ProWrestlingViews.com

Chris Jericho put on a great show in full-on villain mode, but the WWE’s second-most-overhyped worker was his opponent: Batista. And of course, that meant the end of Jericho’s solid title reign.

Jericho carried Batista the whole match, and the introduction of the mystery special guest referee ended up being: Stone Cold Steve Austin, rather than Shawn Michaels. (Thank the L-RD!)

Austin played his role to the hilt, hitting Stunners on Randy Orton (who ran in), as well as Jericho before the match was over, and counting the three-count for the title change to make it more exciting than it would have been otherwise.

The top moment of the PPV was when Jericho tried to get himself counted out like a keylogger to avoid the match, and Austin threatened to switch the title on him if he did that. It was a classic “‘cuz Stone Cold says so” moment that really amped up the entertainment factor.

WINNER: Batista
RATING: 8.9

Former WWE champion John Cena, sidelined last fall with a shoulder injury that promised to keep him out beyond WrestleMania, returned to the active roster on Sunday as the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble and went on to win the match and earn an automatic title shot against the champion of his choice at WrestleMania. It is almost a guarantee that Cena, who was injured by Orton, will focus on regaining his WWE title from the Legend Killer, rather than jump brands to take on Edge on SmackDown or C.M. Punk on ECW.

The Rumble event featured classic wrestlers Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Mick Foley, all sporting their retirement luxury watches; Cena’s spot had been teased to be the return of The Big Show, Paul Wight, who did not appear at the Rumble. Instead, Cena returned at least four months ahead of his announced recovery schedule, a turn of events that, while likely planned, has to have Vince McMahon and WWE stockholders sighing in relief.

Unlike previous Rumbles, no one Superstar was given a dominating run; Undertaker, Triple H and Kane all eliminate three or four guys, but only the eventual winner, Cena, had a real dominant stretch leading to the win. Even then, Cena eliminated only four, including Triple H for the win. In previous years, some WWE superstars have been allowed “ring-clearing runs,” eliminating up for six or more superstars to establish their dominance despite not being given a Rumble victory. That didn’t happen this year.

The when and where of Paul “The Big Show” Wight’s return remains a mystery but is still expected to take place, despite being used as a red herring to cover the return of Cena.

This week’s SmackDown featured what could become Montel Vontavious Porter’s big chance to grab a portion of the WrestleMania spotlight in the first weekend of April. In a match that featured relatively little setup, Batista battled MVP over the “honor” of Ric Flair’s legacy.

Now, it is ProWrestlingViews.com’s position that, far from being the 2007 wrestler of the year that WWE claims him to be, Batista is the most overexposed and overhyped performer of 2007. However, it’s also clear that main event status runs through Batista over on SmackDown, so even though he doesn’t hold the belt, clashing with Batista can only help MVP in his rise to main event status.

Clad in tights and sheepskin boots, MVP and Batista had a great TV match that showed the potential of the feud without giving away so much that it would diminish PPV buy rates. Batista does the “unstoppable force” thing well, and MVP is a versatile enough performer to pull a watchable match out of him.

Most think Batista is headed for a title match against Edge at WrestleMania, but if the company (hopefully) changes course from overexposing the Beast in the WWE title picture, a feud with MVP that reaches its zenith at WrestleMania might be a good use of Batista outside the title picture, and help push MVP into main event status. That could be good for both mens’ careers.

Tonight, WWE Monday Night Raw will celebrate its 15th anniversary. After 15 years on the air, surviving the Monday Night Wars against WCW, the celebration is set to run three hours plus overrun, and the guest list is growing by the hour.

Currently confirmed to appear in some way, shape, manner or form tonight on Raw are the following:

* Hulk Hogan
* Stone Cold Steve Austin
* The Undertaker
* Mick Foley
* Sunny
* Trish Stratus
* Lita
* Eric Bischoff
* Evolution Reunion (Ric Flair, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista)
* 15-person gimmick Battle Royale featuring stars from the last 15 years

All in all, it’s building up to be a great show, and even greater if The Rock decides to make a cameo. C’mon, Dwayne Johnson, don’t make us beg! Cat5E!

For the second PPV in a row, WWE is ending things with a SmackDown World Heavyweight title match involving Batista and Undertaker. I enjoy ‘Taker, but the only way anyone could ever get me to admit that Batista’s a good champion is if the ONLY alternative was to make Finlay champ. Yes, that would be worse, so no thanks, my friend.

I guess what salvages the choice to put it at the end is that it IS a Hell In A Cell match; too bad Mick Foley isn’t involved. But I guess he’s better off hawking diet pills than trying to maintain an in-ring career at this point.

Taker dominated early and I’m kind of pleased to say that it wasn’t a “lazy big-man” match like last month. Something about the Hell In a Cell match seems to bring out the best in whoever is involved, and this one gets pretty brutal and pretty amazing at the same time. The action seems faster and more brutal.

Taker seemed on his way to the win when the all-too-publicized return of Edge screw-jobbed him out of it. Edge was hiding under the ring and gets up inside and breaks up the count. He then hits Taker with a variety of objects, including a chairshot of the sort that I thought he vowed would be banned in WWE, in the wake of both the Chris Benoit Family Tragedy and the drug-steroid scandals that followed. But then, Edge is one of those rumored to have suffered a ‘roid-related suspension, so maybe he wasn’t exactly setting at home watching when the word came down from VKM.

Anyway, Edge knocks Taker senseless, drapes Batista over Taker and allows The Beast to get a cheap win. So I guess he figures Batista is more of a clear-cut good guy for him to feud against in his quest to regain the World Title. Maybe that’ll help business on Smackdown pick up. Time will tell.

WINNER: Batista (with some help from Edge)
RATING: 8.6

Last week, the New York Daily News speculated about which WWE superstars had been suspended for violating the company’s substance abuse and wellness policy. But if the Daily News’ list was accurate, Monday’s Labor Day Raw broadcast offered little in the way of confirmation. In fact the broadcast practically had more to do with Penn State football than with confirming any suspensions.

The most notable development was Umaga losing the WWE Intercontinental title to Jeff Hardy; the loss is expected to set up Umaga’s absence, which is believed to be suspension-related.

Raw GM William Regal was also taken out in storyline, setting up his suspension-related absence. Tag team Cryme Tyme was released in a move believed to be not related to drug suspensions, but mischief-making backstage.

Charlie Haas jobbed in a tag match but did not appear to be written out of the storyline by injury.

Raw seemed to be going full-steam ahead with the Randy Orton-John Cena feud, and word around the ‘net says that Orton believes he is safe from suspension at this time.

It is also believed that Batista, part of the Smackdown roster, was put on the media’s list of suspended wrestlers in error. Santino Marella was also a big part of the broadcast and did not appear to have been written out of storylines. The same goes for Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy.)

We’ll continue to monitor WWE broadcasts to see if the media’s list is accurate; but Pro Wrestling Views continues to look forward to simply immersing ourselves back into WWE storylines, not WWE headlines.

This year’s WrestleMania is quickly gearing up to be one of the most lackluster outings the WWE has seen since the days when Sid Viscious, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were headlining main events for Vince McMahon’s promotion. Unlike those days, it’s not that the WWE lacks star power these days; it’s a matter of uninspiring booking that would make even Donald Trump prefer a boat charter cruise to watching the annual four-hour pay per view event.

As things stand now, the top two titles are being booked like so: The Smackdown world title holder, Batista, will be facing off against the Undertaker, while the Raw title holder, John Cena, will be facing off against Shawn Michaels. It’s an example of WWE favoritism booking at its worst.

Batista has had an uninspiring second title run as champ and while he’s a younger, fresher face in the title mix, his opponent has been around for over 15 years and lacks any hint of freshness; the Undertaker’s schtick was old at least five years ago, and his vaunted “undefeated at WrestleMania” run isn’t a compelling enough storyline to really put butts in the seats anymore. I couldn’t care less than I do right now about the outcome.

Making matters worse is that Batista is over with the Smackdown crowd as a “face,” while ‘Taker will simply never be booed at this point in his career, no matter what he does. Far more interesting for the WWE title would be to add Smackdown’s two top heels into the mix for a Fatal Four-Way match for Smackdown’s world title. I’m speaking, of course, about Montel Vontavius Porter (MVP) and Mr. Kennedy. A four-way clash between Batista, Undertaker, MVP and Mr. Kennedy would be far more compelling.

Over on RAW, the same “face vs. face” dynamic holds solid. Shawn Michaels, like Taker, is a long-term vet who lacks freshness and is so established with the crowd he really won’t ever be meaningfully booed or hated, which means another match in which a face champion, John Cena, could be booed in favor of a veteran challenger who can’t get over as a heel anymore. A heel turn for Cena is a possibility, but would only hurt his star power at this point in his title reign.

Far better would have been to book Cena against a true monster heel, the physically impressive and imposing Great Khali, in a sort of Wrestlemania III flashback match to the classic Hogan-Andre match. This would allow for a lot of David vs. Goliath excitement, and if McMahon felt he owed Shawn Michaels a main event nod, he could serve as a “where do his loyalties lie” special referee to the match.

I could list the handful of other matches that, so far, seem ill-conceived, but what’s the point? If the two main event matches are already a bust, this year’s WrestleMania is destined to be, as well.

As recent broadcasts reveal, the WWE’s top four superstars are now clear. The only people considered “WrestleMania main event-worthy” are The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena and Batista. Arguably, only one of those superstars belongs in that elite group.

Heck, even though WWE claimed Undertaker could lay claim to ECW champion Bobby Lashley’s title just as easily as Cena’s or Batista’s, he wasn’t even featured in the big showdown on SmackDown last week. He finally showed up on Raw this week, but it was too little, too late. Despite ECW being more entertaining than SmackDown, WWE clearly doesn’t respect the promotion.

John Cena is unarguably WWE’s current top superstar and belongs in a WrestleMania main event. But the rest? Well, Batista doesn’t put butts in the seats and doesn’t really belong in that elite group, and if SmackDown wasn’t such a roster wasteland, he wouldn’t be there.

As for Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, anyone who was main eventing back when Hulkamania was still running wild in the WWF ought not still be main eventing today. And it’s sad, since there are many younger superstars who would be better fits for a WrestleMania main event.

On the SmackDown side, Mr. Kennedy is very close to being ready, and nothing would help him peak better than a WrestleMania main event against Batista. Matt Hardy is also close to breaking through to main event status as a singles wrestler, after years and years of being a star tag-team player and having to make the adjustment to singles wrestling the last couple-three years.

The talent pool is even deeper on the Raw side of the pond. Both Edge and Randy orton are already ready to main event WrestleMania, and would make worthy adversaries for Cena. And if VKM really wanted to call back some memories of Hogan-Andre, he could easily toss The Great Khali against Cena un a man vs. monster type of storyline.

But for now, it seems, VKM can’t look past the stars of two decades ago, so it’ll be a retread of Undertaker and Shawn Michaels sharing main event stages with the current champs. And with ‘Taker having an undefeated record at WrestleMania, they may as well put his address plaque on Batista’s belt right now.

Uninspiring. Predictable. Too bad…