The Shoot #32
September 22, 2009
By: Joshua Piedra of WrestleView.com
-The First Shot-
Welcome to the 32nd edition of The Shoot. Once again, I must thank all of the loyal readers who took the time to send in their votes for the Quarter Finals as well as their predictions and fantasy bookings. Like last time, I have all of that right here in this column for you along with my TNA No Surrender PPV Picks, and Quick Shots. So another jam-packed column is heading your way.
Just a note that next week will feature the Semi-Finals of the King of the Ring 2009 tournament, but it will be featured as a side article instead of the main article. As you have noticed, my voting was absent from the tournament because next week, I will armchair book the tournament from the beginning and give my views on it? then the following week, I will select the winner chosen by the readers of the column and armchair book their scenario. So this is pretty much a fantasy booking extravaganza. I hope you enjoyed the ride so far and continue to enjoy it as we press on!
No Quick Shots last week because of the sheer size of the column, but they make their return this week and they are?? right now!
-Quick Shots-
TNA released BG James and Jim Cornette from their duties as TNA Road Agents. Smart and dumb moves all alike. While BG James could be questionable, releasing Jim Cornette is down-right baffling. With someone with the experience and knowledge of a Jim Cornette, I would think you would do your best to try and keep that mind and knowledge within your camp. Sure, Jim has had a history of being a bit brash toward talent, but there is no denying that the man knows what he is doing. I would much rather see Jim Cornette working with talent than D?Lo Brown and Simon Diamond.
Linda McMahon announced that she will be running for the United States Senate representing the state of Connecticut (which is one state over from my old stomping grounds of Massachusetts). With this decision, she has stepped down as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and given the responsibility to her husband, Vince McMahon. I am sure that being CEO, Chairman, and Head Booker for WWE is doing to be an overwhelming job for Vince. I am just being prophetic here, but I could foresee Vince passing booking duties to Shane or Stephanie in order to focus on CEO. I wonder how the WWE would be under new booking. Although not likely to happen, these columns are about fantasy booking so a guy can dream, right?
Ken ?Mr. Kennedy? Anderson seems to be quietly or privately blaming Randy Orton for his departure from World Wrestling Entertainment. Whether the claims are true or not, I wouldn?t be surprised either way. If they are not true, then I wouldn?t be surprised if Anderson was saying that in order to keep his post-WWE exposure alive in addition to his online videos. If they are true, then it wouldn?t surprise me one bit because? hey? politics in a wrestling company? No Way! Never! Either way? it just seems like more babbling from an ex-WWE wrestler to try and reach out to a fan base who consistently believes any drama that comes from the backstage area or inner offices of the WWE.
-The Big Shot: Armchair Booker: King of the Ring 2009 Part III-
King of the Ring 2009
Round 2 Voting Results
Participants
Readers: Luke Bartlett, Rocky Jr, Drew Miles, Richard Misfeldt, Kyle Patin
Wrestleview Staff: Chris Kelly,
For those who offered thoughts or comments on their picks, I have included them below for each bracket.
Bracket A vs Bracket B
(01)Kofi Kingston
(04)Mark Henry
WINNER: MARK HENRY
Chris Kelly writes: Kofi will get in some try to keep the big man on that matt with some success before going up top any too many times for a cross body and being caught and pinned via The Worlds Strongest Slam!
Rocky Jr writes: A tough one for me. The 2 deserve to go (and lose in my booking lol) to the semi-finals and after a good reflection… I decided to give the win to HENRY for my booking (see my Swagger/DiBiase match comments). Kofi would still look good but the raw power of Henry would finally prevail.
Drew Miles writes: Kofi uses the trouble in paradise knocking Henry to the floor and wins by count-out.
Kyle Patin writes: Henry is very over with the crowd. Might be just what he needs for main event status. Kofi is very over as well, but Henry could just sit on him.
Bracket C vs Bracket D
(04)Jack Swagger
(01)Ted Dibiase Jr.
WINNER: JACK SWAGGER
Chris Kelly writes: Two young guns on the roster going toe to toe here to carry on in King of the Ring. This is a tought one but i will have the ref being knocked out which leads to Cody Rhoads running in “to helpd” his fellow Legacy member only to cost him the match.
Rocky Jr writes: Another tough one… Here again, the 2 deserve to go to the semi-finals but I just can’t give the tournament to Ted. And like we must begin to think of possible tourney winners to advance, I decided to give the rub to SWAGGER. In fact, he’s my favourite at this point to win this whole 4 matches-journey. He’s just the best valuable-winner at this point: he needs it more than a DiBiase, a Ziggler or a Christian and it would add perfectly on his cocky 2 time All-American American gimmick. Besides, he would win it with style, beating Kane, DiBiase, Henry (that’s mostly why I made him win over Kofi above) and, finally, Christian [in my perfect booking]). So, once again, SWAGGER wins here after a good showing by Ted and a screwed interference/distraction from Cody, possibly just kicked out from ringside by the ref moments leading to the finish (so, Legacy don’t need to break up [like everybody anxiously waits for])
Drew Miles writes: Swagger tries to roll Ted up using the tights, abut Ted reverses and pins Swagger using the tights.
Kyle Patin writes: Jack Swagger, Swagger is just a lot more impressive in the ring to me and could use a push like this to establish himself better.
Bracket E vs Bracket F
(04)Christian
(01)Evan Bourne
WINNER: CHRISTIAN
Chris Kelly writes: A match that will see Bourne flying around the ring making many attempts to get a flash pin but after going for a school boy one too many times, Christian blocks and hits a Killswith which leads the fans cheering as it looks like Christian is about to win. Out of nowhere, Kozlov & Jackson hit the ring attacking Evan Bourne resulting in Bourne winning via DQ and leaving Christian pi**ed!
Rocky Jr writes: Finally… an easy one, I was desparate ! Lol. These two should put on a GREAT match but, in the end, Evan Bourne will fell in front of the more complete and experienced CHRISTIAN.
Drew Miles writes: In a back and forth moty candidate, Christian avoids the SSP and connects with the killswitch
Kyle Patin writes: this would be a fun match to watch! Just what Christian needs for him to be in real title picture (example WWE Championship, not ECW Championship).
Bracket G vs Bracket H
(00)Zack Ryder
(05)Dolph Ziggler
WINNER: DOLPH ZIGGLER
Chris Kelly writes: This was a tought one to pick as I’m a young fan of both guy…..Music! Seriously, Oh Radio vs I am Perfection!. This match would be a fun quick match as we know Ryder gets blown up quckily with the ending comming as Zac attempts the Zac Attack only for it to be blocked and hit with Ziggalrs Zig Zag move
Rocky Jr writes: Another easy one here. Ryder is good, he’s slowly coming on his own week after week (good match against Christian a few months back and an interesting feud against Shelton) but Dolph Ziggler is still way too much for him right now. Besides, Ziggler is really hot on SD each week so… ZIGGLER gets the nod here to fight Christian in the semi-finals.
Drew Miles writes: Ziggler gets the best of a series of counters and hits the zigzag for the victory.
Kyle Patin writes: Mr. Ziggles is a lot more deserving and prepared for a push then Ryder.
King of the Ring 2009 Semi-Finals
Wow.. my personal pick of Ted Dibiase Jr. didn?t make it to the semi-finals, but we do have some interesting candidates here! As always, you have until Saturday 11PM EST to submit your votes to see who will square off in the finals to become the 2009 King of the Ring!
Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger
Christian vs Dolph Ziggler
KOTR 2009 Predictions
Like last time, we had readers and staff alike, offer their predictions for the rest of the tournament. Before I get to that, I accidentally missed a prediction E-Mail from Round 1. I would like to extend my apologies to Luke Bartlett for missing his predictions/booking for Round 1.
Luke Bartlett’s Prediction/Booking from Round 1
It seems as if the matches you have drawn are the matches you would most like to see so why not manipulate the tournament to suit them??
Also you could build the tournament around a Dibiase Face turn and push putting him and Cody at opposite ends of the tournament. They could cut a promo at the start guaranteeing a Legacy final. Dibiase would be drawn against Kane, Mark Henry and Christian/ Matt Hardy/Morrison and Cody Rhodes drawn against Santino(gets jumped b4 the match therefore having to forefit, Regal(Randy strikes a deal with him), Swagger( Legacy deal struck) giving Cody an untouched run to the final and Dibiase a very hard time. afetr each round u see Cody + Ted in the back and Cody gives a comment saying something like “man, that was hard work” or “Tough match out there” etc after every round, obviously annoying Dibiase more and more. Cody obviously thinks he’s going to win easy because he’s fresh, Dibiase on the other hand has other ideas, giving a typically face, hard work and work ethic, patriotic speech which stuns Cody into silence. You can either have Dibiase go over Rhodes in a 20 minute battle letiing Dibiase kick out of 2 cross rhodes and then finishing the match or alteritively have him lose but take a pasting and get him over a la Mankind/HHH King of the Ring 1997, where HHH literally has to kill him.
Chris Kelly’s Prediction
Semis!
Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger
Winner:Jack Swagger Swagger will spend most the match using the old “hit and move” tatics before attempting to hit his Gut Wrench Power Bomb whch Mark Blocks and reverses into the world strongest slam. This leads to Y2J running thorugh the crowd,destractiing the Ref and allowing Big Show to hit Mark with the giant right hand!
Dolph Zigglar vs Evan Bourne
Winner Dolph Zigglar. Bourne and Zigglar will have a pretty fast paced match with Zigglar getting the upperhand and grounding Bourne. The ending comes when Bourne uses his pace to knock down Zigglar before climbing up top and going for David Stephen’s favorite move, The Shooting Star Press which he misses and Zigglar gets the win after hitting the Zig Zag
Finals
Jack Swagger vs Dolph Zigglar
Winner: Jack Swagger Two future stars facing off here in the KOTR finals as Power faces Speed. Zigglar goes for his Zig Zag but it gets blocked and he gets caught with Swaggers Gut Wrench Power bomb to become your new KOTR!
Rocky Jr’s Prediction
Semi-Finals:
– Swagger beats Henry via interference maybe, leading to a new feud for Henry.
– Christian beats Ziggler after a great back and forth match.
Finals:
– Swagger defeats Christian in another great match.
And there you have a GREAT winner with a strong showing (Kane, DiBiase, Henry, Christian) and ready to go to the Main Events. He’s the most perfect “I need it”-“It suits me well gimmick-wise” to win it.
Drew Miles? Prediction
G vs H
Ziggler over Ryder
Ziggler gets the best of a series of counters and hits the zigzag for the victory.
King of the Ring 2009 Fantasy Booking
Suzanne Abshire is back this week as she offers her results to her own version of the King of the Ring tournament. If you remember last week, she devised a 9 match tournament for each brand with each match being a triple threat match. Here are her results and I even have a surprise for her as well.
Suzanne Abshire’s Fantasy Booking
RAW Bracket A
Kofi Kingston vs Chris Masters vs Carlito
Thoughts: This was a easy pick for me because Kofi is the US Champion and that is supposed to mean something. He is also one of the most talented guys on the RAW Roster.
WINNER: Kofi Kingston
RAW Bracket B
Evan Bourne vs Jamie Noble vs MVP
Thoughts: This was a really hard pick for me because I could easily give this to either Evan or MVP but because of the way he has been booked by WWE and because I already have a young high high flyer going on to the next round. I also wanted atleast one person in the next round that I think could be if given a chance be a Main Eventer in WWE right now and that it MVP right now.
WINNER: MVP
RAW Bracket C
Primo vs Santino Marella vs The Miz
Thoughts: This was another easy pick for me because Primo isn’t even a jobber and Santino is a comedy wrestler and the Miz as the potential to be a break out star given a chance so I am giving him a chance.
WINNER: The Miz
ECW Bracket A
Goldust vs Paul Burchill vs Sheamus
Thoughts: This was tough for me because I like Paul, Goldust is looking better then he has in years and Sheamus is a star in the making so I am going with the star in the making Sheamus.
WINNER: Sheamus
ECW Bracket B
Shelton Benjamin vs The Hurricane vs Tyler Reks
Thoughts: Shelton is one of the best wrestlers in the entire world and could be a huge star is WWE would give him a shot they won’t but I will. Shelton moves on.
WINNER: Shelton Benjamin
ECW Bracket C
William Regal vs Yoshi Tatsu vs Zack Ryder
Thoughts: I have gone back and forth and picked all 3 of these guys here but ultimately I wanted a huge upset by a young talented guy that I think could be a breakout star here in Yosh Tatsu.
WINNER: Yoshi Tatsu
SmackDown! Bracket A
Charlie Haas vs Curt Hawkins vs Drew McIntyre
Thoughts: I have been impressed with the more entense Drew McIntyre. I think he could be a very good challenger to John Morrison’s InterContiental Championship.
WINNER: Drew McIntyre
SmackDown! Bracket B
Dolph Ziggler vs Finlay vs Jesse
Thoughts: I am liking Jesse now but he hasn’t shown enough in the ring yet. Finlay while a great wrestler is nearing the end of his career so I picked the guy with the future in this business which shocks me because I never thought this gimmick would get over.
WINNER: Dolph Ziggler
SmackDown! Bracket C
Jimmy Wang Yang vs Kung Fu Naki vs Mike Knox
Thoughts: This was easily the easiest pick I had but I couldn’t come up with anyone else to put in the ring with Mike Knox so the Obvisous choice is Mike Knox.
WINNER: Mike Knox
This one is turning out even more interesting than mine! I said I had a surprise for her and that surprise is that in my E-Mail, Richard Misfeldt not only sent in his picks for my King of the Ring, but he also sent in picks for Suzanne’s as well. Since he put in the effort to place the picks, I felt that it would only be right to offer them up here in this column! Let’s see how Richard’s picks matched up with Suzanne’s choices.
RAW Bracket A
Kofi Kingston vs Chris Masters vs Carlito
RAW Bracket B
Evan Bourne vs Jamie Noble vs MVP
RAW Bracket C
Primo vs Santino Marella vs The Miz
ECW Bracket A
Goldust vs Paul Burchill vs Sheamus
ECW Bracket B
Shelton Benjamin vs The Hurricane vs Tyler Reks
ECW Bracket C
William Regal vs Yoshi Tatsu vs Zack Ryder
SmackDown! Bracket A
Charlie Haas vs Curt Hawkins vs Drew McIntyre
SmackDown! Bracket B
Dolph Ziggler vs Finlay vs Jesse
SmackDown! Bracket C
Jimmy Wang Yang vs Kung Fu Naki vs Mike Knox
-One Extra Round: TNA No Surrender Prediction Results-
I can?t believe it? I ALMOST went a perfect PPV. I made one slip up because I took TNA’s retardism for granted?if I hadn?t done that, I would have went 8-0 and claimed by very first flawless victory? you?ll see where I messed up.. but here are my thoughts on the show along with my prediction results.
Bobby Lashley vs Rhino
WINNER: Bobby Lashley
PICK: Bobby Lashley
1-0
Thoughts: Yeah?. That’s all I have to say.
**Lethal Lockdown Match**
Team 3D and Beer Money Inc. vs. Booker T/Scott Stiener and The British Invasion
WINNER: Team 3D/Beer Money
PICK: Original: Beer Money, Revised: Team 3D/Beer Money
2-0
Thoughts: We all thought that this was a fatal fourway tag team match? instead, it was a 4 on 4 royal rumble style cage match with the stipulation that no pinfalls can happen until all 8 people enter the ring. My original pick under the 4 way was Beer Money, then I picked Beer Money and Team 3D and Beer Money ended up getting the actual pinfall in the match so I?m happy that either way, no matter what the stipulation, I would have won, regardless!
Hernandez vs. Eric Young
WINNER: Hernandez
PICK: Hernandez
3-0
Thoughts: When Eric Young said that he wasn?t going to fight back, I thought that my pick would be screwed because I could see the World Elite coming out from the back, destroying Hernandez and Young getting the pin, but Hernandez just squashed Eric Young like a roach beneath his heel. Bad for the storyline, but good for me!
**TNA Legend’s Title vs. $50,000**
Kevin Nash (c) vs. Abyss
WINNER: Kevin Nash
PICK: Kevin Nash
4-0
Thoughts: Once I saw Dr. Stevie come down, I knew that Nash had this one in the bag. They teased an Abyss win a couple of times, but Big Man Nash ended up getting the pin, much to my delight!
**TNA Knockout’s Tag Team Championship**
The Beautiful People (?) vs. Sarita/Taylor Wilde
WINNER: Sarita/Wilde
PICK: Sarita/Wilde
5-0
Thoughts: Not many were sure as to what was going to happen with the beautiful people, but there they were anyway, and my pick still won. I didn?t really care and just took a stab at this one. Good stab!
**TNA Knockout’s Championship**
ODB vs. Cody Deaner (Title is Vacant at this time)
WINNER: ODB
PICK: Cody Deaner
5-1
Thoughts: Here’s where I made my blunder. With a match like this and TNA’s mentality, I underestimated TNA in thinking that they were going to take the Harvey Whippleman route with their women’s championship, but TNA actually did the right thing in this match and gave the title to ODB. If I hadn?t overthought the possibilities of this match, this would have given me my perfect record.
** TNA X Division Championship**
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Daniels
WINNER: Samoa Joe
PICK: Samoa Joe
6-1
Thoughts: Nothing like their ROH matches, but still a pretty good match as only Joe and Daniels could do. I enjoyed it.
**TNA World Heavyweight Championship**
Kurt Angle (c) vs. Matt Morgan vs. Sting vs. AJ Styles
WINNER: AJ Styles
PICK: AJ Styles
7-1
Thoughts: Not much I can say.. this match, for the talent involved, was boring. All I can say is it’s about damn time AJ won.
NOTE: I know that Deangelo Dinero vs Suicide went down on the PPV, but it was a non-announced match that was added at the very last minute.. therefore it was not included in our predictions. Sadly, I wish it was because as soon as it was announced, I said that Dinero would win? damn.. could have been 8-1? but oh well.. can?t complain about the unknown.
-The Final Shot-
This wraps up another edition of The Shoot. I do have one oriental recommendation for you all out there this week. My friends have begged me to start watching Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Brotherhood, and I have not yet taken the plunge (mainly because I?m waiting for a few that Im watching to wrap up like 07-Ghost, CANAAN, and Tears to Tiara which all should finish this week and next), but while I haven?t been turned onto the anime yet, I have been turned onto it’s opening theme which mixes harmony and energy into a great song.
It’s called ?Again? and the artist is Yui. YouTube it, check it out, and enjoy.
If you wish to participate in the King of the Ring 2009 tournament? you can send your votes via E-Mail, Twitter, or Facebook? or if you just wish to discuss anything wrestling or non-wrestling related in general.. you can do everything and more by utilizing the following:
E-Mail: syscrash2002@hotmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/itoshinojjp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joshuapiedra
Until next week?
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