Raw Tournament

[humanoid92 0]

With the revival of Raw recently, I got to thinking; seeing a tournament with all their top guys would be interesting, not only from a workrate standpoint, but from a booking perspective as well. I think mixing and matching these eight guys would make for a great tournament, regardless of the pairings: Benoit, HHH, HBK, Orton, Benjamin, Edge, Jericho, Christian. To me, that's an awesome eight. If you make it a sixteen man tourney, you can expand it to include Flair, Batista, Kane, Hardy, Tajiri, etc. So here's what I'd do for a sixteen man Raw tournament:

 

First Round:

 

HHH vs. Tajiri

Rhyno vs. Edge

Orton vs. Eugene

A-Train vs. Benjamin

Batista vs. Benoit

Christian vs. Hardy

Flair vs. Jericho

Kane vs. Michaels

 

Some notes:

- With these brackets, all four Evolution members have a chance at making the final four.

- It's a positive for the likes of A-Train and Rhyno to merely be in the tournament.

- HHH can do his "tease-the-upset special".

- Benoit going over Batista would help both guys.

- After initally taking Eugene lightly, Orton would go over.

- The way Jericho has been going, people wouldn't suspect an automatic win.

- Christian/Hardy could be a great match.

- Kane/HBK is a toss-up, main event match, and allows HBK to do what he does best; drag good matches out of big lugs.

 

So HHH, Edge, Orton, Benjamin, Benoit, Christian, Jericho, and Michaels win in the first round. No major surprises, but some good matches.

 

Quarterfinals:

 

HHH vs. Edge

Orton vs. Benjamin

Christian vs. Benoit

Michaels vs. Jericho

 

Notes:

- All four of these should be really good matches.

- There's a huge Orton vs. HHH tease in the next round if both win. With Batista and Flair out, this is the last chance of Evolution colliding.

- There's the Benjamin/HHH tease as well.

- There's the possibility of: Benoit/Michaels, Jericho/Christian, and Jericho/Benoit.

 

Results:

- Orton steals one from Benjamin, ultimately setting up the blowoff in their feud, where Benjamin wins the IC Title.

- HHH puts Edge over big time, as Edge scores the huge upset, planting the seeds for a rivalry later.

- Benoit outlasts Christian in a great match.

- Jericho beats HBK in a potential classic.

 

Semifinals:

 

Edge vs. Orton

Benoit vs. Jericho

 

Notes:

- Four guys left. It would be huge for any of these guys to win it all. It would cement Benoit as the Champion, and would be a huge step up for the other three.

 

Results:

- Orton beats Edge, the guy that beat HHH, leading to a possible rift between he and HHH.

- Jericho goes over Benoit, which automatically makes him the number one contender.

 

Finals:

 

Jericho vs. Orton

 

Notes:

- I like this match-up. They've never had a big match with each other before. Both are credible, and both are helped out a lot by being in this spot. And it's unpredicatble. Either could easily win. After all the possibilites for the final (HHH/HBK, HHH/Benoit, HHH/Flair, Edge/Christian, etc.) it's come down to this.

 

I'd put Jericho over. He needs it badly. There's no reason he shouldn't be a main eventer right now. This would all lead to a Jericho/Benoit Title program, which would be great for both guys. As for Orton, simply making it that far is huge for him at this point in his career, and he already furthered his programs with Benjamin and Edge, and created some possible tension with HHH down the line.

 

But no matter how you book it with those last eight guys, I think it would be an awesome tournament.