Prediction Time: WWE Titles

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

With the fallout from SummerSlam, and a few days away from Night of Champions we are well down the road to the 2nd half of 2013 WWE which will put us on the road to Mania. Thought it would be interesting to see what people think/expect for the various title scenes for the rest of this year. Once we hit 2014, we can dig this thread back up and see how we did.

WWE Title: Current champ Randy Orton

Orton cashed in his briefcase at SummerSlam to win the title after Bryan beat Cena for it. This Sunday at Night of Champions Orton is defending the title against Bryan. I expect this Bryan/Orton/HHH story to continue past Night of Champions. Therefore, I think we see Orton retain the title via DQ, or pick up the win with outside interference. I expect Orton and Bryan to be competing against one another till Survivor Series at the earliest and Rumble at the latest.

Prediction: Orton holds the title for the bulk of the year dropping it to Bryan at Survivor Series at the earliest or any time before years end.

World Heavyweight Title: Current champ Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio has held the title for a few months now and is currently in a feud with RVD who has the services of Del Rio's former employee Ricardo. They are scheduled to face each other at Night of Champions. I don't see this feud ending at Night of Champions, but I don't see it being as long as Bryan/Orton.

Prediction: Del Rio retains at Night of Champion's but than loses the title in a rematch against RVD at Hell in a Cell. RVD holds the title until Survivor Series at which point Sandow cashes in his briefcase and becomes champ, holding onto the title to enter 2014.

Intercontinental Title: Current champ Curtis Axel

Axel has been champ for a few months now, but has really had no opponents. That trend is continuing as he is involved in the Punk/Heyman story and is set at Night of Champions to team up with Heyman against Punk with the IC title not up for grabs. I don't think we will see the end of the Punk/Heyman story until Survivor Series, with the feud ending with Punk finally getting to beat down Heyman.

Prediction: With the Punk/Heyman story going to Survivor Series, I don't see Axel having any challengers in that time as he will be involved with Punk. Therefore, I see Axel holding the title for the duration of the year and more than likely into WrestleMania XXX.

United States Title: Current Champ Dean Ambrose

Ambrose is pretty much in the same position as Axel. They are invloved in others stories so they really don't have challengers of their own. Ambrose has been champ for a few months now and with The Shield being a part of the Bryan/Orton feud I expect him to remain champ for the foreseeable future.

Prediction: Not only Ambrose, but I think The Shield will meet their downfall at the Survivor Series. This makes sense on two fronts as it was at last years Survivor Series where they debuted, and as I think the event will mark the beginning of Orton's demise, so to should it mark the demise of The Shield. I expect Ambrose to be champ till Survivor Series, at which time he will drop the title to Cody Rhodes.

Tag Team Titles: Current champs Rollins & Regins

Being part of The Shield there story mirrors Ambrose's so I won't repeat what I just said earlier.

Prediction: They hold the titles until Survivor Series at which point they drop the titles to The Usos.

Divas Title: Current champ AJ

AJ has been champ for a few months now and is set to take on the girls from the Total Divas show at Night of Champions. I see this feud continuing past Night of Champion's at which point it will center around one of the Diva's from the show against AJ.

Prediction: AJ retains the title at Night of Champions with the Total Divas girls getting in each others way. The story then shifts to AJ/Natalia where we see Natalia win the title at some point between Hell in a Cell and Battleground. AJ would transition to a story away from the title as Natalia would begin to defend her title against the other Total Diva girls for the remainder of the year.

 

[MCMG]

WWE Title - I think we will see Orton hold the belt for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised to see him defend the belt against all of Bryan, Punk, Rhodes and even Cena. If the make the chase for Bryan as long and dramatic as possible then his win is more memorable. I don't buy that wrestling fans have short attention spans because there are so many different tangents to this meaning it can go up to WM30.

World Heavyweight Championship - I hope that RVD wins the belt even if it is just to drop it to Sandow. I'll say that RVD is champ for a month and then drops it to Sandow. Thereafter it is difficult, will Sandow be champ going into WM30. Maybe facing someone like Rhodes or Ziggler.

Intercontinental Championship - A difficult one and it depends how highly they rate Axel. I think they do so they will have major plans for him ( a face turn, WHC title) meaning he would drop the IC belt. I reckon Kofi will be IC champ before the end of the year.

US title - Similar to the situation with Axel, do they stick or twist. I think they stick with Ambrose for a while because he is part of a bigger picture and he needs to remain US champ. He will probably drop it someone who is significantly weaker then him; maybe even Santino to start showing the cracks.

Tag-titles - They will probably drop their belts at the same PPV as Ambrose, TLC is a likely choice, so they are free for WM. The Prime Time Players are getting a decent reaction so they may be a strong candidate to win the belts.

Divas Championship - This is all set up for Brie Bella to win. I'm not sure when but I would be shocked if the WWE didn't have Bryan and Brie both champs because it would be good for Total Divas. Shame for AJ, Kaitlyn and Natalya but that is what is best for business.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

WWE Title: Current champ Randy Orton

Night Of Champions: I predict Triple H will order Big Show to interfere and cost Daniel Bryan the match because of how Big Show acted last Monday night. I don't believe Big Show will turn because the last pay per view we already had that with Triple H and Orton.

Prediction: Randy Orton will retain and this feud will last 2 more pay per views tops.


World Heavyweight Title: Current champ Alberto Del Rio

Night Of Champions: Manager Ricardo "Numero Uno Amigo" Rodriguez will help Rob Van Dam obtain the World Heavyweight Championship by either distracting Del Rio, or holding Del Rio down outside of the ring to secure a pinfall.

Prediction: Del Rio loses the championship but gets a rematch on Smackdown, giving Smackdown fans a World Championship match they haven't seen in a long time. Del Rio loses again, and RVD fights someone new at the next pay per view.

Intercontinental Title: Current champ Curtis Axel

Night Of Champions:Not much to be said here. I thought Night of Champions was suppose to have all titles defended but I guess that's not the stipulation anymore. Title not up for grabs, Axel loses to Punk, and Heyman chickens out so we see this feud go to the next pay per view.

Prediction: Punk beats Axel, and barely gets his hands on Heyman, but to no avail.

United States Title: Current Champ Dean Ambrose

Night of Champions: Same as Axel, not much to say here. The Shield will help secure Orton's reign.

Prediction: I agree with Original Post.

Tag Team Titles: Current champs Rollins & Regins

Night of Champions: See above.

Prediction: They will lose the belts at Survivor Series, but to the Prime Time Players.

Divas Title: Current champ AJ

Night Of Champions: With the dwindling popularity of Total Divas, they must beat AJ this pay per view to be given any credibility and to improve ratings. I'll be honest- I have no effing clue who will take the title off of AJ that night, probably a Bella, but I believe it will happen much to anyone's dismay.

Prediction: Total Divas get the title, something to show off on a reality show, and the fans will continue to hate them more than a heel AJ, who will gain it back at Survivor Series.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Championship - I'll be extremely surprised if Orton drops the title to Bryan this Sunday. A HUGE number of fans WANT to see Daniel Bryan beat Orton for the title and I think WWE is counting on that. I think Orton retains against Bryan in some controversial fashion that keeps Bryan looking strong at Night of Champions. I look for Orton to retain also at the Battleground ppv in a similar manner before ultimately dropping it to Bryan at either HIAC or Survivor Series. Reportedly, Orton is said to be in the title scene until the Royal Rumble and I'm not convinced that WWE will be able to keep fans interested in Bryan going after the title for another four months without ultimately putting another guy or two into the title picture as a three or fourway feud. Even then, you'll have any number of complaints about Bryan not taking the title from Orton in a one on one situation. As a result, I'm thinking Orton drops the strap to Bryan at either HIAC or Survivor Series and spends the rest of the program chasing the strap with him getting one final shot at the Royal Rumble before both parties move on.

World Heavyweight Championship - I'm expecting RVD to defeat Del Rio for the WHC at Night of Champions. However, I immediately expect Damien Sandow to come up from behind and jump RVD, hitting him several times with the briefcase and taking Ricardo Rodriguez out as well. He then cashes in and takes the title off RVD. As Del Rio & RVD both have mandatory rematches as former champs, this keeps them in the title picture and gives Damien Sandow a couple of much bigger names to feud with. As I've said in other posts, according to reports on RVD's deal, he's set to take time off after 90days and we've got to be getting close to that amount of time. As a result, RVD isn't going to have any sort of real run with the title, but RVD winning against Del Rio will give the fans a charge and Sandow screwing him out of it only minutes later will immediately put heat on Sandow. WWE is very much, unfortunately, employing the "tear them down to build them up" formula with Sandow as he's been losing matches left & right since winning the briefcase. Therefore, a cash in looks to be looming on the horizon. My prediction is that this will be the only title to change hands at the Night of Champions ppv.

WWE Intercontinental Championship -It's difficult to predict what will happen. Miz & Wade Barrett seem to be very much out of the picture at this point, which is a good thing in my opinion as the IC title has been nothing but trouble for poor Barrett and Miz gains nothing from another title run. Axel has been part of Heyman's feud against Punk and, again, CM Punk doesn't have anything to gain from being IC champ unless WWE comes up with the notion of giving CM Punk an extremely strong run as IC champ. But it's unlikely to go down like that as I figure some people would see this as a step backward for Punk. Kofi is a possibility but, again, Kofi is someone that's had multiple runs as IC and US champ that've never led to anything bigger for him. Still, Kofi is a strong possibility. If he hadn't have been injured, Christian would have been an ideal feud for Axel. Even if they didn't put the strap on Christian, it still would have given Axel a strong mid-card title feud.

WWE United States Championship - A few weeks ago, I would have said that Dolph Ziggler was the guy to take the US title from Ambrose. Rumors are circulating that Ziggler's in hot water and his match against Bray Wyatt last Monday is the first real indicator of that. He's lost a couple of matches to Ryback, but Ryback hasn't utterly squashed him as Dean Ambrose has always done something to affect the outcome of the match. However, with Wyatt, Ziggler was just taken out. Unfortunately, I could see WWE having Ambrose drop the title to Santino during a time in which the storyline is to give fans the perception that the corporate power structure is breaking down. I just think that there are others on the roster who could benefit more than Santino. Let's face it, Santino has gone as far as he's going with his current character. At the same time, 2013 has been one of the worst years for WWE's mid-card titles that I can recall so having the US title wind up at a proverbial dead end does seem fitting.

WWE Divas Championship - I'd say that AJ Lee will drop the Divas Championship sometime over the next couple of months in order to coincide with the season finale of the Total Divas reality show. They had the mid-season finale this past Sunday, or it takes place this Sunday. It's one of the others. At any rate, there won't be any new episodes airing for, I'm guessing, for about 4-6 weeks, possibly just a little longer. During the time period in which the new episodes begin showing, AJ will probably drop the title to either Natalya or Naomi unless they turn Brie face and give her the strap. The Bellas have a ton of power in WWE backstage and happen to be two of the least skilled in-ring competitors on the roster. As a result, there's a strong chance that Brie winds up taking the title. Nothing would please me more, however, than to see AJ emerge from the whole angle with the title.

WWE Tag Team Championship - I think that the PTPs will ultimately wind up being the next tag team champs. They're part of the tag team turmoil #1 contenders match at the NOC kickoff show, and I'm guessing either they or The Usos pick up the win. At NOC, I expect The Shield to retain against the challengers but will wind up dropping them to the PTPs sometime within the next few months.

 

[ultramattman]

Intercontinental Title: Current champ Curtis Axel

Night Of Champions:Not much to be said here. I thought Night of Champions was suppose to have all titles defended but I guess that's not the stipulation anymore.

This stipulation is why I think Axel's going to find himself in a surprise title match with Sunday night and drop the title to Kofi Kingston.

 

[TheUSP]

WWE TITLE

In all honesty, I can't see Daniel Bryan winning it from Orton, but one thing I am uncertain about is whether the win will be clean or not. Surprisingly throughout Orton's run as champion so far, he's managed to pick up all of his victories cleanly (Christian, RvD, Rhodes) I'm not complaining at this at all but it has surprised me a bit. Personally I think the real money is in HHH v Bryan and not Orton v Bryan so I expect Orton to retain. How long will he keep the title? Until 2014 in my opinion, Who will beat him for it? As much as I hate to say it, probably Cena.

WHC

I reckon this is the only championship that will change hands at NOC, there are a few main reasons to suggest why the major championship will change hands. First of all, there's the factor of Sandow. I think Sandow will cash in his MITB briefcase in the next few months and I simply can't see him cashing in against Del Rio, they need a solid face to hold the championship for a couple of months so Sandow can execute his cashing in perfectly.

Tag Team Titles

I expect it will be PTP who step up and win the match on the pre show, all the signs are pointing to them being the Shield's next challengers, I don't think they'll beat The Shield, they might even have two PPV attempts at it but I can only see them acting as a 'filler' before Big Show and Mark Henry team up. I think it will be Henry and Show who ultimately take the titles away from them but I don't think it will happen until Survivor Series.

US Title

WWE are focusing Ambrose a lot more towards the Bryan/Orton/Corporation feud at the minute rather than him as the US Champ, I can't see Dean dropping the title in the next few months but whereas I believe Reigns/Rollins will drop the titles at Survivor Series, I don't think Ambrose will. I think Ambrose will have a big matchup against a top name (Jericho perhaps, if he's around at the time) and successfully retain. This will lead HHH to think that Ambrose is better than the other members of The Shield and will result in Ambrose/Orton and the McMahons to all turn on Reigns/Rollins.

IC Championship

Still confused as to why they gave Axel the belt, he hasn't really defended it at all since winning it and the fact that he's IC Champion adds nothing to the feud with Punk. I see Axel dropping the title to Kofi Kingston in the next few weeks, increasing the doubts that Heyman has over him.

Divas

You would imagine that the title picture will be severely affected by the Total Divas reality show. Already there is some sort of Total Divas/Non Total Divas feud happening and it's clear that what happens in the WWE and Total Divas will be linked a lot. I think AJ will retain and she'll keep the title until Natalya takes it from her. I don't know when that would be but it will probably happen whenever Total Divas has their last episode of the series

 

[cole miner]

WWE Championship:

I'd say Daniel Bryan has no chance of leaving Night of Champions with the belt. This feud could easily carry out through the rest of the year so they will hold DB's victory for now. I see Bryan getting screwed at Battleground again, leading to Bryan challenging Triple H at Hell in a Cell, allowing for someone to step in to challenge Orton at HIAC. I think it would be interesting for Triple H to give Big Show a title shot with the stipulation that he must lay down for Orton, which Show doesn't do, leading to him being "fired". For Survivor Series, I'm not sure if the title would be defended or be involved in a 5 on 5 traditional elimination match. Anyways, I predict Bryan earning one last shot at Orton by beating HHH, where he comes away with the victory at either Survivor Series or TLC.

WHC:

I've seen recent interviews with RVD where he seems happy to be back in WWE and he has been putting on high quality matches, so hopefully he decides to cancel his hiatus after 90 days. I'd like to see see RVD get a title reign of a few months before losing to Sandow, maybe at HIAC after beating Alberto del Rio again. From there, maybe Cody Rhodes can re-kindle his feud with Sandow for the remainder of 2013.

Intercontinental Title:

Who knows what's gonna happen with this title. I don't really care, I'd just like to see an actual feud take place. I like the idea of Axel facing Christian to give him a credible victory, if the WWE still wants to continue with Axel. If not, we will probably see Miz or Kofi with another reign.

United States Title:

Much like the Intercontinental Title, the US Title needs a good feud surrounding it. To be fair, it looks as though we could get that from Ambrose and Ziggler. I'd like to see Ziggler win the title, only to bring out a more vicious side of Ambrose in his attempt(s) to regain the title. After Ziggler, Ambrose can move onto someone else fighting the Corporation; like Big Show or Miz.

Tag Team Titles:

I can see The Shield losing the titles to either PTP or the Uso's (looking more like PTP now). I think this could lead to the first signs of bad news for the Corporation. It seems like WWE is trying to put more emphasis on the division so if The Shield do drop the titles to PTP they'd probably move into a feud with The Real Americans.

Diva's Title:

AJ is going to be dropping the title sometime in the near future to either Brie or Natalya, if not at Night of Championships then at Battleground. I wouldn't mind Natalya getting a run with the title, she defiantly deserves it. I think it's inevitable that Brie gets a run with title at some point. Either way Total Divas will be the main factor in who's in the title picture here.

 

[Radical]

WWE Title: Current champ Randy Orton

Prediction: Randy Orton will retain at Night of Champions, continue the feud with Bryan where he'll probably finally lose to Bryan at Hell in a Cell or Survivor Series and Randy gets a rematch at one of those PPVs or TLC.

World Heavyweight Title: Current champ Alberto Del Rio

Prediction: Del Rio loses the championship to RVD at Night of Champions. RVD celebrates, Del Rio recovers and beats up RVD, in comes Sandow, cashes in MITB, becomes World Champion and he'll stay World Champion until at least Royal Rumble. Who beats him? Probably Dolph Ziggler or ... a returning "STRONGER THAN EVER" Sheamus.

Intercontinental Title: Current champ Curtis Axel

Prediction: Punk beats Axel and Heyman, briefly until somehow it is stopped. Axel loses the IC belt to Kofi Kingston so Axel, Heyman and Punk feud can continue more personally. Kingston loses the title to Fandango!

United States Title: Current Champ Dean Ambrose

Prediction: Dean Ambrose stays US Champ until early next year, maybe even to or past WrestleMania.

Tag Team Titles: Current champs Rollins & Regins

Prediction: I know they are building up a lot of tag teams but I think they are want to keep the titles on The Shield as long as possible. Longer or close to Team Hell No, so that means they have to reign as champs for a few months more at least. I think it will be The Usos who finally beat them (with a lot of others helping, in various ways).

Divas Title: Current champ AJ

Prediction: I agree with the poster who said "Total Divas get the title, something to show off on a reality show, and the fans will continue to hate them more than a heel AJ, who will gain it back at Survivor Series."

It is funny that, if this happens, when AJ wins the title back she will get cheers even if she is still playing 'heel'.

 

[Rotterdam]

WWE Title - Bryan will chase the title for a couple more months and probably will win the title back at Survivor Series.

World Heavyweight Championship - I think RVD wins the title at NoC and Sandow cashes his MITB case in right after that. After the rematch Sandow will feud with Cody over the belt.

Intercontinental Championship - don't really care actually. The lack of defending the title makes the title more useless every day. I hope Axel somehow has to put his title on the line on NoC and Punk becomes the IC champ to boost it's credibility again.

US title - Same thing as the IC title, only with Ziggler. Doesn't have to be at NoC though, 1 or 2 PPV's later won't be a problem.

Tag-titles - I guess somewhere around SS the belts will go tot the PTP's. Probably at the same night Ambrose loses his title.

Divas Championship - I think AJ will have a real long run up until WM with this belt. If she doesn't Natalya will win the belt somewhere between now and WM. If she does, I see a former diva returning around WM (like Kharma or Beth Phoenix) to take the belt off AJ.

 

[The Eighties]

WWE Title - I see Orton holding it until Survivor Series where Bryan will finally get it off him. I then see Bryan as Champion until the Rumble where Triple H takes it off him, probably to face Cena at Mania.

WHC - Del Rio's title reign is running on fumes, he's just not over, but I think he keeps the Mexican Hero thing going until Rey returns and takes the title off him only for Sandow to cash-in, probably at either HIAC or Survivor Series. I'm far from convinced that Sandow carries the WHC into Mania though, that opportunity remains wide open in my view.

IC Title - Curtis Axel isn't really over but I see him getting by the inevitable Kofi Kingston threat. To be honest there aren't a lot of challengers for him, maybe a face turn for Big E could see him take the belt by the end of the year.

US Title - I'm again stumped as to when Ambrose will lose this title as there aren't even any challengers for him to defend against right now, never mind lose it to. I'm gonna stick my neck out and say he holds it into 2014 until Sami Zayn is on the main roster, and he'll be the one to dethrone him.

Tag Titles - I think the PTP win the Tag Turmoil match this Sunday but lose the title match. I see Rollins & Reigns dropping the titles to a makeshift team like Miz & Ziggler or Show & Henry as a win for the faces in the corporation angle, but they'll have them back before 2014 and carry them into Mania.

Divas Title - AJ will get through NOC with the title and really should hold it until some of the Divas from NXT start getting called up to create a proper division. However I expect one of the vacuous Bellas to take it off her even though it wont help Total Divas at all as no one watches the show for wrestling reasons.