SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM TITLES:
The Miz & John Morrison (c) vs. Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, Jesse & Festus,  Fit Finlay & Hornswoggle
BO'S PREDICTION:
ECW is about to be taped before Raw and not Smackdown. This means that The Miz, Morrison, Finlay and Hornswoggle will be appearing on Raw and ECW and not Smackdown since they would have to take a plane ride after each show. What does that all mean, kids? This belt is going to change hands on this show. Jesse and Festus have been sort of on the sidelines and the two Edge fans haven’t really worked a serious match as a team for a while but one of these teams is getting the belt. If Edge isn’t going to win then you could give Ryder and Hawkins the belts and make that an annoyance to Edge. But, the team of Jesse and Festus is more over with the fans and the Festus personality is something that the writing team can play with so I would make them the odds on favorites to take the belts from Miz and Morrison by pinning neither tag champ.

BO'S REVIEW: 
During this match everyone had a chance to get their offense in. We even got to see Hornswoggle do a hurancanrana. Mick Foley throughout the match kept reminding us that he didn't care for the Miz at all. We thought that Festus was going to win the match but one of the Edgeheads pulled his leg and the other got the pin. As predicted The Miz and Morrison lost the titles without being pined and Ryder & Hawkins are the new Smackdown tag title holders. The match was fast and kept the audience interested.

UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE:
Matt Hardy(c) vs. Sheldon Benjamin
BO'S PREDICTION:
This match was added late Friday so there was no Prediction for this match.

BO'S REVIEW: 
The major problem with this match going in to the show is that there couldn't be a build up to it. Hardy hasn't been on ECW long enough to set up a challenger and Benjamin just went back to Smackdown. That didn't stop the two from putting on a good match, however. Benjamin introduced a sitting abdominal stretch during the match and spent a long time working on Hardy's neck. He also caught Matt in mid air and spiked him into the turnbuckle. The finish was set up when Matt landed on Benjamin's knee while trying a moonsault off the top. Benjamin spiked Hardy and became the 21st wrestler to hold both the US title and the Intercontinental title.

ECW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Mark Henry(c) vs. Tommy Dreamer
BO'S PREDICTION:
There is a fair amount of controversy over Henry having the belt. The website TNZ says he is carrying the belt due to the racial incident between Henry and Michael Hayes as an apology but the WWE tends not to care what the mainstream media thinks and TMZ isn’t the mainstream in any way, shape or form. It does seem like a coincidence but with Kane going to Raw and Big Show staying on Smackdown than who else should be carrying the belt? Henry is the biggest athlete on the ECW roster and with the move of Punk to Raw he was a likely candidate. His challenger here is the ECW original Tommy Dreamer and I don’t expect Dreamer to win the match but expect that it will be kept fairly short with some interference by Hall of Fame member Tony Atlas, Henry’s new running buddy. If the writers actually look at some old ECW tapes then they will notice that Dreamer can do one hell of a promo and by letting him speak then this program can go at least a month.

BO'S REVIEW: 
Taz and Mike Adamle finally appear on the show since JR and Foley called the first two matches. The story of the match is mostly Henry beating the heck out of Dreamer with Dreamer getting some offense in after a long time. Tony Atlas spent his time around the ring talking smack to Dreamer. The finish was Colin Delaney getting up on the ring apron to implore Dreamer to pose and scream "ECW" but then grabbing Dreamer's arm and causing him to lose. Delaney walks to the back and smiles as Taz sold being shocked that he would turn on his teacher.

GRUDGE MATCH:
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
BO'S PREDICTION:
This match has had a great build up and showed that Jericho can be a great heel without changing much of his persona. His promos have the feel of truth to them and actually make the audience look the heel as well as Shawn. The promo cut between the two of them on the 7/7 Raw was one of the best I have seen all year. You add to that the elevation of Lance Cade (which should have happened a long time ago) and you have a program that could last well past SummerSlam. This should be a great match with a mix of technical moves as well as some liberal interference from Cade. They could go with a DQ finish or a clean win from Michaels to keep the program moving. If they go with the clean win then Jericho will do something terrible to Shawn afterwards. This could be the best match on the card.

BO'S REVIEW: 
 I figured that this would be the match of the night and for the most part it was. After a stare fest between the two they go back and forth. HBK takes a shot in the ribs by Jericho's knee and spends the match selling the ribs. HBK applies the Indian Death lock to Jericho but Jericho gets out of the move. HBK does the Flair corner flip but gets kicked onto the floor. Jericho jumps into an atomic drop but recovers and puts the suffering Michaels into the Walls of Jericho. HBK gets crotched into the ring post and Lance Cade makes his appearance. HBK kicks him to the floor from the outside then blocks a Jericho codebreaker and tosses Jericho from the ring before he moonsaults onto the both of them. It is outside the ring that HBK gets a smack in the injured eye (which is injured a bit in real life) and starts to juice heavily. Jericho and Cade work on the eye but HBK puts Jericho in a cross face that Jericho gets out of. From this point on HBK is bleeding like a stuck pig while Jericho and Cade keep working on him. The match ends when the ref stops it due to the heavy blood. 

SMACKDOWN DIVA TITLE:
Natalya vs. Michelle McCool
BO'S PREDICTION:
Since this is a new title we will see the debut of a new belt that will be defended as much as the Raw Woman’s title but with the Smackdown Divas in the mix. Common sense would suggest that Natalya gets the belt here since she has been wrestling a lot longer than McCool. It also stands to reason that Natalya will carry most of the action during the match and beat McCool with little effort.

BO'S REVIEW: 
Considering the show and somewhat haphazard way that the road to the new butterfly shaped belt was paved this wasn't that bad a match. Natalya has dyed her hair red so as to not have fans confuse her with Beth Phoenix. They do a few cool moves here including Michelle getting out of a bow and arrow then trying to get Natalya into McCool's heel hook finisher. McCool also gets out of the sharpshooter and gets the new belt with the heel hook (which they stole from UFC). As the good Divas come out to congratulate McCool for winning Jericho walks back out onto the entrance and tells fans to keep their tickets since they were present for Shawn Michaels last match since the doctors have told HBK he has a detached retina. This does increase Jericho's heel status but distracts from the new Diva champ. .

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE MATCH:
CM Punk (c) vs. Batista
BO'S PREDICTION:
The ratings for last Monday’s Raw were damn good so don’t expect a title change here. The elevation of Punk to main event status on Raw was a bold move. The main reason Punk got the Money in the Bank win was to elevate him in the eyes of fans (who already knew he was a great worker) and with the draft moves the call was made to pull the trigger. This match will have an interesting feel to it. Punk is a fan of the Japanese style and works somewhat stiff. Batista is more of a power/brawler type who will throw out a move just to show that he does have wrestling ability. For a while he seemed to be coasting but has regained the passion that made him a major star. I would guess that the two will work out the match a few times before the show and surprise us with a cool move or two before Punk keeps the belt.

BO'S REVIEW: 
At an early part of the show we were shown a talk between CM Punk and Todd Grisham over him keeping the belt. For some reason Punk comes out first and once the two were in the ring they re-introduce the two of them with Punk getting announced last. As expected Batista carries the start of the match with power moves but eventually takes a series of leg kicks from Punk. Punk dives out of the ring onto Batista but the action moves back inside the ring and puts Punk in a camel clutch. The two exchange kicks and Batista takes a hard kick to the head. Batista blocks the GTS. He also rams his shoulder into the ring post but does hit a spinebuster on Punk on the ring floor. Punk climbs back into the ring and as Batista tries to get up Kane comes out (carrying a bag again) and knocks him out. Punk wins by count out but Kane knocks him out as well. Kane then leaves the ring and kicks the crap out of a cameraman. He again asks, 'Is he alive or dead?" Batista and Punk do a stare down but when Punk holds the belt up Batista hits him with the Batista bomb. 

NEW YORK PARKING LOT BRAWL:
Cena vs. JBL
BO'S PREDICTION:
We thought that the JBL/Cena program had ended over a month ago but here they are going at each other again. The first time around it looked like the WWE had Cena running in place until it was time for him to challenge for the title but this time it seems like an actual program. We had JBL declare martial law and try to toss Cena from the building so that he could wrestle CM Punk for the title then followed that with Cena and Crime Tyme busting up the windows of his limo. On this week’s Raw we were led to believe that JBL ran a car into Cena’s face at the end of the show (hmmm, it’s a white car and he was crushed up against it but there was no blood and the announcers didn’t even say anything. WWE.com reported that Cena only suffered minor injuries) There is a ‘class war’ feel to this angle with JBL telling anyone who will listen that he deserves to be the champ because he’s rich (he really isn’t but he can say that on TV) while Cena comes off as a regular guy. By placing the two outside of the arena instead of inside the arena both of their shortcomings inside the ring can be hidden and they can just go at each other. We can expect some broken windows and someone landing on the hood of a car but in the end Cena will win the match and maybe not rub off any of the makeup he will be wearing to sell that he was hit by a car.

BO'S REVIEW: 
It looks as if this match was pre-taped but it starts with JBL driving into the parking lot then getting out of the back of his limo in a suit and carrying a tire iron. He doesn't know where Cena is and learns that he is inside one of the cars. Cena drives the car into one that JBL has climbed onto the roof of. Cena has battery cables in his hand and naturally he hooks them up to JBL's nuts and shocks him. (By the way, Cena doesn't have a mark or bruise from being hit by a car last Monday) Cena throws a beer keg at JBL but JBL counters by throwing him thru a car door. JBL does a spinning neckbreaker on Cena and drops him on a car roof. Cena gets tossed thru a windshield. He also gets put in the back seat of a car so that JBL can get a gas can and douse the car with it. He ignores the pleas of the ref and sets it on fire. There are crew members there to put the fire out so that the fight can continue and so it does. Cena puts JBK in a car then rams the car with a fork lift. He then picks up the car and drives it into the arena. The two beat each other some more (Cena has a cut on one of his arms) until they hit the top of the ramp and Cena teases the FU onto the metal floor. He then looks at the car and ends up getting thrown thru the windshield after he hesitates to set up the move. JBL pins Cena for the win. Cena is cut on the other arm now and JBL isn't moving much at all. JBL is helped out and one of his hands is sort of curled up. Cena looks at his arm then walks away to the cheers of the fans.

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Triple H(c) vs. Edge
BO'S PREDICTION:
I would doubt very seriously that HHH is losing the strap in this match but expect a good 25 minute match between him and Edge in what is likely the main event. The two seem like natural opponents and can work in a ‘give and take’ style that will have them trade moves back and forth. You would expect some interference here but I think that we may actually get a clean match. I would also expect to see the initial teases for the return of the Undertaker with more unusual occurrences going on backstage (light standards falling down, fans running around backstage) and more of Kane freaking out. When HHH wins I would expect a major freak out inside or outside the ring from Edge and more crying from Vickie Guerrero.

BO'S REVIEW:
Mick sells the fact that Edge could be off his game after the events of the week. Edge starts the offense in the match but HHH recovers and takes over the match. Edge regains control after a spear and a body scissors. Edge dives thru the ropes and hits HHH with an Impaler DDT while the action is outside. HHH hits a catapult and then hits Edge with his own DDT. Edge hits HHH with a top rope superplex. The wedding planner, Alicia comes out and grabs the title belt. She puts it near Edge so that he could use it but Vicki comes out and the women get into a Joey Styles' catfight. Edge ends up spearing Vicki and as he sees what he has done HHH pits him with the pedigree and keeps his title.

Currently, this is the only WCW PPV title that the WWE is using and up to this point the shows have ended up sucking big time; this show was the exception to the rule. None of the matches were bad by any standards and the crowd was kept entertained. The dull points in the show were during the Henry/Dreamer match but that was expected. They did save that match with the finish. I would assume that having JR and Foley call the bulk of the matches means that the duo have become the "A" announce team. SummerSlam follows in a month so expect a fair amount of the card to be set up with the results of this one.

Photo © 2008 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc.