Heel Heat - Episode 3

Gorgeous Glen: What's this, an actual regular occurrence of Heel Heat? Shocking I know...but what's even more shocking is the card that the WWE has managed to put together for Unforgiven tomorrow evening! Today, Tenacious Trav and I will give it a look and offer our usual insights and predictions.

Our snazzy new logo up there is a tribute to one of the greatest tag teams of all time. So we'll start with one of the tag team title matches being featured on tonight’s card. We are going to see two of the WWE's best young teams, Cade and Murdoch, and London and Kendrick go at it tonight. I think that Cade and Murdoch have been absolutely golden since their feud with the Hardyz in the spring. I LOVE their quest for "sportsmanship" only to turn evil at the right moment. Great heel work there! But in order for those characters to develop they need to loose the title to Londrick via some sort of rule breaking by the faces, so London and Kendrick in an upset!

Tenacious Trav: I'm not sure I’m sold on the rednecks as being as 'golden' as you describe, Glen. Furthermore, I'm concerned about the lack of a pop that the far superior London/Kendrick tandem are getting on Raw. You've got to wonder what the firing of Cryme Tyme did to this program. Anyway, I see London and Kendrick getting the big W here if for no other reason than to build their credibility and boost their profile with the fans. I think the recent flip-flop at house shows points us in this direction.

In another match from the RAW brand we'll see Beth Phoenix challenge the Women's Champion Candice Michelle. As usual I don't have much to say about women's matches: The Glamazon will become new champ, and I still won't care.

GG: What do you mean the Rednecks haven't been Golden? Do you remember when they turned on the Hardyz? It was some great heeldom!!! Anyway, as usually I disagree with you on the women's division. I think that Beth Phoenix and Candice could be a good starting point to rebuild this division which still hasn't recovered from losing Trish and Lita a year ago. I think that this is very likely going to be a long feud, so it needs to start slow. I think that Candice will win this one by DQ and the Glamazon will look like a she monster.

And in our next match of the evening, we will look at another great heel, MVP. He has been one of my favourite performers in 2007 and is poised to do some big things in the years to come. I LOVE his feud with Hardy, they are doing a great job at taking the old "friendly enemies" storyline and making it new and fresh. I think that this storyline has plenty more steam, so they should be able to retain here.

TT: The question here is when not if MVP will turn on Hardy. I've always found Hardy to be kind of stale but he's not half bad in this angle. I love that MVP insists he's carrying him. Great stuff... much better than the tired storyline of your golden boys of Cade/Murdoch. But I digress; the champs will retain. The division is still quite thin so look for them to hold the straps until another team steps up to challenge D&D.

Coming at us from Smackdown will be the return of the Undertaker. The man's had a remarkable career and I'm still amazed at what he can do in the ring given his age and size. At Unforgiven he'll be facing the complete waste of space, Mark Henry. Imagine what kind of wellness policy WWE could've built had they not signed him to that ten year deal? The Deadman will win in short order, reaffirming his alpha-dog status on the Smackdown brand.

GG: Speaking of tired storylines, The Undertaker gets killed, returns and destroys a big man who is "not affraid of him", lather, rinse, repeat, yawn. So yes, Taker will win for sure. I just hope that he continues his impressive run in the ring that he was having back before this injury.

And as yet another segue way, we have another forgone conclusion as Triple H faces Carlito in a "No DQ for Carlito" match. Triple H is well on his way to his 11th World Title, so he should win this one. I just hope that Carlito doesn't end up looking like a total joke here, however I have my doubts.

TT: I hate it when I agree with you so often... but yes that's my concern as well. It's obvious HHH will win here against a stacked deck, but I hope they keep Carlito strong. He has a massive amount of potential yet it seems the bookers are never high on him. I suppose the positive spin here is that Carlito is still very young and has his best days ahead of him. The same cannot be said for Trips.

So if HHH is on the road to his 11th, CM Punk is trying to retain his very first run as ECW champ when he defends against Elijah Burke. These two are incredibly talented individuals, athletic and with strong characters. I call a CM Punk win and a potential match of the night.

GG: I both agree and disagree with you on this one Trav. First off, yes, these two are phenomenal wrestlers and could end up headlining big PPVs in the future, but right now they are still very much in the mid-card and won't be given more than 10 minutes tonight, so the chance of a match of the night are slim. But yes, we agree once more (damnit!) and Punk will retain here.

That brings us to our next World Title Match, The Great Khali defends his title in a triple threat match against Batista and Rey Mysterio. Now this is the sixth straight PPV where Batista is getting a shot at the World Title, and I think that they finally have to put the title back on him to make sure that he has SOME credibility left. I think that they are going to build up to an eventual Batista Heel Turn and potential feud with Rey, so I see him winning the title here only to lose it to either Edge or Taker in a few months.

TT: Argh. I'm frustrated that we're not parting ways here. I was really hoping you'd predict a Khali victory so that he could drop it to the Undertaker. I too see a Batista heel turn on Rey. Damnit... I can't have yet another prediction agree with yours, so I guess I'll go with Khali. Batista will be so frustrated with another lost opportunity he'll take it out on Rey. The peasants will rejoice. And for the record, I think Elijah and CM Punk can do more in ten minutes than any other match on the card.

This takes us to the final match on the card, WWE Champion John Cena against Randy Orton in a rematch from Summerslam. We all know I'm a huge Orton mark, despite his being 'the Scott Hall of 2007' as a I read elsewhere recently. I suspect this feud is just getting warmed up so I don't think Orton will take the strap just yet. Look for him to win via DQ leading to some sort of cage/cell match in the future.

Also, I just want to add that Orton can be quite believable as an evil son of a bitch

GG: I wonder how much of it is acting...

TT: Probably very little. I suspect he's a lot like me, except he smokes and he weighs a hundred pounds more.


GG: ...and he likes to shit in girls gym bags...er...maybe there are a lot of similarities

Anyway, back to the match...I was starting to get bothered by all of our agreeing, so unheelish of us!!! I have a feeling that you are right about the Orton victory thing, but you know, I think that he's going to get the title here. Apparently the plan was for Orton to take the strap off of Cena at SS, but they couldn't find a finish that they were happy with. I think that the fact that this feud is now personal will take Cena's head out of the game and Orton will capitalize and get the title. It is a perfect chance for it since Sunday will be Cena's 364th day as champion, which is borderline "Legendary", especially for this day and age. So yeah, Orton wins this time around, even if he just gets to keep the belt warm for the Hs.

And I guess that's all of the matches, any last words TT?

TT: I just want to say it's nice to be back on Heel Heat and look forward to it being a regular feature here on your blog. For all of our fans out there, I'll be signing autographs at the BestBuy at Dartmouth Crossing next Thursday from 5-9pm. Be there.

GG: And just an added note, be sure to get there early, the kids LOVE the Tenacious one nowadays...


Until next time,

GG & TT