Night of Champions Preview

I’m going to paraphrase Shane Helms because I was thinking the same thing after watching Smackdown, there are a whole lot of matches on this card that I have no idea who is going to win. The WWE has done a good job of building up the challengers for (in some order of importance) the Tag Team titles, the Diva’s Title, the Intercontinental Title and especially the World Heavyweight Title. The other matches have some intrigue to which is making me think I might order Night of Champions. Let’s break down the match ups from bottom to top on WWE.com.

Diva’s Champion Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix – Beth Phoenix and her cohort Natalya have been pushed for a month now. Beth was one of the people singled out by CM Punk for not being utilized well enough. Beth is now in her home town of Buffalo much like Punk was for what became his big title win. We know though that a big win in your home town is not a regularity for the WWE. Beth hasn’t been built up nearly as much as Punk was which also makes this situation different. I want to believe the title change could herald a consistent spot for the women’s division but I’m starting to have my doubts because Beth has pretty much beaten all of her would be challengers unless they break up the Divas of Doom already. I don’t think that’d be a good idea. Kelly Kelly would benefit from a huge victory here. As the first match in the “I’m not sure who is going to win category”, I’m going with Beth Phoenix to help push along the women’s division.

WWE Tag Team Champions Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz & R Truth – I think that Bourne & Kingston are a better long term tag team if the WWE decide to keep the tag team division in some prominence. The problem with them though is that they can’t really talk up the titles. The Miz & R Truth can talk up the titles but in my eyes they are much better used as singles competitors. The solution in my eyes is have The Miz & R Truth win the titles, let them talk them up and drop the straps in a couple of months to the chasing baby face team.

Fatal 4 Way U.S. Championship Match – This match up is one that Jeremy & I deemed the “Shit or get off the pot”. The WWE continues to give my boy Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and John Morrison loads of TV time but they don’t really do anything for them. Alex Riley, the fourth competitor, could be in this category soon. This match is one that I’m not terribly interested in because Ziggler & Swagger arguing over Vickie is the big story line coming into this match. That tells you all you need to know about the importance of the U.S. Championship. Ziggler or Swagger wins so they can continue to argue.

WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena – Alberto Del Rio isn’t getting much of a reaction. John Cena is still getting big reactions. Any Money In The Bank winner who captures the title for the first time never holds the title for more than a couple of months. The key words in that sentence are “a couple”. I think Alberto Del Rio retains so that they can try and build him up some more before his inevitable burying for a year.

CM Punk vs. HHH (No Disqualification) – This match has interference written all over it because it has been pushed too quickly for what should be a long term feud. CM Punk could be working with Kevin Nash & John Laurinitis to get HHH out of power. HHH could then come back to wrestling full time until he gets his revenge on Punk. HHH could be working with Nash & Laurinitis to help CM Punk’s martyr status. Either way, this feud continues. I’m going to go with CM Punk winning since he needs to keep the momentum.

World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry – This match is the ultimate “I don’t know who is winning this?” match. Mark Henry has been built up very well over the last several months as a monster heel. Randy Orton has been trading the title with Christian the last several months. Both men could use the win in my book. Orton needs to establish his title reign even if this victory could propel him into “No one can beat me” status much like John Cena. Mark Henry could use the win because he has turned in a stellar several months both in the ring (remember that match with the Big Show was surpringly good even if it got forgotten because of the Punk vs. Cena match) and on the mic (so much so that they had him repeat his promo from Smackdown on Raw this past week). I really want to see Henry win, but I see Orton slipping in an RKO out of nowhere for the victory.

Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase – I have no idea why they put this match on the top of the list. The announcers have done a good job of hyping Rhodes’ influence on DiBiase in recent months. Cody has been delivering on the mic and got a big victory over Randy Orton on Raw. DiBiase, though executing a good surprise attack this past Smackdown, has been forgotten about since Codybooted him to the curb. A baby face run could spark his career but I don’t think it’s starting with a win against Rhodes who retains the IC Title.

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