Comment Bag: 6 August 2019

Abraham Jones left this in a post earlier:

Hey David,

Do you think Seth Rollins has a chance to beat Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam?

I know an injured guy shouldn't beat a healthy Brock Lesnar, but I have a feeling that Seth might win after these assaults from Brock.

Otherwise, why would they have Brock destroy Seth every week and still make him lose at SummerSlam?

I am still picking Brock to retain, but WWE are telling a story that Seth has no chance to beat Brock. I mean when these stories happen, babyfaces generally come out on top. But, then again thos stories might not apply to a guy like Brock.

My response:

When I watched their segment on last night's Raw, I thought to myself 'Seth is winning' because he has guaranteed that he will beat Lesnar.

But.. he didn't guarantee he'll win the title, so maybe you're right about Lesnar retaining.

Like you stated - the way it has played out makes you think it's going to be Rollins.

Comment Bag : 9 February 2019

Abraham left the following comment and question this morning:

They are advertising Daniel Bryan .vs. AJ Styles .vs. Samoa Joe for FastLane.
What's your take on this? I feel like Bryan .vs. Joe could be for WrestleMania.

My response:

I don't really have much of a take on this because I have that rule about not going overboard with what is sent out to the arenas in advance.

The Fast Lane card is a good example because the currently advertised lineup differs from what the arena first had on its website a week or so ago (it originally had Bryan .vs. Styles listed. It also had Seth Rollins going up against Bobby Lashley, but now it's Finn Balor .vs. Lashley).

Last year's FastLane advertising had Shinsuke Nakamura in the six-pack challenge and wasn't in the final lineup. We obviously didn't get Nakamura because he was to challenge Styles at Mania.

As for Daniel Bryan .vs. Samoa Joe - I don't get the feeling that'll be the WrestleMania match, if it's going to be a one-on-one for the title. Joe has challenged for the title far too many times in the latter part of 2018 for me to believe they'll move him back up for Mania. With that said, I'd like to see babyface Joe chasing Bryan one day!

Comment Bag : 18 October 2018

Abraham Jones has asked me the following question, so I thought I'd answer it in a 'Comment Bag' because.. well, I don't think I'm going to give a proper answer.

The question:

Who do you think will win the World Cup at Crown Jewel?

My response:

I really don't know now.

Before everything kicked off with the disappearance, and apparent murder, of Jamal Khashoggi, I would have expected a babyface to win the tournament if there is a plan to have a post-final ceremony with Saudi officials in the ring similar to what they did with Braun Strowman following his winning of the Greatest Royal Rumble in April. 

John Cena would have been my first pick, but I think having him participate in the ceremony has the potential to damage his outside of wrestling aspirations. He was already criticised by the media for working the Greatest Royal Rumble when John Oliver covered the Saudi Arabia situation on his HBO show, Last Week Tonight. In my opinion, it isn't in his best interests to be associated with the Saudis with everything that's going on.

IF they want a babyface to win, then Seth Rollins would be my number one pick. 

Another if - if they want this tournament to mean anything beyond November 2nd, then Rollins being the 'Best in the World' could cause more tension inside The Shield. With that said, how often were we reminded that Braun Strowman won the Greatest Royal Rumble? I guess the Money in the Bank eclipsed it a couple of months later, but the Greatest Royal Rumble win didn't matter at all in the long-term.

The 'Best in the World' moniker suits a heel. Therefore, if they do want to have a heel win the tournament and for that person to refer to himself as 'The Best in the World', then I believe it suits The Miz. Especially after he has been recently mocked by Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles for not being a good wrestler.

I've backed Rollins at 9/1 and Miz when he was 20/1, but I am not confident at all because it's hard to grasp how everything will play out after the tournament rather than during it, if that makes sense.

Comment Bag : 25 January 2018

Abraham Jones left this today:

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that The Miz .vs. Braun Strowman for the Intercontinental Championship is set for WrestleMania.

If this is true, who do you think Finn Balor will face at WrestleMania? I originally thought it could be Miz .vs. Balor. 

What do you think about Balor's plans for Mania?

My response:

I'd like to get this weekend out of the way before I start thinking more about Finn Balor's Mania.

The only thing I have thought of - in regards to Balor - is what I've written in the Bookie .vs. Blogger posts about Balor jumping to Smackdown following a Rumble win. Whether it happens is another thing entirely.

I was certain that Strowman would face Triple H at Mania because of the angle they shot at the Survivor Series, so was surprised when I read the article this morning.

Comment Bag : 11 January 2018

This came in from Music Mania earlier today:

Do you think Dolph Ziggler has a chance of winning the Royal Rumble if the rumoured FastLane main event is true?
I mean, there should be some pay-off for Ziggler quitting the US Championship and Smackdown. Him winning the Rumble and challenging for the WWE Championship is the biggest pay-off for that.
Your thoughts on Ziggler having a good chance of winning the Rumble?

My response:

Dolph Ziggler has been my favourite to win the Rumble from the Smackdown brand for two weeks. He was inserted in second spot of my top 5 in the December 28th edition of Bookie .vs. Blogger.
The rumoured Fast Lane main event has a lot to do with my reasoning.

Comment Bag : 14 December 2017

I was just left the following comment by music mania in the most recent post, so thought I'd dedicate a 'Comment Bag' post to this question.

Which match do you think will main event Clash of Champions?

1) WWE Championship match which is not the most important match on Sunday in terms of build up?
2) Tag team match, which has 2 referees and 2 careers on the line and basically the selling point for this PPV?

My response:

It's number two for me.
As you've already pointed out, the stipulation of the tag match has been the most promoted part of the build to Sunday's show.
I did a poll on Twitter yesterday asking what people thought would be the main event. As of the time of writing, the results are:

KO/Zayn .vs. Nak/Orton 45%
Styles .vs. Mahal 36%
Any Other 19%

There are still a few hours left of it.

Comment Bag : 19 October 2017

Dimitri left this last night, but I wanted to wait until odds for the 'The Demon' versus 'Sister Abigail' match were published:

I'm curious what the odds will be for The Demon .vs. Sister Abigail match.
Looks like The Demon can't lose right now, but Bray in his second attire losing his third match against Balor in a row on PPV looks very stupid.
Who do you think will win?

My response:

I won't be betting on this match. Well, I am currently not planning to bet on it.
I am leaning on The Demon. I think it would be foolish to have him lose, but then I also think this would make the Sister Abigail gimmick dead on arrival (or should that be revival?).
The Demon can obviously lose if it makes sense, but I think it would do more harm long-term if he does. There are bigger matches down the road that the Demon could take his first loss, I don't think this should be it.
I guess everything I've written is similar to what you think.

Comment Bag : 23 August 2017

Jordan left this earlier today:

Hi David,
Now that Bobby Roode has been moved to the main roster, I personally can't imagine he will be thrown into the title mix straight away. However, winning the Royal Rumble and going into WrestleMania as a big babyface with his 'Glorious' entrance would be fantastic for WWE to pull off. He's 20/1 on Paddy Power. Worth a small punt at this stage?

My reply:

When I found out that Roode was moving up to the main roster the other night, I placed a small bet on him when he was 33/1 because I figured that his price would come down.
I still can't see beyond Roman Reigns or John Cena, but thought it was good to have a Roode bet in my back pocket just like I have for Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles.
I think that's an answer.

The market is found on Paddy Power's WWE Betting Page as well as Betfair's Specials Page.

Comment Bag : 2 August 2017

Abraham asked this earlier today:

Quick question - Do you think it's a safe bet for AJ Styles to win the 2018 Royal Rumble? Since Smackdown now has the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, I think Raw will get the Elimination Chamber. Maybe John Cena wins there to face Roman Reigns for the Universal Title.

My response:

Firstly, I don't like using the term 'safe bet' especially when the battle royal is months away. Anything can happen between now and then. I came very close to calling AJ Styles to win over Kevin Owens at Battleground a 'safe bet' when smart money came in shortly before the show and look what happened there!
I agree with your guess that the Elimination Chamber could end up being a Raw event. However, I still think either John Cena or Roman Reigns are the right calls to win the Royal Rumble.
I bought in on the Reigns .vs. Cena Mania match only because of the reports that the SummerSlam main event had been moved from WrestleMania . This evidently hasn't transpired, so the original plan of Brock Lesnar .vs. Roman Reigns could still be the direction for all we know.

Comment Bag : 1 August 2017

Jordan left this comment during last night's episode of WWE Raw after it was revealed that, if Brock Lesnar loses the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, he and Paul Heyman will leave WWE:

"If Lesnar loses the title, he leaves WWE and I leave with him" - is this a hint that Lesnar is dropping the title to leave WWE for now to train for a Jon Jones fight in UFC?

My response:

If anything, what was said last night made me even more confident that Lesnar will retain at SummerSlam. It came across, to me, that they're going to play into the UFC rumours and cast a shadow of doubt over Lesnar's chance of going over in that match.

Lesnar can't fight in the UFC until at least December, so it would be too early to head off.

He is also listed to appear for WWE events beyond August. This includes September's No Mercy PPV. I know that the marketing team push out this information months in advance, but I would be surprised if SummerSlam is his final date for the time being. 

WWE's Twitter Account States 'Six Women Will Collide' At Money In The Bank

Earlier today, I answered a Comment Bag question that asked about the Money in the Bank ladder match that will feature the Smackdown ladies. The question concerned whether a sixth person could be added to the bout.

Since posting, a tweet sent out by WWE was brought to my attention where it reads that, on Sunday, 'Six men will battle. Six women will collide. History will be made at @WWE @MITB'

Below the tweet is a video hyping up the two Money in the Bank ladder matches. The graphic included in the video is the one that has been used to promote the match having five wrestlers.

My instinct is to call this an error on the social media arm of WWE.

I always go by what is being promoted on TV rather than what is being plugged on the company's social media platforms or in the upcoming arena listings.

I can think of a very recent example where the two departments contradicted one other.

Last month, the WWE Twitter handle - and WWE Network welcome page - were promoting the fatal 5-way match and had Finn Balor in the Demon King persona while WWE TV had a regular image of Balor in its promoting of the event.

As we now know, going by TV was the right call.

Comment Bag : 16 June 2017

Dmitriy left this question about the women's Money in the Bank ladder match last night:

I'm thinking about there only being five females in the ladder match. Can there be a situation like the Hardys at WrestleMania?

My Reply:

It's pro wrestling, so there's always a chance of someone else being entered. However, the way I see it is it's the women's division. The male match has more participants because the male to female ratio on the roster is in favour of the males.

All of the active Smackdown ladies are accounted for. There are five women in the ladder match and then you have Naomi and Lana competing in a singles match.

I've seen Nikki Bella and Eva Marie being mentioned on here and elsewhere. Eva Marie isn't returning. Not sure about Nikki Bella's status, but I suppose she will be on her way back now that John Cena is returning in July.

Another thing worth noting is there have been male MITB matches in the past where there have been an odd number of participants, so I can't read anything into there only being five participants.

I don't think anyone new will be added.

Comment Bag : 16 March 2017

This came in from Jordan this morning:

Dave Meltzer has written - in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter - that the Shaq match didn't go down likely because WWE didn't offer enough money to Shaq to make it worthwhile. Thoughts?

My response:

I read the article before getting to my emails. It noted that the negotiations had been continuing before reaching its evident impasse. I'd only be repeating what Dave wrote by stating that surely the company would have had all this tied up before moving in the direction last year?

Without knowing what went down, all I can offer is it's safe to guess that one of the parties held out for something more than what was originally agreed to.

This could be Shaq wanting more money or WWE wanting Shaq to do more dates/training sessions than he was willing to commit to.

Comment Bag : 2 March 2017

Jordan sent this in last night:

Matt and Jeff Hardy to be WWE Raw Tag Team Champions at the end of WrestleMania 33 is 8/1 with PaddyPower.com. Thoughts?

My reply:

I had asked, on behalf of a visitor/customer, whether they could be added to the appearance market, but were obviously placed in the WrestleMania Champion market instead.

I very much doubt the pair will leave WrestleMania as champions, so don't believe it's worth a bet.

For those of you interested, here's the market that Jordan mentioned in his question. The Hardys were installed shortly after it was announced they had left TNA.

Comment Bag : 20 February 2017

Jordan left this last night:

Tamina Snuka worked Smackdown shows over the weekend. It seems she may be on the brand when he returns.

PaddyPower.com is offering 20/1 for her to leave WrestleMania 33 as Smackdown Women's Champion. As Jimmy Snuka passed away recently, is there a chance they do this in honour of him?

(Note: Tamina's odds had moved out to 33/1 and then cut to 10/1 since Jordan's question was sent. I guess he must have backed her!)

My reply:

At the risk of going off on a tangent, I think it's best to say no. I don't think this is something the company should do at WrestleMania 33.

I'm still leaning on there not being a Smackdown Women's Championship contest at WrestleMania. A lot can happen in the next few weeks, but as of right now, I think Naomi is the best bet.

Comment Bag : 17 February 2017

Jordan left this late last night:

With the rumours of past WWE women being invited to do something at WrestleMania, is Michelle McCool worth a punt at 10/1 to make an in-house appearance with Betfair.com? She's likely to be around anyway due to The Undertaker, so it could be easy for her to be involved with whatever is happening.

My reply:

Just like I thought in November, before knowing about the former WWE females being contacted, I believe there is a strong chance that Michelle McCool will be in town that weekend. Whether she is involved in what ever the plan is for the ladies is another thing entirely.
With that said, her odds have fallen from 22/1 (late September), so - unless it's only you who had backed her - you aren't the only one who believed that there was a chance of her being shown live at ringside during the event.
In the November 1st Comment Bag, I wrote that I didn't feel compelled to bet on McCool being there. With the new information about former talent being called up for Mania, I guess my opinion has eased slightly.
So - to answer your question - despite still not being confident, I guess it's worth a small punt on the off chance that she is brought in and appears inside the ringside area.

Here are the odds for all of the selections. Prices are correct as of this afternoon:

Click on image to expand

When available, the market can be found under 'Special Bets' at Betfair.com.

Comment Bag : 31 January 2017

Andres asked this earlier today:

I'm curious what price Bray Wyatt will be to win the Elimination Chamber. It's supposed to be a gimme.

My reply:

I asked a bookmaker on behalf of Andres for a an estimated price he would expect Bray Wyatt to be when the Elimination Chamber match markets are published. He replied that, because everyone now expects it to be Randy Orton .vs. Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33, that it'll be 'very short.'

Around 1/5 (-500 US) is the price I was given as an early guess.

Comment Bag : 23 January 2017

I had two comments today.

First was from xMoTiVz who asks:

Is there a way I can request Pete Dunne to eliminate Seth Rollins in the Royal Rumble?

My reply:

Yes. You could leave a request in this post for William Hill's in-play specials and see if they'll price it up for you on the night of the show.

Or, you could request a bet on Twitter as Sky Bet and Paddy Power had been accepting requests on the platform.

Jordan has left this one earlier this evening:

Thoughts on Kurt Angle being removed from 5 Star Promotions over Rumble weekend?

My reply:

I would guess this has more to do with Kurt Angle's contract with WWE that won't allow him to do television or streaming work for other promotions. It's the same sort of thing that has forced the newly-signed UK talent from being filmed for other promotions that aren't aligned with WWE.

I still think the first time we see Kurt Angle back on WWE TV is on the night of the Hall of Fame. This news about him pulling out of 5 Star hasn't changed this thought.

Comment Bag : 15 January 2017

Thor asked this earlier today:

Mr Taylor, who's your 4 candidates to win the Royal Rumble? I know I asked you to replace The Undertaker, but you sort of half kept him in and then added four more to your list. What kind of Winnie the Pooh answer is that?!

Surely a person who follows WWE as closely as you do will be able to pick out the winner when we're 2 weeks away from the event?

I'd like to revise my list and put Jericho on it. drink it in maaan:

1. Orton
2. Wyatt
3. Jericho
4. Corbin

My reply:

The top four is still the same as it was on Thursday.

For those of you who didn't read the post Thor is referring to, it can be viewed by following this link.

Braun Strowman was moved into number one on the list. Undertaker was moved into second place.

I explained why The Undertaker wasn't being taken off the list. But, for those who hadn't read it, I still regard him as a potential winner because he has made a double promise to win the Royal Rumble and then be in the main event of WrestleMania. I have a feeling he'll lose the title shot in a match at Fast Lane.

I made a point of mentioning that the additional names were some I hadn't backed but they were 'In The Hunt' and made arguments for why they should be considered. I made sure to point out there was a divide between them.

I've also written numerous posts over the past few weeks where I pointed out the possibility that the money coming in on Randy Orton is European fan money as I cannot see how Orton .vs. Bray Wyatt - because that's the direction the storyline is going - could be for the WWE World Championship.

There are rumours, albeit denied by WWE, that Elimination Chamber's title match will be another fixture between John Cena and AJ Styles, so that's another PPV where either Orton or Wyatt are out of the title picture.

On top of this, I've stated that I believed that this year's Royal Rumble winner will be somebody to challenge for the Universal Championship and the Elimination Chamber main event will decide the number one contender to Smackdown's crown. The only name outside of a Raw winner - I am counting Undertaker Raw for the time being - is Samoa Joe. I wrote about that on Thursday as well.

I'm watching and listening to the same things as every other wrestling fan. You ask anybody out there who they think is going to win the Royal Rumble and you're going to get mixed responses.

Comment Bag : 7 January 2017

This was asked by Jordan earlier today:

David, what are your thoughts on the 2-on-1 handicap match for the US Title on Raw? Does this change any of your ideas going into the Royal Rumble?

My reply:

For those of you who don't know, Roman Reigns will defend the US Championship against Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho this Monday in New Orleans.
As for the question - I'd rather wait and see how it unfolds on Monday night. But..
If Reigns wins, then this doesn't necessarily mean he isn't going to become Universal Champion at the Royal Rumble. However, he would have had results over Owens, Jericho and both Owens and Jericho in a three week period and I think that improves Owens' chance of retaining on January 29th.
If Reigns loses, then Chris Jericho should be the person who gets the result. So, they can go around for the next few weeks with both Owens and Jericho claiming to be double champions. If it plays out this way, Jericho's chance of winning the Rumble is near to extinct as it'll likely end with he and Owens fighting over the US Championship at Mania.
Will have to wait and see how this plays out on Monday.