For being a Kickoff match, I’m actually pretty excited for this. I love a tag team feud that isn’t just “champions vs. challengers”. Granted, there isn’t some huge angle behind this, but I got to see both teams work the microphone recently and that’s appreciated. With New Day being the new team, I pick them.
Winners: The New Day
Stop me if you’ve seen this before. These two had a relatively long feud over the Summer because in the battle of Russia vs. America, nobody makes more sense for the US than Jack Swagger. I do appreciate that this has a different feel due to the attack on Zeb Colter and Rusev making it personal. I expect a good match, some great selling by Rusev and the obvious outcome. If Swagger didn’t end Rusev’s undefeated streak before, he won’t do it now. That’s being saved for Roman Reigns or John Cena.
Winner: Rusev
I still have absolutely no clue why Brie Bella is suddenly best friends with Nikki Bella again and neither does anyone else. It hasn’t been explained on TV and there are no hints that Brie is just trying to eventually get a title shot. Anyway, they had a well built feud heading into Survivor Series and ended up with a 30 second match. This time around, there hasn’t been much additional build except for some harsh words being traded, but they should get their actual match. It would make no sense to do another title change on a belt that has gone back and forth four times since July.
Winner: Nikki Bella
First of all, I don’t like the idea of a Chairs match. It’s just a no DQ match where the focus is on chairs. That being said, this should be decent at best. Ryback is still not the most impressive worker on the roster, but there won’t be need for much here besides a brawl. Kane, despite being in his best shape in a decade, hasn’t been putting on the strongest matches. His job in this match should solely be to do just that. Job. I don’t believe that Ryback is legit a main event player, but regardless, he should be able to go over Kane here.
Winner: Ryback
The WWE tag team division has been disappointing in 2014 after a great 2013. The Usos have clearly been the MVPs, taking the titles from the awful New Age Outlaws run and putting on consistently good to great matches on Pay-Per-View. The Miz and Damien Mizdow now hold the gold, or copper, and I don’t see them losing it anytime soon. They’re building a Miz/Mizdow split and Mizdow is easily the most over guy in this match. He makes the Tag Title match something the fans consider must see, and that helps the division. I don’t see a switch this soon.
Winners: The Miz and Damien Mizdow
ee, I think Chairs matches are stupid, but I think a Steel Stairs match is absolutely ridiculous. What does this mean exactly? Are only steel stairs allowed to be used? Can you get disqualified if you use a steel chair or some other non-steel stair like weapon? Nothing has been explained, so I assume this will be like a Chairs match in which it’s a just a No DQ match with the focus primarily on steps. Nobody cares about yet another Big Show heel turn, but I’ve actually enjoyed Erick Rowan as of late. When the Wyatt Family split, I knew I’d get behind Luke Harper because he’s awesome but I never saw much in Rowan. This Rainman like lovable goof who can do things like solve a Rubik’s Cube is great. I sense a big win for Rowan here.
Winner: Erick Rowan
Okay, so I’m split on this. On one hand, these two, with a ladder, have a chance to steal the show. On the other hand, after being the sole survivor and ending the Authority, Dolph Ziggler should be away from the Intercontinental Title. I hope to see that happen after this show, but Dolph is in danger, if he hasn’t already, of losing that big Survivor Series momentum. The good thing here is that Dolph can lose while putting up a great fight and not get pinned. That’s exactly what I see happening, and hopefully, Dolph can move higher in the card after.
Winner: Luke Harper
Of all the matches on the card, this is probably the hardest to predict. Both guys should be two of the top guys in the company, but shoddy booking has left them just on the cusp. Therein lies the problem with this match and feud. Ending the first match in a disqualification was fine, but there has to be a winner here. Does Bray eat yet another loss instead of being the “Eater of Worlds” or does Dean Ambrose fall to another foe like he has at SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell? Looking at the card, I don’t see many faces winning, so I’ll go with the face here.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
This is one of those situations where a John Cena loss would actually make some sense. Much like how I thought he could have lost to Bray Wyatt at Payback, because this is a match where he doesn’t have to be pinned. Throw in the fact that Seth Rollins was pinned at Survivor Series and, for some stupid reason, against Ryback on Smackdown, and it would make sense for him to get a big win. But, that won’t happen. With the way that Night of Champions ended, the WWE seems to believe that we absolutely must have Brock/Cena IV or whatever.
Winner: John Cena
