WWE Scramble

I am not sure what to write about at the moment, and I have no desire to attempt serious talk. I'll resort to wrestling. I can usually get some words of complaint or admiration for that. I like wrestling, and have watched it pretty consistently for about 10 years.

So, the WWE has set it upon themselves to create a new type of match, the Championship Scramble. Originally revealed on RAW, the Monday night program, it is now a concept embraced by all three brands of the WWE. The concept is this: With a 20-minute time limit, 4 challengers and the current champion face one another. It is every man for themselves. 2 men start the match, with another entering every 5 minutes. During that 20-minutes, whenever there is a pin fall or submission, the championship changes hands to in interim champion. Who ever is the interim champion at the end of the time-limit is the new respected champion for that brand.

For me, the idea seems sort-of congested and too restrictive, creative-wise. The upcoming Pay-per-view, Unforgiven, will host all three matches from the 3 brands: Raw, Samckdown, and ECW. Having the same type of match multiple times in one night is a bit of a killer. After the first one, which will likely be ECW, the new taste will wear-off. Sure, the match concept allows for the use of many wrestlers on the card, but the rest of the card will likely be filler. (One match won't and that is the Jericho-Shawn Micheals match that will probably be great.)

The RAW match consists of, the current champ, CM Punk, JBL, Batista, Kane, and substituting for the injured John Cena, Rey Mysterio. This match could be good. Personally, I think it would be best to keep the title on CM Punk to further establish him as a credible champion. It could also be used to promote someone else as a belt contender, like Kane. Kane needs a good push. While I don't enjoy the new angle with him supposedly breaking Mysterio's spirit, he is a good monster character that has some good potential and has been with the company for almost as long as I have been actively watching. I still remember his first appearance in '97. Batista doesn't really need the rub. If he wins, it won't seem that significant. He can put on a good one-on-one match with many of the heavy-hitters. There is already a pseudo-feud with Kane at the moment. Personally, I would want him to challenge Punk at a later PPV and win, with some sort of JBL complication. JBL and Punk have a weird, good chemistry together, but a continued feud will make their program repetitive. Mysterio is a fill-in, and will probably put on some good spots. He'll definitely be the interim champ at some point in the match to have the crowd pop. Depending on who he pins will determine the feud he will start the next night on RAW. It will probably be a Rey over Kane thing, with Batista help. JBL shouldn't get the belt. He would make a good heel-champ with Punk chasing it, but I think it would be better to solidify Punk as champ with a win. The only way I will take a JBL champ is if if gets his ass-kick initially by Punk, only for JBL to pin a hurt Mysterio. Overall, the RAW championship scramble will be the main event. It has the more big stars in the match.

Smackdown, on the other hand, looks to be the worst one, in my opinion. Granted, I don't watch Smackdown with any regularity. The fact that it is on Friday nights at 8 doesn't exactly motivate me to sit in front of the television. I would like to think that I have better things to do on a Friday night, I usually don't, but I still don't watch Smackdown. I read the results and the like whenever I can because I like to keep updated on it. The Smackdown championship scramble includes, the champ, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Shelton Benjamin (the US Champ), MVP, and The Brian Kendrick. Triple H will probably win because most of the other contenders don't really seem to be at that level yet. Of course, like RAW, this could be a good chance to allow someone to step-up and make a name for themselves. MVP seems most likely, with Hardy chasing. Hardy is a top performer, but he tends to get punished by the backstage for his recreational drug use, which he was suspended for before. He does perform well and make matches interesting. The Brian Kendrick is relatively new to the title scene. He would make a good challenger to the US championship, but a world title would be too big for him. He is only now getting recognized as a single competitor, after teaming with Paul London for so long as a great tag-team. Like Shawn Micheals, who Kendrick emulates, he stands a chance to be a great performer and WWE superstar. He is great in the rig and puts on phenomenal matches. I just don't see him taking it. Shelton Benjamin already has the US title. He really doesn't seem the type to hold two championships. His microphone skills have been improving, and his in-ring work is great. He just hasn't really established that he is a main contender. MVP is my choice if the title is to change hands. He has already been US champ for a length. He is a great performer, and educates himself with the wrestling business and has a great respect for it. He is an ex-convict, but that shouldn't be held against him as a performer. The only problem I see is that he would miss any over-seas trips if he was champ because of all the legal problems that can come up with him working in a foreign country. From an interview I read, he even has some troubles working in Canada. For Smackdown, the match seems weak. If Triple H doesn't win, I will be greatly surprised. The match has one beast, strong-man in Triple H while the others are a little more acrobatic. Could be fun to watch, but not as definitive as RAW.

ECW is bound to be a shocker. The whole ECW brand has me feeling that because all the superstars on it aren't that well known, that just about anyone could be champion. Honestly, the biggest stars on ECW are Matt Hardy, Mark Henry (former bronze medalist at the '96 Olympics), and Tommy Dreamer (only because if he goes, it's not really ECW anymore). On ECW tonight (it plays on Tuesdays), they announced their Championship Scramble. All the matches were qualifiers for it. In my opinion, that's a great way to fill up time on a show and progress story. Every match had a reason for happening. Everyone in the qualifiers, I thought, could be in the scramble, except Mike Knox. It was good to see Evan Bourne get a shot, but come up short to put over The Miz. I might not be a big fan of The Miz, who used to be on MTV's Real World, but him being in the scramble helps develop him as a single wrestler, and almost on par with John Morrison, who is a former ECW champ. Miz and Morrison were, and are, a great team, but Morrison established himself as a single wrestler first, and the two developed a great heel team. With the Tag titles not around their waists, it's good to see Miz getting a chance to see what he can do alone. It is also to separate Miz from Morrison by having Morrison lose to Matt Hardy. Matt is the big good-guy, face of ECW. He kind of needs to be in probably the only ECW match on the PPV. Along with Miz, Matt Hardy, and the champ Mark Henry, the other two are Finlay and Chavo Guerrero. I feel just about anyone could win this match. Chavo is the only former ECW champ. I don't see him pulling it off. Hardy shouldn't win like this, because a Championship for the big face should have meaning. A thrown together mix screams for Miz to win. Finlay is also a good proponent of the match because he is just a great wrestler and brings loads of experience. All in all, I think the ECW scramble could be really good.

While I may think the matches could be good, having them all on the same bill is a bit much. I can see something like this a a gimmick PPV, like Royal Rumble has its' named match and Survivor Series tends to have an elimination tag match. Something like the Championship Scramble could be a an idea for Survivor Series, if the Series didn't already have a gimmick attached to it.