Let’s not waste any time here, let’s get right to the point. The WWE and World Championship are being unified after 11 years of dual major championships. Keep in mind this is not the WCW Championship, but a newer modern-era “World Title” which was WWE-created, but yet does have the history of the original World Heavyweight Championship dating back to the NWA. The WWE and WCW belts were first unified back in 2001 when Chris Jericho won a four-man tournament to be proclaimed as the first Undisputed Champion. Now, in 2013, we will have the second Undisputed Champion, this time called the Unified Champion. Confusing, yes?
John Cena and Randy Orton will be the contestants for this new one and only, singular top prize in Sports Entertainment. Frankly, I am interested as to who will walk away with the one title, but I feel it will be the lesser of two evils. Cena or Orton? It would be like choosing a needle or electroshock for an execution. We have seen these two put on enough matches in the past to accurately predict a snooze-fest. If both belts are hung from the top of the arena, it really would not shock me if everything we have seen is all to:
A) Turn John Cena heel
B) Switch champions, giving Cena the WWE Title, Orton gets the World, thus fooling everyone
C) Adding yet another major world title reign to Cena, putting him yet another closer to the record held by Ric Flair.
Plus, I believe this is the ONLY Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match which will take place.
Regardless of who walks away from TLC as Unified Champion, I predict the following event: Daniel Bryan wins the Royal Rumble and goes to WrestleMania 30. Remember WrestleMania 20? Chris Benoit? That guy? WWE will likely try to erase all memory of the Canadian Crippler by inserting Bryan as the modern-day uber-underdog. Last time it was Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels. In 2013, expect it to be Bryan vs. Orton vs. Cena, and hell, maybe a four way with CM Punk in there just to throw everyone off. Chris Benoit winning and celebrating at the end of WrestleMania 20 was completely off the chart. Benoit, who was held down by Paul Heyman, Triple H, McMahons for months and months, until he finally broke through and proved himself to be a true main eventer. I see the same for Daniel Bryan, following in those footsteps. Without the whole murderous rampage thing…
Other matches on the card:
AJ Lee vs. Natalya – AJ has burned out her gimmick, it’s time to move on. Natalya is the odds on favorite, and it would not shock me if shortly after Tamina Snuka will challenge for the Diva Title. Then I’ll have something to watch.
Damien Sandow challenges Big E. Langston for the Intercontinental Championship. Congrats to Langston, he now holds one of two major mid-card titles. The Intercontinental and United States Championship do not look like the European Title anymore thanks to a unified World Title. The U.S. Title will hopefully get more exposure as well. In any case, I see a hard-fought win for Langston, I just do not see Sandow earning the upset victory so soon. Sandow is a major player, and a win for Langston will elevate everyone involved. I do not see a loss hurting Sandow, just as long as he is continued to see television time on both shows.
Speaking of television time, both The Miz and Kofi Kingston get more, simply by beating each other up. I suppose Kofi is now called “The Wildcat” since they are shoving the nickname down our throats on TV and on WWE.com. If you want Kofi to be taken seriously, stop letting him wear neon pants and don’t give him a stupid nickname! They don’t have a match at TLC, but their feud should have warranted it. Instead, we get a great-doozer of a pre-show, Dolph Ziggler vs. Fandango. Maybe Ziggles needs to bring back the Spirit Squad or become Chavo Guerrero’s golf caddy again. This is pathetic. From World Champion to pre-show jobber in less than a year?
We get a nice looking Fatal-Four Way Tag Team Championship match. Is this a TLC match? I would say likely not, because HEAVEN FORBID something to completely outclass the Cena/Orton snoozefest. I am disappointed The Prime Time Players are not in it. Seems strange to suddenly throw the random pairing of Big Show and Rey Mysterio in there with The Real Americans, Axel & Ryback, challenging the champions, The Rhodes Bros. No Usos? No PTP? Very odd indeed.
Moving on, two 3-on-1 Handicap matches. Daniel Bryan goes up against The Wyatts, and CM Punk goes up against The Shield. We have been teased at a breakup of Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose, this might just be the PPV to do it. As a unit they all got their fair share of TV time, but as solo stars? I worry for Rollins’ future. Ambrose is United States Champion, and as long as he wears his red, white, blue, and gold, he isn’t going anywhere. Roman Reigns is being pushed hard, so I expect he will have nothing to worry about in the immediate future. As for Bryan and The Wyatts, expect a bloodbath. Both matches are “punishments” handed down from The Authority, so it would not be too off-the-mark to think Kane may show up to interfere.
That’s all for now, on paper this PPV looks good, but I cannot help but wonder if we are in for a disappointment. 3-on-1 matches sound nice, but for a PPV? Something does not feel right about there being one, but two?
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