[OFF TOPIC] WWE Thread

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WWE has been declared "essential business" by the state of Florida so they will continue to produce new events going forward

 

https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/wwe-deemed-an-essential-business-in-florida/

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Yeah, WWE will continue to broadcast shows and despite the situation they will be LIVE.

Unfortunately, a lot of superstars have been released, due to the Corona virus outbreak. Some of which so far are:

Drake Maverick
Curt Hawkins
Eric Young
Karl Anderson
EC3
Lio Rush
Kurt Angle
Rusev
Zack Ryder
Luke Gallows
Heath Slater
Rowan
Sarah Logan
No Way Jose
Mike Chioda
Mike Kanellis
Maria Kanellis
Aiden English
Primo & Epico

 

And many more to come.

 

Freshly hot out of this SmackDown, we have NEW SmackDown Tag Team Champions, as Big E defeated The Miz and Jey Uso in a Triple Threat Match to win the gold and now The New Day are 8th time Tag Team Champions.

 

Edit: For now Bray Wyatt, not "The Fiend", is scheduled to face Strowman at Money in the Bank. If that is about to happen, Strowman will have better chances of retaining, but if the PPV is taped, then we could see both Bray Wyatt and "The Fiend", via camera tricks and cuts.

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WWE Money in the Bank 2020

 

 

Prediction:

 

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley vs. Tamina

Singles Match for the SmackDown Women's Championship

 

The main story around the SmackDown Women's Championship is centered on the friendship of the current champion Bayley and Sasha Banks. We will continue to watch the disintegration of their friendship, until Sasha turns into babyface and challenge Bayley for the title, presumably at SummerSlam. Plus, Tamina pinned Bayley at the go-home show of SmackDown, so there is no chance for Tamina to walk out as champion.

 

Prediction: Bayley wins and retains the title

 

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. Lucha House Party

vs. The Miz & John Morrison vs. The Forgotten Sons

Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

 

A lot of times the Tag Titles have changed hands in Fatal 4-Way matches, but I think we must take in consideration, that The New Day and Lucha House Party lost a tag match against The Miz & John Morrison & The Forgotten Sons at SmackDown. For me, Lucha House Party have 0% chance of winning the match, as well as The Forgotten Sons, because it's too early to put the titles on them. And really, putting the titles back on Miz & Morrison will do nothing for them, as they just lost them and from this point on you can build their dissension resulting in a match. So I think The New Day are the best choice for now, because of the coronavirus and WWE trying to keep their fans happy and distracted from reality.

 

Prediction: The New Day retains

 

Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax vs.

Dana Brooke vs. Lacey Evans vs. Carmella

Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a Women's Championship Match Contract

 

So taking in consideration the things happening for both RAW and SmackDown Women's Championships, I think the winner of the match must be from the RAW brand, because as I wrote above, the feud for the SmackDown Women's Championship going forward to SummerSlam will be between Bayley and Sasha, so I don't think any other threat will be added for them, therefore Lacey Evans, Carmella and Dana Brooke drop out as an option to win. Nia Jax doesn't really need the briefcase and Shayna is way more well build, than Asuka and really the briefcase does suit Baszler's character.

 

Prediction: Baszler wins the ladder match

 

Daniel Bryan vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Aleister Black

vs. King Corbin vs. Otis vs. AJ Styles

Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a World Championship Match Contract

 

Here I'm really stumped, because I have no clue who could win the briefcase. From RAW we have - AJ Styles, Aleister Black and Rey Mysterio, as for SmackDown - Daniel Bryan, King Corbin and Otis. People who I can't see winning the briefcase are Otis and Rey Mysterio. Corbin is permanently in the mid-card, WWE once tried and gave him the MITB briefcase, but it was a failure, but I do expect to see someone to throw Corbin off the building. Aleister Black is still new to the roster and he has yet to win a mid-card title before being pushed to the main card. Bryan is good option to win the match as the biggest babyface going in, but the briefcase does suits much better on a heel, so we're left with Styles. After his disastrous pre-WrestleMania run, it's time again for a push.

 

Prediction: AJ Styles wins the match

 

Universal Champion Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

Singles Match for the Universal Championship

 

At first, I was afraid from this feud, because I didn't see neither of them losing, but sometimes you must watch a bit further to see the truth. As we all see in the promotion picture above, Strowman is not facing "The Fiend", but the "Firefly Fun House" version of Bray Wyatt. So this feud will definitely continue after Money in the Bank, as for this match I think Braun will retain the title resulting in Wyatt going nuts and calling his "friend" for help. Eventually as "The Fiend", Wyatt will defeat Strowman to capture his second Universal Championship.

 

Prediction: Strowman retains

 

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins

Singles Match for the WWE Championship

 

I hope for this to be a great match. WWE did a great work, building McIntyre to this point, as he delivers great promos and matches as well. Seth is here only to lose, as Drew had just won the title and he will hold it for at least a few more months.

 

Prediction: McIntyre retains the title

 

Jeff Hardy vs. Cesaro

Singles Match

 

A match just put out there to fill up the card. Hardy has just returned from injury and as we saw in the previous weeks, he will start a feud with Sheamus. So this match is just to shake off the ring dust from Hardy with Cesaro as a great sport.

 

Prediction: Hardy wins

 

R-Truth vs. MVP

Singles Match

 

Again just a filler match to fill up the card. There is no storyline going on between this two, so guessing the winner from this is a 50/50. Maybe MVP's associates Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink could help him to pick up the win.

 

Prediction: MVP

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I am interested to see what the MITB matches look like inside WWE HQ. Looking forward to watching highlights tomorrow. 

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Kick-Off Match:
Jeff Hardy def. Cesaro (1/1)
A decent match, a little longer than expected. Cesaro looked great in defeat, while making Jeff to look great. The next chapter of Hardy's career started with a success. On to The Celtic Warrior.

 

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day def. Lucha House Party, The Miz & John Morrison, The Forgotten Sons (2/2)
It was an OK match, but it was far from what I'm expecting from a tag team bout. Maybe they decided to work a safe match, which worked well enough. The ending was a bit slopish, because it didn't make any sense for the referee to eject Jaxson Ryker from the ringside in a No DQ match.

 

Bobby Lashley def. R-Truth
R-Truth vs. MVP did not happen, so I'm not going to count it.

 

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley def. Tamina (3/3)
Well build match, as Tamina represented the power and Bayley - the technicality and strategy. Tamina started strong, but Bayley found a way attacking her leg. The story between Bayley and Sasha is so much entertaining for me and I can't wait for all of it to happen. Tamina was able to deliver the Samoan Drop, but Sasha interfered which resulted in Bayley to roll-up Tamina for the 3 count, thus retaining the title.

 

Universal Champion Braun Strowman def. Bray Wyatt (4/4)
Amazing! In everything Bray is in, matches, promos, he delivers big time. As expected we had "Firefly Fun House" Bray. Some great action from both, I loved the match. Bray behaved pretty crazy throughout the whole match. The ending was pretty interesting too. Braun used some of Bray's mind tricks to be able to beat him. From Bray's point of view, it was like in his childish mind that his old friend is back and for some time, he was happy, but he was betrayed again. After the match, we saw Bray's psychopathic look, signaling that this is not over and that "The Fiend" is about to surface.

 

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins (5/5)
Awesome match. Good back-and-forth action. We had every stop, that a championship match needs, but a very weird handshake after the match between the two. Let's see where this handshake will take us to. PS. I don't like Seth's new theme song.

 

Asuka won the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match (5/6)

 

Otis won the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match (5/7)

 

Both of the Men's and Women's Ladder match was a lot of fun to watch. In the headquarters, there was a lot of funny skits, including Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon. The winners for me, didn't make any sense. First for the Women's, why only 3 of them were on the roof. Where were Shayna, Carmella and Dana Brooke, nowhere to be seen. I'm little disappointed that Shayna didn't win this. Even more pointless was the win of Otis, at least it was funny. It's sad that Otis will definitely fail at his attempt to cash in the briefcase, unless he loses it in a match to another superstar.

 

It was a decent PPV with the most interesting matches for me were the Universal Championship and the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The choice for winners was a bit strange for me, but let's hope it can work.

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And great news from Monday Night RAW, Becky Lynch is pregnant and she's giving the RAW Women's Championship to the winner of the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase, so we have a NEW RAW Women's Champion and that is Asuka.

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Sami Zayn vacated the Intercontinental Championship. There will be a tournament to crown the new Intercontinental Champion.

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Here is the draw for the Intercontinental Championship Tournament:

On the May 15th episode of SmackDown:

Daniel Bryan def. Drew Gulak

Elias def. King Corbin

 

On the May 22nd episode of SmackDown:

AJ Styles def. Shinsuke Nakamura

Jeff Hardy def. Sheamus

 

So we now know the semifinal matches:

Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy

Elias vs. AJ Styles

 

I'm try to predict the outcome of the tournament. Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy. This match can go two ways. The first is to have a hard fought match with Hardy getting the win and the second way is Sheamus to attack Jeff leading to a Bryan win. But because both Jeff and Bryan are babyfaces I'll go with the first option - a great technical match with Hardy snagging the victory.

 

Elias vs. AJ Styles - definitely going with the hot heel, AJ Styles is winning this match, presumably after interference from Corbin.

 

And for the final we have Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles. Sheamus will interfere and cost the match for Jeff, thus continuing their feud. So my prediction is that AJ Styles will win the tournament and become the new Intercontinental Champion.

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Apollo Crews defeated the U.S. Champion Andrade at the May 25th episode of RAW to capture his first championship in WWE.

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OK, let's do this prediction as quick as possible.

 

WWE Backlash 2020 Predictions

 

Edge vs. Randy Orton

First we have "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever", which is a singles match between Edge and Randy Orton. I haven't watched any RAW or SmackDown show in a month, right after the Money in the Bank PPV, so I'll be using lots of logic and no actual storyline. OK, back to the match. Edge and Orton last competed at WrestleMania, where Edge won a Last Man Standing Match. They will probably push this feud for one more PPV, let's say SummerSlam, so basically they must even the score. Edge leads 1-0, so Orton have to win the match to level the score 1-1.

Prediction: Randy Orton

 

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley

Next we have the WWE Champion, defending his title against the powerhouse Lashley. But unfortunately for the challenger, Drew is still far from dropping the title, so Lashley is just there to eat a Claymore Kick and the three count.

Prediction: Drew McIntyre

 

Universal Champion Braun Strowman vs. The Miz & John Morrison

A 2-on-1 handicap match, similar to the 3-on-1 handicap match, which took place back at Elimination Chamber, where Strowman lost his Intercontinental Championship. Probably Miz and Morrison will try to do the same and use their numbers advantage to hold the monster down. Maybe in their heads this sounds good, but in reality we'll see the Strowman Express, squashing them beneath. I'm eager to see if Wyatt will do something after the match, because definitely, their feud is not over yet.

Prediction: Braun Strowman

 

RAW Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Nia Jax

Asuka has just won the title and this is her first title defense. I don't like Nia Jax, she's not a good worker, rather pretty unsafe and I hope she's not getting the title anytime soon.

Prediction: Asuka

 

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

No idea what's the storyline in this one. The only thing I know is that Jeff defeated Sheamus in the Intercontinental Championship tournament. A second loss for Sheamus will be a bit tough to handle, so looking for Sheamus to even the score at one a piece.

Prediction: Sheamus

 

Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

It was a little weird to see that Bayley and Sasha took the belts off of Bliss & Cross, because I expected The IIconics to do that. The thing I'm eager the see the most is the blow-up between Sasha and Bayley and I'm thinking, when is the rightest moment to do this. SummerSlam or not, there is no logic to give the titles to Bayley and Sasha and to take them off two weeks later. The thing I'm sure for is that the titles will 100% play later into their break-up.

Prediction: Bayley & Sasha Banks

 

United States Champion Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

Andrade has held the title for a big period of time and really, he became boring. Apollo as the new champion is a fresh face and he can deliver pretty good matches. Apollo has just won the title, so giving it back to Andrade is not an option.

Prediction: Apollo Crews

 

RAW Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders

Well you got me here. I have no idea about this one. In the last month a series of pre-recorded videos were shown on episodes of RAW, showing the two teams, battling in different sports. This is so 50/50.

Prediction: The Viking Raiders