Judgment Day looks like a solid, if not fresh, show. We’ve seen various versions of Orton/Batista, Edge/Hardy, Christian/Swagger and Cena/Show over the past few weeks, months and even years (!!!) but at least the non-RAW will be solid.
Bold is my predicted winner.
WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista
Much like everything else in this lame Legacy/McMahons feud, this will suck. I suspect HHH will make a “brave” and miraculous return (keep in mind a kick to the head kept Batista out for MONTHS) and will accidentally or not so accidentally cost Batista the win and the belt.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
We’ve seen this match way too much lately, and while they haven’t really delivered a blow-away match like I thought they would, the matches have been good. I think it’s time to remove Jeff from all these title matches though since it’s obvious they don’t actually plan to put the belt on him anytime soon. He’s becoming this generation’s Lex Luger.
ECW Championship Match
Christian (c) vs. Jack Swagger
These two have great chemistry and I’m a fan of both, though I’m actually starting to like Swagger more. Well, all the brands’ main titles changed hands last month, so I’ll keep with the tradition of my two previous predictions and go for the trick shot and say all the champs retain this month.
John Cena vs. Big Show
Yeah, yeah, Cena’s supposed to be filming another movie or whatever, but I’m still predicting a win for him. They can do another more serious injury angle (more serious than being thrown though a 1.21 gigawatt spotlight) anytime afterward to put the heat back on Show. Plus, with the two heel champs retaining, the crowd needs a little something to be happy about.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho seems to be the Smackdown whipping boy right now, but I have a feeling that it’s only temporary and the second half of 2009 will be a great one for Jericho. I’m guessing we’ll eventually get a full blown conspiracy-mode Jericho again and he’ll try to collect on Rey’s mask as another “trophy”, but first, Rey scores a win that pushes Jericho over the edge…
CM Punk vs. Umaga
Umaga is in desperate need of something to make him look like a serious threat again. Injuris and just sloppy and forgetful booking has ruined him on Smackdown, but a brutal beatdown on Punk should put him back on track.
John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin
They seem determined to make Morrison one of the new faces of WWE. I’m okay with that, I think it’s time for a lot of time to sink or swim for a lot of their younger talent. See what catches on and see what bombs. Morrison definitely is an entertaining performer, but lacks personality. He did fine as a part of MNM, but his Jim Morrison delivery was stilted and this past Friday his lines sounded like he had learned them while attending Vanilla Babyface 101. Oh well, at Judgment Day, he’ll get the chance to say “GOTCHA!” to Shelton.
