'Cuz Disco Says So: Night Of Champions Predictions

Okay, I'm going to make this quick:

Divas and Women's Championship Unification Lumberjill Match: Melina. After WWE invested in creating that girlie "DIVA" belt, I can't see them letting McCool win. This way they bury the old belt and the title along with it. LayCool will have a falling out over the loss of the title... McCool goes solo and feuds with Melina while Layla becomes valet to NXT winner Kaval.

Big Show vs. CM Punk: What's happening here? Either Punk wins and regains some of his credibility, or Big Show wins (as usual, it seems) and the Straight Edge Society clique is over. I think (hope) that Punk wins and later his rookie Darren Young converts to the Straight Edge Lifestyle to give the SES some new life. Otherwise we won't be seeing Punk for a while, which is a shame.

Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: Kofi. This feud has been going on too long, it's the logical conclusion after all the close matches. Also, Dolph's "failure" to defend the title will play into the Vicki/Kaitlyn/Dolph love triangle on NXT.

United States Champion The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan: Bryan. This could be a little premature. But... I think this sets up the Intercontinental title as a legitimate division (maybe even a classic TNA-style "X-Division") and you'll start seeing Husky Harris, Alex Riley, Kaval, et al., have a reason to exist. Miz will save face 'cuz he has that Money in the Bank which will come into play later in the night.

World Heavyweight Champion Kane vs. The Undertaker (No Holds Barred Match): Kane. The logical conclusion to this feud is a "Hell in a Cell" match. Since this is not that match, Kane will win somehow. Possibly a supernaturally-assisted win (teleportation?), but hard to predict when you bring the "dark powers" into the mix.

WWE Championship Six Pack Elimination Challenge: Orton (but not for long). WWE has spent several weeks putting Orton over and I can't see any way he'll lose this. However, if Miz loses to Bryan Miz will regain respect by pulling out the Money In The Bank contract and pinning Orton. This will set up a three-way feud between Orton, Miz and Sheamus that will bring us through football season to Wrestlemania.

Other observations: Why will Cena lose the Six Pack Challenge? Because he will probably move to SMACKDOWN to ensure good ratings when SD moves to SyFy later this year. Being on the SD roster will set up a Wrestlemania match between Undertaker and Cena (which Cena has hinted at on Twitter). Besides he's not doing anything useful on RAW right now.

Women's title unification tightens up the talent in two weak rosters. Naomi from NXT (called "the female Shelton Benjamin") will probably go head-to-head with Melina, and the belt will finally gain some legitimacy.

The Bryan/Miz match and Six Pack matches are connected because it puts the MIB in play. If Miz wins, there's no reason for him to interfere with the Six Pack match so there might be a different outcome there -- Orton wins but Sheamus demands his rematch on Monday Night RAW.

'Cuz Disco Says So: Bryan and Bryan - Bizarro Supermen?

Brian Danielson posted a public thank you letter post-SummerSlam on his blog.

The kayfabe on RAW is that Wade Barrett threw Daniel Bryan out of the NEXUS for not having the right attitude. It's a strange shift for WWE to feel a need to explain Bryan's absence after a real-life firing; moreover, Bryan Danielson seems to be a giant experiment for the company in general.

For instance, giving him a work/shoot when he was eliminated from NXT was a huge risk. They also allow him (for the time being) to use his names almost interchangeably, completely and finally acknowledging that the everybody reads the internet and knows his name isn't really "Daniel Bryan." The fans know he wrestled in Japan and in Ring of Honor, hell, they can call it up in YouTube and see it. They also know he's going to be wrestling as Bryan Danielson for a while in the indies, as well as Daniel Bryan in the WWE, for a while until his contractual commitments are fulfilled.

So now we have it, the Bizarro-World duality of the WWE Universe. Bryan Danielson was fired by WWE management while Daniel Bryan was fired by Wade Barrett. Everybody knows it -- but that's the reality of "sports entertainment" in the 21st century. Twitter, blogs, podcasts, once the enemy, are now simply ignored and the suspension of disbelief exploited. WWE is threading the needle, carefully, and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.