2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

You're right, dammit. I had to think hard to remember.

I almost said Steve Regal and Steve Keirn, but that didn't sound right. It was Garvin and Regal (not Steve "William" Regal from WWE, but a different Steve Regal).

 

Mick Foley named new Smackdown commentator and will debut for tonight's Smackdown matches on Backlash PPV.

Haven't heard what will happen to Coach (perhaps Regal's KOTR win means Coach moves back to Raw as GM?)

 

That's the rumor.

 

Backlash predictions ...

World Heavyweight Title match: Undertaker vs. Edge -- Taker wins, retains
Big Show vs. The Great Khali: Big Show batters Khali to win
U.S. Championship: MVP vs. Matt Hardy: Hardy wins by DQ, MVP retains (title change is coming, just not today)
WWE Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination -- JBL wins title by pinning HHH (who, for doing the job to JBL will get to pin both Orton and Cena). I think HHH will win the title at the mid-May PPV.
ECW Champion Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero -- Kane wins by DQ, retains
Batista vs. Shawn Michaels -- Batista wins this match. Not sure if Jericho will be deciding factor.
12-Diva Tag Team Match -- Heel divas will win (Beth Phoenix pinning Mickie James)

 

A PPV without Regal, Punk and Kennedy? There's got to be some kind of angle to set up for Raw:

How about this? Punk lost to Regal in the final last week. Regal, who is supposed to have a KOTR coronation on Raw, is interrupted by Punk (just like he did to Edge on Smackdown) and challenges Regal for a rematch. Kennedy, however, comes out and says he should have been in the KOTR tournament and he wants a shot at Regal, too, or at least a match with Punk for the MITB briefcase. This results in either a 3-way match on Raw, a 1-on-1 match with the winner taking on Regal at the May 18 PPV.

The thing about the WWE schedule is that after tonight's Backlash, they have three weeks to set up the May PPV and then One Night Stand follows quickly on June 1. I'm thinking Punk might actually cash in his MITB at One Night Stand.

 

World Heavyweight Title match: Undertaker vs. Edge
--Undertaker retains

Big Show vs. The Great Khali
--Big Show

U.S. Championship: MVP vs. Matt Hardy
--MVP cheats to win

WWE Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination
--Orton retains cheaply

ECW Champion Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero
--Kane retains

Batista vs. Shawn Michaels
--Michaels wins, surprisingly good match

12-Diva Tag Team Match
--Faces win, I guess.

 

I don't see Orton retaining tonight.

In a spoiler alert, and FWIW, some WWE advertising alluded to, "See the new champion ..." on Raw.

If Trips doesn't win it here, I'll be shocked. 'Course, I said that at Mania and was (pleasantly) surprised.

 

And your new WWE Champion...

Triple H. Blech.

 

Matt Hardy won the US title.

Kane and Taker both retained their titles.

HHH won the WWE title (Cena beat JBL, Orton took out Cena and HHH beat Orton).

 

Trips won? Yawn, which is exactly what his title reign will be.

 

I don't mind HHH winning the title so much. It's been a long time since he's had the belt, and it's not like they have many other worthy names (I'd have given it to Cena again, but he's still working the movie, I think)

 

Meltzer hooks us up with a Leticia Cline audition video from last year for some sort of Maxim thing. She isn't really that good (and she's not with TNA anymore) and this isn't even the first Basic Instinct wrestling riff (Wrestlemania goes Hollywood with Christian and someone else), but it's fairly funny.