Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com
On Saturday, December 2, 2006 at 5:06 PM EST

I have to give the devil his due. There has been some damn good television these past few weeks on Smackdown involving four men. Two of them we know can provide the television without reproach, those being the Undertaker and Kane, the Brothers of Destruction, the future Hall of Famers. One of them JBL calls the future of Smackdown, and I would have to believe he is right, and that is Mr. Kennedy. One, truthfully, I didn't think he had a shot in hell to show anything, and he has done that and more in his brief time as an active competitor and that is MVP.

The cross work between these four men in these two separate feuds has been very entertaining. Sunday at Survivor Series, with MVP's accidental assist to Kennedy in the first blood match win, followed up by this week's interference by Kennedy on MVP during his match with Undertaker just continues to add fuel to this already combustible situation. Obviously, the addition of the Big Red Monster following Kennedy's interference from eariler tonight just compounded the scenario and made it even more fun to watch. Any chance that WWE can put both the Undertaker and Kane in the same ring, whether they're fighting each other, or fighting other people, they'd be fools not to do it.

Now, here comes Armageddon, and I have to be honest, I am surprised. This will mark the third straight PPV I intend on purchasing on DVD when it comes out. The first was Survivor Series because I loved the combination of talent in the traditional series elimination matches. Next is sunday's ECW D to D PPV with the chamber match, for the sole reason that I have every other chamber match in my possession, and I need to keep that collection up. Now, I'll have to add Armageddon to it as well. Why?

WWE is bringing back the Inferno match.

I never thought I would see the day that the WWE would bring this type of match back. Even more so of the match coming back is the man who is involved in it. A relatively young newcomer, MVP faces Kane at Armageddon in an inferno match. Smackdown's Cole & JBL didn't play it up very much, focusing on JBL's bad luck in the previous last ride match he had with Undertaker, but the honest truth is, the real spectacle will be when these two men step in to that ring surrounded by the generated heat of flame around the ringside area. I am fortunate enough to have video of the first inferno match. (If I could get a better internet connection and more knowledge, I'd upload it.) It's a site to behold, ladies and gentlemen. To say the least.

I have questioned a lot of the booking decisions made by WWE in the past months. I have questioned a lot of the matches that WWE has made in the past months. However, their recent output on PPV, Unforgiven with TLC and Hell in A Cell, the Bash with the Punjabi Prison, and the trio I am mentioning eariler in this piece, perhaps they are realizing they need to spruce the matchups since the talent pool is so dangerously thin.

All I can say, is I am interested. Very interested. Kudos to MVP for stepping up to the plate and taking this challenge. It'll be very intriguing to see how he performs in this scenario.

Quickly in closing this topic out, I am not taking thing one away from the last ride match with Kennedy and Undertaker. I expect brutality to a new level, and then some. However, when you compare the two, an inferno match is Goliath, and the last ride match is david, almost to the extreme.

Some quick notes in closing this chapter of the saga...

This "one night only" stipulation with the reuniting Hardy Boyz and MNM. Can we just drop it, please? Personally, all four men benefit from the tag teams, it helps all four men in eventual singles competition, and by the lack of title changes in the tag team divisions on both shows, don't you think it's obvious that tag teams are desperately needed within WWE? It should be to creative, but then again....

I need to see Ric Flair go hardcore on Edge and Orton. Anyone who has the guts to take a beating like Flair took, and come out looking like he did, there had better be some major league reprecussions en route for Rated RKO when Raw resumes.

Armageddon's main event is very intriguing as well. I like the use of Batista/Cena as a tag team. I would like it better if it would be the seedlings to an eventual matchup, but apparently, Batista's path to Wrestlemania appears to be drawn out, and I can't criticize it, although I can say it's a bit of a surprise. I won't go in to it here because I don't want to speculate or offer spoilers. If you're interested, email me, and I'll tell you what I read... Let's just say it would be powerbomb vs. powerbomb....of sorts with a title up against a legendary achievement.

Didn't Monty Brown sign a contract with WWE? Has he even been seen since? Since we're talking about debuts that have never happened, what about Harry Smith? I feel really concerned for Claudio Castagnoli, the newest major indy star to take the plunge in to WWE. I feel he'll be lost in the minor leagues, like little fish in a giant blue ocean of nothingness. I hope to hell I'm wrong, but this is WWE.

I won't come at you with a prediction column for this sunday's ECW PPV. Only three matches, it's kind of unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that I don't expect major league clean finishes out of the Hardys match or the Sandman/Holly match. However, I will make some picks and thoughts as to how the competition will fan out in the chamber match.

I would suspect that you'd see Test & Van Dam start the chamber. I would think you'd see Lashley, Punk, Sabu & Show in the internal chambers. Why Test & Van Dam? Test has the least to lose in this match, as he is basically getting in on a technicality, I would believe, and this is his really first time competing for a world title. Van Dam can lead Test through the beginning stages of the chamber, with him being the only one with chamber experience. I would then suspect Sabu to come out next, and have some good spots against RVD. Following this, I would suspect either Lashley or Punk to come out, I'll say Punk. Punk will do his business, and make the impact that is necessary for someone else with nothing to lose, this being his first major world title experience. (Punk was ROH World champion, so he does have more experience, I believe, than someone like a Test or a Lashley.)

Lashley will come out next, and perform a la Goldberg, taking out anyone and everyone. Big Show will be last out of the chmabers for one solid reason. He can't handle that long a time in the ring, because of his health and other concerns. I would suspect some major league spots between Lashley and Big Show during this contest, as it's pretty much been documented that Sabu can't handle Big Show, Test and Punk haven't had much against Show, RVD has gone through the ringer, but Lashley has proven to be a threat.

Eliminations will occur, I think, in this order. Test first. Sabu second. Van Dam third. Big Show fourth. Punk and Lashley will finish the chamber, with Punk being the victor, but Lashley showing he can run with the big dogs and beginning a feud of epic proportions for the ECW World title. Neither man has the experience in a major promotion with the promotion firmly planted on their back, but the fact remains. Lashley came to ECW for major booking, and I would not be surprised to see him compete for the world title on a regular basis. However, Punk did run with the dogs in Ring of Honor, and was ROH champion. He also was a major player in TNA's infancy, which, to WWE brass, would result in Punk being slightly more experienced to run with the gamut on his back, at least for now. I am going to go out on a limb, and say WWE listens to the fans, and the winner of the Extreme Elimination Chamber will be

C
M
Punk.

Of course, the pundints will pick Lashley, but I think that ECW would need to go in a new direction, and the new blood is Punk, Knox, and Thorn. Let's see who's right this sunday. Also, if I had to pick winners, I would say Hardcore Holly wins the match with the Sandman with help from Heyman, and the Hardy Boys figure out a way to defeat MNM, sending Joey Mercury back to OVW with a wing, a prayer, and an eventual pink slip. Let's move on.

Moving to the competition, I'd like to ask Vince Russo a question. If you're going to have the singles titles change hands as much as they have the past few weeks, why can't you put the tag team belts, if only for a short time, on Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe leading up to Turning Point? It would add such a degree of chaos to the agreement for Joe/Angle II and I think it would provide some terrific television. This "laywer" trick crap being pulled by Konann and a lot of other people around the business gets old, really, really quickly. Outside of that, and the tweener stuff involving AJ Styles, I don't have a lot to say about TNA right now. Sting trying to get in to the mind of Abyss really makes me cringe, but I won't go in to that yet. I want to see where it turns out.

I could still grumble about TNA's DVD distribution, but I'll save that for another day, and another piece.

Lita's already in talks with Dixie Carter? As much as it would disappoint me to see another WWE castaway find her way to TNA, it would definitely solidify a weak women's division. They may be tremendous to look at, but if TNA is interested in a women's wrestling division, Lita, Gail Kim and Traci Brooks would be a hell of a focal point to start it with.

Let's ask this question. What does TNA think they can do with Tomko to make him seem worthy of air time and a contract alongside Christian Cage that WWE couldn't do? Ok, maybe allow him one or two more steel chair shots, but after that, what? It's a good question, don't you think?

I have heard some ridiculous challenges in my day, but Eric Young vs. Traci Brooks in a bikini contest? On a pay per view? Someone in an email feedback compared Eric Young to Eugene. After a challenge like this, Dinsmore would find that comparison extremely insulting.

Lastly, I need to say this, especially after some of the heated debates that have been going on in my myspace blog.
I respect what all of these men and women can do. I respect their athleticism, and I respect their ability to get in front of a microphone, no matter how quiet they may be. Any attempts to disparage the athleticism seen in any of these programs by me is totally false. My problems more lie in with the storylines than the action. While I enjoy the free-roaming action of TNA and ROH better, WWE does show sometime that it can return to its roots. I just wanted to put out there my opinions on this matter, because it's been a pretty heated topic of discussion over at myspace.

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Be nice to me on my myspace, I am reconstructing.. it looks like a messy room, cuz it is. :)