Tossing Salt - Worldwide News: September 17, 2011

Tossing Salt - Worldwide News
September 17, 2011
Doug Maynard

Happy Sunday. I'm Doug and this is pro wrestling's most eclectic column, "Tossing Salt - Worldwide News!". Let's do this...

Coming up in just a few short hours is the WWE Night of Champions, the night that every WWE Championsip is defended and for the most part, nobody cares. Oh wait, that was TNA Bound For Glory. My bad! There might be a few people out there that actually care about this epic WWE offering and that would be fans of CM Punk, Triple H, Randy Orton or Mark Henry because those are the only matches that have really gotten any kind of build or push.

Some might are that they've been pushing the Diva's Championship match between Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix and the Tag Team Championship Match between Air Boom (which is one of the stupidest tag team names I've ever heard - it's right up there with The Johnsons and The Ding Dongs in suckiness!) Ummm, maybe I should rephrase that. What was I saying? Oh yeah, the Tag Team Championship match between Kofi & Evan taking on Miz & R-Truth. Some might say that those matches were pushed as well, but we all know that WWE management doesn't give a hoot about neither the tag team division or the Diva's, so why should the fans expect to?

But regardless of all that, seven big matches are scheduled for the Night of Champions pay per view (which they should rename "Clash of Champions" just because it sounds cooler and has a longer history). And that means that it's prediction time. So let me round up the "Tossing Salt Media, Inc. crew and let's do some channeling of Sister Cleo. Well, there is no crew except for me and the voices in my head so this should be relatively short and to the point. Or I might just keep rambling on and on and on forever. Guess we'll have to wait and find out, won't we?

Before I get started with the predictions, I do want to quickly address one little thing that happened on TNA Impact Wrestling this past week. For the first time since the final edition of WCW Monday Nitro all those long years ago, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair wrestled "The Icon" Sting. And even though I generally try to avoid TNA as much as possible, I did tune in to watch the two legends go at it. And well... Ric Flair, I'm begging you - PLEASE RETIRE!

The match itself was okay and that's all due to Sting. Flair was out of breath and winded almost immediately and was sad to watch, especially if you're like me and have been watching Flair perform since the mid-seventies. I've seen Flair as a rookie, as well as in his prime and Ric WAS the greatest all-around wrestler of his time. He's built a legacy that no one can touch or destroy, except for Ric Flair. I think of how he used to be and see him out there now, performing like he did this past week and it's so depressing. Flair even messed up doing the "Flair Flop". It's heartbreaking.

I understand that Flair needs money and has to work. But if TNA is going to keep Flair on their payroll, which based on rumors I've heard may not be for much longer, they need to make him strictly a manager or let him work commentary or maybe as the central authority figure. Do anything but wrestle. And if what I've been hearing is true and Flair ends up getting a pink slip from TNA once this storyline with Sting and Hogan is complete, maybe Vince will welcome Ric back into the fold and use him as a wrestling Ambassador for the WWE to help promote events and maybe help promote the WWE Network that's supposedly coming up in 2012. I'm sure that, even though he's burned quite a few bridges, with Ring of Honor, Highspots.com and Promoter Greg Price, among others, there will be work out there for Ric in the future. I just hope and pray it's not in the ring wrestling.

Ideally, the match against Shawn Michaels would have been the perfect way for Ric to end his in-ring career. Even then, his skills, while not where they were once, were capable of having a good match and were equal to or better than at least 75% of the wrestlers in the WWE then. That's the way I want to remember Ric in the ring for his last match. The crap since then, with Hogan, with AJ Styles, and especially this last match with Sting, I just want to pretend it never happened. Flair may not care about his legacy, but those of us who watched and supported him for so many years, we do.

Let's move on. The other thing I was going to talk about is Matt Hardy. I've met Matt on a couple of occasions and we have a ton of mutual friends and acquaintances. I live about an hour or so away from where Matt & Jeff Hardy were raised, in Cameron, NC. And well, I was planning on just cutting loose with a long rant about how crazy and stupid Matt has been as of late, but I'm not going to do that. Two DUI's and one additional wreck in less than a month, not to mention that suicide prank on video. He's slipping away and falling fast.

I swear that it's getting so every time I see a headline with Matt's name or hear his name mentioned, I start to cringe because I'm expecting to hear the words "passed away" or "died" as part of the sentence. I hope it doesn't come to that and that his family and close friends can intercede and make a difference. Matt has let a lot of people down over the past couple of years and based on the Matt Hardy I remember meeting years ago and based on what I've heard from mutual friends, I think he's let himself down a whole helluva lot too. I hope it's not too late for Matt and he finds his way back to where he used to be before it goes too far and all chances and hopes are lost.

And now, let's move on to the show coming up on Sunday night, the WWE Night of Champions and a few predictions. Let's do this...

WWE Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) versus John Cena

Del Rio has really come off weak in the past few weeks leading up to this match and thus far, his reign as the WWE Championship is a big failure. And besides the bad booking of the champion, why is Cena the one getting a rematch. CM Punk BEAT John Cena at Summerslam. Del Rio cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase against CM Punk, not John Cena. But Cena is the top contender for the belt? Yeah, right! I know. Cena beat Punk in a match on RAW to be the #1 Contender, right. But Punk had Cena beat and there was a distraction by Kevin Nash as well, so it's hardly a fair victory. But this is the WWE and Cena goes after the WWE Championship while Punk is stuck with "Big Goofy" and HHH.

But whatever the case and no matter how unfair it is to Punk and the fans, who definitely deserve better, it's Super Cena talking on Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship. Del Rio needs to win or his credibility is shot to hell. He needs the title right now. Cena doesn't need to win and doesn't need the title. He should be kept as far away from the WWE title for a while to keep him fresh and viable instead of the same old / same old, but I can't see WWE letting Cena take a loss to Del Rio, even though it wouldn't hurt him. I think Cena will dominate most of the match and make Del Rio his personal bitch. And then, just before Cena wins the title (on or about the fourth move of the "Five Moves of Doom"), Ricardo will interfere from the outside and cause a disqualification. Del Rio will flee and Ricardo will eat an "A.A." from Cena to keep the fans happy. Cena wins the match, but Del Rio keeps the title.

Winner by DQ: John Cena (Del Rio keeps the WWE Championship)

World Championship Match
Randy Orton (c) versus Mark Henry

Mark Henry has really dominated Mark Henry over the past few weeks building up to this match, thus based on the WWE way of doing things, Orton should retain the title easily, right? Well, maybe and maybe not. Henry has been with the WWE for fifteen years and this is probably the best he's looked in his entire WWE run. He is a scary man to watch and he really seems like a monster. And I'll give him credit. His promos, which have never been his strong suit, has been really good as of late. He has the physical look to be a true monster and champion. But he's missing that little extra something I think he needs to really fill the spot as the face of the WWE. He needs a person to act as his agent or manager. And I'm thinking that we may see just that at Night of Champions.

I think Orton and Henry will have a very physical and brutal match on Sunday night. Orton will hit his moves and try to put Mark away, but Mark will keep surviving. Mark will get in all of his moves and Orton will keep getting that shoulder up, barely. Mark gets flustered and frustrated. Orton starts the comeback and looks like he's ready to take the match home and retain his title. And here comes Matt Striker, who was the manager of Henry during his brief run as the ECW Champion. Striker distracts the referee by getting on the apron. Henry nails Orton with the World Championship title belt and then follows up with the World's Strongest Slam. The referee counts three and we have a new World Champion. Yeah! I can see it all happening just that way.

Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Mark Henry

United States Championship Match: Fatal 4-Way Match
Dolph Ziggler w/ Vickie Guerrero (c) versus John Morrison versus Alex Riley versus Jack Swagger

Okay, this match is more about the problems with Dolph and Swagger than anything else. The United States title is just a prop for their feud. I think it's pretty safe to go ahead and eliminate Morrison from any chance of winning. His contract is up soon and he has yet, to the best of my knowledge, to be resigned yet. Plus he's still getting flack for Melina and her behavior. So I don't think he's going to be pushed hard anytime soon. And as for Riley, he seems to have lost his luster since the feud with Miz ended. And also, he's not ready to be a top-tier guy yet.

So that leaves Jack Swagger and the current Champion, Dolph Ziggler, both of who are out there under the watchful eyes of Vickie Guerrero. I think it will come down to who Vickie wants to be with and decides to help out. I can see her trying to help both men for a while in the match, but while I think Swagger would be thankful, Dolph would be spiteful towards Vickie and tell her to back off, thus sealing his doom. Vickie tries to help Dolph, but he doesn't appreciate her efforts so she gets mad, causes a distraction for Dolph. Swagger takes advantage of the distraction and nails Dolph, thus capturing not only the win, but becoming the new U.S. Champion. Then Swagger leaves with Vickie while Dolph is left in the ring wondering what happened.

Winner and NEW United States Champion: "The All American American" Jack Swagger

Intercontinental Championship Match
Cody Rhodes (c) versus Ted DiBiase

Did you hear the big pop that Ted DiBiase got when he laid out Cody this past week on Smackdown? Nope? Me neither. The WWE has done such a great job of burying Ted DiBiase over the past year that he has no heat. No one cares. Cody has really become a great talker and the people hate him. He's really come into his own as one of the top guys on Smackdown. Thus Cody destroys Teddy, keeps his title and moves on to his next feud.

Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes

Diva's Championship Match
Kelly Kelly (c) versus Beth Phoenix

Beth smash! Beth destroy! Beth wins title! 'Nuff said!

Winner and NEW WWE Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne (c) versus The Miz & R-Truth

"Air Boom" is a stupid name. I think I mentioned that earlier, but I want to repeat myself because it is just that stupid. But despite the dumb name, Kofi and Evan are a good team. And while "The Awesome Truth" team of Miz and R-Truth have a better name, I just can't really see them as a permanent tag team. I do like the little singing routine they do before matches though. "What's Up?" was a sucky song. "You Suck!" is an AWESOME song. They're hilarious as a musical duo (the next Milli Vanilli maybe?), but I look at Miz and Truth, I see singles wrestlers. The "Little Jimmy's" will go home happy because Miz and Truth will be going down to defeat. Kingston and Bourne get the win and retain the titles.

Winners and STILL WWE Tag Team Champions: Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston

No Disqualification - If HHH Loses, He Must Resign As C.O.O.
Triple H versus CM Punk

Okay, let's get it out of the way from the start. Hunter is going to win the match. That's pretty much a given since there is no way that Hunter is going to wrestle only two matches in a year and lose both of them. Plus this storyline has a lot of life left in it and a long ways to go and if Punk wins, Hunter is out as the C.O.O. and it's over. The only big question here is what kind of shenanigans will take place to give Hunter the win.

Two words: Kevin Nash. I know that HHH "fired" Kevin from the WWE, but hear me out. Hunter fired Kevin, but Kevin left the building that night with Johnny Ace, who "rehired" him. Tomorrow night, Punk and HHH put one great and very physical match and show everyone why they're two of the very best in the world. It's No Disqualification, so towards the end, Punk manages to catch HHH and score with the "GTS". He goes for the pin, but here comes Kevin Nash to the ring from out of the crowd. It's No DQ so the referee can't do anything. Just like at Summerslam, Nash catches Punk with a suckerpunch and a big powerbomb. Nash bails from the ring and HHH comes too, not knowing that Nash had interferred, crawls over and covers Punk to get the win.

Then tomorrow night on RAW, we get HHH still there as the C.O.O. Punk can still claim conspiracy and say Nash and HHH are in cahoots. HHH can claim he didn't even know Nash has interferred. And it all keeps going on and on and on until two weeks later at Hell In A Cell, where Punk and HHH can have a rematch. Actually, that sounds pretty good. Book it, Steph!

Winner: Triple H

And that's how I expect that the Night of Champions will go tomorrow night. And as a bonus, I'm even going to make a prediction of the "dark match" for the show. In the pre-show match, I am predicting that the "Internet Champion" Zack Ryder will defend his crown, probably against Drew McIntyre (since that's who Zack has been wrestling at the house shows). And who wins? Zack Ryder, of course. Woo Woo Woo! You know it!

A quick note for wrestling fans in southeastern North Carolina. American Championship Wrestling (ACW) will be having a show next weekend on Saturday, September 24th at the National Guard Armory in Laurinburg, NC, my hometown. ACW is a top notch group with some of the best talent around. The shows are always great fun and have some truly great wrestling action. If you're in the area, be sure to check them out. You won't regret it.

And that's it for me and this edition of "Tossing Salt - Worldwide News!". I hope you enjoyed reading it. Questions and comments can be sent to Doug28352@yahoo.com. Also, come visit me at Facebook at www.facebook.com/saltpalace. Add me as a friend. You know you want to.

I'm Doug and I am out of here. Have a great one. Ubuntu!