Opinion
Chris Deez’s 2020 WWE Royal Rumble Predictions
Chris Deez is back! And he’s brought his own personal Royal Rumble predictions with him!
Chris Deez is back! And he’s brought his own personal Royal Rumble predictions with him!
How about this for a surprise entrant? It has been nearly 2 years but the medical team have cleared me after a few too many bumps to the head and I’m back to active competition! What better way to mark my return than by sharing my predictions for my favourite WWE pay per view of the year – The Royal Rumble. What surprises will we see, if any? Can Daniel Bryan finally overcome The Fiend? How will WWE start to build towards The Showcase of the Immortals during this, the first stop, on the Road to WrestleMania? 3… 2… 1… *buzzer*
Sheamus vs. Shorty G
I’m not going to give this one too much attention, just like WWE Creative clearly haven’t either. In what I’m sure will be a run of the mill squash match, Sheamus will go over pretty quickly to remind us all what he is capable of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Sheamus fan, but I’m sick to death of this whole “You are short and I am tall, so we must fight!” crap. We saw it with Corbin vs Finn, Corbin vs Gable and now this. It’s boring and it screams of not knowing what to do with the talented guys involved. It’s not big and it’s not clever… pun very much intended. I could work for Creative!
Winner – Sheamus
Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans
Smackdown Women’s Championship Match
Lord give me strength. What is the point of Bayley holding this belt still if all they’re going to do is keep building for what happens when she loses it already? Sure, her heel turn late in 2019 was a revelation but boy did it fall short quickly. I’m a big fan of Lacey and I can see exactly why Vince wants her as the face of the Smackdown women’s division (Wait am I allowed to say that anymore Becky?) but I’ve not been a fan of this rivalry at all. Not because of the talent involved, not at all, but because of just how unimportant this feud feels. It’s painfully obvious that this is heading toward Lacey as champion taking on Sasha Banks, hence why WWE keep protecting Banks while having Lacey go over Bayley clean. Lacey should win this one clean, though I’m sure we will see Sasha at some point, and set up Lacey’s first defense at WrestleMania.
Winner – Lacey Evans
Andrade (c) vs. Humberto Carillo
United States Championship Match
If Andrade loses the title here, I’ll strongly consider cancelling my WWE Network sub, until I inevitably don’t and just go back to watch WrestleMania 17 instead. WWE have slept on Andrade for such a long time and while Humberto may be extremely talented, there is nothing marketable about him. Nothing outstanding. Nothing to get people tuning in. Andrade, with Zelina Vega by his side, is one of the top attractions in all of WWE right now. Look no further than his incredible programm with Rey Mysterio over the last few months, putting on MOTY contenders every single week. 2020 is a big year for Andrade, let’s start it off right with a lengthy and entertaining US Championship reign.
Winner – Andrade
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Asuka
RAW Women’s Championship Match
This is a tough one as I like both women involved. Becky has had a fantastic 2019 and fully deserves to continue for the foreseeable future as champion, but if she beats Asuka here who is there left to challenge her? The logical choice would be the winner of the women’s Royal Rumble match, especially with Lacey v Sasha lined up on the blue brand, but surely then we need somebody new? Shayna Baszler would make the most sense or a returning Ronda Rousey. Please god, not Charlotte Flair again. My prediction here is a bold one but I can see Asuka taking the belt from The Man so that we get some new and fresh matches. It would certainly make a nice change as the product seems to be full of rematches at the moment. How about Asuka vs Ronda? Yes please!
Winner – Asuka
Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin
Falls Count Anywhere
Also known as Roman & The Uso’s vs Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in a 3 v 3 tornado tag team match. That’s exactly where this is heading and I’m quite fine with that. Though the feud has been going on for way too long, I for one have found it thoroughly entertaining but that may be because I absolutely adore King Corbin. This match should be a blast and follow much the same formula as the majority of these matches do. My prediction though is another bold one as I’m going to plump for Corbin to come out victorious. The win would set him up nicely with WrestleMania around the corner and frankly he deserves it a damn sight more than most of the roster. Cast your mind back to a couple years ago… Baron Corbin, or the Lone Wolf if you INSIST, was a hot pile of stinking garbage. Sloppy and slow in the ring. Horrendous with a microphone in his hand. The guy couldn’t catch a break. Fast forward to today and he is cutting funny promos, showing greatly improved in ring work and has become the stand out heel in the business as a whole. Long may the King rule over us! Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with Roman Reigns, but he simply doesn’t need this one. Corbin losing here would crush all of his momentum, whereas Roman would recover quite easily due to favourable booking.
Winner – King Corbin
The Fiend (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Universal Championship Strap Match
Am I the only one who has cooled off on The Fiend? I love the character and most of the execution, but it is starting to feel like we have a part time champion again. This storyline has been nothing short of fantastic, with a more focused and driven Bryan back to his babyface best while Bray continues to be absolute fire in his promos and vignettes. I expect this match to go much the way of all The Fiends previous bouts, with him being overpowered by the challenger, no selling most of the offence before a final flurry of offence secures him the victory. Why am I so confident? Because Roman will 100% win the Rumble and finally be the one to take down the Fiend. It’s painfully obvious and just not what we want or need right now. The Fiend should defend more often and keep the belt for as long as possible, until it becomes stale and uninteresting. The character has been such a breath of fresh air and a much deserved push for the immensely talented Bray Wyatt that stopping the reign anytime soon would once again kill all momentum he has built and further reduce his stock in the company.
Winner – The Fiend
Women’s Royal Rumble
Two days to go until the Royal Rumble and we literally know 4 of the women who will be entering the match, which makes it quite hard to makes an informed prediction, though i do find it quite refreshing. We watch the Royal Rumble for the surprises, for the drama, for the unexpected moments and by only announcing four competitors we have the potential for a match full of surprises. Compare this to the men’s Rumble where we have had 22 competitors announced, plus the obvious inclusion of NXT superstars and it logically only leaves us with a couple of surprises at most.
I sincerely hope that Shayna Baszler steps up from NXT permanently, enters the Rumble and wins the whole thing from fairly early on, maybe around the number 10 spot. It would also be nice to see a couple of feuds start off or reignite here as there is so little storytelling in the women’s divisions currently. Unless you count Lana, Lashley, Liv and Rusev, which I don’t. Main roster women’s wrestling has never felt so unimportant. We need to see more than just the four horsewomen featured heavily. The the most logical outcome that I can think of is Shayna winning to reignite the feud with Becky that was started at Survivor Series when Shayna went over both The Man and Bayley. Some things that I think will happen along the way:
- Nia Jax returns
- A few legends spots for the likes of Lita & Trish Stratus.
- Lots of NXT entrants such as Candice, Io Shirai, Shotzi Blackheart, Scarlett Bordeaux.
- Losers of championship matches to enter.
- One of The Kabuki Warriors to eliminate the other.
- Paige does NOT return.
- Probably some more BS with Lana and Liv.
Final Four – Shayna, Charlotte, Sasha, Shirai
Winner – Shayna Baszler
Men’s Royal Rumble
Here we go. The big one, and one of the most intriguing for a long time. From Brock Lesnar declaring himself as the first entrant, to heavy involvement from NXT, there are a lot of questions around this year’s Rumble and a lot of potentially awesome moments. Most people have Roman Reigns down as the winner here and it’s easy to see why. He has remained out of ay title scene since returning from Leukaemia and has certainly paid his dues over the last year with some quite awful booking, which is why he remains my choice to win. There are a few other names worth mentioning such as Drew McIntyre who is another strong favourite to win and in my eyes the most deserving potential winner. Drew has really turned a corner in his WWE career, involving the crowd in his matches, spitting absolute gold on the mic and maintaining his high level of in ring talent which once had Vince McMahon dubbing him as The Chosen one. Let’s get one thing straight though… Brock is not winning this match. Whoever eliminates him will likely end up being his WrestleMania opponent, so him winning makes zero sense at all.
Keith Lee winning the NXT North American Championship this week pretty much confirms he won’t be winning, but aside from the question of who will win we also have some mouth-watering potential match ups to come. How about Brock squaring off with long-time critic Matt Riddle? Keith Lee and Samoa Joe slugging it out? This might be the most excited I’ve ever been for the Rumble!
Things I’m expecting to see:
- Cain Velasquez eliminating Brock
- Mysterio to eliminate Andrade
- I’m still 50/50 on Edge returning or not
- More hi-jinks from Kofi
- Ricochet to equal those hi-jinks
- Titus to pretend he’s going to slide under the ring… again
- No comedy spots or entrants. The pool is too crowded with legitimate talent this year
Final Four – Roman, Drew, Ricochet, Tommaso Ciampa
Winner – Roman Reigns
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – TONS of Great designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
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Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
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Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!