Jericho also did an interview with The Sun recently where he claimed he's defending the IC title, so it seems to be happening.
There's also apparently meant to be a match to inaugurate the Smackdown Divas Chamionship, with Natty Neidhart against... someone.
It's funny that the ECW title is now technically the highest ranking title on Raw. They seem to change their minds a lot as to whether it's meant to be a world title or not. My armachair booker idea is that they'd unify the world and tag titles, with the IC, US and ECW titles becoming the top tiles on their respective shows and the world and tag champs floating between brands.
I have to say, I'm actually quite looking forward to this one. The card's decent, and the mixed up title situation makes it a bit interesting.
Meltzer seems to think the Divas Title match isn't happening. They never actually promised it would - they said there'd be a match but they never said when. It would also bring the card to an unwieldy nine matches, and since the title doesn't technically exist yet, they can get away with omitting it.
Right enough, it's not listed on the WWE site either, and they had been awful quiet about it.
If Chavito wins the U.S. Championship, well even if he doesn't,I can't think of another wrestler with more bland and unnecessary title reigns.
I think the only time he was interesting was with Eddie on Smackdown and their tag run.
He's like a hispanic Lance Storm, technically excellent but sweet FA character-wise.
2 women's titles?!
WWF/E Womens Division = WCW Cruiserweights
Re Divas Title (that's a terrible name BTW): Foley mentioned on SD! that Vickie would choose someone on the night to fight Nattie. But it's a completely unnecessary title anyway, just make the other one open branded.
Same for the tag titles, they should be unified. Hornswoggle is killing Finlay but I think they will lose and they have a longer program since they are all on the same roster.
Hope Hardy retains, every time he gets some momentum they always pull the carpet out from under him.
Jacob:
Nah. Chavo was pretty great in WCW (also with Eddy) during the period when he went completely insane and rode a stick-horse to the ring.
Yeah, I always liked Chavo in WCW.
I haven't watched wrestling much since around the time there was a storyline with Triple H accusing Kane of necrophilia(complete with Hunter simulating the act on a blow-up doll IIRC). But wasn't King of the Ring the big PPV between Wrestlemania and Summerslam? Why was that one killed off?
I stand corrected...have to admit I was a bigger WCW mark than WWF but that was for guys like Nash, Hall and DDP even when they got stale they were still funny as hell, never really watched the cruisers that much.
Kevin, I think the reasoning for the death of King of the Ring is that the multiple entrant one night tourny doesn't draw ratings/money on PPV.
And... wow. Raw is Punk! Maybe WWE are going to start taking more risks to gain viewers. Or maybe he'll lose it in a week.
Mmm, this kind of has the hallmarks of a last minute decision. They certainly haven't spent the last few months building CM Punk up as world champion material, so they've got their work cut out for them doing it now.
I agree with Paul. Punk has been treated like a jobber since dropping the ECW title (to Chavo of all people). And the fact that he won the world title after Batista had done all the actual work just makes him seem even weaker. Something tells me that this is going to be one of the times where the WWE sabotages its own 'new star' champion, then uses it as justification for putting the title back on established talent and moving the new star back down the card.
Also, on a character level, Punk cashing in the briefcase when he did makes him look like an arsehole. He's supposed to be a face, yet he cashed in the briefcase in exactly the same way Edge (a heel) did twice. Maybe they're selling it as comeuppance for Edge (falling victim to his own strategy), but it still strikes me as a heelish move from a face character.
I think they got away with it, precisely because he was cashing it in against Edge, who's done it himself twice before and can't really complain when it's done to him. Besides, they made a point of stressing that he was willing to defend the title, and they had him beat a credible heel contender later in the night.
Yeah, that was my thinking, although they could've maybe made more of a point of the fact that Edge has done it twice before and that turnabout's fair play.
Realistically, JBL was about the best heel they could come up with. Punk seems pretty over, so they can probably wring out a good underdog champ story out of it.
I was worried they were going to have Cena interfere like HBK did with Kofi Kingston to let Punk retain the title, but they managed the finish pretty smartly. I'd expect a Punk/Cena/JBL threeway at Great American Bash where Punk pins JBL clean.
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