a month ago. I’ll play it safe and guess Nia will win, but I wouldn’t be surprised to get this one wrong.
Who will win: Nia Jax

Carmella vs. Charlotte for the Smackdown Live Women’s Championship
Carmella is everything I want from the personality side of a WWE superstar and while I can’t think of any classic matches of hers, I’m hoping she and Charlotte put together something good for Sunday. I’m guessing there will be some interference from the IIconics, Asuka, and maybe others, so Carmella won’t lose the title just yet.
Who will win: Carmella

Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
Maybe Joe will finally get to talk about something other than Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar! Even though it looks like Samoa Joe will be involved in the Smackdown Live title picture soon, I still can’t see him winning this one. Roman needs a win after two big losses to Brock (or maybe one if you don’t count that goofy Greatest Royal Rumble finish) and Joe’s likely to give it to him.
Who will win: Roman Reigns

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
When Bryan was cleared to wrestle I almost made a comic where two fans try to remember his great moments in WWE… only to recall all of the times he was dumped on in order to put over the guys WWE actually liked. I didn’t do it because it was a little too similar to the “Remember the Rumble” comic I did a few years ago and I also realized that if I don’t watch out all of my comics end up being depressing instead of funny. Anyway, now I wish I did make that comic because it sums up my feelings about this match perfectly.
Who will win: Daniel Bryan, because I need him to.

Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
No matter who wins I hope these guys stay as tag teams. KO and Zayn are awesome together and I’d love to see a team of destroyers like Strowman and Lashley (though I guess it takes away from the smaller Authors of Pain). I hope Bobby also gets a personality soon; he was awesome on Impact Wrestling as a version of Brock Lesnar who actually wanted to be there, so I hope he brings that back.
Who will win: Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship
Shinsuke’s been killing it as a heel since turning at Wrestlemania so I would love it if WWE took this opportunity to make him the new champ. AJ’s been a great champion and I’m sure he’ll get the belt back again, but this is the first time since Nakamura got called up that I really feel excited about him again. No matter who wins I’m guessing we’ll wind up seeing these two fighting with Samoa Joe over the title which is good in my book.
Who will win: Shinsuke Nakamura

While I’m not looking forward to most of the matches, the ones I am excited about- the WWE Championship match and Braun and Bobby vs. Kevin and Sami- are enough to keep me interested. It’s really interesting to see what’s not on WWE’s first post brand split co-branded PPV, like no Ronda (despite her being at every Raw), no tag team champions, no cruiserweights. Overall I like the co-branded PPVs better as a fan, but it undeniably sucks for the wrestlers who don’t make the cut.

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