At least it isn’t called the Colossal Jostle.There isn’t as much to say about this one.  At the end of the day this is one of those matches that is there to give us a cool visual rather than have a competitive match.  I don’t think it’s any secret that the odds say the match ends with a big old Shell Shock on the big old Henry, and that’s the right call for this match.  It shouldn’t run more than seven minutes tops, as you don’t want to expose either of these guys as being as limited in the ring as they actually are.

Ryback NEEDS this win far more than Henry does.  Mark is old and banged up and likely doesn’t have much more time in the company.  Ryback on the other hand has a good chance of being one of the top stars in the company for a few years to come.  A win over Henry would have meant a lot more a year ago, but here it still means a lot and the Shell Shock can be the signature spot for him for a long time to come.  Big moves like that at Wrestlemania have done a lot for guys in the past, so why not do it again here?

As for the match, if it’s somehow not clear yet, Ryback wins with the Shell Shock.  He definitely needs this match more than Henry, as Ryback hasn’t had a big win since…..before the Cell?  The big question is can he pull the move off without botching it badly?  Henry is another guy like Jericho who can do as many jobs as you ask him to do and he’s still going to be a solid threat because of how big and powerful he is.  He’ll also look good here because Ryback can throw him around like the monster that he is.  These matches can work wonders for someone and I think that’s what’s going to happen for Ryback……assuming he can hit the Shell Shock.

This could go more than one way.First and foremost this is one of the matches that depends on where it is on the card.  If it’s late in the show, I can’t imagine we don’t see new champions.  If it’s earlier on in the show, I think the champions retain and Ziggler walks out with a title later on in the form of the Smackdown big gold belt.  This is also interesting because it’s the in ring debut of Langston, who has had some very entertaining matches down in NXT.  I’m not sure if we’re going to see the fun Langston or another generic power guy, but either way it should be fun.

Now the main idea here is that one way or another, we need new tag champions.  Kane and Bryan have held the belts for like six months now and it’s WAY past the point where they should have dropped them.  The champions aren’t funny anymore, they’re not really fighting, their matches are nothing special, and the joke is way past over.  I don’t see why we’re sitting around watching them anymore when they’re not doing anything of note and haven’t been for months now.  If Langston and Ziggler don’t take the gold from them, hopefully someone does so soon.

As for the match, I’ll go with the unlikely idea of new champions.  It’s pure instinct which is rarely right but I can’t go with the champions retaining again after all these months.  Ziggler has been on a very small roll so maybe they’ll FINALLY give him something instead of just having him hold up a dented briefcase for nine months and hoping we think that means something.  Then again there isn’t much to the tag titles so it doesn’t fix anything, but in WWE’s eyes the gold is enough to make you mean whatever they want you to mean.  The titles change here methinks.

Oh and I’ve heard rumors of making this a six person tag with AJ and Kaitlyn being added to make it winner takes all titles.  If that’s the case, I’d bet on the heels taking the belts even more.  AJ is a good five months past being the best option for the title, but at least she would be better (and look better) than Kaitlyn.

Now stop me if you’ve heard this one before.Brock Lesnar debuted a year ago and this is his second feud.  He’s spent roughly eleven months feuding with HHH over something that I’m still not entirely clear on.  I think Lesnar started this because he was mad about HHH running the show and then beat him up at Summerslam, but now it’s about revenge for Vince.  Or something.  Anyway, we saw these two have a No DQ match at Summerslam which was nothing all that exciting at all.

On top of that, the stipulation of HHH’s career being on the line really doesn’t add much because HHH is already retired for all intents and purposes.  He wrestled twice last year and I think four times on TV the year before.  Putting his career on the line is nowhere near the same as when Flair or Michaels did it as they were both active competitors.  I get what they’re going for with the added stipulation, but at the end of the day the match isn’t very exciting at all.  It’s the same thing we saw and were bored by eight months ago with HHH trying and likely failing to have the big epic showdown he’s hoping for.

As for Lesnar, the problem is very simple: what does he gain from this match?  He’s already beaten HHH once and has done nothing else for the rest of his time in the company other than lose to Cena.  Why in the world would you have someone like that with that much money being spent on him in the same feud for the better part of a year with the match not being great?  It seems like such a waste, but given the millions he’s making a match, can you blame Brock for doing stupid matches like these?

The build has been nothing special either as it feels like they’re trying to recreate what happened last year with Taker vs. HHH.  The idea of the feud is that Brock beat up HHH last summer and now HHH wants a rematch to prove how awesome he is.  The idea of HHH fighting for Vince’s honor doesn’t do much for me and neither does Shawn being in his heterosexual life mate’s corner.  It’s going to be a lot of what we saw before with Shawn likely superkicking Heyman at some point.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stephanie and Vince make appearances during the match as well.

As for the match itself, I can’t imagine HHH losing.  He’s 43 years old and can still put on good matches which give younger guys a solid rub as a result.  As stupid of an idea as it would be to have Lesnar go 1-2 in his first year back with the company and waste two of those matches on HHH of all people, I can’t picture it going any other way.  HHH is going to get back in the ring again which is the right move, but at this price I’m not sure if it’s worth it.  Either way the match will be very physical but likely not live up to the standards they’ve set for the match, as HHH’s “epic” matches rarely work at all.

This is quite the debut match.Fandango is Johnny Curtis in another new gimmick as a dancer (I’ll give them this: they’re repackaging him over and over until he finds something that works.  It’s VERY refreshing to see someone getting a new gimmick for a change instead of the same failing gimmick pounded into the ground.  Look at someone like Chris Masters.  There’s obviously talent there but WWE wouldn’t let him have anything but “he’s muscular and strong”.  A gimmick change can do wonders for a guy) who won’t wrestle until someone pronounces his name right.  Jericho, ever the smart aleck, mispronounced his name over and over, finally making Fandango snap.

This is a match which could go either way.  If the Fandango character is deemed a failure, Jericho goes over.  However, Jericho is the undisputed king of the jobbers and is willing to put over anyone on two legs at a moment’s notice.  It’s not like Jericho’s character is going to lose his status with a loss here either as he’s firmly in the legend status where he could lose every week for a year and still be at the same level.  The build for this has been pretty solid with Fandango being so over the top that he’s very entertaining.  The problem for him is likely to be his in ring work, which from what I saw at a house show in February is bad at best and depressing at worst.

As for the winner, I’ve got to go with Fandango.  He’s been built up too well and it’s clear that WWE sees something in him, given the amount of times they’ve repackaged him over the last few years.  Jericho is likely leaving again to do band stuff, so a loss and post match beatdown could very well be likely.  The match is likely to be entertaining because of both guys being such entertaining characters.  Fandango wins and should send Jericho part of his paycheck every week for a year as a result for putting him over like this at Wrestlemania.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this get bumped to the pre-show as well.This is the big return of the Bellas in what is supposed to be part of the resurgence of the Divas division by giving the Funkadactyls a rub.  The problem with that theory is that no one is going to care about any Diva if they’re treated like schmucks like Kaitlyn.  As for the male counterparts…..eh.  Tons of Funk are a glorified comedy team with the dancing stuff but the kids like them a lot in the same vein of Rikishi and Too Cool back in the day.  The Scholars on the other hand are back together and still losing almost every time they’re out there.  I’m hoping the team is done for good after this so we can get them doing something worthwhile.  Given that the tag division reboot is dead, having them as singles guys is the only thing left for them.

As for the match, I think it goes to the dancing team, presumably with Naomi getting the win.  It’s clear that WWE sees them as the next big thing in the Divas division.  She got a spot in a PPV title match late last year and was showcased in the tag match on Monday.  She’s much better in the ring than Cameron, but Cameron is better in the looks department which tends to be the bigger deal anymore.  This isn’t going to be much of a match and it might get eight minutes at most.  I’d bet on the dancers to win though, if nothing else for the big dance party post match.

What better place to start a preview than with the match that starts before the actual show?I’m still not entirely sure what these guys are fighting over.  I’d assume it was the movies they were in, but it’s not like that’s been mentioned for two weeks or so.  Barrett has been champion for months now and at times I forget he even has the belt since he loses so many non-title matches, including one to Miz a few weeks ago on Raw.  The idea is supposed to be that Miz is some kind of Figure Four master or whatever, even though he’s used the move for like three months and has only been decent at it for about two of those, so look for a lot of Figure Four attempts.

There’s a reason this match is going to be on the pre-show.  Not many people are interested in seeing it, it’s not going to be much in terms of quality, the title means next to nothing, we saw this match two weeks ago, and Barrett is a lame champion.  I’ll go with Miz to win here to give the fans something to “care” about, even though not many people care about him at all.

It’s arguably the second biggest show of the year and I can’t say I’m thrilled for it.  The show is at the Alamodome which had over 60,000 people in it for the 1997 Royal Rumble, but I don’t think they’re going to get that many this time.  Let’s get to it.To begin with, we’ll look at the world title match, which has one major problem:

Why are they fighting? It’s been made clear that the only reason Ray has gotten this shot is because he’s Hulk’s son in law. Ray didn’t win a big match, he hasn’t beaten anyone in a singles match lately (his last televised one on one win was against Jesse Godderz. Before then, his last singles win on TV was in SEPTEMBER when he beat Aries, as in the guy he lost to on PPV in December), he and Hardy have no personal issue, and Ray has barely been around him due to feuding with Aces and 8’s. Hardy was gone for a month and is just now back in action but he hasn’t had much interaction with Ray either.

At the end of the day, Ray hasn’t earned this shot and hasn’t won anything of note lately, Hardy hasn’t done anything to Ray, and they don’t hate each other.  What is the interest in seeing them fight?

For a prediction I’ll take Hardy to retain, as all signs point to Bully winning and turning heel.  Since that would make sense, we’ll say it won’t happen.  Also it would make Hogan look stupid and we can’t have that.

Next up is Lethal Lockdown which brings us to Aces and 8’s.  Let me try to get through this as fast as I can so I don’t have to think about them.  Aces and 8’s is probably the worst major stable in company history.  From taking FOREVER to reveal a member to having D-Von and Anderson as their top names to having D’Lo Freaking Brown revealed as their second in command, they have nothing going for them and they haven’t in the NINE MONTHS they’ve been around.   At the end of the day, we have no idea why they’re doing what they’re doing and there’s no sign that such information is coming anytime soon.  The whole story is a disaster.

The ONLY chance they have at salvaging it is to win Lethal Lockdown while revealing a big name as their boss.  The problem with that is all signs point to either Jeff Jarrett or Eric Bischoff being the boss, which doesn’t do much good.  The problem is we’ve seen them both lead massive stables before so it would be the same warmed over stuff we’ve seen before with lower level names and far more damage coming in.

As for the match, I’ll take the bikers but given how things have been going, I’ll expect them to lose.

Kurt Angle beats Wes Brisco despite a ton of help from Aces and 8’s.  If that happens, the bikers win Lethal Lockdown.

I’ll take Roode and Aries to keep the belts.  It’s way too early for them to lose.  Either way, for the love of all things good and holy, PLEASE don’t put them back on Chavo and Hernandez.  I can’t take that again.

Velvet keeps her title.  I can’t take more Gail Kim on top either.

Robbie T destroys Robbie E of course.

I’ll take Kenny King to retain and Joseph Park to beat Joey Ryan.  You haven’t heard of these matches?  Most people haven’t either, but that’s because TNA is awful at setting up a PPV card and they added these matches in at the last second to fill in some time.

Overall Lockdown is a very uninspiring show.  Between the lackluster world title match and Aces and 8’s dragging things down,   This isn’t a show that I’m thrilled with watching but TNA has surprised me before.  Grnated they’ve also had some of the worst shows I’ve ever seen but hopefully that won’t be the case here.

Thoughts/Predictions?

How nice it is to only have one Chamber match at this show.  Let’s get to it.Starting with the preshow, I’ll go with Brodus/Tensai to beat the Rhodes Scholars.  Wait, didn’t they split up already?  Oh wait that was about two weeks ago so there’s no reason to remember it.  This is basically just a way to put the dancers over which is fine, but the Scholars shouldn’t have split already.  This should be the reason they break up, but that would make too much sense I guess.

I’ll go with Rock to retain the title, but I’m not 100% sold on it anymore.  The promos don’t have me wanting to see the match as much as I wanted to see them last month, but it should be better now that Rock isn’t coming in seven months cold.  I think they’re heading for Rock vs. Cena II at Wrestlemania and I can’ t say I’d argue over that idea.  Rock retains.

For the other title match…..I’ll go with Del Rio winning.  The bigger question seems to be will Ziggler cash in.  He hasn’t been seen much lately at all, which may be an attempt to make us forget about him before he cashes in on Sunday.  That being said, I’ve been thinking he’ll cash in for six months now, but I don’t think he’ll do it here.  Either that or he cashes in and loses.  Del Rio walks out with the title.

This brings us to the Chamber itself.  I’m pulling for Henry to win and set up the 6’4 Mexican David vs. the guy that Goliath checks under the bed for every night.  That being said, I have a bad feeling they’ll go with Swagger for the evil xenophobia angle at Wrestlemania, which makes my head hurt.  Bryan and Kane will likely continue to self destruct which is probably the best thing for them.  Orton and Jericho are just there and might have a match at Mania out of it.  Hopefully Henry wins but Swagger is the dark horse candidate.

I’ll take the three man machine to beat Shield.  Why would you have Cena win the Rumble one month and then lose in a six man the next?  Shield goes down here.

Kaitlyn over Tamina and Cesaro over Miz in matches that make no difference whatsoever.

Elimination Chamber looks like it could fit into the category of “good because it has no expectations coming in.”  Things could change a bit at this show and odds are we’ll finally get some answers about the rest of the card at Wrestlemania.  There are a lot of options open still which is nice as opposed to the card being pretty obvious eight weeks out.  The show should be good an interesting, which is a good sign.

It’s the first PPV of the year and we’ve got four matches confirmed so far.  That’s not unprecedented so I’m not really shocked.  Let’s get to it.Starting with the preshow, I think they’ll hold off on Miz taking the title just yet.  They’ll likely save that for Wrestlemania so Flair can have a BIG tribute.  After all it’s been a few weeks since anyone sucked up to him and told him he’s the best ever so we can’t wait much longer.

I think the Scholars finally get the belts.  They’ve been losing every time they fight lately so they have to get them soon.  Interesting note: if they do win, they’ll only be the second team ever to win the belts at the Rumble.

Del Rio retains and as usual I’ll predict a cash in and expect to be wrong.

Rock wins the title.  You know he’s getting it before Wrestlemania so it’s either here or in the Chamber.

I’ll take Cena to win the Rumble.  I can’t imagine they would give it to Ziggler and the only other option is Sheamus.  I don’t think they’ll do that twice in a row though.

If Kaitlyn (I had to think to remember who the champion was) defends the title, she’ll keep it.

Overall the show looks pretty solid with only one potentially uninteresting match in the tag titles.  Other than that though, everything looks to be a solid option.  Punk vs. Rock finally got me hooked with their segment on Smackdown last night and I need to see this match.  I’m fired up for the Rumble but then again it’s one of my favorite shows of the year.

Thoughts/predictions?

This is the last regular PPV for TNA until March and I’m not wild on the card in the first place.  Let’s get to it.We’ll start with the title matches.

Hardy will keep the title.  It looks like we’re heading for Aries vs. Hardy at Lockdown so Hardy would need to keep the belt here.  There’s a chance Aries wins here but I don’t see it happening.

We’ll say the tag titles change and leave it at that.  Thinking of these teams more than that makes my head hurt.

As for the X Title, I can picture King winning the belt but not York.  Therefore, the question is who wins the match between the two of them to qualify for the title match?  I’ll go with King but I don’t have much confidence in it.

Doc is in Aces and 8’s so he loses.

I’ll go with Storm to win my hopeful pick of the month.  Storm needs a big win as his push continues to stall and Daniels can bounce back with ease because of his comedy.

D-Von has to beat Park.  I mean…..he HAS TO.

As for the Knockouts gauntlet……Velvet.  Makes as much sense as anyone else.

Overall Genesis looks like most other TNA B shows: not much interesting other than on top of the show while the next episode of Impact seems more important.  The show might surprise us and absolutely will be better than Final Resolution.  It’s impossible to be less interesting than that nonsense was.  There isn’t much else to say about this and then we’ll get a few months of build to Lockdown.

Thoughts/predictions?