Prophecies of Unforgiven 05

Prophecy:When some fans have become desperate enough to start pointing to guys like Umaga as one of the company’s good points, you know the WWE’s in trouble. But that’s another story. The “Undefeated Samoan Bulldozer,” as his name implies (not to be confused with the “Undefeated Samoan Submission Machine,” although I’m sure that was intended), is currently undefeated in the WWE. His latest opponent, Kane, is an aging veteran with absolutely no direction in the company right now. Kane may well be the one who ends Umaga’s streak eventually, but even if he is, I doubt it will happen tonight; their feud is only a few weeks old. I am predicting Umaga to win here in a short and rather lame encounter.

Prophecy:I just don’t see WWE having the foresight or the intelligence to actually let Edge go over Cena, the way this feud has been built over the months. It would be wonderful if Edge did win here, and keep his new “Rated R” custom belt for a while longer, and it would be a blessing to the vast majority of the IWC, but you know what that usually means…it’s not gonna happen. I’m tentatively predicting John Cena to win back the belt, even though the crowds have been booing him, his weaknesses have been evident for years, his “invincible” booking has just plain sucked, and what’s left of RAW’s credibility will fold faster than Superman on laundry day.

Prophecy:I just hope this will be watchable. I'll take...DX. This feud hardly matters anymore.

Prophecy:I was as happy as anyone else when Jeff Hardy returned to the WWE, but sticking him on RAW, when SD would have made a Hardy Boyz reunion possible, just didn’t make sense. In any case, they’d better use him right and give him the win here. Johnny Nitro, even with Melina beside him, has been as boring as watching paint dry (even according to recent RAW broadcasts ^^). I'll take Hardy.

Prophecy:Trish Stratus just wrestled her last match on RAW a few nights ago; she’ll be leaving the company after Unforgiven for married life and some other media prospects. I wish her well, but in the meantime, it’s hard to see her winning the belt when she won’t be around to defend it anyway. And a DQ ending to Trish’s very last WWE match would be an insult, so I’m picking Lita to retain the belt through some dishonest means.

Prophecy:Most RAW fans now fervently hope that the Highlanders, as silly and limited as they may be, will take the titles away from the stagnating and now inconsequential Spirit Squad faction, which served its purpose long ago and should be scrapped as soon as possible. But the recent booking on RAW has me worried (Highlanders and Roddy Piper defeated the Squad in a six-man tag, which implies that the Squad will retain here…ugh), so I predict that the Highlanders will finally pull it off and the Squad will have a big argument and break up, so its most talented members can move on to other things.

Prophecy:As much as I like Carlito and support his face push, this has become a matter of restoring credibility to Randy Orton. It’s safe to say he’s never needed it more. After losing a long-term feud with Undertaker, losing the triple threat WHC match at ‘Mania, losing to Kurt Angle at ECW One Night Stand, and losing to Hulk Hogan of all people at SummerSlam, and failing a drug test—meaning he will be working without pay under the current policy—Orton’s career is absolutely destitute. And as much as he needs this win over Carlito, I’m no longer sure that he’ll get it. In light of his suspension, WWE might very well decide he’s not worth it and have Carlito go over him here and now. If that happens, we can be pretty sure that Orton’s remaining days with the company are numbered. If he wins, his credibility will rise from the grave again—this time. Because of this, I’m very tentatively predicting a win by Orton. And both men are good WWE workers, so expect a decent match at least.