Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 5:39 AM EST

This piece was going to be a blog about the upcoming Survivor Series. It turned in to a bonafide column. So here goes. It's just me shootin' from the hip, or mouth, literally.

So let’s see. Survivor Series is comin’, and Orton’s got HBK. HBK can’t use the superkick, but if Orton gets DQ’ed, he loses the belt. My pessimistic side wants to rip this match for the potential predictability, but I won’t. It does provide an aura that this is an even playing field. I still think that the theory given earlier in this blog by a buddy of mine, (forgive me, I forgot your name), that Michaels wins the belt, and then eventually we have the Game heel turn against Michaels, is inevitable, but I guess there’s still a chance Orton could retain, and then go forward to face whom?

Good question. Let’s think on that for a second. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that if Michaels wins the belt at Survivor Series, sooner rather than later, Triple H will turn, and here we go. Now, take out the obvious thought of Save_Us.222 being Jericho, and take him out of the equation for the moment, who would be next to take a shot at the WWE title if Orton does retain and moves on from HBK?

I have two theories. One, the winner of the Jeff Hardy/Ken Kennedy feud, or two….

The Game himself.

Let’s go there first. If memory serves, and I ask anyone with the information to pass it down, most of Triple H’s 10 reigns, (I’m not counting #11 since it was hours long in duration), have been when H was a heel champion. He, if I am correct, has not won the belt as a face, outside of the one time at No Mercy when he won, and lost it on the same night.

If he were to win the belt as a face, and then slowly turn on either Michaels or anyone in general over the coming weeks afterwards, it could lead to some very intriguing television.

The other choice, and the less predictable one, and this is, as I said earlier, in the event Orton retains at Survivor Series, the other choice as the possible next challenger is whomever comes out of Jeff Hardy vs. Ken Kennedy.

We all know Kennedy was due to win the world title before getting hurt soon after Wrestlemania. We all have seen Jeff Hardy’s consistency improve tremendously during his 2nd go round on WWE programming, and recently, as the Intercontinental champion. I don’t think you’d get a bad response in any way, shape, or form, to see Randy Orton defend the WWE title at the next PPV outside of Survivor Series, which is Armageddon, if I remember, against Jeff Hardy. Is it marquis? No, not yet. But it could be, if you play the cards right.

Bottom line, when you go back to the original thesis, Orton vs. Michaels for the WWE title, with these stips added, it makes it almost a pick ‘em match. That’s the type of creativity that I like to see, and I think will provide compelling content on PPV in a couple of weeks.

The lone traditional Survivor Series match is definitely compelling with its uniqueness. When you put Triple H, Rey Mysterio, Kane, and both Hardy Boys against MVP, Finlay, Big Daddy V, Umaga and Mr. Kennedy, you have one thing to say. It’s going to be an uphill climb for the babyfaces to win that match.

With Mysterio on one side, and Umaga and V on the other, it’s definitely one sided from a weight perspective, and that could end up being the decided factor in either direction, positive or negative. It could be the factor in stamina, as both V and Umaga are probably not conditioned to go long term in these matches, which is entirely possible, but it also could be the disaster for the faces, as the only man on that team that can match size for size with these two behemoths is Kane.

It’s the basic David vs. Goliath deal. However, don’t be surprised if David doesn’t bring a little help.

Bottom line here is simple. When you put the World title on the line, and Hell in a Cell around the ring, its going to be enjoyable . Is it going to be on par as the earlier HiaC’s? Not a chance. But Batista and the Undertaker have shown a natural chemistry to get the job done in their matches, and I don’t suspect this will be any different. My only hope, and fear, is that Undertaker is 100% healthy for this type of match. This match is, well, you all know what it is, and what it can do, and I don’t suspect Taker is still yet 100% health wise, and this type of match may be too much of a risk. It’s obvious it’s gonna happen, and I don’t discount that one bit, but the question does lie, does Taker have it in the tank to go the distance in this match? My gut says yes, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned.

Now, I have to believe, that there is going to be something that transpires during the only other match that has been announced for Survivor Series. Hornswoggle McMahon vs. the Great Khali. Unless WWE promotes murder,, which this would be, figuratively or otherwise, there’s got to be something planned for this match, and I am guessing the eventual disclosure of the subject of the save_us videos will be revealed here, as someone when this match is announced, will need to be saved, badly.

I can’t see WWE going through with this match, and hopefully, they don’t. Perhaps with Khali showing up for the DX segment in the beginning of the RAW broadcast from last week, it’s the slow transformation of Khali in to a kinder, gentler giant that doesn’t destroy little people. I doubt it, but I can hope.

Anyway, that’s my preview of the Survivor Series to this point. Before closing up what was going to be a paragraph, yah, right, let’s do some basic thoughts.

I read a report that Brooke’s backstage attitude is what got her the boot. Too bad for Brooke. Always kinds of stuns me when people’s egos get too big for their own britches. I guess that’s a sore topic with me currently, as I pretty much suffered through that from this column over the past month and change.

Anyway, It appears as well that Kelly has taken the studious route with Dusty Rhodes to train harder and prepare her for outside storylines from the Miz and Extreme Expose. Hopefully, something will happen, as I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kelly pop up more often on other shows than ECW. Good for her, and I hope she succeeds. She’s damn easy to look at, too.

I also read a report that the turning of Vickie Guerrero heel has been called off since Kristal got released. Thank God. I read the basics of that angle, and man, that would’ve ticked me off to no end. I think Vickie has done a terrific job since taking over for Teddy Long , and I hope that Long finds a way back on to television, as his character is entertaining as well.

Glad CM Punk won the match last night with John “Don’t call me Nitro" Morrison. But what’s with the Miz getting involved? Is he after Punk? Or Morrison? According to reviews, it appears he’s after Morrison, but that makes little sense to me. Either which way, I still believe that the ECW roster as a whole is in deep trouble, and I wouldn’t be surprised to continue to see Smackdown talent competing on Tuesdays primarily in the ECW time slot. Outside of Punk, Burke, and a few others, there’s nobody there with a lot of rep to hang your hat on.

Condolences to the passing of the Fabulous Moolah. I never saw her compete in her prime, but even at her advanced age, she loved being in front of the camera.

If WWE is pushing Jamie Noble as hard as they are, and that’s evident when you see his opponent Friday night, why wouldn’t they revive the cruiserweight title, and let him run with it? It’s been almost 5 years since Noble ran with the belt, and he could go, long term, as a champion, similar to Gregory Helms, which would bring some instant credibility back to that title, and that division.

If ECW is staying put, and Smackdown personnel are going to be used for ECW programming, it’d be nice to have them chase something. Perhaps revitalizing the ECW world television title is looming now, more than ever. It’s necessary to give the Tuesday night audience SOMETHING to look forward to outside of the one title match every 3 weeks or so. It’d be nice to see, but I doubt it.

I’ll get a chance to watch Raw this upcoming week for reasons I would rather not say about, but let’s just say this. Grumble. (For why I’m not working, not that I can see Raw). I am looking forward to seeing what they do off the Los Angeles Raw. I thought bringing back the beer bash angle the way they did was classic. And, truth be told, I loved the opening DX segment. ( I saw the videos on .com, I didn’t see the show, I wish I did, but I didn’t.)

Time is short, and I’m not either, so I am out of here.

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Thanks for reading.

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