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2015 WWE TLC Match Card and Predictions
Tonight is the last WWE PPV of 2015; Tables, Ladders and Chairs. Follow the link below to visit FaceToHeel.com and to get a rundown of the card and see my predictions. Please leave your own predictions and thoughts on the FaceToHeel comments section.
We did have a late addition that is not reflected in the article on FaceToHeel. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will face off on the TLC Kickoff show. Considering the talent of both women, this will be a match you won’t want to miss. Sasha will have the support of Tamina and Naomi, while Becky may be on her own. I see Becky coming out on top.
Another possible late addition is Tyler Breeze vs Dolph Ziggler. I am over the moon about Breeze coming up to the main roster and see big things for him in the future. I would love for he and Dolph to put the bad blood aside and become a tag team. Only time will tell.
2015 Night of Champions Card Lineup and Predictions
WWE’s Night Of Champions is tonight! Head over to FaceToHeel.com (link below) for a full rundown of the match card and to see my predictions.
2015 Extreme Rules Match Card And Predictions
I wrote the following article for FaceToHeel.com prior to finding out that Daniel Bryan was out. He was unfortunately not medically cleared for competition due to a shoulder injury. Bryan overcame all odds at WrestleMania XXX to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat match. His WrestleMania moment was without a doubt a once in a lifetime experience. WWE tried to replicate it in a smaller fashion this year by having him win the Intercontinental Title, but it didn’t come close.
Now, thanks to Bryan pushing himself past his limits, his career may be over. We don’t know the extent of the original injuries and we don’t know if he was truly ready to come back. Once he was back, he acted recklessly and obviously put his body on the line just so we were entertained. I hope that this new injury is just a minor setback, but my gut tells me that our days of Bryan as our hero are over and done with.
Monday Night RAWWWWWW
Tuesday morning gifted me with a sore throat, a throbbing headache, and a fatigue I haven’t felt in a long while thanks to the lack of sleep after spending hours jumping and screaming until my voice gave out. Monday, March 11th, my husband and I were four rows back from the ring for Monday Night Raw! We’ve been to Smackdown, had a blast at the Survivor Series Pay Per View, but this was our first Raw experience. After buying the tickets, my first priority became what to wear. For the last two shows we attended, I went on sites and designed my own shirts because the selection for women in the WWE shop is somewhat lacking. This time, I wanted to go authentic. The pink Dolph Ziggler shirt that I had ordered my husband for Christmas came in the wrong size, so he gave it to me and I decided to go AJ Lee on the thing.
Not quite AJ, but it’s as close as I can get with my skill set. It was fun to do and since WWE’s shop doesn’t have the variety that I want in women’s tops, I may choose to go this route again in the future. I was proud of it and it was nice to be able to represent Ziggler along with my husband, who went with his new blue “Stealing The Show … And Your Girlfriend” tee. Since we went signless to this event, we wanted to make sure we were still representing. It paid off:
The night was amazing and jam packed with Superstars, surprises, and plenty of smiles from this girl. Rather than recap the entire thing, here are some photos from my favorite moments:
The return of Undertaker!! It was incredible to see the man in person, and I loved the tribute to Paul Bearer with the urn. Sad and spectacular all at once. The crowd went absolutely insane.
Brock Lesnar and the New Age Outlaws! My only complaint here was that Triple H did not make an appearance as well to address Lesnar’s acceptance of his Wrestlemania challenge.
Kane getting a good shot in on CM Punk. Punk is on my nerves right now, but I am excited to see him go against the streak in April.
Ryback, one of my new favorites, destroying a member of The Shield. (Sidenote: I promised not to get excited when Roman Reigns walked down the steps and through the crowd, but I failed and I touched him on the arm as he passed right by me. He is greasy and angry and smells like Old Spice, in case you were curious)
Daniel Bryan vs. The Show Off, Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler always puts on a great show! Bryan has definitely grown on me since growing the beard, changing his chant to NO! and teaming with Kane.
I love the Rhodes Scholars, but I love a good RKO even more! Poor Cody.
The Miz and Wade Barrett, two of my favorites, along with a human flashlight with fluffy unicorn hair and a big mouth.
Ryback vs. Mark Henry?!?? We got a preview of things to come, and I can’t wait to see these two go at it on Smackdown! I’m excited to see who will come out on top.
RIP Paul Bearer. What an awesome tribute.
Royal Rumble 2013
Finally…. The Rock HAS COME BACK…. home. Last night, the Royal Rumble Pay Per View dominated our television screen and kept my husband and I on the edge of our seats. The preshow, which aired on WWE’s Youtube channel, was a bit of a let down. The site experienced a bit of lag which may have been from the amount of people tuning in, but thankfully all we seemed to have missed was The Big Show going on a rant about losing the Heavyweight title to the much smaller Alberto Del Rio. The preshow featured Antonio Cesaro versus Mike “The Miz” in a match for the United States Championship. While I appreciate the WWE’s attempt to give something to those who can’t afford or are otherwise unable to watch the Pay Per View, I don’t think championship matches should be thrown to the preshow. They deserve better.
Much to my dismay, Cesaro held onto the belt and remained champion. He is a solid wrestler and has a nice set of moves that set him apart from the competition, but he annoys me. I’m not a fan of the type of heel that he is. I feel that there are better ways to be hated than going for the easy route of insulting whatever city you are in and calling Americans fat and lazy. He’s also gotten a bit obnoxious with waving the American flag around during his entrances. The Miz has definitely grown on me, especially lately. He’s gone from being that dude from the Real World to being someone I can get behind. I enjoy him on the mic and in the ring, so it was a let down to see the title slip away from him.
The Pay Per View opened with the Heavyweight Title match; the champion Alberto Del Rio had to again take on The Big Show in a last man standing match. Since Show turned heel, he has been an unstoppable force. Del Rio was only able to win the title from him by pinning him underneath the announce table, so his chances weren’t exactly looking good for this match. This was a hell of a way to open the Royal Rumble; Del Rio was thrown through a table from atop the light fixtures at the entrance and later countered with a fire extinguisher and some chairs. The victory came when Del Rio was able to get Show in a cross armbreaker, allowing his ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez to duct tape Show’s ankles to the ring’s rope so he couldn’t get to his feet. Since there were no disqualifications, Del Rio retained his title. I’m not always a fan of sneaky ways to obtain a victory, but what else can you do when faced with an opponent who is seven feet tall and weighing in at almost 450 pounds?
Following that brutal match, we had the battle for the Tag Team titles. The champions going in were Daniel Bryan and Kane of Team Hell No. They were set to face Team Rhodes Scholars, the pairing of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. I was excited for this match, but didn’t expect the titles to change hands due to the popularity of Team Hell No. The pairing of Bryan and Kane makes absolutely no sense and that is why it works. Their anger management issues and their inability to see eye to eye gives them a very unique chemistry. Unfortunately, this was a match we have seen a few times before; they didn’t add enough to it to make it special for the Pay Per View. Team Hell No was able to retain their titles after Bryan put Sandow in the No Lock and caused him to tap out.
Oddly enough, the Royal Rumble match was next. Typically this match is the final event of the Pay Per View, but I suspect they moved it up in order to be able to close out with The Rock. Dolph Ziggler was the first in the ring, followed by Chris Jericho and his lite brite jacket. Jericho, in storyline, lost his contract after losing a match to Ziggler a few months back, so it made sense to start with these two who definitely still have bad blood between them. The only real surprise entrant was Golddust, who was eventually eliminated by his brother, Cody Rhodes. It was great to see him, but I was hoping for the return of Mark Henry and was obviously let down. Kofi Kingston topped last year’s handstand by using a chair to get back into the ring without allowing his feet to hit the floor. The coveted last entry was saved for Ryback, who managed to eliminate five people and leave himself alone with John Cena. I was pulling for a Ryback win but unfortunately he was eliminated and Cena stole the victory. Now, I like Cena but I’m beyond exhausted with him constantly getting title shot after title shot. I understand that he is the bread and butter of the company, but he’s not the only superstar they’ve got at their disposal. Perhaps Ryback isn’t ready for another title shot at a big event, but he would have been a better choice for a winner than Cena. Sorry, John.
After Cena left the stage, it was finally time for CM Punk to defend his title against the returning Rock. My husband’s wish was for Punk to take the victory, not because he’s a fan, but because it’s too soon for The Rock to grab the title and because it would be nice to see The Rock chase after Punk for a few months. Since Punk was under watch due to his shady actions in the past, he was in danger of being stripped of his title if The Shield interfered with the match to allow Punk to again cheat his way to a victory. It was a great match, but as soon as it looked like The Rock was going to take it, the arena went dark for a few moments, only to have the lights come back up to show a beaten and battered Rock lying on the broken announce table. Punk rolled him into the ring to secure a win, but it was taken away by Vince McMahon. McMahon attempted to strip Punk of the title, but The Rock would not allow it and instead requested the match be restarted. McMahon agreed and The Rock was able to elbow his way to a victory, taking the title from Punk. It was a great match, but is it too soon? Is it right for The Rock to come back and win it all in his first match? Will he stick around and be the champ we deserve or will he only wrestle part time due to his demanding film schedule? There are a lot of questions, some of which I hope will be answered tonight on Raw. I do hope that this title victory means that The Rock will be back full time for a while and will be at the Raw event in Indianapolis that we have very good tickets to.
As you probably have noticed, a Divas match was absent from this Pay Per View. I would say noticeably absent, but did anyone really notice? The Diva matches have sadly become the time when it’s safe to take a bathroom break. With the loss of Beth Phoenix, the Bella Twins, and Eve, there isn’t much left to play with. The talent is there, but the storylines aren’t. There is little to no real effort put into the Diva division and that is a real shame. These ladies should be allowed to tangle, not just be expected to shake their booties and be eye candy for the audience.
Overall, this was a great Pay Per View and I’m happy with the results. I’m very excited to see the aftermath tonight on Raw, especially with Punk and The Rock. I expect Big Show will be furious and that Team Hell No will argue about the Royal Rumble match results and anything else that crosses their minds. I definitely want some reassurance that The Rock did not come back just to give us part-time attention. Punk can definitely get on your nerves, but he was a very present champion. He was there, he was loud, and he ensured that all eyes were on him. The Rock can definitely get the attention, but will he be present or will we be forced to settle for video promos from afar? I’m hoping for the former. The last thing our new champion needs to do is fade away right after getting this moment in the sun.
Lazy Tales
I’m a big fan of the WWE and am one of many who is incredibly thrilled to see The Rock back in action. That being said, I am incredibly let down with the choices the writers have made in order to lay the ground work for The Rock’s triumphant return. Before you dismiss this as just another article about a fake sport, please hear me out. The mistakes being made not only apply to the WWE storylines, but to much of the entertainment mediums out there that we all enjoy. The mistake with the WWE is simply the most current to me, as well as the most relevant, so it will better serve me in my argument.
CM Punk is the current WWE Champion and has been for more than a year. He is our resident villain and many people, myself included, are ready for him to be silenced and taken out of the spotlight for a little while. Ryback has been our hero of sorts, a newcomer who is after the title and wishes to silence Punk. Our hero has been given chance after chance to do so, only to be stopped by suspected accomplices of our villain. Title shot is presented, Ryback is inches from a victory, and his victory is stolen away from him. The logic behind it is that Punk is meant to face The Rock, so losing the title to someone else doesn’t exactly support that storyline and must not happen.
I don’t question the decision of the writers to make a feud between The Rock and Punk a priority above all else. Dwayne Johnson has excelled at everything he does, and the fans are thrilled to have him back at home in the ring. Punk has also done an excellent job at becoming the man you love to hate, or the man you just hate. They are the perfect pair for a brutal throwdown. While I enjoy Ryback, his character is too new and his in-ring and mic skills too unpolished to share the spotlight with The Rock. His role must remain as a supporting character, at least for now. The choice to have The Rock and Punk feud over the title is a smart one and I am behind it 100%.
My issue is with the road we have been driven down to get us to where we currently are. Due to the Twitter bickering between The Rock and CM Punk, combined with the advertising the WWE has done on television and online, it has been made perfectly clear to the fans for months now that we are to expect these two men to go one on one. What should have been a secret, and easily could have, was thrown out into the open for all to see. We were indirectly told that there was no way in hell Punk would lose the title to Ryback, then given “tense” matches between the two where the title was on the line. We were given yet another one on January 7th, with Ryback yet again inches away from a win only to have match interference cost him that win. Again.
Suspense is a vital part of any good story, especially when you’re dealing with something intense and physical. Would anyone be excited about a new horror flick if in the first five minutes, you were told who the killer was, who would defeat said killer, who the survivor(s) would be, and what would happen in the final climactic scene? Even with films such as the Friday the 13th series where we know who the killer is, we still want to be shocked and surprised. Take that surprise away and you’re left with a tired and stale story that is quite difficult to get excited about.
When you know with full certainty that a story will have a specific outcome, you fail to become excited about anything that hints at a different possibility. When I immerse myself into a story, I want to go in with an open mind and with few expectations. The WWE has failed me as it has taken what should be an unpredictable title run and destroyed it. Due to their expectation that we’ll be too excited about The Rock’s return to care, they let loose with all the details and left nothing to our imaginations. Just because The Rock can captivate a crowd and still make this title run worth watching does not mean than it’s acceptable to kill the suspense.
In order to have the largest audience and gain the most hype, the teams behind the entertainment are now revealing those would-be secrets far too soon and hoping after the fact that enough appeal still remains so that audiences will show up and pay money to get a full view of the story. Television promos for next week’s episode will show you the climactic moment of that next hour in order to get you to tune in, despite the fact that it kills the shock value that the episode would have had. Movie trailers show you the beginning, middle, and ending of their story simply because those clips will attract the most attention. The focus has shifted off of telling an excellent tale and moved on to what can get the most attention at the quickest rate.
The hype that the WWE has put behind The Rock’s title run was definitely effective in getting attention and packing the stadium in Florida last night. It was definitely effective in securing great ratings for that episode of Raw and selling merchandise on their website. It makes sense businesswise, at least on the surface. But is it worth doing in order to gain a few extra dollars now? What would have happened if the WWE had kept quiet about the title run, allowing The Rock to make a dramatic surprise entrance on an episode of Raw to challenge Punk as opposed to having everything perfectly choreographed out in the open? Isn’t it possible that the after effects could bring more benefits than the immediate ones?
The story should never be sacrificed or compromised in order to boost ratings or make a few extra dollars; I don’t care if it’s a best-selling novel or a reality competition television show that is in question. Storytelling is an art and we are killing it slowly with our promotion techniques. If we just let a story run its natural course rather than throw bits and pieces out into the open before their time, we can allow the art form to thrive and carry on as it should. Hype can just as easily be created without giving away key plot points and details of final outcomes. All it takes is a bit of effort, a small amount of creativity, and an eager audience.
As part of that audience, I can assure all creative teams out there that “eager” is an understatement. We’re ready to be wowed. We’re ready to be treated intelligently and being allowed to let our imaginations do the work. We’re ready to gain back that feeling of shock and awe when the hard work that went into your project is presented properly and the audience is allowed that pure and raw reaction. We’re ready to show you how much our interest is piqued when you hold back more than you tease us with. We’re ready for a change and we’re ready now.
The Sanity Of A Mad Woman 