Now that the NFL Draft is over, it is time for everyone to grade drafts, which is stupid, and yet we all feel like we must do it. It's the reason we overreact to one week of baseball games or a single football game. That's what we do; we jump to conclusions, because despite us having very limited evidence of anything, WE JUST KNOW. What everyone knows right now is the Bears had a poor draft. All that really means is that the internet and ESPN experts did not expect them to go as high.
Here's the thing about every pick in the draft. They are all RIDICULOUSLY good at football. When you read my report on Jonathan Bostic, it is incredibly negative, but then I saw a skill that very few people have, and I could envision why the Bears front office would be excited about him.
Now it's time to break down a big nasty. There's nothing more fun than the play of the offensive line. That is why everyone should read Ben Muth on Football Outsiders. I always wanted to be an offensive lineman. Unfortunately, I am 5'9" and have bulked up to 160 pounds at age 28, so my dream was shattered before it ever began. Kyle Long does not have this issue as he is 6'6" and over 300 pounds. Those are the good numbers. The bad numbers are 4 and 25. 4 is the number of starts he had in college, and 25 is how old he will be turning during his rookie season. Still, let's not get caught up in all that and look at the tape of his game against USC.
After watching the first minute of tape, I realized that it is really hard to analyze guard play. It's a lot of them just holding their ground and me saying, "Well, that looked solid." He does look athletic when he pulls, and he showed a good motor of always trying to find guys to block until the play was over.
What makes it even more difficult is that Oregon runs outside a ton, and runs a lot of zone read plays, so judging a guard when there isn't a whole lot of pounding the ball up the middle makes it even tougher.
His hand work looked like it could use some work as a lot of time he would just try to shoulder bump people in his pass protection.
This was the best play I saw when breaking things down.
He does a great job of sealing off the defensive tackle with help from his center, and then peeling off and getting enough of the safety to help his running back get in the end zone.
Him being 6'6" at guard definitely hurt him at times. Defensive tackles were able to get under him, which made it impossible for him to move them out of the way. I am a fan of a college program that has every great prospect start at guard before moving them to the outside, and it works pretty well for them, but it does make me think that his long-term future is probably at tackle.
So what do the Bears have? Potential. I think he has the skillset to step in and be a near average guard to start off. With his size and athleticism, I think the Bears are hoping that he is able to progress and move outside. This was a pick based a lot on potential. Pick #20 seemed a little early for that, but if everything pans out how the Bears envision, they will look like geniuses. All we can do is wait and see.
As I stated during my live blog of Day 2 of the draft, I really wanted the Bears to draft inside linebacker Arthur Brown. He was ultra athletic and all the guy did was make plays. In their never-ending pursuit to try to make me root for another team, the Bears did draft a middle linebacker. Unfortunately, it was Jonathan Bostic out of Florida. I can admit that I knew next to nothing about him, so I checked out his game tape against Ohio State to find out more.
There is one thing that stood out for me when watching this game tape, and that is that I will probably never laugh harder watching film of a prospect. Here's him getting stood up by a fullback.
Here's him getting blocked by a center.
This one is my favorite, as is him just shuffling his feet and hands and then jumping on the pile a second after the runner was already down. I hope he got credit for a tackle on this one.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad, as this was a really nice play where he blew things up without getting any credit for it.
To be even more fair, the tape is from his Junior year. Guys get better, so I took a look at his game against Vanderbilt to check for improvements.
The good news is that you can at least see the athleticism in the guy in this Vanderbilt game.
I was honestly about to just stop watching, but then I saw something that perked me up.
I LOVE the bend he has on that pass rush move. That is a thing of beauty. The Bears are going to be switching up their defense somewhat. With that, he could fit in at outside linebacker better than he does on the inside. The Bears drafted a middle linebacker out of Arizona named Lance Briggs, and everyone thought they were insane, because they already had Urlacher in the middle. Well, that pick turned out okay for them.
He also looked solid in coverage, but diagnosing plays and making things happen from inside just did not look like his cup of tea. If they drafted him to be a middle linebacker, I'm not happy with this pick. But if they put him on the outside and show a willingness to blitz him, I can definitely see him surprising people and having an impact early on.
This will be my final quarterback piece, and I admit it's a little unconventional. This is the only time I will scout a high school quarterback, but James Vandenberg, aka Jonathan Moxon is a special case. Let's face it: In Texas, football is king, and no place is that more true than in West Canaan where the Coyotes were led by legendary coach, Bud Kilmer. I say were, because Coach Kilmer was replaced in the second half of the final game of the season by former Coyotes quarterback, Lance Harbor. Since Kilmer had no assistants, they had no issues giving the coaching gig to a high school kid who seems to love racing cars more than football.
Something that I really like about his game is how he gets black guys touchdowns. That was not a staple in the offense before he took over.
There are definitely issues with his offensive line, as his left tackle often passes out from concussions in the middle of plays, but he still works through everything.
One issue I see for him in the future is that he tends to get tunnel vision when targeting his favorite receiver, Tweeter (pretty sure that's a social media nickname).
My other big concern with him is character. This is not what I want to see from my quarterback.
If he can't hit a beer can off his pop's head, then I'm not sure about his ability to lead receivers at the next level.
There were also people questioning whether he had the right mindset when he took over after Lance Harbor's injury. Although his play on the field was impressive, he may have gotten a little carried away with his play off the field where he stepped out on his lady friend for an intimate moment with Darcy Sears. Still, after that initial rendezvous, he seemed to keep his head on straight.
On top of this, he tried to play a game hungover. Not sure if this was an homage to legendary ESU quarterback, Joe Cain, but I've seen Joe Cain, and Mr. Moxon, you are no Joe Cain. Cain is Able.
Still, there's a lot to dream on with that arm. I can't believe he's taking his talents to Brown University, but he could definitely break some of Ryan Fitzpatrick's Ivy League records. This guy is the real deal. Keep him away from booze and the wild women, and he could be a first round pick in a few years.
Wait...what? I was talking about James Van Der Beek and not James Vandenberg? Who the hell is James Vandenberg? Iowa Quarterback? Shit man, he was terrible. Just terrible. Here was his highlight from last year:
A 40 yard pass in a scrimmage where he still couldn't throw a touchdown pass. Shockingly, nobody has cut up a game tape to show his throws. So, yeah, don't draft James Vandenberg.
And since I don't want to end this on a bad note, let's remember one thing...
Next up on the list is EJ Manuel. I always kind of liked him in the limited times that I really focused on him, but like all of these guys, I figured I would study the tape and see if I could get a little more depth to my knowledge about his talents. He's been rising up draft boards, but is it warranted or is it just desperation? I took a look at his game against Clemson to see what I could find out.
Sets his feet and delivers nice throw to start off the game.
He's got very good mobility. He's not a burner, but he's got speed and is elusive so he can make people pay with his feet.
This pass is incredibly simple but made me happy.
It is a simple swing pass, but he leads his running back so he is moving forward as he catches the pass. It's not like it leads to a long gain, but it probably gets him two extra yards.
He's always looking to lead his receiver which is fantastic. He doesn't always execute it, but even on simple routes, he tries to lead his receiver to make things happen after the catch.
I definitely noticed some tunnel vision from Manuel, which is worrisome. He can really stare down his receiver and never works across the field, so he needs to have multiple options set up on a single side of the field with where his awareness is at right now.
He has good deep ball accuracy.
Overall, I liked Manuel, but I didn't love him. His vision worries me, but most everything else I like. I wouldn't have a problem with drafting him late in the first round. Right now, he's behind Matt Barkley, but I would have him ahead of Geno Smith.
Ryan Nassib out of Syracuse is a guy who I glanced at his games but could never really watch, because I don't watch Big East football. Obviously, with Syracuse as his school, there are going to be the Donovan McNabb comparisons. I haven't actually heard those comparisons anywhere, but they did both attend Syracuse, and it seemed like a more fitting comparison than Jim Brown or Carmelo Anthony. I decided to watch his tape against Louisville to see what I could find out.
His deep ball was not pretty. Badly underthrew it on his first pass of the game but receive made a good adjustment. His down the field accuracy was just not there at all.
Something small is he is actually willing to throw the ball away when nothing is there. That is not very common in a lot of prospects.
He does a good job of keeping his eyes down the field and going through his progressions but he does look a little mechanical in doing it.
He was more athletic than I expected. Not a great athlete but he can move a little bit.
His accuracy just is not there. Even on short passes, he does not properly lead players, as seen here.
If he leads his receiver on that ball, he's got a touchdown, but he threw it a little behind him, and it nearly got picked off.
Even on this touchdown pass, he does not throw a good ball to make it easy for his receiver.
There's really not much to say. He threw some nice balls but not consistently, and this was supposedly one of his shining moments. He got a good win, but he was not overly impressive in doing so. I really don't see him as much more than a 6th or 7th round pick since he seems to have a strong arm, but there is just too much wrong with him for me to really consider him.
Next up on my scouting excursion is Matt Barkley. Barkley is a very confident individual. He's freakishly cocky, as he stated that he would have been one of the top two picks in last year's draft. He did a decent job with his rhetoric as he didn't say that he would have been drafted ahead of Luck, only that the Colts had locked in on him before he made his decision to go to the NFL or stay in school. I love confidence, but it really helps if you can back it up. The results were not great for Barkley this year, so I wanted to see if he looks better on film than he does on a stat sheet. I looked at the Stanford game to get a better idea of what his strengths and weaknesses were.
The first thing that really jumped out at me is his quick release, as he shows here.
He gets rid of the ball quickly and fits it in a tight window before the defense can adjust.
After watching Geno Smith, it was nice to see a quarterback put some zip on his passes when fitting it through tight windows. Both quarterbacks had very talented receivers, but Barkley had the confidence and the arm strength to fit the ball into tight windows. I have heard the knock that he lacks arm strength, and although it is not elite, it is plenty good enough.
His deep ball accuracy was not as good as Smith's, but he was not missing by much on the few throws that I saw. He's not great, but I also don't see it as a major concern.
It is easy to see the struggles that his offensive line had, which makes it even more impressive how Barkley would quickly set his feet and fire off passes with the pocket collapsing around him.
Marquise Lee is awesome, and Robert Woods is very good, but Barkley helps them out by throwing them passes where they have space to maneuver after the catch. As good as those guys are, he was not helped by his running backs or tight ends in this offense as they missed blocks and didn't turn around when he needed to get rid of the ball quickly.
Also, it looked like his linemen were trying to throw the game. Look at this.
I just feel bad at this point, because that right side of the line just looked awful. I'm guessing the right guard was keyed on the middle linebacker, because he did not react at all to the lineman splitting the gap between him and the right tackle. The right tackle either thought he was taking an outside guy or got off to the slowest start ever. That was just ugly.
He continued to battle, despite constantly being under pressure. Most of his poor looking throws were caused due to him having zero time to set his feet and execute. He has quick feet when setting them for passes, but it is tough to do much of anything when there are people knocking your center on his ass right after the snap.
Even though his feet set quickly, he is not a quick quarterback. He is best when in the pocket, and he looks awkward even when doing simple rollouts.
I ended up watching some of his game against Syracuse just to get an idea of how he goes through progressions. I liked what I saw as he was willing to work through his options quickly before making a decision and firing the ball in there. Another thing that I really liked that many college quarterbacks don't do is looking down the field before throwing screens. It keeps the defense honest and gives the running back more open space to work with.
So, overall, I was really surprised by the tape on Barkley. I was all ready to compare him to Jimmy Clausen, but he's good. He's actually really good. I have only watched him and Smith, but I would be shocked if I were going to rate anyone higher than Barkley. I really like his chances in the NFL, and I will be shocked if he is not selected in the first round.
Geno Smith seems to be the number one quarterback on most people's boards. Saying that doesn't mean a whole lot, because this does not look like a draft where a QB is going to be drafted in the top ten. Still, Jake Locker was the 8th overall pick, and Ponder was taken 12th, so it wouldn't surprise me to see somebody taken early. Although I have seen and heard good things from Smith, I wanted to take a closer look at a couple games of his to get a better idea of his skills. I looked at his game against Kansas State where he struggled, as well as his game against Baylor where he set the world on fire. This is what I observed.
He experiences a problem that I see from a lot of spread quarterbacks in that he makes his decision on where he is throwing before the ball is even snapped. The routes are designed to be open and easy throws, but sometimes he looks silly as he tries to immediately squeeze something in as opposed to letting other routes develop.
The one thing that I really liked about him was his ability to lead receivers to help them gain yards after the catch. Both of his main receivers (Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey) will probably be taken within the first three rounds which helps, but you could tell that both sides of the pass-catch combo helped make the other side better.
He did a good job of squeezing out of shaky situations when his pass protection broke down, but once he did that, he went into scramble mode and lost track of what was happening down the field.
As you can see from the video, he seems to hate underneath zones, as he got intercepted twice on out routes (the video is cued up for the second interception) when they had coverage dropping back from underneath the receiver. Another big issue with both of those throws was that he did not drive the ball which gave the defender that split second needed to make a play on the ball.
He definitely looked a lot better in the Baylor game, but this had a lot to do with predictable defenses from Baylor that either left his first target open or gave him enough time to scan the field for a secondary option.
One thing I really liked was his deep ball, as you can see here.
He drops it right into his receiver's hands past the coverage, and that is just a really pretty ball.
There are a lot of things to like, and a lot of things to question with Geno Smith. He does a good job of leading receivers and throws a nice deep ball. I haven't had a chance to check out videos of all of the quarterbacks, but I would be shocked if he wasn't the most accurate thrower of them all. On top of this, he is mobile enough. He's not a burner, but he can be elusive and get some yards on the ground.
He doesn't always make great decisions as he decides to throw a pass even if it is well covered. This happens to the best of quarterbacks, but it happens at an alarming rate for Smith. Kansas State made him look very bad when he did this, but he was able to tear up Baylor. The other issue is despite his accuracy, he doesn't drive the ball on his throws. Everything has a little float to it, and it can kill him on out routes.
The guy I see when watching Smith is Christian Ponder. He might be a little more accurate than Ponder, but physically, they are very similar. He can be a good quarterback, but I have a lot of trouble seeing greatness in his future.
Yes, I watch pro wrestling. Hell, I love pro wrestling. I also love folkstyle wrestling, and mixed martial arts. None of these are mutually exclusive. I will say that I like folkstyle wrestling and MMA for more similar reasons than pro wrestling, but pro wrestling is still very awesome. There are guys I love, and there are guys I hate. I'm going to start with the positives and go over my ten favorite wrestlers in the WWE. Remember, these are my rankings right now, so "Cool Guy" Chris Jericho will not be on this list despite being one of my five favorite wrestlers of all time. Also, The Miz will not be on this list, because The Miz is the worst.
5. The Prime Time Players - Yes. there are two of them, possibly three if you include Rufus "Pancake" Patterson, but they are great. If you don't agree, then you and your washrag are not invited to my party. The WWE almost pushed them to a tag title, but then they decided to have them lose for the next four months, which has basically been the fate of every wrestler I have liked over the last three years. Still, MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MILLIONS OF DOLLARS...
4. Team Rhodes Scholars - They're not just a tag team; they're BEST FRIENDS. Oh, and they are painfully similar to The Prime Time Players. Just subtract wash rags, and add facial hair and seducing twins. So yeah, that is why they get the edge.
3. Fandango - I was skeptical of Fandango when he was only doing vignettes. Then he debuted in person, and I started to like him. He demanded respect and that people pronounce his ridiculous name correctly. Then he nearly made one of the Funkadactyls flood the ring with her womanly juices by being a smooth operator. At that point, I was fully on board with Fandango. Now Fandangoing is a real thing that happens, and it is just perfect.
2. Dolph Ziggler - Ziggler has always been great in the ring, but he has slowly progressed on the mic in the last year. He showed a ton of potential in his Ask The Heel segments on ZTLIS, but he's finally starting to convey that personality to a larger audience. It was a little scary how excited I was when I heard his music before he cashed in his Money in the Bank. It was also a little sad that my fiancee had to come downstairs and check on me because she heard me yelling and screaming while watching his match with Del Rio. It may be the saddest that I felt genuine happiness for Dolph Ziggler when he finally did win the title. But, seriously, watch this:
Everything about that video is awesome. Awesome entrance, awesome crowd reaction, awesome three minute match, awesome celebration. I will never stop loving this video.
1. Antonio Cesaro - I went over how awesome he was, and everything remains the same. He dropped the USA flag and replaced it with yodeling. He's amazing in the ring in the way that he tosses people like they weigh nothing. I don't really think I need to expand on anything else that wasn't already said here. Cesaro is the best.
Lukewarm Jonah: Hott Joe and I love wrestling and we love
gambling. I bet you didn’t know you
could combine the two and bet on a pre-determined contest, but you can. I’ve found some actual betting odds from
williamhill.com, a UK site. There is
actually an American site in Las Vegas that has odds too. I’ve found the best lines, and Hott Joe and I
will be giving you our Wrestlemania predictions and betting picks.
Hott Joe: Thank God LJ is around, because I have been lazy
as shit about writing, but this is definitely something I can get behind.
WrestleMania 29 - Fandango vs. Chris Jericho
Fandango -800 (1/8)
Chris Jericho +425 (17/4)
Lukewarm Jonah: Fandango has to be my pick to win this
match. Chris Jericho came back last year
just to put over guys like CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. One has to assume that he’s back to put Fandango
over. However, I didn’t expect odds
these long and wouldn’t touch this bet.
Fandango is still the smart pick, but they could always give Jericho a
win.
Hott Joe: Fandango has been one of my favorite parts of Raw
over this last month, as any man who focuses a lot of his character on
seduction will always be someone I can relate to. And oh, how the mighty have
fallen. Jericho, the man who beat the great Marty Jannetty and gave us this…
...now makes fun of Fandango’s name in childish ways. Jericho
is still awesome (I highly recommend both of his books), but let’s face it,
Jericho could lose every match for the next three years and still get the same
cheers from fans. Fandango is going to get the victory.
WrestleMania 29 – Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show vs.
The Shield
Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show +400 (4/1)
The Shield -700 (1/7)
Lukewarm Jonah: I
would like to take Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show as 4/1
underdogs. I have no idea why the lines
are so high, I guess William Hill thinks that we’ll get a heel turn from one of
the three guys on the good guy team.
That’s very possible, but I don’t think it’s so crazy to think that the
bad guys who have run rampant for months and months on end will finally get
their comeuppance. Really I think this
match is a toss up, so I’ll take the good odds and go with the good guys at
4/1.
Hott Joe: Thank God Lukewarm Jonah wrote out this match,
because whenever I refer to this match, I simply say The Shield vs. Turd
Burglars. Last month, Sheamus tried to beat The Shield with the help of Cena
and Ryback, now they replaced those two with Show and Orton. The Shield wins,
and for a fun prediction, I say that at the next PPV, The Shield finally loses
to Cena, The Rock, and Sheamus or Ryback.
WrestleMania 29 – Ryback vs. Mark Henry
Ryback -800 (1/8)
Mark Henry +425 (17/4)
Lukewarm Jonah: I’m picking Ryback to win this match. This is another match where the odds aren’t
good enough to put any money on it, but it’s very hard to see Ryback losing. He’s being pushed to the moon, he’s a newer monster
that needs to continue to be pushed.
Anything can happen in the WWE, and Henry is always a great monster heel
to push, but Ryback is the smart pick here.
Hott Joe: This match comes down to one question for me, can
Ryback actually pick up Mark Henry for his finisher? He couldn’t do it to
Tensai, so I have some serious doubts. I really hope the WWE tells Ryback that
he needs to do his finisher or Mark Henry gets to win. I’ll go with the upset
and Mark Henry finishing off The Ryback.
WrestleMania 29 – Intercontinental Championship – Wade
Barrett vs. The Miz
Wade Barrett +275 (11/4)
The Miz -450 (2/9)
Lukewarm Jonah: It’s the preshow match for the
Intercontinental Title, kind of sad that this match can’t even make the real
show. Anyways, it seems like they’re
building the Miz up, so an Intercontinental Title run would make sense. It would also open up the underutilized
Barrett for a possible run at the World Title.
My gut says the Miz, but it’s really a toss up in my honest
opinion. I would take the Miz as my
pick, but I wouldn’t touch this bet.
Hott Joe: God, I hate The Miz, but he’s going to win. I
don’t want to talk anymore about this.
WrestleMania 29 – Team Hell No vs. Ziggler & Langston
Team Hell No -130 (10/13)
Ziggler & Langston EVEN (1/1)
Lukewarm Jonah: Basically a pick em bet, I’m taking Team
Hell No. I thought I would get better
odds on them, but I’ll take close to even money. There’s a good chance Ziggler is going to be
involved with the World Title scene soon, possibly even at Wrestlemania. They can’t have him holding the tag belts
while he’s World Champ. I also feel like
they gave away the ending they would have used for a Ziggler/Langston win this
past Monday . My real bold prediction,
AJ tries to distract one or both of Bryan and Kane, it backfires somehow and
they retain. This makes it an even
bigger surprise when Ziggler cashes in Money in the Bank later and wins his
first world title.
Hott Joe: I’m taking Team Hell No, but with a slightly
different twist. I say AJ does get involved in the match, but then Kaitlyn
comes out and starts beating her up. Big E comes to her rescue while Dolph gets
destroyed in the ring. And yeah, I totally agree with LJ’s last prediction, but
I’ll get into that later.
WrestleMania 29 – The Undertaker vs. CM Punk
The Undertaker -1600 (1/16)
CM Punk +700 (7/1)
Lukewarm Jonah: This is way too big of a lock, and the odds
reflect it. However if you really are
looking for guaranteed money, put it on the Undertaker. The Undertaker’s undefeated streak will never
be beaten, especially not this year, and especially not by CM Punk. I love Punk to death, but he has no chance. Taker still has money matches left with John
Cena and Brock Lesnar. As I said, the
odds suck, but this is the equivalent of picking the Yankees to beat your local
little league team, you know it’s going to happen.
Hott Joe: Taker, obviously. Also, am I the only person that
hasn’t ruled out that Paul Bearer might still be alive? Like, the WWE is very
shady, so I could totally see them successfully pulling off someone’s death. My
bold prediction is that Taker wins with the help of a Paul Bearer run
waddle-in (This is not going to happen, but at least admit that it could).
WrestleMania 29 – No Holds Barred Match – Triple H vs.
Brock Lesnar
Triple H -650 (2/13)
Brock Lesnar +375 (15/4)
Lukewarm Jonah: I thought Lesnar would be a much bigger
underdog here, and I was planning on making him my value pick. At these odds, I’ve got to take Triple
H. I thought Lesnar would be one of the
real long shots, close to CM Punk levels.
It’s always possible that Triple H saw two of his best friends, Ric
Flair and Shawn Michaels retire at Wrestlemania and decided that was the way he
wanted to go out. However, I just see
Triple H getting his win back from Summerslam.
Triple H wins, Shawn Michaels superkicks Lesnar or Heyman or both, even
Vince probably gets involved. Trips
wins, and at these odds I’d probably lay some decent money on it.
Hott Joe: This stipulation is still the worst stipulation of
all time. A No Holds Barred match where Brock Lesnar has no friends, and Triple
H is the “coolest kid at school.” Oh, and it’s for Triple H’s career, which was
already over before Lesnar came back. YOU CALLED HIM OUT OF RETIREMENT TO PUT
HIM IN A RETIREMENT MATCH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Anyway, I have
similar thoughts again, but I see all of DX getting involved and Lesnar F-5ing
all of them until H can hit the Pedigree and win.
WrestleMania 29 – Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger
Alberto Del Rio -500 (1/5)
Jack Swagger +300 (3/1)
Lukewarm Jonah: Another match I thought would be much longer
odds, that I would have considered making a value pick. Jack Swagger has a hot new gimmick that has
gotten mainstream attention, but he’s not going to win. Del Rio will win for his injured friend
Ricardo Rodriquez, and he will also win because if Ziggler cashes in Money in
the Bank he’s got to do it against a face.
Also, if they don’t have Zigger cash in, they’re trying to build Del Rio
up as their new Mexican superstar since Rey Mysterio will probably retire
soon. They need a guy to appeal to their
large Mexican fanbase and if they don’t go for surprise cash in, I think Del
Rio will have a long reign. At these
odds I like Del Rio a lot.
Hott Joe: Del Rio wins, and Ziggler comes out to immediately
take the title. Dolph Ziggler has been getting pretty solid cheers for a while
now. You add in the fact that it is WrestleMania crowd that loves wrestling
more than anything else, and there is going to be a huge pop when he comes out
to take the title. #HEEL
WrestleMania 29 – WWE Championship – The Rock vs. John
Cena
The Rock +550 (11/2)
John Cena -1000 (1/10)
Lukewarm Jonah: Another easy lock just like Taker vs.
Punk. Cena gets his win back from last
year and we have a passing the torch moment.
The real interest in this match is whether or not Cena will turn heel to
win. He hinted at it two RAW’s ago when
he said the Rock didn’t beat him, he beat himself. Cena turning heel would lead to a bunch of
new match and storyline possibilities, and be on the same level as the
Hollywood Hogan turn. But anyways, back
to the betting, there is no way The Rock retains, he has a bunch of awesome new
movies to promote and can’t be champ. A
part time wrestle also can’t beat a full time wrestler on the biggest stage two
years in a row.
Hott Joe: There have been a lot of whispers about Cena
turning bad, but maybe Cena already has become his heel persona. Maybe it will
just be that he doesn’t care that adults all think he’s a douche, and he’s only
doing it for the kids. The guy does a shit-ton of charity work, and he can
still be cheered by kids while they get drowned out by the boos of adults.
Still, he’ll win the title. John Cena’s worst year ever saw him win Royal Rumble, have 15 title shots, and upgrade from
his wife to a Bella Twin, what does this man need to have a good year?
WrestleMania 29 – Random Prediction
Hott Joe: My random prediction is that there will be a 20
man Battle Royal for a shot at the United States Championship. Zack Ryder will
win, because he is basically the best Battle Royaler of all time, and he’s near
his hometown. He will then beat my favorite wrestler, Antonio Cesaro, for the
US Title. This is one of those cases where if you love someone, you need to set
them free. Cesaro has lost his last 50 non-title matches, so maybe getting the
belt off of him will let The Yodeler win some matches. Also, I’m still pissed
that they dropped him trolling the fans by loving America so much. This man got
booed for waving the American Flag; that’s the greatest thing from the past six
months, well, outside of this:
LJ, I’ll let you finish, since you did most of the heavy
lifting on this post.
Lukewarm Jonah: CM Punk will lose. We've covered that already, but in doing so, he will see the error of his ways and turn back into a face. He may even hit a GTS or lock on the Anaconda Vice on Paul Heyman.
