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Guest Columns | Richard Craig |
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Of course, the *real* PPV airs tomorrow evening at 1am BST (see how loyal us
UK fans need to be!!!) but in seven days' time, I will file into the National
Indoor Arena in downtown Birmingham along with 15, 000 other WWF fans to
witness the fourth UK-exclusive PPV. In defence of the WWF, they appear to
be aiming to make amends for the "house show on TV" that was No Mercy, and
there are NO jobbers on this card... Before I begin, I would like to follow up on the point which I made last week concerning Smackdown! Although I did not see the whole of this week's episode (remember, I CAN'T because the UK is Smackdown!-less) and cannot objectively form an opinion on how the show played as a whole, I DID feel that for the first time since the show's inception, we returned to the PROPER situation in which Raw was clearly better than the Thursday show. I hope that this continues to be the case, and by the way, I could not believe that the WWF (who sometimes edit Raw for BSkyB) nor Sky themselves removed Holly's BRUTAL pitcher-shot* to the Big Bossman. If Ray Traylor really hated hardcore matches, he must fucking LOATHE them now!!! He came into that match with a clearly bruised cheek, and left with a swollen-shut eye, multiple (hardway?) lacerations and possibly glass in his eyes... Could he be the first wrestler in history who goes to the booker to plead with him to lose the match (and the championship)? WWF REBELLION Edge & Christian vs The Hollys Crowd will cheer: Edge and Christian I will cheer: The Hollys This should be good, and would make a solid opener to the show. Edge and Christian are WAAAY over, so it would make sense to give this to the Gothic "brothers" from Canada. However, in the previous THREE PPVs, the opening match up has been won by the "heel". Triple H over Dude Love at ONO, Gangrel over Snow at CC and Tiger Ali Singh over Gillberg at No Mercy. My pick: Edge and Christian by DQ (Hardcore will use a chair or cookie sheet-or should that be a "baking tray" in UK-speak-and the cousins will no doubt brawl to the back... Val Venis vs Ken Shamrock Crowd will cheer: Val Venis I will cheer: Val Venis Whoa! I agree with the crowd as to who should be the face in this match? That's scary! Anyhow, Ken with his boring technical yawn-festivals and his desire to bale on the WWF just as he had the greatest chance of getting over is enough to draw him heel heat, in my opinion. Factor in the sucky "Iron Circle" match at Fully Loaded and his crappy mic skills, and the crowd should really get on the case of the World's Most Dangerous Man. Likely Outcome: Ken enters the "zone" and gets DQ'd as a result. Oops! That's two DQ finishes in a row. Here's hoping for a clean finish in the next match... Femme Fatale Four Way WWF Women's Championship Luna or Ivory vs Jacqueline, Tori and the loser of this Sunday's match at Unforgiven Crowd will cheer: For ANY kind of nudity, and Tori I will cheer: For ANY kind of nudity, and Ivory What with Jackie getting her massive mammaries out at CC, and Sable supposed to do the same at No Mercy, until the hypocritical bitch nixed the suggestion, I feel that the WWF have plans for their third-straight attempt to do what they apparently aren't even allowed to do on US Pay-per-View, namely take someone's "puppies" out for a walk...or should that be GAWK? My pick: Tori to get hers out for the lads, and the champ to retain the strap. Mankind vs Shane McMahon Crowd will cheer: Mankind Crowd will chant "asshole" at: Shane McMahon I will remain: neutral, although I *do* have a pro-Shane sign, praising his table-spot at Summerslam With both guys faces at the moment, I look for Shane to exploit the fact that he's freed from "proper" WWF continuity to turn heel for the evening, for the purposes of this match. I hope that this can be a garbage (in terms of style, not quality!) match, with both superstars utilising tables, chairs, trashcans, etc. to secure the pinfall (which will hopefully "count anywhere") My pick: Mankind, redressing the fact that he has lost ALL three of his UK PPV matches. Chris Jericho vs Road-Dogg Crowd will cheer: Road-Dogg I will cheer: Y2J I am GENUINELY thrilled that I will be there in person to witness the UK debut in ANY Federation of Chris Jericho. Whether it has been his fault, or the fault of the bookers, but the fans at large seem to be directing "Erik Watts" heat towards Y2J, as opposed to Vinnie Mac at his worst/best. This disappoints me, therefore I feel that it is my responsibility to side for Jericho here, although I am sure that he will lose. My pick: We're on the other side of the Atlantic, only serious WWF fans will ever find out the results: therefore, jobbing out Jericho to the babyface Road-Dogg won't damage his momentum. Road-Dogg clean. Boss-Man vs British Bulldog Crowd will hopefully boo: British Bulldog, especially since he screwed their idol, The Rock, on Thursday's Smackdown! Crowd will actually cheer: British Bulldog, since they will never go for the Bossman as a face in this match. I will boo: The Bulldog, if only to get funny looks from those fans sitting around me... THE Outcome: Having done the J-O-B at the inaugural UK PPV, normal service shall be resumed, and the match will be a glorified squash, lengthened to warrant its semi-final status. What do you mean, who wins? BULLDOG, of course!!!! Special Non-Title Challenge Match The Rock vs Triple H Crowd will cheer: The Rock I will cheer: The Rock The fact that this match is non-title, if indeed either combatant IS the WWF champ after Unforgiven, is good as it affords the possibility of The Rock going over 100% clean. In fact, I think that is what is going to happen...Unless.... What I'd LOVE to happen: If the Bulldog drove the Hummer, raised the briefcase...sorry, pushed Mick off of the ledge during the Boiler-Room brawl (a spot which actually aired on Livewire: how'd THAT happen?) and is in total league with Hunter, it would be interesting if he somehow cost The Rock this match, managing to elicit a clear FACE pop in his earlier match with Bossman, and the DEAD-CERT heel pop he'd get for interfering with The Great One... The undercard (with the exception of D-Lo vs Gangrel) is up in the air at the moment, but will apparently be a mixture of Double J, Mark Henry, Chyna, Bad Ass Billy Gunn, Miss Kitty, Taker?, TBS, Kane, The Acolytes (who I will pop for BIG-TIME), and X-Pac. With Michael Cole (and apparently Marissa Mazzola) backstage, with the King and JR up-front at the announce position, not to mention their colour-commentating friend for the evening, Vince McMahon, things appear on paper to be rosier than they were heading into No Mercy. If you would like to know if this was translated into the quality of the evening's entertainment, please look for my review to hit slash sometime during the week of October 4th. In the meantime, enjoy Unforgiven, and see you soon... Richard Craig Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK [slash] wrestling Mail the Author |
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