QUICK ANNIVESARY STORY (or, How The Hell I Got Here): I remember when CRZ first started having problems with WrestleLine, but didn't know that [slash] had become the result until months later. A "motley cast of irregulars", indeed. I figured this place was perfect for me.

But what to do? There weren't any shows left to recap, and I wanted to do something a little different from the standard opinion pieces. For some reason, fantasy booking came to mind, and I e-mailed Chris to ask him if he wanted it. There was a little bit of reluctance when he decided to let me do it (since everybody hates fantasy booking, apparently), but I must be doing something right - not only am I still here, but I haven't gotten any hate mail.

So thanks to CRZ for putting my work up and for putting up with my work. Thanks to fellow [slash]ers Mr. T and Tanvir for their plugs this week. Thanks to my favorite writers on the site - Butch Rosser, Jerry Root, T, Sharon Austin, Michaelangelo (he IS still coming back, right?), Cyan, and the best WCW PPV recapper on the 'Net, Chris Jones - for giving me a reason to look forward to dropping in every day. In fact, thanks to all of the writers here at [slash] for making this a place I'm proud to be associated with.

Thanks to all of you out there who have read my work, and especially to those of you who've sent me feedback.

One year. Over 500,000 hits. Because [slash] wrestling is just THAT... DAMN... GOOD.

KING OF PREDICTING... WELL, NOT REALLY: If we're counting the tournament as one match, 3 for 5. If we're counting each tournament match as a separate match, 3 for 12.

And I'm kicking myself for forgetting to mention that Edge and Christian were REQUIRED BY LAW to do the Bill Buckner play for their "five-second pose" for the good people of Boston.

BEACHED: 5 for 10 for Bash at the Beach, I think. Does the Hogan/Jarrett "match" even count?

And Booker T. is the new champ, but I already went over that craziness. What do you mean, when? You haven't read "It Was a Good Day" yet? What's wrong with you people?

This also relates to the "Where have I been" question that none of you actually have, but the answer is, I figured I'd lighten CRZ's load a little bit while he was on vacation, so I didn't add too much to the clutter.

But I haven't been completely idle - you can find my BatB predictions at The Oracles' War Room website, along with other stuff written by other [slash] celebrities.

An aside: Maybe I'd be better off if I started predicting which new angles would develop after pay-per-views, rather than the PPV's themselves. I seem to be MUCH better at THAT.

LINE OF TWO WEEKS AGO: Any exchange the New WWF Commissioner had with Edge and Christian. Did you catch that mild "Foley" chant before HBK brought him out? Good to have you back, Mick.

LINE OF LAST WEEK: "IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU FEEL!" (Raw, July 3) Yes, Mick... you finally got him. And that big smile on Rock's face makes me wonder how scripted that exchange actually was.

LINE OF THIS WEEK: X-Pac: "I ain't the Brooklyn Brawler, dammit!" (Raw, July 10) If you've read anything CRZ's written on the WWF in the last month, I don't think I need to tell you why.

Honorable mention to Team Stratus: Albert: "Think she's got a chance?" Test & Val: "No chance in hell." Would've been the winner if Lawler hadn't stepped all over it.

Let Us Take You Back To Our Last Column, where Kane went heel, Shane went face, Benoit went crazy, Angle went to the main event, Jericho went over Triple H, and Rock regained the WWF Title.

Since Benoit is worshipped like a god on the Internet, I thought of something that might be an interesting tweak on his character... have him come out and be the "voice of the Internet", cutting short, shoot-style heel promos insulting whoever's fashionable. His first target: the Rock, who everybody loves to rip on these days, it seems.

After a short absence, Undertaker returns, looking for revenge for his humiliation by Benoit at SummerSlam. He extracts it from Triple H, who, if you remember, "hired" Benoit and the rest of the Radicalz.

Unforgiven would look something like this:

WWF Title: Rock d. Chris Benoit

Undertaker d. Triple H

Kane d. Chris Jericho

A still-heel Kane wants his belt back. We can run an extended Rock-Kane feud now, since it can be built up better with the back story of Kane losing the title to Rocky on that August Raw, and we also have the Undertaker issue out of the way for the time being.

The belt is still on the Rock at this point for a reason: I'm using him to give a rub to some of the mid-card heels, since a common complaint is that there aren't enough main-event level bad guys. And on a personal note, I, for one, am getting sick of Rocky playing job-boy to everybody and their mother. I mean, last November, he gave up the Armageddon title shot to the Boss Man. That's uncalled for.

You've also noticed that I've kept Triple H out of the title picture for quite some time. There's a reason for this, too: I'm making it so that HHH becomes so obsessed with winning the title back, the longer it's kept out of his reach, the more nuts he'll get, and the more ferocious he'll be when he gets another shot at it.

That shot comes at Survivor Series after Rock beats Kane and HHH beats Rikishi or the like in a No. 1 Contender's Match at No Mercy.

Remember how around Judgment Day, Triple H was insisting on going out there by himself and wrestling his own matches? Let's start doing that again, but we'll play up the fact that neither Rock nor HHH has dethroned the other as champion without outside help.

Triple H goes into the match at Survivor Series by himself. No one comes out to interfere. And he loses - cleanly.

But the straw that breaks his back is dropped the next night on Raw, when Stephanie helps Kurt Angle beat the Rock - for the WWF Title.

HHH goes nuclear, since Angle apparently now has the two things that matter the most to him - the title and Steph. Fast forward to SmackDown! (I'd normally save this bit for the next week's Raw, but November's a sweeps month) and Triple H demands an explanation. Steph comes out and reminds him how ever since KotR, he's been whining about how he feels incomplete without the WWF Title. She says that it was always the most important thing to him... even more than her. She then says that after he lost at Survivor Series, she realized he was right - without the title, he's nothing. She puts Angle over as a man who appreciates her more than some piece of gold attached to a leather belt.

The key to all of this is Triple H's response. If you want to take the easy way out and turn him face, he doesn't have to say anything; just make him stand there and take it like Vince did when Stephanie turned heel at Armageddon.

If, however, you're like me (and Foley help you if you are) and you like a challenge, give Hunter this line and see how it plays: "You know what, Steph? You're right. The World Wrestling Federation championship IS the most important thing to me. And you're right... it's even more important to me than you EVER were." Then he can go off about how he was the champion before he married her, and he can be the champion again without her. If done correctly, this could actually cement him even more solidly as a ruthless, obsessive heel, and make Angle a face by default.

Whatever the case, build Armageddon and Royal Rumble 2001 around the HHH-Angle feud, while shuffling the rest of the top card (maybe turn Kane face, or Jericho, UT, or a returning Austin heel). Have Angle retain at Armageddon, but let Triple H regain the title at the Rumble.

PREDICTIONS FOR SWEET JESUS, IT'S HOT IN THIS TINY LITTLE BINGO HALL AND HAS BEEN FOR QUITE SOME TIME 2000

Thanks to ECWWrestling.com and the Observer website, we have five, that's right, FIVE matches to preview for Heat Wave! I think Paul E. is finally realizing that if you want to make money off of pay-per-views, it might be a good idea to give the viewers at least some idea of what they're buying.

The New Show vs. Steve Corino (w/His Bitch, Jack Victory)

This match should settle the question of whether or not Lynn is in league with The Network. Then again, considering how they've played this angle, it probably won't.

Corino had a damn good match with Tajiri at Hardcore Heaven, so I have high hopes for this puppy.

What I'd Do: Lynn wins relatively easily, leading to either a rematch with Rob Van Dam or a TV Title shot.

What They'll Do: Corino will probably blade again like last time. Lynn will go over, but in a way that still casts doubt over his intentions.

TV Title Match: Rhino vs. The Sandman

It's a rematch! Rhino successfully defended the TV title against Sandman at Hardcore Heaven by goring both him and his wife, Lori, through a table in the ring. So what else is new?

What I'd Do: Give the win to Rhino, since I really don't want to see this match a third time.

What They'll Do: Rhino wins in yet another out-of-control brawl.

The Whole Show (w/Bill Alfonso) vs. Scotty Anton Levay

Scotty caused Van Dam to lose to Jerry Lynn at Hardcore Heaven when he, to the shock of everyone watching and several hundred more who weren't, turned on his former "best friend" during the match. He has since aligned himself with The Network, and is using a Sharpshooter he calls "The Clapper" as his finisher, in reference to A Time We'd All Like To Forget - his WCW stint as one of the American Males with Buff Bagwell.

Oh, yeah, Van Dam's not happy about this.

What I'd Do: This is a no-brainer. RVD has to go over. Come on; it's Scotty freakin' Anton.

What They'll Do: Russo isn't booking, so RVD will win.

Six Man Tag Team Match: Danny Doring, Roadkill, & Kid Kash vs. Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger, & C.W. Anderson

The big story here is that Simon and Swinger have divested themselves of their traveling circus in Simon's attempt to be taken seriously and solve his "problem." (Would someone please remind him that he's dating Dawn Marie? What kind of problems could he have?) At the same time, Anderson seems to have broken off from the New Dangerous Alliance and joined up with these guys.

Doring and Roadkill's most recent non-tag-title issue (GIVE THEM THE BELTS ALREADY! I'LL DROP THEM OFF MYSELF!) has been with Simon and Swinger. Kash fought Anderson at Hardcore Heaven, so I guess that's why he's here.

What I'd Do: Heels need the win, since it's a new group and all, so they get it.

What They'll Do: The same, for the same reason.

ECW World Title, Stairway To Hell Match: Just Credible (w/That Slut Francine) vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/Jazz?)

At Hardcore Heaven (this show is rapidly turning into a sequel), Credible was booked in a three-way dance for the title against Dreamer and Lance Storm, but he demanded Storm one-on-one or else he'd desecrate the World title like he did the tag titles, which is what led to all of this in the first place. Heyman kept Dreamer backstage while Credible fought Storm. Two months later, Dreamer gets his shot to regain the title from Credible.

"Stairway to Hell" match? It's a ladder match, but at the top of the ladder is a lot of barbed wire, which is free to be used by whoever can get their hands on it.

What I'd Do: As unimpressive as Credible has been as champion so far, I honestly can't see any compelling reason to put Dreamer over.

What They'll Do: LOTS of piledrivers. And Justin will retain after some insidiousness from Francine.

I'd also like to point out again that nothing's being done with the tag team titles.

Also likely to show: PSYCHOSIS~!, Bobby Eaton(?!), new tag team of Joey Matthews & Christian York (Hardys/Three Count clones, from what I hear), that guy who used to be one of the Quebecers whose name I can't remember, and the usual unmentioned midcarders who won't be booked in their matches until Heyman visits the john 10 minutes before the show.

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