Bragging Rights 2009 Previews and Predictions
Previews and Predictions of all the matches scheduled to take place at Bragging Rights 2009.
Unfortunately GRuz, our regular Previews and Predictions guy has been a little under the weather this week, so as the newest WWEBlog writer I’ve stepped up to the plate to take over and put my spin on things.
As always for all the JayD fans out there he’s put the effort in and written the formal articles, which you can find at the links below.
It’s a slightly different format this month as a lot of the matches are cross-promotional.
Here’s the link for JayD’s Championship matches preview:
WWE Bragging Rights 2009 Championship Matches Preview
Which covers:
-The World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4 Way match between The Undertaker, C.M Punk, Batista & Rey Mysterio
-The WWE Championship Iron Man match between John Cena and Randy Orton
-The ECW Championship match between Christian and Yoshi Tatsu
and here is the link to his Smackdown Vs. Raw matches preview:
WWE Bragging Rights 2009 Smackdown Vs. Raw Matches Preview
Which covers:
-The 7 on 7 ‘Bragging Rights’ Smackdown Vs. Raw match
-The Miz Vs. John Morrison Smackdown Vs. Raw match
-The 3 on 3 Divas Smackdown Vs. Raw match
DanG’s Views
ECW Championship Match
Singles Match
Christian (c)
Vs.
Yoshi Tatsu
This match was announced late in the day on ECW (although not quite as late as another match, which I’ll get to later).
The ECW #1 contendership has been hotly contested recently with Zack Ryder, William Regal and Yoshi Tatsu all making strong claims to be the main challenger.
It is Tatsu however who has earned the opportunity to continue his progress in his fledgling WWE career.
The whole ‘Face Vs. Face’ angle here doesn’t sit particularly well with me, and I would have far preferred to see Ryder get the shot, particularly considering some of the potential that he and Christian have demonstrated in some of their earlier contests.
Predicted Outcome:
I can’t see anything other than a Christian victory here.
There is nowhere else for him to go on ECW and until he is ready to be moved back into the big leagues (hopefully in an Edge & Christian reunion) it makes no sense for him to lose the title.
Yoshi Tatsu has a lot of potential and his time will come.
Just not yet.
“Champion Vs. Champion” Match
Singles Match
John Morrison (c)
Vs.
The Miz (c)
This is probably the match that I am most looking forward to.
Two very talented young performers with a lot of history, who have both demonstrated and proven their in-ring abilities on their respective brands.
Hopefully this match will provide both men with a platform to push for major WWE honours, as both clearly have the potential to be challenging at the very top of their respective promotions for many years to come.
Nothing on the line in this match except ‘Bragging Rights’, so with that in mind we can hope that both will give this contest everything they have in order to pull a victory out of the bag.
Predicted Outcome:
Very tough one to call here.
Two very different styles of wrestling and two superstars who know each other very well from their time in ECW and run as tag team champions.
Morrison probably starts the favourite based upon his current in-ring form, but I do fancy Miz to pick this one up in somewhat of an upset victory.
Smackdown Vs. Raw Divas Match
6 Diva Tag Match
Melina, Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim
Vs.
Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya
I’m really finding this a difficult match to get excited about.
The women’s division needs some major freshening up if it is to get the recognition that some of the diva’s genuinely do deserve for their in-ring abilities.
With the Raw team most likely (in this writer’s opinion) to pick up a victory in the Morrison/Miz contest, then it would only make sense that Smackdown take this to set up a tense finale.
Predicted Outcome:
If Miz wins for Raw, then Smackdown will need something in this match to have a chance of securing the ‘Bragging Rights’.
In that case, I can’t look past McCool, Phoenix and Natalya.
WWE Championship Match
No Disqualification Iron Man Match
Randy Orton (c)
Vs.
John Cena
I’ll be happy to watch this match for one reason only; the chance to finally see an end to this feud, which has dragged on for what seems like an absolute eternity.
Previous ‘Iron Man’ matches such as Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels and Rock/Triple H have presented us with some absolutely classic encounters, and as I said before this really does have some distance to go if it is to remembered in that company.
John Cena is not only fighting for the WWE Championship, but also his future on Raw.
If the creative team really have a plan for freshening up the storylines in WWE, then moving Cena to Smackdown (and possibly turning him heel, pretty please) is a good way to start.
With such a crucial main event as well, I would not be surprised to see him have an impact on the result.
Predicted Outcome:
No disqualification/no count out rules should mean that this is a particularly brutal contest, and both men demonstrated at ‘Breaking Point’ that they are capable of both dealing out, and taking a lot of punishment.
The problem is that due to the brutality there is likely to be a lot of ‘rest periods’ that run the risk of completely turning the crowd off to the match.
Randy Orton is a tremendous heel and a fantastic champion, but he needs someone new to start pushing for his title, outside of the usual suspects like Triple H and Cena.
With so much in the balance come the main event, I can only see an Orton victory here, with Cena moving to Smackdown and having an immediate impact.
If you’d like to find out more about John Cena’s WWE career, why not check out our ‘Spotlight On John Cena‘ article!
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Fatal 4-Way Match
The Undertaker (c)
Vs.
CM Punk
Vs.
Batista
Vs.
Rey Mysterio
Considering this is a Fatal 4 Way match, 90% of the build up has been for two separate rivalries, or should that be one rivalry and one friendship.
Batista and Rey are friends, we get it.
We knew they were friends when they teamed up to take the tag titles a few years back, we knew they were friends when they took on Jeri-Show at Hell in a Cell and we knew they were friends when they were forced to face each other on Smackdown a few weeks ago.
So why the creative team think we need this fact constantly jammed down our throats every week, is beyond me.
Meanwhile the ‘Screwjob’ angle between Taker and Punk rolls on, with larger and larger hints being dropped each week suggesting Vince McMahon might be the brains behind the operation.
Predicted Outcome:
I personally believe that if Punk hadn’t got into a scrape backstage he probably would have retained the gold at Hell in a Cell, so there’s every possibility that if he’s ‘paid his dues’ he’ll take the title back.
I don’t really see what Rey/Batista would do with the gold so I’m ruling them out, which leaves The Deadman.
He’s not had the title too long and while it’s pretty clear he can’t keep up with the heavy schedule a Champion should have, he’s done so much for the WWE that they may leave it on him out of respect.
Another hard one to call so I’ll put it like this; If Punk has ‘cleared his name’ backstage then I’d expect the belt to go back around his waist, otherwise Taker should retain.
Raw Vs. Smackdown “Bragging Rights” Match
7-on-7 Tag Team Match
Team Raw
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Cody Rhodes
The Big Show
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Kofi Kingston
Vs.
Team Smackdown
Chris Jericho
Kane
Dolph Ziggler Matt Hardy
Shad Gaspard R-Truth
JTG Finlay
Eric Escobar Tyson Kidd
Drew McIntyre D.H Smith
Some very late developments on Smackdown just days before Bragging Rights made this match an absolute nightmare to write about.
As you’ll have seen if you read JayD’s Smackdown Vs. Raw Matches Preview, he wrote his articles before hand and therefore didn’t have chance to comment on the ‘NEW’ Smackdown line up, so I’ll focus on it here.
Jericho sprung a 4 on 5 (which would have been a 5 on 5 match had Shad not been off sick) match to ‘tune up’ the Smackdown team, adding the caveat that if they lost the 5 opponents would take their place.
As you can see they lost and in the space of three seconds the team went from an unproven almost all Heel line up to a relatively more experienced, balanced team.
The one saving grace of this change is that The Hart Dynasty finally get to show what they are capable of on a grand stage.
Predicted Outcome:
Before the change to the Smackdown line up I’d have been pretty confident in picking Raw as long as there was no outside interference.
Now things have been made a lot more even, but I still can’t overlook the theory JayD came up with regarding John Cena.
If he loses the WWE Championship match I’ll be sitting watching this match just waiting for him to appear, and if he does I’ve got to give the victory to Smackdown.
Then there’s the Big Show, who could easily turn on his team to aid his tag team partner, but conversely Jericho could do the same to demonstrate his distaste for the Smackdown brand that he feels has shunned him time and time again.
This one is too hard to call, but if I had to go out on a limb I’d say a Smackdown victory, just because it’d probably be more interesting.
The End
Thank you all for joining me for my first attempt and previews and predictions.
I hope you enjoyed what I had to say and consider joining us for Bragging Rights live on Sunday.
DanG (on behalf of the WWEBlog Team)
