So I haven't had a lot of excitement leading into this PPV, but today's "story" on Hardy has definitely changed that, but not necessarily forthe good. Incase you don't know by now, YES, IT IS A STORYLINE. Now, we have all had a few hours to let it set in, and I personally think this is some ofthe poorest taste the WWE has chosen to display in quite some time. Not only are they exploiting the personal demons of Jeff Hardy and the emotions of all ofhis fans, may of who are young children, but they are also deliberatly using a storyline of a wrestler being found "unconscious" in a hotel which hashappened far too many times in professional wrestling, most recently with the late Eddie Guerrero. I am usually not shocked by the things the WWE does, evenwhen they do things in poor taste, but I think this one is really taking things too far. It's one thing to use injury angles, even serious ones, whenwrestlers are not actually injured. I don't like them and definitely don't agree with them, but I understand why they are used. But to abuse thenotion of a potential drug overdose is careless, tasteless, and completely unacceptable to me. I don't know what the exact motivation for this angle is,and we probably won't find out the exact motivations until about 10pm tonight, but to me, it seems that they have built up Hardy as the challenger so manytimes who can't climb that last rung on the ladder, that they are now having to develop excuses for him not to win, because I don't see him walking outas the champion tonight. I feel bad for Jim Ross having to call this match and sell the angle, because you know he has been personally touched by so many ofthe tradgedies in wrestling. This has left a very bad taste in my mouth, but unfortunately, it has given me more motivation to watch tonight's show to seehow it plays out.
One other note about tonight's show. There is NO buzz around the traditional Survivor Series matches. They have taken individual fueds and thrown themtogether to make 5 on 5 matches. However, they have not given any motivation for the teammates to work together. I can't recall a single time that all ofthe members of any of the teams have been together. There is no reason that they could not have had the teams work together over the past two weeks to atleast know who is apart of each team and why they are working together. Without looking at previews on WWE.com, I do not have a remote idea of who is a memberof team Batista, Orton, HBK, or JBL. Very poor planning on the WWE's part.
Team Batista vs Team Orton
Batista is not scheduled to fued with Orton after this match, and because of that, I expect Team Orton to get the victory. I don't have much interest inthe backstories in this match. R-Truth and Benjamin have been fueding. They threw Hardy and Regal together at the last minute this last Monday night. Iguess Henry is also fueding with Hardy. Isn't Rhodes angry with Orton? Steph was supposed to give us an answer about that, but just blew the wrestlersand the fans off. Kofi and Rhodes? I don't know. Punk and Orton makes most sense for me next, and a fued I am looking forward to. I would expectBatista to go out relatively early, leaving Orton and Punk in the end. Orton has been very successful at past Survivor Series, and I expect that to continuetonight.
Prediction: Team Orton
The Undertaker vs The Big Show - Casket Match
To be perfectly honestly, I haven't paid much attention to this program because it started off so poorly and I just never got into it. Usually going intoa casket match, you expect The Undertaker to win. I could see this going the other way, but I'll stick with Taker taking this one because I don'tthink the feud is supposed to continue past tonight's show. The Undertaker's next program is scheduled to be with the returning Umaga, so there is achance he makes an appearance tonight. I don't think he will cost Taker the match, but I could definitely see an attack after the match.
Prediction: The Undertaker
Team HBK vs Team JBL
Just like the other match, these two captains don't see to really have much of a previous feud to cause this match. JBL attacked HBK out of the blue a fewweeks ago on Raw during his last man standing match with Jericho. So then we have Miz and Morrison against Cryme Tyme. Miz and Morrison are so great, Icannot figure out why they don't receive a larger push. I guess the victory over HBK and Mysterio on Raw Monday night was a good start (note that HHHwasn't involved in the match, so HBK was eligible to lose). Mysterio and Khali seem to be the new oddball team in the WWE. Ugh. I don't like eitherof them. When Miz and Morrison mentioned Kane on ECW, Kane received quite a face pop. Isn't he a heel? And wasn't his program with Mysterio supposedto be over after Stephanie and Shane took over Raw? Why is MVP in this match? Oh yeah, to be the one to do the clean job.
Prediction: Team HBK
HHH (c) vs Jeff Hardy vs Vladimir Koslov - WWE Championship Match
I've already talked about the Hardy angle enough above, so let's focus on the match itself. It seemed as if the WWE has wanted to do HHH vs Koslov atboth Cyber Sunday and tonight at The Survivor Series, but maybe they don't have enough faith in Koslov to carrier a big match by himself. The fans got toadd Hardy at Cyber Sunday, and the WWE chose to add him tonight. I just have a sneaking suspicion that Koslov will walk out of Boston as the WWE Championtonight. I think when they finally do have HHH vs Koslov one on one, it will be with HHH getting the victory and getting the title back. However, itwouldn't shock me one bit if HHH retained tonight. Honestly, the only thing that would shock me is if Hardy won his first WWE Title tonight. Especiallyafter the joke of an angle earlier today, I just don't see it happening. As I said before, it seems like they are using the angle as an excuse for Hardyto lose. Plus, we have all heard the news of Edge most likely returning at tonight's show, so it seems very logical for him to get involved possiblycosting Hardy the match as it looks like Hardy/Edge is the next program for the two of them. I'll stick with Koslov walking out as the new champion, butlike with any match with HHH, I'm not saying it with a lot of conviction.
Prediction: Vladimir Koslov - New WWE Champion
Smackdown Divas vs Raw Divas
So why exactly are these women teaming together? Oh yeah, brand loyalty. Anyway, I would guess there will be dissension on both teams since heels and facesare mixed together. Hopefully it is kept short. I can't see anything good coming out of this match.
Prediction: Smackdown Divas (I flipped a coin)
Chris Jericho (c) vs John Cena - World Championship Match
Honestly, it is hard to get excited for this mathc because I don't know what the motivation for this match is. Yes, it is Cena's first match backwhich is a big deal. The WWE has done a great job with the weekly videos hyping Cena's return and making it seem important. However, we have no reason asto why he is facing Chris Jericho or why we should care. When Randy Orton questioned Stephanie as to why Cena was receiving a title shot in his first matchback, she said it was Shane's decision and Cena was a title contender before he was injured. Well, that's a crap reason for a match. I've said itbefore. Cena's return is a big enough deal on its own. There was no need to bundle a title shot with it. On Jericho's side of things, he also has noreason to be facing Cena right now and has not really explained as to why he is fighting him tonight. Jericho's given the old, "I've beaten bignames in the past (Austin, Rock), and I will beat Cena tonight." That's great, but it dosen't get me excited for the match. Cena could havereturned against a midcarder, get the easy clean win, and then face Jericho at Armageddon, giving fans a reason to care about that show. Instead, we willprobably get a disputed finish tonight. Going forward, the plan is for a three way program involving Jericho, Cena, and Batista, eventually setting up thepresumed rematch between Cena and Batista. So my guess is that Batista gets involved in this match. I don't think we will see a DQ, but definitely not aclean finish. You could go the easy way and say Cena gets the win and title in his home town. However, I'll say Jericho retains here, and probably holdsthe title until The Rumble, unless he loses it in a gimmick match at Armageddon. Cena and Batista can then feud over the fact that Dave potentially cost Cenathe title. Should be a good match with an electric atmosphere.
Prediction: Chris Jericho - Retains the World Title
Like I said before, I'm not totally excited about tonight's show going in. It has the potential to be very good, but you also never know what you aregoing to get in the traditional Survivor Series matches. I am very interested to see how the Hardy angle plays out. My expecations aren't very high.
