As far as PPV Autumn, that's just the cool name that I came up with in reference to the 9 week period from September to November in which the WWE holds 4 PPVs. That's right: 4 PPVs in 9 weeks. Fairly ridiculous in my opinion, but at the same time I don't think I'll end up having bought more than one, if even that. This post is a compilation of interweaving storylines that are going on now, how I would book them, and what I think should happen with the overall landscape of the WWE up to and including Survivor Series. This is obviously all bound to change as WWE programming goes on, as unless they do literally everything I say they SHOULD do, I'm going to have a different landscape to start with.
In addition, I got tickets to the November 21st Raw at the Giant Center in Hershey. It's the show after Survivor Series so hopefully it'll have some great fallout and maybe even start a Wrestlemania Storyline! If you're going to be there, definitely leave a comment saying so - I love meeting other wrestling fans.
To start things out, let's have a look at the title picture.
WWE Champion: John Cena
#1 Contenders: Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk
World Heavyweight Champion: Mark Henry
#1 Contender: Randy Orton
Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes
#1 Contender: Unknown
United States Champion: Dolph Ziggler
#1 Contender: Zack Ryder
Tag Team Champions: Air Boom
#1 Contender: Unknown
Diva's Champion: Kelly Kelly
#1 Contender: Beth Phoenix
Are you confused? If you are, it's okay, but honestly, you shouldn't be. Does anybody know who the #1 contender to Cody Rhodes' Intercontinental is? I certainly don't. It could be Randy Orton, but if we're playing that game, then Randy Orton and John Cena are the #1 contenders to every title - that's just not how it works. On the same note, who are the #1 contenders to the tag team championships? The former #1 contenders aren't even (kayfabe) employed by the WWE anymore much less contending for titles. Zack Ryder pinned Dolph Ziggler in a singles match, making him the only clear-cut #1 contender to the US title in the picture right now. The other situations are reasonably self-explanatory. Moving on to the Hell in a Cell Card
WWE Hell in a Cell
Kelly Kelly (c) v Beth Phoenix - Divas Championship Match
Christian v Sheamus - Triple H lets power go to his head match
Mistico Sin Cara v Hunico Sin Cara - Right to the Sin Cara Name match
Mark Henry (c) v Randy Orton - World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) v Alberto Del Rio v CM Punk - WWE Championship
Seems like a very small card, doesn't it? I'm thinking the WWE is going to sneak another match into the card, and if they do, it's almost 100% guaranteed to include Dolph Ziggler. There are two options that I see as being wide open. Option one, Ziggler defends his US Title against Zack Ryder, who has now pinned him clean for two weeks straight. Option two, Dolph and Jack Swagger challenge Air Boom for the tag titles. Either way, I'm just going to call this extra match the Mr. Ziggles Exhibition. Here is my one and only prediction: the card order. Last PPV I was pretty close with my card order, but let's be honest: my last PPV post was less predictions, more fantasy booking, so I'll just stop acting like I'm actually going to try and guess what the WWE is going to do and go with what I think they SHOULD do. Let's be honest with ourselves here: if they HAD done what I "predicted" in my Night of Chairmen (and Punks) post, they wouldn't have been able to do this great Truth/Miz fired angle, Beth Phoenix wouldn't still be hungry, Randy Orton and Del Rio would both still be champions, and Mark Henry would be basically left in the dust. I'm glad the WWE decided to pull the trigger with Henry and I'll be even more glad if they keep the belt on him for more than a month.
WWE Hell in a Cell
Mistico Sin Cara v Hunico Sin Cara - Right to the Sin Cara Name matchKelly Kelly (c) v Beth Phoenix - Divas Championship Match
Mr. Ziggles Exhibition Match
Christian v Sheamus - Triple H lets power go to his head match
Mark Henry (c) v Randy Orton - World Heavyweight Championship - Hell in a Cell
John Cena (c) v Alberto Del Rio v CM Punk - WWE Championship - Hell in a Cell
Let's start with the Sin Cara v Sin Cara match. If the WWE had done what I came up with in my Dual Booking: Sin Cara vs Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan Heel Turn post, we wouldn't be having this match yet. I feel like the WWE is hotshotting everything now that they've turned Raw into the Raw Supershow and can book Smackdowns twice as fast. What's even more unfortunate is that while here I am, trying to come up with storylines that can last more than one PPV-to-PPV period with a bigger blowoff that'll sell more tickets, and the WWE is perfectly content with booking a storyline for a month, blowing it off at a PPV and then ending it. Regardless, I do think it's pretty clear what SHOULD happen here - Mistico Sin Cara goes over in a hell of a good back and forth match where Hunico Sin Cara looks strong and is able to continue performing with the red ring attire under a different name. Another option is Hunico wins and Mistico puts his mask on the line for the Vengeance PPV - again, that's something that makes sense to me, but the WWE seems to be perfectly content with just ending storylines this quickly. In either case, the finish of this storyline (whenever that may come) is to have Mistico come out with the Sin Cara gimmick/name and give Hunico a push with his own identity. It's really a great way to debut a fresh talent like Hunico and the fact that he can work heel helps.
Up next is the Divas Match. I, along with most of the rest of the world, have thought that Beth Phoenix would be Diva's Champion right now. In that same breath, I, along with the rest of the world, have been wrong. I'm at the point now that I don't know where the WWE is going with this storyline so I almost don't even want to predict anything - if I say "Beth Phoenix is finally going to win it," and Kelly wins it, the WWE dooped me three times in a row. If I say "Kelly is going to retain, WWE is just fucking with us by giving Beth all these title shots," Beth will win it and I'll look dumb for even suggesting that Kelly might retain a third time in a row. In the end, it all comes down to what the WWE wants their finish to be. If Beth Phoenix triumphantly and soundly beating Kelly 1-2-3 and proving that she is the most dominant diva in the division is their finish, they might end up having Nattie turn on her and everybody would love to see those matches. If Kelly Kelly turning into the John Cena of the Diva's division and being a real "face" of the division with a 6+ month title reign is their plan, I'm prepared to wait that long just to see Kharma come back in May and destroy her in 30 seconds. Either way, WWE, please make up your mind. Since I'll feel like I'm leaving ends loose by not making a prediction, my official prediction is Kelly Kelly to retain for a third time, and Natalya gets a shot at Vengeance.
Now that the crowd is nice and calm, we can amp them up with an exciting match: The Mr. Ziggles Exhibition. I'm not sure which match this will be, but I'm thinking it'll be Swagger/Ziggler vs Air Boom. Not only that, but I think that if that match DOES happen, we will see an Awesome Truth run-in, possibly costing Air Boom their titles. Let me put it this way...I predict the Mr. Ziggles Exhibition will end in a title change. Whether that is Air Boom getting screwed by Awesome Truth and dropping their titles to Swagger and Ziggler, or Zack Ryder winning the US Title, I'm predicting a title change. How's that for broad?
Up next is the Christian v Sheamus match. There's really no point to this match. It's probably just to put Sheamus over as the next legitimate threat to Mark Henry's world title. Christian is amazing enhancement talent and Sheamus is a young stud with a huge frame who is the only guy on the Smackdown roster who actually looks like he might stand a chance against Mark Henry right now. This leads me to...
The World Heavyweight Championship match. I'm going to come right out with it: if Randy Orton wins, I will be devastated, surprised, enraged, and most of all, disappointed. Mark Henry needs to win this match regardless of how he does it. I don't care if Cody Rhodes costs Orton the match, Mark Henry absolutely needs to retain here. It isn't a matter of "if", it's a matter of how. I see two different options to have Henry go over without Orton losing too much in this match. Option #1: Henry kicks out of an RKO, causing Randy Orton to lose his temper and get DQ'd. Option #2: Cody Rhodes costs Orton the match. I would prefer the latter, because that would spark a feud between Orton and Rhodes that is bound to create some phenomenal matches. On top of that, since Mark Henry successfully defended his title, we'll get a new #1 contender: Sheamus. Sheamus vs Mark Henry has happened already, but every match ended in some controversy whether it was countout or DQ. This could lead to some very interesting big man matches that would probably piss off most of the IWC, but the WWE already panders to the IWC enough with CM Punk, The Miz, R-Truth, Beth Phoenix and Natalya.
Finally, THE ROCK, HAS CO-whoops, wrong line. Finally, we have the first ever Triple Threat Hell in a Cell match, for the WWE Championship, between Champion John Cena and challengers Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. This is possibly the least hyped WWE championship match of any PPV so far this year. This PPV really feels Smackdown-heavy, doesn't it? I'm making small talk because the result of this match is barely even worth touching on. If John Cena doesn't retain I will be astounded, both at the fact that the WWE is letting him lose in a match with no DQs, and at the phenomenal incompetence on the WWE creative staff. The WWE Championship, as of late, has been booked like the TNA Knockouts Championship: being passed around from person to person and losing prestige every step of the way. If you ask me, CM Punk should still be the champion. He should've beat Cena CLEAN at Summerslam and Del Rio should be working with somebody like John Morrison or Alex Riley trying to get his heat back. The fact that Alberto Del Rio beat John Morrison in less than a minute on the Monday after Night of Champions should be considered a travesty. Morrison is one of the best talents on your roster and whether he can cut a promo or not is irrelevant because he is already very over with the crowd. That's a different subject for a different day, though. Cena retains and we all happily move on to Vengeance where hopefully we can get a little less dispute surrounding this so-called Undisputed Championship.
That's it - all six matches, one of which wasn't even announced yet. As far as this blog, I hate it when the WWE does this "we're going to shove as many PPVs into football season so that even though less people are buying each PPV, we're still making the same (or similar) amount of money as we do the rest of the year" bullshit. It makes it more difficult for them to hype anything not named Dwayne and even more difficult for guys like me to get a grasp of what the hell they're trying to do as far as creative goes. The WWE Championship is at an all time low in terms of prestige and as for my closing statement?
Dolph Ziggler is the most prestigious title holder in the WWE right now.
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