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WWF/E Judgment Day 2002 Predictions
Women's Championship: Trish Stratus (c) vs. Stacy Keibler
I couldn't emphasize why this should be Trish v. Molly enough.
Anyhow, Trish has Buh-Buh Ray in her corner and Stacy has D-Von and Deacon Leviathan in hers. I think people will care more about the Dudleys than this match. IMO, if they're TRULY serious about building this women's division - Trish keeps the title. I really dug Jazz but she's on the shelf and plus Trish has gotten WAY better.
Kawshen's Pick: Trish Stratus retains the Women's Title.
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Tag Team Championship: AGD (c) vs. Rikishi and ???
Don't really care for this match since it's obvious that the AGD's retaining. But who is the mystery partner? I can't think of anyone else besides Albert. After all, Vince is picking Rikishi's partner. Chuck Palumbo will continue to act weird and Billy Gunn will continue to suck but they're not losing here.
Kawshen's Pick: The AGD retains the Tag Titles.
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The Hardys vs. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman
OK - here we have another helping of BROCK SMASH~! It's a certainty we'll see the Hardys cheat and that Brock will squash them both. But somehow, someway, Heyman will be the one getting pinned here. I'm thinking the only reason he was placed in this match was so that Brock wouldn't be the one to do the JOB. And on a side note - is it just me or is Jeff Hardy getting more and more bizarre each and every day. That dude just ain't right. Either way, he and Matt take this one.
Kawshen's Pick: The Hardys.
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Steve Austin vs. Ric Flair and Big Show
I miss Heel Austin. I really do. :(
Either way, I think this is the first Steve Austin match in a while I didn't care about. Just shows how badly booked he's been since (being forced to) turning face after Survivor Series. I don't think they'll ever be able to turn him back heel successfully - but damn was he an awesome, entertaining heel. What? Anyway, as far as this match, I sense some form of a swerve involving Booker. He was a surprise member of the nWo picked by Flair - a surprise to Booker too. Like I said on MANY occasions, Booker needs to turn face NOW. I'm not saying that b/c I'm a mark for the Bookerman. I'm saying that b/c I'm not deaf and the sheep obviously want to cheer him. So this match (as lame as it is) can be the instrument to do so. Plus, Austin lost at Backlash and I don't see him losing two straight PPVs. Despite logic would dictate freshly-turned heels would win their first PPV - I'm going with Austin here thanks to Booker turning against the nWo that he never really joined in the first place.
Kawshen's Pick: Steve Austin
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Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
Now this is a feud we haven't seen much of lately. They're feuding over the title. I still have my reservations of killing RVD's reign after only a month - but Eddie's been doing great in his 2nd IC title reign. It's a shame Chavo's on SD b/c it's been proven in the past that they're GOLD together. This match is extremely hard to predict but I'll say this feud is continuing. Ergo, Eddie somehow retains but RVD will get the title back soon after - maybe even in the KOTR tourney since they both should be in it. Tough, tough call since this isn't a gimmick match and is just a straight-up rematch but I say Eddie hangs on since there really isn't anyone else either of these guys could feud with right now.
Kawshen's Pick: Eddie Guerrero retains the IC Title.
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Hair vs. Hair Match: Kurt Angle vs. Edge
Barber Chair at ringside? Isn't that a bit much?
I find it amazing that if you cut out Angle's failed babyface run - these two have been feuding pretty much since last year's KOTR. Edge losing means he gets a new look - even though he kinda looks like a Neo-Nazi White Supremist. Kurt losing isn't much since he doesn't have much hair to lose to begin with - especially since he's "losing the hair match vs. Mother Nature" anyway. Edge is still getting pushed and there was a Edge-HHH match tease on SD! Another tough call since it could go either way. I'll go with Edge since Angle beat him (relatively) clean at Backlash.
Kawshen's Pick: Edge
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Hell in a Cell: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Chris Jericho
I don't really care who wins this match - I'm just hoping neither of them end up having to spend any extended time in the hospital. Something of note for the Hell in the Cell - the heel usually wins. This match seems to be designed to finally put Jericho over the top and blow this feud off - if only for a little while. HHH has absolutely nothing to gain beating Jericho since he already took the Unified World Title from him at WM - so him winning here is rather redundant. I'm pretty certain we'll see UT interfering here also and an appearance by HHH's friend, "Mr. Sledgy". Pretty much have HHH play Foley c.2000 and Jericho play HHH c.2000. HHH annihilates Jericho for the majority of the match but somehow, someway Jericho will take this one. Added bonus: NO STEPH!! Both of these guys will blade and I'm guessing Jericho will be taking THE BIG SICK BUMP with HHH being the more fragile of the two. Either way, like I said earlier, hopefully neither of these guys will end up seriously hurt when all is said and done. Jericho has (officially) a grand total of ONE victory over HHH - this is gonna be #2.
Kawshen's Pick: Chris Jericho.
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Unified World Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Undertaker
Yeah, this match is likely gonna suck - but the sheep are so damned into Hogan right now (see SD!) - it's not gonna matter. Though, I'm wondering if it'll be enough to boo UT who seems to have gotten even larger face pops since turning heel. It's a certainty that the World Title needs to be taken off Hogan soon but I'm not completely sure if UT is the candidate to do it. So, I'm not totally sure about what happens here. If UT wins - then he can continue his feud with HHH on SD! If Hogan retains - it won't be clean as I think that HHH would get payback against UT for costing him the World Title at the last PPV - but Hogan would job the belt on SD! (to Chris Jericho, I guess, coming off his HITC victory over HHH). So either way, this is a tough call. But go out on the limb and say Hogan retains but he won't be champ long afterwards if he does.
Kawshen's Pick: Hulk Hogan retains the Unified World Championship.
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I see no Euro Title match on this card (big surprise) - so I can assume if they do book it we'll see D-Lo vs. Regal. I pick Regal to retain so D-Lo can take it at KOTR.
Also, no Cruiserweight Title match. That Triple Threat from SD (Hurricane/Kidman/Tajiri) should've been on this PPV. Well, with about 10 more minutes of action.
The only matches I care about are the HITC, IC and Hair matches - other than that - this PPV looks pretty mediocre and half-assed on paper.
Quick recap of picks: Trish, AGD, Hardys, Austin, Eddie, Edge, Jericho, Hogan.
There you go. I'll be keeping up via Rajah, Slash and the Torch this Sunday.
© 2002, Kawshen from ITVR and Wienerville. :)