Fulham: 17/18 Summer Window Preview

Hello! Long time, no see. The last time I did one of these Fulham posts was all the way back in September. There's a few reasons for that. I was ill directly after said post- but then something magical happened. Fulham actually became a good football team. To be short, I was just enjoying myself too much to do Reviews and the like in what is now last season for us. The last few years the Reviews functioned as a means to vent my frustrations pretty much, but thanks to the good season we've had there hasn't really been much to vent about.

Did we get everything right? Of course not, because if we did we'd be up. However I said back in my Season Preview I was expecting us to finish between 10th and 14th, so for the first time in a while Fulham have actually exceeded my expectations for a season. I would have obviously loved us to go up, but for the first time since we've come down we're heading into a Summer Window in a position of strength. We don't have to put a whole new team together, simply. We can focus on adding quality where needed and hopefully keeping our key players. All of which I shall discuss in this post.

I've done these the last few years, and the other two times they've been stupidly long because we've had to buy a whole new squad. So thankfully (or perhaps not if you like the long posts) this one will be shorter than the prior few. As always, I'm not expecting us to sign many, if any of the players I discuss in this. However, it's my suggestions based on areas I believe need to be strengthened. Right then, let's just dive right into it.

Ins
Goalkeeper
This summer's a big one in-terms of what we do with our Goalkeeper situation. We either stick with Marcus Bettinelli as our #1, or we probably say goodbye to him. Bettinelli's at the stage of his career where he needs to be #1 to keep developing. Whether or not he does so with us is entirely up to Slavisa and the rest of the coaching staff. If we don't, we need to bring someone in who's Top 6 if not Top 2 Championship quality- because after the season just gone Top 6 is the minimum we should be looking at for next season.

Lovre Kalinic (Gent)
We seem to have scouted Belgium quite heavily, with us already signing Kebano and Cyriac just off the top of my head. So, if you haven't heard of him, let me introduce you to probably the best Goalkeeper in the Belgian League. He's only been at Gent for around about 6 Months, but if we came in with the right offer I doubt they'd turn us down. He's an absolute giant, standing at 6ft 7, and I believe that he is a Top 6 level Championship Goalkeeper as an absolute minimum. The one potential issue is that Villa tried to sign him in the January of 2016 and he couldn't get a work permit, and given the form of Danijel Subasic at Monaco his chances for Croatia have been limited which is what I believe work permits are granted on the basis of. But if we could get over that obstacle, I'd be all over him.

Sergio Padt (Groningen)
Another likely unheard of Keeper for the majority of you, but Padt is one of the best Keepers in the Eredivisie. He's not at the very top which is occupied by Brad Jones of all people after the season just gone- but he's definitely up there. There are a few others, but the majority of them are 6ft or under (including Willem II's Keeper who's 5ft 9) which to me doesn't really work in the Championship. Padt on the other hand is 6ft 3 so shouldn't have a problem coping with the physical challenge the Championship presents.

These are two options, and of course there's a wide variety we could be looking at. However, I just thought I'd highlight these two.

Defenders
If you would have told me this time last year I'd be doing this post and I'd be saying Tim Ream's the only Defender who's absolutely irreplaceable of our current Defence I would've laughed. But here we are. I would go as far as to say Tim Ream was our best player in 2017, just don't have him take a Penalty again. With that said, we're in a unique position for one of these posts in that when it comes to the defence we just need a few "touch ups" as opposed to an entirely new defence like we have the last few years. To me, we need a Right-Sided Centre-Back to partner Ream and depth for Scott Malone at Left-Back because Ryan Sessegnon just isn't one.

We could go all out on trying to sign a pair of Full-Backs with a better end product (or who can at least cross the ball), but I'm largely fine with Malone and Fredericks and the money we would need to spend on getting a marked improvement on them could be better spent elsewhere.

Tomas Kalas (Chelsea)
He's the obvious one, and I wouldn't say no to us signing him permanently by any means. However, I would go as far as to say Ream carried him in the latter stages of the season. We could do a lot worse than Kalas I think that's safe to say, however I'd prefer someone taller. Our inability to keep Clean Sheets is a byproduct of the way we play, which I think Slavisa's openly said- however I think a more physically imposing Centre-Back to cope with the Strikers you see quite a lot in the Championship could definitely help us out.

Marc Roberts (Barnsley)
The majority of "desirable" Barnsley players got snapped up in January, however Roberts is definitely that. I would imagine we're not the only team that would be in for him this summer if we are. Roberts was almost the forgotten man of Barnsley's first half of the season which had them above us for quite a while almost as a result of Hourihane, Bree and Winnall all leaving. However (with respect to Barnsley) in a better team I think he'd flourish.

Vitor Bruno (Feirense)
After two players relatively close to home, we're going back to the continent, this time to Portugal. I looked for players that to me fit the "Fulham profile" because for the first time in ages we have a defined style of play and as a result we can sign players with that in mind. Vitor Bruno was someone who I thought fit in with our philosophy. He's a very attacking full-back, he's quick and he's relatively good with the ball at his feet. I don't claim to have watched Feirense every week, but I would suggest he has a better end product than Malone as far as Assisting goes considering he matched Malone's Assist total for the season in 8 less games in what is on balance a different and I'd argue harder league than the Championship.

Barry Douglas (Konyaspor)
Yes, there is someone called Barry Douglas who plays for a team called Konyaspor which for those of you who don't know is in Turkey. He's quite an important player for Konyaspor as well, and he's registered 5 Assists for them this season- so he can definitely be an effective player for us in the final third, probably more so than Malone I would say.

Moses Odubajo (Hull)
I've highlighted a few more realistic options for us, but I thought I'd include this one just in case we decided to go all out in trying to sign a top quality Full-Back. Hull, or more specifically the Allam's showed in January that they weren't going to get in the way of their better players leaving if the right offer came in for them. So, I would assume that should someone put in the right offer for Odubajo they would accept it. If we could get him I'd obviously be all over him, because to me he'd be the best Right-Back in the Championship.

Midfielders
There's two ways to approach this section really.

To me, we had the best Midfield in the league this season with Cairney, Johansen and McDonald. However, I'd argue we were almost too reliant on those three to make us tick. Especially in the case of Johansen, with the way he plays- he can't play to his absolute top level for 46 Games a season plus however many cup games we have and he features in. So the first approach is to say we need to add more depth to our Midfield and specifically find someone who's a good rotation option for Johansen.

Lewis Holtby (Hamburg)
The first name that I thought of when thinking of a rotation option for Johansen was Holtby. Hamburg have basically turned into the Sunderland of the Bundesliga in that they always seem to be going down and then somehow avoid the drop. As we saw with Sunderland this season however, that run can't last forever. I just thought I'd put his name into the hat. Especially if Johansen does what he did at Celtic and has a shall we say underwhelming second season after a stellar first Holtby would be more than ready to take his place.

Ricardo Avila (Gent)
Another player from a Belgian team, and this one appears to be a done deal at this stage. I can't say I know a lot about him, but from the limited highlights I've seen of him, it looks like he can take a Penalty. So at least that'll be something.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Man Utd)
Now that Man Utd have officially made it into the Champions League, I can't see their spending stopping any time soon. As a result, players like Fosu-Mensah could very well be loaned out to gain first team experience. It would be quite a coup if we were to get Fosu-Mensah on loan, for the pure fact that he'd be an absolutely top drawer player at this level. He's versatile as well, I'd stick with him in Midfield which I believe is his best position- but if injuries were to necessitate it (as it has done for Utd) he can play Right-Back and Centre-Back as well.

That's approach one. Approach two is a "worst case scenario" type thing where we lose Tom Cairney. It is a possibility, and if we want to be in the hunt for Top 6 we'd need to find a top drawer replacement for him. Although, I'd actually want us to give Jozabed a go in that role should Cairney go after seeing how he played for Celta Vigo .That being said I think we've burned our bridge on that front.

Alejandro Pozuelo (Genk)
Should Cairney go, I'd be going back to Belgium and signing Pozuelo. He's gotten 8 Goals and 19 Assists in all competitions for Genk this season and I'd say he'd be a more than adequate replacement for him. As I said, this is only relevant in the event of losing Cairney- and I'd like to think if Cairney were to be sold we'd get a minimum of 15 Million pounds for him in which case we could put an offer in for someone like Pozuelo which couldn't be turned down despite how key to their team he is.

Deniz Türüc (Kayserispor)
Türüc would be an interesting one, because he's been a stand-out performer, not just for Kayserispor but in the whole Super Lig. Much like Cairney, he's registered double figures for Goals and Assists for Kayserispor this season and this is in a team that's currently 14th in the Super Lig. Türüc can play wide as well as centrally, but with how influential he can be to a team, he reminds me a bit of Cairney really in that he can play wide- but he's probably best suited to playing centrally.

Kevin Möhwald (Nuremberg)
It's clearly worked for Huddersfield, so why shouldn't looking at the Bundesliga. 2 be an option for us? Put simply, Möhwald has the second highest Assists in the Bundesliga. 2 in what is now last season- while playing for a team that's been Mid-Table. Add on to that the fact he's 23 Years Old, to me he'd be a pretty low-risk signing and he'd be a good option to have next season.

Forwards
To me, we need to sign another Winger and two Strikers of a good level to add to what we've already got to have a good crack at next season. Especially on the Striker front, the earlier we get them through the door the better.

Lucas Piazon (Chelsea)
Let's just get the obvious one out of the way. I hope we sign Piazon. He clearly likes being here, and as far as options go we could do a lot worse. I'm actually curious to see how Piazon would do if he's actually settled at a team, because he arrived at Chelsea with quite a lot of hype but I think their loan farming methods destroyed him. So if he does get settled at a club he could potentially turn into a really tidy player.

Iuri Medeiros (Sporting Lisbon)
Medeiros is in many ways of the same ilk of the likes of Piazon in that he's just constantly out on loan. He's a level or two (at least) above him though, and Medeiros definitely wouldn't be cheap were we to sign him. I've seen reports that he's expected to go back to Sporting Lisbon next season after loan spells at Arouca, Moreirense and Boavista in the last couple of years. However, I doubt he's completely indispensable to Sporting and should we put the right offer in we could probably sign him. This one is ambitious without a doubt, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.

Marcus Ingvartsen (Nordsjælland)
The Danish League is a weird one, because it's by no means a league of the highest standard- but there's always a few gems in there. Specifically in-terms of Strikers. You just have to look at Nicolai Jorgensen who went from Copenhagen to Feyenoord last summer and he went on to be Top Scorer and Top Assister in the league for Feyenoord in their league winning season.

Ingvartsen is someone who I would imagine will be in quite high demand this summer, because not only was he Top Scorer in the Danish League, he's also only 21 Years Old. He's 6ft 1, so could do a good job in the "Chris Martin" type role of holding the ball up a bit and bringing our other attackers into play. He would be a risk given his age and the level he's played at up to this point, but as I've said I want us to sign two Strikers and Ingvartsen would definitely be someone I'd want us to go after as one of them.

Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)
This one doesn't need much of an explanation. If Abraham can get as many goals as he did while being injured for a spell in a largely unimpressive Bristol City team, imagine what he could do in a team as attacking as we are which creates as many chances as we do. It is of course very possible that they loan him out to another Premier League team after his ridiculously successful first season at senior level, but if they were to loan him out to another Championship team we should be at the front of the queue for him whatever it takes.

Enzo Crivelli (Bordeaux) 
Crivelli's another relatively young Striker who's coming off of having a really good season in a struggling team in Ligue 1 in Bastia on loan from Bordeaux. I don't know for definite, but I'm also fairly certain we could get him for Free because to the best of my knowledge he hasn't signed a new contract with Bordeaux yet. If that was the case, signing someone who's scored 10 Goals for a team that finished bottom of Ligue 1 on a Free would be a pretty good deal in my opinion.

Duje Čop (Cagliari)
I saw we were linked with Kenan Kodro from Osasuna a few days ago, but it's another Striker for a relegated La Liga team I thought I'd highlight. I've been looking at La Liga Strikers ever since we were linked with Sergi Enrich in January, and of the ones I think we could realistically sign Čop is one of the ones I'd love to. Scoring 9 Goals for a team of Sporting Gijon's standard in La Liga is no mean feat, and given the fact Cagliari have loaned him for the last two seasons I would imagine he'd be relatively affordable.

Sergi Enrich (SD Eibar)
We're ending the "Ins" section with someone who we came close to signing in January by some accounts. Of all the names in this "Attackers" section he'd be top of my list. I know he signed a new contract at Eibar once the January window was over and I'm not sure what his new release clause is, but given the relative size of Eibar, I would think if we threw enough money their way they'd have to accept the offer. A player like Enrich could be the difference maker between going up and staying down, so I hope we're willing to spend big money on a Striker this summer.

I'd actually looked at potential options from the Belgian League for this part, but the two top scorers are way too good for us and will likely be off to the Premier League and then the third highest was Orlando Sa so I just stopped there.

For the first time in a while, we're an attractive proposition for players. We're in London, and we've now developed a reputation of playing good Football under Slavisa. We need to use that and of course spend an appropriate amount of money and we could very well be looking at Premier League football in a years time.

Outs
Let's just get the easy ones out of the way first.

Chris Martin (Derby)
No explanation needed.

Cyriac (Oostende)
I actually wanted to see more from Cyriac, because while I wouldn't say he's a player of the highest level I think he'd have a place in our squad if he could bulk up a bit. However, from reports I've seen we're not signing him permanently this summer even though we had the option to, so as a result he finds himself in this section of the post.

Thanos Petsos (Werder Bremen)
Remember him?

This is another unique situation for this type of post on here, because the focus of it isn't on having a mass clear-out, but rather the need to hang on to key players.

Tom Cairney
To go up, we most likely have to keep Cairney here. Would I begrudge him a move to the Premier League? Absolutely not. Especially if a Premier League team were to come in with a bid of 15 Million plus it would be very hard to turn down. However, in my idealistic world, Cairney decides to give us one more season to try and "finish the job" and take us up as Captain and if he doesn't we agree to sell him to anyone willing to pay our asking price next summer. Brighton managed to hang on to all of their key players last summer despite interest elsewhere, and we need to do the same if we want to be in Brighton's position this time next year.

Ryan Sessegnon
Sessegnon is quite an interesting one to me, because while I obviously want us to keep our best players. Provided he signs a professional contract with us, we can pretty much name our price for him. If selling Sessegnon brought in 15-20 Million that could potentially be the difference between us going up and staying down I would 100% sell him. I know that sounds harsh, but the reality of the situation with players like Sessegnon is that they always end up at a big club, and if the money brought in from his sale is the difference in the level of Striker we could sign this summer I know which one I'd prefer.

I obviously want us to keep our best young players. However, the financial benefits from selling him, and potential long-term financial benefits the money brought in from him could give us would mean I'd be open to selling him for the right price. Especially if we could get a sell-on clause and maybe a Loan back as well.

Jozabed
As I've already said, should Tom Cairney be sold, I wouldn't look much further than giving Jozabed a proper run in the team. Especially after seeing him play like he has done for Celta Vigo it confirmed my suspicions that we hadn't seen the best of him in a Fulham shirt. But he barely had a chance to make an impact for us. I do wonder if he isn't dissimilar to Kebano in that if given the time and the opportunity he could've made a splash with us. However, as I also said, I think we've burned our bridge as far as he's concerned, but we should get a decent transfer fee for him. At least recouping the majority, if not all the money we spent on him last summer.

Richard Stearman
Stearman's quite a lot like Matt Smith, in that he's almost definitely surplus to requirements for us- but he should still fetch a not insignificant transfer fee for us and a number of Championship teams will definitely be interested in him.

Ryan Tunnicliffe
I still like Tunnicliffe. Do I think he's good enough for us? No. However, a player like him will always have a place in a team. I could see him dropping down to League 1 or doing something similar to Dan Burn and going to a Championship team that will be fighting relegation next season like Bolton perhaps.

Ragnar Sigurdsson
It's not worked out for Sigurdsson simply put. I don't believe he's a bad defender, because he's had some good games for us without a doubt. However I just don't think he's suited to English football to be blunt, and at the stage of his career that he's at, he should be playing every week realistically which we simply can't offer him. He should fetch a decent(ish) fee for us though. I think we signed him for about 4 Million, and I'd expect us to sell him for maybe 2-2.5.

Cauley Woodrow
I think it's about time Cauley moved on. He's shown at Burton that he can be a useful player in the Championship, but he's a level below where we are now, and multiple levels below where we want to be. We could probably sell him for 1-2 Million to a Mid-Table Championship team like Barnsley, Preston etc.

Lasse Vigen Christensen
Going back to my point about Stefan Johansen not being able to play to his highest level for 46+ games a season, Christensen could feasibly be Johansen's rotation option. We all know what he's capable of doing after his first few months in the First Team under Kit. But I don't think Slavisa rates him considering he couldn't even make it into our 18 most weeks so I think he'll be off this summer, either permanently or another loan.

David Button
I don't think there's many Fulham fans who'd be disappointed if Button did go. I do think he's been too harshly criticised at times this season, but he was without a doubt dropped rightly after the Derby away game. Put simply, he didn't come to us to be a #2 and he'll want to move to somewhere who'll make him their #1 because he won't be our #1 next season.

Scott Parker
I'm probably in the minority, but I genuinely see Scott Parker doing another season in the role he's played this season of half "experienced head to bring on" half coach effectively. He won't play much next season, I'm not saying he will, but there's still definitely some value in keeping him in the set-up.

The Championship is wide open next season. The only team that's been relegated who I think will challenge the Top 6 next season is Boro, and there's not a team like Brighton last season who were pretty much ready to push for Automatics before the season even started. It's not going to be an easy season by any means. You've got the likes of Norwich, Wednesday, Reading/Huddersfield and Derby to add on to Boro (potentially Villa as well, but they need to do a lot of work considering their rumoured FFP problems). But, I'd back us against any of them. I genuinely believe if we get this summer window right we could push for Top 2 next season.

Thanks for reading as always. I can't say when the next one of these will be out, but just keep an eye out. I'm definitely not done with these. If you've read some of my previous posts welcome back, if you're new hopefully you stick around for the next one. Hopefully you have a good summer, and we're all back in August for what'll hopefully be a season even better than the one just gone.

Royal Rumble Predictions

Right then, what did I miss? I don't think it's worth going into the reason(s) for the long gap between posts. After all we're right on the edge of Wrestlemania season baybay! Just know that these posts are back as of tonight. I had originally planned to bring these back with the 2016 Sammy Awards, but then WWE had to go and cancel the Slammy's didn't they. So really blame WWE, I mean we all do anyway- but still. Anyway, we've got a stacked Royal Rumble card- and for those of you who've been reading these blogs for a while you'll know I like to book the entire Royal Rumble match in these predictions. So hopefully you'll be looking forward to my inevitably better version of the Rumble.

Anyway, I might be a bit rusty with this whole "predicting" thing- so let's see how I get on shall we?

Pre-Show: Sasha Banks v Nia Jax
The injury angle is of course the potential spanner in the works of this prediction. I'm simply saying Sasha's going to win, because well, she's Sasha. Added onto that the fact it's on the Pre-Show which drastically decreases any chance of a Heel winning means I see Sasha winning. That's not to say it's impossible Nia wins, but with this being the last PPV of any kind for RAW wrestlers for over a month I doubt they'd keep the angle properly going for that long.
Winner: Sasha Banks

Pre-Show: Sheamus & Cesaro v Gallows & Anderson- RAW Tag Titles
As much as I want Gallows and Anderson to win the Titles, I simply don't see it happening. Which is annoying, but a sad fact of how they've been booked. I may have discussed it a bit at the time, but if I didn't I'd just to like to say that Finn Balor getting injured was the worst possible thing for Gallows & Anderson. I'll maintain to this day that Balor would've turned pretty soon after winning the Title at Summerslam. For the simple reason that Roman has be the #1 Babyface. Anyway, that's off topic. Sheamus and Cesaro are winning. God knows who they'll wrestle next. The Shining Stars?
Winner: Sheamus & Cesaro

Pre-Show: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya v Becky Lynch, Naomi & Nikki Bella
A women's 6-Man Tag. When was the last time there was a good one of those? I think Mickie James is pinning Becky with some shenanigans. There are of course alternative outcomes. These 6 could very possible be in a Women's Elimination Chamber match for example, and Naomi could be pinning Alexa after their little interaction on Tuesday. Then Nikki could be pinning Natalya for obvious reasons, but I personally think these two will be abandoning the match to fight all over the arena. I'm sticking with Mickie getting the win.
Winner: Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Natalya

Neville v Rich Swann- Cruiserweight Title
There's not really been much to shout about in the absence of these blogs, but Neville's turn has been without doubt one of the highlights of that time. If it weren't for AJ and Jericho, I'd actually be saying Neville's the best thing about WWE TV at this moment in time. I do really like Swann, but Neville's run is simply too good to halt now. Get the Title on Neville, and start building the inevitable Wrestlemania Pre-Show match for the Title between Neville and Gallagher.
Winner: Neville

Bayley v Charlotte- RAW Women's Title
I'm most likely wrong, but simply put, I just want the Title on someone other than Charlotte and Sasha. I think the more likely scenario is Bayley winning the Title at Mania by pinning Sasha in the rumoured 4-Way between Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha and Nia which would allow Sasha to turn and us to finally get a Bayley/Sasha main roster feud. So simply put, I know I'm wrong, but I'm predicting it anyway.
Winner: Bayley

John Cena v AJ Styles- WWE Title
I saw something to the effect of Meltzer said that neither AJ or Owens will be the Champion going into Mania. That made me think of the possible routes they'll go down for the Mania Title matches, the wildcard is of course the Chamber between now and Mania. Given the fact that AJ's rumoured Mania match is against Shane, I think it's a lot more likely that AJ loses the Title in the Chamber given what he's already said with regard to the Chamber match. Therefore I can only predict AJ to win. Although it definitely wouldn't be a surprise if Cena did win let's put it that way.
Winner: AJ Styles

Kevin Owens v Roman Reigns- Universal Title w/ Jericho in a Shark Cage
Going back to what Meltzer said, according to him the Mania card at this moment in time has The Undertaker wrestling Roman. As soon as Taker showed up on RAW in recent weeks I had a feeling it would happen let's put it that way. To me, Taker was either wrestling Roman or Strowman- and I don't think Braun's ready for a proper "marquee" match-up at a Wrestlemania yet despite how much he's improved in recent months.

My initial thoughts when I saw Meltzer said that Owens wouldn't be Champion going into Mania was surprise, because at the time I genuinely thought Jericho would win the Rumble and go on to wrestle Owens for the Title at Mania. I just can't see a scenario where Owens loses the Title in this match as shocking as that may be. The No DQ addition last Monday just makes me think there'll be some shenanigans resulting in Owens retaining. However, it's for that exact reason that I think that's what they want you to think and Roman's winning.
Winner: Roman Reigns

Royal Rumble Match
The last few times I've done this there's been a sizeable number of "empty" spots in the Rumble, meaning I've just dived right into the match. This year, and fair play to the WWE they've actually booked the match quite well. As a result there's only 8 spots left to be filled, so let's look at who they'll be.

Firstly, no to Kenny Omega. I know some people think he will- but he won't. He just won't. The first name, which I think is a fairly obvious one is Samoa Joe. I don't think this one even needs to be discussed. His feud with Nakamura's over and his absence on any NXT programming since it ended says it all. Then one that's less exciting, but is equally as likely is Kane. It's just not a Rumble without Kane really. Then last "safe bet" one bringing us down to 5 empty spots is the man, the myth, the legend, James Ellsworth. This promises to be one of the most "serious" Rumbles in recent memory, but there'll still be time for some comedy. Then there's another sort of "comedic" entrant, although not to the same level as Ellsworth in Enzo Amore, who genuinely baffled me when trying to work out the order of this because I thought he was already in the match so I'd accidentally left out Rusev in my original 30.

Ellsworth being in the match brings me onto my first slightly less obvious pick for the remaining spots, JBL. JBL's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty clear, and I just think they'll do something with the two- plus Dolph being in the match after recent goings on leads to some interesting dynamics shall we say. I also think Mark Henry's quite likely, just cos Texas really.

This leaves us with two spots left, and these are my "wildcard" options I suppose you could say. In that these appearances could truly go one way or the other. The first is perhaps more likely than unlikely, but I'd still say far from a guarantee in Kurt Angle. If Kurt does show up, the "You Suck" chants in that size of a stadium will be a proper goosebumps moment. I'm just desperate for it to happen really. Then the last option after what happened on Monday is Triple H.

Now that we've got the 30, let's get ready to rumble!

1. The Undertaker
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Kurt Angle
4. Kane
5. Enzo Amore
6. Cesaro
7. Baron Corbin
8. Xavier Woods
9. James Ellsworth
10. The Miz
11. JBL
12. Dolph Ziggler
13. Rusev
14. Dean Ambrose
15. Bray Wyatt
16. Big E
17. Sami Zayn (but not really, more later)
18. Randy Orton
19. Braun Strowman
20. Kofi Kingston
21. Big Show
22. Mojo Rawley
23. Luke Harper
24. Goldberg
25. Mark Henry
26. Big Cass
27. Sheamus
28. Chris Jericho
29. Samoa Joe
30. Triple H

In-terms of the stature of the guys involved, I would argue that this is one of, if not the biggest Rumbles ever. That's obviously what they've gone for- and as a result they're not going to start the Rumble off with two Midcarders. It may not necessarily be Taker and Brock, but it'll be two of the "big three" i.e. Taker, Brock and Goldberg. I've gone for Taker and Brock because of the obvious history between the two, combined with the fact I think it's almost nailed on that they'll be doing Taker and Brock at Mania next year in New Orleans. We won't really get much between these two, with a stare off being the majority of their "1-on-1" time. However, in the last 30 seconds or so Brock will kick Taker in the dick and F5 him. He'll look as if he's about to eliminate Taker when a certain music will hit and the place will go mental.

I'm going to Mania this year, so I obviously hope there'll be some amazing moments- but I'll predict right now that if Kurt Angle shows up in the Rumble then it'll be the best moment we'll get all year. Kurt will milk the entrance and the "You Suck" chants before coming face-to-face with Brock. Brock will go to German Suplex him, Angle will reverse it and hit a few on Brock. He'll then hit the Angle Slam on Brock before getting the Ankle Lock on Taker- and then we'll get a certain relation of Taker entering in 4th. We'll get some back and forth with Kane and Angle, but there won't really be much in this little section. Then we get #5, Enzo Amore! You probably already know where this is going. Enzo eliminates all of them at the same time! No, he's going to come in- it'll be worked so Taker, Brock, Angle and Kane are in the 4 corners of the ring. Enzo will be dead centre in the ring, do his wacky dance, look as though he's going to try and take them all on. Kane hits him with a Big Boot, Taker Chokeslams him, Angle Angle Slams him, Brock hits the F5 and then he gets dumped over the top rope. Most likely by Kane just to give him another elimination to add to his career total. (Enzo Amore eliminated by Kane).

After the Enzo spot, Taker and Angle will pair off, as will Kane and Brock- before Cesaro enters the mix. I really hope they give Cesaro a decent showing in this Rumble. It's unlikely, and while I'm not doing it in "my" match I hope they avoid some fuckery involving Sheamus & Cesaro to eliminate one of, if not both of them. Anyway, Cesaro's amazing- and he'll come in like a house on fire, uppercuts for everyone, let's move on. Next in, we have Baron Corbin- who's been an interesting player over the last number of months. He'll do the usual thing of running in and clotheslining everyone, before eventually hitting the End of Days on Kane and eliminating him. (Kane eliminated by Baron Corbin). Next in we have Xavier Woods, and he won't be too dissimilar to Enzo in that he'll be steamrollered by Brock, F5'd and quickly dispatched. (Xavier Woods eliminated by Brock Lesnar). The key thing here is Xavier is completely dead on the outside and is remaining on the outside for the foreseeable future.

After that elimination, Brock will go on a bit of a tear, F5's and Suplex's for everyone (except Taker) leaving him waiting for the next entrant. James Ellsworth! I'd considering a number of options involving Ellsworth, whether it be a spot with Ambrose, a spot with Braun, or even a spot with Goldberg. However, this is what I settled on. It's basically going to be Brock doing his usual sadistic laugh thing knowing he's about to murder someone. Ellsworth walking to the ring as slowly as humanly possible. Just as Ellsworth is about to enter, Taker shows up behind Brock, low blows him, and subsequently Chokeslam's him. Taker then stares at Ellsworth in the usual "Taker" way and Ellsworth before Angle appears behind him, Angle Slams Taker and basically a repeat of what happened with Taker and Brock. In short, Ellsworth's survived. For now.

Now, entering at #10, Tye Dillinger! How original! C'mon guys, I predicted this last year. It's obviously a possibility, but for a number of reasons I simply don't see it happening. The funny thing is, due to the size of the crowd, I'm not even sure the majority of those in attendance will actually care that much- simply because they won't know who Tye Dillinger is. However, there'll still be some wanting him- so in place of Tye you need the heat magnet himself The Miz.

Miz enters, he'll go on a spree of "Yes" Kicks, but that's really it for his little section. Next in, we have Tripp Bradshaw, also known as John "Bradshaw" Layfield. As I've already said, he's made his hatred of Ellsworth pretty apparent. Once he's taken his tie off etc., he'll enter the ring, Ellsworth will be magically in the middle of the ring without anyone around him, JBL will enter the ring, Clothesline from Hell, and Ellsworth is slightly less f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. (James Ellsworth eliminated by JBL). However, JBL's not long for this world, and after what's been happening recently on Smackdown I would actually quite like to see this in the Rumble. Dolph enters, JBL goes for the Clothesline from Hell, Dolph ducks, Superkicks JBL over the top rope. (JBL eliminated by Dolph Ziggler).

Next in, we've got Rusev, and he'll do the standard "running wild" once he comes in, before getting the much anticipated stare down between Rusev and Kurt Angle. Again, I'll be very disappointed if this doesn't happen. While I'm not necessarily expecting a match between the two, it just sort of has to happen really. After some back and forth, with Angle going for the Angle Slam, Rusev reverses, Superkick and throws Angle over the top rope. (Kurt Angle eliminated by Rusev). Let's face it, if Angle's entering the Rumble a proper heel has to be the one to eliminate him, much like with AJ last year.

In next is Dean Ambrose, who'll do his usual Dean Ambrose stuff. We'll get a few little moments between Ambrose and Brock because of Mania last year, and of course Ambrose and Miz- but apart from that there's not really much to it. Bray Wyatt's the next man to enter the fray, and his time before the next entrant is almost exclusively going to be stare-downs between him and Taker and him and Brock. Meanwhile, with some distractions from Maryse, (Cesaro eliminated by The Miz). We're quite Heel heavy at the moment, so we need some babyfaces to balance things out a bit- bring in Big E. Your Uncle and your Daddy. He'll be Belly-to-Belly'ing everyone in sight upon entering, but as with Xavier, Brock will murder him, dump him to the outside where he's out cold, for now. (Big E eliminated by Brock Lesnar).

Sami Zayn's music hits, after his slightly questionable win on Monday Night. But nobody comes out. What could this possibly mean? We cut to the shaky, running camera backstage where Kevin Owens who's already pissed because he lost his Title tonight is throwing Sami into various things in order to steal his spot in the Rumble. Yup. Owens steals Sami's spot. Samimania is running wild! Owens will be selling the (most likely) multiple spears, but he'll still be going for it, and will most likely be cheered by the majority of the crowd who'll be pissed Roman took the Title off him.

Randy Orton's out next, and he's here to help out Bray of course. RKO's for a few people, before he and Bray combine with their Abigail/RKO spot to eliminate Baron Corbin. (Baron Corbin eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Next, Randy and Bray will eliminate Rusev (Rusev eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton). Randy and Bray will be standing tall when the next man enters, who Bray's quite familiar with. Braun Strowman. We'll get the stare off between Bray and Braun, not too dissimilar to the one they had before Survivor Series with Randy stepping in front of Bray. Before Braun "nods" as if to say I won't be going for you, turning around, hitting the running powerslam on Dolph before swiftly dispatching of him (Dolph Ziggler eliminated by Braun Strowman). They'll then gang up on the various guys still in the Rumble before we get our #20 entrant Kofi Kingston.

He'll spring to the ring and Braun will literally use Kofi's own momentum to throw him from the ring all the way to the announce tables on the other side. It's Kofi Spot time! Big E and Xavier will have been slowly coming round as the match has progressed to the point where they're both on their hands and knees at this stage. Kofi sees this, and uses Big E and Xavier as Stepping Stones to get back to the ring. He'll then go to the top rope, dive off and eat an RKO before being swiftly dispatched. (Kofi Kingston eliminated by Randy Orton).

In next is The Big Show, and he'll have a stare-down with Braun, back and forth, but with Braun being too powerful and swiftly dispatching him. (Big Show eliminated by Braun Strowman). Out next is Mojo Rawley who'll try and put up a fight, but be eliminated by The Wyatts pretty quickly (Mojo Rawley eliminated by Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton/Braun Strowman). Then, Luke Harper's next out, and after Smackdown things will be a bit intriguing between Harper, Bray and Randy. They'll have a little stare off before looking as though they're on the same page by going straight after Ambrose, and after Ambrose putting up a bit of a fight (Dean Ambrose eliminated by The Wyatt Family).

At this stage, we've got The Undertaker, Brock, Kevin Owens, Miz, Bray, Randy, Harper and Strowman. Sounds like it's time for some Heels to be cleaned out. Enter, Goldberg. He'll hit the ring like a house on fire. Spear everyone except Brock, with the big spot coming when he Jackhammers Braun and eliminates him (Braun Strowman eliminated by Goldberg). We'll then get the big moment with Brock and Goldberg facing off once more. After some back and forth, they'll basically work it so they both eliminate each other (Goldberg eliminated by Brock Lesnar/Brock Lesnar eliminated by Goldberg). They'll keep fighting after hitting the floor and we'll get the massive pull apart brawl to suitably hype up their Wrestlemania match.

Out next is Mark Henry for the aforementioned "Texas pop", but he'll be overwhelmed by The Wyatts pretty quickly and dispatched by them. (Mark Henry eliminated by The Wyatt Family). As is the case with these sort of eliminations you'll have all three facing the same way, Harper takes a step back and pushes Bray over the top rope and eliminates him (Bray Wyatt eliminated by Luke Harper). However, Harper will turn around and take an RKO for his troubles before being eliminated by Randy. (Luke Harper eliminated by Randy Orton). Now he's been eliminated Bray will Sister Abigail him on the outside to firmly establish Harper's divorce from the family.

This next little bit is mainly the "cool down" part before we hit the big finish, and we're bringing Big Cass out to start that little section. Then it's Sheamus out and he'll be doing his usual Sheamus things. This is basically just to fill the ring up for the latter stages of the Rumble. Out next is Jericho, who does have a chance of winning if Owens retains earlier in the night. He'll obviously align with Owens and they'll be on top for their little bit before the next entrant.

Then the moment that is I'd say 99% likely to happen, and the moment I'm definitely anticipating to be great, Samoa Joe finally being on the main roster. Hopefully they don't ignore his history with Owens, and Owens sells it as the big deal it is and similar to how he sold Sami's entrance last year. Joe will run wild, taking out Owens, Jericho, they could even tease something between Joe and Taker even if it won't come to anything. He'll also go on to get a few eliminations under his belt in the forms of Big Cass and Sheamus before the last entrant. (Sheamus eliminated by Samoa Joe), (Big Cass eliminated by Samoa Joe).

The last entrant is Triple H. If Triple H is showing up in the Rumble, and I feel like he might, he'll only come in at #30. Because if you were in a position of power as Triple H is, why wouldn't you come in at #30? They'll be playing up how Triple H won the Rumble from #30 last year. After his initial flurry, and most likely a stare down with Taker given their history and hopefully Joe as well to tease something down the line with them. However, after all of that, Seth Rollins music will hit, he'll run down, and he'll finally get Triple H!

My theory on what happened on Monday, as well as giving Owens a way into the match by taking out Sami, was this run-in was going to happen either with Seth on Triple H or Triple H on Seth- and given the nature of the crowd it would be cheered either way. As a result, why would they have Triple H who's the heel be the one to get the pop? After some back and forth, Rollins with hit the Pedigree on Triple H to a big pop before throwing Triple H over the top rope. (Triple H eliminated by Seth Rollins).

Now we've had all of the entrants we're left with The Undertaker, Miz, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Samoa Joe. The next angle in the match is the one involving Jericho and Owens. I don't think a month is long enough to fully build the Jericho/Owens match which would happen if they split at Fast Lane. As a result, I think the disintegration of Team Chris and Kevin is going to come now. Jericho and Owens will go to throw someone over the top rope. It doesn't really matter who, so let's just say it's Miz. When Jericho will take the step back, not unlike the Harper on Bray elimination and eliminate Owens. Every man for themselves right? (Kevin Owens eliminated by Chris Jericho). However, Jericho's not long for this world either. After the elimination, he'll turn out, take an RKO and be thrown over the top rope by Randy Orton. (Chris Jericho eliminated by Randy Orton). Jericho's night isn't done there however. He'll have been thrown over to the same side that Owens is on, after hitting the deck, Owens will look at him, pick him and Pop-Up Powerbomb him onto the side of the apron.

We're now down to 4, and these are the 4 guys who I think have genuine chances of winning. The Undertaker, The Miz, Samoa Joe and Randy Orton. The Undertaker because of my aforementioned prediction of Roman Reigns winning the Title and his rumoured match with Roman at Mania. Randy Orton because there's a chance Bray wins the Title in the Chamber and then they do Randy/Bray for the Title at Mania. Then there's Joe who isn't associated with one particular brand yet, so they could tease him going for both titles for a few weeks. And of course Miz, who I've said for a few weeks is my dark horse to win the thing.

The first of the 4 to go is unfortunately going to be The Miz, and let's just give another elimination to Joe eh? (The Miz eliminated by Samoa Joe). I truly believe Joe is going to be treated as a big deal on the Main Roster, and being in this position of the Final Three in the Rumble against Orton and Taker is the perfect start to this. His elimination will come after taking an RKO and Tombstone before being forced over by both guys. (Samoa Joe eliminated by Randy Orton/The Undertaker).

To me, this has been the most unpredictable Rumble in a few years in that there's not a ridiculously obvious winner. However, it's still down to two guys with realistic chances of winning for me- and these are those two guys. I'm going with Taker winning, just because I think they'll keep Randy firmly on Bray's side until the Chamber in a few weeks time- and they'll want to start building Roman/Taker ASAP. (Randy Orton eliminated by The Undertaker).
Winner: The Undertaker

That's the Royal Rumble match folks. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this, because I've liked booking it as I have done over the last few years. Just remember, my booking hasn't been matched the last two years- so this is as good as it gets.

Hopefully you've enjoyed my first predictions in absolutely ages. The Review will be up tomorrow if all goes to plan and I haven't died from sleep deprivation. Thanks for reading as always, and let's just hope for a good one tonight eh? I've got quite high hopes for it.

Backlash Predictions

Hello! It's the first of the now twice a month Predictions posts! Everybody contain your excitement. I know I'm looking forward to losing even more sleep than I am already. We'll probably have to rely on Meltzer for this, but I'm really curious to see how the split-brand PPV's do viewership wise. Specifically how the Smackdown specific PPV's do, because as much as I'm sure most of us have enjoyed the weekly Smackdown show- it can't shake off the stigma of it being the "B Show" in less than 2 Months. I bring this up because of the reports of them giving away tickets for free and the general low attendance expected tonight. Especially for tonight's PPV that was going to be a House Show up until the PPV was announced approximately two and a half months ago. So basically, it's going to take time for Smackdown to be viewed at the same level that RAW is.

I suppose the notable thing right off the bat is that at the time of writing this is there's only 6 announced matches on the card, and one Tag Team is going to be in two of them! To put that into context for you, Takeover: Brooklyn had 6 matches as well, three of which went for close to or more than 20 minutes. That was a two hour show. So basically, my first prediction tonight is whether it will in fact be a 6 match card or if we get some other matches to fill the card out. I can't see a scenario where it is actually a 6 match card. I just can't. Even if the AJ Styles/Dean Ambrose match goes really long. So my first prediction is who will be in said card-filling out matches.

I've got a weird feeling that Jason Jordan's going to be in a Singles Match. It might just be because I remember something Alvarez said around the Draft time about them thinking about calling Jordan up on his own. I'm probably wrong, but I thought I'd just throw that one out there. I think the more likely candidates are us getting an Apollo Crews match against someone (would've said Curt Hawkins if he weren't billed for Tuesday), and then either Kane/Baron Corbin- or if they want to build that match up a bit Kane against Tyler Breeze, Fandango or both. I was also expecting some sort of Kalisto match, and while I don't think it's confirmed- I read on Reddit that he's injured. I might have missed that one while I was in New York.

Either way, those two matches would take us up to an 8 match card which would be able to fill 3 hours pretty comfortably given how long I'm expecting the AJ/Dean and the Women's match to go. On the subject of the card, let's get into some predictions! That's what you're here for right?

The Usos v The Hype Bros
I feel like it's worth repeating the point I made about this match in my Smackdown Review. Within kayfabe, why would Bryan and Shane reward The Usos for causing the situation that meant this match had to be made in the first place? The Usos shouldn't have been rewarded for injuring Gable, they should've been suspended! By the way, I still won't believe Gable wasn't suspended until he's back in less than 4 weeks. I just think with all of the Ryan Lochte stuff, given the fact Gable's a former olympian they decided to keep a lid on it. As I said it's all speculation, and if he's back in less than 4 weeks I'm obviously wrong- but that's just my opinion on it at this moment in time.

I think this outcome is fairly obvious. They can't have The Usos lose to the Hype Bros after just turning them. As a result, The Usos will win. Ideally with shenanigans, just because the Smackdown Tag Division is so weak- The Hype Bros have to be kept looking relatively strong because there will be a time in the not too distant future where they'll be going for the Titles.
Winner: The Usos

Heath Slater & Rhyno v The Usos- Smackdown Tag Title Match
I'm in two minds about the finish of this match. If they hadn't done the injury angle with Gable the picture was quite clear to me. It would've been Heath & Rhyno v American Alpha, and The Usos cost Alpha the win- and then Heath gets his contract. However, now that angle's been taken off the table- and The Usos have already turned I'm not really sure. Especially with how over Heath's got, I could see them wanting to stretch out (read: milking dry) this angle with Heath's quest for a contract for a little while longer. That's a definite possibility, but I think we've reached the natural conclusion of the Slater angle tonight- and Heath will be bringing a contract home to his 7,000 kids. To me, the most likely scenario is a Jason Jordan run-in costing The Usos- followed by a few weeks of The Usos killing him before Gable makes his triumphant return with a run-in to build up No Mercy.

Actually, if they do a celebration either tonight or Tuesday (if Heath wins) where all of his kids come down to the ring to celebrate and there's like 100 ginger kids coming down the ramp I'll forgive everything the WWE has ever done. I know they did that dark segment at Smackdown where he introduced his "family", but it wasn't on TV- and therefore to me it's not canon.
Winner: Heath Slater & Rhyno

Dolph Ziggler v The Miz- IC Title Match
At least to me, there's some legs to this feud- so the only "right" outcome at this stage is for Miz to retain. He won't necessarily "win", but I think- or rather hope that he retains. It'll be really interesting if he doesn't, because that may indicate that his promo on Talking Smack a few weeks ago has meant a bump up the card for him. It may sound weird, and the feud with Orton probably isn't a one-off- but I've always really wanted a proper Bray/Miz feud. I just think it'll give Bray a lot of stuff to talk about in his promos and the clash of worlds so to speak would be quite good. That's one for a bit down the line though. In short, if Miz does lose the Title tonight he's going up the card not down.

I also think this outcome could be directly linked to the outcome of the AJ/Ambrose match- in the sense that they may not want two babyface/heel champions on the show. So in short, I have absolutely no clue what's going to happen in this match. I'll go for Dolph, just because as I've repeatedly said I want AJ to win the Title and this would prolong that hope for a little while longer as the PPV progresses in my mind.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Bray Wyatt v Randy Orton
For those of you who've been paying attention on Twitter, you'll know what my prediction for this match is already. I can't see this being a "one and done" feud, and as a result- and with the way WWE does things it's a pretty safe bet that Bray wins in my opinion. Unless they seemingly change their minds, put the Brock/Orton rematch on the Network and use it to build Bray/Brock for Survivor Series.

The question really becomes how does Bray win, and with a certain Luke Harper seemingly ready to return- to me it's almost too perfect. So my prediction is basically exactly what happened at I think Battleground last year where Harper returned, superkicked Roman and allowed Bray to pick up the win. They might throw us a "curveball" with the outcome of this, and if they do I'd actually be in favour of it because it'd mean Bray has a better chance of "winning" the feud- but personally I can't see it.
Winner: Bray Wyatt

BONUS SECTION- Randy Orton possibly injured/not able to wrestle tonight? 
I've seen a few reports about this, and given what I've already said about this being a pretty bare card- I thought it was worth updating these Predictions. Basically, I don't think Randy's "injured injured" in the sense that he's going to be missing much- if any TV. From the way it's been reported it looks as though it's just an injury he hasn't fully gotten over yet. The question basically becomes, what do they do now?

They don't really have to deviate too much from what I've already predicted to happen. From the way it's been reported, it doesn't sound like Randy's too hurt to sell provided he protects whatever injury he's got. So to me, the best option is to film Randy getting ambushed backstage by Bray, Randy gets the upper hand briefly before Harper Superkicks him from off camera outta nowhere and Randy goes down, Bray does his "arms out" pose and they carry him off to the Wyatt Compound. That'll allow them to keep the feud relevant on TV with some vignettes while Randy gets over whatever injury he's got. Or they could just leave him there and Randy can act all pissed off on Tuesday and beyond about it. The point being, there's clear options on how to work this potential bad thing into a good one.

The only real worry is that for tonight, this was probably going to go around about 20 Minutes. That's even more time missing that needs to be filled. If the PPV does go a bit under (anywhere from 1-15 Minutes) I'd say that's fine- but any more than that and it's bad in my opinion. Although I will value the extra sleep it will give me.

Becky Lynch v Alexa Bliss v Nikki Bella v Naomi v Natalya v Carmella- Smackdown Women's Title 6-Pack Elimination Match
I just don't want Nikki to win. I think Alvarez said something similar, Nikki still has the "stink" of the "Divas" on her- because she pretty much summed up the Divas and the Divas Division. I don't hate Nikki, and comparatively to some people I like her. But she just doesn't really "fit" being the first Smackdown Women's Champion in my opinion. I realise it's somewhat hypocritical of me to say that given the fact before she was suspended I expected and wanted Eva to win the Title here- but it would've fit the Eva angle. Nikki just doesn't fit in the Title picture in my opinion. Becky Lynch is just a much better babyface than Nikki- that's a fact. Therefore my view is the best babyface (or best heel: Eva) should be the first Women's Champion.

I thought I'd predict the elimination order, and who does the eliminating as well just for a bit of fun. So here we go;
1. Carmella eliminated by Nikki Bella
I'm expecting this one to be quick. I mean first minute of the match quick. Ideally, they'd do a similar thing to when Zayn hit Owens with the Helluva Kick in that IC Title 4-Way a few months back- where Carmella just runs into a big forearm from Nikki and gets pinned.

2. Natalya eliminated by Naomi
I'd give Naomi one of the pins in this match, just to keep her competitive relative to the rest of the field so to speak. Natalya's the most expendable of all of the Women in-terms of long-term planning, so she should be the first elimination that's just an elimination and won't play into any angle/storyline.

3. Naomi eliminated by Nikki Bella
Even if she doesn't win, Nikki still needs to be kept looking strong- so as a result I'm expecting her to get the most eliminations tonight- and to be the only woman to get more than one elimination in the match. Which I think is the best way to go on the whole, because despite the nature of the match- all of the Women need to be kept looking alright just because of how thin the division is.

4. Nikki Bella eliminated by Alexa Bliss
This is where the early Carmella elimination comes into play. Nikki will be sizing up Alexa for her forearm, when Carmella will come back into the ring, hit some sort of big move on her- which will allow Bliss to go up for the Sparkle Splash and take Nikki out of the equation.

5. Alexa Bliss eliminated by Becky Lynch
You may be wondering why Becky hasn't got an elimination prior to this, and it's for the simple reason that Becky is the perfect underdog. She'll have taken a lot of offence in this match, and just generally be selling a lot. But she'll eventually get the Disarm-Her on Bliss and make her tap to become the new Champion.

This is the ideal scenario to me. You've got the Nikki/Carmella feud- which at this stage looks to be the most viable option for a secondary Women's feud and then you've got Becky as Champion and finally getting the Title. To me, most Babyfaces work better chasing than being chased- but I think just with the way Becky's been booked since she was called up her being chased would work really well.
Winner: Becky Lynch

AJ Styles v Dean Ambrose- WWE Title
I really hope I'm right with this prediction, because in my opinion the WWE and Smackdown needs AJ Styles as Champion. If for no other reason than the fact AJ Styles is literally the best wrestler Smackdown, and in my opinion WWE has at this moment in time. The simple fact of the matter is that both in a wrestling and character sense, AJ is miles ahead of Ambrose at the moment. Especially coming off the back of beating Cena clean, AJ should take the Title and run with it in my opinion until Cena comes back from filming- and then we can get what I thought the first feud would've been for the Smackdown World Title before Ambrose retained and brought the WWE Title over to Smackdown in AJ/Cena. As much as some may not want to admit it, the AJ/Cena feud is far from over and chances are Cena gets his win back when he returns.

I do like Ambrose, but the simple fact is that AJ's better in every conceivable way- and as such should be Champion. It really is that simple to me.
Winner: AJ Styles

I'm actually really looking forward to tonight. I've already said this a few times, but I'm expecting/hoping for a really good show tonight- and crucially some big angles to really get some buzz going with Smackdown as we head into a run of weeks where Smackdown has an actual chance of beating RAW in the ratings between the NFL and a Presidential Debate. Either way, depending on how well booked and how clusterfucky the women's match gets (because it could) I can't see a bad match on the announced card- and there's some proper potential in a few of them.

Thanks for reading as always, hopefully you'll be tagging along on Twitter tonight, and then come back for the Backlash Review tomorrow where hopefully I'll be full of praise and ushering in the new phenomenal era of Smackdown. Thanks again for reading, and once again remember- in a way we're all Heath's Kids.

Fulham v Birmingham Review: A Bad Day At The Office

Well, if you were being positive about this- you'd say that today was most definitely a wake-up call both for Jokanovic and the players. I'll start this off with two big things. I don't think we were nearly as bad as some people have been saying. It wasn't a good performance, I'm not saying it was- however the fact we managed to keep it to 1-0 and still looked a bit of a threat on the break means we're already ahead of where we were in certain games last season. The most direct comparison I can think of is the Wolves Home game from last season where Cairney got sent off- and we completely fell apart in that game.

To be blunt, I think we just overthought pretty much everything today. Going into the game there was all of this talk about how Birmingham were a good counter-attacking team and how we'd have to be wary of them on the break. So we pretty much played presumably how we prepared where we weren't expecting much pressure on Madl, Kalas and Button to play out from the back and try and play the "tiki-taka" style of play. I honestly lost count of the number of mistakes and times we lost the ball in our own half today, and the main casualty of all of it was of course Michael Madl.

Speaking of Michael Madl, this brings me on to my second big point to start things off. The Ref was pretty good on the whole today. Both Penalties were Penalties from my point of view, the second one especially was entirely our fault for once again trying to pass it out from the back. Both Madl Yellow Cards were deserving, and on the whole I thought the Ref did pretty well. The Ref wasn't perfect, I'm not saying he was- but to suggest the Ref has somehow cost us the game is moronic. Yes, there was the odd foul, advantage etc. that the Ref should have done better with- but he got all of the key decisions spot on.

There's not really much to say about the Goals section of this Review. The penalty was a penalty, and Donaldson didn't make the same mistake he did for Birmingham's first penalty of the day and put it in.

One of the few positives today was David Button. The obvious thing he did was save the first penalty, and on the whole I thought he did pretty well. When you go down to 10 Men you expect the Keeper to be busy, and for the most part I thought he did well. He did have a few moments with the ball at his feet that were a bit scary, so that's something we have to think about if we want to keep playing the way we did today and hope it's more effective.

While I've missed a couple of games, the general feeling from me in the games I've seen and the general consensus I've seen is that the Madl and Kalas pairing's performed quite well in the first month of the season. So, I can only conclude that this was by far and a way the worst performance for both of them in a Fulham shirt so far.

I initially thought Kalas had been away with the Czech Republic and that was why he was a bit off the pace, but he wasn't- so I'm not really sure what the excuse can be for him. He just looked "off", with the most costly of the mistakes he made being when he under-hit a pass to Madl which allowed Donaldson to run onto it and cause Madl to make the foul for his second yellow. Speaking of Madl, he was unlucky to be Red Carded in the sense that he shouldn't have been put in the position of having to get the second yellow. However, he wasn't really there as well today even before he gave away the Penalty and got sent off. In short, it'll interesting to see how Sigurdsson plays on Tuesday- because after today the starting position is there for the taking.

Scott Malone played alright today, he's definitely at the higher end of performances today- although that's not really saying much. If I had to really criticise one thing from Malone today it's the fact that I'm pretty sure he didn't reach a Fulham player with a single cross today- and he put in quite a few. There was also the weird moment late on when a cross reached him and he sort of half went for goal, half tried to knock it down for Martin which blew the chance. However, those are small critiques- and on the whole he did do alright.

I was already talking about my concerns with Denis Odoi from a defensive standpoint before I went to New York and missed a few reviews. However, we were winning- so I think a few people almost overlooked how suspect he looked at certain times. Now we've lost, the spotlight's a bit more on him- and he hasn't come out looking good. He was pretty ineffective going forward, as everyone was today- and then positionally he was a bit all over the place. I still think it's too early to judge Odoi, which is why I'm not being as harsh as I perhaps could be- and once Odoi's gone to Left-Back and had a run there I think it'll be a lot more of an accurate reflection on him.

In Jokanovic's Post-Match interview he said he "lost Scott Parker at the last moment" for today, and wow did we miss him. Kevin McDonald's been great for the most part since he's come in, and that was with either Tunnicliffe or Parker next to him. They gave him a bit of a safety net so to speak, and that in turn gave him a bit more confidence to go forward with the ball. Having Johansen and then Jozabed next to him, who are more attack-minded than McDonald meant he didn't have that today- and it showed in his performance in the 1st Half. Basically, today we've learned that McDonald can't be the "anchor" in our Midfield which lets the other Midfielders press high up the pitch. He did alright at Centre-Back all things considered- but let's hope he doesn't have to play there again in a hurry and that Parker's back ASAP so he can get back to his best.

I wasn't surprised by the lack of Martin, Sigurdsson and Kebano in the Starting XI- because with the depth in our squad we could afford to not play them when they weren't really 100% after their respective International games. I can only assume Johansen wasn't actually going to start until we "lost Scott Parker at the last moment" because he just didn't look up to it at all today. I'm not going to write him off after a 30 Minute performance surrounded by a generally underperforming team when he's just come back from Norway 4 or 5 days ago- but it's safe to say it wasn't the debut he would've hoped for.

Tom Cairney's set a very high bar for performances in August, and he never really came anywhere close to it today. He had the one run in the second half where he took on 2 or 3 players and got a shot away- but in general he was pretty ineffective today. We can only hope for a better performance on Tuesday, and I don't have any doubt he can turn it around quickly. His and Ayité's ineffective games was what really cost us today in my opinion. A consistent feature of us in August has been our ability to attack with pace and stretch defences- and neither Cairney on the right or Ayité on the left and then in the middle got anywhere close to even worrying the Birmingham defence for the vast majority of the game.

Sone Aluko was just completely out of the game today. I think we switched Aluko and Ayité in the 1st Half to try and get Aluko on the ball a bit more- but then the Madl Red Card happened not soon after and blew that plan out of the water. Then 2nd Half when he was played up-front he was completely ineffective, which is perhaps understandable before he went back out to the right when Martin came on to be completely ineffective. Notice the theme here? For Burton I personally want to see Cairney played in the #10 role, with Kebano and Ayité on the wings. That's not to say I've given up on Aluko already, but we've got the options- so we might as well try some different combinations.

As I've already said, I had a feeling our International players would be rested- meaning Chris Martin would have to wait for his first start. So, it wasn't a surprise to me that Matt Smith did start the game. However, the fact we had a game plan of passing it out from the back and generally trying to play "good" Football meant we were pretty much playing with 10 men today. I can only hope Smith's days of starting in the league are now pretty much over barring an injury to Martin. With all that said, I wouldn't have taken him off at Half-Time. Considering we were down to 10 Men having Smith up-front who can at least hold the ball up and give Button and the defenders someone to aim at would've been the smart thing to do in my opinion. Instead we had Aluko in that position which was baffling to me, and Jokanovic has to take the blame for it.

Jozabed gave a pretty good account of himself today all things considered. It was far from a perfect performance, but I thought he did pretty well in the Midfield considering the circumstances and given how ineffective Aluko was- if we keep Cairney on the right then Jozabed has to be right in consideration for playing in the #10 role. Kebano looked really lively when he came on, and from an attacking sense he was probably our best player today. That's not really saying much, but he does look like a really good signing for us. Getting subbed on with 15 minutes to go, when the team's down to 10 men, 1-0 down and not really looking up to much isn't an ideal way to make your debut as a Striker which was the case with Chris Martin. In short, you can't really make a judgement of Martin from today.

Our unbeaten run is officially over, but the good thing in a way is that we can't mourn the loss of it- because before we know it we'll be back at the Cottage for Burton where we can hopefully put in a better performance and get a better result as well. The fact is, even the absolute best teams have off days- and we're not one of the "absolute best teams". Expect more performances like the one day throughout the season to be blunt, but hopefully they'll be as limited as humanly possible. We now have to quickly move on to Tuesday, where hopefully the Review will be a lot more positive than this one has been.

Thanks for reading as always. The Reviews are officially back as of today, so hopefully you'll be coming back after the game on Tuesday and beyond for them. I was expecting days like today this season, and today doesn't completely write off the month of games we've had before it. In my Newcastle Preview I said I wanted 12 or 13 points from our first 10 games- and we're well on course to beat that goal. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you have a good week- and let's just hope we can bounce back quickly. I definitely have more faith in our ability to bounce back under Jokanovic than any of our recent managers.

Smackdown Live Review: 6th September

Hello! Yep, it's another Review- and we're back on the blue side of the divide this time around. I'll say right now, Smackdown to the surprise of absolutely nobody did in fact "beat" RAW this week. With that said, Smackdown last night wasn't exactly an amazing show- which you could perhaps expect given the fact they've got Backlash on Sunday. However, I still expected more than what we ended up getting. Anyway, there's quite a few things to talk about from last night's show- so I'm just going to get started.

Daniel Bryan, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Nikki Bella Opening Segment
I won't say this segment was bad, but it wasn't good. The initial part of the segment where it was just Becky Lynch and Daniel Bryan was fine, Becky's great, and unlike Sasha she seems comfortable in the role they've got her in when it comes to mic work. Then it all fell apart when Natalya's music hit. Apart from maybe Great Khali, I can't think of someone who's less of a natural on the mic that Natalya in the last 5 years. Natalya has genuine "change the channel" heat with me when she talks, the problem being that it was approximately 1:10am when she was talking and there was fuck all else to change the channel to.

Then this segment got really weird, I don't know if they were short on time or what- but they just abandoned playing entrance themes for the rest of the segment. Bliss and Carmella in particular came out from completely "outta nowhere", and I genuinely thought they were just hiding under the ring at one point it was just so weird. The segment did its job, given said job was to set up the 6 Woman Tag later on in the night- so I can't really fault it. But it wasn't the blow away start I was hoping we'd get just to highlight how bad RAW was the night before.

Dean Ambrose Backstage Skit
I have literally no idea what the point of this was. While the lines may have been blurred with the Ambrose/Ziggler feud, Ambrose is without a doubt the babyface in this feud with AJ. So why they showed him being a complete dick to a backstage guy and putting a ridiculous amount of sugar in said backstage guy's coffee is beyond me.

The Miz v Apollo Crews
Even though he lost, this match was by far the best Apollo Crews has looked probably since he joined WWE in my opinion. He actually came out to a pretty good crowd reaction which caught me off guard and he was really "on" last night. The one thing I will say is that I think Apollo needs a gimmick for this entrance. It does fit him I will say, but his entrance is just so bland. Just give him pyro or even just a jacket or really just anything to make his entrance stand out a bit. Especially when he's contrasted with The Miz it's night and day.

The actual match was pretty good. I was surprised Apollo lost actually, because with Dolph being on commentary I thought they could give him a distraction win to start getting some momentum going- but it wasn't to be.

The stuff with Maryse getting the Title back after the match was great, after having a whole angle with Bryan and how he's not a coward he then goes on to get his wife to get the Title back last night. Because Miz is an actual heel. He wants to be booed.

AJ Styles Backstage Interview
AJ did his best with what he actually had to work with the previous week, which was the angle with AJ crotching the ropes- but it was a pretty shit angle to base it all on wasn't it? I said as much last week.

Bray Wyatt Promo
I actually thought this was a really good promo from Bray. Because of how Bray's been booked, I think quite a few people just tune out Bray's promos- but if you actually listened to this one especially it was really good. It was Bray doing Bray, but in his own unique way he actually did a really good job of building the match on Sunday.

Carmella, Natalya & Alexa Bliss v Nikki Bella, Naomi & Becky Lynch
This was pretty much what you'd expect from a 6 Woman Tag. It was about as good as it really could've been in my opinion. The one problem I had with this match was the finish, more specifically what the finish means for Sunday's finish. Especially when they announced it was an Elimination Match in the opening segment, I thought that was their "out" for not putting the Title on Nikki this Sunday.

What I thought would happen is Nikki eliminates Carmella quite early on, and then Carmella would come back later on and cost Nikki the Title and have someone like Bliss eliminate her. Instead, Carmella made Nikki tap tonight, which to me makes Nikki winning the Title an almost certainty. I hope I'm wrong, and I'll talk about the options in my Predictions on Sunday- but after last night Nikki winning is all but a guarantee to me.

American Alpha v The Usos- Tag Tournament Semi-Final
This match was exactly what I want(ed) from one of the Cesaro/Sheamus matches. Just something really quick, mainly to keep the fans on their toes when they were watching the matches. This was over before it began and American Alpha had progressed to the Final. Or so we thought.

Imagine predicting even a couple of months ago that The Usos would have turned before Roman. I'll say right now I'm a fan of The Usos turning. It's the same reason people want(ed) Cena to turn, and the same reason people want Roman to turn- they were just so fucking stale as babyfaces there really wasn't much to lose for The Usos by turning heel. Especially once New Day stole all of the kids and the merch money that comes with the kids by turning babyface.

It was announced on Talking Smack that Gable was out for "2-4 weeks", which to me is pretty suspect. As of writing this there's not been an announcement of any kind on if Gable has a wellness violation, and they may not announce it given the potential mainstream bad publicity because Gable's an olympian. But if Gable's back after four weeks rather than two, then I think he may have had a violation. It's pure speculation on my part, but openly stating Gable's out for potentially 4 weeks is pretty suspect to me. Plus, I can't fathom why they wouldn't want American Alpha on the first Smackdown PPV.

In the absence of Gable, they're doing an Usos/Hype Bros match to set up who faces Heath and Rhyno for the Titles. To that I say, within kayfabe why would Bryan and Shane want to reward The Usos for causing the Gable injury? What logic is there in rewarding The Usos for injuring Gable and causing them to have the decision to make over what to do in the first place? It's a small thing, but it annoyed me nonetheless.

Randy Orton Backstage Promo
I quite liked this promo. Without a doubt, Randy looked like he was reading off a script the other side of the camera- and I wouldn't even be surprised if Randy had worked with Bray to script it. However, the way Randy read said script almost made it better to me. His delivery was really good in-terms of how it fit the feud- and it just generally carries on a feud between Randy and Bray where they mesh really well. I'll give you my prediction for the finish and how it comes about on Sunday, but I hope this turns into a proper feud between Randy and Bray- because they could really get the best out of each other if done right.

Fandango & Kane Segment
I have absolutely no clue what the point of this was. The stuff with Fandango trying to get that woman to dance was just odd. When the Woman started talking about how her hips were "the truth" I thought Golden Truth would be coming out, but then I remembered they were on RAW. Then I remembered that Kane was getting built up just as his pyro hit. It was a fine segment for what it was, and while it's not saying much- it was miles better than "that" New Day segment the night before.

I thought they would've built the Kane/Baron Corbin match up a bit (which I'm assuming is where they're going) but it would seem as though they're holding off on it until No Mercy in October.

AJ Styles Backstage Skit
See, I liked this segment with AJ being a dick BECAUSE HE'S THE HEEL! It fits with his character.

Curt Hawkins Vignette
I've ignored these vignettes in the Reviews, but seeing as he's showing up next week I thought I'd talk about it. The fact Hawkins has got vignettes suggests to me that he may get a few wins under his belt before he ends up as the Smackdown equivalent of Jinder Mahal jobbing on Main Event- but that's the only way I see this Hawkins return going. I suppose they could do something with Hawkins, Ryder and Mojo as well.

Rhyno & Heath Slater v The Hype Bros- Tag Tournament Semi-Final
The match wasn't really much. Heath and Rhyno won, and then Heath celebrated with his kids who took up the entire front row on one side of the arena. I love Heath Slater. It finally dawned on me what this angle reminded me of as well. The ECW Dudleys. Not just Bubba and D-Von, but when there was like 20 Dudleys. Heath's Kids are the new Dudleys. If/When Heath gets his contract I would love it if we got a "Heath's Kids" faction.

Dean Ambrose & AJ Styles Promo Segment
This is the second week in a row where they've done some wacky comedy in the segment to build the WWE Title match- which is coming up this Sunday. Last week it was the ropes stuff, and this week Ambrose gave him a Bowling Participation Trophy, which was a joke- because he probably didn't actually win it and even if he did he clearly didn't give a fuck about it. So when the segment broke down and AJ stood tall over Ambrose, why he felt the need to break the Trophy I don't know.

I did like the segment on the whole though. AJ's just phenomenal, and I hope to god he gets the Title on Sunday- because he's on a completely different level to where Ambrose is at the moment. Plus, to properly build Smackdown up in my opinion they need to have a Heel Champion like AJ who can properly carry a show, make everything he gets given work who will also put on good matches and elevate whomever he gets into the ring with.

It wasn't hard to beat RAW this week, the Gallows & Anderson/New Day segment saw to that. However, I still think the show was pretty solid on the whole- which headed into Backlash is good enough. That's really what this Smackdown was "good enough", especially when it just had to follow the RAW we had the previous night. I'm personally hoping there's a few big angles on Sunday, because next week is as good a chance as any for Smackdown to beat RAW in the ratings- but to do that they need to have a lot of genuine interest headed into Tuesday's show.

Thanks for reading as always, as I've made reference to a few times the Backlash Predictions will be up on Sunday- so keep an eye out for that. I'm actually quite looking forward to Backlash and I hope you are to. Before that we've got NXT and the CWC tonight, so hopefully you'll be tagging along with me on Twitter for that. Thanks again for reading, hopefully you have a good week- and remember, we are all Heath's Kids.

RAW Review: 5th September

Hello! That's right, we've officially hit the two weeks in a row status for the Reviews! For those of you who watched RAW in its entirety last night, you'll know what's coming in this Review. I know it's the time of year where people are going back to school and all that stuff, so if you haven't watched RAW or just watched some of the highlights- I feel like pointing out that everything I discuss actually happened. I'm writing this sentence approximately 11 Hours after RAW ended, and I still can't get my head around the 3rd Hour of RAW last night. Anyway, I'll get there in this Review- but for now I'll start at the start. That's how these things work, right?

Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley Backstage Segment
I don't know if it was just how I was feeling last night, because I felt really tired- but this segment did absolutely nothing for me. I've seen some people praising it, and to me it wasn't a bad segment by any means. However, Steph's acting did nothing for me and the segment made Mick look like a complete idiot. I don't know what Mick's character is anymore, it must be that of a complete idiot. While I don't think the angle will be Steph and Triple H were in on it together, how can Mick genuinely take Steph at her word? That really bothered me, but it's not worth getting worked up about. I stopped caring about the McMahon's god knows how long ago.

It does have to be said that this was infinitely better than the Stephanie/Heyman segment from last week. Upon reflection, I'm pretty certain they did this angle because of Heyman's contract stuff- so as a result of Heyman presumably wanting a better deal they decided to "punish" him by having to put over Stephanie.

Kevin Owens' Title Celebration
I really liked this segment on the whole. However, the one thing that annoyed me straight away was Kevin Owens wearing a suit. I get that Owens is the champion now, but to me it just looked so unnatural and phoney. Why the fuck was Kevin Owens wearing a suit?! I couldn't think of something less fitting of Kevin Owens than on his first RAW as champion he comes out wearing a suit.

Taking that out of the equation, as I've already said I liked this segment. Owens is great, I don't think that's a surprise to anyone. The stuff with Rollins was interesting to me, just because I was curious about how quickly they'd make him a full on babyface. I liked Seth's promo without loving it. He did a good job conveying the angle, and basically making it so the divide between Seth and Steph was evident. The thing with Seth is he's been so heel-ish, and such a good heel that they can't just fully turn him overnight. So overall this was a pretty good segment.

One thing I thought was worth pointing out, especially after floating my theory on how Finn Balor would've been booked last week was one specific part of Seth's promo. Seth said something to the effect of "Kevin Owens has been Triple H's guy since he showed up in NXT". That promo could be as much, if not more applicable to Finn Balor. I'm still 100% convinced that had Balor not been hurt, we'd have got a faction of Triple H, Finn, Gallows & Anderson probably starting at Clash of the Champions.

The backstage segment that followed with Mick & Steph where Steph threatened to fire Mick just annoyed me. But then Jericho showed up and made the whole segment better and mellowed me out. Which was a good thing given what we still had to come.

Bayley v Charlotte
Firstly, I have to ask, what happened to Dana's Clipboard? It just vanished. Given what happened with Sasha later on, I'm not sure where Bayley stands after this match. I could be wrong, but I was fairly certain they'd already booked Bayley/Charlotte for Clash of the Champions prior to last night. Which made the fact they had this match last night weird to me. I can only assume that they hadn't in fact booked it and this was their way of getting to that point. Ideally it'll be a Triple Threat where Bayley pins Charlotte, so the next night Sasha can turn on Bayley and say how she stole her Title etc. because Sasha needs to be a heel at this point. Just to allow Bayley to be the complete, undisputed top babyface of the division.

The actual match was pretty good I thought. It also really pleased me that they didn't do anything crazy, and simply went with a proper story to tell with the match. I think that Sasha/Charlotte match would've been a message to all of the women, to basically not do a load of crazy shit unnecessarily. Bayley got the win after a miscommunication with Charlotte, and the Dana/Charlotte split angle continues. It's amazing they've not dropped the angle considering they started it literally like a week after Dana aligned with Charlotte and nobody has cared about it at any point.

Bo Dallas v Kyle Roberts
This just seemed weird to me. I like Bo, I'll start by saying that. Had his heel run in NXT been on the Network I think he'd be looked at as one of the guys where everyone says "they need to do more with this guy". With that said, given how long he's been getting completely buried- I just couldn't take him seriously in this new "aggressive" role he's playing. It wasn't helped by the fact he's still wearing his Social Outcasts singlet and his whole look is that of a Mid-90s jobber. I'll see how this plays out, that's as far as I'm going to go at this stage. I do Bolieve in Bo though.

Seth Rollins v Chris Jericho
As is the case with the vast majority of these types of pairings, would it surprise anyone when I say that this match was good? You've got Chris Jericho who's having one of, if not the best run of his career and Seth Rollins who's pretty close to his peak at the moment from an in-ring perspective. Had this been anything other than a good match it would've been noteworthy. Seth won to the surprise of nobody and we moved on.

The one thing I will say, I was expecting Triple H to do a run-in at various points in the match- or to at least come out. I realise there's basically 3 weeks until Clash of the Champions and probably just over 2 months or so until they do Seth/Triple H at Survivor Series- but Seth hitting the Pedigree in-front of Triple H would've really helped the angle along after last week. With that said, WHERE THE FUCK WAS TRIPLE H LAST NIGHT?! They've just done an angle where Triple H effectively gave the Championship of the Universe to Kevin Owens, and then he doesn't even show up the following week. The stupidity of that is mind-blowing.

Sheamus v Cesaro- Match 3 of the Best of 7 Series
I really liked this, just because it was a bit different to the first two matches- in that they went out for probably at most 6 Minutes and they did well in that timeframe telling what is in effect the story of the series. The Cesaro injury angle is interesting to me, just because I'm not sure what they can do with it now to be honest. The next match is tomorrow, and in the space of less than 2 days and a transatlantic flight in the meantime we're supposed to believe that Cesaro can now beat Sheamus. Unless they just have Sheamus beat Cesaro in England tomorrow which would be fucking hilarious.

I can only assume Cesaro gets a "fluke" win tomorrow and then builds from there.

The Shining Stars v Enzo & Cass
I realise they have to build feuds for Clash of the Champions, and they need a Pre-Show match which is what this will end up being I'm pretty sure. However, The Shining Stars now have a victory over Enzo & Cass. The Shining Stars now have a victory over Enzo & Cass. Let that sink in. With that said, Enzo & Cass deserved to lose after their promo before the match. I hated it. Byron also had a good line here when Graves said something along the lines of "I don't know why the fans are so upset about getting an invitation to Puerto Rico" and Saxton said "I don't have any vacation days". Byron was the best part of this segment.

Nia Jax v Ann Esposito
This is when RAW started to go off the rails. It didn't completely fall off at this segment, but this started it on its way. It was just the standard Nia Jax squash, although they did give us a bit of story behind this one at least with the jobber being Alicia Fox's friend. More later.

Gallows & Anderson, New Day & The Old Day "thing"
I was there live for the Titus O'Neil promo the other week, so that may play into what I'm about to say. This wasn't the worst segment of the year to me, for the simple fact that there was coherent sentences. However, god this segment was awful. Like, genuinely awful. I can't do justice to just how awful this segment was, and I can't in good conscience tell you to watch it to see how bad it is. So basically, I'll just let this segment die and be forgotten until The Sammy's in December.

Gallows & Anderson were up there in-terms of the most anticipated/hyped debuts when they came in last April. In the space of around 4-5 months they're doing bad comedy segments in front of a completely dead crowd. They might be having some fun doing it, but it's genuinely painful to watch.

Also, when the "Old Day" came out I thought they'd hired a dance troupe so New Day could make them young again through the Power of Positivity and/or Booty O's. I say that because I thought they were like 14 or 15 years old. That obviously wasn't the case given the fact New Day killed them, but still- it caught me off guard a bit.

Darren Young v Jinder Mahal
After that completely horrendous segment, we went to Darren Young vs Jinder Mahal. Darren Young vs Jinder Mahal. I'll let you fill the gaps in when it comes to my thoughts on the match. Titus tried to help Jinder win, he failed, and then after the match we had another Titus/Darren brawl. This one wasn't a complete waste, just because I'm pretty sure Titus accidentally tripped over himself in the middle of the brawl which I found hilarious.

Nia Jax & Alicia Fox Backstage Segment
This RAW had completely gone off the rails at this point, but there's a moment in this segment that may be the funniest thing I've ever seen. Alicia's crazy again, and she starts being crazy in front of Nia and throwing stuff around, she grabs a box, swings her arm around and hits Nia right in the face with said box. It was absolutely comedy gold, topped off by Alicia being on the verge of apologising for a split second after said box made contact with Nia. This was just absolutely amazing.

Braun Strowman v Sin Cara
Sin Cara's going to be one of the "established" guys in the Cruiserweight Division I'm pretty sure, but he's still Sin Cara. Why they decided that Sin Cara couldn't take a pin last night is beyond me. But they didn't, Braun won via count-out and we moved on with our lives. At least there was an explanation of sorts for this match after Braun ripped the mask off of Americo last week.

Sasha Banks delivers "bad news"
I always look through Reddit and Twitter before I do these Reviews, just to sort of see if I've missed something or there's a subtle thing I've missed because I'm watching form 1-4am every week. Most of the comments I saw on Reddit were basically "We got worked by Sasha in this segment". Did you really?

I watched this segment, and at no point did I ever believe Sasha was actually going to retire. Firstly, if she was going to retire they'd have milked the fuck out of it. There would've been a specific hashtag, she'd have been either the last segment or the 2nd/3rd hour lead-in and generally it would've been treated as a much bigger deal. Plus, it's Sasha fucking Banks. She's cried more times than I can remember- if she were actually retiring you'd have known like a minute into this segment. On top of that, the first bit of Sasha's promo (I know Meltzer's said this as well) was the most disingenuous and generally fake promo I think I've ever heard. Plus, the fact she brought up Moolah in the context of there being a women's revolution made me feel a bit sick.

Basically, I wasn't "worked" by this segment at any point- and to be blunt Sasha just isn't that good on the mic in this current role. I called the "it's bad news for Charlotte" line before she said it, she killed Dana Brooke and apparently she's got her Title rematch at Clash of the Champions from outta nowhere. I've already given my booking idea for Sasha/Charlotte/Bayley so I won't repeat it, and that's all that can really be said. If you were genuinely worked by this promo and not trying to get imaginary internet points like I suspect a few were on Reddit get in contact with me either in the comments or on Twitter. I genuinely want to understand how/why you were.

Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn
As with the Rollins/Jericho match, but maxed out because it's Owens and Zayn- of course it was going to be a good match. It annoyed me that they actually did this match, but I was so beyond caring by this point of the show I couldn't get worked up by it. The match was fine, aside from Triple H getting involved we had the predictable finish of Sami's leg costing him the match. Owens won and everything was fine.

Then Roman Reigns (and Mick Foley) came out. I'll say right now that I don't think Roman's going to be in the Title match at Clash of the Champions. To me, it's basically the same as the angle they did with Dolph on Smackdown a few weeks ago where he wrestled AJ in that they're basically killing a week. I know Rusev did that tweet where he said he was on Honeymoon for 23 days, but to me that's probably a red herring. Basically, for the first RAW specific PPV I can't imagine them having Roman as one of their biggest stars in the same match as Rollins and Owens. Also, if Rusev is on honeymoon for 23 days in kinda kills the whole "every title will be defended" gimmick for Clash of the Champions doesn't it?

If you take out the 30-40 minute period with the Nia Jax, Darren Young and Braun Strowman matches plus the New Day stuff this was actually a decent RAW. However, you can't, and as a result I would like to declare Smackdown the winner of this week. I think this is the last RAW before Monday Night Football comes back as well, so god help RAW next week. They might step their game up in-terms of the product- but if anyone was debating whether to watch RAW live next week or not that period of the show will have killed any chance there was of them choosing RAW. Especially coming off the back of Backlash on Sunday, Smackdown has a genuine chance of beating RAW in the ratings next week in my opinion.

Speaking of Backlash, the Backlash Predictions and Review will be up over the weekend on top of the Smackdown Review tomorrow so keep an eye out for all of those. Thanks for reading as always, let's just hope Smackdown is better than RAW tonight- because if it's not the Review tomorrow will be something else.