Hey Kevin,

First, I really enjoy your blog.

I really hope Mickie James wins because I am disliking McCool.
At first, I did not think much of her using the Styles Clash, but in survivor series, she came out in a hoodie similar to Styles. I see there isn't any heat from the crowd as well as interests to McCool compare to MJ's bigger pop reaction, so here is hoping MJ wins.

And on RAW, when i saw how Jerishow came on top against DX, I also thought this meant DX would win at TLC.
My 2 cents are that Jerichow has added more importance to Tag belts in the last few months. If DX wins, I feel like they are going to treat the belts as a joke and/or a toy.
If DX won the belts back in the 90s or even their last reunion in 2007, i would have no problem. I guess i am not being entertained w/ DX (PG verison).

Thanks Kevin.

How I would handle this (which means that there is no way it goes this way), is this: Batista wins the belt, 'injuring' Undertaker in the process. 'Taker gets his much-needed time off and returns for 'Mania. Morrison drops the IC belt to McIntyre in order to move up the card and challenge for the world title (though this would obviously cut short his feud with McIntyre, which wouldn't be good). Instead of Morrison, I could see Christian dropping his belt to Benjamin (about time SB holds a 'world' title) and then jumping ship to SD.

'Taker needs time off, and I'm fairly certain he's jobbing to Batista. That leaves SD without a top-level face to challenge for the belt, which would seem to necessitate either Morrison or Christian stepping up to the plate. The only question is which one it will be. As long as it's one of those two, WWE can't go wrong.

I don't think DX is winning. Being tag champs mean your on raw and smackdown everyweek. That will not happen since HBK works part-time and HHH doesn't like to work on Tuesdays.

The only way I see WWE cashing in on Batista/Taker in to extend the program, hence Taker retaining the title.

Not sure on the Kofi/Orton. Although I think Orton takes to many losses.

Christian/Shelton has so high of an expectation that I have a funny feeling that it wont deliver. I sure it will be the first on the card.

I'm not really sure how this pay-per-view fits into the WWE violence code. So anything goes as long as there is no blood? How can you call this family entertainment when pretty much anything that's not nailed down can be used as a weapon? Kevin, does this all make any sense to you? Thanks.

Kevin, It seems like you really despise Sheamus. A man who has paid his dues to Pro Wrestling in the indie scene for years. I've yet to see him do anything wrong to upset me his performances are above average, but you place him on the level of a jober like Mike Knox. I've been a fan of your works for about a year. But you have really upset me with you contradicting yourself stating wwe is in need for stars but rejecting a man of class such as Sheamus. Well guess what he earned that spot on the brand by doing what the divas do for Vince and Shane, to Linda and Stephanie hell even Vickie too.
Response from KE: Im just saying Sheamus doesent deserve it.
Response from ND: I got 2 words for ya suck it
Response from KE: Thats Mature?
Response from HHH: So Sheamus doesent deserve it?
Response from KE: .................................................................................................. Are you done playing for comment of the week.
Response from HHH: Suck IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think both the World Title and the WWE Championship change hands.

If they've gone this far with Sheamus why not go all the way? The fact that Cena has made a point of saying he'll invoke his rematch clause the same night leads me to believe something is in the air. I can see a scenario where Sheamus wins the belt and Cena regains it at the end of the night.

I also agree with you that Batista wins. The Undertaker needs some rest. Besides isn't Edge due back next month? A renewal of that feud with Edge as the face and Batista as the heel would be intriguing. Especially if Vickie Guerrero is in the mix.

I'm thinking that they're going to put the strap on McIntyre. The match between the two felt rushed, so it feels like management wants him to win the title on a PPV.

Here are my predictions Kev for TLC

DX

Batista

Cena

Orton

Benjamin

John Morrison

Mickie James

Regarding the tag team match: Don't you think WWE still wants Jerichp to appear on all TV shows? If he loses the title he technically can only appear on Smackdown. I suppose having DX be able to appear on any show is a good tradeoff for WWE but are HHH and Michaels able to work that much at this point in their careers?

Sheamus over Cena is a joke. I'm done with WWE wrestling. Done. It proves that if you are friends and training partners with HHH, the King of Almighty Booking Kings, like Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, two utterly unimpressive rookies, you will move up the card with ridiculous speed. Guys like MVP, Swagger, Miz, Kofi, Evan Bourne, Shelton, Ziggler, Regal, Morrison, Jericho etc. deserve that championship push a helluva lot more than Sheamus. And now all the work they put into making Cena an unstoppable and practically unbeatable top guy is ruined from this tall, pale jobber and not even a promising young future main-eventer.

Looks like it's onto watching Hogan bankrupt TNA. Sigh.

Gee, I wonder why Sheamus won! Notice the crowd response. Dead...does he have some pictures on Hunter or something?

Great PPV tonight. Didn't get to see it but I read the results online. Don't know if it's the right time to put the title on Sheamus but I'm glad someone is the champ on Raw besides Cena, Orton, or HHH. When Michael Cole mentioned that the last foreign-born WWE champion was Yokozuna, was he forgetting about Edge or was he born in the US? It will be interesting to see what Batista will do to get back at Long for costing him the title. I'm glad that DX won the titles, it was a title win 2 1/2 years in the making. I recall hearing that they were supposed to win the titles in the match against Rated RKO but it didn't happen when HHH got hurt. My top 3 picks for winning the Rumble are Kingston, Dibiase, and McIntyre.

Not sure when you'll do a recap, but off the bat.....

1. So WWE is going to do the "TAG TEAM CHAMPS FIGHTING EACH OTHER AT WRESTLEMANIA! HOW WILL THEY CO-EXIST?!" angle for the millionth time? Looks likely for HBK & Triple H.

2. Sheamus winning the belt is a slap in the face to about 90% of the locker room.

The following is a series of quotes from the yet to be released autobiography of Vince McMahon. It is from the chapter entitled, “The Top 10 Dumbest Things I Ever Did.”

10. “I thought it was a great idea to put a guy with great potential on a losing streak and destroy his career. After all, he was rude to a drug tester. I didn’t think it mattered that I push guys to the moon who actually FAIL the drug tests all the time.”

9. “Having the Ultimate Warrior beat Andre the Giant in less than a minute made for a great series of main events at house shows. At that time I was really trying to make sure the audience got what they paid for.”

8. “The creative team came up with a great idea to create a group of heels all made up of 2nd or 3rd generation stars and put them over strong. I said ‘YOU’RE FIRED!! I’ll create that same group and turn them into gimps!!”

7. “Giving creative control in the last 30 days of Bret Hart’s contract was a move of pure genius. I mean, it’s not like at that time guys were leaving for WCW in droves and my belts were being dropped in trash cans live on their show….”

6. “Tag team wrestling is really exciting, so I decided to destroy the division from about 2004 – 2009.”

5. “A decade after my time as a monster heel has passed, I still think I can pass heat onto guys like Drew McIntyre and announce to the world that he is a future WWE champion after he’s been in the company a few months. Now he brings me cookies every night, and I keep them in my butt with his nose.”

4. “Why have an intercontinental title anyway? I’ve had 15 years of the division having the best matches on the card. Maybe I’ll just rely on the main event and turn the title into a joke…. After all, it worked with the tag titles.”

3. “I rehired the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestle Mania 12 for a 30 second match. It’s not like he ever caused any problems before, like refusing to perform in the main event unless he’s paid a million dollars…. And the boys in the locker room really respect him both as a worker and as a human being,,,, and it’s not like steroids is an issue with him…”

2. “Vladamir Koslov’s character would have been really popular in 1985, so it’s no reason to think that in 2008, an unskilled nobody can’t be elevated to the main event without ever beating anyone to play the Russian badguy…. I mean, all those kids in the audience are still afraid of Russians nuking us…. aren’t they?

1. “I had a really popular star (with most of the audience) in John Cena, so, since I was running out of titles to make a joke out of, and the IC and tag belts were actually gaining back some credibility, I decided to make a joke of the WWE title and destroy the career of a guy who had potential and have the lamest finish in the history of the business all in the one move.”

In response to Paul: Cole was wrong on several counts. First, Bret Hart has held the WWE title more recently than Yokozuna. Second, Yokozuna was actually an American. (I assume Cole was keeping kayfabe, but still.) As for Edge, I could be wrong but I believe that he and Chris Benoit were both world (rather than WWE) champion, and the Chris Jericho was undisputed (again, rather than WWE) champ. Then again, it's entirely possible that Michael Cole thinks Canada is a part of the United States.

I didn't watch this show, but needless to say I am disgusted by most of the results. Kevin, do you think there may have been a botch at the end of the Cena-Sheamus match? I did catch the ending on YouTube, and it looked like Sheamus may have been supposed to go through the table on the outside.

"My top 3 picks for winning the Rumble are Kingston, Dibiase, and McIntyre."
you are forgetting edge my friend. His return is due in jan.......just in case he makes his return at the rumble.....wwe has gotta give it to him....

Ugh Sheamus!

I wonder if guys like Matt Hardy, Christian and Charlie Haas now want to head to TNA? Talk about being kicked in the balls.

WWE wrestlers who would be worse world champs...... Big Dick Johnson, Hornswoggle, Escobar.

By the way Kev, what do you think Sheamus does when HHH says "suck it?"

Hi Kevin !

Greetings from France, where your blog is very popular amongst wrestling fans ... well those who are more than 12 and can understand english, but that is still something, right ?
I got pretty much the same predictions than you for TLC, and I'm watching it right now so I hope we'll be right !
Keep up the good work !

PS: I don't know if you are aware of it, but there's a very good french website about wrestling (Les Cahiers du Catch) where you are frequently mentioned as a reference, and I must say they're quite right !

Vinnie Mac certainly proved all those terrible internet trolls wrong last night. HHH doesn't have any backstage power at all! It's not like he and his 3 BFF's won titles or anything.

"It’s one thing for WWE to give Sheamus a prominent spot on the card, but it’s another for him to actually defeat the company’s top star for the title. That would be insane."

Where does this perception that WWE creative is full of sane people come from? They very much resent that accusation (because they are insane), and they are very frustrated that people keep leveling it at them despite all of their efforts to prove it false.

Maybe after they name Hornswoggle the Superstar of the Year tonight, these scurrilous rumors will finally stop.

"When Michael Cole mentioned that the last foreign-born WWE champion was Yokozuna, was he forgetting about Edge or was he born in the US?"

Edge's birthplace is not far from the place I'm typing this, in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada. (Very close to Toronto.)

Also, if the WWE championship is the same belt that they had before they bought out WCW (and since they say that Kane has never been a World champion but has been a WWE champion that would seem to be the case), then there's Bret Hart as well.

And for you Nigel, while it is true Sheamus was big in the Irish indy scene, that means very little for the 'E. CM Punk is one the best all around performers in wrestling today and it took him a full 2 years AND MITB to win a world title. He also only beat JBL before losing the belt. Sheamus has beaten the face of professional wrestling just 2 months after debuting.

Checklist to become a top star in the WWE:
1) be big and mean
2) never never never EEVVVEERRR tan
3) kiss HHH's butt
4) debut on ECW
5) kiss HHH's butt again
6) job to Goldust
7) kiss HHH's butt
8) powerbomb a road agent
9) kick Lawler in the head
10) spot HHH doing bench
11) get knocked down by the 170 pound internet nerd Mark Cuban
12) beat John Cena.

I feel like a hypocrite. For the longest time I've wanted to see a younger face win a world title, but now it has happened and I'm not happy.

When Sheamus debuted on ECW, I thought to myself that he was a future world champion. I didn't think it would be this soon. He still has the new car smell on him, so to speak.

I have been watching wrestleing for over 40 years and can not in anyway see this Sheamus win. If you are going to give it to a heel. Then give it to someone that has worked for it. Miz, Legacy, Swagger, etc.. Someone that has really earned a shot at it. And, if this was an accident as being rumored, then give it back to Cena quick and hurt Sheamus doing it.

Thank You