Home » Columnists, PPV Coverage

WWE Unforgiven PPV preview

Sunday September 7 BY WWEPreview.com

Unforgiven takes place tonight and we’ll have live coverage on the front page of the site from shortly before 8pm EST/1am UK time.
Ahead of tonight’s PPV, Phil Lowe and Mark Bright take a look at the matches on offer and how the show may pan out:

- Scramble match for the World Heavyweight Title: CM Punk (C) vs. Batista vs. Kane vs. JBL vs. Rey Mysterio.

Mark Bright: I’m actually really interested to see these scramble matches and on Raw I’m picking CM Punk to retain. They’re doing a good job of building up Punk as the guy who just escapes with the belt when it looks like he’ll lose it - and they did an interesting job of hinting at a future program with Randy Orton on Raw last week.

Of course he’ll probably get pinned by everyone else in the match at various points and JBL will probably get a good few minutes as interim champion just to scare the shit out of people with the idea that he’ll leave with the belt, but I think Punk gets a pin in the final few seconds to escape with the title again.

Phil Lowe: I’m undecided on whether or not Punk retains here. Last week’s Raw certainly gave the impression of a Punk-Orton program in the not too distant future, but WWE’s less than perfect push of Punk makes me wonder if they’re treating his first run as champion in the same way they did Edge when he first won the big one and keeping it short just to see how he got over with the fans.

If Punk retains, the program with Orton is already in place. In fact, Orton will be at tonight’s show although whether he appears on camera remains to be seen. If Punk is losing, that could means Punk-Orton is the number two program on the roster (third if Michaels-Jericho continues).

If Punk loses, Batista seems the obvious contender and that could be good if they turn him heel and put him in a stable with Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase. I don’t see Kane getting the belt and I seriously hope they don’t think putting the title on JBL is a good move. I wrote yesterday that Rey Mysterio may not be involved in the match but even if he is, he won’t win here.

- Scramble match for the WWE Title: Triple H (C) vs. MVP vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Brian Kendrick.

Mark Bright: HHH spends the last several weeks burying all his challengers on TV, even joking about how he’ll be champion forever. In normal circumstances, that means he’s losing the belt at the PPV. But normal circumstances don’t apply to HHH. Jeff Hardy laid him out at the end of SmackDown this week - after HHH had dominated eveyrone else and buried Hardy in a backstage promo - so I think that rules Hardy out. I see HHH retaining, and nobody else getting a pinfall on him all match long. Or, HHH pins everybody like 5 times only for someone else to sneak a pin right at the end.

Phil Lowe: In boxing, Amir Khan got knocked on his ass last night. In UFC, Chuck Liddell got knocked on his ass last night. In the WWE, Triple H gets knocked on his ass tonight. Yeah, right. I hold out little hope for anything here other than Trips making four talented wrestlers look like nobodies here. I really hope I’m wrong on this. Even if they don’t want to switch the title, they can keep the title on Hunter and still make all five guys look really, really good here.

There’s heat on MVP which would lead you to assume he doesn’t get the title here which would mean Jeff Hardy is the only other person with any real chance of taking the win. I don’t see it though and unless the office have had a change of mind (always possible) and want to give MVP a run with the belt (and I’d prefer that as Triple H is always better when he’s chasing a title), Hunter retains here.

- Scramble match for the ECW Title: Mark Henry (C) vs. Matt Hardy vs. The Miz vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Finlay.

Mark Bright: After the excellent 8-man tag on ECW this week where Mark Henry took all the babyface’s finishers, I think he retains here. It’s between him and Hardy in all honesty and I really wouldn’t mind if Hardy starts the match, is beaten down by the other guys and Henry is the last man entering, only having to work 5 mintues. He can then steal the win by coming in to take apart a beaten down Hardy, leaving room for them to have a singles match for the title next month where I’d finally put Hardy over.

Phil Lowe: I’m looking forward to this. Henry in the past couple of months has done more in impress than he has in the previous nine or so years before. Hardy will be over regardless of the result and there’s definitely more money in having Henry retain here and be put over as a monster, setting up a Henry-Hardy singles match at next month’s PPV.

- Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

Mark Bright: Where they go with this really depends on the severity of Shawn’s injury. If Shawn is healthy enough to work a full-on match, it closes the show and Shawn goes over to redeem himself for all the bad things Jericho has done to his wife - and given the heat, the greatness of the guys involved and the tremendous story they have to back up the action, you’re looking at a potential Match Of The Year.

If Shawn’s injury requires time off, I think you keep this short and either do a DQ ending where Shawn snaps and attacks Jericho, leaving him battered and beaten so that Shawn is suspended, or you have Jericho injure Michaels in a short segment which gives Jericho the heat of being the guy who took Shawn off TV.

Phil Lowe: This all depends on Michaels’ condition. But it has to close the show, in my opinion. Jericho has to win regardless of where this goes next as his heat as a heel right now is amazing. Have him get the win after a match where Michaels is playing up that his injury could mean that the match is stopped early. And as long as Michaels isn’t going to need any length of time away from the ring, keep this going through to Survivor Series.

- Undertaker/Vickie Guerrero confrontation.

Mark Bright: Vickie tries to apologise, he goes to attack her, Big Show makes the save and turns heel. Show has been far too much into the “smiling babyface” role and he’s been back in the WWE for 7 months without turning. And if you’ve followed Show’s career at all you now it’s about time for a turn now.

I don’t see them actually doing the deal with Taker locking Vickie in a casket and setting it on fire. Anyone buying the show expecting that to happen I’m guessing will be disappointed - simply because if they do do the casket burning thing, it will close the show and that’s kind of a weird downer to end a PPV on.

Phil Lowe: I have no idea how this will play out. They’d probably be better off doing something backstage rather than some kind of stunt in the ring. A Big Show heel turn makes sense and Show-Taker could lead to some decent TV.

- World Tag Team Title Match: Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase (C) vs. Cryme Tyme

Mark Bright: Dibiase and Rhodes are the hot heel tag team and they hinted at putting them in a stable with Orton, which means they’re winning here.

Phil Lowe: I don’t see a title change here. Keep it short and put the heels over strong - especially if they are to be aligned with Orton.

- Divas Championship Match: Michelle McCool vs. Maryse

Mark Bright: McCool wins, because as bad as she is, you don’t get the sense that she might fall and break her legs just by walking into the ring like you do with Maryse.

Phil Lowe: Ugh. Please be short. McCool retains.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

Comments are closed.