Number one contender tournament on RAW

[MikeJordan23 0]

Moving down the road

February 6, 2006

 

The Road to WrestleMania continues as RAW rolls into Atlanta this week.

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/to...e/29062/2081418

 

 

A tournament will be held to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship, and it will begin Monday night on RAW. The opening round of The Road to WrestleMania Tournament, which will feature four matches, will be completed by the time RAW goes off the air.

 

In first round action, Rob Van Dam will take on Carlito. Carlito aggravated RVD's knee injury on the Cabana back in June, which set Mr. Monday Night back another six months. Now that he's back, RVD not only has the WWE Championship on his mind, but also some revenge.

 

Chris Masters, along with Carlito, was responsible for eliminating Kane from the New Year's Revolution Elimination Chamber. Then, last week the Big Red Machine was unable to break the Master Lock. Will Kane have better luck this week as he takes on Chris Masters in another first round matchup?

 

The history between Ric Flair and Triple H is well-documented...and very personal. They have been the best of friends and the worst of enemies. And they will get to write another chapter to their rivalry in the first round of the tournament.

 

Also in the first round, Shawn Michaels will take on Big Show. HBK already has a lot on his mind with Mr. McMahon, and now his son Shane. The Showstopper will need to focus all of his attention on Big Show if he hopes to advance in the tournament.

 

Last week, Edge defeated John Cena by disqualification when Lita hit the Rated R Superstar with the WWE Championship while Cena had him set up for the F-U. While Edge won the match, the gold did not change hands, leaving the Rated R Superstar still a challenger. On top of all of this, Edge and Lita left the arena separately. How will all of this impact their relationship?

 

Also last week, Shane McMahon struck again, nailing Shawn Michaels with a chair as Mr. McMahon looked on. How will HBK react to this latest setback in his standoff with the WWE Chairman?

 

Plus, the tensions between Trish Stratus, Ashley and Mickie James continue to rise. How will Ashley and Trish react to Mickie’s actions during her celebration for the Women’s Champion last week?

 

Tune into RAW Monday night at 9/8 CT on the USA Network to see what happens.

 

 

 

The first round is scheduled to take place this Monday. Four matches have been announced so far. Those matches are as the followed:

 

- Rob Van Dam vs. Carlito

- Chris Masters vs. Kane

- Ric Flair vs. Triple H

- Shawn Michaels vs. The Big Show

 

The winner of the tournament will go on to face the Champion at WrestleMania 22.

[iliketurtles 0]

HHH over Flair, Big Show, and RVD. I'm guessing.

[UZI Suicide 0]

Wow, I wonder who's going to win?!?!?!

[Angle-plex 0]

HHH, Show, Carlito and Masters advance so we can finally see the epic Carlito vs Masters match that the fans have been screaming for.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Hunter's getting the title shot, but they might try and to swerve us by having RVD or someone beat Hunter in the final thanks to Flair, and then Hunter can demand a rematch and win that to finally win the title shot.

[Downhome 0]

Hunter's getting the title shot, but they might try and to swerve us by having RVD or someone beat Hunter in the final thanks to Flair, and then Hunter can demand a rematch and win that to finally win the title shot.

 

That's what I was thinking, but I don't see them doing the same sort of thing on both RAW and SD.

 

(Rey winning the rumble, then losing his title shot down the line.)

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Hunter's getting the title shot, but they might try and to swerve us by having RVD or someone beat Hunter in the final thanks to Flair, and then Hunter can demand a rematch and win that to finally win the title shot.

 

That's what I was thinking, but I don't see them doing the same sort of thing on both RAW and SD.

 

(Rey winning the rumble, then losing his title shot down the line.)

It wouldn't be the first time they've done the same angle at the same time on both Raw and SD.

[Downhome 0]

That's true enough, but I just don't see it being done at the same time, leading into the same show, with the same result.

 

Then again, with the way creative has been, maybe just came up with a single storyline and must use it on both shows.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Heh. RVD might job to Carlito. This board will be fun then.

[naiwf 0]

RVD/Kane, Flair/HBK would be a better tourney so I expect all four to lose leaving us with Carlito/Masters, HHH/Show.

[Guest FromBeyondTheGrave]

Where's Edge?

[Ravenbomb 0]

Masters costs Carlito the match against RVD, Carlito costs Masters HIS match against RVD, and we get Carlito vs. Masters at Wrestlemania

[cabbageboy 0]

Ravenbomb, you took the words right out of my mouth. Since we all know HHH is going to WM he has to screw over some sort of notable face in the finals. Carlito and Masters aren't faces and I'm not sure exactly what Kane is (not that anyone thinks Kane would go to WM to face the champ anyway). It has to be RVD in the finals since he's the only one there with any face heat or that fans would buy in that position at this point.

 

This tourney has Russo overbooking all over it. We'll have Masters get by Kane in some screwy fashion (maybe a successful Carlito run in, or possibly a botched Show run in). RVD will advance over Carlito via a screwed up Masters run in. Then Carlito returns the favor to Masters and RVD advances over him.

 

The other half is less complicated as HHH should get past Flair convincingly. And I'm sure Vince will screw Shawn over against The Big Show had get him DQed or counted out in bogus fashion. HHH can finally blow off the Big Show feud in the semis before squashing the dreams of RVD marks.

 

That said, RVD in the FF of the Rumble and the finals of a WM tourney is a positive sign (should that happen) for his future.

[CanadianChick 0]

Edge having the title for a bit, RVD probably making the finals of a tournament for a Wrestlemania shot...

 

MUST THEY TEASE ME?!?

[NYU 0]

Again, I have to ask. What is their purpose in keeping Edge out of this tournament? It means either one of three things.

 

A) He's going to win the title back from Cena. But if he didn't do it this past Monday, it's probably not going to happen.

 

B) They plan to put him against someone entirely new at WrestleMania -- if the rumors are correct, it could be Foley.

 

C) They have plans on making the WWE Title match at WrestleMania a Triple Threat. Cena vs. Edge vs. presumably HHH.....unfortunately, there's no face here.

 

It would be very interesting if they actually put Van Dam so close to the WrestleMania title shot though.

[St. Gabe 0]

Im thinking HHH Vs RVD in the finals, giving HHH another chance to leech heat from him. YAY GO TEAM! "I'm through making new stars"...fuck that guy.

[thecitythesky 0]

*

 

Disregard.

[thecitythesky 0]

*

 

Here's the quick and dirty of I think it would make the most sense given that Hunter is getting the Wrestlemania match:

 

RVD d. Carlito

-Clean. .. it doesn't really matter.

 

Masters d. Kane

-Masters is in the middle of a push; Kane is more or less hovering and won't really lose or gain anything from this - as he's not winning the thing.

 

Hunter d. Flair

-He's taking the whole thing.

 

Show d. HBK

-via Vince & co. interference.

 

...

 

RVD d. Masters

-via backfiring Carlito interference

 

Hunter d. Show

-Show doesn't really lose anything. It won't be clean.

 

...

 

Hunter d. Carlito

-Dirty. Carlito interferes successfully. Carlito v. RVD at Wrestlemania. Hunter wins gets the Wrestlemania shot. Do the Carlito/Masters match at the PPV-lite RAW (it's not the kind of thing you can draw out for months).

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Yawn

[Matt Young 0]

BPS, I had no idea you sigged me. I must have been in a really bad mood when I wrote that(I don't remember posting it) although I do hate Mary J. Blige's music.

[Scroby 0]

I actually like that a tournament is happening instead of a battle royal. I think this will be HHH's reminder to the fans that he has control over RVD.

[NoCalMike 0]

RVD will make it to the finals only to be buried by HHH.

[2GOLD 0]

RVD will make it to the finals only to be buried by HHH.

 

Well, it could be worse. He could get buried by Carlito.

...Ah fuck.

[Downhome 0]

RVD will make it to the finals only to be buried by HHH.

 

It's not all bad.

 

At least RVD will be jobbing to his personal pick for "best wrestler in WWE".

[NoCalMike 0]

Well I used the word "buried" for a reason. A job is a job, but in typical Triple H fashion it will be a burial.

[Guest Rrrsh]

The funniest/dumbest part of the whole thing is there wasting away a HBK job on Big Show, rather than have him go to the finals and lose to HHH. I know the marks will pop for the entrance, but who really thinks RVD can beat HHH. There is no evidence in the past 4 years to suggest it. At leats HBK could make that last match believable to the masses.

 

So HHH treis to milk off RVD's heat and fails, the fans will still pop louder for RVD than him, and this whole plan is a failure.

 

He goes to WM and gets a SILENT match in a heatless fued with Cena and its all because HHH is a lot dumber than he thinks he is.

[CanadianChick 0]

Speaking of Shawn, why the heck is he in this tournament? I mean, why would Vince want to put him in? Isn't he always trying to screw him, or something? Do we REALLY need to see another example of Shawn jobbing because of the McMahons? I'm pretty sure the fans will figure out the scheme...

[Prime Time Andrew Doyle 0]

I wouldn't be suprised to see Shawn win this match and then lose to Hunter. It all depends on where that match is on the card. Early on, I could see him lose through McMahon interference, but if it was the Main Event, then I could totally see him winning through botched McMahon interference.

[Si82 0]

That tournament fucking sucks. Not really a surprise considering WWE today. I don't think they could make it anymore obivious who's going to win.

 

Also, why the fuck is Edge not in this tournament? Why are guys like Carlito and Masters in there while he isn't. They are just a couple of over pushed midcarders. I wasn't too big a supporter of Edge when he first won the title but I was just starting to like him when they took the title from him. Fuck WWE.

[hyperchord24 0]

Even marks can see through this garbage. They know HHH will win, and they know why Edge isn't in the tourny and the kayfabe reason isn't so far from the real reason. Why HHH -- you know what? I don't even know why I bother. In 20 years HHH will be the 35 time champ and there's not a damn thing we can do.