Tom has some personal items to attend to
right now, so for this month, we are putting our Head to Head competition on
hold, and will deal with it on a month to month basis until he can return to
it. For this month however, I’m very
glad to welcome in my friend JonS to the Two Spot Monkeys family to sub in for
Tom, and while the picks won’t count towards the competition, we wanted to be
sure to still give you a “point/counter point” style look at this weekend’s
Elimination Chamber Pay Per View coming from WWE, so without any further ado,
let’s get to it!
Pre-Show
Match
Brodus Clay & Tensai vs. Cody Rhodes
& Damien Sandow
Jim: I personally LOVE
the Clay/Tensai team, it gives them both something to do, and eventually they
could turn heel and be an absolute monster tag team just tearing stuff up
(which is what those two guys should be doing anyways). So, count me in the corner of loving the
Funkasaurus & Tensai combination. Rhodes
Scholars shouldn’t have broken up as quickly as they did, unless they actually
have a plan for either Sandow or Rhodes, and right now, it sure doesn’t seem
like they do. While I think there is
money to be made in them as a tag team, that isn’t where WWE is headed, so
Tensai & Clay get the win here to solidify them in the tag team ranks.
Jon:
I’m also happy that Tensai looks to be getting
another chance thanks to this tag team. I follow New Japan Pro Wrestling and
they do a fantastic job of helping wrestlers improve. Such was the case with
Tensai who became a really solid worker during his time there. It’s a shame he
hasn’t had much opportunity to show that yet since his return to WWE. This new
tag team with Clay could be a vehicle for him to get more on air time. I also
agree with Jim that it seems short sighted to split Rhodes Scholars without a
plan for them in the singles ranks. Tensai & Clay win this one.
Divas
Title Match
Kaitlyn (C vs. Tamina Snuka
Jim:
Not alot to
say here as there hasn’t been a ton of build...Tamina’s time is not now, they
need to build Kaitlyn, so Kaitlyn gets the win here.
Jon:
The state of
the Divas division is as weak as I can remember. Kaitlyn has shown some
potential but apart from Natalya there’s no one there to help her harness it
right now. For some reason they just don’t want to use Natalya, so Tamina is
the best choice from those remaining to try to have a good match with Kaitlyn.
The champ retains.
US
Title Match
Antonio Cesaro (C) vs. The Miz
Jon:
I think WWE
would like Miz to be a pretty prominent guy with them giving him Flair’s figure
four and featuring him as they have done recently. However he doesn’t seem to
be catching on with the live crowds. Couple that with the push Cesaro is
getting and I think he retains here. I see the moment to end Cesaro’s reign
being at Wrestlemania to try to make it a big deal.
Six
Man Tag Team Match
John Cena, Ryback & Sheamus vs. The
Shield
Jim: The Shield get
another six man opportunity on PPV here, and it’s against three of the top
faces in the company right now, so I love that they get the chance to get in
there and mix it up with these three. To
me, the worst thing that they could do (again) is have The Shield lose clean
here, because then they’d show that (A) the only way The Shield can win a match
is in a no rules environment like TLC, and (B) while they can beat Ryback and
Team Hell No, they can’t beat a team captained by the mighty Super Hero, John
Cena! That being said, you’ve got three
guys on the one side (Cena’s) who will all likely have very featured matches at
Mania...and The Shield who probably will be in a six man (maybe against Ryback
and someone else? Or not at all, which
would be a shame. I could go two ways
with this, either The Shield pinning Ryback (if a Mania match is coming), or
Super Cena and company hitting their finishers at the same time and beating The
Shield. Well, I have to make a pick, and
I REALLY hope I’m wrong, but I’m going with Cena, Sheamus & Ryback.
Jon:
Having The
Shield win this one and in the process playing into an angle of Cena having
doubts going in to his rematch with Rock would be a hell of a story. However
that’s not how WWE generally does things. I think WWE will want both Cena and
Rock looking as strong as possible going into their rematch. The story here
seems a tried and tested WWE formula. The bad guys look strong for a long time
and don’t get their comeuppance until the pay off. This is the pay off. I
expect Cena’s team to win.
World
Heavyweight Title Match
Alberto Del Rio (C) vs. The Big Show
Jim: This is another
one that could go either way. Originally
I’d heard Sheamus vs. Randy Orton for the title at Mania, but if they are going
to do that, they’ll have to get the title off of Del Rio quickly after this PPV. I’m enjoying Del Rio as champion though, as I
think he’s got some Eddie Guerrero in him.
So, I hope they stay with Del Rio here, Show can find something to do at
Mania without the World Title (I hope).
Alot of this depends on where they are going for Mania, as I don’t feel
like the World Heavyweight Title picture has a clear Wrestlemania match in it
(which is just fine with me, I don’t need to know everything ahead of time all
the time!). So, I’m going to go with Del
Rio winning here and hopefully heading to Wrestlemania as champion, I think
he’s earned that right after missing Wrestlemania last year due to injury.
Jon:
I feel much
the same way as Jim on this one. I’ve enjoyed Del Rio (and Ricardo) for some
time and unlike Miz he really has established a good connection with the fans
since his turn. It’s hard to know where we’re headed with this title, so I’m
just going to look at the situation between Del Rio and Show and predict that
Del Rio retains.
Elimination
Chamber Match - Winner gets World Heavyweight Title Match at Wrestlemania
Randy Orton vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan vs.
Mark Henry vs. Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger
Jim: Much like the
World Title match, this one could go a few different ways. First off, no way in heck Kane or Daniel
Bryan win it, as I’m predicting we’ll get Kane vs. Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania
to “settle their differences”. Maybe
even with the stipulation that the winner gets to pick a new partner to be tag
champs with (I hope not, but it wouldn't shock me). I don’t think Jericho wins either, as I see
he and Dolph Ziggler tearing down the house at Mania (perhaps just before
Ziggler finally cashes in the Money in the Bank briefcase). Either Orton or Henry could win, but if they
do find a way to get to Sheamus vs. Orton (for any reason), that’s would be
out, and I think Henry might work Ryback at Mania if Ryback isn’t programmed
with the Shield...so, that would leave Jack Swagger. Now, I do think it could be too soon to go
there, but with Zeb Coulter debuting with his paranoid Tea Party character on
Raw this week, an obvious Swagger/Del Rio showdown could be on the
horizon. I think they should build to
that though, because Swagger was such a joke of a character when he left WWE
that it will take time to rebuild him (though I think they are off to a nice
start on that front). So, I’m really
torn on this one. I’d love Swagger
getting the win, I’d love Swagger/Del Rio (even if it’s too soon)....but, I
just keep thinking Orton wins here, and maybe everything I’ve said goes out the
window and we get Orton/Del Rio at Mania, and maybe Sheamus gets Swagger? I really have no clue. So...I’m going with Randy Orton, and I’m not
really sure why. (It could be a good
thing that Tom and I’s bet is off for this month, I could get slaughtered....)
Jon: This one is tricky on paper. Again I agree with Jim that Kane and
Bryan can be counted out. They could have Jericho win this and go on to take
the title into what seems like an inevitable match/feud between him and
Ziggler. Speaking of which, Ziggler not having a match on this PPV makes me
wonder if he’s going to cash in MITB on this show. I hope not as I’d really
love to see Ziggler cash his MITB shot in at Wrestlemania to give that moment
the maximum impact it can possibly have. Ziggler really deserves it. Anyway, I
digress. I think it’s too soon for Swagger or Henry to go into a title match at
Wrestlemania, although I must admit I’m not sure about that. I’m really glad to
see Jack Swagger back with a new push, though I wish it wasn’t with a racist manager
gimmick. Swagger has a lot to offer WWE and they dropped the ball with him
after his first title run. So I’m left with Jericho or Randy Orton. I'm picking
Orton. He was said to be in the original plans for the Mania match and he still
gets one of the top 5 reactions from crowds. Orton has been in the office’s bad
books since his second Wellness violation and there are rumours about him
leaving when his contract expires after Mania, so I do have some doubts about
my pick here.
WWE
Title Match
The Rock (C) vs. CM Punk
Jim: Here’s one I’m
fairly certain of. While there is a
small part of me that says Punk could win it back, especially if Undertaker
can’t go at Wrestlemania, and then have Rock vs. Cena vs. Punk at Mania...I
think the Deadman will go at Mania (even if it’s in a Punk/Lesnar vs. Taker/HHH
tag match) and we get Rock vs. Cena 2 for the WWE Title at Mania. I know some people hate Rock having the
title, but I’m not one of them, I’m fine with a short run. And I think it ends at Wrestlemania, but
that’s another story for next month. For
this month, I’m 100% sold on Rock keeping the title and going off the air as
WWE Champion, likely face to face with John Cena.
Jon:
I’m also fine with The Rock having a short run with
the belt until Mania. His promos haven’t exactly set the world on fire since
his return, but he’s already boosted ratings and I’m sure he’ll boost PPV buys
again. I just hope Undertaker will be ready for Mania so Punk gets to do a
program with him for the streak. I think at this stage Punk is in a great spot
to seem like a genuine threat to the streak to most fans, even though I don’t
expect him to end it. The last match between Punk and Rock at the Rumble was a
really good one. Rock sold superbly for Punk and everything they did made
sense. Even the interference made sense. I hope the two of them can match that performance,
or even better it. Rock has to win this one.
