Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: Vengeance Might Be Mine
By Dr. CMV1
Oct 20, 2011 - 12:34:21 PM

What to do? What to do? Vengeance is this Sunday and I’m torn as to whether or not to go catch it at the bar. On the one hand, I’m not overly excited about it. On the other, the card looks pretty good. I’ve been going back and forth with it. There’s not a match that I feel is must see. There’s not a match that I feel will be bad, either. It certainly isn’t worth spending $45 on. I’d say if you’re flirting with actually purchasing the event, then you should save your money for Rock’s return next month. The bottom line is that the WWE has done a good job this month with making you want to see the next episode of TV, but they haven’t done a great job of building the PPV. The main-events sell the PPV. Usually, it’s the main-events from Raw. The red team’s main-events are Cena vs. Alberto and Punk/Trips vs. Awesome Truth. Those seem like TV main-events. I don’t doubt that they will be quality matches, but they don’t feel like PPV main-events right now, a few days before the event.

My interest is drawn more strongly toward what some of the newer guys are doing in the mid-card. Cody Rhodes is a guy that I predicted earlier in the year would face Orton in the main-event at Wrestlemania. It would appear that I was wrong about that, but Rhodes is performing at a very high level and this match against Orton is his biggest shot to date that can prove he’s worthy of one day being a main-event star. Orton has been on quite a roll, in ring, this year. If they get the chance to steal the show, then look for this match to be what everyone is talking about at night’s end. If anything, that will be the biggest selling point of Vengeance for me. Orton vs. Rhodes getting 15-minutes to work an upper mid-card match on the PPV goes a long way toward me justifying spending my time. Cody has done a nice job with his increased air-time in recent weeks on the flagship show. I want to see this guy take that next step.

I also want to see the Christian vs. Sheamus re-match. I think these two have very quietly been doing a great job of building a meaningful rivalry that people want to see new chapters written for. Both are quite over and showing that Smackdown continues to trump Raw in effectively creating secondary storylines that matter. Raw seems to focus much of its attention on one rivalry at a time. When CM Punk was on fire, they concentrated all creative attention on Punk and everyone not involved with Punk took a backseat. When Triple H and the COO/power struggle came to the forefront, then everyone got sucked into it, rendering championship matches seemingly less important. Smackdown does a nice job with balance. The Raw Supershow format has allowed feuds involving SD stars to get a little bit of extra exposure on Monday, while doing the bulk of their hype on Fridays. However, SD has for quite awhile been the premiere quality show, all-around. Right now, we’ve got a nice story going between Mark Henry and Big Show. The World’s Largest Athlete returning to SD was very well done two weeks ago. They did more to hype their title match in one night than Alberto and Cena did in three weeks worth of Raw. Meanwhile, you’ve also got the Orton-Rhodes and Christian-Sheamus feuds.

Christian and Sheamus had a good match at Hell in a Cell, but they can do better and I hope that they get to do better at Vengeance. I don’t expect a classic out of them, but I do feel that they can have a strong mid-card MOTY candidate if given the same amount of time as earlier in the month but with a little more inspiration from both the wrestlers and the crowd in San Antonio (HIAC crowd was kind of meh). This is a match that, if I decide to watch this event, I will be most disappointed if it does not deliver a stronger effort than 3 weeks ago. The other guy I’m curious to see is Dolph Ziggler. I don’t expect he’ll get much of a chance to steal the show, but I do suspect that he’ll damn sure try. He doesn’t get many chances for one-on-one matches on PPV, yet, but when he does get the chance, he makes the most of it. He’s fast becoming one of the main reasons to watch Monday Night Raw. The confidence he’s building will be key if they give him a shot at the top again. I hope he can make the most of whatever chance is given to him and stay at the top. I think he’s got future HOF written all over him if he can, say, reach that spot that Edge occupied for so many years. He’s worked hard and he’s been around for a long time. Unlike John Morrison, he’s improved his entire game. Dolph might quite possibly be the most underrated all-around talent in the WWE right now. How he works against Zack Ryder is another reason to watch Vengeance.

The Divas have gone back to being uninteresting, as far as I’m concerned. I want to hear more from Beth and Nattie on the microphone. I want to see their characters get further developed. I get what they stand for, but cycling in random babyface model over and over again is just another boring formula for that division. What made the Divas of Doom so interesting in the first place was that they were changing things up. Now, it’s time to evolve again.

Speaking of evolving…that’s what this storyline involving Johnny Ace and Triple H needs to do in a hurry. I’m all for the plot twist. I did not think Raw two weeks ago was the apocalyptic “F” that most people did. I certainly didn’t find it “Rawful.” Rather, I thought it was a logical progression of things. But let’s make no bones about it…Johnny Ace is friekin’ boring. He and Morrison suffer from the same inability to change their tone of voice, making it impossible for them exhibit emotion in a way that works on television. I can stand Ace being involved in this plot for a little bit longer, but there’s a reason the Executive VP of Talent Relations never made it as a superstar and has had to rely on backstage jobs to fulfill his career in wrestling. Move on quickly, or risk losing much of the momentum built in the last few months. Triple H and CM Punk teaming up makes sense. I get it. However, they need to have a great match on Sunday against Awesome Truth. Truth and Miz need that match to be really good, too. It needs to be that Legacy vs. DX kind of tag match that elevates all involved. I’m not sure that’s what we’ll get, but I think that’s what they’ll need.

The only match on this card that doesn’t pass the eye test is Henry vs. Show. I really have liked their feud over the last couple of weeks. In fact, I think it’s the most bankable feud going into the PPV. Unfortunately, I watched MITB and was excited to see their match and it stunk. It served its purpose of getting Henry over further, but it was not aesthetically pleasing. So, let’s just say that Show and Henry have their work cut out for them. If I watch this PPV, then I will be intrigued to see how they work together now that Show is rested. That and the fact that the match should be booked a little more evenly should help this bout tremendously.

The other world title match should actually be quite good. I thought Cena and Del Rio worked very well together at Night of Champions. People don’t give Del Rio nearly enough credit for his in-ring work. The same could be said of Cena. Last Man Standing is Cena’s money gimmick. Trips and Taker had Hell in a Cell. Edge had the ladder match. Foley had the hardcore, street fight style bout. LMS belongs to Cena. The consistent excellence that he’s put forth in that gimmick has been a factor in the legacy he’s built. If you look at the LMS matches he’s had with Edge, Batista, and Umaga, he’s always brought it. I’ll be very curious to see how the booking goes for this one. Del Rio winning would be huge for his career, even if it were via nefarious means. I’m unsure if that’s the direction they’re going in or not. I would have assumed they’d have kept the title on him in September, but I was wrong. Then, I would’ve assumed Cena would’ve won earlier this month, but I was wrong. I haven’t been right about anything involving Del Rio all year, in fact. So, my gut told me earlier in the week that the run in Mexico being over would mark the end of Del Rio’s reign. Thus, I’ll go with the opposite result and say that he finds a way to retain.

Survivor Series is supposedly going to be booked to feature some sort of match involving the major company control plot on Raw. I would imagine that Cena and Rock would be lined up on Triple H’s side of things, somehow. Perhaps a good way to go for that would be for Ace to threaten to cancel the Rock vs. Cena match. There was a rumor a while back that some higher up didn’t think it was a good idea to have that match. If that’s the case, then 1) that person should be kicked in the rear and 2) they should capitalize on such a heat-drawing statement and say it was Ace who suggested it. That way, Cena and Rock have a greater reason to team at Survivor Series and be in Triple H’s corner (or however it works). In that scenario, I think it best that Cena be distanced from the title, but they seem to be doing everything opposite of how I think it should go, as it pertains to Cena, these days.

Predictions

-Del Rio retains over Cena thanks to Miz and Truth or others
-Henry retains
-Punk and Trips win
-Orton wins
-Christian wins
-Dolph retains
-Beth retains

That’s way too many heels winning, so I don’t guess my predictions will come through, but that’s what makes the most sense to me.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Do you think Rock vs. Cena should be for the WWE Championship or no? Why or why not?