The other world title match got a nice boost Friday (imagine that: the TV show before the PPV pushing a match) and I’m really not sure what to expect there either.  I’ll go with Sheamus to retain in a match that’s more entertaining than it has any right to be.

HELL NO to retain in another good match but I think the Scholars have a chance of taking the belts.  They’ll probably get the belts one day, but I’d rather see Sandow get a singles push.

I have a gut instinct that says Del Rio and while those are usually wrong, I’ll go with it.

Kofi to retain.

Kaitlyn gets the Divas Title.

Overall this has the potential to be a pretty good B show, but it’s not something I’m looking forward to aside from the main event.  The real main event that people are looking towards is Punk vs. Rock at the Rumble which I can’t see not happening, hopefully setting up a triple threat with Rock vs. Cena vs. Punk, which is what the story would seem to be building towards.  The show should be entertaining though, and that’s a step up for WWE after the disaster that was Raw.

Thought/predictions?

Aces and 8’s going over Sting and Ray is pretty obvious.  What is not obvious is how this is going to happen.  The smart money is on Bubba turning on Sting and being a member of the gang, and I think that’s what they’re going to go with.  I’ve heard talk of Ray not turning being the swerve, which would be pretty creative, but I don’t think they’d go with it.

As for the leader, assuming he’s revealed tomorrow, my money would be on Jarrett.  I’ll talk about this more later on.

For the second biggest match on the show, I’ll take Hardy to win and send the fans home happy.  They have to give the winner of the BFG Series the title because if they don’t, the Series starts to look pointless as the winner would be 0-2 at BFG.  Hardy has been good since the debacle of Victory Road 18 months ago, so hopefully he can be good again.  Also it would set up Ray as the challenger for the title down the road, which I can’t believe I’m saying, but he deserves.

I think Chavo and Hernandez get the belts here.  I can’t picture Daniels and Kaz keeping them, but they can cry shenanigans and stay together which is good for everyone.  I don’t see AJ and Angle geting them, which will likely lead to another feud between them.  That leaves Chavo and SuperMex to pick up the belts in the meantime.  I’m not wild on that but I won’t hate it either.  It’s not like the division exists anymore.

Storm has to go over Roode.  He has to.  Storm was looking like the biggest star on the planet back in April (Ok that’s not true but he was the hottest thing in TNA) and they stopped it dead at Lockdown.  Then he loses the BFG Series and both were because of Roode.  This is the blowoff to the feud, but I wish it wasn’t happening.  Storm should have gotten the title at Lockdown and then go from there, because I think Storm would have been better on top than Aries.  Maybe not, but I would have liked to see it.  King Mo can go fall in a hole.  He adds nothing but a distraction to this match and isn’t needed here.

Now on to the stuff that fills in the card.

Ryan over Snow.  No reason for anything else to happen at all.

Tara gets the title.  As for the identity of the boyfriend, the only name I’ve heard that makes sense is Jessie Godderz.  Who is that you ask?  He’s from Big Brother, which is all you need to do to be a celebrity in this world anymore.  He signed with TNA last year and has been in OVW since then.  Godderz is mainly a tag team guy and not a great one at that, but he’s been on mainstream TV before so he’s clearly better suited here than a guy who is talented in the ring right?

Joe keeps the title, even though Magnus had a good promo Thursday.

Give me Ion to keep the title, because I want to see how far he can bring the title down with him.

Overall, this show doesn’t feel nearly as big as 2010 and not as big as last year’s either.  Aces and 8’s has bogged the company way down over the last few months and the world title comes off as a complete afterthought.  They’re running the risk of Wrestlemania 18, which si basically what happened last year also.  The problem with this show is that it doesn’t feel big at all.  It feels like a somewhat big show with a big match on it, and I don’t mean the world title.  The other problem with the tag match is that it feels like another point in the story, not a big conclusion or anything like that.

This brings me back to the leader reveal, which we’re assuming is happening tomorrow.  The problem that I see happening with this is there has been about a dozen people suggested as the leader.  We’ve heard Hogan, Brooke (good lord help us all), Sting, Abyss, Ray, Bischoff, Garrett (give us Brooke please), Jarrett, John Morrison (why?  Good guy to bring in but not in this role), Matt Morgan and others that I’m likely forgetting.  The problem is EVERYONE who could be the leader, barring a big surprise, has been suggested and it’ll likely be someone we’ve heard of.  If it is, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, but that’s how people will perceive it, which is bad.  Just because something was guessed doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Overall, it should be a fun show but I’m not expecting to be blown away.

Predictions/thoughts?

Kane and Bryan winning the tag titles is the only logical ending to the tag title match.  There is zero reason to have Kofi and Truth keep the titles while Kane and Bryan are doing the most entertaining stuff in the company by miles and miles.  If there’s anything that should be a layup for the bookers, it’s this.

As for the IC Title, the usual way of thinking would say Miz retains the title because he sneaks in and steals the pin, but for some reason I don’t see that happening. Cody winning the title and setting up a mask vs. title match against either Rey or Cara would work fine, or either masked guy could take the title.  It would possibly give the fans a reason to care about Cara, but I don’t think it would do much good.  Rey has no need for the thing other than to feud with Cody more, but I think if it’s going to change it goes to Cody.  Odds are it’ll stay with Miz though and that’s probably the right idea.  One other thing: I love the combination of the title and the established feud.  That’s an old school booking move and the current product could use more of those techniques.

Kaitlyn vs. Layla.  The coin came up heads so we’ll say Layla retains.

Ziggler vs. Orton.  This is one of those matches I’m not sure where they’re going.  Orton is leaving to film the movie so he doesn’t need the win, but at the same time Ziggler is Mr. MITB which means he’s hardly ever allowed to win a major match.  My instinct would be that Ziggler wins andtakes Orton out somehow so Orton can go film the movie and then perhaps Ziggler wins the title in the meantime, setting up a rematch later on for the title.

I’ve been watching wrestling for a very long time and honestly I can’t think of a world title feud that interests me less than Sheamus vs. Del Rio.  Sheamus is one of my favorite guys but sweet goodness this feud isn’t doing anything for anyone.  Del Rio is such a boring and uninteresting character and he’s lost clean(ish) to Sheamus every single time.  What in the world is the point in seeing this AGAIN?  Yeah Sheamus can’t use the Brogue Kick, but he has like 3 other finishers so it doesn’t mean much at all.  Sheamus to retain and PLEASE let that be the final time these two fight ever again.
That leaves the main event with Punk vs. Cena and they really could go either way with this.  At the end of the day, Punk is living in Cena’s shadow and it’s driving him crazy.  ALl roads lead to January and the Rumble match with Rock, which likely sets up the rematch with Cena at Mania 29.  Based on that, I’ll go with Punk to retain here, but I don’t know if he’ll survive all the way until January.  Either way the reign isn’t lasting until my birthday in February.  Punk to retain but not by much.

Overall, this is a show that has the potential to be good on paper but the build for it hasn’t quite worked.  The whole company is running at half speed at the moment and they need a shot in the arm.  The stories aren’t bad but they’re not doing a good job of making people care.  It’s like they’re running with an anchor and they need something good to light a fire under them.  Maybe that’s this show.

Magnus winning over Van Dam is all that makes sense so we’ll go with that.  I’m actually giving TNA a chance with logic here.  Don’t screw me over.

Tag titles will stay on Daniels and Kaz.  Angle is legit injured so expect AJ to do most of the work, which is fine.

Aries will take out the Aces and 8’s guy.  That should be obvious.

Now for the real meat of the show: the BFG Series matches.

I think it comes down to Storm vs. Joe with Joe taking it.  There’s really no wrong answer here but Joe vs. Aries has been talked about as the main event of BFG.  Ray is a possibility with the new deal that may or may not have been signed, but I can’t see it happening.  Hardy is the guy you have to have in there but who doesn’t seem very likely to me at all.

Overall, this show is one that won’t need to be seen but should be a decent show anyway.  Nothing really happens here as it’s a build up to BFG which is fine, but it does make for less drama outside of the final three BFG Series matches.  The show should be fun though, which is what TNA is doing best right now.

Thoughts/predictions?

For the preshow I’ll take Santino to retain in some wacky manner.  It should go to Cesaro to just give him something to do but they’re pushing Cesaro too hard to have him win here.

On to the main card, I’ll go with Bryan over Kane.  Bryan hasn’t won a singles match in months but yet he doesn’t need to win at all.  I’ll go with him because there is no reason to have Kane win at all here.

Ziggler over Jericho due to the word on the street being that Jericho is done after Sunday.

Miz to retain I guess but honestly does anyone care at all here?

Hopefully the Prime Time PLayers take the tag belts as Kofi and Truth are some of the lamest champions I can remember in a long time, which is saying something for the freaking tag team titles.

Sheamus over Del Rio with a possible cash in for Ziggler.  I really hope they don’t put it on Del Rio and then have Ziggy cash in.  That move drives me crazy.

For the main events, I’m hoping for Punk to retain but Big Show being in there would point to Cena walking out with the title.

For the real main event that hopefully won’t go on last, it has to be Lesnar.  I mean…..it HAS TO BE Lesnar……right?

Overall, this is one of the weakest looking Summerslams I can remember in a very long time.  The world title match is dragged down by a combination of Big Show and Punk seeming to have no idea if he’s a face or a heel.  At the end of the day, Rock continues to loom over this company but at least now there’s an open spot to face him at the Rumble.  Other than that, we have Lesnar vs. HHH in a feud that has almost no heat on it because it was started and then not mentioned again for three months before Shawn turned into a scared coward and Lesnar turned into every other cowardly heel that runs from a fight on the roster despite running over JOHN FREAKING CENA like he wasn’t there.  But hey, it makes HHH look more feared and if anyone needs the extra boost, it’s HHH.

Thoughts/predictions?

For the world title, I’ll go with Roode getting it back.  It’s pretty clear that Roode vs. Storm is coming again, but I can’t see Aries defending the title against anyone in the BFG Series for the title.  Also with there being no rematches, it’s a way to get Aries out of the title picture easily.

In the falls count anywhere match, I’m going to play a hunch and say Anderson.  I can’t imagine Magnus will win as he’s basically one of the jobbers of the Series which is fine.  Van Dam is the other likely candidate and Pope is just Pope.  They might throw it to Pope to shake things up a bit but I’d be surprised.

AJ to win the ladder match.  He’s behind in the standings and this would rocket him up as we close in on No Surrender.

I think I’ll take Hardy to win the tables match.  It’ll be either him or Ray, as there’s a chance that Aces and 8’s count help Ray win to further confuse things.  That would be an interesting twist.

Tessmacher to retain and King to win the title and Chavo/Hernandez to win, in the three filler matches on the card.

Overall this looks like a good looking card and I’m so glad they added different gimmicks to the fourways to keep them interesting.  This is the last show before we get into the BFG cycle which is a good thing as No Surrender is only kind of interesting most of the time.

Thoughts/predictions?

Since the match hasn’t been talked about at all, I’ll go with Punk via a coin flip.  I do however think Bryan will get the title eventually though.

I’ll go with Sheamus to retain as well.  The only other option is Del Rio.  This is the match I’m looking forward tot he most by far as I’ve liked the build pretty well.

The tag champions will retain because they’re setting up the champions vs. the Colons.

Layla to retain.

Kane to destroy Ryder on the pre-show.

That’s the whole announced card so far: 5 matches and a pre-show match.  They’ll add two matches or so more than likely.

Thoughts/Predictions?

Anderson over Hardy.  I flipped a coin.
AJ to lose to Angle due to being all messed up.

Now I have to look at the list of matches because that’s all I can remember.

The Robs take the title somehow because this feud hasn’t gone on long enough.

I’ll take the tag champs to retain.  They’re facing Daniels/Kaz.  I don’t remember hearing about it either.

Tessmacher to take the title.

Finally I’ll go with Aries over Ray because of Abyss.

Overall the show is 100% filler, although it looks better than Victory Road, but that isn’t saying much.

Thoughts/Predictions?

I’m going with Lesnar over Cena but I think a better pick would be a big brawl that goes to a draw.  You can’t have Lesnar lose immediately coming back but Cena has to win something someday.  Cena hasn’t said anything in this feud for the most part other than in London so it should be interesting to see where it goes.

Sheamus retains.  It’s pretty clear that they’re going from Bryan to Del Rio as the new challenger because he’s the least interesting person they could have feuding with Sheamus and that’s the right choice I guess.  We’ll go with 2-0 on a hunch.

Oh and whatever Bella has the title retains before losing to Kharma on Raw.

Thoughts/picks?

Orton over Kane.  No real reason for it to go the other way.

Show will retain unless they’re really stupid with their booking.